Sticking to dynamic zero-COVID approach, China strives for balance of virus containment, economic development

Xinhua) 09:05, March 26, 2022

A staff member works at Dongan Auto Engine Co., Ltd. in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, March 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- As night falls in northeast China's Jilin Province, a hard-hit region in the current wave of cluster COVID-19 infections, the temperature drops sharply. Despite the weather, nucleic acid testing continues in Tongguang Road West Community of Changchun, the provincial capital.

Staff members of the neighborhood committee work nearly 20 hours each day, and each medic must conduct nucleic acid tests for approximately 1,000 people a day, all for one purpose -- ensuring safety.

In response to recent cluster infections in multiple regions, China has maintained the policy of "preventing imported cases and domestic resurgences" and adhered to the dynamic zero-COVID approach. It is striving to achieve the best results in epidemic control with minimum costs, and the delicate balance of controlling COVID-19 and promoting economic and social development.

RAPID RESPONSE

Resolute measures, including mass nucleic acid testing, quarantine, working from home, and online education, are put in place to see that COVID-19-related testing, isolation, and treatment services are accessible to anybody in need.

In Jilin, people take both nucleic acid tests and antigen tests for COVID-19, and residents' doors are knocked on to ensure that nobody in need is left unattended.

Virus containment requires rapid response and solidarity among the people. In Changchun University of Science and Technology, teachers formed a volunteer team to deliver hot water to students in need.

While thousands of kilometers away in Quanzhou City of Fujian Province, nearly 60 restaurants jointly launched an initiative to donate meals to epidemic control workers, having delivered more than 10,000 packets.

China has ordered all-out efforts to meet the daily needs of people in locked-down neighborhoods where "green passage" is open to the elderly, children, pregnant women, and patients in severe or critical conditions.

According to the Ministry of Commerce's monitoring, the recent supply of daily necessities in China is generally sufficient with stable prices.

A staff member works at a COVID-19 nucleic acid testing laboratory in east China's Shanghai, March 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

TARGETED MEASURES

Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 response expert panel under the National Health Commission, stressed that the essence of China's dynamic zero-COVID approach is featuring swift and targeted response measures.

The country's latest diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID-19 patients, its ninth edition, features adjustments regarding case locating and reporting, and patient treatment, aiming to make the epidemic response more science-based and targeted.

According to the new protocol, asymptomatic cases and those with mild symptoms will go to designated quarantine facilities instead of hospitals. The revision, however, does not mean China's epidemic prevention and control will ease, according to officials.

In combatting the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Shanghai initiated grid screening, or extensive screening of citizens in key districts, industries, and among key groups, through which many asymptomatic cases were identified.

Zhu Jin, Party chief of the Panjiazhai residential compound in Xuhui District of Shanghai, did not go home for four consecutive days, during which she was busy urging residents to take nucleic acid tests, using a loudspeaker.

No infections were reported in four rounds of mass testing, a result that finally made local people at ease, as Panjiazhai is just about a 10-minute walk from a hotel that reported a cluster of infections.

Wu Fan, a member of the Shanghai municipal COVID-19 prevention and control expert team, said grid screening helps clear unnoticed, hidden risks for coronavirus transmission.

A resident buys dumplings at a market in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Yijie)

MINIMIZING IMPACT

While battling to contain the virus, local governments are exploring ways to minimize the epidemic's impact on economic and social development.

Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, many people who previously worked with Hengan, a Fujian-based household paper manufacturer, could not return to their positions, which made labor shortage an immediate headache for the company.

Government authorities came to the company's help by joining Hengan executives in studying details of workers before making arrangements to ensure the smooth passage of workers while epidemic control protocols are well observed.

So far, 90 percent of the company's positions for workers have been filled, bringing many production lines back to operation.

As a base of maize production in China, Jilin has established workgroups to assist farmers in preparing for spring plowing.

In Shenzhen City of southern China, local restrictions are gradually lifted, as the goal of dynamic zero-COVID is basically achieved. Starting Monday this week, the municipal government of Shenzhen and public institutions resumed work, and buses and subways returned to normal operation.

Differentiated epidemic prevention measures have been adopted for enterprises on the production and supply chains.

China's consumer market has been on a steady recovery trend since the beginning of 2022, with retail sales of consumer goods reaching 7.4 trillion yuan (about 1.16 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first two months, growing 6.7 percent from a year earlier.

The consumer market has shown strong resilience and potential, and its trend of expanding scale and optimizing structure has not changed, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
KHARTOUM, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Saturday condemned the Yemeni Houthi rebels' attacks on civilian facilities in Saudi Arabia.

"Sudan condemns in the strongest terms the Houthi militia for its continued launch of explosive-laden drones toward the southern region of Saudi Arabia," said the Sudanese foreign ministry in a statement.

The Houthi attacks "exposed civilians and civilian facilities to danger" and caused "a serious escalation in the region," the ministry noted.

The ministry reaffirmed Sudan's firm support for Saudi Arabia against any danger that targets its security and stability, noting Houthis' rejection to any peace initiative from Saudi Arabia.

Yemen's Houthi militia on Friday claimed responsibility for fresh cross-border drone and missile attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah and the capital Riyadh, the third such attack in less than a week. 
Changes over the past four years have expanded opportunities for voter registration statewide, but also have increased the workload at the Cowlitz County Elections Office, according to the auditor.

The Cowlitz County commissioners Wednesday approved adding an entry-level elections worker position, bringing the offices staff to four, after Auditor Carolyn Fundingsland detailed challenges from recent legislation and increased participation in elections, particularly those with high-interest races.

When public trust is at an all-time low, we must be exceptional at what we do, Fundingsland said. Our workload has significantly increased and yet staffing has remained stagnant for years.

The auditors office has five divisions  recording, licensing, accounts payable, payroll and elections  and 18 staff, not including the new position. Fundingsland said cross training has allowed recording and licensing staff to help in the elections office, but theres been an increase in recording transactions, too.

Because we operate on minimal staffing, we do whats necessary to get by, she said. But the constant drain that elections have on the front line is being felt out there now because lines are getting longer. Its just not working out.

Registered voters increasing

Cowlitz County has seen a 21% increase in registered voters since 2015, to about 72,000 in 2021, Fundingsland said. Thats above the normal rate of about 50% of the population registered, she said.

I believe thats because people are now interested in getting involved, Fundingsland said.

Presidential elections usually see larger turnouts, and in 2020, the county processed nearly 13,000 more ballots than in 2016, a 26% increase, Fundingsland said. For that general election, 82% of voters returned ballots using drop boxes or in person.

Day after day we experienced these long lines of voters wanting to hand their ballot to an election official rather than dropping it in the mail, Fundingsland told commissioners.

The off-year elections and special elections have maintained a more normal turnout rate, but Fundingsland expects this years election to draw a lot of participation.

Its a big year for our county, she said. I think citizens are going to be interested and when theyre interested, they will turn out.

Legislative changes

Along with rising participation, several big bills the Legislature passed in the last few years dramatically changed the elections offices processes and workload, Fundingsland said.

Theres good intents behind these, but what people might not understand is obviously the increase in traffic in our office, she said.

Three bills that went into effect in 2019  same-day voter registration, preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds and automatic registration through the Department of Licensing  increased registered voter counts and required staff to keep those roles updated on top of processing the election, Fundingsland said.

The change significantly increased foot traffic at the Cowlitz County office, as people would come in to register and vote up through election night, she said.

Even when the county is not holding an election, the office must be opened and staffed because of a law that went into effect in 2020 allowing residents to register at and receive their county-specific ballot from an elections office in any county, not just the one they live in. The statewide voter registration database allows staff to see if residents already have voted in a different county, Fundingsland said.

If the county isnt running its own election, there is no money coming in to help cover staffing costs, Fundingsland said. Usually about half of Washington counties hold elections in February and April, according to the Secretary of States website.

One piece of 2021 legislation that takes effect this year actually will help with county election costs, Fundingsland said.

Election costs are allocated to participating jurisdictions based on the size and number of races on the ballot. The state always has the largest cost but before this year, it never helped the counties pay for administering elections, Fundingsland said.

In the 2020 general election, the state, county, Cowlitz PUD, Castle Rock and Kalama participated. The state had 27 races  including federal, judicial and state races and advisory votes  and the allocated cost was $127,490. The countys allocated cost was $26,135, but it absorbed the states cost as well, Fundingsland said.

The state is now required to pay their fair share of election costs, she said.

Cost of transparency

An increase of public records requests, many about the 2020 general election, also put a strain on staff time, Fundingsland said. The type of requests also has changed from data-related, typically used to inform campaigns, to unfamiliar asks, she said.

Were operating under ... much higher scrutiny, which is good, but also time consuming and there is cost to it, Fundingsland said. We are 100% for transparency, but there is time involved for legal counsel and then physically producing them.

Along with official requests, Fundingsland and elections staff get more calls and emails from citizens than before the 2020 election. The auditor expects more people to reach out as the next election gets closer.

Fundingslands advice to voters  become informed.

We live in an era of misinformation, she said. Pull from several different sources, sometimes competing, so youre getting a good sense of where the middle is.

Elections staff cant enforce the truth from candidates, who can write what they want in their statements, and even spelling or grammar errors go untouched, Fundingsland said.

Just because someone says something or you read it on social medial does not make it true, she said. Find several sources of information and become informed.

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Seven local Rotary International clubs in Cowlitz and Lewis counties are working with members near the Russia-Ukraine conflict to donate money and medical supplies to Ukrainian refugees.

The two Longview Rotary clubs, two clubs that meet in Chehalis, and one club each in Kelso, Woodland and Centralia have raised almost $20,000 for a Rotary club in Poland, roughly an hour from the Ukrainian border.

There are people who have a real need and thats what Rotary does, said Kelso Rotary President Randy Hall. We felt it was our duty to help them.

Donation plan

Anil Puri  of the Twin Cities Rotary club for Chehalis and Centralia members oversees the seven local Rotary chapters. He said local club leaders found the closest Rotary club to Ukraine and reached out in early March to figure out how Rotarians on the other side of the globe could help during the conflict.

The leaders found a club two hours south of Warsaw, Poland, and roughly an hour from the Ukrainian border in a city of roughly 65,000 people called Zamosc. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United Nations reports 2.2 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland.

The presidents of the local Rotary chapters joined a Zoom meeting with the Poland Rotary leaders and a translator in early March to form a plan to donate funds and supplies.

Within days, Puri said 200 compression bandages requested by the Poland chapter were shipped. Last Wednesday, Puri said the volunteers wired $10,000 in donations to the Poland club. He anticipates another $10,000 will be sent in the upcoming weeks.

Strength of clubs

Rotary International is a volunteer organization located in 200 countries with roughly 1.4 million members, who support people around the world in areas like education, business and environment. In the local Rotary district, which covers Vancouver Island, Canada, southern Pierce County and Western Washington from the Olympic Peninsula to Woodland, there are 94 clubs with 4,400 total members, according to the districts website.

Locally, the Kelso Rotary hosts a holiday light show in December; the Longview Early Edition Rotary hosts the 5K or 10K Harvest Classic in the fall; and the Longview noon Rotary hosts the annual Squirrel Fest in August.

Longview Early Edition Club President Bill Fashing said he learned, first hand, the struggles people near the Russia-Ukraine War are facing through the Zoom call, and the amount of money raised shows the strength of our Rotary clubs.

Hall said the Kelso club also donated another roughly $4,000 to supply makeshift, temporary homes for refugees through another regional Rotary club.

Puri said Rotarians can donate to a fund called Rotary International Disaster Relief (my.rotary.org/en/disaster-response-fund), which the local district of 91 clubs will match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $50,000. Puri said he hopes to send another $100,000 through that source, which will supply grants to organizations in need.

Rotarians always rise to the challenge if the need is there, Puri said.

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Youthful cyber crime is not unusual, but these exploits arent like other malware attacks.

In a house in Oxford, England, a 16-year-old living with his mother has been wreaking havoc on the other side of the world. Believed to be a male, hes hacked victims from Microsoft Corp. to Okta Inc. and blazed a trail of mayhem along the way. His apparent youth isnt the only thing that sets this operator apart from better-known ransomware gangs like Conti and Revil. His outfit, dubbed Lapsus$, is known for using a pure extortion and destruction model without deploying ransomware payloads, Microsoft noted in a blog post this week. The U.S. software company uses the designation DEV-053 to track the group.

According to Bloomberg News, four researchers investigating Lapsus$ believe theyve identified this kid as the mastermind of the group. Another member is suspected to be a teenager living in Brazil. On Thursday, City of London Police arrested seven people  aged 16 to 21  in connection with an inquiry into the group. Police didnt identify the hacking gang, but a person involved in the probe said the arrests were related to the case.

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While the world has been watching Russian hacking of Ukraine, and other targets, Lapsus$ continued with its own operations, adding to the global spate of cybercrime that is estimated to cost the world economy more than $1 trillion annually.

Many of the tactics deployed by Lapsus$ are familiar to security-response teams. Among them is social engineering, where an attacker impersonates a person in order to trick a help-desk employee into giving access to systems or providing sensitive information which can be used to breach a target, Microsoft noted. SIM-swapping is another, in which the hacker successfully replaces a victims phone number with its own in order to receive a multi-factor security code sent by text message.

But rather than quietly planning an intrusion, including setting up a cryptocurrency wallet and tailoring a ransom note for each victim, Lapsus$ looks to have taken a somewhat more high-profile approach. One thats far riskier than more disciplined operators solely motivated by money, and instead may be spurred by a desire for notoriety.

The group even advertised through a Telegram group its willingness to buy credentials from employees of victim companies, which would then be used to breach corporate security systems. The purported goal has been to access computers, steal data, and then demand payment to prevent the release of sensitive information to the public. That was the apparent motive for a breach on user-authentication provider Okta.

Call it overconfidence, or the brashness of youth, but the actions didnt stop there. He, or they, went as far as joining victims discussion boards and crisis communications calls  on platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams  to eavesdrop on the response, Microsoft noted.

By contrast, Conti and Revil tend to surreptitiously slip into a targets servers, encrypt thousands of files, and leave a custom-made note outlining how payment can be made. Thats the approach taken by Darkside, which brought the Colonial Pipeline Co. to a halt in the U.S. last April.

Yet we shouldnt conclude that youth fully explains Lapsus$ bold approach. In fact, some of the worlds most notorious hackers were teenagers when they took their first big steps into the cyber underworld. Kevin Mitnick was 16 when he broke into Digital Equipment Corp.s systems back in 1979. Jonathan James was 15 when he got started, and counted the U.S. Department of Justice among his victims. Canadian Michael Calces targets included the websites of Yahoo, eBay and Dell when he was 17.

That adolescence is a challenge for law enforcement and prosecutors. Many jurisdictions wont charge perpetrators as adults. James, for example, ended up pleading guilty to two counts of juvenile delinquency and was sentenced to house arrest and probation. From the almost 20 charges filed against him, Mitnick entered a plea bargain and took the rap on just seven and served five years. Calce received eight months in a youth detention facility.

While jail time is an obvious risk, theres also perceived upsides for youthful hackers. Mitnick ended up writing a book, inspired the Hollywood movie War Games, and went on to a prolific career as a security consultant. Calce also moved onto the side of the good guys as a white hat. But not all juvenile delinquents had a happy ending. James took his own life at the age of 24 after being accused of a hack he didnt commit, while another, Adrian Lamo, died in whats believed to be an accidental drug overdose.

Security professionals know that child hackers are smart, proficient and extremely dangerous. Police and courts also remember that theyre still just kids.

Tim Culpan is a technology columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Based in Taipei, he writes about Asian and global businesses and trends. He previously covered the beat at Bloomberg News.
NASA: A massive sunspot is facing Earth and it is going to send a giant solar storm hurtling at us. The first giant solar storm is set to strike Earth tomorrow.

NASA: New developments on the Sun have scientists worried on Earth. A particularly large and very active sunspot has rotated to face the Earth. The central region of this sunspot, labeled AR2975, is as large as two Earths put together. It is now feared that this sunspot, which is an active zone of solar activity, will result in numerous solar storms or geomagnetic storms targeted at our home planet. The sunspot has already shot multiple C-class solar flares and an M-class solar flare in the last couple of days. The latter even caused a brief shortwave radio blackout over southeast Asia. But the scariest among them all is a gigantic coronal mass ejection (CME) which was hurled towards Earth. According to NASA, the resultant solar storm will hit Earth tomorrow, March 27.

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Different solar flare classes

Scientists remain cautious, even as they state that the geomagnetic storm activity will be a minor one and only result in aurora display in the northern hemisphere at higher latitudes. The concerns are serious as the risk of an X-class solar flare activity also remains high. For the uninitiated, solar flares are divided into 4 classes in increasing intensity. B-class is the lowest tier and is too small to harm Earth. C-class solar flares can cause few noticeable consequences for Earth with northern lights being the primary one. M-class solar flares can give out solar storms which can cause brief radio blackouts and minor damage to satellites in direct range. Finally, X-class solar flares can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.

Giant solar storm to hit tomorrow

On March 27, the solar storm resulting from the CME hurled towards Earth will be striking down on the Earth according to NASA. Most estimates highlight that it will be a moderate geomagnetic storm which will most likely not cause any damage to the communication system of the Earth. Minor disruption in shortwaves is still possible. And similarly, smaller satellites in higher orbits around the Earth can face some damage if it came directly in line with the storm. However, no significant damage is predicted at this stage.

Why is this sunspot bad news?

The timing of this sunspot makes it very concerning. NASA says that the Sun is entering its solar maximum phase, where the solar activities on the surface of the Sun increases significantly. At a time like this, when an active region of such activities faces the Earth directly, it will give out multiple solar storm events. One can only hope that none of them are as strong as the Carrington event, which is considered as the biggest ever solar storm to hit Earth.
Workers gather after casting their vote over whether or not to unionize, outside an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on March 25, 2022.

Under hazy skies and in the calm of morning, workers waited patiently in line outside the JFK8 warehouse Friday for a say on whether to establish Amazon's first US labor union.

The six-day election at the Staten Island warehouse, overseen by US officials, opens the polls to the facility's 5,000 workers for five hours each morning and then again in the evening for another five-hour round.

Led by former and current workers, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) qualified for a vote on unionization after obtaining signatures from 30 percent of the workforce.

But majority support will be needed if Amazon is to have its first union since the company was established in 1994.

Most of the workers who spoke with AFP shortly after the polls first opened Friday were not in favor of the campaign.

"The pay is more than minimum wage, we have benefits like health insurance from day one, and if I need something, I go directly to my manager," said Georgina Aponte, who was voting no.

Each morning, Aponte, 40, takes a ferry, a subway and two buses from her Bronx home to Amazon. The trip takes two hours each way.

"I like working here," she said.

Others expressed sympathy with the goals of the union, but skepticism about the group's unproven track record.

"I give them a lot of credit for doing what they're doing," said Vinny T., before adding, "I think we have more to lose than gain."

The Amazon job is "not that difficult," said the 57-year-old, who has worked in other unionized companies before.

A leaflet is discarded as workers make their way to cast their vote over whether or not to unionize, outside an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on March 25, 2022.

Company texts Vote 'NO'

Another worker, Angel Arce, said he is not crazy about the fact that Amazon's pay scale does not boost wages after three years.

But "they are not experienced," Arce said of the union.

Natalie Monarrez came to vote holding a sign that read "I joined ALU, I left ALU, I'm voting NO."

Monarrez, who has worked for Amazon for five years, joined the campaign in May 2021 shortly after the group formed, but gave up on the ALU in January.

"We absolutely need a union," Monarrez said.

"We're working for the richest man on the planet, literally," Monarrez said of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who sits near the top of Forbes' billionaire list.

"The least they can do is give us a living wage and at least address the issues like harassment, discrimination, ageism, lack of promotions, lack of opportunity," she said.

But Monarrez said workers need an "experienced national union," not a "small independent union that's run by boys who have no experience."

At a nearby bus stop, separated by the warehouse fence-line, stood Christian Smalls, the president of the ALU, who had been on hand since 7 am.

Amazon union leader Christian Smalls waits as workers cast their vote over whether or not to unionize, outside an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on March 25, 2022.

Smalls, 33, was fired in March 2020 after organizing a campaign to demand personal protective equipment during the height of Covid-19.

He dismissed the criticsm over his track record.

Large national unions "had 28 years to do something," he said.

If workers are waiting for an established group to come along, "they are going to wait a long time," he added.

Smalls said he is hopeful about the vote and about a second election at another Amazon facility in Staten Island next month.

The company has been holding meetings with workers in an effort to stay union-free.

"They are telling us to vote no," said a young male worker who has sat for 30-minute weekly meetings the last three weeks.

The worker, who did not want to give his name, also has received "No" texts from the company, as well as a call from the ALU.

"They were fair," the worker said of the union, adding that he voted "yes."

The vote count is expected to start on March 31 and could take as long as several days.

Explore further Amazon faces rising union push in United States

 2022 AFP
Timnit Gebru poses for photos in Stanford, Calif., Monday, March 21, 2022. When she co-led Google's Ethical AI team, Gebru was a prominent insider voice questioning the tech industry's approach to artificial intelligence. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

When she co-led Google's Ethical AI team, Timnit Gebru was a prominent insider voice questioning the tech industry's approach to artificial intelligence.

That was before Google pushed her out of the company more than a year ago. Now Gebru is trying to make change from the outside as the founder of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, or DAIR.

Born to Eritrean parents in Ethiopia, Gebru spoke with The Associated Press recently about how poorly Big Tech's AI prioritiesand its AI-fueled social media platformsserve Africa and elsewhere. The new institute focuses on AI research from the perspective of the places and people most likely to experience its harms.

She's also co-founder of the group Black in AI, which promotes Black employment and leadership in the field. And she's known for co-authoring a landmark 2018 study that found racial and gender bias in facial recognition software. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What was the impetus for DAIR?

A: After I got fired from Google, I knew I'd be blacklisted from a whole bunch of large tech companies. The ones that I wouldn't beit would be just very difficult to work in that kind of environment. I just wasn't going to do that anymore. When I decided to (start DAIR), the very first thing that came to my mind is that I want it to be distributed. I saw how people in certain places just can't influence the actions of tech companies and the course that AI development is taking. If there is AI to be built or researched, how do you do it well? You want to involve communities that are usually at the margins so that they can benefit. When there's cases when it should not be built, we can say, 'Well, this should not be built.' We're not coming at it from a perspective of tech solutionism.

Q: What are the most concerning AI applications that deserve more scrutiny?

A: What's so depressing to me is that even applications where now so many people seem to be more aware about the harmsthey are increasing rather than decreasing. We've been talking about face recognition and surveillance based on this technology for a long time. There are some wins: a number of cities and municipalities have banned the use of facial recognition by law enforcement, for instance. But then the government is using all of these technologies that we've been warning about. First, in warfare, and then to keep the refugeesas a result of that warfareout. So at the U.S.-Mexico border, you'll see all sorts of automated things that you haven't seen before. The number one way in which we're using this technology is to keep people out.

Q: Can you describe some of the projects DAIR is pursuing that might not have happened elsewhere?

A: One of the things we're focused on is the process by which we do this research. One of our initial projects is about using satellite imagery to study spatial apartheid in South Africa. Our research fellow (Raesetje Sefala) is someone who grew up in a township. It's not her studying some other community and swooping in. It's her doing things that are relevant to her community. We're working on visualizations to figure out how to communicate our results to the general public. We're thinking carefully about who do we want to reach.

Q: Why the emphasis on distribution?

A: Technology affects the entire world right now and there's a huge imbalance between those who are producing it and influencing its development, and those who are are feeling the harms. Talking about the African continent, it's paying a huge cost for climate change that it didn't cause. And then we're using AI technology to keep out climate refugees. It's just a double punishment, right? In order to reverse that, I think we need to make sure that we advocate for the people who are not at the table, who are not driving this development and influencing its future, to be able to have the opportunity to do that.

Q: What got you interested in AI and computer vision?

A: I did not make the connection between being an engineer or a scientist and, you know, wars or labor issues or anything like that. For a big part of my life, I was just thinking about what subjects I liked. I was interested in circuit design. And then I also liked music. I played piano for a long time and so I wanted to combine a number of my interests together. And then I found the audio group at Apple. And then when I was coming back to doing a master's and Ph.D., I took a class on image processing that touched on computer vision.

Q: How has your Google experience changed your approach?

A: When I was at Google, I spent so much of my time trying to change people's behavior. For instance, they would organize a workshop and they would have all menlike 15 of themand I would just send them an email, 'Look, you can't just have a workshop like that.' I'm now spending more of my energy thinking about what I want to build and how to support the people who are already on the right side of an issue. I can't be spending all of my time just trying to reform other people. There's plenty of people who want to do things differently, but just aren't in a position of power to do that.

Q: Do you think what happened to you at Google has brought more scrutiny to some of the concerns you had about language learning models? Could you describe what they are?

Q: Part of what happened to me at Google was related to a paper we wrote about large language modelsa type of language technology. Google search uses it to rank queries or those question-and-answer boxes that you see, machine translation, autocorrect and a whole bunch of other stuff. And we were seeing this rush to adopt larger and larger language models with more data, more compute power, and we wanted to warn people against that rush and to think about the potential negative consequences. I don't think the paper would have made waves if they didn't fire me. I am happy that it brought attention to this issue. I think that it would have been hard to get people to think about large language models if it wasn't for this. I mean, I wish I didn't get fired, obviously.

Q: In the U.S., are there actions that you're looking for from the White House and Congress to reduce some of AI's potential harms?

A: Right now there's just no regulation. I'd like for some sort of law such that tech companies have to prove to us that they're not causing harms. Every time they introduce a new technology, the onus is on the citizens to prove that something is harmful, and even then we have to fight to be heard. Many years later there might be talk about regulationthen the tech companies have moved on to the next thing. That's not how drug companies operate. They wouldn't be rewarded for not looking (into potential harms)they'd be punished for not looking. We need to have that kind of standard for tech companies.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Microsoft is accused by a whistleblower of paying bribes in the Middle East and Africa.

Microsoft, accused by a former employee of paying bribes in Africa and the Middle East, said Saturday it has already probed the allegations and fired several employees as a result.

A former Microsoft employee accused the tech giant of corruption in The Wall Street Journal, and in an essay posted Friday to the website Lioness, which publishes whistleblower accounts.

The employee says he was fired after working for Microsoft from 1998 to 2018 in Africa, where he said he saw company employees involved in corrupt practices in several countries in the region.

He said the practices included using local partner companies to help sell Microsoft products.

Asked about the allegations, a Microsoft executive said Saturday, "We believe we've previously investigated these allegations, which are many years old, and addressed them."

"We cooperated with government agencies to resolve any concerns," Becky Lenaburg, vice president and deputy general counsel for compliance and ethics at Microsoft, told AFP.

Employees were fired and partnerships were ended as part of the response to the original allegations, the company said.

"We are committed to doing business in a responsible way," Lenaburg added.

Microsoft "always encourage(s) anyone to report anything they see that may violate the law, our policies, or our ethical standards," she said.

The Journal said the whistleblower employee also warned the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission), of his concerns in 2019.

In deposition documents, the employee claimed Microsoft had "engaged for many years in rampant bribery practices," according to the Journal.

The employee estimates that Microsoft spent more than $200 million per year on bribes and kickbacks in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, according to news website The Verge.

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PARIS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic is making its latest comeback in parts of the northeastern United States, officials fear that further congressional inaction would hinder America's preparation for the upcoming wave of pandemic, France 24 has reported.

Amid the rebound of the pandemic, the U.S. Congress declined to add 22.5 billion U.S. dollars in COVID-19 funding to a spending bill passed last week, and officials are urging Congress to pass new funding or risk the supply of future treatments and vaccines, reported the state-owned international news network, citing an AFP report on Wednesday.

"If the science shows that fourth doses are needed for the general population later this year, we will not have the supply necessary to ensure shots are available, free and easy to access for all Americans," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients was quoted as saying.

"Further congressional inaction will set us back, leave us less prepared, and cost more lives," Zients said. 
Nearly 13 years after Diane Kindt McDonald created a Facebook group to find others who went to Kurten School with her as a young girl, an all-class reunion is planned for next Saturday for students who attended the school from 1932-1968.

McDonald, 68, of Kurten, attended the school from second through fifth grade 60-plus years ago.

My parents attended the Kurten School as well, and I started to think about a way to connect with the people I went to school with, and I posted Do you remember? on Facebook and listed things I remembered about the school, she said. Before we started planning the reunion, we had maybe 60 or 70 people in the group and we are now at 150-plus. It is a nice connection of generations.

In 1876, the Kurten School opened in Kurten of Brazos County, after Henry Kurten donated the land for the school to be built, according to McDonalds research. The school started as a small three-room log cabin that was utilized in 1900, and was then demolished with a new brick building opening in 1936. The new structure was centered around a large gymnasium, six classrooms, an office, a library and a performance stage. When the school was first opened it served first through 12th grade, but later on only first through sixth grade were taught after one of the classrooms was made into a kitchen to serve lunch.

In 1968, the school was disbanded and students and teachers moved into other schools in the Bryan Independent School District; the move was made necessary because of a lack of funds, declining enrollment and integration demands, McDonald said. The school building served as a community center afterward until it became too difficult to repair and was torn down for the last time. In 1988, the Kurten Community Center was built in the same spot as the schoolhouse along East State Highway 21.

A majority of the students had to attend Fannin Elementary in Bryan after the school was disbanded, McDonald said.

Bobby Kurten, 72, attended the school from first through the fifth grade in 1957-1961. Henry Kurten, founder of Kurten, is Bobbys great grandfather.

Henry came over here from Germany in 1840 and he purchased a bunch of land in this area and donated it for schools, churches, he said. Kurten didnt become a city until 2000  my mom, Amy Kurten, was my third grade teacher; and my first grade teacher was Maggie Kelley, and she had taught my dad when he was in high school.

Sheri Castenson Williams, 66, of Franklin, attended the school from second through fifth grade in 1962-1966. She remembered being in school before segregation and how she knew everyone and it felt like a home away from home.

At that time we were raised in segregated schools. I didnt go to school with any black people until I went to Bryan, Williams said. I always wondered why my mother wanted my siblings and I to attend the school and I think it was because it was a small rural school with small classrooms  it was wonderful. You knew everybody and everybody knew you, and you were with your peers and siblings.

Williams remembered riding the school bus each day and having to wear a dress every day, no matter the weather, because at the time the girls were not allowed to wear pants to school. The gym was in the middle of the school and the students would roller skate when it was cold out during recess, she said.

If you were not good in the classroom, [one might] get paddled, or if you were bad in class you would have to sit on the post at recess near a tree. So the students couldnt play with the others, but could only sit and watch during recess, which was torture, she said.

However, Williams said the teachers were very caring.

The teachers were genuinely interested in you as a person, she said. They didnt just teach you English or math, they taught you life.

Williams sister, Patricia, went to an auction when they were dismantling the school, and purchased one of the school desks they had used in class. Her sister gave her the desk, and Williams plans to pass it down to her grandson when he starts first grade in a few years.

I feel very blessed to have that type of upbringing; it was a very formative time in my life and very happy times in my life, Williams said.

Carol Jean Dittfurth Rhodes, 71, of Bryan, attended the school from first through fifth grade from 1957-1961.

Rhodes said during school lunch, you didnt get dessert if you didnt clean your tray.

If there was something you didnt like, you found somebody that liked it and you got them to eat it for you and then you ate something for them one time so you could get your dessert, she said. I loved the gingerbread and I hated the hominy, and I would find a friend who would eat my hominy so I could get my piece of gingerbread.

McDonald also had fond memories of the made-from-scratch food that was prepared in the schools kitchen.

If you wanted more you would raise your hand if you wanted seconds or thirds, everything was fabulous except for the canned spinach. You had to eat everything on your plate and then you could get a piece of candy and then on to recess, she said. In my research, I found out one of my great aunts was one of the first cooks when the kitchen opened.

McDonald said she is looking forward to the reunion to reconnect with everyone and see if there are still good country kids.

Rhodes mother, Dora Keller Dittfurth, 93, attended the school from 1934-1943 when it was still a high school.

Life was good and simple back then, people were all farmers out here, we did on what we had; it wasnt like it is now, she said. People ask me if I remember the [Great] Depression in 1933. I said I didnt know there was a depression; kids didnt realize that, we were just focused on being kids.

Dittfurth found a lifelong friendship in her time at Kurten School with Irene Stevener, 94, and said they both have stayed in touch with each other every day since. They hope to attend the reunion.

Kurten said he is proud his family is a part of such a long history in the town and loved his country school.

Times were much simpler then, nobody had a cell phone, he said.

It is expected that at least 200 will attend the April 9 reunion. For more information, email McDonald at dmcdonald24@outlook.com. The reunion will be held at the Kurten Community Center Association on 13055 E. State Hwy. 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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If you think about it, property taxes in Texas are a pretty sweet deal for the state government.

Owners of homes and other properties dont like it so much, and neither do renters, who pay the tax invisibly through the owners of the properties they rent. Texans pay some of the highest property taxes in the U.S. The state ranks sixth nationally in property taxes paid as a percentage of owner-occupied housing value, according to the Tax Foundation. That organization ranks Texas 13th among the states in property tax collections per capita. It also says only three states rely more heavily on property taxes than Texas, where 44% of all local and state tax collections come from property taxes.

But the state of Texas itself doesnt levy a property tax. Only school districts, counties, hospital districts and local government entities can do that  and they often use those locally raised property tax dollars to cover holes left in their budgets by the state.

It has proven almost impossible to get meaningful property tax relief from the same state politicians who campaign on that issue every two years. Not only are they insulated from collecting property taxes, but the only way to lower property taxes is to either cut services and programs that Texans want, like public schools and public health, or to raise other taxes themselves.

Making sympathetic noises about Texans high property taxes while not actually doing anything meaningful to lower them is much easier  and, so far, has provided legislative and statewide incumbents with a powerful and perennial political issue that doesnt require them to do anything theyd consider painful.

In the case of school district taxes in particular, that means Texans pay higher property taxes because the state relies on school districts to lower its own bill for public education. Its baked into the state budget, as pointed out, most recently, by the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts.

An increase in property taxes is sometimes needed to keep the police and fire departments adequately funded, along with our schools, hospitals, and other vital services for our communities, TAAD wrote in a recent news release. The State of Texas also benefits from property taxes to the tune of over $5.6 billion in a two-year budget cycle. Thats 75% more than the state makes from the lottery.

That money was taken from school districts with the most property wealth and redistributed by the state to districts with the lowest property wealth, using local property tax dollars instead of state money to level the playing field.

That means the state has more money to spend  $5.6 billion  as a direct result of that use of local property taxes from districts where overall property values are highest. And state officials dont have to answer for it, really: They just say theirs is not the government collecting property taxes. They have cleverly outsourced that political liability  collecting a hated tax  to your local school board.

Schools is the big one, but not the only case where what happens in Austin affects the size of your local property tax bill.

For years, the Legislature has refused to expand Medicaid to cover more people, or do much else to get the state out of its worst-place position when it comes to the number and rate of people without health insurance. Those 5.4 million people  thats a bigger population than 28 states  instead rely on uncompensated health care, when they get any health care at all. Who pays for uncompensated health care? County hospital systems and other patients. Those county systems are funded, in large measure, with property taxes.

Its a roundabout circuit, but its safe to say there would be less pressure on your local property taxes if the state government would find a solution to the uninsured care problem. Other states have done it, with varying effects: All 49 of them have better results than we do when it comes to health insurance coverage.

State officials in Texas like to say that they hate property taxes just as much as you do.

Maybe.

Property taxes are levied by local officials, and state officials can complain about it without being blamed for the trouble taxpayers have with it. Texas doesnt have a personal income tax, a bragging point for everyone involved in economic development, and a relief for anyone with a personal income. The cost of that is higher-than-average sales and property taxes.

The state sets sales taxes, though changes in the rate are rare. And it more or less requires property taxes by requiring local governments to provide services and programs and to rely so heavily on those taxes to pay for the work. And state officials get a bonus: Their local counterparts get stuck with the blame.

Ross Ramsey is executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune. He writes regular columns on politics, government and public policy.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday moved to add Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to the "Covered List" of companies that pose an "unacceptable risk to the national security" of the country.

The development marks the first time a Russian entity has been added to the list that's been otherwise dominated by Chinese telecommunications firms. Also added alongside Kaspersky were China Telecom (Americas) Corp and China Mobile International USA.

The block list includes information security products, solutions, and services supplied, directly or indirectly, by the company or any of its predecessors, successors, parents, subsidiaries, or affiliates.

The FCC said the decision was made pursuant to a Binding Operational Directive (BOD) issued by the Department of Homeland Security on September 11, 2017 that barred federal agencies from using Kaspersky-branded products in their information systems.

The security services provider, in response, said it was disappointed with the FCC's decision and that it's "being made on political grounds" without any technical assessment of its products.

"Kaspersky maintains that the U.S. Government's 2017 prohibitions on federal entities and federal contractors from using Kaspersky products and services were unconstitutional, based on unsubstantiated allegations, and lacked any public evidence of wrongdoing by the company," it added.

The announcement arrives as HackerOne said it's indefinitely suspending Kaspersky's access to the bug bounty platform in response to sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus. The company said it "finds this unilateral action an unacceptable behavior."

When reached for a response, HackerOne told The Hacker News that "Our conversations with Kaspersky are ongoing, and we will continue to work with their team to address their concerns."

The FCC's decision also mirrors an advisory released by Germany's Federal Office of Information Security (BSI) this month against using the company's security solutions in the country over "doubts about the reliability of the manufacturer."

"No evidence of Kaspersky use or abuse for malicious purpose has ever been discovered and proven in the company's twenty-five years' history notwithstanding countless attempts to do so," the company's founder Eugene Kaspersky said on March 16.
Google on Friday shipped an out-of-band security update to address a high severity vulnerability in its Chrome browser that it said is being actively exploited in the wild.

Tracked as CVE-2022-1096, the zero-day flaw relates to a type confusion vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript engine. An anonymous researcher has been credited with reporting the bug on March 23, 2022.

Type confusion errors, which arise when a resource (e.g., a variable or an object) is accessed using a type that's incompatible to what was originally initialized, could have serious consequences in languages that are not memory safe like C and C++, enabling a malicious actor to perform out-of-bounds memory access.

"When a memory buffer is accessed using the wrong type, it could read or write memory out of the bounds of the buffer, if the allocated buffer is smaller than the type that the code is attempting to access, leading to a crash and possibly code execution," MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) explains.

The tech giant acknowledged it's "aware that an exploit for CVE-2022-1096 exists in the wild," but stopped short of sharing additional specifics so as to prevent further exploitation and until a majority of users are updated with a fix.

CVE-2022-1096 is the second zero-day vulnerability addressed by Google in Chrome since the start of the year, the first being CVE-2022-0609, a use-after-free vulnerability in the Animation component that was patched on February 14, 2022.

Earlier this week, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) disclosed details of a twin campaign staged by North Korean nation-state groups that weaponized the flaw to strike U.S. based organizations spanning news media, IT, cryptocurrency, and fintech industries.

Google Chrome users are highly recommended to update to the latest version 99.0.4844.84 for Windows, Mac, and Linux to mitigate any potential threats. Users of Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi are also advised to apply the fixes as and when they become available.
Terri Bossow had a cart heavy with textbooks ready, a tangible bibliography of nursing education at Central Community College.

The schools guests  three professionals hailing from three different locations in the United States  already had everything they needed to know, but Bossow, CCC associate dean of instruction-nursing, didnt seem to mind the extra step.

Youre doing everything twice, she said. Then they dig deeper, kind of like having the grandma there  I want the recipe from you.

The recipe is for a successful, impactful nursing program evaluated through the expert eyes of CCCs recent guests  all highly educated, experienced nursing administrators.

The evaluators from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing hold the key to CCCs nursing program on all three campuses receiving accreditation, and the key to the schools nursing graduates gaining employment in their field of study.

Nowadays, if you do not graduate from an accredited program, then you cant get a job, Bossow said. There are different levels of accreditation for different programs, so ours (associates degree) would be different than the University of Nebraskas.

The nursing branch of CCC  which includes campuses in Grand Island, Columbus and Kearney  is also subject to state accreditation. The school as a whole goes through similar processes, explained Marcie Kemnitz, CCC Grand Island campus president. We have a college wide accrediting body as well. This is a subset of that. Its similar to what we currently do, but more focused on the nursing program.

Behind the scenes, we have to have the accreditation in order to offer the nursing program, but it goes beyond that in terms of making sure that we have the things that we need and continue to provide a quality program, Kemnitz said.

The accreditation process is an ongoing effort. Despite the constant preparation and record keeping, self-evaluation and adherence to rules, there is a value in oversight and seeing a program through fresh eyes.

A person hesitates a bit because theres work involved in it, but its also a good process to go through to get a better evaluation of how were doing, Kemnitz said.

Six standards are considered, based on data, facility visits and personal testimonies, among other things. There was recently a ACEN-required public hearing for people to share their thoughts on CCCs nursing program.

While it is a public forum, there are restrictions placed on who can speak per ACEN, Bossow explained. Their rules are to invite the general public, but theyre very specific. They dont allow reporters. No employees. They dont want any bias. We cannot choose the students who will attend; they want complete true feedback from everybody.

Despite the schools efforts to publicize the hearing, Bossow said few  if any  members of the public came. It wasnt because of lack of effort, she said. They require us to put letters on the (schools) doors, put it on our website. We sent it to all of our clinical sites, all the people that we work with in nursing. They require us to invite all the nurse leaders that are working at our clinical sites.

Records are also paramount, Bossow said. Were pulling budgets and those kinds of things. Standard five, is basically looking into your life as if you were a person. Heres your bank account, heres your savings. Have you been paying your bills on time?

Facilities are also considered.

Bossow said the ACEN evaluators were impressed with all three sites. Kemnitz said, One of the things that we got some really good feedback on was our facilities. Weve been fortunate to have outstanding facilities at all three of our locations, and more recently, with some remodeling going on and a new building in Columbus.

The all-encompassing report will come out in June. Bossow said she is realistic about the results. It probably will not be the perfect report card. But I think considering the multiple changes that have happened in our program, I think were doing OK, she said. There is room for development, room for improvement.

Part of the imperfect report card will be influenced by the many changes happening recently for CCCs nursing school, Bossow said. We have new faculty, we have new leadership, were coming out of a pandemic. We have a new curriculum that was rolled out prior to me getting here.

Bossow and her staff have support behind them to execute a plan. Kemnitz said, We have a phenomenal department called the Faculty Resource Center that provides curriculum and instructional support ... We have the right pieces to be able to help our nursing faculty, and with their knowledge they come with a lot of skills and information.

Like becoming accredited, adjusting and embracing change takes time, Bossow said. In my opinion, we have all the tools we need to be successful. Now we just need to breathe, make the plan and roll it out.

Collecting data within the department is a self-identified area to improve, according to Bossow. Currently, when we look at our standards, one of the weaknesses is continuing to collect data. We collect different data than the college does as a whole, ours is more in-depth. So thats one area that we need to work on.

Nursing at CCC is one of the schools cornerstone programs, Kemnitz said. Our nursing program has been part of our college for many years. Its one of our strongest and longest standing programs. But its also a driver for our communities as well in providing access to and a continual supply of both LPNs and RNs.

Now that the trio of nursing experts from afar  who received no pay for their efforts  have come and gone, there is work to be done and a waiting game to be played. Bossow said she is looking forward to getting CCCs nursing programs ACEN report card in June.

We are always looking at our program outcomes, our student outcomes, how, what can we do better.

Doing better takes the effort of not only Bossow and her staff, but the community as a whole, she said. There are no secrets. This is a community effort to help us maintain this program. We are doing a lot of work to maintain this so we can produce nurses back into our community. Thats what this is all about.

Jessica Votipka is the education reporter at the Grand Island Independent. She can be reached at 308-381-5420.

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Law enforcement officials safely resolved a hostage situation Saturday morning in Grand Island involving an escaped inmate and a 60-year-old man.

Tyler Manka, 27, of Grand Island, escaped the custody of Hall County Department of Corrections at about 10:19 p.m. Friday while being treated at St. Francis Medical Center.

Corrections officers, law enforcement officials and medical staff members failed to detain Manka and he fled from the medical center on foot. Manka then forced entry into an apartment in the 100 block of Stoeger Drive, which is several blocks east of the hospital.

A 60-year-old Grand Island male occupied the apartment. Manka took the man hostage and barricaded himself in one of the rooms of the apartment.

According to GIPD, what followed were tenuous hours of negotiations and the deployment of the GIPD Tactical Response team, negotiators, additional officers, as well as members of the Hall County Sheriffs Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol.

At about 6 a.m. Saturday, tactical operations were turned over to SWAT due to the length of the incident while negotiations continued.

The situation was resolved shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday when SWAT was able to make entry into the room, safely rescue the hostage and take Manka into custody.

GIPD reported that the investigation is ongoing including potential new charges for Manka.

Grand Island Police Department is thankful for the cooperation of surrounding agencies and a peaceful resolution to this incident, GIPD Capt. Jim Deuring said in the news release.

According to prior records involving Manka:

In December 2016, he was charged with first-degree false imprisonment, use of a weapon to commit a felony, terroristic threats and third-degree domestic assault after he pointed a gun at a female companion whom he wanted to drive him around, following a domestic dispute.

During the incident, Duering said, Manka struck the woman in the face and flattened some of her tires. Manka later was arrested at different location.

In January 2019, Manka was wanted on a warrant for failure to appear for sanction and failure to stop for injury.

In February 2019, Manka was wanted for failure to appear for failure to stop, following too closely and driving during suspension.

In February 2021, Manka was arrested for allegedly stealing property from an employee locker room at CHI Health St. Francis. GIPD reported that Manka also possessed a knife that exceeded the size allowed for convicted felons.

In July 2021, Manka was arrested after a 36-year-old Grand Island man was shot in the area of 16th and Broadwell streets. Manka was arrested after a foot pursuit and after he barricaded himself in a garage at 11th Street and Ruby Avenue. After negotiations and the use of chemical munitions, Manka was taken into custody.

Manka was charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a weapon to commit a felony, possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person and several other offenses.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Your health is important, especially the choices you make as you get older.

At Grand Island YMCA, a new program launches in April to connect its members with the tools needed for healthy living and disease prevention.

Living Your Best Life is being spearheaded by YMCA fitness instructor Cindy Paustian.

The program starts in April with spots for 10 YMCA members.

Its basically an extension of our fitness programs, Paustian said. People come to us and they want to exercise, so were taking the next step and helping them with their overall health and wellness.

Paustian, a masters-level health educator, developed the curriculum.

For the program, she will meet one-on-one with members to address nutrition, weight gain, chronic conditions and symptom control.

A lot of our people have never had a person talk to them about their health. Not necessarily fitness, but their health, and how that plays such an important part of their overall wellness, she said. Yes, theyre getting fit by exercising, but lets look at these other components.

Paustian said the program is inspired by her time as a hospital health and wellness director in St. Paul.

I worked with an elderly population there, and they just needed education on how to take care of themselves, she said. They knew they had diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and theyd go to the doctor and get a pill and go home. But a pill isnt going to help their overall health and wellness.

To address this, Paustian implemented a fitness plan and overall health and wellness program for patients.

For her program at The Y, members similarly will exercise three times per day and their food intake will be monitored.

Its amazing how, once people start eating healthfully and making good food choices, it helps with their energy level, it brings down their cholesterol levels, blood pressure levels, she said. Nutrition education has a lot to do with it.

Paustian specifically worked with farmers, who incorrectly equated daily labor with fitness.

Its a completely different workout, she said. They dont get their heart rate up. They get really no cardio. They may be physically fit as far as muscle strength, but they dont have any cardio strength.

The program at the Y is specialized to all ages and populations.

I dont think the younger people might take advantage of it so much, but certainly the middle-aged and older folks will, Paustian said.

A series of Lunch & Learn half-hour classes will focus on topics such as Are you at risk for heart disease? and Dont let arthritis stop you from your life.

The first class is planned for April 19.

Once people get that education, they do so much better with their lives, she said.

There is a need for such programming locally, Paustian said.

It is the sort of program being adopted by YMCAs in larger cities, she noted.

I wanted to be the first to offer it here in central Nebraska because it is such a big part of our membership, of the whole body wellness piece, and its just a natural progression for us to go in that direction, she said.

Paustian enjoys helping people identify and overcome their issues to become the best possible versions of themselves.

They get so frustrated with themselves because they cant lose weight, theyre not gaining muscle mass like they think they should. I educate them on that and that relieves their stress and worry, she said. That educational piece is so good for them to hear because they beat themselves up a lot over these issues.

There is no additional charge to YMCA members for Living Your Best Life.

For more information, contact the YMCA fitness instructor at 308-395-9622, or visit Grand Island YMCAs website at giymca.org.

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YORK  The York County Commissioners have taken a formal stand against LB 921, which is currently being proposed before the legislature, and they have sent an official letter to District 24 Senator Mark Kolterman stating their opinion as a board.

LB 921 would require that all sentences for Class 3, Class 3A or Class 4 felonies would be served in county jails instead of prisons.

Senator Steve Lathrop introduced the bill, for which the statement of intent says is to prioritize state prison beds for the most serious criminal offenders.

A few weeks ago, York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka voiced his concerns about the bill before the commissioners and asked if they would send the same sentiments to Sen. Kolterman.

Sheriff Vrbka said the state sheriffs association was in opposition as well.

This bill would reclassify felony sentences. Our concern is that inmates, convicted felons, could be in county jails for years and years. I, along with other sheriffs, am very concerned about the burden that could put on counties, as many people would be in jail instead of the penitentiary.

Right now, felony sentences are served in prison settings. County jails are used for sentences under one year, for misdemeanor consequences, to hold people through the court process until they make bail and to provide immediate custody upon arrests.

Class 3 felonies carry a possible maximum prison sentence of four years in prison; Class 3A felonies carry a possible maximum prison sentence of three years in prison; and Class 4 felonies carry a possible maximum prison sentence of two years in prison. If LB 921 would become law, those two-, three- and four-year sentences would be served in small county jails instead of the states penal institutions.

The costs of housing jail inmates are substantial, even before food, medication, medical bills, dental bills, etc. And county jails arent equipped for long-term services such as drug and psychiatric treatment, Sheriff Vrbka pointed out.

Then add to that the issue of at-limit capacity which York County and many other Nebraska county jails are dealing with right now. For months now, the county has consistently paid other counties to house inmates when the jail here is full.

We have been at full capacity for some time, Sheriff Vrbka said. If this bill would pass, I can only imagine how much that could impact our jail.

Sheriff Vrbka and Seward County Sheriff Vance traveled to the Unicameral this past week, to speak in person with Senator Kolterman about their concerns.

This week, the York County Commissioners submitted an official letter of concern to Sen. Kolterman as well.

The commissioners statement says, We would like to voice our opposition to LB 921, which would allow for the housing of state inmates in county correctional facilities. This proposal, as introduced, would result in a major shift of state responsibility onto local taxpayers. To put in perspective, in York County, the cost of meals for an inmate is $5.43 per day, totaling $79,000 over a four-year period. Just this week alone the county board authorized over $8,000 in medical and dental expenses for York County inmates being housed in York and surrounding counties. With no clarification as to who would be responsible for the cost of housing the states inmates, LB 921 would most certainly result in a property tax increase. This, along with the difficulty of hiring and maintaining a workforce, would be very problematic for our constituency in York County.

Sheriff Vrbka said Sen. Kolterman appreciated the conversation, agreed with Vrbkas and Vances statements, and welcomed the written statement from the county commissioners, as he too is against the bill.
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The Grand Canyon Trust has released a new research report and interactive story map collection detailing how the White Mesa uranium mill, a mile from Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, has become one of Americas cheapest radioactive waste dump.

The report, The Business of Radioactive Waste, and accompanying map series, Bears Ears & Radioactive Waste: The White Mesa Mill Story chronicle more than 15 radioactive waste streams (including Honeywell in Metropolis) approved for shipment to the U.S.s last functioning uranium mill, which neighbors the Ute Mountain Ute Tribes White Mesa community.

The report found that over 700 million pounds of these wastes have been buried in the mills waste pits. The mill plans to bury millions more from as far away as Estonia and Japan.

Part of the report focuses on the Honeywell Metropolis Work Site and Allied Chemical in Metropolis. Much of that information was brought forth years ago and has been reported in The Southern Illinoisan, including:

Honeywell initially shipped 1,700 barrels of waste to the White Mesa Mill without regulatory permission.

In 2011, the EPA discovered 7,500 barrels of illegally stored waste at Honeywells Metropolis Works site, and Honeywell was fined $11.8 million. The waste was then reclassified as alternate feed that could be disposed of in uranium mill waste pits rather than at a licensed hazardous-waste-disposal facility.

At least 69 workers at the Metropolis Works plant developed cancer and many died from the disease.

In 2017, workers at the White Mesa Mill discovered leaking barrels of Metropolis Works waste that measured 6 to 10 times higher in uranium content than originally planned.

In December 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency barred the mill from accepting waste from federal Superfund sites over concerns related to emissions of cancer-causing radon gas, but the order does not halt other radioactive waste shipments.

As the uranium market shifts amid the transition away from fossil fuels, two years of COVID disruption, and the attack on Ukraine, the White Mesa Mill must stand as a cautionary tale for decision-makers of how domestic mineral production is not, by its very nature, a boon. We have much work to do to genuinely ensure social and environmental justice in Americas energy transition, Grand Canyon Trust Energy Director Amber Reimondo said.

The importance of land, water and air to native tribes was explained by Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, former member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council and former co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.

"Were very tied to our culture. Its our identity. Its very important that we protect every aspect of our natural resources, our air and our water, she said.

San Juan County, Utah, commissioners said an operation like White Mesa Uranium Mill would not be allowed to operate in wealthy white neighborhoods. They are concerned about pollution getting in the ground water and migrating down the San Juan River.

For more information about White Mesa Mill visit www.grandcanyontrust.org.

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Conventional wisdom is that companies dedicated to cleaning up oil spills and other environmental issues would be located outside of the Midwest  perhaps in Texas or along the Gulf Shore.

But conventional wisdom would be wrong because the largest manufacturer of environmental response equipment in the world is in Carmi, Illinois.

Its a question we get all of the time at tradeshows: What are you guys doing in the middle of the United States? Youre not even near a shoreline! explains Brian Cook, creative services manager for Carmi-based Elastec. Our answer is simple. This is home; this is where we are from.

Cook said the location is a good thing, despite the conventional wisdom.

Most oil spills happen on land as opposed to out in the ocean, he said. Its a fit for us because we fill the niche where most of our products are geared toward inland spill response and remote locations. Thats the places where our equipment is designed to go. Some of our competitors are more geared to open water spills with large seafaring equipment.

The equipment Cook refers to is a wide-range of products designed to clean up oil spills and other accidents which could be harmful to the environment. The company is known for oil skimmers, dispersant application systems, vacuum systems, pumps, specialized vehicles and even boats designed specifically for environmental response situations.

The company started more than 30 years ago when the two owners of a White County oil trucking business serving the areas oil production fields began trying to clean up a small spill. Discovering that oil adhered better to the side of a five-gallon bucket they dropped than to the equipment designed specifically for the purpose, a light bulb went off, Cook said.

The two, Donnie Wilson and Jeff Cantrell, set out to invent a sort of a drum oil skimmer, taking the device to other clean-up projects.

One that happened, it turned into a response organization. Eventually, they turned it into a fabrication company where they just built the skimmers fulltime for other oil spill responders and oil companies. Over the course of 30 years, growing it to a wide variety of products and solutions now used in more than 165 countries with a network of dealers around the world, Cook outlined.

The company now has more than 100 employees working to design and build not only skimmers, but vacuum systems, containment booms and more. As the company has grown, so has the product line.

Were also into trash and debris, pollution control, Cook explained, adding that one of the companys products, called an Omni Catamaran, is an aluminum workboat used daily on the Chicago River to collect trash and debris.

Cook said the company is expanding more and more into the prevention and control of invasive plant including some particular species of seaweed, turning the company into one aiding areas with tourism, especially in the Caribbean.

There is a seaweed that washes up on the shore and it smells terrible; its ugly and it gets in the way of people trying to swim or use the shorelines. Our Beach Bouncer works like a fence out in the ocean that deflects the seaweed to a different are where it can easily be connected, Cook said. This is helping the economy because tourists werent coming to the resorts when the beaches were covered in seaweed and gross. Were helping these businesses.

Cook said the company also is looking to the future.

The world is kind of gradually phasing away from oil, so we have our ear to the ground on what can be done to solve other problems and thats why we are getting more into things like plastic pollution and waterway pollution, he said.

He added that Elastec constantly looks for ways to benefit the environment and its customers.

Were problem solvers. Were here to make things better, he said.

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The Harkins is believed to be the oldest bass tournament in Illinois. The event was the brainchild of the Southern Illinois Bassbusters. The first tournament was held on Crab Orchard Lake in 1967.

There have been some minor changes in format over the years, and the venue was changed to Rend Lake for a year or two in the early days, but since the mid-1970s there has been little change. Four-man teams pound the waters of Crab Orchard Lake for two days, sometimes producing prodigious weights of fish.

The number of participants has fluctuated over the years, the proliferation of bass circuits, has taken a bite out of entries in recent years, but The Harkins has soldiered on as an April fixture on Southern Illinois calendar  until 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut the Harkins down last year, ending a streak of 52 consecutive years. With COVID now at manageable levels, the Harkins is back (April 23-24), albeit with a slightly different format. Not all restrictions have been removed from Crab Orchard Lake, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Federal guidelines still restrict events to 50 participants or less.

They wanted to get all the restrictions off by the first of May, said Mike Tompkins, long-time tournament director for The Harkins. Were going to do the first day at the Lake of Egypt. The second day, on Sunday at Crab, with the first 10 teams only. That way we can keep it at 50 people or under.

Right now, if you have over 50 people at an event, it has to be personally signed off by the Secretary of the Interior. I dont think thats (The Harkins) going to take priority.

The new format was the idea of Earl Sigley, who has taken over the tournament directorship from Tompkins.

Sigley, who operates the Anglers Choice tournament circuit, had a tournament scheduled at the Lake of Egypt on April 23-24, but had to cancel. Since he already had a marina reserved, he suggested the new format to Tompkins.

The Southern Illinois Bassbusters contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and got the green light to proceed.

The response from anglers has been positive.

They like the fact that with the whole group on Crab or two days, that first day the lake gets beat up pretty good, Tompkins said. Some of the guys called up as soon as it was announced. The tale will be how many participants we get that first day. That will tell us how its going. I personally havent heard anything negative.

The cut after the first day is new to the event.

Weve had some good feedback about it, Tompkins said. If it helps get more participation, it will be definitely something well do going forward. Were kind of forced into it this year, but it may be something that helps.

The 11th place team, if theyre bumped out by a few hundreths of a pound, they wont be happy. Thats just the way it goes. Thats the way a lot of the professional formats run.

In addition to being a Southern Illinois tradition, The Harkins has generated thousands of dollars for Shriners hospitals. A percentage of every entry fee is donated to the Shriners.

Its been hard to maintain it, Tompkins said. Weve been pretty successful so far. We did have our lowest participation two years ago, but we still managed to make some good money for the Shriners. Its just part of the fabric here. Both of them are just such traditions.

The weigh-in at Lake of Egypt will be at 3 p.m. at Pyramid Acres. The Crab Orchard weigh-in will be at 3 p.m. at the Prairie Creek Recreation Area.

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On Tuesday, April 5, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) will host CDL Day at the State Fairgrounds, located at 1200 Rosewood Drive, Columbia.

The event will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

SCDMV will provide testing services for commercial learners permits (CLPs) and commercial drivers licenses (CDL). Limited services will be available for motor carrier customers.

Customers looking to obtain a CLP will be able to apply for and take the required CLP knowledge examination on site. Customers will also be able to apply for and take the skills test for a CDL if the applicant completes the pre-trip inspection and meets all other CDL requirements, to include Entry Level Driver Training, if applicable.

Testing services will be offered as a walk-in service and will not require appointments. The pre-trip, Motor Carrier Services assistance, and knowledge test cut-off time is 3 p.m.

Its really the first time weve done something like this, which makes it special, said Kevin Shwedo, executive director of the SCDMV. Our goal was to create an opportunity to do something to support the needs of commercial drivers and the trucking industry.

SCDMV staff will answer questions and help motor carrier customers complete International Registration Plan (IRP) and International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) applications online. If the motor carrier customers IRP and/or IFTA application has been submitted, completed, and reviewed prior to the on-site visit, SCDMV employees will be able to make the final approval. If the application is approved, customers will receive an invoice on-site that will allow them to visit an IRP/IFTA SCDMV branch office, pay the fees, and obtain plates and decals.

Motor carrier customers will also be able to renew IRP accounts, payout IFTA quarterly tax returns, process plate transfers, and more.

The event was planned with the support of the South Carolina Trucking Association.

We are excited about hosting such an event to help support South Carolina truckers, said Courtney Saxon, director of Branch Services. Whether a customer needs to take a CDL road test or help with an IRP/IFTA application, we will have staff on-site to assist.

The entrance on Rosewood Drive will serve as the check-in location. From the check-in location, customers who are applying for a CLP will be directed to the testing area to complete a knowledge test. Motor carrier customers looking to renew an IRP application, pay a tax return, or update other information will also be directed to the correct location.

Customers applying for a CDL will be directed to the pre-trip inspection area and will receive further directions to the CDL skills test area after the pre-trip has been completed.

For questions about the event, customers can email CDLFair@scdmv.net.

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South Carolina State Universitys College of Business will host its 50th annual Business Week from March 28 to April 1.

The week provides an opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to work together, engage with the business community, and highlight the College of Business, said Dr. Barbara Adams, dean of the College of Business.

Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the daily events.

Although I have not been here for all 50 years, I actually started the observation of Business Week in 1972 as the advisor of a student organization, Adams said. I left in 1974 and returned here in 1990, so I was greatly surprised that the week was still being observed. Initially, each business student organization had a day during the week to highlight an activity. It has expanded over the years.

The theme for the week is Embracing Change and Enhancing Global Opportunities.

Guest speakers will be featured throughout the events. Omari Richards, CEEMEA Sales Trading, Global Markets Division|Equities, Goldman Sachs International, will be featured at the Awards & Recognition program.

The virtual Awards & Recognition program will honor students with the highest ranking by classification in each major, as well as faculty awards for teaching, research and service; Entrepreneur of the Year; and Alumnus or Alumna of the Year.

The celebratory week will conclude with a faculty/staff community service project.

Sophia Galvan is an SC State senior majoring in communications with a concentration in broadcasting. She is interning with SC State University Relations.

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There was a festive atmosphere at the Regional Medical Center's Dialysis Access Institute on Monday as it celebrated a decade of providing lifesaving procedures for patients who have lost kidney function.

The DAI is a one-of-a-kind facility that helps treat difficult dialysis procedures and provides educational programs and training in dialysis access for physicians, nurses and technologists from across the globe.

It is believed to be the only facility of its kind in the nation.

We don't want to make one splash and one set of ripples, DAI Founder Dr. John Ross told those gathered for the institutes anniversary celebration.

To be a Dialysis Access Institute, we have to keep making splashes and making more ripples. That is what we want to do, that is what we have been doing, and we will continue to do. We are going to be ripplers, he said.

In the beginning

The DAIs origins stem from a call Orangeburg nephrologist Dr. Mohammad Nassri made to Ross, who was practicing at the Bamberg County Hospital at the time.

Nassri told Ross of a patient who needed an arteriovenous fistula. Nassri asked if Ross could do the procedure.

I said absolutely I would do that, Ross recalled. Never done one before in my life.

We did the little fistula connecting the artery and vein in the wrist and, lo and behold, it worked, he said. I was amazed that it worked. More patients would come down to Bamberg that he would send.

The first procedure turned into a second and a third.

The practice started coming down where we were doing more and more of this dialysis access in this 55-bed hospital with one operating room and one procedure room, Ross said. The practice started with about 15 to 25 cases on a day.

We were doing big-time surgery in this very small hospital, he said.

Then there was a turning point.

The Bamberg County Hospital was set to close, leaving dialysis patients without care.

We were not going to abandon them. That was just not going to happen, Ross said, noting he was serving a large number of patients.

And then he realized, What we really need to do is to establish an institute.

What is an institute? Well, first of all we have to take care of the patients very well. Number two, we need to do training. Number three, we need to do clinical trials."

The rest his history.

The decision was made to move the procedures to Orangeburg, which led to the construction of a 16,000-square-foot building with six operating rooms.

It is a showplace in one sense, Ross said. There is nowhere this elaborate anywhere that I am aware of in the world.

Training around the world

Physicians who have benefited from the institute agree.

The Dialysis Access Institute is one of the great jewels, not only regionally or nationally, but internationally, Dr. John Aruny said in a video presentation at the event.

This little building in this little town has really served the entire world, he said.

Aruny served as the director of vascular and interventional radiology at the Yale University School of Medicine for 23 years before coming to Orangeburg to practice with Ross.

Ross said he has often been asked how a little rural hospital has been able to become world-renowned.

I said, Look around look at my people, he said. It was not unusual for the visiting physicians to say, You have the greatest assembled team we have ever seen.

Ross explained how the DAI has become so well-known.

The word that gets used is that we caused a ripple effect, Ross said. You don't get a ripple in the pond unless you make a splash. The appropriate question is how did you make a splash?

In the dialysis access pool, our pond, we made a splash, he said.

The key to the institutes development was the focus on a goal, the motivation to reach the goal, energy targeted toward reaching that goal and enthusiasm, plan implementation and outcomes.

We learned as much as we can about dialysis access, Ross said. We read books, we go to meetings and guess what? We found out that a lot of things that had been in the textbooks and that had come up in meetings was dead, flat wrong. Why is it wrong? Because they were not following their patients.

Ross said, Who was the best teacher that we had to create this Dialysis Access Institute? The patients. That is where we learned what worked and what didn't work. We are in the business of education. We love to bring doctors in.

DAI Medical Director Dr. Mark London is one of those doctors.

London said he began to do dialysis access procedures while in private practice in Pennsylvania and attended conferences throughout the country.

He met Ross and the two became friends. During a September 2016 visit to Orangeburg, Ross asked London if he would move to South Carolina and work with him at the DAI.

Last June, London became the medical director of the institute.

The knowledge and experience that I have gained from Dr. Ross over these last five years has made me the well-rounded access surgeon and interventionalist that I am today, London said.

London said the DAI provides every type of dialysis access and intervention from fistula creation to the placement of arteriovenous grafts, placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters by advanced laparoscopic techniques and more.

He also said the institute has been at the forefront of research, conducting clinical trials for new and innovative techniques, devices and equipment as well as having leading companies in the field such as Gore, Boston Scientific, Bard and Medtronic sponsor doctors to come to the DAI to learn.

Doctors have come from countries such as Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Canada, England, France, China, Guam, Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Ukraine and Australia.

Ross has pioneered so many different techniques and devices, London said. To be training under him to me is like being trained under Dr. (Michael) DeBakey as a general surgeon, which is a very famous name in the surgical world.

London also noted Ross is one of only about 302 surgeons in the world to have received the achievement of being a member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators.

The honor is recognized by the American College of Surgeons for continual advancement in the science and practice of education, teaching, learning, assessment and scholarship.

London said the DAI serves as a tertiary center for dialysis access where difficult cases are sent.

This is a place to come, he said. The DAI performs nearly 4,000 procedures and operations each year and has patients come from across the state and from outside the state.

The DAI is accredited by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology as a hemodialysis vascular access training center.

Ten-year accolades

The 10-year celebration included the Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Junior ROTC Color Guard presenting the colors.

The Pledge of Allegiance was said and the National Anthem was sung by South Carolina State University Student Government Association Chief of Staff Jeremiah McFadden.

RMC Board Chair the Rev. Dr. Caesar Richburg praised the work of Nassri, RMC trustee Betty Henderson, the late RMC vice president of strategy and compliance Brenda Williams, as well as for the Board of Trustees for their work in helping convince Ross to come to RMC.

Dr. John, as I affectionately call you, thank you ever so much for you and your remarkable team and all the good work you all have done, Richburg said. This has really been a remarkable service to the greater community not only to Orangeburg, of course, but to the state and, believe it or not, the greater nation of ours.

This is a really a jewel for our community  not only for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties, but also for the state of South Carolina and nationally," RMC President and CEO David Southerland said. There are only a few of these locations in the entire country and for us to have one here in Orangeburg is quite amazing.

We also bring in physicians from around the world to come to train with Dr. Ross and his team, Southerland said. We are spreading the word around the whole world about Orangeburg and the technology and the techniques that Dr. Ross has brought to us.

Southerland said the DAI also brings light to the Regional Medical Center, that we do provide good services here.

Southerland said the hospital is focusing on quality and service.

We are trying to rebuild certain types of services, rebuild our volumes and return the operations of this hospital back into a very proud operation so we can continue to provide these services to the communities of Orangeburg and Calhoun counties, he said.

The celebration was held during March, which is kidney month. The centerpiece of the event was a kidney sculpted out of ice.

Congressman James Clyburn, who could not be at the event in person, submitted a letter honoring the work of the institute.

This institute has provided educational programs for doctors, nurses and others regarding dialysis access to ensure the best practices can continue to be developed and reviewed for patients across the globe," Clyburn wrote. "These extensive teaching capabilities have enabled DAI to train other surgeons and without a doubt have saved thousands of lives.

Clyburn also thanked Ross for his vision in enabling Orangeburg and RMC to become a significant training center.

When investments are made in these facilities, groundbreaking treatment and unparalleled outcomes are possible, Clyburn said.

It is my hope this facility will continue to serve the local community and beyond for years to come.

State Rep. Jerry Govan and state Sen. Brad Hutto sponsored a resolution congratulating the DAI for its 10-year anniversary. The resolution was presented to the directors and staff of the DAI.

Ten years is a milestone, Hutto said. Ten years for something like this is a long time. We remember things like the Pony Express. You know how long the Pony Express lasted? 18 months. We still remember them to this day.

This is something unique to have this type of facility in small, rural South Carolina, Hutto said.

State Rep. Russell Ott said the DAI has touched countless lives over the last 10 years.

We have a lot of those types of things going on here at the Regional Medical Center across the board, Ott said. Just wonderful things we that we all should be proud of. We have to continue to tell these stories.

Continue to make those splashes so our community can continue to benefit from those ripples, Ott said.

Looking back, ahead

Ross said looking back over ten years, he would not change much, adding that being in Bamberg actually helped get the institute up and running.

In a big city, I probably would not have the latitude to do that, he said.

As to the future of the institute, London said the federal government is looking for more dialysis treatment to be done at home. That means the DAI will be focusing on how to more effectively evaluate and treat patients in such a way.

We will continue clinical trials and research programs to allow us to remain being the leaders in our field, London said, adding that the DIA will look to expand and grow training programs to include peritoneal dialysis catheter placement and other access procedures.

London said the DAI will also seek to provide more education and outreach to patients in the community and provide transport services for patients.

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An overwhelming majority of the Regional Medical Centers employees are in compliance with the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, according to hospital officials.

"We are 98% compliant," RMC Vice President of Operations Sabrina Robinson said.

The RMC currently employs about 1,290 with 26 individuals not compliant, meaning they have not received both shots.

Despite the fact that the employees are non-compliant, Robinson said, "We have not terminated anyone."

"We have taken any employee not compliant off the schedule but have not officially terminated," Robinson said, noting those employees not in compliance cannot work until they get both shots.

Since the Feb. 14 deadline for employees to receive the first shot, RMC has seen a reduction in 89 total employees.

"The difference in employee counts doesn't have to do with the mandate but rather natural separation between employee and employer," Robinson said.

Robinson said she did not have data on how many employees have not received both shots but did receive a religious or medical exemption.

There were 125 employees not in compliance after the first-shot deadline Feb. 14.

"There has not been disruption in services," Robinson said of the hospital's ability to serve patients.

The vaccine mandate for U.S. health care workers was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The hospital gets paid by the federal government to take care of Medicare and Medicaid patients. Medicare and Medicaid patients make up about 72% of the hospitals total reimbursement.

Hospital officials say if they are not in compliance with the vaccine mandate, they would lose the federal monies.

As to COVID cases, there were no RMC employees nor patients with the coronavirus as of March 18.

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Surgeon and professional musician were the top two career choices for Dr. John Ross as a high-schooler.

The 73-year-old is now glad he chose a fulfilling career in the medical field, where he has had the chance to transform the lives of countless patients.

The internationally renown vascular access specialist who grew up on a farm outside Sumter reflects on his establishment of a Dialysis Access Institute at the Regional Medical Center in 2011 to serve patients with end-stage renal disease.

The RMC marked the DAIs 10th anniversary on March 21.

My feeling was I wanted to be one of two things. For one reason or another, I said, Maybe surgery would be fun, and have not regretted that. Thats a pivotal choice  that worked out just fine, Ross said.

The Regional Medical Centers Dialysis Access Institute is continuing to provide premier training to international physicians in the latest vascular-access procedures while staying committed to patient care as the only full-time, dedicated access center in existence.

It was all

about the patient

Ross said it all started back in 1979 in Bamberg, where he was a surgeon at the now-defunct Bamberg County Hospital.

At that particular point and time, I was down there only a couple few months when Dr. Mohammad Nassri, who's still a kidney doctor in Orangeburg, sent me a patient to have dialysis access. You can't be dialyzed unless you have some kind of access to get the blood out, Ross said.

He continued, "So he sent the patient down to me. No one had ever done this kind of surgery very much. It's still brand new. So we did the patient, and the patient did well. He started sending more and more patients."

Ross said his philosophy of care had always been patient-centered.

It was always about the patient. ... As time went on, there were numbers of patients coming from all over South Carolina to Bamberg: Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg. Then some started coming from Florida, Georgia and all over. We were taking a true special interest in doing this kind of surgery. Believe me, this was not planned. It just happened," he said.

Ross continued, We started to develop new operations, and we started thinking about this quite a bit differently because since I do not have any partners, I got to see the things that did well, and I got to see the things that didn't do as well. Patterns started to form.

Ross said clinical trials started in the late 1990s, including studies on how to use new devices.

We started the training program back in that period of time, where many of the companies that had different devices wanted to have them demonstrated to physicians. So physicians were coming from all over the United States to Bamberg, he said.

Ross finds that amazing since Bamberg supposedly was the fourth poorest county in the United States.

The practice kept growing with so much of this particular type of surgery. I guess it was maybe around 2010 that the Bamberg hospital and Allendale and Barnwell wanted to form a tri-county hospital down there, Ross said, noting the plan did not ever come to fruition.

I was told that the Bamberg hospital was going to close because they needed those beds for this new tri-county hospital. So I decided, Well, what are we going to do? We have this tremendous amount of patients, and these patients need to be taken care of, he said.

The process of finding a place for what would be the DAI began.

Health care more

than health business

Ross said Charleston and Columbia were among the places he could have established a DAI.

All of these places said that they had interest in bringing the practice with me because the patients would hopefully come wherever I went, but Orangeburg hospital was an interesting situation. My wife actually talked to the hospital administrator, who in those days was Tom Dandridge. Tom said, Gosh, we would love to have you come over here, the surgeon said.

I said, Well, we will be happy to come over, but we need a building. We need to have a staff. We need to have a true dialysis-access institute, something that has never been done before. So the board and administration got together and realized, My gosh, this could be something that would be good for the Orangeburg hospital, but certainly for all these patients that are around, Ross said.

I think it was March of 2011 we did our first cases under the guise of Dialysis Access Institute. Of course, we had to get a Certificate of Need and get the building built and all those kinds of things. I think it was October of 2013 that we did our first cases over at DAI. Its been going great ever since. The hospital has been wonderful. We still had the training programs, we still had clinical trials going, and we had patients that come from all over the Southeast now to Orangeburg, he said.

Ross said he could not have accomplished a thing without a dedicated team of medical professionals.

Its always going to be about we. Without the nurses and the techs and the other people that are necessary to make this work  this is truly a large institution  nothing happens. The purpose was just like it started in 1979  its all about the patients, he said.

Ross said caring for patients must not be superseded by business interests.

Were still in health care, not as much as health business. A lot of times in health care it has transitioned sometimes  and maybe by necessity  to health business. We still want to take care of the patients no matter what, he said.

Ross continued, That philosophy that started 40 years ago or more is still the same philosophy that were trying to function with even though it has changed in a lot of places. Were still trying to deal with the patient first. Thats how it got started and hopefully that philosophy is going to extend us right into the future as it should.

With the number of patients needing dialysis growing tremendously, the need for vascular-access surgery is not going away anytime soon, he said.

I have been told theres nothing in the medical community increasing faster than dialysis, and a lot of that is because of diabetes, of course, Ross said, noting that the DAIs completion is a worthy accomplishment for all involved.

This is becoming in certain places in the United States a template that is trying to be reproduced. Weve got the building, weve got the physicians, weve got place, weve got the personnel, Ross said, noting that the future of dialysis-access care is bright.

Well, we know the number of patients that are going to require dialysis is increasing rapidly. You cant have dialysis unless you have dialysis access. The need for this kind of surgery to be done is going to do nothing but increase.

If we can keep our patient-first philosophy and take care of them as best as we know how, be compassionate when taking care of this patient population, the future of the Dialysis Access Institute will only increase the volume and, hopefully, the training effect, he said.

The DAI has welcomed numerous physicians, nurses and technologists from around the globe for training in the procedures/operations performed at the DAI each year.

The DAI is accredited by the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology, or ASDIN. Physicians from throughout the world train onsite and via live streaming video as they pursue ASDIN certification, or to enhance their knowledge and skills in vascular access.

That are over 60 different operations that we do. It depends on the patients age, their blood vessels, a whole bunch of stuff. Hopefully it has helped us by looking at the entire patient, Ross said, noting that the partnership between RMC and the DAI has been fruitful.

The hospital has tremendous facilities over there and wonderful doctors, but I think because of the uniqueness of what we do, it kind of makes patients that would come from Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Augusta and Savannah come here, which then brings in a population of patients to RMC that they would not normally have, he said.

Ross, the DAIs former medical director, said that position is now held by Dr. Mark London, who he said is like a son to him.

I trained him. He and I go way back, and I decided that I needed to pass that baton. But we talk almost every single day about things, said Ross, who still comes to the DAI once a week  and sometimes more  to perform surgeries and other duties.

Its just whenever they need me. I look forward to doing that. I still enjoy the patients. I enjoy the technical aspects of doing operations, always have. You dont give up things that you still enjoy as long as you can do those things well, he said. I am 73 years old. I get up at 4:30 every morning and am wide open. Nothings changed yet.

Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Follow "Good News with Gleaton" on Twitter at @DionneTandD

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This April, Casper Theater Company will premiere Meadow Breeze, a comedy play written by Donna Fisher, the companys president and artistic director.

The work follows four colorful residents living in the memory care wing of an assisted living facility.

First, theres Oscar: a self-absorbed, successful playwright who doesnt think he needs to be there. Hes joined by the cantankerous Pearl, Edna  whos always in a good mood  and Homer, the flirt.

The works inspired by the community where Fishers 94-year-old mother lives, she said.

All of the residents live with some from of memory loss.

Its a new adventure every day, because they dont remember what happened yesterday, she said.

Theres also an element of mystery: Pearl suspects theres something Oscars hiding, and wants to get to the bottom of it.

Fisher wanted to portray the inner worlds of people at assisted living facilities, especially those who need memory care. And, while the show is a comedy, she said the play doesnt poke fun at the residents disabilities. Its written to be uplifting, she said.

Previous works by Fisher include the miniseries Chez Tre Chic and What Happened to Smith, and the one act Hangin With Ralph and Gladys.

Meadow Breeze will run at the Casper Theater Company at 7:30 p.m. April 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16, and 2 p.m. April 10.

The April 14 show will be accompanied by a spaghetti dinner. Reservations are $35, and must be made in advance. To reverse a table, call the company at (307) 267-7243. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m.

Other showings are $16 for regular admission and $14 for seniors and students. Tickets can be purchased online at www.caspertheatercompany.net, in person at the Casper Senior Center and Cheese Barrel or at the door.

The Casper Theater Company is also raising money to fix its roof, which is leaking in about five different places, Fisher said. Part of the ceiling in the theaters shop has collapsed.

The repairs are estimated to cost over $6,000  more than the company has in its reserves. The group expects the repairs completed before Meadow Breeze opens.

Fisher plans to launch an online crowdfunding campaign for the project. For now, those interested in donating can reach out over the phone, she said.

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A former Casper police officer accused of gouging a mans eye out during an altercation stemming from a vaccine mandate protest intends to plead no contest in his case, court filings show.

Jesse Jones, who was off-duty at the time, is set to change his plea to the single misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment on April 7 in Natrona County. The hearing was postponed from March 4.

A plea of no contest means the defendant is accepting a conviction for the charge, but isnt admitting theyre guilty of the allegations.

Since all three local circuit court judges have declared a conflict in the case, Judge Clark Allan from Converse Countys Eighth Circuit is set to preside over the hearing.

A sentencing memorandum filed earlier this month states the no contest plea is part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. The prosecutor in Jones case has declined to comment ahead of the hearing.

According to the memo, any sentence Jones receives would be capped at 60 days in county jail, or possible probation, if the court agrees with the plea deal. It also states he would pay up to $5,000 in restitution.

Jones was placed on leave from the Casper Police Department following the incident, and eventually resigned his position after the department began the termination process.

Court documents state that Jones was outside Seton House, a nonprofit that provides housing in North Casper, protesting the organizations imposition of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Oct. 1. The alleged victim, the husband of the organizations director, reportedly approached him and the two men got in an argument that turned into a physical fight.

Investigators concluded, based on witness accounts, that the other man had been the aggressor but that Jones gouged the mans eye after he stopped being a threat. The man had to be flown to a Denver hospital for treatment, court documents state.

The sentencing memo alleges Jones was retreating and trying to avoid any altercation, even after being sucker punched.

It alleges that the man and his wife planned the fight and that his wife did everything in her power to try to keep her husband from being exonerated from any wrongdoing.

The memo also argues for the lower sentence based on Jones lack of any criminal history, involvement in the community and military service.

These mere seconds of time and his decision will not define who Mr. Jones is, the memo says, and it certainly will not blemish his consummate career of protecting our country and his community.

The memo argues in favor of probation, rather than jail time, to allow Jones to stay with his family. It says that his cooperation with law enforcement in the case should also be taken into consideration.

This is not a case to take political advantage due to Mr. Jones protesting against vaccination mandates. Mr. Jones was exercising his First Amendment right of free speech, the memo states.

Jones lawyer did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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A sign hung in the gymnasium of Journey Elementary School. It said Welcome to Journey in brightly-colored letters. Kids streamed in and sat in rows on the floor. Blue and green balloons festooned the room. A line of public dignitaries sat by the wall. Everyone had come together to celebrate one of the nations best teachers.

There was one catch: that teacher had no idea everyone was gathered to honor her.

Wyoming First Lady Jennie Gordon, Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder, Milken Educator Awards Senior Program Director Greg Gallagher and others visited the Casper school Friday to recognize fourth-grade teacher Rebecca Junge and give her the surprise of a lifetime.

I was under the impression that we were just celebrating the work that weve done in (social and emotional learning), she said after she had been presented with the Milken Educators award. I am shocked because I was convinced that this was for somebody else. There are phenomenal educators in this building.

Junge is one of 60 educators across the country who will be Milken Educator Award recipients this year. One of those other 59 educators, Aaron Kruger, is a Wyoming resident who teaches social studies at Central High School in Cheyenne.

Milken Family Foundation Educator Awards recognize outstanding K-12 teachers, principals and specialists across the nation. Educators cant be nominated or apply for the award. The foundation, in partnership with state education departments, does the work of selecting excellent teachers.

The award goes to early and mid-career educators.

One of the main goals of the award is to inspire young people to join the teaching profession, but also to stay, Jana Rausch, Milken Foundation executive director of communications and special projects, told the Star-Tribune.

This is not a lifetime achievement award, Gallagher said during the award ceremony. This also represents a promise of the future.

The award is paired with an unrestricted $25,000 check.

Im extremely honored; Im real frazzled, Junge said, standing in front of the kids and teachers with her giant check. They all stood to clap for her.

Junge comes from a family of educators. She grew up attending schools in Natrona County. Some of the educators who shaped her are now her colleagues.

I love it here, I love what I do, I love the kids, she said.

Junges teaching style brings fun to learning.

She translates games like Super Mario and Among Us into practical skills. She transforms her classroom into a campaign headquarters to teach students about the electoral process. Among her colleagues, Junge is a source of expertise on project-based learning. She has been a helpful hand in navigating shifting technologies and strategies through the pandemic.

You have raised the bar very high, Schroeder said to Junge. Thank you for taking your craft so seriously, for working so hard at it, for loving teaching the way you do, for loving these kids the way you do.

Kruger also brings his enthusiasm and love for teaching to the classroom. He uses primary source documents and role-playing exercises to bring history to life. He emphasizes the importance of writing skills. He galvanized conversations about offering students different opportunities to demonstrate their understanding. His history classes have waiting lists.

His advanced placement world history class is particularly popular. Students in that course regularly surpass state and global scores on the AP world history exam.

The fact that there is a waiting list to get into his classes not only speaks volumes, but is the highest compliment a student can pay a teacher, Schroeder said at Krugers award ceremony earlier on Friday. What an inspiration  and I would have definitely waited in line to take his history class, too.

That enthusiasm and dedication to teaching has a lasting impact. Some students credit Kruger for inspiring them to go onto college after graduation.

Aaron Kruger is clearly passing along a passion for self-discovery and lifelong learning to the next generation, said Gallagher.

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Dont let your campfire ignite a wildfire.

Close to 85% of wildland fires are caused by humans, and the warm, sunny days luring people out of their houses and back to their favorite campsites bring with them increased fire risk. Even now, when snow still blankets the states higher elevations, it doesnt take much for an ordinary campfire to spiral out of control.

They say there is no longer a fire season, said Donna Nemeth, regional press officer for the U.S. Forest Service. Its a fire year.

Check Wyomings fire restrictions before setting anything ablaze. In places where fires are allowed, a few easy steps  siting, supervising and extinguishing campfires responsibly  can help protect you and the wild places you love.

Siting

Campfires are safest when theyre built inside established fire rings, encircled by stones, Nemeth said.

If existing rings arent an option, its best to use a shovel to scrape a large area down to the bare soil, and put plenty of distance  on the order of 10 feet  between the fire and any vegetation it could ignite, especially dry grasses and overhanging branches.

Nemeth urges caution, regardless of weather, when choosing a site.

A lot of times, if there is a rain or a slight amount of snow, people think that its safe  that the fire is not going to spread, she said. And a little bit of moisture can be very deceiving, because fuels dry out very quickly.

The shovel and plenty of water should always be handy, just in case the fire still finds a way past the stones. The bigger the blaze, the higher the risk of stray embers becomes.

Keep the campfire small, Nemeth said. If youre simply using it for cooking or for warming yourself, theres really not a need to have a huge fire.

Supervising

Once the fire is burning, dont leave it unattended, no matter how contained the flames might seem.

Even the slightest breeze can blow embers outside of the campfire ring and cause the fire to spread, Nemeth said.

Abandoned campfires are a common problem for the Forest Service, which often receives reports of active  or poorly extinguished  campfires whose igniters are nowhere to be found.

Keep in mind, Nemeth said, that you can be held liable for the cost of fire suppression activities if your campfire starts a wildfire.

Extinguishing

Even after campfires flames are gone, their smoldering logs and ashes pose a substantial fire risk. A sprinkling of water  the contents of a cup or a water bottle  isnt enough to cool a campfire that was just put out.

Nemeth recommends reserving several gallons (at least) to flood the area, and stirring the water into the ashes with a shovel until the embers are gone and the residual mud is cold to the touch.

Just keep adding water and stirring it, she said. Dont ever leave your fire until you know that it is completely out cold.

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GILLETTE  Scott McAdams sat down at the dinner table somewhere in Poland.

For about three weeks, his days blurred together, with fragments of road trips into Ukraine, air raid sirens and supply drops mixed in.

The exact date is hazy, but the memory of the al dente pasta with homemade sauce he shared with three generations of Ukrainians last week has held strong in his mind.

It was a family reunion in a time of war that may not have happened without him.

The Gillette mans day began day in Ukraine, just as it did for two of the women he shared the table with. While making a supply run to an orphanage, he had learned of a woman, Lidia, and her 84-year-old mother, who needed help reaching her daughter, Yana, in Poland.

The women from the elder two generations piled into his Ford Galaxy and rode with him west through their war-torn homeland.

Ukraine has been reshaped by the ongoing Russian invasion that has ripped apart cities and caused millions to flee the country for refuge outside its borders.

Lidia and her mother were stuck inside and looking for Yana, who was with her fiance, Samuel, in Poland. Other than some nausea from driving the choppy roads out of the country, McAdams and his two passengers made it safely across the border.

Rejoiced and reunited, the family asked McAdams to stay for dinner.

It wasnt only the pasta meal Samuel made that he remembers. It was the glow on the faces of that family that stuck with him. Yana and Samuel had postponed their wedding until her mother and grandmother could attend. Likewise, her mother and 84-year-old grandmother didnt know when or if they would see Yana again.

Then, with the help of a retired Army veteran with a tidy gray beard and a pair of wire-framed glasses, those problems dissipated.

With close to three weeks in Poland and Ukraine behind him and an unknown timeline ahead, McAdams has counted on adding more memories like that to his foggy recollection of his time aiding Ukraine.

McAdams left for Poland with Robert Pfeil and four others associated with Host Orphans Worldwide in early March. At the time, the war had waged on for less than a week.

They werent sure how they would help, just that they wanted to be there to find out how.

While Scott drove south through Ukraine on Thursday morning, heading toward an area outside of Odesa, it was an otherwise normal morning back home in the McAdams household.

As the sun was peeking into the Gillette sky around 7 a.m., Jackie got the kids ready while they prepared for another day of school. It was already well into the day for Scott, who is nine hours ahead of his family back home.

Because of the time difference, Jackie and their five school-age kids, all adopted from Ukraine, have found that early morning is one of the better times to reach Scott. From the Ukrainian roadway, he connected with his family on a video call.

He and Jackie talked, then she passed the phone to 7-year-old Braven, who eventually passed it off to his sisters, Aariah and Phalynn, 8 and 11, who then handed the screen with their dads head on it over to their big brother, Valera, who turns 17 on Monday.

Then Scott got distracted.

Whats that on your head? he said, looking at his sons new haircut. Looks like youve got a mop up there.

It is a mop, Valera quipped back.

They went back and forth, as Valera smiled from their living room in Gillette and Scott from the country his son grew up in. Then Valera handed the phone to Andrew, 15, with whom the mop jokes continued.

When all together and talking to their dad, its easy to forget how far away he really is. But the longer the war has gone on, the more worried Valera has become.

Its not someplace youd want your father (to) go to, he said. Even though he served for such a long time, its still not safe for him to go there.

After getting a vehicle and the proper drivers license, Scott began running supplies from Poland to orphanages in Ukraine. McAdams, Pfeil and the other four who represented Host Orphans Worldwide joined with people from Happy Kids, a Polish organization, to provide resources to people in Ukraine and also refuge to those who make it out.

The organization has helped more than 1,000 refugees leave Ukraine, McAdams said. Through his own driving, he has brought four people out himself, with plans to escort more.

Since Russia keeps overtaking more of Ukraine, the more he is there, the (more) dangerous it is, Valera said.

One night, while McAdams slept in his van outside of a gas station, waiting for it to open so he could fuel up, he said he woke up to a barrage of artillery strikes about 10 kilometers away. When that night bled into daytime, a Russian fighter jet lapped the air about 1,000 meters from his vehicle. Then later that night, he awoke to sirens going off when a base about 25 kilometers from him was hit in an airstrike.

Otherwise, he said life around him in Ukraine has gone on almost as normal.

Back in Gillette, Jackie and the family have lived as close to normal as they can without Scott around. Not only have they adopted five children from Ukraine, but they have another son, Jack Lucas, who they are in the process of adopting and is still there, not to mention two older biological children to boot.

Our children still have family over there; our children still have friends over there in the areas that are heavily attacked, Jackie said. I guess we just want them to see that we value their country as well.

McAdams, like the others he joined, left for Poland without a clear timeline for his return.

But with a niche carved out delivering supplies into Ukraine and occasionally escorting people outside the country, he found a way to make a difference for the people from the same home as his children.

Im planning on staying here until they do not need me anymore, McAdams said. I want to help as much as I can whether its transporting supplies or transporting personnel out of Ukraine. I want to be able to help them as much as possible however long I can.

Like the other two women who McAdams helped cross into Poland. The two sisters had not seen their parents for almost a year. But earlier this week, he safely drove both of them to their parents.

He cant describe exactly what it feels like when he sees the look in the eyes of those families as they were reconnected. He also knows that unless you experience it firsthand, neither could you.

Its a singular reward for helping individuals survive a unique and life-changing scenario.

Thats what you guys cant see, McAdams said in phone interview Thursday with the News Record. I can tell you that and you can imagine it. But I can see the joy, the happiness, of the mother receiving her children last night, the tears that she had, that she hadnt seen them for almost a year now and didnt think she would ever see them. Thats something you guys cant see, you can just read about.

McAdams didnt know what to expect when he and the others touched down in Poland earlier this month. He was compelled to help and, along with Pfeil and the others who traveled to Poland with good intentions but without a plan, put himself in a position to do so.

They left Gillette hoping to make a difference for the people of a country under attack, a country where their own adopted children still have roots.

After just a few weeks, they already have.

This story was published on March 19.

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Justice John Marshall Harlan was the only dissenter from the U.S. Supreme Courts infamous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, in 1896, in which the majority invoked the separate but equal test to uphold segregation laws.

Justice Harlans immortal dissent became law in the landmark case of Brown v. Board. Of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), in which the Court overturned Plessy and held that separate but equal was inherently unconstitutional and a violation of the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause.

Harlans dissent in Plessy, combined with his landmark dissent in The Civil Rights Cases of 1883, establish him as the great dissenter in American constitutional history. His dissent in The Civil Rights Cases, in which the Court had struck down an 1875 congressional statute that would have banned racial discrimination in all places of public accommodation, laid the foundation for Supreme Court rulings in the 1960s that prohibited private acts of discrimination. His opinion in Plessy provided the architecture for the Courts ruling in Brown, which remains our nations most famous civil rights case. His lofty status reflects that imperishable contribution, of course, as well as his enduring observations about fundamental constitutional principles and provisions.

Justice Harlans dissent in Plessy reiterated the important 13th Amendment argument that he had made in The Civil Rights Cases of 1883, in which he said that that amendment did more than abolish formal slavery and involuntary servitude. It also prohibited the badges and incidents of slavery. The 13th Amendment, he wrote, decreed universal civil freedom in the country.

In Plessy, Harlan confronted the Court with its own ruling in Strauder v. West Virginia (1880), where it had interpreted the 14th Amendment to mean that the law in the States shall be the same for the black as for the white and that the amendment embodied a necessary implication that blacks enjoyed exemption from legal discriminations, implying inferiority in civil society, lessening the security of their enjoyment of rights which others enjoy.

The segregation act in Louisiana that separated blacks from whites on railroad cars, Justice Harlan stated, was unreasonable because segregation was not germane to a legitimate legislative end. The 14th Amendment, he asserted, prohibited the state from creating legal distinctions based on color, such as those that involved public transportation, which included railroads. In words that resonate across the decades and inspire repetition, Harlan stated: Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.

Justice Harlans outrage in Plessy was on full display. He believed that the Courts ruling in Plessy would be viewed as pernicious as Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), in which the Court held that Black Americans could never be citizens of the United States. In his opinion for the Court in Dred Scott, Chief Justice Roger Taney spoke of blacks as a subordinate and inferior class of beings, upon whom had been impressed deep and enduring marks of inferiority and degradation.

Harlan took the Plessy Court to task for embracing separate but equal as a doctrine purporting to satisfy the 14th Amendments guarantee of the equal protection of the law. The thin disguise of equality, he wrote, would mislead no one, nor atone for the wrong done this day. Harlans frustration with his colleagues was palpable. In the Civil Rights Cases, the Court prevented Congress from abolishing segregation. In Plessy, the Court supported segregation.

Justice Harlans landmark dissents are made more remarkable by his public, mid-life repudiation of the world of slavery. Born into a Kentucky slave-holding family he, himself, owned slaves and opposed the 13th Amendment. However, his growing belief that the Reconstruction Amendments and increased federal power were indispensable to Americas future aided his intellectual and political transition from a defender of slavery to a powerful and eloquent advocate for the civil rights of Black Americans.

Following his death in 1911, Justice Harlan was regarded by most scholars and jurists as a middling Justice, largely because his views on the nature of the Reconstruction Amendments were out-of-step in a nation that practiced segregation. His reputation, however, dramatically changed in the 1950s, as a result of two events in 1954  the Courts adoption of his famous dissent in Brown v. Bd. Of Education and Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhowers nomination of his distinguished grandson and namesake to the High Tribunal.

The subsequent scholarly reevaluation of Justice Harlans career paid considerable respect to his stature as a great dissenter, who had foreshadowed fundamental developments in American constitutional law. It was Harlan who had suggested that the 14th Amendment was designed to incorporate the Bill of Rights so that they would apply to the states. It was Harlan who had vigorously argued the harms and evils of the inherent inequality of racial segregation. And it was Harlan who argued that the plenary power of Congress under the Commerce Clause could be used to outlaw racial discrimination in public accommodations. There are many lessons to be learned from Justice Harlans life and career, not the least of which is the reminder of the value of open-mindedness and a willingness to reevaluate issues in light of new facts and changing societal circumstances.

David Adler, PHD, is a noted author who lectures nationally and internationally on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Presidential power. His scholarly writings have been cited by the US Supreme Court and lower courts by both Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress. Adlers column is supported in part through a grant from Wyoming Humanities funded by the Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Adler can be reached at david.adler@alturasinstitute.com

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O beautiful for spacious skies; For amber waves of grain; For purple mountain majesties; Above the fruited plain.

The lyrics for America the Beautiful, first published in 1895, start out by celebrating the abundance of food for our nation. With less than 2% of our population producing food, most Americans dont think about where their next meal will come from. Weve been extremely lucky here in the U.S. when you consider how some nations have struggled to provide food for their population. Today a U.S. farm feeds 166 people annually, according to the American Farm Bureau. So, while 165 people are working to build everything from cars to computers, they dont have to worry about what they need to grow in order to keep themselves and their family fed.

Dr. Gary Sides has said that without agriculture, there would be no culture and that is certainly true. In some areas of the world people still spend a good portion of their day working for their next meal.

Without our farmers and ranchers our tomorrow would be consumed with efforts to grow enough food rather than efforts to allow us to do something else. Its highly unlikely that we would be able to develop the infrastructure to develop a car, much less a computer, without the amazing productivity of our farmers and ranchers.

Weve indeed been blessed here in the United States because we have an agricultural system that provides food not only for the U.S., but for others around the world too. The wherewithal to do this has been shared all around the world and today famines that were ever present in our ancestors past are, if they occur, now a function of geopolitical forces. Lack of food is no longer the problem. Political forces that prevent food from getting to people are the problem.

Wyoming ranchers and farmers are proud to be able to raise food that contributes to this effort. We have a large support network from the meat processor to the trucker and finally the grocery store employee who takes the beef we produce on our rangelands and pasturelands and transports it to our urban compatriots. Wyomings ranchers and farmers grow cattle, sheep, sugar beets, dry edible beans, corn, malt barley and hay, among other commodities. The total economic impact to Wyoming from food and agriculture amounts to $12.4 billion getting funneled into our local communities. While the farmer or rancher might be up until 10:30 at night getting the harvest in or planting the crops, they can also be up until 10:30 the next night at a school board meeting or a church function, helping to pave the way to tomorrow.

Working together with family and their neighbors, they are indeed working to grow a climate for tomorrow.

Ken Hamilton is the executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.

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Wyoming campaign finance law, or campaign finance reform if you prefer, is pointless and counterproductive. It has served as nothing more than a bundle of platitudes and a dirty political tool for more than a century, since the Republican Party unreasonably accused Democrat John Kendrick of violating the states original Corrupt Practices Act in 1916 when he ran (successfully) for the United States Senate. The last few election cycles have been no different, with the Wyoming Gun Owners facing a complaint from a political opponent and paying an unconstitutional $500 fine under a law recently struck down in federal court. WyGO got a bit of justice, but with the passage of House Bill 49 in the recent budget session of the Wyoming Legislature, campaign finance is sure to get worse.

Campaign finance law is nothing more than public accounting. Candidates and certain organizations called political action committees (PACs) report all of the contributions they receive and all of the money they spend on elections to the government, which makes the data publicly available. Other organizations only have to report certain contributions and expenditures that specifically tie to election advertisements. In Wyoming, the data for statewide and legislative races is provided by the Secretary of State in Wyomings Campaign Finance Information System (WYCFIS) at wycampaignfinance.gov, a website built with an appropriation of $2.5 million in 2008.

Very few people use this website. One of the exceptions is journalists: public knowledge of Wyoming campaign finance is based almost entirely on what institutional press chooses to publish from the website. Ill avoid the all-too-common canards about journalistic bias, but context is almost always absent from campaign finance stories. When a $1,500 contribution to a candidate is reported, for example, the same article almost never states whether the candidate has received similar contributions from other (less controversial) donors. Whats worse, the press seldom provides the web address for the context: according to a search of the papers archive, the term wycampaignfinance.gov appeared a total of three times in the print edition of the Casper Star-Tribune, the last time in 2016, until this article.

That said, context is unfortunately irrelevant in campaign finance. Campaign donations, whether a $200 contribution from the Wyoming Stock Growers Ag PAC or $1,500 from a rich left-wing, right-wing or centrist individual are certainly not buying a candidate or unduly influencing policy. Neither is a $1,600 radio ad from WyGO. That simplistic drivel usually plays well to the base of a candidate or cause, but the fact that its always a political opponent whos in the pocket of an industry or individual while the ones making such claims are paragons of virtue who are not unduly influenced by those who fund them proves its just empty rhetoric.

But empty rhetoric is as old as politics. Obviously, it works: the true believers reading this article are assuring themselves that I dont believe what Im writing here and that Im only saying this because of a briefcase full of cash I received in a parking deck in Arlington, Virginia last week. And Im sure they thoroughly review WYCFIS every election cycle. Sure.

This brings us to HB49. Wyoming law will now punish late filings from candidates, PACs, and even groups that dont have any campaign financing to report with fines of up to $500 per day. And now reports will be filed under penalty of perjury, threatening candidates and causes with felony charges over rudimentary accounting errors. This will do nothing to purify politics: instead, the worst politicos will continue to file complaints against their opponents, but now with sharper teeth. The newspapers will dutifully cover these complaints, giving more attention to a candidates or organizations alleged malfeasance than what they stand for, which is exactly what their opponents have in mind. Finally, there will be loud calls for even more regulation when one group or another (possibly represented by a great Wyoming attorney and yours truly) successfully fights back.

If this is reform, Wyoming would do well with a lot less of it.

Steve Klein is a partner at the law firm Barr & Klein PLLC in Washington, DC and a lobbyist for the Wyoming Liberty Group. He is currently counsel in a lawsuit challenging Wyomings electioneering restrictions around polling places and is co-counsel to Wyoming Gun Owners in its successful suit challenging state campaign finance law.

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Bandits in Morvant assaulted and robbed a 54-year-old woman of everything she had on her on 
BODY REMOVED: Crime scene investigators remove the body of one of two murder victims from a Nissan AD Wagon after a shooting incident yesterday at South Park shopping mall, Tarouba Link Road, near San Fernando. The two men were identified by police as Malick Straker, 31, of Arima, and Joel Chambers, 29, of Morvant. Photo: DEXTER PHILIP
When Dr Eric Williams decided to lay down his bucket here in the islands after his release from the Caribbean Commission and his debates with Dom Basil Matthews in the Public Library, he held lectures in Woodford Square, which he called The University of Woodford Square. We who were alive then felt happy.

He attracted people of like mind for the betterment of the islands, so he formed the PNMthe Peoples National Movement.
A children's book on anti-racism leapt to the top of Amazon's bestseller list this week after it was slammed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"Antiracist Baby," written by award-winning author and Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi, held the No. 1 spot on Amazon's list of bestselling children's books as of Friday afternoon.

The 32-page picture book introduces young readers "to the concept and power of antiracism " and discusses kid-friendly steps families can take toward "building a more equitable world," according to an online synopsis. Sales skyrocketed hours after Cruz criticized the book at the Tuesday hearing, claiming it teaches kids "that babies are racist."

In his line of questioning, the senator asked Jackson her thoughts on critical race theory, which he said was being taught to students at Georgetown Day School in Washington where Brown is a trustee, Forbes reported.

He called portions of Kendi's book "quite remarkable" while pointing to specific pages and excerpts printed on large pieces of poster board.

"Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?" Cruz asked.

"I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or though they are not valued, or though they are less than," Jackson replied after a brief pause. "That they're victims, that they're oppressors. I don't believe in any of that."

Cruz's questions drew anger and mockery online after what many saw as the senator's efforts to smear "Antiracist Baby" backfired.

Jackson is poised to become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court if confirmed. The four-day hearing, during which she endured hours of hard questioning, officially came to an end Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on her confirmation on Monday, though the vote could push to April 4, according to NPR. Then the full Senate would vote.

Photos: Scenes from Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic confirmation hearings

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Arizonas U.S. senators are asking President Joe Biden to keep a public health policy in place that allows the government to quickly expel migrants who enter the country without documentation, even as migrants and human rights groups call for an end to the policy and a restoration of the asylum process.

Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly said in a March 24 letter that an abrupt end to Title 42, originally put in place by the Trump administration in response to the pandemic, would greatly increase strain on Arizona border communities.

Given the impacts that changes to Title 42 could have on border communities, border security, and migrants, we urge your Administration not to make any changes to Title 42 implementation until you are completely ready to execute and coordinate a comprehensive plan that ensures a secure, orderly, and humane process at the border, the senators wrote.

They said removing Title 42 without a firm plan in place risks the health and safety of Arizona communities and migrants.

Any changes to Title 42 require coordination between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Justice and Health and Human Services, the senators said. Also needed are planning and communication with border communities and stakeholders, including local government leaders and community organizations providing services to migrants, they said.

Such groups in Arizona have not been consulted about Title 42 changes, the letter says. Until the Administration does that type of consultation with local government leaders and nonprofits along the border, it is premature to consider changes to Title 42 authorities.

The senators said they have seen no evidence of any plan that would maintain a humane and orderly process if the government ends Title 42.

Migrants have a different wish

Three days before Sinema and Kelly sent their letter, hundreds of migrants and supporters marched in downtown Nogales, Sonora, calling for an end to Title 42.

The migrants marching on March 21, the two-year anniversary of the policy, said Title 42 essentially cuts them off from applying for asylum, a process thats enshrined in both international and domestic law.

The Biden administration has to decide whether to renew the policy in early April, and migrants and their advocates hope to see it end and the asylum process restored.

We will continue to advocate for peoples rights to be respected, said Chelsea Sachau, managing attorney of the Florence Projects Border Action Team, which provides free legal services to migrants.

Under Title 42, the U.S. has expelled more than 1.7 million migrants, often into dangerous situations similar to why they left their homes, such as threats of violence, extortion and discriminatory rents and wages.

One such migrant, Victor, fled Guerrero, Mexico, with his wife and three children when his life was threatened. He asked the Star not to use his last name because he doesnt feel safe from the threats that caused them to leave their home.

With a sibling living in Phoenix, Victor had hoped when he and his family arrived at the border eight months ago, they would be allowed to seek political asylum in the U.S.

Like so many others, he feels they have nothing left to do now but wait for Title 42 to end.

We hope President Biden listens to us, Victor said. We dont want any handouts. We just want stability and security for our children.

New resources

Many humanitarian aid organizations along the border are already stretched thin. Organizations and migrant shelters are in place to help but they need more resources from the federal government, says Sachau.

The $1.5 trillion spending bill that became law on March 15 does contain more resources, including $150 million for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to assist migrants, a 36% increase from last year. Locally and nationwide, migrant-aid organizations have been waiting for the federal government to come through with more funding to replenish dwindling resources.

Since March 2021, Pima County has received more than $10 million from last years allocation to the program, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The county and local humanitarian organizations had been waiting anxiously for the new allocation in order to continue covering the $1.3 million monthly they are now spending on programs that provide services to asylum seekers, a cost that would likely increase if Title 42 was ended.

Apart from the $150 million for local communities to assist migrants, new border funding includes:

$100 million for Border Patrol hiring and retention;

More than $1.2 billion for border management costs, including migrant processing and transportation, personnel overtime and other costs;

$200 million for two permanent processing facilities near the border to help manage migrant flows, improve efficiency and protect migrants and communities;

$275 million to address the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services backlog by hiring additional personnel, including asylum officers and refugee officers;

More than $340 million for border-security and port-of-entry technology.

Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223 . On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara

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At one Tucson Unified School District K-8 school, the math, reading and writing skills of sixth through eighth graders are slightly lower or about the same as those of fifth graders.

At one district middle school, 56% of students are at least three grade levels behind in reading and writing.

TUSD administrators presented these data points to the district governing board Tuesday to show learning gaps caused or worsened by the pandemic.

The administrators did not name the two schools and later refused to disclose the schools names to the Arizona Daily Star, citing student privacy.

A TUSD spokeswoman said the state rates one as an F school and the other as a C school, although that context was not provided during the board meeting. The data presented is not representative of trends districtwide, she said.

Administrators emphasized that students in all grade levels throughout the district have improved their progress during the current school year, especially those in grades one through five.

Its harder to make up lost ground in the upper grades, they said, but presented no data on high school students progress.

However, the two specific examples they showed of middle-school progress alarmed some board members.

If Im reading this correctly, were not doing any catch-up. Were not making any progress from fifth grade to eighth grade, board member Ravi Shah said about the two unspecified schools.

These are not numbers that we should be celebrating, board member Sadie Shaw added. Thats not good enough.

TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo, who has held his post since 2017, responded, Middle school math has been the Mount Everest every year Ive been here. Learning disruptions in the pandemic worsened the situation, he said.

One reason for the long-term issue is the advanced math concepts introduced in middle school, he said.

Its also the grades where we experience a great bulk of our teacher shortage, Trujillo said. Its really difficult to get highly qualified math and ELA (English language arts) content specialists in sixth, seventh and eighth grades because most of them opt for the high schools.

We do see growth and growth is good. But were not done, he said.

Data details

Teachers and staff have been working on a three-tiered system of support to provide increasingly personalized instruction to those who are still behind.

But district personnel said they were unable to immediately answer board members questions about how many students are in each tier of additional learning support, and where students placed in reading and math comprehension prior to this year.

Trujillo emphasized that students in younger grades are rebounding.

At the beginning of the school year, in ELA (reading and writing) placements, about 92% of students at the unspecified middle school were scoring at one or more grade levels below, a graphic showed.

Placement levels have improved this school year, but 83% of students are still at least one grade level behind. Within that group, about 65% are two grade levels behind and 56% are behind three or more grade levels.

Another chart summarizing reading and math comprehension levels among this years third- to eighth-grade students at the unidentified K-8 school showed steady progress from third to fifth grades.

Third graders showed a 269 math comprehension level and a 262 reading comprehension level. Both those numbers rose steadily to 300-level comprehension among the fourth graders and to 400 level among fifth graders.

But the comprehension levels plateaued in the sixth to eighth grades.

Sixth grade students at the unnamed K-8 school scored a lower average than the fifth grade students in both reading and math. The sixth grade average math comprehension level was 434, lower than the fifth graders 448, and the sixth grade reading level was 397, compared to the fifth grades 402.

The seventh and eighth grade math comprehension was even lower at 422 and 405, respectively. The reading progress rose to 457 in seventh grade and 458 in eighth grade.

District administrators later told the Star there are so few students represented in the data that disclosing the names of the schools might compromise their privacy.

This data is collected from a subset of our district schools and should not be generalized to represent overall district trends, TUSD spokeswoman Leslie Lenhart said.

She added that the two schools were used as specific examples to demonstrate that the district is in academic recovery post-coronavirus, and implementation of certain programs has shown positive academic growth.

Dig deeper, board says

Board members said the numbers demand more attention.

They went from a few months behind in fifth grade to four years behind in eighth grade, and theyre not catching up as quickly, Shah said. We need to really dig deeper in terms of what is going on. Why is that the case?

Its hard for us to get a comprehensive look at whats going on. We dont have all of the data, though I think we do have a lot of data that shows that theres a lot of students that need a lot of help, Shaw said.

The board asked for regular updates on students learning progress at future meetings, with Shah saying no other topic is more important to focus on.

We have COVID running on our standing agenda, but we dont have academic growth, he said. We need to start pivoting at some point, as a district, to really addressing this.

Reporter Genesis Lara covers K-12 education for the Star. The Arizona Press Club named her 2020 Community Journalist of the Year when she was a reporter for the Nogales International. Contact her at glara@tucson.com

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The following is the opinion and analysis of the writers:

Do you believe it is fair to require some candidates for office to collect six times the number of signatures as other candidates to get on the ballot? Do you think politics and government are going in the right direction? Most voters in Arizona answer no. Many of us have a sinking feeling about the strength of our democracy as America approaches its 250th birthday.

Until recently, we have mostly felt like our political system was working. But now, to a growing number of us, it doesnt feel like it. Is there a crisis in our democracy? Are we failing to uphold core values like fairness, equality, opportunity, and choice? We suggest one of the biggest problems today lies with the way we elect our representatives.

The uneven playing field

Like Thomas Jefferson said, That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part. In Arizona, election rules do not treat every man the same way. Our current partisan primary system, paid for by all taxpayers, excludes candidates not affiliated with a political party from participating. A voter who does not belong to a party must go through additional steps to receive a primary election ballot. This makes it easier for party candidates to win, and harder for a third of Arizona voters to vote. People who choose not to affiliate with a party are second-class citizens in our current system.

As the two major parties endlessly square off for combat, more people are renouncing political parties. In January of 2022, 33% of Arizona voters are unaffiliated, 31% are Democratic, and 34% are Republican. If that sounds surprising to you, go to www.savedemocracyaz.com.

Save Democracy works with you to expand the political marketplace of ideas we have today in Arizona: Blue Aisle or Red Aisle? What happened to the good old idea of competition?

We are not claiming to have all the answers, but we know where to start.

1. Treat all voters and candidates equally

Fairness is crucial. We should level the playing field for all candidates, including independent and third-party candidates who are currently excluded from primary elections and face higher signature requirements and other massive barriers to participation. Equal treatment would increase competition, make elections fairer, and improve the tenor of debate.

2. Appeal to a broader coalition

Candidates should talk to all voters with a focus on the issues  not just a small portion of their party. Elections should be about candidates having to communicate with and appeal to a broad coalition of voters.

3. Whats happening elsewhere.

We are looking at Alaskas recent enactment of a single nonpartisan open primary in which every voter can vote and be heard, and every candidate is treated equally. Rather than just targeting negative information and hurling it at the rival candidate, which happens in Arizonas two-product system, Alaska candidates will have to address more than a narrow segment of partisan voters to win elections.

4. This isnt new to Arizona

An open primary election is not really a new concept, its what most Arizona cities already use to elect mayors and city councilmembers. It has worked well to elect local leaders focused on finding solutions and making our local governments work effectively. Ask yourself this question: Which government do I approve of the most: federal, state, or local? Most Arizonans are much more satisfied with their local government.

The Save Democracy coalition exists to provide information about how Arizonas voting system currently operates and to study alternative nonpartisan primary structures that could make government more efficient, fairer, less divisive and more responsive to our needs. We are a nonpartisan organization that welcomes everyone, regardless of party affiliation.

If you want real political transparency, integrity, and fairness, and believe everyone should have the same right to participate in any election as a voter or a candidate, join us! Sign up at www.savedemocracyaz.com.

Lets find a system that will work for us all, not just some of us. A system that will leave a better future for our children and stop the sinking feeling we all have in our gut today.

Sarah Brown Smallhouse is president of the Thomas R Brown Foundations. Don Budinger is chairman of Rodel Foundation of Arizona. Ted Hinderaker is a founding member of the Hinderaker, Rauh and Weisman law firm. Si Schorr is a senior partner (retired) of the Lewis Roca law firm.

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American Airlines employees at its maintenance base in Tulsa recently paid homage to the countrys military heroes through work on a special project.

The airline on Thursday night unveiled a livery called Flagship Valor, a flying tribute dedicated to recipients of the Medal of Honor, the highest award for military valor in action. The plane was wrapped by team members at Tech Ops-Tulsa and flown to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for a ceremony.

The aircraft reveal coincided with the National Medal of Honor Museum, a partner of American, breaking ground Friday on a new site in Arlington, Texas. Scheduled to open in 2024, the 101,000-square-foot facility will encompass 25,000 square feet of exhibition galleries, an education center, conference and event space, and an outdoor amphitheater for ceremonies.

James Roberts III, an aircraft painter employed close to 11 years at Tech Ops-Tulsa, assisted on Flagship Valor.

Not everyone can come home for the holidays or come home for anniversaries or birthdays or special events, he said. Knowing that my employer has taken the time and is spending the money and the effort to pay tribute to those who have done so much for us, it does mean a lot to me that we honor their sacrifice.

On the body of the Airbus A321 aircraft are the words courage, sacrifice, integrity, commitment, patriotism and citizenship. They are the six values embodied in the Medal of Honor and its recipients. The silhouettes symbolize the seven major military conflicts that have occurred since the medal was created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.

Inside the aircraft, customers will be able to scan QR codes for access to information about the Medal of Honor and its honorees. Of the more than 40 million Americans who have served in the United States Armed Forces since the Civil War, fewer than 4,000 have been awarded the medal.

Fort Worth-based American employs about 5,200 people at Tech Ops-Tulsa, the largest commercial aviation maintenance base in the world.

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Esuan Scott on Friday dropped his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in the March 2021 murder of his father, submitting to the life sentence he agreed to originally in a deal with prosecutors.

Scott filed a motion to withdraw his plea days after it was made in December, saying it was "the product of undue pressure placed upon him by defense counsel moments before" his jury trial was set to begin.

Attorney Brian Martin represented Scott before Associate District Judge Clifford Smith on Friday, saying his client decided to reverse course after his options were explained. A life sentence with the possibility of parole could be served in 38 years due to law that requires convicts to serve at least 85% of their sentence for such crimes before being eligible for parole.

Along with life for first-degree murder, the 21-year-old was sentenced to two 10-year stints for shooting with intent to kill and assault with a dangerous weapon, all to run concurrently with two five-year sentences originally deferred from unrelated drug and gun convictions in a 2019 case.

Scott was on probation when he knocked on his father Marcus Burkes' door about 8 p.m. March 30, 2021, in a mask, announcing himself by his first name before Burkes opened the door.

Taking a step or two inside, Scott said "Where's my money?" and began shooting Burkes, a surviving victim later testified at a preliminary hearing.

The victim, a longtime friend of Burkes', escaped out the sliding glass door but realized he had also been shot after he fell and "couldn't get back up and run," a transcript states.

Crawling to a neighboring duplex, he sought help from a painter and electrician working on the home before he passed out.

At the same time, Scott went into Burkes' room and grabbed some sneakers before leaving. On his way out, he shot at the painter and electrician who were dragging Burkes' wounded friend inside, the electrician later testified.

Burkes died at the scene, and his friend was hospitalized in critical condition. He was able to give police the name the shooter announced at the door, and he later testified that the shooter's stature matched that of Scott, whom he had met a handful of times.

A Tulsa Police homicide detective testified that Scott agreed to an interview a few hours after the shooting in which Scott told investigators he had no knowledge of the shooting before being contacted. He laid out a timeline of a night spent elsewhere, and detectives let him go until they uncovered inconsistencies in his alibi.

In a second interview while he was under arrest, Scott reportedly changed his story before claiming his father threatened him with a gun when he opened the door, which Scott said he took and used to shoot his father and his father's friend. He told the detective he took sneakers from his father's room and shot at the friend and the people trying to help him as he was leaving.

Brought to Tulsa County for the hearing, Scott will be returned to Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody to serve the remainder of his sentence. He is being held at the Lexington Correctional Center, according to online records.

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Staff Photographer

I've worked for the Tulsa World since 2015 as a staff photographer. I graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in photojournalism. My work has been featured in the New York Times, LA Times and by The Associated Press. Phone: 918-581-8453
FORT WORTH, Texas  It turned out to be one of the greatest commercials for Chevrolet trucks.

And now the 16-year-old driver will be rewarded.

Bruce Lowrie Chrevrolet in Fort Worth says it is gifting Riley Leon a brand new 2022 red Chevy Silverado truck after his 2004 model was flipped on its side and spun around by a tornado on Monday in Elgin, according to WFAA/Ch. 8 and KXAS/Ch. 5.

Leon was behind the wheel Monday afternoon when the tornado hit his truck. Video shot by a storm chaser went viral and Leon has done national interviews, including with ABC's "Good Morning America."

Leon said he was returning from a job interview at an Elgin Whataburger when the tornado flipped his truck onto its right side, spun it around 360 degrees and nearly into a ditch before whipping it back upright. Leon was able to drive a little bit down the highway before pulling over. He escaped with only a few scratches on his left arm, he said.

A representative of Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet said they felt bad for Leon after seeing the video.

Leon is expected to be in Fort Worth on Saturday to receive the truck. New wheels will come in handy, too, because he starts his Whataburger job on Monday.

"They started calling my tornado boy," Leon said of his high school classmates once they heard about his ordeal.

***

(c)2022 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Visit the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at www.star-telegram.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
It was an intense debate attracting plenty of out-of-state support, but the Oklahoma Senate made the right choice in defeating the latest private school voucher bill.

Senate Bill 1647 would have given private school students between $3,600 and $5,300 for tuition, with the money coming from the public schools budget.

It was voted down 22-24. The measure needed 26 votes to pass.

The proposal from Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, was pushed by several top state leaders including Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Secretary of Education Ryan Walters, who is running for State Superintendent.

The measure was fraught with problems and would have harmed public schools, particularly in rural areas.

The proposal did not require documentation on how those tax dollars would be spent. It did not require reports to determine the quality of education paid by public dollars. It did not mandate private schools accept all students.

Originally, it did not increase the education budget, which would have cut the existing per-pupil allocations into smaller amounts. Education officials estimated it would have pulled $118.5 million to $161.8 million from the public school budget.

Treat amended the bill to put in $128.5 million to offset the cost of the measure. Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, said that amount would pay for 3,657 public teacher salaries.

If that money can be found to fund private schools, then it ought to be found for public schools.

Right now, the biggest challenge for Oklahoma schools is recruitment and retention of teachers and staff. Some schools have had to occasionally close for lack of employees.

This shortage has reached a crisis point, best illustrated in the consistent annual records set in emergency certification, which puts unqualified teachers in classrooms. In a decade, it went from 32 emergency certifications to 3,228 (2011 to 2021).

This deep problem in staffing affects quality by not having experienced employees, increasing turnover and hurting workforce morale.

After the 2018 teacher walkout, progress was made in teacher pay. The state is now at No. 35 in average starting teacher salary and No. 34 in average salary, according to the National Education Association. But, the per-pupil expenditure is at 46th nationally.

If lawmakers are unhappy with public schools, its their responsibility to improve it with needed resources. They are charged with providing a public education for all students, not a private one for a few.

Public schools are where at least 90% of Oklahoma children and youth attend, and this is where attention needs to be placed.

Voucher billsby whatever name school choice people want to call themdont help public education.

Good bet this isnt the last we see of vouchers. The session isnt over, and there is always next year.

We thank the senators who put aside political pressures and cast a no vote on this proposal. They recognized this would worsen Oklahomas public schools.

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Meet Korea 2022, an event promoting multiple ties between Vietnam and South Korea, took place in Thanh Hoa Province, in north-central Vietnam, on Friday, aiming to boost investment partnership and raise two-way trade to US$100 billion next year.

Jointly organized by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam and the provincial administration, the event attracted more than 500 delegates including Vietnamese and South Korean officials and representatives of enterprises from both countries.

This is the first event of a series of activities to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and South Korea, aiming to bolster investment partnership between South Korea and Vietnam as well as Thanh Hoa in particular, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu told the conference.

South Korea is currently the biggest investor of Vietnam, with 9,223 projects worth $74.7 billion, and the third largest trade partner, with two-way turnover reaching $78 billion last year.

The diplomat expressed his belief that the two countries can increase their bilateral trade to $100 billion in 2023 and $150 billion in 2030, the Vietnam News Agency cited Vu as saying.

This image shows South Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Park Noh Wan speaking at the Meet Korea 2022 held in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on March 25, 2022. Photo: Ha Dong / Tuoi Tre

The Northeast Asian country is also Vietnams second largest labor export market, the official added.

The official hoped that after the Meet Korea 2022, Korean investors will invest in many projects in central Vietnam, including Thanh Hoa.

Localities of the two countries have signed about 80 memoranda of understanding covering various areas including investment, trade, agriculture, education-training, labor and people-to-people exchange.

South Korean investors are now running 37 projects and joint ventures with Japan, with total registered capital of over $1.6 billion, in Thanh Hoa alone. They account for 26.5 percent of the provinces total number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.

The diplomat commented that Vietnam and South Korea are in a thriving relationship, with the former being an important pillar of the latters New Southern Policy Plus. Meanwhile, South Korea is an major partner of Vietnam in various areas.

South Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Park Noh Wan said that he hopes the event will be the opening for a new development period of the strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as between South Korea and Thanh Hoa and other localities in Vietnams northern and north-central regions.

This year is a meaningful year for both countries when they will celebrate their 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the ambassador said, adding he hoped that through the event, businesses of both sides will expand their investment cooperation in multiple fields, thereby contributing to boosting the economic growth of Vietnam.

Besides economic partnership ties, South Korea has also donated 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for Vietnam to support its fight against the pandemic.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Check out the news you should not miss today:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnams Ministry of Health reported 108,979 COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the national tally to 8,681,682, with 5,001,564 recoveries and 42,199 deaths.

Society

-- A 15-year-old boy from the south-central province of Phu Yen was found dead on Friday after being stuck in a sewer pipe of a local pump station.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport will ban all vehicles from entering multiple streets in downtown areas this weekend for the organization of the 2022 National Olympic Day Run for Public Health.

-- More than ten people were injured as a truck collided with a passenger bus in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc on Friday afternoon.

-- Two children were found dead from drowning after swimming in a river in the southern province of Dong Nai on Friday.

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested two young men who used pepper spray to snatch a phone from two local residents in Binh Thanh District earlier this week.

Lifestyle

-- The hot-air balloon festival in Hanoi began on Friday morning as part of the activities to promote tourism in the capital city, hosted by the municipal Department of Tourism.

Sports

-- Nguyen Huu Viet, a former Southeast Asian (SEA) Games swimming champion, passed away on Friday at the age of 34.

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A 15-year-old boy from the south-central Vietnamese province of Phu Yen was found dead on Friday after being stuck in a sewer pipe of a local pump station.

Rescuers took the body of the victim, 15-year-old T.H.N., out of a sewer pipe of Dong Phan pump station in Dong Hoa Town, Phu Yen Province and handed it over to his family at 9:30 pm on Friday, according to Colonel Nguyen Quang Pho, head of the provincial rescue and firefighting division.

The victim was stuck at about 20 meters deep in a cement-concrete sewer pipe with a 40-centimeter diameter, said Pho.

It is not clear why he got into the sewer pipe, which led to his death.

Rescuers carry the body of T.H.N. on a stretcher after taking it out of a sewer pipe in Phu Yen Province, Vietnam, March 25, 2022. Photo: Cao Minh / Tuoi Tre

Previously, workers of Dong Phan pump station reported finding out N.s pair of flip-flops near the sewer pipe, which carries water from the station to an irrigation canal, at around 7:00 pm on the same day, according to Nguyen Minh Hue, director of Dong Cam Aquaculture One Member Co. Ltd., the operator of the pump station.

The workers had turned away three teenage boys fishing near the area earlier on the day.

About 23 kilometers away from Dong Phan pump station, rescuers in Tay Hoa District, Phu Yen Province were searching for P.M.T. as the 11-year-old local had gone missing while swimming in a canal near his house on the same afternoon, Do Van Cap, chairman of the district, said at 10:00 pm on Friday.

Rescuers search for P.M.T., who went missing while swimming in a canal in Phu Yen Province, Vietnam, March 25, 2022. Photo: T.H.Y. / Tuoi Tre

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Vietnam has decreased the number of child drowning cases by 100 each year and plans to strengthen life-saving solutions to bring it down further in the coming time, an official told a meeting on Friday.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative jointly organized a conference in both online and offline modes in Hanoi on the day to discuss measures for preventing child drownings.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha stated that drowning remains among the leading causes of death for children and juveniles in Vietnam.

Ha said that ministries, sectors and organizations from both central and grassroots levels have actively implemented plans and solutions to prevent water-related accidents in the country.

These efforts have resulted in the reduction of child drownings by 100 cases every year.

The yearly toll of child drownings dropped from about 3,300 children in 2010 to 2,085 in 2020 but it was still ten times higher than those in developed countries.

The Southeast Asian country has also provided water safety skills for over 50 percent of elementary and middle school students.

In addition, 90 percent of children have been aware of the importance of wearing life jackets during waterway travels.

The deputy minister added that Vietnam looks forward to receiving further financial and technical support from the WHO and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative to tackle the issue.

In response, Dr. Socorro Escalante, coordinator of WHO Western Pacific, said that the organization commits to continuing supports and coordinations with the government of Vietnam to prevent child drownings.

The WHO representative expects that the number of children able to access to swimming safety lessons will double the current target of nearly 14,500 children aged 6 to 15 years old, who live in 11 provinces with a high number of drowning deaths.

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A plan to release mosquito eggs carrying natural bacteria called Wolbachi was launched in Vietnams Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on Friday in an effort to help control and prevent dengue fever.

As part of the World Mosquito Program (WMP)s Wolbachia Project in southern Vietnam, the plan has been introduced by the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute and the WMP, in conjunction with Tien Giangs health authorities, with an aim to drive back dengue spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Accordingly, the release of such mosquito eggs will be conducted in eight wards in the provinces My Tho City for three consecutive months.

An endosymbiotic bacterium, Wolbachia, once infected, has been proved to shorten the lifespan of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes while partially or entirely blocking them from contracting the dengue virus, according to research scientists at Australias Monash University.

Wolbachia is a natural pathogen to about 60 percent of insects, including common ones like drosophila, butterfly and dragonfly, said Dr. Nguyen Vy Thuong, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute.

The method here is to make Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia to prevent them from transmitting dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, chikungunya, Dr. Thuong said.

Under the program, Wolbachia-carrying mosquito eggs are kept in capsules, with each containing about 400 eggs, and these capsules will be put inside water containers arranged in 2,636 locations in residential areas in the wards.

After the eggs hatch out, infected mosquitos will escape into the environment and they will eventually mate with local mosquito populations.

In this way, Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will be multiplied over time and thereby help put the dengue fever under control.

Dengue fever patients have symptoms including fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and a characteristic skin rash similar to measles, according to the World Health Organization.

Numbers of dengue fever patients and deaths in Tien Giang have decreased over recent years, but the situation is still complicated, with new cases detected all year round, said Nguyen Van Muoi, deputy chairman of the provincial administration.

In 2019, the province reported more than 6,000 dengue fever cases and three deaths. In 2020, there were 3,200 cases and last year saw 1,600 infections and one fatality, Muoi said, adding that he hoped the aforementioned program will help drive back the disease effectively.

The same method was carried out in Binh Duong Province, in southeastern Vietnam, on Thursday, with Wolbachia-carrying mosquito eggs allocated to 2,800 locations across the provinces Thu Dau Mot City.

In 2017, a similar program was conducted in Nha Trang City, in the south-central Khanh Hoa Province, as part of the Monash University-funded Eliminate Dengue Program in Vietnam.

Around 90,000 cases of dengue fever are recorded in Vietnam every year on average, with 70 percent in its southern region, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute.

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Mondays Australian Story, Trials & Tribulations P. 1 profiles WA man Scott Austic who served over 12 years for murder before being cleared by a new jury.

This episode is introduced by filmmaker Michael Muntz.

West Australian man Scott Austic served more than twelve and a half years in prison for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend before a second jury found him not guilty in just over two hours.

When the jury returned their verdict it was hard to explain into words, says Austic. I could feel tears running down my face, just waiting for that, those two words of not guilty.

It was the end of a protracted nightmare which began when police knocked on his door early one morning after Austics girlfriend Stacey Thorne had been found dead on a neighbours front lawn.

For investigating detectives, there were signs of a seemingly clear motive: Ms Thorne was pregnant with Austics child and he didnt want her to have the baby.

But Scott Austics mother Robyn wasnt prepared to let it go and after his conviction she convinced Perth criminal lawyer and forensic scientist Dr Clint Hampson to take a look at the case.

What he discovered was astonishing: clear signs of tampering with the key evidence that helped send her son to jail.

I was extremely shocked, says Dr Hampson. And that immediately put me on alert as to what else might have been going on in this particular case.

Neither of the families derailed by Staceys death have had any closure. In desperation the Thorne family have hired a private investigator to sift for new leads.

We just cant understand how it got to this stage, says Staceys sister Brenda. Theres people out there know what happened. We just want them to come forward.

Meanwhile, Scott Austic is still waiting for an apology and compensation from the West Australian government.

8pm Monday on ABC.

Please note: this film contains images of an Indigenous person who has died.
The SAFCs Adelaide Studios has welcomed four South Australian screen businesses as new tenants.

They are:

 International content producer and distributor Blue Ant Media, with Senior VP of Finance and Operations Jake Richardson;

 Producer Lisa Scott and Highview Productions, the company behind international hit drama series The Tourist;

 Producer Peter Lawson and Steel Springs Pictures, recently relocated from Los Angeles, the company behind feature film Alice which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and

 The Everyone Project, an exciting initiative managed by the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network to measure and boost diversity and inclusion in the Australian film and television industry.

28 South Australian screen businesses and screen practitioners work across all areas of screen production at the site.

SAFC CEO Kate Croser formally welcomed the new tenants as part of a special industry networking event last week.

It is truly exciting to see our Adelaide Studios screen community continue to grow, with such an influx of talented tenants making our creative mix of screen businesses and practitioners even more vibrant and dynamic, she said.

The networking evening was enjoyed by about 120 screen industry members including special guests SAFC Board Chair Julie Cooper; SAFC Board members Austin Taylor, Miriam Silva, Bec Summerton and Ann-Maree Davies; the SAFCs newly appointed First Nations Screen Strategy Executive Pauline Clague; members of the SAFCs First Nations Advisory Committee Elaine Crombie and Shouwn Oosting and Mercury CX CEO Karena Slaninka, as well as members of Adelaide Studios tenant businesses and many key creatives from across the wider screen industry.

Robert Taylor from Kuma Kaaru who opened the event with an inspiring Welcome to Country, and Emma Cresdee from Sign Language Australia, a Deaf-led Auslan interpreting service, for providing Auslan interpretation for the night.
By Allison Brace 22

The National Endowment for the Arts awarded University of Dayton alumna Sonya Bilocerkowycz 11 a $25,000 creative writing fellowship in prose based on her nonfiction submission, Samizdat.

Bilocerkowycz was one of 35 writers selected for the 2022 cycle, chosen from a pool of 2,000 candidates nationally. This years fellowships are in prose writing and enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel and general career development. Fellows are selected through an anonymous process and are judged on the artistic excellence of the sample they provided. The Creative Writing Fellowships alternate between poetry and prose each year.

I feel extremely honored to have been chosen for the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, said Bilocerkowycz. The award is going to help me in a lot of different ways, but the funding will certainly help me to carve out some time this summer for a writing retreat where I will make progress on my second book manuscript, in addition to planning a research trip in the near future.

Bilocerkowycz holds a bachelors degree in English from the University of Dayton. She minored in sociology and participated in the University Honors Program. Upon graduation, Bilocerkowycz was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship which placed her as an English instructor at Belarusian State University in Minsk, Belarus. After her Fulbright Scholarship concluded, Bilocerkowycz opted to stay in Eastern Europe for two years before returning to the United States to pursue a master of fine arts in creative writing from The Ohio State University.

My graduate school thesis basically morphed into my first book, which is called On Our Way Home from the Revolution: Reflections on Ukraine, Bilocerkowycz said. The book begins with the 2013-2014 Maidan Revolution, which took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, where protesters overthrew their pro-Russia president at the time. The book then goes back in time to look at my familys history in the region and moves back up through history towards the present day.

Her book was the winner of the Gournay Prize for a debut essay collection from The Ohio State University Press. Her work has also appeared in Guernica, Colorado Review, Ninth Letter, Lit Hub, the Normal School and elsewhere.

Bilocerkowycz is interested in writing about her Ukrainian ancestry because both grandparents on her fathers side were originally from that part of Eastern Europe. She was also able to gain firsthand accounts from several years living in the region.

The NEA fellowship has provided me with a really great source of affirmation and encouragement to keep working on the project, Bilocerkowycz said.

Bilocerkowycz hopes the fellowship will help her to continue writing and researching in the context of social justice, both in the United States and Eastern Europe, with the hope of offering greater understanding of what is taking place in Eastern Europe to those residing in western countries.

Her father, Jaro Bilocerkowycz, is an associate professor in the University of Dayton Department of Political Science. His research focus includes Russia, Ukraine and Poland, as well as democratization and human rights.

Currently, Sonya Bilocerkowycz teaches creative writing at State University of New York Geneseo, where she is able to share her personal experiences as a writer with undergraduate students.

With nonfiction writing in particular there are a lot of ethical issues to deal with, especially as people are writing family stories, history or politics, she said. When people are writing these stories they are in essence saying that these stories are true and by that admission there are a variety of ethical things to navigate with the genre.

Bilocerkowycz says that she feels equipped to talk with students about the bounds of non-fiction writing from her own direct experiences. She hopes to be a mentor to her students and to share her own mistakes and the ways she has grown as a writer through her time working on non-fiction pieces.

Bilocerkowycz credits much of her career as an artist and writer to her faculty mentors in the University of Dayton Department of English.

They supported me in every possible way and helped me in two ways at once by showing me how little I knew about the world but also giving me confidence as a writer, she said.

John McCombe, University Honors Program director and professor of English, recalls meeting Bilocerkowycz as an English major and honors student with an interest in a Fulbright grant.

From the moment I read Sonya's personal statement for her successful Fulbright application, I knew she already possessed a powerful voice as a writer, McCombe said. Since then, Sonya's accomplishments in her graduate studies and as a faculty member at State University New York Geneseo confirm that she has continued to refine her gifts and talents. I look forward to the writing that stems from this well-deserved NEA Fellowship."

For more information, visit the Department of English website.
By Cooper Inveen

ACCRA (Reuters) - West Africa's main political and economic bloc said on Friday it would give Mali's military transitional government 12 to 16 months to arrange elections and offered Guinea's ruling junta a month to propose a democratic transition timeline.

After a summit in Accra, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also agreed to ask Burkina Faso's interim leaders to reduce a proposed transition of 36 months to a "more acceptable timeline," the bloc's Commission President Jean Claude Kassi Brou told a news conference.

West Africa has been rocked by two coups in Mali, one in Guinea and one in Burkina Faso since August 2020, tarnishing its reputation as a model of democratic progress in Africa.

The 15-nation ECOWAS has repeatedly condemned the putsches and is trying to bring power back into civilian hands.

"Our democratic values must be preserved," Kassi Brou said. "Some countries are going through challenges, but we must address those challenges collectively."

ECOWAS has already imposed sanctions on Guinea and Mali for dragging their feet on restoring constitutional order.

Kassi Brou said those measures would be gradually lifted in Mali if its leaders respected the 12- to 16-month ultimatum. Harsher penalties will hit Guinea if it misses its own April 25 deadline, he warned.

"We have no idea when the transition [in Guinea] will end and this creates tensions in the region and inside the country," he said.

Mali's interim government failed on a promise to hold elections in February and first said it would keep ruling until at least 2025, which was then revised down to 24 months.

Guinea, whose ex-President Alpha Conde was overthrown in September, has yet to lay out handover plans.

Meanwhile, Burkina Faso's junta, which took over in January, has proposed relinquishing power after three years, raising eyebrows in ECOWAS.

Story continues

Before Friday's meeting the bloc's chair, Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, said it was "time to take stock of where we are with our three recalcitrant member states."

Sanctions in Mali have already severed the country's access to regional financial markets, caused job losses and contributed to its default on about $180 million in debt payments.

Burkina Faso, which has so far been spared, will also face sanctions if the junta does not release ex-President Roch Kabore from house arrest within the next month, Kassi Brou said.

(Reporting by Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Richard Chang)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has fined the Bank of Cyprus and Luxembourg's Banque et Caisse dEpargne de lEtat for breaking rules relating to risk and liquidity, respectively, the ECB said on Friday.

State-owned Banque et Caisse dEpargne de lEtat was fined 3.755 million euros for miscalculating its exposure to other banks.

The ECB said this "severe breach" caused by "significant deficiencies" resulted in the bank reporting a better capital position than it really had for seven straight quarters.

Bank of Cyprus transferred liquidity to some subsidiaries without seeking the ECB's approval, preventing the supervisor "from obtaining a comprehensive picture of its prudential situation."

"The degree of the entitys misconduct was assessed as 'high' taking into account, in particular, that the entity committed the breach intentionally," the ECB said.

However, the Cypriot bank was fined just 575,000 euros, also due to the low impact of the breach on its prudential situation.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Some good news has arrived for many high school seniors waiting to hear from the University of North Georgia (UNG) about their admission for fall 2022. First-year bachelor's degree-seeking students applying for fall semester admission may be admitted without an ACT or SAT score provided their high school GPA is 3.0 or higher.

A change in testing policy from the University System of Georgia provided this opportunity to assist students who have faced testing obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applicants who have previously applied for admission for the fall will be reevaluated according to the new admission criteria. Students must still meet all other admissions requirements, including completing the required high school curriculum and providing all other requested documentation.

"These changes will make it possible for many students to receive their admission decision now so they can sign up for an orientation date, submit their request for class schedules, and make housing reservations. We are entering the time when these next steps need to happen, but students can't do any of those until they have been accepted," Dr. Brett Morris, associate vice president for Enrollment Management, said. "We are pleased with USG's decision to break the backlog that testing delays have created. Getting students admitted under these new rules is our top priority."

Bachelor's degree-seeking students with a GPA lower than 3.0 are still required to submit an official ACT or SAT score as part of their application process. Individuals seeking dual enrollment admission will also still be required to submit test scores. However, UNG has added the Accuplacer exam as a dual enrollment admissions testing option.

To learn more about admission requirements for dual-enrolled, transfer and other undergraduate student types, visit the UNG Admissions webpage.

UNG admissions counselors are available to assist applicants and prospective students via phone and email.

UNG is designated as a State Leadership Institution and The Military College of Georgia. With almost 19,000 students, it is one of the state's largest public universities.

Positioned in the fastest-growing region of the state, UNG comprises five campuses united by a single mission focused on academic excellence and academic and co-curricular programs that develop students into leaders for a diverse and global society.
McLennan County residents may need to take a deep breath and count to 10 when they receive their property appraisal notices in a few weeks.

Residential property values increased 30% countywide, according to preliminary figures from the McLennan County Appraisal District. That compares with a 25% increase statewide, and even larger jumps among several school districts in McLennan County. Crawford ISD is poised to see a 47% jump, while China Spring ISD and La Vega ISD will see 37% and 41% jumps, respectively, based on preliminary data.

Property values impact tax bills, the amount taxpayers pay the counties, school districts, cities and in this county, McLennan Community College, the taxing entities that set tax rates.

Alvin Lankford, president of the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts, knew rising appraisals could produce scorn among property owners. He sent a letter to chief appraisers, including the McLennan County Appraisal Districts Joe Don Bobbitt, encouraging them to go public with preliminary appraisals in an effort to lessen the sticker shock they are likely to have and hopefully reduce the level of protests we see.

Lankford wrote that it is important to discuss the 10% assessed value cap, and the revenue caps placed on taxing units that will keep tax increases from being proportional to the value increases.

Bobbitt is passing the word on to local taxing entities.

We expect this year to be one of the busiest the district has seen, but still encourage your constituents who disagree with the value to file a protest at mclennancad.org/efile for faster service, and to be able to review evidence specific to their property, he wrote in a letter to taxing entities.

Bobbitt said by phone he expects protesters to show up in droves. He envisions the review board considering about 18,000 protests this year, up from 15,000 last year. Appraisal notices will hit the mail early April next month, and May 16 is the deadline to inform the appraisal district a protest will be forthcoming.

Appraised values play a role in determining property owners tax burden, but the process does not stop there. Residents with homestead exemptions enjoy a 10% cap on annual property value increases applied for tax purposes, known as the assessed value, even if the appraised value increases more quickly. Homeowners 65 and older qualify to have their school taxes frozen. Then there is the protest procedure.

Bobbitt said the appraisal district primarily relies on comparable home sales to determine if values should increase or decrease. He said about 3,000 homes were sold countywide between the districts two most recent appraisal processes, and our values were about 30% less than what they sold for, on average. Other counties are seeing something similar, substantial changes year-to-year.

McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said what is happening in the housing market is a classic example of the supply-and-demand model, for sure. A dearth of housing stock combined with robust demand, especially in growing Texas, is causing home prices to skyrocket, Felton said.

Obviously our goal is to go through the budget process, try to be very frugal, and set a tax rate just enough to cover services we provide the community, Felton said, referencing the work of McLennan County commissioners.

These values look like an opportunity to lower the tax rate again, which weve done several years in a row. Were not hesitant to do that, Felton said. Last year we came in under the effective tax rate, which is now called the no-new-revenue tax rate. Well start the budget process with that number, then add or subtract. The county is only about 17% of the countywide tax burden, but were going to do our part to keep a reasonable tax rate.

City of Waco Finance Director Nicholas Sarpy said preliminary appraisals look really good, definitely higher than what we were projecting in our models.

But Sarpy said commenting on their impact is premature. He said the appraisal district will not certify tax rolls until July, after the appeals process, and commercial property values remain in play. He said residential values increased 30% countywide, on average, but the Waco norm was closer to 21%.

Bobbitt said the state is applying pressure to get values up, saying he would prefer slowly increasing appraisals, maybe 5% per year. But cutting taxpayers a break on appraisals is not an option. The State Comptrollers Office will conduct a property value study later this year, tracing the steps of local appraisers, and if our values are not within 5% of theirs, I could be audited.

He said appraisers are legally bound to determine market value.

Based on preliminary numbers, Waco will see its residential property value increase 21%, to $14.5 billion. Woodway will jump 15% to $1.6 billion, while Hewitt will increase 18% to $1.3 billion and Robinson will jump 21%, also to $1.3 billion. Bellmead will move up 18% to $639 million. Lacy Lakeview will rise 24% to $547 million.

It appears the average market value of a home in Waco will increase from $210,272 to $270,732 year-over-year. Countywide, the jump is $218,225 to $284,924; in Waco ISD it is $168,858 to $219,416; and in Woodway, it is $320,922 to $404,136.

Bobbitt said his office employs nine appraisers, who are spread thin considering McLennan County has about 100,000 residential properties. His office relies on aerial photography and listings appearing on websites.

But he said tracking comparable sales remains the preferred approach, even in neighborhoods that see no homes changing hands. He said the market as a whole dictates value changes, even at the neighborhood level.

He said it is difficult to quantify the impact to ones home a nearby eyesore or chronic code violation might have. A neighbor with several junk cars parked on the premises may create a nuisance, but its hard to put a value on that reduction. Thats something to be brought up before the review board, which is made up of regular citizens who might come up with a value.

In a press release, Lankford said property taxes are vital to keep government services adequately funded. He said an increase in market value of a major asset could be considered a blessing, though many people consider it to mean an equal increase in property taxes, which is simply not the case.

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WATERLOO  Howling winds and freezing sleet werent enough to stop dozens of Waterloo residents from taking part in a march that served to remind the community of how far theyve come and of the fight still ahead.

On Friday afternoon, the Waterloo Commission on Human Rights held a reenactment commemorating the famous Selma to Montgomery March of 1965.

The march began in Lincoln Park downtown before going down Fourth Street and across the bridge to the RiverLoop Amphitheater, where speakers addressed the crowd, including the Rev. Larry Stumme, who took part in the original Selma march, and Vikki Brown, a Childrens Crusader during the Civil Rights Movement who lost a friend in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963.

Before embarking, the Rev. Abraham Funchess, who led the event, expressed the impetus for the event.

We want you to know that the reason why we think its important to walk is because we think that first of all, its educational, but Angela Davis, the antiracism warrior and community coalition builder once said that there is such a thing as  epistemological function of praxis, Funchess said. That means we learn by doing.

The march also included elected officials, one of them being Mayor Quentin Hart.

Access to voting is important  but as elected officials, we need to make it easier for people to be able to participate in this great democracy, Hart said. And even any type of infringement or impact on the state level brings back memories of what so many people had fought for, and what people have the right to be able to participate in.

The Human Rights Commission holds the event each year, timing it with the anniversary of the Selma march.

The Selma protests were actually three separate marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of African Americans right to vote.

According to a recent Associated Press article, at the first, on Bloody Sunday  March 7, 1965  state troopers and vigilantes severely beat and tear-gassed peaceful demonstrators.

The images of violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge shocked the nation and helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act.

The second protest on March 9 was suspended, but still ended in deadly violence.

The third march started on March 21, and protected by National Guardsmen, marchers reached the state capitol on March 25. The Voting Rights Act became law on Aug. 6, 1965.

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It will be a cold day in Waterloo, with temperatures in the 30s. The forecast calls for it to be a cold 38 degrees. 19 degrees is today's low. We'll see sunshine today, but also cloud cover at times. Very windy conditions are expected Saturday in Waterloo, with forecast models showing 25 mph wind conditions coming up from Northwest. This report is created automatically with weather data provided by TownNews.com. For more daily forecast information, visit wcfcourier.com.
President Xi Jinping speaks with ROK President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on the phone

People's Daily Online) 09:27, March 26, 2022

On the afternoon of 25 March, President Xi Jinping spoke with ROK President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on the phone.

President Xi Jinping again congratulated Yoon on his election as the ROK President.

President Xi pointed out that China and the ROK are and will remain each others close neighbors, and the two countries are inseparable partners of cooperation. China always attaches high importance to its relations with the ROK. With the joint efforts of both sides, China-ROK relations have grown rapidly in all areas and the two countries have become strategic cooperative partners. It has been proven that the development of China-ROK relations is in the fundamental interest of the two countries and peoples, and has contributed to peace and development in the region. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The two sides need to take this as an opportunity to further uphold mutual respect, strengthen political trust, and enhance people-to-people friendship, with a view to the steady and sustained growth of bilateral ties.

President Xi stressed that given the many challenges facing the international community, China and the ROK have a responsibility to maintain regional peace and promote global prosperity. He expressed Chinas readiness to work with the ROK to strengthen international and regional cooperation, make positive efforts to keep global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law, and promote the building of a fairer and more equitable global governance system.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol congratulated China on the successful Two Sessions and on the important achievements of national development made under the leadership of President Xi. He noted that friendly exchanges between the ROK and China go back a long time, and that the past 30 years of diplomatic relations have witnessed great achievements in wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries and tangible benefits to the two peoples. Closer cooperation between the ROK and China will serve their respective development and benefit their peoples, and also contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia. He expressed the ROKs readiness to step up high-level exchanges with China, enhance mutual trust and promote people-to-people friendship, in order to take ROK-China relations to a new height.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

LOS LUNAS  A jury found Leland Hust guilty Friday on two felony counts in the 2018 rape and strangulation death of a 6-year-old Rio Rancho girl.

Hust, 24, placed his head on the defense table and wept after a judge read the verdicts. Later he could be heard wailing after deputies removed him from the courtroom.

Jurors found Hust guilty of child abuse resulting in death, which has a mandatory 30-year prison sentence, and criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, which has a mandatory 18-year sentence. They reached the verdict after deliberating for about six hours.

Sentencing will take place at a later date.

The trial marks the second time Hust was tried in the August 2018 rape and strangulation death of Ariana Jade Romeo in a house in Rio Rancho.

District Attorney Barbara Romo and other members of the prosecution team hugged Arianas mother, Stephanie Romeo, after the verdicts were read.

Im happy that Stephanie can have some closure and little Jade can rest in peace now, Romo said. You cant give up on a 6-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered.

Romeo said she was satisfied with the end result, which came nearly four years after her daughters death.

Its been a process, and Im satisfied with the result, she said.

Judge George Eichwald of the 13th Judicial District Court did not set a sentencing date Friday.

Prosecutors argued in closing arguments Friday that Hust was obsessed with the girl living in his house and had an ideal opportunity to rape and kill the girl. Husts attorneys responded that investigators overlooked a convicted sex offender who lived in the household as a more likely suspect in Arianas killing.

In June 2021, a jury found Hust not guilty of first-degree murder in the killing. Jurors deliberated 17 hours in that trial.

But jurors deadlocked on charges of child abuse resulting in death and criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, the charges Hust was convicted of on Friday.

Prosecutors told jurors that Hust waited until other members of the household were asleep or absent to attack the girl.

Assistant District Attorney Neil Carson emphasized the close proximity of Husts room to the converted garage where Ariana stayed with her mother, who worked at a Rio Rancho brew pub and typically didnt return home until 3 a.m.

Husts mother also was out of the house at the time, he said.

This was a crime of opportunity, Carson told jurors. Hust knew he had to act quickly because Arianas mother had found a new apartment and had immediate plans to move.

Hust knew that Jade was moving out in a matter of days, Carson said, referring to the girl by her nickname.

Husts attorney, Graham Dumas, told jurors in closing arguments that detectives ignored obvious inconsistencies in their evidence and overlooked homeowner Winston Scates Sr. as a suspect.

Scates, 66, pleaded guilty in 2019 to sexual contact of a minor, a third-degree felony, for inappropriately touching a female family member.

Police developed tunnel vision focusing on Hust as the suspect and failed to collect key evidence that may have exonerated him or identified other suspects, Dumas said.

For example, police failed to collect as evidence sex toys found in Scates bedroom until weeks after the killing, he said.

Hust, then 21, also lacked the ability to plan the complex attack and avoid spreading evidence to his own room and other parts of the house, Dumas said.

There is no evidence of blood on Lelands hands, Dumas said. Nor was Arianas blood found outside her room, he said.

FBI agents who searched Husts room soon after the attack found no evidence of Husts involvement, Dumas said.

Ariana was found dead, partially clothed and bloodied on Aug. 11, 2018, in the converted garage of the Rio Rancho house she and her mother shared with Hust and others. A forensic examination found that she had been raped and strangled or smothered to death.

Arianas mother testified last year that she climbed into bed with her daughter after returning home and didnt realize the girl was dead until the next morning.

Husts attorneys contend that police attempted to coerce a confession from Hust during an hourslong interview that attorneys described as an interrogation. The interview took place in October 2018, the day of Husts arrest and some two months after Ariana was killed.

Defense and prosecution attorneys sparred over the validity of DNA evidence collected both from Arianas body and bedding.

Carson told jurors that Hust was the only member of the household who could not be excluded as a contributor to DNA evidence found at the scene. DNA evidence also eliminates Scates as the attacker, he said.

Defense attorneys responded that investigators found only small amounts of DNA evidence and nothing that proves Hust killed the girl. Hust had been a frequent visitor to Arianas room and his DNA could have been transferred to the girls body or bedding, they said.

Police seeded the idea in Husts mind that he killed Ariana by telling him they had DNA evidence of his guilt, leading him to make incriminating statements, Dumas told jurors.

There is just not enough DNA to support the states theory, and that is a huge problem for the case, he said.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The attorney for a young man who has been charged with  but not convicted of  murder in two homicide cases is accusing the police chief of libeling his client when he made statements earlier this week blasting the criminal justice system and saying 18-year-old Adrian Avila is at the root of gun violence were seeing in Albuquerque.

At the root of is defined by Merriam-Webster as, the reason for (something),' attorney Ahmad Assed wrote in a tort claims notice letter sent to the city Friday. According to the Citys data, crimes against persons in Albuquerque have been steadily rising since 2018 To accept Chief (Harold) Medinas statement as true would require that one believe that Mr. Avila was responsible for a disproportionate number of crimes of violence that occurred when he was a mere 14 years old, which is plainly ridiculous given his age, lack of criminal history and excellent educational performance heretofore.

A Journal analysis shows that violent crime began its upward trend in Albuquerque in 2014.

Authorities say Avila shot and killed Elias Otero in February 2021 after three men kidnapped Oteros brother, drove him back to his home and demanded a ransom. Avila is also one of four people suspected of shooting Donnie Jacob Brandon in August 2020 during a robbery.

Assed has said the evidence against his client is circumstantial.

Medinas statements were in response to 2nd Judicial District Judge Stanley Whitakers decision to release Avila on a GPS ankle monitor while he awaits trial.

Assed said Avila has been following his conditions of release and keeping in contact with him every other hour.

In response to questions about why Medina believed Avila was the root of gun violence, Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said there is probable cause to believe he committed two homicides, and the community has a right to be concerned about the release of someone who faces such serious charges.

Mr. Assed is entitled to his opinion. He is a defense attorney and he is understandably concerned about the murder charges against his client, Gallegos wrote in a statement. Chief Medina is focused on the safety of the community and getting justice for the murder victims and their families.

Assed, however, said it was deliberately reckless for Medina to make statements on social media and to the newspaper and television stations about a case thats still ongoing in the courts. Furthermore, he said, his client is presumed innocent at this stage in the proceedings.

He had sent a letter on Thursday to Mayor Tim Keller asking for Medina to retract his statements but never heard back.

Assed said Medinas statements have tainted the jury pool and riled up the community members who do not understand the nuances of legal proceedings. He said a post about the case on APDs Facebook page had about 1,800 shares and some commenters were calling for street justice.

I dont know how in the world this is supposed to help with safeguarding the community or keeping us safe or anything that the community wants, Assed said. None of us want a community thats driven by vigilantes listening to Chief Medina about how outrageous the situation is and taking things in their own hands and endangering my client and his family and others.

On Tuesday, there was a disturbance outside of District Court because family members of the men Avila is accused of killing were upset with the judges decision for Avila to be let out on an ankle monitor, according to a Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman. She did not provide further details.

Anna Bella Dukes, Avilas co-defendent in the case involving Otero, left the jail on March 14, and a District Attorneys Office spokeswoman said she was moved to another facility. She could not provide details about why the transfer had occurred or where Dukes was sent. Court documents in that case are sealed.
She remembers how hungry her brothers children were, how they gobbled up chunks of Thanksgiving turkey she gave them as she arranged the meat on a platter for the family that holiday in 2012.

The four children, ages 2 to 15, were the last ones still living with her brother, their father, Greg Griego, and Regina Griego recalls that they always seemed hungry, but even more so that day. The oldest of them, a shy boy who stood 5-foot-8, was little more than 100 pounds. She worried that her brothers family was struggling since he had lost his job as a church pastor months before.

Thats something I regret, Regina Griego said. I wish I had done more to help. I wish I had gone into their home more. I wish I had known more.

Two months later, Greg Griego and his wife, and three of those four children were dead, gunned down in their South Valley home by that oldest, shy boy.

His name was Nehemiah Griego.

The senseless slaughter shocked the community and eventually splintered the extended Griego family: Some believed Nehemiah Griego was a damaged 15-year-old who needed time and treatment to heal the wounds of a traumatic childhood and allow his brain to develop fully; others believed he should never be free again.

Nine years later, it is the case that still comes up during my discussions of juvenile justice and second chances for children who commit horrific crimes while their brains are not yet fully developed.

Nehemiah Griegos brain immaturity does not take away from the pure evil he exhibited, a reader named EA wrote in response to my latest column on juvenile justice just this past January.

Regina Griego, his aunt and guardian after the murders, counts herself among those who do not see her nephew as evil or hopelessly irredeemable, but as the tragic product of generations of abuse, poverty and neglect in her family.

Her memoir, Sins of the System: Trauma, Guns, Tragedy, and the Betrayal of Our Children, released in February, is her way to continue to heal, to sort out this complex story and emotion, and to decry a broken justice system and the frayed safety nets that failed to save her nephew and others like him.

The book is a brutal, yet brave and thoughtful, look at the horror that broke upon her family in the early hours of Jan. 18, 2013, and details the nightmarish journey through a flawed judicial system that provided therapeutic care in fits and starts, and then not at all.

I want readers to see how tragedies such as what happened to my family happen, and how relevant they are to society today, said Regina Griego, a retired Sandia National Laboratories engineer turned author, speaker and advocate for gun safety and juvenile justice. We think when bad happens something must have gone terribly wrong. Well, theres more than one thing that can go potentially wrong.

Nehemiah Griego spent six years in the juvenile justice system and was ruled amenable, which meant he was due to be released when he turned 21. His release date was scheduled for March 20, 2018.

But, contrary to what many in the public believed, even supporters of his release  including Regina Griego  knew he was not yet ready to enter society. Arrangements had been made, the book details, to send him to a therapeutic setting out of state to continue his treatment.

But, after the state appealed the amenability ruling, the case returned to state District Court and, in 2019, state District Judge Alisa Hart ruled that Nehemiah Griego should serve three concurrent life sentences for the deaths of his three siblings, and seven years for killing each of his parents, those sentences running concurrently, but consecutive to the life sentences. The state had asked for 120 years.

Nehemiah Griego will be 52 before he becomes eligible for parole.

In her sentencing memorandum, Hart lamented that she would have considered giving Nehemiah Griego probation in a locked treatment facility, but such a place does not exist in New Mexico.

She chose to throw a child away, Regina Griego said. She erased six years of work the state had paid for and sent him away, even when we offered an alternative at a public adult treatment center (Mental Health Co-op in Houston) that we were willing to pay for and had already accepted him.

Regina Griego said the family remains split, despite the initial promise many of them made to stand by Nehemiah Griego as they believed his father, his final victim, would have. Greg Griego spent much of his adult life preaching redemption to jail inmates and gang members, and he knew something about that second chance after his own experience with incarceration and being a gang leader.

His childhood, like that of Regina Griego and their other two siblings, was one of violence and poverty. One incident of his horrific abuse detailed in the book is especially heartbreaking.

Her brothers deep wounds, as well as the wounds of their parents and the parents before them, Regina Griego suggests, were transmitted to his children, especially Nehemiah Griego.

Hurt people hurt people, she writes in the book. Traumatized people pass on the trauma.  It is tempting  to deny or hide family secrets, but exposing them and admitting them is part of the hard work of healing our society.

Regina Griego said she and those of her family who support Nehemiah Griegos redemption have never defended his actions.

Our position has always been that there is a reason for an adult court system and a juvenile court system, she wrote in a letter to family in 2016 that is included in the book. Both systems, she contends, are flawed.

That is one of the main purposes of the book  a call to action on how New Mexico deals with its juvenile offenders. What are we becoming as a society to treat children this way? she asked. Who failed them? Adults failed them in many ways.

Regina Griego said she has not received pushback from estranged family members, but has received a positive review from one member: Nehemiah Griego.

He is currently in a North Carolina prison, where he was moved for his safety because of the notoriety of his case. Even so, the notoriety followed him. Regina Griego said hes been stabbed eight times so far in prison.

Hes scared to death, but hes holding his own, she said.

Nehemiah Griego turned 25 last Sunday. He is still almost always hungry.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Reach Joline at 730-2793, jkrueger@abqjournal.com.

Read the book

Sins of the System: Trauma, Guns, Tragedy, and the Betrayal of Our Children by Regina Griego is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Organic Books, with 80% of profits donated to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (cfsy.org) and Everytown for Gun Safety (everytown.org).
LVIV, Ukraine  Nights are spent huddling underground from Russian strikes pounding their encircled city into rubble. Daylight hours are devoted to hunting down drinkable water and braving the risk of standing in line for the little food available as shells and bombs rain down.

In the second month of Russias invasion, this is what now passes for life in Chernihiv, a besieged city in northern Ukraine where death is everywhere.

It isnt  yet  quite as synonymous with atrocious human suffering as the pulverized southern city of Mariupol. But similarly blockaded and pounded from afar by Russian troops, Chernihivs remaining residents are terrified that each blast, bomb and body that lies uncollected on the streets ensnares them in the same macabre trap of unescapable killings and destruction.

In basements at night, everyone is talking about one thing: Chernihiv becoming (the) next Mariupol, said 38-year-old resident Ihar Kazmerchak, a linguistics scholar.

He spoke to The Associated Press by cellphone, amid incessant beeps signaling that his battery was dying. The city is without power, running water and heating. At pharmacies, the lists of medicines no longer available grow longer by the day.

Kazmerchak starts his day in long lines for drinking water, rationed to 10 liters (2 1/2 gallons) per person. People come with empty bottles and buckets for filling when water-delivery trucks make their rounds.

Food is running out, and shelling and bombing doesnt stop, he said.

Nestled between the Desna and Dnieper rivers, Chernihiv straddles one of the main roads that Russian troops invading from Belarus used Feb. 24 for what the Kremlin hoped would be a lightning strike onward to the capital, Kyiv, which is just 147 kilometers (91 miles) away.

The citys peace shattered, more than half of the 280,000 inhabitants fled, according to the mayor, unable to be sure when theyd next see its magnificent gold-domed cathedral and other cultural treasures, or even if they still would be standing whenever they return. The mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko, estimates Chernihivs death toll from the war to be in the hundreds.

Russian forces have bombed residential areas from low altitude in absolutely clear weather and are deliberately destroying civilian infrastructure: schools, kindergartens, churches, residential buildings and even the local football stadium, Atroshenko told Ukrainian television.

On Wednesday, Russian bombs destroyed Chernihivs main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv; on Friday, artillery shells rendered the remaining pedestrian bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to get out or for food and medical supplies to get in.

Refugees from Chernihiv who fled the encirclement and reached Poland this week spoke of broad and terrible destruction, with bombs flattening at least two schools in the city center and strikes also hitting the stadium, museums and many homes.

They said that with utilities knocked out, people are taking water from the Desna to drink and that strikes are killing people while they wait in line for food. Volodymyr Fedorovych, 77, said he narrowly escaped a bomb that fell on a bread line he had been standing in just moments earlier. He said the blast killed 16 people and injured dozens, blowing off arms and legs.

So intense is the siege that some of those trapped cannot even muster the strength to be afraid anymore, Kazmerchak said.

Ravaged houses, fires, corpses in the street, huge aircraft bombs that didnt explode in courtyards are not surprising anyone anymore, he said. People are simply tired of being scared and dont even always go down to the basements.

With the invasion now in its second month, Russian forces have seemingly stalled on many fronts and are even losing previously taken ground to Ukrainian counterattacks, including around Kyiv. The Russians have bombed the capital from the air but not taken or surrounded the city. U.S. and French defense officials say Russian troops appear to have adopted defensive positions outside Kyiv.

With Russia continuing to strike and encircle urban populations, from Chernihiv and Kharkiv in the north to Mariupol in the south, Ukrainian authorities on Saturday dismissed statements from the Russian military suggesting that it planned to concentrate its remaining strength on wresting the entirety of Ukraines eastern Donbas region from Ukrainian control. The region has been partially controlled by Russia-backed separatists since 2014.

We cannot believe the statements from Moscow because theres still a lot of untruth and lies from that side, Markian Lubkivskyi, an adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister, told the BBC. Thats why we understand the goal of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin still is the whole of Ukraine.

That skepticism was underscored hours later when explosions rocked Lviv, a city in western Ukraine about 45 miles (72 kilometers) from the Polish border where an estimated 200,000 displaced Ukrainians have taken refuge.

Among them is Olana Ukrainets, a 34-year-old IT worker from Kharkiv.

When I came to Lviv, I was sure that all these alarms wouldnt have any results, Ukrainets told the AP from a bomb shelter after the blasts. Sometimes when I heard them at night, I just stayed in bed. Today, I changed my mind and I should hide every time.  None of the Ukrainian cities are safe now.

The strike happened as U.S. President Joe Biden was visiting Poland, which has taken in far more Ukrainian refugees than any other country.

Britains defense ministry said Saturday that it doesnt expect a reprieve for citizens of Ukraines bombarded cities anytime soon.

Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties, the U.K. ministry said.

Previous bombings of hospitals and other nonmilitary sites, including a theater in Mariupol where Ukrainian authorities said a Russian airstrike is believed to have killed 300 people last week, already have given rise to war crimes allegations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appearing by video link at Qatars Doha Forum, on Saturday compared the destruction of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo.

Later, in a video address, Zelenskyy assailed Russian claims that Ukraine is trying to wipe out the use of the Russian language, saying: You are doing everything so that our people themselves leave the Russian language, because the Russian language will now be associated only with you, with your explosions and murders, your crimes.

The invasion has driven more than 10 million people from their homes, almost a quarter of Ukraines population. Of those, more than 3.7 million have fled the country entirely, according to the United Nations. Thousands of civilians are believed to have died.

In Chernihiv, hospitals are no longer operating, and residents cook over open fires in the street because the power is out. The utility workers who stayed behind arent enough to repair the broken powerlines and restore other essential services, and time has become a blur, the mayor said.

We live without dates and days of the week, Atroshenko told Ukrainian television.

Ever since a Russian blast hit a Stalin-era movie theater next to his 12-story residential building, Kazmerchak, the linguistics scholar, has been spending his nights in a bomb shelter. A Russian missile also destroyed the hotel not far from his house.

The walls were shaking so much, he said. I thought my house would collapse any minute and I would be left under the rubble.

___

Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv; Nebi Qena in Kyiv; Cara Anna in Lviv and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Kirtland Air Force Base will become home of the AC-130J Formal Training Unit before the end of this year, when a number of the aircraft begin moving to Albuquerque from their current location at Hurlburt Field in Floridas Panhandle. The move is expected to take place slowly over the next several years, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

The AC-130J Formal Training Unit will educate and train pilots and aircraft crew about how to operate the AC-130J platform in some of the most challenging environments in the world, the release said. The unit is expected to be composed of six primary aircraft and one maintenance aircraft. The mission would support up to 372 full-time Air Force personnel, with additional contract and maintenance support.

In an updated report to Heinrich regarding the move, the Air Force has identified several repair and construction projects at Kirtland that it will seek funding for in the coming years in order to support this relocation, said Heinrich, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies.

This training unit would align well with existing missions at both Kirtland and Cannon Air Force bases, which benefit from New Mexicos unrivaled airspace, our premier testing ranges, and our on-ground expertise, Heinrich said.

The decision to relocate the aircraft and personnel to Kirtland was originally announced in November 2020. At that time, Air Force officials said the move was being made in part to consolidate the training for this aircraft at one special operations location. Kirtlands 58th Special Operations Wing already does training in variations of the C-130J aircraft.

Another factor in the relocation, officials have said, is the increasingly crowded airspace around Hurlburt, the similarities between New Mexicos terrain and the geography of many of the places where the aircraft is deployed, and the proximity to two training ranges: the Melrose Air Force Range and White Sands Missile Range.
SANTA FE  Prosecutors presented enough evidence to pursue murder charges in a criminal trial against a New Mexico woman accused of causing a car crash that killed a police officer and a retired firefighter, a judge said Thursday.

Jeannine Jaramillo had a preliminary hearing before Santa Fe District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.

The 46-year-old Jaramillo is facing two counts of first-degree murder along with other charges in the March 2 wrong-way crash on Interstate 25 following a police pursuit.

She originally was thought to be a victim in the multivehicle crash, but later was accused of causing the deadly wreck and lying to police about what happened.

Killed in the crash was 43-year-old Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran and 62-year-old Frank Lovato, a retired firefighter from Las Vegas, New Mexico, who was driving a pickup truck and not involved with the pursuit.

Authorities said Jaramillo initially told them she had been carjacked at knifepoint.

Jaramillo was arrested days later when New Mexico State Police said evidence showed she was the sole driver of the stolen vehicle involved in the crash.

Jaramillo has been in jail since her arrest. Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to keep her behind bars throughout a trial.
Dakota Louis looks at the replay of his ride after failing to score points Friday evening at the Pit during the first stage of the PBR event. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Albuquerque Journal) Cody Jesus of Window Rock, Arizona rides the bull named Bougie Native. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Albuquerque Journal) Bull riders are introduced Friday evening at the Pit before the start of the PBR event. (Roberto E. Rosales/ Albuquerque Journal Prev 1 of 3 Next

Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The Pit will always be a special place for Dakota Louis, who made his Professional Bull Riders debut at the 2012 Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque.

Four years before he introduced himself to the PBR circuit, Louis, a Native American rider who won the Indian National Finals Rodeo three times, watched his father, Greg, compete at the Ty Murray Invitational at the Pit.

On Friday night, Louis, 29, was back at the Pit competing in the opening round of the Ty Murray Invitational. This time, his 4-year-old son, Hayze, was watching.

Every time I get on, hell tell me: All right Dad, stick your chest out and spur that sucker,' Louis said of Hayzes advice. I think he got that one from Grandpa Gregory.

Louis lasted just under eight seconds on the bull, Gold Chain Cowboy, coming up shy of earning a score for contention. He shared a cold beer with a friend for some relief after the competition and after a media interview.

Hell get back on a bull on Saturday.

I got a really good bull (on Saturday), said Louis, who is ranked No. 38 in the world. Ill just go out with same mindset as (Friday night). I know the good Lord has a plan for us. I just got to do my part and do my best.

When Louis at age 14 watching his father compete at the Pit, he knew he wanted to come back and also compete at the famed arena in the Duke City

Louis cherishes the times he was able to compete in the same events as his father. The times Louis watched his father were also memorable.

When my dad rode I took it to heart, said Louis, who is from Browning, Montana. I loved when he was out there. He had a lot of success. I was used to him doing so well. I got to ride against my Dad. Its definitely been a blessing.

Who knows if little Hayze will become a rider? Louis said hes raising his son to be a cowboy. He said the name, Hayze Louis, has a cowboy feel to it and thats why he gave him the unique name.

Louis said his son loves when hes able to travel and go to PBR events as they did for the Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque.

Hayze likes to hang out with the other riders and theyve become like uncles to him, Louis said.

Its a family environment, Louis said. Were competing against each other but its a brotherhood too.

To see him watch me compete here on the biggest stage of bull riding, its an honor for me and a blessing, Louis added. Im truly thankful that I get to live this life with this opportunity.

Louis was one of 21 riders who failed to score on Friday night.

RESULTS: Sam Woodall of Australia drew loud cheers from the crowd with a sensational ride. He led the way with 92 points.

Woodall won the PBR Australia Finals last year. For his victory on Friday, he collected 29 world points.

Woodall closed out the preliminary round Friday ranked No. 39 in the world.

Fans were treated to a 15/15 Bucking Battle on Friday. The Top 15 active riders in the world competed in the 15/15 Bucking Battles on Friday and will again Saturday night and automatically qualify for the regular-formatted event on Sunday afternoon.

The remaining 30 riders in the event field competed in two qualifying long rounds on Friday and again on Saturday night. The Top 20 riders from the two qualifying rounds will then advance to compete Sunday against the riders who competed in the 15/15 Bucking Battles.

The event winner will be determined by the top rider who successfully rides two bulls on Sunday.
WARSAW, Poland  President Joe Biden delivered a forceful and highly personal condemnation of Russias Vladimir Putin on Saturday, summoning a call for liberal democracy and a durable resolve among Western nations in the face of a brutal autocrat.

As he capped a four-day trip to Europe, a blend of emotive scenes with refugees and standing among other world leaders in grand settings, Biden said of Putin: For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power.

It was a dramatic escalation in rhetoric  Biden had earlier called Putin a butcher  that the White House found itself quickly walking back. Before Biden could even board Air Force One to begin the flight back to Washington, aides were clarifying that he wasnt calling for an immediate change in government in Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quickly denounced Biden, saying its not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.

While Bidens blunt language grabbed headlines, in other pieces of his roughly 30-minute speech before Warsaws iconic Royal Castle he urged Western allies to brace for what will be a turbulent road ahead in a new battle for freedom.

He also pointedly warned Putin against invading even an inch of territory of a NATO nation.

The address was a heavy bookend to a European visit in which Biden met with NATO and other Western leaders, visited the front lines of the growing refugee crisis and even held a young Ukrainian girl in his arms as he sought to spotlight some of the vast tentacles of the conflict that will likely define his presidency.

We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after, and for the years and decades to come. It will not be easy, Biden said as Russia continued to pound several Ukrainian cities. There will be costs, but the price we have to pay, because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.

Biden also made the case that multilateral institutions like NATO are more important than ever if the West and its allies are going to successfully push back against autocrats like Putin.

During his campaign for president, Biden talked often about the battle for primacy between democracies and autocracies. In those moments, his words seemed like an abstraction. Now, they have an urgent resonance.

Europe finds itself ensconced in a crisis that has virtually all of Europe revisiting defense spending, energy policy and more, and so does the U.S.

Charles Kupchan, who served as senior director for European affairs on the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, called the invasion a game-changer that left Atlantic democracies with no choice but to bolster their posture against Russia.

But the path ahead for Biden  and the West  will only grow more complicated, Kupchan said.

The challenges Bidens presidency faces have just grown in magnitude, said Kupchan, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He now needs to lead the Wests efforts to protect the West from the pressing external threat posed by Russia. And he needs to continue strengthening the West from within by countering the illiberal populism that still poses internal threats to democratic societies on both sides of the Atlantic.

In one of the most poignant moments of his trip, Biden on Saturday bent down and picked up a young girl, a Ukrainian refugee in a pink winter coat, and spoke of how she reminded him of his own granddaughters.

I dont speak Ukrainian, but tell her I want to take her home, Biden asked a translator to tell the smiling child.

Hours later, Biden was in front of a crowd of a 1,000  including recent Ukrainian refugees  at the Royal Castle, a Warsaw landmark that dates back more than 400 years and was badly damaged in World War II. He made clear that the West would need to steel itself for what will be a long and difficult battle.

We must commit now, to be this fight for the long haul, Biden said.

The Biden administration, which has been selective about putting too great of importance on any single policy speech, sought to elevate what White House officials billed as a major address. Biden spoke with grand palace behind him to an invited audience  one bigger than just about any hes spoken to during his presidency.

He singled out Lech Walesa, the Polish labor leader who led the push for freedom in his country and was eventually elected its president, and connected the moment to the former Soviet Unions history of brutal oppression, including the post-World War II military operations to stamp out pro-democracy movements in Hungary, Poland and what was then Czechoslovakia. And he urged Europe to heed the words of Pope John Paul II, the first pontiff from Poland: Be not afraid.

Bidens trip has reaffirmed the importance of European alliances, which atrophied under former President Donald Trump. Hes worked with his counterparts to marshal an array of punishing sanctions on Russia, and placed the continent on a course that could eliminate its dependence on Russian energy over the next several years.

The collective response to the invasion of Ukraine has little parallel in recent history, which has been more characterized by widening divisions than close coordination. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed that dynamic, with European nations stepping up defense spending and imposing crushing sanctions against Moscow, and some taking initial steps to reorient their energy needs away from Russia.

Im confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing NATO, Biden said during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Friday. But he hasnt been able to do it. Weve all stayed together.

Maintaining such unity will likely prove difficult as the war grinds on, and the refugee situation could become one source of strain. Much like NATO is committed to the collective defense of each member, Biden said, other nations should share the burden of caring for Ukrainian refugees. To that end, the U.S. administration announced it would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees into the United States this year.

It should be all of NATOs responsibility, he told Duda, whose country has accepted roughly 2.2 million of the 3.7 million who have fled Ukraine. Its not clear how many of those displaced Ukrainians who have come through Poland have now moved on to other nations.

Theres also no clear path to ending the conflict. Although Russian officials have suggested they will focus their invasion on the Donbas, a region in East Ukraine, Biden wasnt so sure if there was a real shift underway.

Asked on Saturday if the Russians have changed their strategy, he told reporters that I am not sure they have.

Despite the hazards ahead, Biden insisted there is more reason to be hopeful that the West and Ukraine can eventually succeed.

A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a peoples love for liberty, Biden said. Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness.
LVIV, Ukraine  Just days ago, Artem Gorelov was trying to survive in one of the most brutal parts of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Now he stands in a quiet room in the late afternoon sunlight, hand-making hats for a local fashion brand worn by Madonna and Ukraines first lady.

Gorelov has joined Ukrainians massive migration west to the city of Lviv, near Poland. And, unusually, the 100-employee company he works for arrived with him. Searching for safety but determined not to leave Ukraine, the brand Ruslan Baginskiy is among the businesses that are uprooting amid war.

Two months ago, first lady Olena Zelenska was in the hat-makers showroom in Kyiv. Now the company operates in two borrowed classrooms of a school, its workers delicately piecing together materials near students decades-old sewing machines.

It is a slower process, but clients like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales have expressed support, said co-owner Victoria Semerei, 29.

She was among the Ukrainians who didnt believe Russia would invade. She recalled being in Italy the day before the invasion and telling partners that war wasnt possible.

Two hours after her plane landed back in Kyiv, the bombardment began.

Daily bombings led the companys three co-founders to make the decision to flee. While some employees scattered to other parts of Ukraine or to other countries, about a third moved the companys essentials to Lviv two weeks ago.

Normal life will resume one day, Semerei said. We need to be prepared.

The company threw itself into the national wartime effort that has seized Ukraine, donating money to the army and turning its Instagram feed from brand promotion to updates on the war.

This is not the time to be shy. Not anymore, co-founder and creative director Ruslan Baginskiy said. The company once had Russian clients, but that stopped long before the invasion as regional tensions grew. Its not possible to have any connections, he said. Its all political now.

As part of that spirit, Semerei rejected the idea of moving the company to a safer location outside Ukraine. We have our team here, the most precious team we have, she said. Talented, all of them.

Past brand campaigns for the company have identified closely with Ukraine, photographed in placed like Kherson, now under Russian occupation. Cities that the hat-makers employees once called home have been torn apart.

So many Russian troops, said Gorelov, who fled Bucha near the capital. It was not even possible to defend.

His arrival in Lviv, where life goes on and fashionable shops remain open, was surreal. It took days to adjust. Now I feel relaxed doing this, he said, a new hat under construction on the table before him.

In another corner of the makeshift workspace, Svetlana Podgainova worried about her family back in the separatist-held territory of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting for control for nearly eight years. It was already difficult to visit with family even before the invasion. Now her brother cant leave the region.

She feels horrible seeing her colleagues from other parts of Ukraine pulled into the war and wishes that normal life would return for them all. Until then, I wanted to come back to work so much, she said. It occupies her mind and makes her feel less alone in a new city, and she calls her colleagues a big family.

The hat-makers employees are among the estimated 200,000 displaced people now living in Lviv, with the co-founders now sharing an apartment with several other people.

Considering the challenges, this year probably will be the worst in the companys six-year history, Semerei said. But this is something well go through and hopefully be even stronger.

__

This story corrects spelling to Neiman Marcus in 4th paragraph.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  Afghanistans Taliban rulers refused to allow dozens of women to board several flights, including some overseas, because they were traveling without a male guardian, two Afghan airline officials said Saturday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from the Taliban, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabuls international airport Friday to board domestic and international flights were told they couldnt do so without a male guardian.

Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes overseas, including some from Canada, according to one of the officials. Women were denied boarding on flights to Islamabad, Dubai and Turkey on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Airline, said the officials.

The order came from the Taliban leadership, said one official.

By Saturday, some women traveling alone were given permission to board an Ariana Airlines flight to western Herat province, the official said. However, by the time the permission was granted they had missed their flight, he said.

The airports president and police chief, both from the Taliban movement and both Islamic clerics, were meeting Saturday with airline officials.

They are trying to solve it, the official said.

It was still unclear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago requiring women traveling more than 45 miles (72 kilometers) to be accompanied by a male relative.

Taliban officials contacted by The Associated Press did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Since taking power last August, the Taliban leadership have been squabbling among themselves as they struggle to transition from war to governing. It has pit hard-liners  like acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund, who is deeply rooted in the old guard  against the more pragmatic among them, like Sirajuddin Haqqani. He took over leadership of the powerful Haqqani network from his father Jalaluddin Haqanni. The elder Haqqani, who died several years ago, is from Akhunds generation, who ruled Afghanistan under the strict and unchallenged leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Infuriating many Afghans is the knowledge that many of the Taliban of the younger generation, like Sirajuddin Haqqani, are educating their girls in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan women and girls have been targeted by their repressive edicts since taking power.

This latest assault on womens rights in Taliban-run Afghanistan denying women air travel, comes just days after the all-male religiously driven government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after the sixth grade.

The move enraged the international community, which has been reluctant to recognize the Taliban-run government since the Taliban swept into power last August, fearing they would revert to their harsh rule of the 1990s. The Talibans refusal to open up education to all Afghan children also infuriated large swaths of the Afghan population. On Saturday, dozens of girls demonstrated in the Afghan capital demanding the right to go to school.

After the Talibans ban on girls education beyond the sixth grade, womens rights activist Mahbouba Seraj went on Afghanistans TOLO TV to ask: How do we as a nation trust you with your words anymore? What should we do to please you? Should we all die?

An Afghan charity called PenPath, which runs dozens of secret schools with thousands of volunteers, is planning to stage countrywide protests to demand the Taliban reverse its order, said Matiullah Wesa, PenPath founder.

On Saturday at the Doha Forum 2022 in Qatar, Roya Mahboob, an Afghan businesswoman who founded an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan, was given the Forum Award for her work and commitment to girls education.

U.S. special representative for Afghanistan Tom West canceled meetings with the Taliban at the Doha Forum after classes for older girls were halted.

Deputy U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a statement that We have canceled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and around the Doha Forum, and have made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement.

The decision by the Taliban, if it is not swiftly reversed, will profoundly harm the Afghan people, the countrys prospects for economic growth, and the Talibans ambition to improve their relations with the international community, she said.

West acknowledged that the Taliban had made promises since their takeover to allow girls and women to go to school. He said that both the U.S. and the international community received the necessary assurances that was going to happen.

I was surprised at the turnaround this past Wednesday and I think youve seen the world react in condemning this move, West said. It is a breach, first and foremost, of the Afghan peoples trust because they made the commitment.

He added: I believe hope is not lost. Ive talked to a lot of Afghans here who also believe that. Im hopeful that we will see a reversal of this decision in the coming days.

In an interview after receiving the Doha Forum award, Mahboob called on the many global leaders and policy makers attending the forum to press the Taliban to open schools for all Afghan children.

The robotics team fled Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power but Mahboob said she still hoped a science and technology center she had hoped to build in Afghanistan for girls could still be constructed.

I hope that the international community, the Muslim communities (have not) forgotten about Afghanistan and (will) not abandon us, she said. Afghanistan is a poor country. It doesnt have enough resources. And if you take (away) our knowledge, I dont know whats going to happen.

___

Associated Press writer Lujain Jo in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
Second in a two-part series.Should judges obey the law?

In December, 1974, four months after President Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, Congress enacted a law intended to help root out public corruption. The law requires federal judges to disqualify themselves from presiding over any case in which they or their family members have a financial interest, however small.

The statute makes an exception for investments in mutual funds, so long as the judge has no hand in the management of the fund. But if a judge owns even a single share of stock in a corporation that has business before his or her court, that judge is required to step back from presiding over the case.

The reasons for the law are so obvious that its a bit shocking it dates only from 1974. A person who buys shares in a company is betting the share price will rise. And judges sometimes have the power to make that happen.

The business professor Chelsea Liu has documented the way lawsuits against major corporations move the market. She was studying the impact of environmental suits and found a predictable pattern of share price fluctuations.

For a judge interested in making money on the stock market, that presents a temptation. The purpose of the 1974 law was to remove the temptation.

At the start of any federal lawsuit, the parties are required to file disclosure statements naming parent corporations and major publicly owned investors, so as to alert judges to their legal obligation to recuse.

Last fall, though, the Wall Street Journal found many federal judges ignore the parties disclosure statements. The WSJ identified 131 federal judges who presided over cases in which they or a close family member owned stock in one of the parties.

Sixty-one judges or family members even traded stock in companies that had cases pending before the judge. Thats getting perilously close to insider trading.

Some violations were arguably trivial. (Are trivial violations of the law okay?) Judges sometimes perform routine administrative tasks.

But one California judge, Janis Sammartino, reportedly heard 54 cases involving companies held in her familys trusts. Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap failed to recuse no fewer than 138 times, according to the WSJ.

Its important to note that the WSJs investigation found that the majority of federal judges comply with the law. And I didnt find the names of any New Mexico judges in the WSJs reporting.

But note, too, how extremely easy it is to comply. A judge can invest in mutual funds instead of trading individual stocks. Or the judge can recuse from a given case, knowing theres an unending stream of other cases to take its place.

The judges excuses for not taking these simple steps bordered on the comical. Some told the WSJ they didnt know what the law required of them. Imagine an immigrant or addict raising that as a courtroom defense.

Others claimed they relied on conflict-checking software that caught only exact matches, not keywords. Which can only mean the judges didnt bother to read the parties disclosure statements for themselves.

It also suggests those judges (or someone acting on their behalf) opted for software that wasnt fit for purpose, which isnt really an excuse at all.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued a statement claiming to be carefully reviewing the issues raised by the WSJ investigation. In the same breath it described those issues as instances where conflicts inadvertently were not identified.

That word inadvertently made me laugh. While minimizing the significance of judicial lawbreaking, this lap dog agency announced the result of its review before starting it.

In his year-end message, Chief Justice John Roberts reassured the American public that the WSJ did not report that any (violation of the law) affected the judges consideration of a case.

Thats a fine example of the legal art of saying something not-false, as opposed to true.

The WSJ actually reported that, when conflicted judges ruled on contested motions, their rulings favored the judges financial interests in 94 cases, went against the judges interest in 27 cases and had mixed outcomes in 24 cases.

Roberts went on to refer to various back-office steps the Administrative Office might take to prevent truly inadvertent slip-ups, the least of the concerns raised by the WSJs reporting. He didnt consider the obvious solutions: banning the trading of individual stocks or, at a minimum, requiring real-time public disclosure.

In recent years, all sorts of institutions in our society, from the Catholic Church to law enforcement agencies debating lapel cams, have faced variations on the same question: Is it more important to have a good reputation or to deserve one?

The chief justice answered that question as too many bishops initially did.

Joel Jacobsen is an author who in 2015 retired from a 29-year legal career. If there are topics you would like to see covered in future columns, please write him at legal.column.tips@gmail.com.
Like most of my colleagues, I am following very carefully Russias war on Ukraine.

It is heart-wrenching to watch the destruction of property and infrastructure. It is even sadder to read about families and children being killed in this naked act of aggression. It is hard to imagine either side winning in the end. In spite of all the destruction, there is something positive that could come out of the conflict, indirectly related to Russia and Ukraine  the resetting of Chinas diplomatic and trade relationship with the world.

China has put itself in the position of being the No. 1 apologist and supporter of Russia. On the very first day of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly issued a statement that, Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no forbidden areas of cooperation. They also stated that, Their relationship was superior to any Cold War Era Alliance.

The announcement outlined the areas that they would cooperate on, including climate change, space, artificial intelligence and control of the internet. Quickly thereafter, China agreed to increase its purchases of wheat from Russia, which in turn announced that its two state-controlled energy companies, Rosneft and Gazprom, would strike billion-dollar energy deals with China.

It is clear in the short-term that China is Russias lifeline for its economy, which has been hit with embargoes and sanctions since its aggression began. In the long-term, Russia sees China as a replacement for trade that it will lose with the West, and an ally to alleviate its isolation in the world. China imports more than 60% of its crude oil and uses coal to produce more than 60% of its electricity. It sees Russia as a big gas station to fuel its economy. This alliance allows China to refrain from condemning Russias actions.

However, democracies throughout the world can use Chinas support of a bully to reset their relationship with that country. Traditionally, China is hypersensitive about its global image, going as far as to threaten nations, companies and individuals when they state something negative about human rights violations of their own citizens, restrictions on free press and its threatening stance on Taiwans freedom. China should not get a free ride about its behavior of diplomatically and economically supporting Russia. As it has done with Russia, the Western world can send a strong message to China from a diplomatic and economic standpoint.

For the past few years, the U.S. has been engaged in a trade war with China, with many goods traded between the two nations having had damaging tariffs slapped on them. However, do we really want to buy products from a country that essentially endorses Russias ruthless attack on a smaller, weaker country?

Two things are apparent. The first is that democracies throughout the world need to strengthen trade ties and decrease their reliance of trade with China. This requires multilateral cooperation among nations, and the U.S. and the European Union need to become leaders in this effort. If China wants to encourage criminal activity, it should not be rewarded by being able to readily sell its products in democratic countries. It should be made to see how successful it will be having Russia as its major trading partner and ally.

Secondly, the average American citizen has the power to vote against Chinas behavior by exercising choice when it comes to purchasing decisions. There are certainly a lot of Chinese-made consumer products in American stores, but Americans dont necessarily have to buy them. How many of us make it a habit to look at the label of product to see where it was produced? The Chinese-Russia alliance should start making us do exactly this. I know it is easier said than done to substitute similar products from other countries, especially if they are more expensive. This is especially difficult for consumers living on limited means. However, if we as individuals could decrease our purchases of Chinese goods by 25%, imagine what an economic impact that would have on China and what a signal it would send.

It also has occurred to me the role that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement could have played to push back on China and Russia. This was a trade agreement that was negotiated between 12 Asian, South American and North American countries, including the U.S., and could have been a strong tool in imposing sanctions and restricting trade with the two partners.

The treaty was negotiated, and then-President Donald Trump opted not to join. The other nations subsequently formed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, but it is obviously not as strong a force as it would have been had the U.S. been included. It is precisely these types of trade agreements with other democracies that would be helpful now.

Finally, I question how long the Russia-China bromance can last. Autocracies end up being suspicious of each other and alliances break apart, as was the case with the Russia-China alliance after WWII. Dictators have huge egos and paranoia. Jinping and Putin live every day being suspicious of their own countrymen taking them out, much more so of a powerful neighbor who shares your own ruthlessness.

Jerry Pacheco is the executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a nonprofit trade counseling program of the New Mexico Small Business Development Centers Network. He can be reached at 575-589-2200 or at jerry@nmiba.com.
Arizona had about 73 adult-use dispensaries licensed when recreational sales began at the start of 2021.

Colorado had 156 licensed retail stores in 2014 when their sales began, according to data from the states Marijuana Enforcement Division.

New Mexico, meanwhile, has more than 200 retail premises across the state, Cannabis Control Division spokeswoman Heather Brewer told the Journal  and counting.

That includes retail stores for newly licensed mom and pop shops, as well as locations from New Mexicos more than 30 legacy operators previously operating under the states medical program who are now gearing up to serve a larger population when adult-use sales start.

But the question is: Will New Mexicos adult-use retail market become oversaturated?

That depends on who you ask.

Ben Lewinger, executive director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, said he isnt concerned about the states adult-use retail market becoming oversaturated.

New operators are going to bring healthy competition, Lewinger said, adding that people entering the cannabis industry for the first time are living the American dream.

But ask Duke Rodriguez, CEO and founder of Ultra Health  the states largest vertically integrated cannabis company in the state  and hell give you a different response.

Its going to be the New Mexico nightmare, Rodriguez said.

How many dispensaries?

The state is touting some 228 retail operations statewide as of Tuesday. A retail license holder can operate multiple storefronts on that license.

But pinning down the number of actual physical storefronts is tricky, and the official tally may be undercounting those premises.

When the Journal asked for detailed numbers on the amount of retail premises Albuquerque and Santa Fe currently have, the state sent a document outlining a list of premise locations from legacy operators and newly licensed cannabis businesses.

Making it tougher to navigate, the states licensing portal search doesnt currently include all data for legacy operators and their retail premise locations. Robert Sachs, deputy director for CCD, said in an email that the licensing portal is expected to be fully operational with all data (including legacy licensees) no later than early April.

City of Albuquerque spokeswoman Maia Rodriguez, meanwhile, says legacy operators account for 48 storefronts in the city after checking data from the states Department of Health. Fifty-five more retail locations have received approval from the city, including some new locations from legacy operators and newly licensed retailers.

Ultra Health, meanwhile, has been tracking numbers on its own. Using data from the states licensing portal and accounting for legacy operators with retail locations across New Mexico, Ultra Health estimates that around 311 retail stores are currently licensed in the state. Of that number, 110 are in Albuquerque and 25 in Santa Fe, said Marissa Novel, chief marketing officer for Ultra Health.

The saturation is mathematically verifiable now, Duke Rodriguez said. Its not going to get better  its only going to get worse.

Rodriguez estimates that with New Mexicos population and the amount of retail locations statewide, we are looking at about 12 months out having to pare back close to 100 plus locations.

Ample supply

Brewer said the division doesnt expect all to open come April 1.

Licensees may choose to open some locations on April 1 and not open others until later this year, Brewer said, adding that, based on current supply data, the Cannabis Control Division is confident that there will be ample supply  without oversaturation  on opening day.

Indeed, that is the case for Canvas Organics, who plans to open one store at a time, said co-founder Billy Giron.

Giron, who also opened CBD Boutique in 2015, said he and his business partner were approved for a retail license that will allow them to operate six locations across the Albuquerque area. But the plan is to start with one store, Giron said. The approval needed from the city for zoning delayed the construction and outfitting of their first store but they have remained positive throughout.

It feels like were trying to pull off some sort of miracle right now to make it work, he said.

Fortunately for Giron, Canvas Organics was able to find a supplier for cannabis products and will have a supply ready for when sales begin. He did say that finding cannabis flower and concentrates has been harder to find with the limited number of producers and manufacturers currently in the state but that as the months go on, he expects the amount of product for retailers to increase.

Rodriguez said smaller retailers have reached out almost daily asking for products to outfit their stores. For him, that signals a need for more supply.

(State regulators) are not going to be the ones feeling the pain, Rodriguez said.

Brewer said that the way the legislation was written prohibits CCD from putting a cap on future retail licenses and that an amendment to the legislation would have to be made. But its possible that the division can up the plant count again if needed.

We have heard concerns ranging from fears of over saturation to predictions of dire product shortages, Brewer said. However, based on the states market analysis, the CCD believes that the current supply will be adequate for opening day and that the market will quickly settle into a balance of supply and demand that meets business and consumer needs.
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BUDAPEST, Hungary  Widely seen as Russian President Vladimir Putins closest ally in the European Union, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sought to assert Hungarys neutrality in the war in Ukraine, even as his allies in the EU and NATO assist the embattled country and punish Russia for launching the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

Orban, who faces a difficult election on April 3, has refused to supply Ukraine with military aid  alone among Ukraines EU neighbors  and has not allowed lethal weapons to be shipped to Ukraine across Hungarys borders.

Arguing that providing such assistance to Ukraine would draw Hungary into the war, Orban  while avoiding ever mentioning Putin by name  has portrayed himself as the defender of his countrys peace and security while insisting that EU sanctions against Russia not be extended to its energy sector, of which Hungary is a major beneficiary.

The answer to the question of which side Hungary is on is that Hungary is on Hungarys side, Orban wrote Saturday on social media.

While his approach has gained traction among many of his supporters, Orbans reluctance to act unambiguously in support of Ukraine and his insistence on maintaining his Russian economic interests has led to frustration and outrage among other European leaders  not least the Ukrainian president himself.

In a video address Friday to a summit of EU leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a frank, direct appeal to Orban to take a clearer stance on Russias war on Ukraine and support his besieged country.

I want to stop here and be honest, once and for all. You have to decide for yourself who you are with, Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy recalled that Hungarys capital of Budapest had experienced the horrors of war in the 20th century, and referred to a memorial of bronze shoes on the Danube river that pays tribute to the Hungarian Jews executed by German and Hungarian fascists in World War II.

Listen, Viktor, do you know whats going on in Mariupol? Zelenskyy said, referring to the Ukrainian city on the Sea of Azov that has undergone devastating Russian bombardment. Please, if you can, go to your waterfront. Look at those shoes. And you will see how mass killings can happen again in todays world. Thats what Russia is doing today.

While Orban has voted in favor of most EU sanctions against Russia, Zelenskyy slammed him for opposing sanctions on Russian energy imports  considered one of the EUs most effective potential means for putting pressure on the Kremlin  and for being Ukraines only EU neighbor to refuse to supply it with military aid.

You hesitate whether to impose sanctions or not? You hesitate whether to let weapons through or not? And you hesitate whether to trade with Russia or not? Its time to decide already. We believe in you, we need your support, the Ukrainian leader said.

Yet Orban rejected Zelenskyys emotional appeal, saying Friday in a video posted to social media that the Ukrainian presidents requests were against Hungarys interests. He claimed that sanctions on Russian energy would mean that the Hungarian economy would slow down and then stop within moments.

Blocking Russian energy exports would force Hungarians to pay the price of the war, Orban said, noting that 85% of Hungarys gas and more than 60% of its oil comes from Russia.

As the Hungarian election approachs and Orban seeks to protect his countrys long-term gas and nuclear contracts with Russia, his posture has threatened his relationships with his closest regional allies in the Visegrad Four alliance of central European countries  Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

Poland, like Hungary, has long been the target of EU efforts to crack down on democratic backsliding and rule of law violations, and is a steadfast ally in Orbans efforts to reduce the power of EU institutions over member states.

Yet centuries of domination by Russia has given Poles a deep distrust of Moscow. The Polish government in Warsaw has been outspoken in condemning Putin and supporting Ukraine.

Orbans refusal to act in kind has created fault lines in the two countries relationship.

Speaking to Polish public radio on Friday, Polands ruling party leader and Orban ally Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he was displeased with Orbans stance on Russia.

If you asked me if I was happy, I would say no, Kaczynski said. We will see what will happen after the elections and then this assessment can be finally formulated. But we are not happy.

Also Friday, Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said she would not attend a meeting of Visegrad Four defense ministers in Hungary next week. In a tweet, Cernochova said she did not want to get involved in Hungarys election campaign but criticized Hungarys attitude to the war in Ukraine.

Im really sorry that cheap Russian oil is more important for Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood, she wrote.

___

Associated Press writer Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Intel paid $100,000 to Sandoval County in hiring-related clawbacks related to its Rio Rancho plant in 2020, bringing the total it has paid to $1 million since 2001, according to a company spokeswoman.

The chip manufacturing giants agreement with the county, which Intel spokeswoman Linda Qian said went into effect in 1995, states that Intel must pay the county $100,000 for each year it fails to meet a hiring goal of 60% New Mexico residents. Since that agreement came into place, Intel fell short in 10 different years dating back to 2001. In 2020, the most recently recorded year, New Mexico residents accounted for 42.7% of hiring that year.

Intel in 2020 hired 82 new employees, 35 of whom were New Mexico residents, according to its most recent Intel New Mexico RISE report.

Sandoval County Manager Wayne Johnson told the Journal the money from Intel goes into a specific fund used for encouraging school-to-work programs.

Johnson was able to confirm at least six instances in recent years when the company failed to meet its local hiring goals. But he said the countys current accounting software doesnt provide records before fiscal year 2009.

That said, I have no reason to doubt Intels assertion of 10 total but cannot confirm any instances of noncompliance before the 2013 fiscal year, Johnson added.

The clawback was most recently attached to the 2004 industrial revenue bond agreement  extended in 2019  between the county and Intel, Johnson said.

The clawback money is given on a per-student distribution, Johnson said. For example, Rio Rancho Public Schools received about $70,000 in 2013.

That amount remained consistent for the school district over the next three years Intel paid back the county. But the county has yet to distribute money it received in 2020 due to COVID-19 and administrative turnover, Johnson said.

The money from 2020 is still waiting to be distributed and Johnson said the county may reevaluate how it is dispersed going forward.

Intels report also shows that the company awarded 43 STEM-related grants of $2,500 to teachers across the state for those programs.

On a larger scale, Intel spent around $200 million with New Mexico-based organizations, according to the report. The report for 2021 will likely come in the spring of this year, Johnson said.
TORONTO  When an Assembly of First Nations delegation traveled to the Vatican in 2009 to meet with then-Pope Benedict XVI, the pontiff told them in a private meeting of his personal anguish over abuse suffered by Indigenous children in church-run boarding schools they were forced to attend in Canada.

What at the time was called an expression of deep, heartfelt regret is no longer seen as sufficient after last years discovery in British Columbia of about 200 unmarked and previously undocumented graves of children at what was Canadas largest Indigenous residential school  one of numerous, similar grim sites across the country.

Now Indigenous leaders are expecting nothing less than a public apology from Pope Francis, with government officials up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lending support to their cause. Set to meet with First Nations, Metis and Inuit survivors at the Vatican next week ahead of a visit to Canada that could come later this year, the pontiff appears likely to offer just such an apology for the churchs role in boarding school abuses.

Were trying to give a voice to the voiceless by going there, said Gary Gagnon, who will represent the Metis people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the delegation. Originally scheduled for last December, the visit was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 150,000 native children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture, Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous governments considered superior.

The government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant, with students beaten for speaking their native languages. That legacy of abuse and isolation has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction on reservations.

Nearly three-quarters of the 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.

Last May the Tkemlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of the gravesites near Kamloops, British Columbia, found using ground-penetrating radar. The sites have not yet been excavated, but they renewed a national reckoning as Indigenous groups across the country search for graves at other residential schools.

What really spurred things forward was Kamloops, said Phil Fontaine, who was national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2009 and led the delegation that met with Benedict. It grabbed the attention of so many people.

Fontaine, 77, said he and his classmates suffered physical and sexual abuse when he was a boy at the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School in Manitoba, where he was forbidden from seeing family except for two hours on Sundays even though they lived nearby.

Finally Canadians are saying, Oh, so its true. This is what happened at residential schools,' he added. And I think it put a lot of pressure on the Catholic Church and the Vatican. Keep in mind the prime minister himself asked Francis to apologize.

Fontaine is calling for the popes Canada visit, which the Vatican has announced but as yet has no set date, to happen on Indigenous lands.

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission has records of at least 51 children dying at the Kamloops school between 1915 and 1963.

Nationwide, the commission identified about 3,200 confirmed deaths at residential schools amid poor conditions, some from tuberculosis, but noted that the cause of death was not recorded for almost half of them. Standard practice was not to send the bodies of the students who died back to their communities; the commission said the government wanted to keep costs down.

Calgary Bishop William McGrattan, vice president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church hopes next weeks Vatican encounter will be a historic moment for all Canadians, but most especially our First Nation and our Metis.

They will be bringing their own stories and the stories of their communities, McGrattan said. Pope Francis and the bishops will listen and respond to make sure we are committed to this path of reconciliation.

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology over the residential schools in Parliament in 2008, calling them a sad chapter in Canadian history and saying the policy of forced assimilation caused great harm.

As part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving the government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students, Canada paid reparations that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to Indigenous communities.

The Catholic Church, for its part, has paid over $50 million and now intends to add $30 million more over the next five years.

The United, Presbyterian and Anglican churches already have apologized for their roles.

Canadas residential schools were based on similar facilities in the United States, where Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries, according to researchers, that also were home to rampant abuse.

While the issue has drawn comparatively little attention in the U.S., Fontaine believes a day of reckoning is coming for Canadas neighbor to the south.

The aim of the residential school systems, he argued, was no less than cultural genocide.

They decided that the best way to do that is to herd children into residential schools, forbid them to speak Indigenous language, forget about their culture, Fontaine said. In fact, embrace everything that was not them in terms of culture and tradition, in keeping with federal government policy.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Indian arm of the German stationery manufacturer Faber-Castell has settled all outstanding issues related to its former JV partner and MD Mr. Anup Bhasker Rana in an extrajudicial mediation.

Since entering the Indian market in the mid-90s, the Faber-Castell group had relied on partnerships and JVs to make headway into the Indian market. However, in 2014 following differences with the then MD and JV partner Mr. Rana, the parent company decided to go solo and formed a wholly owned subsidiary, AW Faber-Castell India with 100% ownership.

Although the two parties were seeking a judicial resolution to their differing claims, in the course of time the two parties have mutually settled all differences through discussion and mediation with neither party holding any claim over the other.

The Indian operation in the last two-three years has strongly expanded its offering and possesses a portfolio which encompasses the entire range of stationery products across categories like crayons, wet paints, pencils, markers, pens and school accessories. The company is pursuing a Make in India strategy, manufacturing over 75% of its products/offerings in India for the entire South Asian market.

A statement from Mr Partho Chakrabarti, Managing Director for Faber-Castell India said: We are very delighted that this matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction, so that we can state that both parties no longer uphold their accusations. We thank Mr. Rana for his cooperation in this matter. For many years, Mr. Rana had largely contributed to build up the brand awareness of Faber-Castell in India. This will enable Faber-Castell India to move forward and develop the market on solid grounds.
In India, almost every occasion that we celebrate is incomplete without the presence of Mithai. With stories around their origin passed down generation after generation, our traditional sweets hold a lot of cultural significance that runs much deeper than just the taste buds. There is an emotional connection that each of us has with our favourite mithai. Keeping this thought in mind, Zee TVs upcoming fiction show Mithai will take us back to our roots through an amalgamation of a love story and a family drama all tied together inside a sweet box of traditional Indian sweets.

Produced by Arvind Babbal Productions, Mithai is set against the backdrop of Mathura and captures the journey of a bubbly and chirpy sweet-maker, whose name is also coincidentally Mithai. The show will take viewers into the by-lanes of Jatipura where barely four shops exist today that prepare a unique traditional sweet called Aloo Jalebi which is served as the mahaprasad at the Mukharvindh Temple. The protagonist Mithai wants to spread smiles with her late fathers traditional recipe. Mithai will premiere on 4th April and air from Monday to Saturday at 7 pm, only on Zee TV!

Popular television actress Debattama Saha is all set to make you fall in love with Mithai, as she gears up to essay the titular character. As the male lead opposite her, television actor Aashish Bhardhwaj will portray the role of Siddharth, a software engineer by profession and the grandson of a heritage Indian sweets business family in Mathura. Unlike Mithai, he resents sweets because he blames his father for having focused on his sweets business instead of tending to his mothers health which led to her untimely death, and he wants nothing to do with his familys business.

Mithai was introduced to media in a unique way where she entered on her bicycle with garma-garam Aloo Jalebiyaan for the media and played Vrindavan style  Phoolon Wali Holi with the entire cast of the show. At the launch event, she danced to the title track of the show sung by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contestant Sanjana Bhat.

Zee TV Business Head Aparna Bhosle said, "With Mithai, we want to infuse our early primetime with the positivity of this vivacious girl from Jatipura who wants to spread smiles with her late fathers unique traditional recipe of Aloo Jalebis  her journey of building a relationship with her husband who deeply resents the very concept of sweets will be an intriguing journey for audiences to follow. We have shot extensively in Mathura to capture the true cultural essence and the authentic backdrop of our narrative. We look forward to yet another successful collaboration with writer-producer Arvind Babbal with this show!"

Actor Debattama Saha said, "I look forward to bringing Mithai to life. The script of this show was something I couldnt have possibly said 'NO' to. I believe the show's narrative is quite different from other typical fiction shows and the protagonist has a distinct personality. She's bringing joy to the city with something as unique as Aloo Jalebi. I'm pleased to see how this character develops on television, and I hope that all viewers will be able to relate to her journey. We have shot extensively in Mathura and it has been a fun experience for all of us. In just a short time span, we have all developed a great chemistry amongst us and I am sure that will reflect on screen too."

Actor Aashish Bhardhwaj said, "Siddharths character is very beautifully written by the show's makers. My character intrigues me as much as the show's theme since he is an intense young man whose mindset has been shaped by some stark experiences from his past. As a result, he feels strongly about certain aspects and sticks to his principles and beliefs. It has been lovely working with Debattama and traveling with the whole cast and crew to Mathura has brought us all together. This character is quite different from what I have played on-screen before, so I am really excited to see how the viewers respond to my new avatar."

Producer Arvind Babbal said, "After presenting audiences with a heart-warming narrative like Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti, our next show with Zee TV revolves around a girl from Jatipura who wants to spread joy through her late fathers traditional recipe of Aloo Jalebis, a legacy she refuses to let go of. Her relationship with Siddharth whose resentment for sweets dates back to some heart-wrenching events in his childhood will hopefully captivate our audiences. To authentically bring alive the cultural backdrop of the show, we have a lot of crew and cast members from the region and that has helped infuse our narrative with a lot of cultural nuances. We have recently completed an extensive outdoor schedule in Mathura. We hope the viewers connect with Mithais journey and shower her with a lot of love."

Tune in to 'Mithai' from 4th April at 7 pm, every Monday-Saturday on Zee TV!
Today on World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, Johnson & Johnson India (the Company) announced the launch of a youth-focused, digital-first initiative #BeTheChangeForTB as part of its commitment to the Corporate TB Pledge, a joint initiative with the Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), supporting the Indian Governments goal to end TB. Bollywood actor Vaani Kapoor has been appointed as the face of the initiative.

Youth represent a vulnerable population in the fight against TB. Despite this risk, young people are less likely to seek care due to a lack of awareness of TB symptoms, stigma associated with the disease, structural barriers in accessing complex health systems, and lack of family and social support, leading to millions going without diagnosis. As an estimated 30 percent of the total TB cases in India are in the age group of 18-30 years, this initiative aims to create a cadre of Youth Changemakers who can act as catalysts of change to help eliminate TB from the country.

Through social media, chatbots and more, the #BeTheChangeForTB initiative aims to increase awareness about the disease, build youth engagement and participation and improve health-seeking behaviour in support of the Governments vision of a TB-free India. Joining Vaani Kapoor to inspire Indian youth to join the movement through a rap song is Kunal Pandagle, also known as Kaam Bhaari, a young Indian hip-hop artist and lyricist (here is the link to the launch rap song)

The #BeTheChangeForTB initiative addresses the youth of India as they are best positioned to be the torchbearers in driving behavioural change amongst the public, which can significantly scale-up the fight against TB. The initiative will also bust the common misconceptions around TB and communicate the right messages around diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The communication and social mobilisation aspects of this initiative would entail various online and on-ground interventions including working with state and district health departments, National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) and local communities.

Every individual and every organization has the potential to make an impact in the fight against TB, said Sarthak Ranade, Managing Director at Janssen India, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.[1] We invite people everywhere to join us in our mission of reducing the burden of TB by raising awareness in your community and advocating for health-seeking behaviour. With the power of multi-sector partnerships, coming together in numbers and uniting under one common cause, we can help turn the tide against this devastating disease  once and for all.

This initiative, in support of global efforts to help find the missing millions of people living with undiagnosed TB, are part of Johnson & Johnsons 10-year initiative to help drive progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending this deadly, but preventable and treatable, disease by 2030.

Vaani Kapoor, actor, said, The ongoing pandemic has reversed years of global progress in tackling tuberculosis and for the first time in over a decade, TB deaths have increased. In India itself, every single day TB claims the lives of more than 1300 people, despite treatment being available free for all. It is imperative for all of us to come together and make a difference. I am honoured to be a part of the Be the Change for TB initiative and I appeal to the youth of the country and around the world to join this movement and be changemakers by spreading verified information on treatment and encouraging people to seek early care. I am confident that together we can reduce the burden of TB in India.

Sharing his views, Kaam Bhaari, rap artist, shared, I have always believed that music has the power to change the world. I am humbled to be part of the public health initiative, Be the Change for TB to empower youth, create awareness and improve health seeking behaviour. I am certain that this will create a group of changemakers that will spread awareness around the available treatment and contribute to make India TB-free.

Tuberculosis is one of the oldest infectious diseases and continues to be a major health concern in India accounting for 26 percent of the worlds TB burden. Despite being a curable disease and treatment being available free of cost for all citizens under the Governments National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), more than 1300 (one thousand three hundred) Indians lose their lives every day from TB and up to 400000 (four lakh) TB patients remain unreported each year. COVID-19 has further worsened the situation as several diseases, including TB, received lesser focus with majority of efforts being directed towards containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Collaboration is essential to maximize the impact of these programs and drive new learnings. To that end, through initiatives like the #BeTheChangeForTB, Johnson & Johnson is convening some of the critical players across TB, youth services and global health to advance solutions to more efficiently engage and activate youth in the fight against TB.

Link to the website: https://bethechangefortb.in

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ bethechangefortb/?ref=pages_ you_manage

Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/ bethechangefortb/?utm_medium= copy_link
Mad Influence and Hifi Digital, India's fastest growing influencer marketing companies, promoted the #BachchhanPaandeyKiMoj campaign for the latest Indian Hindi-language action comedy film starring Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Arshad Warsi that released on March 18, 2022.

The well-planned and executed campaign #BachchhanPaandeyKiMoj was the second most popular hashtag on Twitter. The narrative began with the disappearance of 12 Moj creators on Day 1 and their continued disappearance on Day 2. On the third day, they were captured on a special train from Mumbai to Delhi by Akshay Kumar, aka Bachchhan Paandey. The captured creators included, Pranavi Manukonda, Srish Shukla, Sohail Shaikh, Sameeksha Takke, Sohail D, Simran Jain, Prasad, Surbhi Rathore, Himanshu Shrivastav, Khwahish Gal, Bhavi Chandiramani and Rashi Shinde. He demanded 1 billion views in exchange for the freedom of the content creators he was keeping hostage.

The execution of the enormous plan was divided into four phases, Initiation, Build Up, Main Activity and Creator Release. The campaign started with 20 macro-influencers like Gima Ashi, Sid Kannan, Chinki Minki and more posting a story each on Instagram for a specific Moj creator informing their fans about them being missing. For additional coverage and amplification, #MojCreatorsMissing was trending on Twitter for 4hrs on 12th March. #MojCreatorsNotFound was trending on 13th March to create further hype.

The second phase was driven by the co actors of the film wherein Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Arshad Warsi, took to Twitter highlighted the missing Moj creators and hinted at Akshay Kumar's ransom demand. They informed the public about the abduction and amplified the curiosity.

The Main Activity was the train journey of all the cast going from Mumbai to Delhi on March 14, 2022. Akshay Kumar launched the campaign through Twitter by sharing the ransom video. He put forward his demand of receiving 1 BILLION VIEWS IN A DAY on the hashtag #BachchhanPaandeyKiMoj. Many influencers, Bollywood and meme pages took part in this campaign by sharing and engaging their followers with the news and updates. 1000+ posts were uploaded by MoJ creators and simultaneously 500+ posts were uploaded on Instagram.

The influencer marketing companies, Mad Influence, and Hifi Digital assisted with the campaign by promoting it among their creator communities and various social media platforms, including Instagram, using reels.

Gautam Madhavan, Founder and CEO of Mad Influence, said of this promotion: "We are always eager to be a part of campaigns that are unique, creative, and engaging. This one, in particular, was immensely enjoyable and thrilling. We congratulate the Bachchhan Paandey team on their film and hope to see more opportunities like this in the future."

The official Twitter account of Moj congratulated Akshay Kumar on receiving 1.5+ billion views in 15 hours and requested that their creators be released. All the creators were released on March 15, 2022 as promised by Bachchhan Paandey.

On this campaign, Janak Bhanushali, the CEO of Hifi Digital, said, "Collaborating with Mad Influence is always a unique experience. This campaign was a lot of fun to work on, and the public's response was fantastic. It's been exhilarating.

Furthermore, on March 15, 2022, #BachchhanPaandey1BnViews was among the top 5 trending topics on Twitter, with 5,371 total tweets, 1,768 unique contributions, a total reach of 18,564,433, and a total impression of 27,524,845 in less than 4 hours.

A special truck was also organised for the promotion of the movie. The truck travelled from Bombay to Gurgaon, covering a distance of 1376 km, stopping in multiple cities starting from Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jaipur, and Gurgaon and encouraging influencers to post pictures and videos with the special truck. The activity received a total view of more than 140K and a total engagement of more than 11.6K.
By 2050, there will be nearly ten billion human beings on the planet.

According to AOC, those nearly 10 billion humans will place a major burden on the Earth. With what they need to live a comfortable existence  the house, car, utilities, food, travel, and other services, each with its own carbon footprint  those ten billion will increase carbon emissions by at least 43%. Just the livestock that human beings raise emit 37% of non-natural methane emissions, 23 times more damaging than all the CO2 from cars. From an environmental perspective, 10 billion humans seems an unacceptable number.

For radicals like AOC, here are two solutions. One is to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of every human being on the planet. This could be accomplished by mandating electric vehicles or no car at all, and by using taxation and zoning to force humans into smaller, more efficient apartments.

But housing and transportation would not be enough. It would be necessary to slash electricity and other utility usages, since power plants are the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, and to outlaw animal products such as meat, eggs, and dairy. It would also be necessary to limit travel and restrict land use so as to return land to its state of nature.

All of these "solutions" have been proposed, and in some places implemented, but alone, they will not reduce carbon emissions to any perceptible extent, since humans will go on requiring food, shelter, heat, electricity, and other services that produce emissions. If you believe that carbon poses an existential threat to life on Earth, you must consider option #2.

That option is to reduce the number of human beings on Earth, be it by forced sterilization, birth control, abortion, or voluntary or mandatory euthanasia. While they do not always admit it, radicals like AOC have been pushing this option for decades. They envision a planet happily free of human industry and development  a lot like the primitive communal settlement depicted at the end of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Or a planet free of humans entirely.

State-mandated sterilization, birth control, and abortion have already been implemented in many countries, notably in Communist China and India, but also de facto in the U.S., where federally funded birth control is provided through the ACA, Medicaid, and Planned Parenthood and by most employer health insurance, and where sterilization is readily available and covered for women by the ACA and Medicaid, and where government insurance and federally funded Planned Parenthood cover patient education and counseling related to abortion. Abortion related to rape, incest, or endangerment of a woman's life is also federally funded, and 17 state Medicaid programs cover abortion with "segregated funds" so as to comply with the Hyde Amendment.

In many other countries, including most of Europe, sterilization, birth control, and abortion are all universally available and state-funded.

But these "services" alone will not solve the "problem" of rising population. India's population will rise to 1.7 billion in 2050, with Nigeria reaching 400 million and even the U.S. at 390 million.

Those additional young people will make a large contribution to the economy, but the elderly consume a greater than average share of medical services and no longer make a large contribution to economic productivity. From an environmental and economic perspective, euthanasia, whether voluntary or forced, would contribute to global well-being.

Euthanasia by another name was popular with the Obama administration and will probably be popular with Biden's: Obama's Medicare director, Donald Berwick, proposed providing elderly individuals with palliative care in place of costly treatment in their final months of life. They are just too much of an economic burden. It's a short step from "painkillers but no treatment" to euthanasia. Actually, aren't they the same thing?

There is no way around it. If one believes that carbon is killing the Earth, as I do not, one must consider both options. Humans must agree to reduce their carbon footprint by radically restricting their patterns of consumption and lifestyle, and they must accept widespread population control measures. If implemented globally and forcefully, these measures would reduce global population and lower carbon emissions incrementally.

Yet even if we reach net zero, that too would not be enough. Natural sources of carbon emissions would continue to drive climate change. Natural forces may be responsible for most climate change  even the EPA cannot say how much.

Natural sources will continue to drive climate change because they constitute a significant level of greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle, for example, emit 1.85% of total methane emissions as opposed to volcanoes, deep-sea vents, and other natural sources, which emit far more. According to a 2010 EPA report, the level of greenhouse gas emissions from natural sources is significant but not clearly understood: there are "different estimates" of levels of methane and nitrous oxide emitting from a wide range of natural origins, from ocean vents to soil emissions, natural wildfires, volcanoes, and other sources.

Natural emissions are part of climate cycles that the Earth has experienced since its beginnings. And what is so very bad about a changing climate? Before life even appeared on Earth, the climate was changing, and it will continue to change after we humans are gone. Why not accept the change, deal with it, and enjoy it?

Environmentalists will be pleased to know that, all by itself, human population is projected to decline after mid-century as existing humans decide to reproduce at lower rates. Japan's population, for example, has fallen from its peak of 128 million in 2008 to 125 million today and is projected to fall to 70 million by 2060. The real problem that we may face is too few humans as many countries  not just Japan and most of Europe, but throughout the world  commit demographic suicide.

The anti-human teachings of radical environmentalism don't make this situation any better. They must be tossed out and replaced by a pro-life philosophy that recognizes the truth that human life is a miracle and that every birth is a precious gift. With that knowledge, we can look to 2050 and beyond with confidence, not with AOC's fear-mongering, and we can defend all human life from conception to natural death.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

Image: nrkbeta via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Let us not declare an end to societal disruption by governmental decree justified by COVID-19. Who can know what the CCP, CDC, WHO, or DNC (all looking so similar recently) will unleash upon us tomorrow? If its in their interest to wreak havoc, they will try -- and may succeed.

That said, let's declare an end to the First Wave of all that. Its over. Everyone knows it -- except, perhaps, New Yorkers and Californians, whose immersion in Marxism prevents cogent thought.

Looking back on two years of the Pandemic, which moments -- which decisions, which deceptions, which outrages -- merit the COVID Hall of Shame? Its not an easy choice.

Candidate 1: The death sentence for nursing home patients.

It was known from the outset that COVID was most often fatal for elderly people in poor health. A locus of fatalities in March 2020 was a single nursing home in Washington State -- it was right there on the Johns Hopkins website. Yet, Democrat governors Wolf, Cuomo, Witmer, Murphy, and Newsom ordered chronically-ill senior citizens with COVID discharged to nursing homes. The staff inevitably carried the illness to others during their normal course of duty. The only apt analogy is the distribution of smallpox-ridden blankets given to Native Americans by the British during the French and Indian War. In July 2020, the .7% of Pennsylvanias population who were nursing-home residents accounted for 69% of COVID deaths there.

This action by Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf and his colleagues cant be chalked up to stupidity. Governors arent that stupid. To what end was it done? We cannot know. Wolfs Secretary of Health Rachel Levine pulled her own mother from a nursing home, presumably to avoid a death sentence. Levine is now U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health and a four-star admiral. Good for her. Wolf remains governor.

Candidate 2: Demonization of existing drugs that treat COVID

When some enterprising soul discovers an existing treatment for a new health threat, he or she usually becomes an overnight hero, especially when the treatment is safe, cheap, and widely available. When President Trump spoke of the promise of hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19, the national media scoffed, because they considered Trump an ignoramus. When physicians who had prescribed hydroxychloroquine safely to prevent and treat malaria and chronic diseases for six decades championed its off-label use to treat a potentially fatal malady for which no other treatment existed, they were ostracized, and their medical licenses threatened. The hapless Neil Cavuto declared on Fox News: this stuff will kill you. He couldnt have been more wrong. I know a medical professional who contracted COVID early on. She told me the hydroxychloroquine she took regularly for another illness saved her life. The drug proved effective in multiple studies when given early in the course of the disease, but its use was never adopted. Many died needlessly as a result.

The same is true of ivermectin, the horse de-wormer, whose inventors won the 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine for creating the anti-parasitic drug -- not for horses, but for humans (Human medications are routinely given to livestock). Why would an anti-parasitic prevent or treat COVID? We dont know -- but evidence shows it does. With no other treatment available, why wouldnt off-label use of a safe, inexpensive drug be encouraged? Why ban its use and threaten colleagues who prescribed it? A loved one of mine survived COVID because of early intervention with ivermectin. She still feels the effects of a long bout with the disease, but she knew in two days she would beat it. (Her $15 prescription now costs $345.)

Candidate 3: Denial of natural immunity

When youve survived an illness, youre immune: true or false? A biology student knows the answer, but the finest medical professionals somehow dont. A FOIA request for data on immunity in those recovered from COVID revealed the U.S. government doesnt even collect such data. Weve learned that COVID mutates in the same way as cold or flu viruses. For that reason, the flu vaccine is reformulated annually; the COVID vaccine hasnt been. Its only moderately effective against the original strain, much less so against newer variants. A long-term Israeli study revealed that natural immunity provides far more protection, even from variants of the disease, than the highly-touted vaccine. Thats consistent with everything we know about immunity. Yet, this most basic science is ignored. The recovered must wear masks and get jabbed with an outdated, ineffective, and dangerous vaccine, some even before leaving the hospital where they recovered. Medical authorities may grudgingly admit to some natural immunity; perhaps three months, were often told. Why would it wane for COVID, though it is durable for other diseases? Each study of the recovered reveals evidence of natural immunity, no matter how long ago they had the illness. That evidence is ignored. Only the vaccine counts. This willful blindness is the antithesis of science.

Candidate 4: Youre the doctor.

Not long ago, we trusted our doctors to advise us in our best interest. They took the Hippocratic Oath. They worked for us, the patients. No longer. Most are now employed by large corporations funded by the government and answer to them, or it. They are beholden to the powers that issue their paychecks and licenses. Their convictions are not their own. They told us COVID-19 is fatal, even to children, knowing it is 98% survivable overall, and dangerous in proportion to age and comorbidities. They touted mask mandates, knowing they were of little or no value. They supported wholesale shutdown of schools, small businesses, churches, and community activities, well aware the dangers to mental health and economic well-being were great, and the risk small. They advocated coerced administration of untried and dangerous vaccines that have shown disastrous consequences: blood clots, heart attacks and strokes among the young and healthy, miscarriages, and an unprecedented number of outright deaths. The ill-effects will multiply in the future.

Doctors and medical professionals lied to us en masse and attacked courageous colleagues who told us the truth. Their moral and scientific authority will never be the same.

Which of these merits selection to the COVID Hall of Shame? Cast your vote -- provisionally. Nominees may still be coming in.

Image: ~Pawsitive~Candie_N
Violent crime has risen dramatically over the past couple of years in America. Twenty-twenty saw murders increase by around 30%, the most significant single increase recorded by the FBI. In addition, the Council on Criminal Justice conducted a study that shows a 4% increase in homicides in 22 major cities through the third quarter of 2021.

Chicago alone is evidence of how out-of-control crime is becoming. The Chicago Police Department reported that 2021 ended with 797 homicides, the most since 1996. More people were killed in shootings than any other year in a quarter-century in Chicago's history.

Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute identified a cause-and-effect relationship where public criticism of police increases crime. It was deemed the "Ferguson Effect" after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Economists Cheng Cheng and Wei Long published an advanced study in the Journal of Public Economics detailing police activity after Brown's death in 2014, showing a decline in arrests by 62% with a rise in homicides in two years. In addition, the study showed that police engagement decreased, with foot patrol down 82% and pedestrian checks down 76%, as the fallout of the Ferguson protests.

The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020 sparked demonstrations worldwide. Looting, arson, and robbery became commonplace in major cities across America. Progressive politicians and liberal activists organized these mass demonstrations and called for defunding or abolishing city police departments.

As a matter of public policy, the American public does not hold anti-police views. Sixty-four percent of Americans oppose defunding the police, with 60% opposing shrinking police budgets. A Gallup poll found that 81% of black Americans did not want any reductions in policing their neighborhoods. In comparison, 61% wanted to keep the same amount of police presence.

The continuing crime wave and the movement to defund the police made their way into President Biden's State of the Union address. The president clarified where he stands on this issue: "We should all agree: the answer is not to defund the police. It's to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training." This line received bipartisan praise from Speaker Pelosi and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.

President Biden's remarks on criminal justice reform have split the Democratic Party's progressive and moderate factions. Congresswoman Cori Bush and fellow "Squad" members followed up with the State of the Union response, chiding Biden for not mentioning "Black Lives Matter" or fatal police shootings.

Other politicians from the center-right and center-left have pushed back on the issue of crime. Mayor Eric Adams of New York, a former police chief, rebuked comments from Cori Bush and Black Lives Matter, stating: "We're not going to return to the era of heavy-handed policing. But we also can't return to the era of 2,000 homicides a year." Minnesota rep. Tom Emmer, who heads the House Republican Campaign Committee, issued a stark warning to the Democrats: "If you're not willing to speak up and speak out against this 'defund the police' movement within your own party, you own it."

Democrats are all too familiar with how a crime wave can negatively affect their political endeavors. The mid-1960s saw waves of unrest and violence in American cities. President Johnson in 1967 responded by forming the Kerner Commission to study the cause and effect of crime. Between 1964 and 1972, there were a total of 752 riots, 228 deaths, and 15,835 incidents of arson. The report suggested that the government needed to spend more on urban residents to resolve the lack of opportunities. It backfired as the American public supported civil rights legislation but wanted crime punished. Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 as a law and order candidate. He promised to nominate judges who would be tough on crime. Nixon succeeded Lyndon Johnson for the presidency as Republicans won in a landslide

The crime wave will continue to be an issue for the 2022 midterms. A recent survey from Ipsos ranked crime as the third most pressing issue on Americans' minds. Despite Biden's tough talk, only 32% of Americans approve of his handling, while 48% disapprove. Worse, only 24% of independents gave him high marks on the issue. A majority of voters agree that the president and the Democrats are soft on crime.

Image via Pixy.
The COVID lockdown revealed what's probably the biggest chasm in America: those who have to show up for work, often blue-collar, a mix of minorities and Whites, and more socially conservative versus those who can work from home, invariably white-collar, usually White, and very, very left. The news out of Google just rubs in that divide. While workers who prefer to stay home are upset about pay cuts, the real issue roiling Google's workplace is the company's decision to remove fancy bidets, with heated water, and white noise.

What was officially the main story out of Google was a companywide virtual meeting called when an internal survey revealed that numerous employees are unhappy with their pay packages, with less than half of the employees feeling that their pay was competitive with that of employees at other, comparably situated workplaces. What was especially galling was an announcement last summer that, if employees decided to work from home (which could be anywhere in America) their salary would be scaled to the cost of living at their home base.

So that was the big story. But the bigger story was about bidets. Let me put my bias right up front here: having been in Japan several times, I learned that the fancy bidets (heated water, heated seats, music, white noise, etc.) are the best thing to happen to bathrooms since flush plumbing. That's why, in early 2020, when news was starting to break about toilet paper supply chains breaking down, while there was no way I was going to spend hundreds, or even thousands, for the fancy bidets, I immediately bought the basic one.

However, here I am in America, so I know that when I go to a place of public accommodation or an office, I should not expect Japanese-style amenities. Businesses in America have flush toilets and toilet paper, and that's good enough.

Well, it's good enough if you don't work at Google. If you work at one of the most powerful companies in the world, you do get the fancy toilets, and you get used to them:

Yall, Google is out here with built-in bidets, heated seats, and automatic white noise in case youre a nervous pee-er. Like what??? If this is a recruitment ploy for industry, it may be working. These toilets have me asking Academia who? pic.twitter.com/S9M5iQ3RqN  Madelyn Leembruggen (@sweeetpeasoup) November 16, 2018

So, when Google takes them away...well, all heck breaks loose:

Google is removing Toto-brand bidet seats from its California offices after discovering they were out of compliance with the state's code for commercial buildings. [snip] Google's toilets have loomed large in the company's imagination  and reputation  for over 15 years. Employees aren't happy about the bidets going away: A widely upvoted meme that Protocol reviewed from Google's internal meme page reads, "The removal of bidets in the office is my #2 issue with RTO." (Google didn't return several requests for comment.) [snip] When an employee challenged the bidet removal decision in a reply to the maintenance ticket, citing the environmental and hygienic benefits of bidets (linking to a tip from Google's own sustainability team), facilities professional Edgar Tovar responded that Google wouldn't be replacing the bidets.

Google is a very divisive company. On the one hand, it really does have superb products. On the other hand, it's a totalitarian monster that needs to have its wings clipped. (A combination of the Civil Rights Act and the First Amendment might be able to do it.) However, when it comes to those bidets, I side entirely with Google's employees and think it's time to change the state's building codes. In any event, knowing California, those building codes are inevitably going to be a classic example of the perfect being the enemy of the good, so they could use some change.

Image: Twitter screen grab of a Toto bidet at Google.
In an exclusive report, Sharyl Attkisson presents evidence that is causing scientists to suspect that the omicron variant of COVID, currently causing cases to spike all over the world, and China to lock down major cities, is not the product of normal viral evolution, but instead came from a lab.

[S]ome scientists examining the virus have concluded "vast" genetic mutations that likely occurred in a lab setting are what makes Omicron spread so quickly.

Omicron was first detected in Botswana, South Africa, reported to have been brought by a foreign delegation from a country officials will not identify, making it more difficult for outside observers to track its origin.

To many scientists, the genetic differences that made Omicron so quickly transmissible caused it to immediately stand out as unlikely to be a result of a natural evolution. Some note the "rapid accumulation of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that enabled its outbreak."

"There was a large number of mutations in this variant  many more than we would expect from the normal evolution of this virus," said virologist Andrew Pekosz, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Importantly, many mutations occurred in the spike protein  the protein the virus uses to bind to and enter cells  which is the target of the vaccine."

"It did not follow the trajectory of the outbreak," says a researcher studying the virus for the US government who did not wish to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the topic. "One of the hypotheses is that there's been a cryptic, a completely separate outbreak going on," or a "cryptic transmission" independent of mice. "Perhaps someone immune-compromised was infected, and active replication of the virus was maintained for a very long time.

But there is another disturbing theory  one considered more likely by some scientists working on the issue: that Omicron was bred in a lab and escaped.

It is possible "that serial passaging in mice was done in a laboratory somewhere, and add[ed] an accidental or on purpose release on the back end," says a scientist with knowledge of the matter. "The short version is that the least likely scenario is that this was a natural human transmission chain that created the lineage and we just failed to detect it. The number and makeup of the changes would have required a vast number of infections to support."
Leftists are still banging the gong about the fact that medical care in America is inherently racist because Blacks have poorer outcomes than Whites do. No one is allowed to contemplate that there might be cultural factors (eating habits, substance abuse, teen pregnancies) or even significant Vitamin D deficiency resulting from the fact that those Blacks who work indoors are not getting enough sun. It's racism, end of story. Nobody is further onboard that out-of-control Mack truck smashing its way through society than Michelle Morse, New York City's first "chief medical officer" in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Morse's trajectory is the medical equivalent of Michelle Obama's, Kamala Harris's, or Ketanji Brown Jackson's rise in the legal field: relatively affluent background, Ivy League schools, and a swift ascent. (In this, they are unlike Ben Carson, one of the world's premier neurosurgeons; Clarence Thomas, one of America's greatest Supreme Court justices; and Thomas Sowell, one of America's greatest economists. Each of these men had to overcome broken homes, poverty, and true systemic racism.)

In Morse's case, she was raised in a working- to middle-class home (a parent who was a public school teacher), and then got degrees from the University of Virginia, the medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Harvard School of Public Health. To her credit, she did work in third-world countries (Botswana, Guatemala, and Haiti), but, having seen these benighted places, she returned to America convinced that Marxism was the answer. The following is from her Wikipedia bio (endnotes and hyperlinks omitted; emphasis added):

[S]he co-founded EqualHealth in 2011, a Non-governmental organisation that "aims to inspire and support the development of Haiti's next generation of healthcare leaders through improving medical and nursing education and creating opportunities for growth amongst health professionals." Some of the activism Morse is involved with through EqualHealth includes the Campaign Against Racism (CAR) that she co-founded with Camara Jones, past president of the American Public Health Association. It is a network of 23 chapters in 10 countries, with 250 active members, "uncovering racial capitalism and reimagining a future where sociocultural, political and economic systems work towards health equity, rather than against it." These efforts were supported by a $100,000 grant from the Soros Equality Fellowship in 2018.

A year ago, in an op-ed Morse wrote with Bram Wispelwey, M.D., the duo argued that systemic racism in the medical system requires "a proactively antiracist agenda for medicine." You won't be surprised to learn that this antiracist agenda requires explicit racism, which relies heavily on "the field of critical race theory." The whole wordy, pompous article boils down to this: the cure for systemic racism in medical care is generalized reparations, along with racial preferences in hospital admissions and treatments for non-Whites. (This demand, aside from being racist, is unconstitutional.)



Image: Michelle Morse (with added text) by KineticStudios. CC BY-SA 4.0.

With those credentials, it's scarcely surprising that, in her role as chief medical officer for the city of New York, Morse is completely on board with all the racial and gender madness emanating from the left. That fealty to the madness comes through loudly and clearly in a series of tweets she wrote saying the city needed to hire "doulas" for minority "mothers" to keep alive babies at the same rate as those born to White "birthing people" (hat tip The Western Journal):

Too many NYC families experience life-threatening complications from childbirth, and even loss of life of the birthing person or their child. We must hold ourselves and health care delivery organizations accountable to our anti-racism mission and make health equity a realty.  Dr. Michelle E. Morse (@NYCHealthCMO) March 23, 2022

We need to support birthing people through all aspects of their birthing experience  perhaps the most beautiful and personal gift we can share with birthing people as they navigate the groundbreaking life changing experience of creating life. That is what doulas do.  Dr. Michelle E. Morse (@NYCHealthCMO) March 23, 2022

At @nycHealthys Neighborhood Health Action Centers in Brownsville in Brooklyn, East Harlem and Tremont in the Bronx, families have a safe, welcoming and supportive space to be connected to resources.  Dr. Michelle E. Morse (@NYCHealthCMO) March 23, 2022

Expanding access to doulas and the quality care they provide can save lives and will make a difference for hundreds of NYC families.  Dr. Michelle E. Morse (@NYCHealthCMO) March 23, 2022

If you follow the trajectory of this noxious misogyny and racism, you see that, in the second tweet, Morse refers generally to "the birthing person." Here's a tip for this credentialed person: the only people capable of growing babies inside them have XX chromosomes, ovaries, and uteruses. For tens of thousands of years, across the world, in whatever language is spoken, they are "women." If they have a baby, they become "mothers," a word that adds a positive emotional element to a biological reality.

In the fourth tweet, this product of modern medical training refers again to "birthing people." This clanging, awkward phrase is so insulting, for it strips from women something absolutely unique to them: they grow babies. While not all XX chromosome people with ovaries and uteruses (as well as functional mammary glands) can or choose to grow a baby, no human with XY chromosomes, a penis, and testicles has ever done so or will ever do so.

By the fifth tweet, though, a moment of racism breaks through the generalized misogyny:

The urgency of this moment is clear. Mortality rates of birthing people are too high, and babies born to Black and Puerto Rican mothers in this city are three times more likely to die in their first year of life than babies born to non-Hispanic White birthing people.

Suddenly, Black and Puerto Rican woman who have babies get called by their real, emotionally charged, and culturally positive designation: mothers. They are women who have grown and nurtured a child. Meanwhile, White people remain relegated to a weird, non-sexual incubator status.

No matter what Morse's credentials are, she is not a doctor  that is, if you define "doctor" in the time-honored 20th-century way as someone who seeks to cure the human body's ills or help its biological processes without doing harm. Anyone who looks at patients and sees only skin colors and who is utterly incapable of understanding purely sex-based attributes is a racist, misogynistic sick puppy, not a true health care provider.
We've heard a lot about how elites conspired (and bragged) about manipulating the 2020 election in their favor, claiming they had "saved democracy." We've learned about how Zuckerbucks ensured that private resources were spent under color of authority to "get out the vote" but only for some districts, while elected officials who had that job were sidelined. We've learned that Twitter and much of the rest of the social media juggernaut conspired to block and censor the valid and verified news of Hunter Biden's laptop. We've learned about how the door to fraud was opened with junk-mail balloting and ballot-harvesting. We've learned about broken election laws, made-up election laws, and the blocking of election observers. We have also learned about raw election fraud.

But the great cheating machine didn't stop at those outrages. When lawmakers attempted to correct some of the issues that contributed to the fraud through legislating better laws, they came for the kids.

Here's one from the bunch that brought us Georgia's fraud-filled election debacle, according to Townhall's Spencer Brown:

New documents obtained through an open records request show how far Democrats in Georgia have gone in their attempts to demonize practices that make elections more secure and set themselves up for future victories by pushing their messages to the rising generation of voters. In short, the records uncovered show that an organization founded by Stacey Abrams partnered with Atlanta public schools to uncritically teach students that election security provisions such as requiring ID to vote are discriminatory in nature, while the lax protocols implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic should become permanent. The lesson plans and curriculum used in the fall of the current school year were obtained by Greater Georgia  former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler's organization focused on reaching and mobilizing conservatives while pushing for more transparent elections in her state  and grassroots education watchdog Parents Defending Education. A "frequently asked questions" page uncovered shows that 2,500 students in 11th and 12th grades from eleven public schools in Atlanta were involved in a "pep rally" last September, an event sponsored by organizations including The New Georgia Project  founded by Stacey Abrams  and progressive-aligned Rock the Vote.

So it became an object of the school curriculum to teach kids to demonize Georgia's voter security measures put in place by elected legislators as "discriminatory" and "racist"? Or, as Joe Biden put it, "Jim Crow 2.0"? They were teaching this claptrap to impressionable kids?

And this was supposed to teach kids to love their country and its democratic processes? Imagine being a kid and hearing that garbage, and then believing that the people who got elected to the Legislature, by the voters, were your oppressors, and your job was to stop them. Do you scrap democracy in favor of one-Democrat rule? Is that the idea? Are elections valid only when the Democrat wins? That's what the kids were being taught.

These ballot security measures, such as limiting electioneering and goodie bag handouts by partisans in voting lines and ending unattended ballot drop boxes, were all put into place by elected officeholders based on the will of the voters. The laws, in fact, have been immensely popular with voters, and not just popular, but turnout-builders, given that the states that have seen these laws passed have seen sharply higher voter turnout. People go to elections and vote in them when they are confident their vote will be counted correctly and fairly. They stay home when they smell a rat and know the fix is in.

The aim of this "education," as Townhall noted, was to ensure permanent Democrat rule, much as California's system has been manipulated to ensure one-party rule, similar to Mexico's PRI rule during its 70-year "perfect dictatorship."

It's quite an illegitimate use of the schools by activist groups who will stop at nothing to ram through their leftist agenda. It's an outrage that ought to be prosecuted. And to amend the damage, kids must be taught the other side of the issue by an equally vociferous voting rights group on the side of the legislators. To teach this propaganda, which is so out of touch with reality, and claim it's just basic-grade civics education is an outrage.

This is far from the only bad story coming out of Georgia of the bad reaction from the left to voter integrity laws. Another story that ran in Townhall described how a private school agreed to "sweep" student lists for voters above the age-18 line for activists to register them to vote, undoubtedly pressuring them to vote for Democrats.

There's quite a multi-pronged effort out there to come for the kids now that the claims from the left about "voter suppression" are falling apart. Item one on the agenda for legislators now must be to cast these activists spreading lies and indoctrinating kids out of the public schools.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Like many people in failing health (physical or mental), Biden has his good days and his bad days. Somehow, a lot of those bad days are on foreign soil, perhaps because  and this is often a problem for people with dementia  he's away from a familiar environment. Maybe that's why, in Poland, Biden told members of the 82nd Airborne that they'd soon be on the ground in Ukraine and see the war there for themselves. Did Biden just leak that he's about to start WWIII, or did we hear the ramblings of a damaged, fading brain? Either way, wise people are worried.

Here's a video of Biden's statement. However, don't pay attention only to his words. Instead, note his affect: slurred speech, vague wandering in a little circle, zero energy. This is a man who seems either to be on way too many drugs or, alternatively, to have been cut off from the drugs that normally keep him functioning:

Biden tells the 82nd Airborne they're going to Ukraine:



"Youre going to see when youre there, youre going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying 'Im not leaving.'" pic.twitter.com/M2nu77yUw7  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 25, 2022

Your ears did not deceive you. The following is from the official White House transcript. I've included the language preceding his bizarre statement so that you can note how, even with context added, Biden just announced American boots on the ground in Ukraine:

And  so, you know, with the Ukrainian people  Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone. They have a lot of guts. And I'm sure you're observing it. And I don't mean just their military, which is  we've been training since back when they  Russia moved into the  in the southeast  southeast Ukraine  but also the average citizen. Look at how they're stepping up. Look at how they're stepping up. And you're going to see when you're there. And you  some  some of you have been there. You're going to see  you're going to see women, young people standing  standing the middle of  in front of a damn tank, just saying, "I'm not leaving. I'm holding my ground." They're incredible. But they take a lot of inspiration from us.

The American president, a formerly robust and stupid man, is now an empty shell who is still stupid and has even more verbal incontinence than in his younger days.

The White House immediately went into damage control mode, denying completely Biden's statement:

UPDATE: A @WhiteHouse spokesperson tells me: "The President has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position."  Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 25, 2022

A White House spokesman repeated that message to Fox News.

I've heard people say Biden is a complete puppet who has no idea what he's saying at any time. I don't believe that. He's clearly mentally there at times (but still always stupid).

My theory about Biden's regular weekend trips to his Delaware home, along with his refusal to release the visitors' logs from those trips, isn't that he's hiding corruption. I think he's hiding a stream of medicos who prop him up with all sorts of drugs that help treat dementia. When he's back at work most Mondays, he's fairly perky and knows what he's doing.

On the other hand, I don't believe that Biden is an ideologue. Instead, he willingly sold his soul to attain the White House. He's not a mindless puppet; he's a mindful puppet fulfilling his bargain to the left, all the while toeing that fine line that sees him having to keep happy Ukraine, China, and Russia, all of whom paid him off at one time or another via Hunter. That's a difficult dance for a man in his dotage, given that Ukraine and Russia are warring against each other, while China is in a cold war against the country Biden was installed to lead.

It's easy to spend all day diagnosing Biden (unqualified as I am to do so), but that doesn't do anything to change the facts on the ground. The facts on the ground are that the president of the United States is either completely off his rocker and lost in dementia la-la land or that he's compos mentis enough to know what's going on but has lost control of his ability to keep secrets, meaning that American troops really are slated to go to or are already in Ukraine.

The first option is scary. The second option, given that Russia has a nuclear arsenal and Putin is a paranoid man with his back against the wall, is damn scary. I'm beginning to think it's time to stop drilling the schoolkids about Critical Race Theory and their innate transgenderism and, instead, resume those "duck and cover" drills that terrorized so many of us when we were young.

God help us.

Image: Twitter screen grab.
The media and other Democrats realize they have a problem when their president's nominee for the nation's highest court embraces postmodern BS like transgenderism's claim that merely thinking of oneself as the opposite sex magically transforms that person into the opposite sex. Yet that is what Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson effectively did when she told Senator Blackburn that she couldn't define what a woman is because "I'm not a biologist."

The mockery that ensued was painful because it exposed part of the nonsense that has become gospel on the left. Judge Jackson took that nonsense position because she fears the transgender lynch mobs that, under the banner of "intersectionality," are able to mobilize the angry identity groups that bully the rest of the left and much of the middle into compliance with their madness.

Into the fray jumped USA Today, which has become one of the most dogmatic left-wing outlets in the nation. Its offering is a "news" story written by Alia E. Dastagir, dishonestly headlined "Marsha Blackburn asked Ketanji Brown Jackson to define 'woman.' Science says there's no simple answer."

In the 13th hour of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked: Can you provide a definition for the word woman? https://t.co/Ikgkqxj83h  USA TODAY (@USATODAY) March 24, 2022

Twitchy collected some of the resulting mockery that made it past the censors in Twitter:

I guess science is a social construct. pic.twitter.com/70a7hDW0l4  Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) March 24, 2022

Those quotation marks need to be taken off the word, woman, and put around the word, science  Gavin  (@Gavin_B_Hayes) March 24, 2022

But for a properly satisfying rebuke, I suggest reading the Ace of Spades version, which ladles on a full measure of the contempt that Ms. Dastagir and her propaganda rag so richly deserve. Some excerpts:

Actually science says that a "woman" is an adult human with two X chromosomes. Oh, and a vagina and breasts, if you don't have a chromosome test kit available. Seems pretty simple. (snip) Scientists, gender law scholars and philosophers of biology said Jackson's response was commendable, though perhaps misleading. First you said "science" can't answer this question, but now it turns out you're not asking scientists, you're asking "gender law scholars" and "philosophers of biology." Who are not scientists. (snip) Ketanji Brown Jackson is asked to define "woman" by Sen. Blackburn "I don't want to see this question punted to biology as if science can offer a simple, definitive answer," said Rebecca Jordan-Young, a scientist and gender studies scholar at Barnard College whose work explores the relationships between science and the social hierarchies of gender and sexuality. That's your scientist? Oh, a "scientist and a gender studies scholar." Her bio says she's a "feminist scientist." You know  the famous scientific field of Feminism. I wonder which branch of Feminism Science she works in  Theoretical Feminism? Applied Feminism? Experimental Feminism? I am an interdisciplinary feminist scientist and science studies scholar whose work explores the reciprocal relations between science and the social hierarchies of gender, sexuality, class, and race. "Interdisciplinary" means you mix fields, and you're saying you're a "feminist scientist," which is already Not a Scientist, and you mix that with "gender studies scholar[ship]," making you even more Not a Scientist. Her degree which she claims makes her a "feminist scientist" is in Noted Scientific Field "Sociomedical Sciences." Um, again, adding in "social" into the mix. Not a Scientist. And she's attached, of course, to the Women's and Gender Studies Department  not to any scientific department. Not to the "Sociomedical Science" department, which of course does not exist because it's not a real thing. So no, she's not a "scientist." She brands herself that way so she can make her gender studies claims sound "scientific" to idiots, such as those who populate the media. You're not a "scientist" just because you "feel science-y." You're a scientist if you do the work of an actual scientist. She does not. She's just another idiot Gender Studies Marxist. But Jordan-Young said she sees Jackson's answer, particularly the second half of it, reflecting the necessity of nuance. While traditional notions of sex and gender suggest a simple binary -- if you are born with a penis, you are male and identify as a man and if you are born with a vagina, you are female and identify as a woman -- the reality, gender experts say, is more complex. "There isn't one single 'biological' answer to the definition of a woman. There's not even a singular biological answer to the question of 'what is a female,'" Jordan-Young said. We're still quoting this single non-scientist as the "scientists"  note the plural  this propagandist said she'd consulted? And now we're off of the "scientists" completely, and on to the "philosopher of biology."

There is much more.

Now that Joe Manchin has announced his support for confirming for the Supreme Court, there is no hope of keeping her off the bench, where she will be free to apply postmodernism's tenets  its willingness to pretend words mean whatever they want them to mean  to interpreting the Constitution. But she will forever be associated with this nonsense, and the Democrat senators who voted to confirm her will be held responsible for installing her.

Justice-to-Be Jackson will take her seat alongside Justice Sotomayor, who has recently spouted nonsense from the bench about abortion and children and COVID. Respectively graduates of Harvard and Yale law schools, the two justices are fanning suspicions about the effect of affirmative action on quality control at the elite law schools.

Photo credit: Twitter screen grab.
A few days ago, porn star Stormy Daniels lost her appeal in her failed defamation suit against Donald Trump. She now owes more than $300,000 in legal fees to President Trump.

"I will go to jail before I pay a penny," a defiant Daniels tweeted after the ruling.

Daniels also posted a lengthy statement on Twitter where she claimed Trump had won the case "on a technicality" because her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, failed to file a notice of appeal in her defamation suit on time.

Avenatti himself was convicted in Manhattan federal court last month for defrauding Daniels out of money she was owed in a book deal to write about her experiences with Trump.

Some background.

In 2018, it was reported that Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) about an affair she alleged she had with Trump in 2006. The payment was made before the 2016 presidential elections.

So why must we care about a porn star and her sleazy lawyer's attempt at easy publicity and money?

The first reason is that was among the many scandals invented by Democrats and their propaganda wing  i.e., the mainstream media  to overturn the results of the 2016 elections.

Do not be deceived by cheap talk into thinking that this was just frivolous.

Their goal was to make the hush payment look like a campaign finance violation, either because the payment was not duly disclosed as a campaign contribution or because campaign funds may have been used toward the payment.

As always, facts didn't matter, and a TV "expert" claimed with certitude that Trump could be forced out of office and even face imprisonment for violating campaign finance laws.

The insanity reached such heights that Avenatti, who represented Daniels in his various unhinged TV appearances, was worshiped on the left and declared a credible Democrat challenger to President Trump in 2020.

The Federal Election Commission launched a probe into the matter and found nothing incriminating. The FBI raided Cohen's apartment, hotel room, and office, collecting records and electronic devices. Some of those materials were made public with redacted portions.

This was just like the Russian Collusion fabrication that caused an official probe, albeit this was on a smaller scale. The fact that nothing against Trump was discovered during the Cohen raids proves he must have a clean record.

The second reason that this is important is this narrative that the Democrats were trying to push.

They wanted to project Trump as a sleazy individual who has casual sex with prostitutes. This was in continuation of the golden showers fabrication, where it was claimed Trump paid prostitutes to urinate on a bed because the Obamas had previously slept in it.

The Democrats are the last people to lecture anybody about morality.

A look at their history shows that Democrats since the days of President Kennedy to Andrew Cuomo in recent times have been accused of philandering and sexual impropriety.

Bill Clinton as president exploited a young intern, Monica Lewinsky, to satisfy his own selfish animal appetites. What made it worse is when the affair became public and Lewinsky was maligned and shamed, and the Clintons participated in this disgraceful character assassination campaign. 'Til this day, there has been no apology from the Clintons.

It wasn't just about harmless philandering, either. Democrats such as Joe Biden and Al Franken were accused of sexual misconduct.

A look at the "me-too" scandal shows that most of the perpetrators from Harvey Weinstein to New York's former attorney general Eric Schneiderman were liberal Democrats.

Democrats are the last group to lecture anyone about morality.

But the self-righteous seldom see their own follies or double-standards.

The media ran with the Daniels story, with the likes of Anderson Cooper and 60 Minutes doing creepy probing interviews. Daniels also appeared in a cringe-inducing sketch with Alec Baldwin as Trump on SNL.

The third reason this is important is that the Democrats had sinister motives behind this exercise that was beyond Trump.

In digging details about Trump's personal life, the Democrat Washington establishment is sending a message to any other individual such as Trump looking to challenge their monopoly by joining the MAGA movement.

The message was "Don't you dare, or you will be the recipient of similar treatment."

Think of the number of able people who want to serve their country by entering politics but are deterred because they do not want to subject themselves and their loved ones to these ordeals, where their past indiscretions are made public.

These could have been able lawmakers, anti-corruption crusaders, administrators, or innovators, but they stay away to avoid public humiliation and keep the dignity intact.

What a loss this is.

What about Trump's life before he entered politics?

He was a hugely successful real estate mogul; he was a popular reality star, and so much more. He was welcomed in show biz parties and among elites all over the U.S. and beyond. He had the brand value, glamour, and popularity of a movie superstar.

What has happened now?

The name Trump causes acute palpitations among the "elites" in Washington, Hollywood, and upper-crust social circles who once adored him.

Trump is the only politician perhaps to suffer financially and socially after his stint in politics. Most politicians use their power to enrich themselves and climb up the social ladder.

So is Daniels the perpetrator, or was she a victim of Avenatti?

Daniels had received $130,000 from Trump for her silence, which she should have maintained.

This was a time when the powers that be were using every measure possible against Trump. She may have been exploited by Avenatti, but she too was overcome by avarice to enrich herself and receive publicity by being part of the madness.

Now that she is in trouble, the Democrats in Washington, the media, and showbiz, who once used her, will not even express perfunctory words of sympathy or offer to help her financially.

In fact, the mainstream media barely covered the ruling against Daniels, largely because it implicates them.

Despite being exposed, Daniels continues to claim victimhood and is even trying to project herself as a feminist standing up for all women.

Daniels is a charlatan who deserves to be punished to send a clear message to other such aspiring hustlers.

However, Stormy Daniels is a smaller player. What about all those in the media and in Washington who concocted various other anti-Trump fabrications?

They were trying to force Trump out of office, in the process of undoing the results of the 2016 presidential elections.

In parallel, they were influencing voters with a barrage of anti-Trump fabrications. It is impossible to know how many voters they may have driven away. This can be hence regarded as among the many measures applied to rig the 2020 presidential elections.

President Trump suing Hillary Clinton for fabricating the Russian collusion narrative is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, he will sue additional Democrat operatives and propagandists, aside from the ones he's already targeting.

The perpetrators deserve to be severely punished for altering the course of democracy.

Image: Luke Ford, LukeIsBack.com, CC BY-SA 2.5.
Campaigners are calling for real change in light of shocking Metropolitan Police data which showed five children are strip-searched every day on average by the force in London.

The figures, first reported by LBC, have prompted fresh anger in the wake of the case of Child Q  a black teenager forced by officers to strip while on her period.

Out of 5,279 children searched after an arrest in the past three years, 3,939  around 75%  were from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

The data did not cover children who were not arrested but still strip-searched  like Child Q  so it is likely the number in London is even higher.

Weyman Bennett, co-coordinator of Stand UP to Racism campaign group, said the figures are shocking.

He said: You judge a society on how it treats its children.

These figures are shocking and expose institutional racism in the Met Police.

We cannot have another statement without real change.

Mr Bennett also said it is shocking that these things are still going ahead more than two decades after the report into the death of Stephen Lawrence was published.

He said: We need urgent change to deliver a police force that works in the 21st century.

There have been protests and political condemnation since it emerged the 15-year-old black girl  referred to only as Child Q  had been strip-searched by female Metropolitan Police officers at her north London school in 2020 without another adult present and in the knowledge that she was menstruating.

The girl had been wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis.

Following the traumatic search, family members described her as changing from a happy-go-lucky girl to a timid recluse that hardly speaks, who now self-harms and needs therapy.

The IOPC launched its investigation following a complaint in May 2021, and said it has completed its inquiries and is finalising its report.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan reacted with dismay and disgust, and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch called it an appalling incident.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police defended its policy, known as More Thorough Search where Intimate Parts are exposed (MTIP), in response to the figures.

A spokesperson said: We work closely with communities in London and understand that stop and search can have a significant and lasting impact on someone, especially an MTIP (More Thorough Search where Intimate Parts are exposed) and strip searches in custody.

Every search must be lawful, proportionate and necessary and carried out with respect, dignity and empathy.

While some may question whether any child should be subject to an MTIP or strip search, there are occasions when it is very necessary to prevent harm to children who may be exploited by gangs, County Lines and drug dealers.

Used appropriately, stop and search powers save lives and are an important tactic to keep Londoners safe, helping us identify criminality and take drugs and dangerous weapons off the streets.

Officers are highly trained around the use of stop and search. Part of the training is around unbiased decision making, unconscious bias and the impact of the use of these powers on communities.

There is disparity in the overall use of stop and search in relation to gender, age and race.

Sadly different crimes tend to affect different groups more than others and it remains a tragic truth that knife crime and street violence in London disproportionately affects boys and young men, particularly of African-Caribbean heritage, both in terms of being victims and perpetrators.

That said we do not underestimate the impact that the use of stop and search has on some individuals and that it continues to cause significant concern within some communities.
Fellow musicians have paid tribute to incredible talent Taylor Hawkins, who has died aged 50.

The Foo Fighters drummer was hailed as a generous and cool person as well as being an amazing musician and unstoppable rock power.

Hawkins death was announced by the band on Friday in the midst of a festival tour of South America.

Miley Cyrus, who was part of the lineup alongside Foo Fighters at the Estereo Picnic festival in Bogota, Columbia, said she would dedicate her Saturday show to him.

In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad. pic.twitter.com/2AUeqpaN94  Nickelback (@Nickelback) March 26, 2022

My favorite memory of Taylor is dancing round the drum kit while he played this song she posted on her Instagram story, with a picture of Pretenders song Brass In Pocket.

Playing it on repeat, imagining us laughing forever.

Members of rock band Nickelback said they were in utter disbelief at the news.

God bless Taylor peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love.  pic.twitter.com/wn2izxn4Vd  #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 26, 2022

Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others, the band tweeted.

This is so incredibly sad.

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello praised Hawkins unstoppable rock power in his own online tribute.

God bless you Taylor Hawkins, he said, sharing a picture of them together.

I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend.

So heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins passing, what an incredible talent, who didnt also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway. The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did, Rest In Peace  FINNEAS (@finneas) March 26, 2022

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr also expressed his condolences and wished peace and love for those close to Hawkins.

God bless Taylor, he wrote.

Peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love.

Oscar-nominated producer Finneas OConnell said the world was lucky to have experienced Hawkins gifts before his passing.

. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side  Ozzy  Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022

So heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins passing, what an incredible talent, who didnt also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway, he said.

The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did, Rest In Peace.

British rocker Ozzy Osbourne praised Taylor Hawkins as a great person and an amazing musician, and promised to see him on the other side.

@TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician, he said.

Shocked and saddened to hear @taylorhawkins has passed away today.! . Our prayers and condolences go out to the Hawkins family, @foofighters friends and fans. Sad. https://t.co/Mgu2K4SJyL  Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) March 26, 2022

My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans.

See you on the other side  Ozzy.

Kiss member Gene Simmons said he was shocked and saddened by the news of Hawkins death.

He wrote: Our prayers and condolences go out to the Hawkins family, @foofighters friends and fans. Sad.

Bill Idol said the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins was so tragic.

Sharing a picture of the musician on Twitter Idol wrote: So tragic. Rest in peace Taylor.

Rock band The Smashing Pumpkins tweeted: Taylor Hawkins 1972-2022.

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota expresses our sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Taylor Hawkins. https://t.co/l2NUrK00ps  US Embassy Bogota (@USEmbassyBogota) March 26, 2022

Our deepest sympathies to Taylors family, his fans, and of course his band.

The US embassy in Bogota also expressed its sincerest condolences to the drummers family, friends and fans.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel (L), accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, lays a wreath at the Cenotaph for atomic bomb victims at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on March 26, 2022.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida escorted the US ambassador to his hometown Hiroshima on Saturday to pay respects to atomic bombing victims and warned that the world is again facing threats of nuclear attacks stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As we face a possibility of Russias use of nuclear weapons as a realistic concern, I felt strongly (as leader of ) the worlds only country to have suffered atomic attacks that we should never allow threats or use of nuclear weapons, Kishida told reporters after a tour of the peace park and the museum with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel.

The tragedy should never be repeated, Kishida said.

Leaders from the Group of Seven countries on Thursday urged Russia not to use biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in its war on Ukraine. That prospects was raised when Russian President Vladimir Putin in February ordered his nations nuclear forces put on high alert over tensions with the West.

The Kremlin again raised the subject of nuclear weapons on Saturday as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south of the country.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the countrys security council, said Moscow could strike against an enemy that only used conventional weapons while Vladimir Putins defence minster claimed nuclear readiness was a priority.

The Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing by the United States killed about 140,000 people and nearly destroyed Hiroshima. Three days later, a second US atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more, before Japan surrendered six days later.

Russias invasion of Ukraine highlights the harsh road toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons, Kishida said. As prime minister from Hiroshima, I must firmly send a message (of peace) to the rest of the world.

Kishida, however, has been pushing to bolster Japan's military budget and capability amid growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia. He says his realistic approach is to protect lives while seeking to achieve the ideal for the future.

About 3,000 Russian troops were conducting drills on the disputed Kuril islands, according to media reports, first since Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was suspending peace treaty talks with Japan, citing Tokyo's sanctions against Moscow.

Russia has also increased naval activity around Japan, which Japanese officials say is meant to project Moscow's military strength.

Kishida and Emanuel visited the Peace Memorial Museum and laid flowers to the victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

In 2016, Kishida accompanied then-President Barack Obama on his visit to Hiroshima, where he made a pledge to seek a world without nuclear weapons and met with several atomic bombing survivors.

A visit to Hiroshima by Emanuel, known for his close ties to President Joe Biden, is raising hopes for a similar presidential visit.

Emanuel said that he cannot speak for Biden but there is a possibility.

I think as a friend I can say if he makes it here to Japan I know he'll want to visit one of the two cities, but not both, he said.

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have requested that Biden make a similar trip to their cities during his visit to Japan to attend a summit of Quad nations, which also includes Australia and India, expected in late April. Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is an Indo-Pacific alliance established in 2007.
The late Bill Heine outside his house. (SWNS)

'The Headington Shark' has been added to a list of cultural assets despite protests by the owner - who says it was built to defy planning laws.

Bill Heine installed the fibreglass statue by sculptor John Buckley on top of his property in secret in 1986.

He then battled Oxford City Council for retrospective planning permission, which was granted in 1992 following an appeal.

Bill died aged 74 in 2019, and son Magnus Hanson-Heine, 34, reignited his late dad's battle with the authorities.

Magnus told them not to add it to its Heritage Asset Register, saying it was a stepping stone towards getting it listed - meaning more planning controls.

Inclusion of a building or place on the register does not place any additional legal requirements on owners.

Watch: Renowned local figure responsible for Headington Shark dies

The fibreglass sculpture 'Untitled 1986', but more commonly named 'The Headington Shark'. (Reuters)

The sculpture is embedded in the roof of the house in Oxford. (Reuters)

Magnus said he is adamant he does not want the house added to Oxford City Council's list of important pieces of heritage.

He told Oxford Mail: "I'll be watching very closely. I think it's objectionable and against the symbolism of the house."

Despite his fears at a recent city planning meeting, planners voted to add the landmark to the Oxford Heritage Asset Register.

Read more: Accountant shocked after being fired for stealing 6.7m

Speaking earlier this year, Magnus added: My father always resisted giving any conclusive answer to the question what was the meaning of it.

''It was designed to make people think for themselves, and decide for themselves what is art.

But it was anti-censorship in the form of planning laws specifically.

I see what they are trying to do and Im sure its very well-intentioned. But they dont view it now as what it is. They have not truly consulted in that sense."

Workers restoring the world-famous Headington Shark. (SWNS)

Magnus, who works at Nottingham University, also said the consultation form asking for responses made it very difficult to dispute anything.

He said: The nomination forms have been, lets say, lacking in that they do not really provide an option to object to the listing for listings sake.

"They ask questions like do you think it adds value to the area which most people would say, yes it does.

"They have not given the option to say no. They have not truly consulted in that sense."

Bill Heine was a broadcaster for BBC Radio Oxford for more than 30 years, hosting his last regular show in 2015.

He died two years after being diagnosed with a terminal form of leukaemia.

The Headington Shark joins 16 other sites, including Temple Cowley Library, the Crown and Thistle Pub and The Westgate Hotel.

The 'shark house' is rented out as a holiday let on AirB&B and attracts hundreds of visitors each year.
A ship operated by P&O Ferries has been detained in Larne for being unfit to sail.

The European Causeway vessel has been held in the Northern Ireland port due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

Following my instruction to inspect all P&O vessels prior to entering back into service, the @MCA_Media has detained a ship for being unfit to sail. I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training.  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) March 25, 2022

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he will not compromise the safety of P&O vessels and insisted that the company will not be able to rush training for inexperienced people.

The company has sacked almost 800 seafarers and plans to replace them with agency staff on cheaper salaries.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: We can confirm that the European Causeway has been detained in Larne.

It has been detained due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training.

The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected.

P&O European Causeway ferry docked at Larne Port last week (David Young/PA)

The MCA said there were no passengers or freight on board the European Causeway vessel when it was detained.

Mr Shapps tweeted: Following my instruction to inspect all P&O vessels prior to entering back into service, the @MCA_Media has detained a ship for being unfit to sail.

I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training.

The detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea.

The European Causeway entered service in 2000 replacing the Pride of Rathlin, according to the P&O Ferries website.

Specifically designed for our Cairnryan to Larne route, she has not operated elsewhere and has only been taken out of service if she needs a refit, the website said.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed Mr Shapps call for P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite to quit, over the sacking of 800 workers without notice.

In Larne, the local mayor of the Mid and East Antrim Council, William McCaughey, said they would support the reinstatement of the staff immediately.

It is ridiculous what P&O has done to the staff, we in Larne would be very keen to see staff reinstated, it is the least that P&O could do, he told the PA news agency.

Labours shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh also called for the sacked workers to be reinstated and for Mr Hebblethwaite to be barred as a director for his role in the crisis.

She wrote on Twitter: The trained, experienced, loyal crew should be reinstated. And the Chief Executive should be barred as a director.

The shameful misconduct of P&O Ferries has ruined livelihoods, and is harming the UKs key shipping routes.

The trained, experienced, loyal crew should be reinstated. And the Chief Executive should be barred as a director. The shameful misconduct of P&O Ferries has ruined livelihoods, and is harming the UKs key shipping routes. https://t.co/j47nAA9UNu  Louise Haigh (@LouHaigh) March 25, 2022

Labour has written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng asking whether the Government will seek the removal of Mr Hebblethwaite as a director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

In a letter, the party accused the Government of sitting on their hands rather than taking action to hold P&O to account, adding that the toothless response risks giving the green light to exploitation.

Alliance East Antrim MLA Stewart Dickson welcomed the impounding of the ferry as a safety measure.

Its not like the crew of an airplane getting off one Easyjet and getting on to the next one where the controls are the exactly the same, and everything is in the same place, he told PA.

No two ships are the same, and you cannot just fly a crew in and expect them to be able to sail a ship. Every control will be in a different place, but particularly all those health and safety drills that have to be gone through, everything from lifeboat stations to how each item of equipment operates.

It seemed to me it was going to be very difficult for staff to be able to take on that role in such a short period of time.

I am absolutely delighted they have (impounded the ship). This isnt vengeance against P&O, its about passenger safety and the safety of the crew as well.

It was reckless of the company to think they could not only act in the way in which they did about dismissing staff but they dont seem to have had a plan as to how they were going to take this forward and now it is falling apart on them.

Meanwhile, the RMT union said it welcomed the detention of the European Causeway and it demanded the Government seize the entire fleet of P&O vessels.

General secretary Mick Lynch said: The seizing of the European Causeway by the MCA tonight shows that the gangster capitalist outfit P&O are not fit and proper to run a safe service after the jobs massacre.

This mob should be barred, their ships impounded and the sacked crews reinstated to get these crucial ferry routes back running safely.

Protests about P&Os actions are expected to take place in Liverpool, Hull and Dover on Saturday.
Hundreds of people have marched in protest at ports in the fight for justice after almost 800 seafarers were sacked without notice earlier this month.

Demonstrations took place in Liverpool, Dover and Hull, as calls continued for a P&O Ferries boss to quit.

Crowds walked with banners and placards, chanting P&O, shame on you at rallies on Saturday.

RMT union general secretary Mick Lynch attended a demonstration at the Port of Liverpool (Pete Byrne/PA)

The RMT union promised more protests, more campaigning and more political pressure in the coming days.

The marches came as a ship operated by the ferry firm remained detained for being unfit to sail.

The European Causeway vessel has been held at the port of Larne in Northern Ireland due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

Over 100 protesters take to the streets against P&O sackings in Liverpool.  pic.twitter.com/8yAELl4BiH  RMT (@RMTunion) March 26, 2022

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he will not compromise the safety of P&O vessels and insisted that the company will not be able to rush training for inexperienced people.

In a move that sparked widespread outrage, the company sacked hundreds of seafarers earlier this month, and plans to replace them with agency staff on cheaper salaries.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: We can confirm that the European Causeway has been detained in Larne.

It has been detained due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training.

The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected.

P&O European Causeway ferry docked at Larne Port last week (David Young/PA)

The MCA said there were no passengers or freight on board the European Causeway vessel when it was detained.

The detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea.

A P&O Ferries spokesman said: European Causeway has undergone an inspection by the MCA in Larne, during which it was deemed not sufficiently ready for entry into operation.

We shall review the findings, make any changes required and continue to work closely with the MCA to return the ship to service.

RMT Union general secretary Mick Lynch said: All the protests today were well attended with hundreds turning out in Liverpool, Hull and Dover to support the P&O workers in their fight for justice.

There will be more protests, more campaigning and more political pressure this week as we ratchet up the fight and harness the public anger at the jobs massacre on our ferries.

He said the demonstrations show that the public is on our side regarding the P&O sackings.

He added: The Government need to bring in emergency legislation and prevent P&O from sailing with undertrained, super exploited, agency crews. We want to negotiate the return of all 800 sacked staff and make sure their union rates of pay and conditions are protected.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) tweeted a video they said showed P&O dockers in Rotterdam refusing to load freight onto a ferry set for Hull in solidarity with the 800 seafarers illegally sacked by P&O.

NEW : P&O dockers in Rotterdam have refused to load freight onto a ferry set for Hull, in solidarity with the 800 seafarers illegally sacked by P&O.pic.twitter.com/fqmMo0fUvj  Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) March 26, 2022

Meanwhile, Irish trade union workers gathered at Dublin Port outside the P&O terminal to send support from across the Irish Sea to P&O staff.

The rally, organised by trade union Siptu, was attended by the new Irish Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik, and organiser Jim McVeigh told the PA news agency that the rally was intended to send solidarity.

He added: The best thing we could do was to have a rally at Dublin Port outside P&O so they know our concerns.

UK Labour has written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng asking whether the Government will seek the removal of P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite as a director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

There was a protest held in Dublin in solidarity with the UK workers who lost their jobs (Jim McVeigh/Siptu/PA)

In a letter, the party accused the Government of sitting on their hands rather than taking action to hold P&O to account, adding that the toothless response risks giving the green light to exploitation.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the shameful misconduct of P&O Ferries has ruined livelihoods as she called for the sacked workers to be reinstated and for Mr Hebblethwaite to be barred as a director for his role in the crisis.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed Mr Shapps call for Mr Hebblethwaite to quit.

In Larne, the local mayor of the Mid and East Antrim Council, William McCaughey, said they would support the reinstatement of the staff immediately, while Alliance East Antrim MLA Stewart Dickson welcomed the impounding of the ferry as a safety measure.
The Duke of Cambridge has acknowledged the monarchys days in Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas may be numbered as he stated the future is for the people to decide upon.

William and Kate visited the three nations during their Caribbean tour, but by their next royal trip the Queen may have been replaced as head of state by a homegrown figurehead.

In a statement reflecting on the end of their tour, the future king also emphasised who the Commonwealth chooses to be its leader isnt what is on my mind, but what concerned him was its potential to create a better future for the people who form it.

He stressed that he and his wife Kate were committed to service and saw their role as supporting people, not telling them what to do.

The statement might be interpreted as a response to days of criticism the couple have faced during their eight-day tour, from accusations Belize locals were not consulted about a royal engagement to calls for slavery reparations from the monarchy in Jamaica.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to a Fish Fry in Abaco (Chris Jackson/PA)

Claims were also made the couple were tone deaf after images were taken of the Cambridges shaking hands with Kingston crowds behind a wire mesh fence, and images of the royals riding in the back of a Land Rover were denounced as harking back to colonial days.

Media coverage of the couples tour has been split with some emphasising what they described as the positive impact of their presence in the Caribbean while other have described as a PR disaster the fence photograph.

The duke said in his statement: I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon.

 Belize Jamaica The Bahamas Follow the highlights of our Caribbean tour!https://t.co/lRM1KUzWrS  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2022

But we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with communities in all three countries, understanding more about the issues that matter most to them.

Catherine and I are committed to service. For us thats not telling people what to do. It is about serving and supporting them in whatever way they think best, by using the platform we are lucky to have.

It is why tours such as this reaffirm our desire to serve the people of the Commonwealth and to listen to communities around the world.

The Duchess of Cambridge interacts with a child during a visit to Grand Bahama Childrens Home (Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA)

Who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isnt what is on my mind. What matters to us is the potential the Commonwealth family has to create a better future for the people who form it, and our commitment to serve and support as best we can.

William is destined to be King of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas when the time comes, but his statement, and a speech he gave on Friday, indicate the future monarch is aware the changing political and cultural landscape may bring this to an end.

During an address televised live in the Bahamas on Friday evening, the duke signalled any decision by the three nations to break away from the British monarchy and become republics would be supported with pride and respect by the UK.

Attending a reception held by the Governor General of The Bahamas this evening  pic.twitter.com/pBMTopV2Xj  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 26, 2022

Barbados took the historic move of replacing the Queen as head of state in November, and elected its first president during a ceremony witnessed by the Prince of Wales.

Williams comments at the end of the tour are an acknowledgement of forces already in motion, as Jamaicas prime minister Andrew Holness suggested to the couple his country may be the next to become a republic.

And a minister from Belizes government told his parliament, a few days after the Cambridges left: Perhaps it is time for Belize to take the next step in truly owning our independence. But it is a matter that the people of Belize must decide on.
The Duke of Cambridge has signalled any decision by Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with pride and respect by the UK.

William has visited the three nations during his Caribbean tour with Kate, and his comments will reverberate around the region where five other countries also have the Queen as head of state.

Speaking on the penultimate night of the Cambridges visit to the Bahamas, the future king told guests, who included the countrys prime minister Philip Davis, that whatever the future holds the bonds between the UK and the nations will endure.

The duke said: Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence  your Golden Anniversary.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas (Jane Barlow/PA)

And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this:

We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.

It is understood Williams comments reflect the Cambridges experiences during their Caribbean tour, and the couple have long held the view that seeking to have a homegrown head of state was a matter for the people and government of each country.

The Duke of Cambridge with the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, who suggested to the royal Jamaica may become a republic (Jane Barlow/PA)

Barbados took the historic move of replacing the Queen as head of state in November, and elected its first president during a ceremony witnessed by the Prince of Wales.

Williams comments are likely to be interpreted as an acknowledgement of forces already in motion, as Jamaicas prime minister Andrew Holness suggested to the couple his country may be the next to become a republic.

He told the Cambridges, when he welcomed them to Kingston on Wednesday, Jamaica was moving on and intended to fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country.

A few days after the royals left Belize, prime minister Johnny Bricenos government indicated the Peoples Constitutional Commission, a new body, will be consulting across the country on the issue of the continuing decolonisation process.

Kate pictured arriving for the black-tie event (Jane Barlow/PA)

Henry Charles Usher, minister for constitutional and political reform, reportedly told Belizes parliament on Thursday: Madame Speaker, the decolonisation process is enveloping the Caribbean region.

Perhaps it is time for Belize to take the next step in truly owning our independence. But it is a matter that the people of Belize must decide on.

William also spoke about a fond memory of his first visit to The Bahamas: I came here with my mother as a child.

Snorkelling around the James Bond wrecks off Nassau left me with the most vivid memory of your beautiful blue waters. For a young boy, obsessed with 007, it was the best holiday ever.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend a reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith, at the Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas (Jane Barlow/PA)

The black-tie event, hosted by Sir Cornelius Smith the Governor General of the Bahamas, saw Kate wear a stylish Phillipa Lepley gown and the Cambridges chatted with the guests who included community leaders and local heroes.

Later on Saturday the duke and duchess will carry out the final engagements of their tour, visiting Abaco  a chain of islands and barrier cays in the northern part of the country  and meet residents at a church to hear their experiences of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, and celebrate the areas regeneration by attending a Fish Fry.

On Grand Bahama the couple will tour a childrens home and their final engagement will see them visit 2021 Earthshot Prize Winner, Coral Vita.
YouTube has removed an account publishing videos of hoax calls with Cabinet ministers who were targeted by imposters allegedly linked to the Kremlin.

The video sharing giant blocked the account on Friday as part of its investigation into influence operations linked to Russia after days of pressure to block the clips.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel both featured in videos that have been trickling out on the Vovan222prank channel since Monday.

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

The pair thought they were talking to Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal, but were in fact speaking to an imposter in what officials believe is a Russian disinformation campaign.

The Google-owned firm did not find that the videos breached its community guidelines, but removed it following an investigation into whether it was running an influence campaign.

A YouTube spokesman sad: We have terminated the YouTube channel Vovan222prank as part of our ongoing investigation into coordinated influence operations linked to Russia.

We are calling on YouTube to help us support Ukraine by taking down videos doctored by the Russian state and disseminated to try and sap the morale of a people fighting for their freedom   pic.twitter.com/586ydI4VAp  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 23, 2022

A Government spokeswoman said: The decision to remove material was for YouTube to make. UK Government had called on YouTube to remove Russian state disinformation and so we welcome their decision.

The delay in removing the videos had enraged some in the Ministry of Defence, which published a letter to YouTube calling for it to delete the Russian propaganda.

On Wednesday, a defence source went as far as saying: YouTube is in danger of aiding and abetting the Russian state propaganda machine, putting people at risk.

Downing Street accused Vladimir Putins Russian state of being behind the phoney calls from self-styled pranksters Vovan and Lexus.

It was thought the campaign was designed to embarrass ministers and sow divisions between allies supporting Ukraine in its resistance.
Taylor Hawkins, drummer of rock group Foo Fighters has died, the band has announced.

The band said it was devastated by the untimely loss and asked for the privacy of his family to be respected.

Hawkins, 50, played in the Foos with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl on vocal for more than two decades, alongside Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee.

The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins, Foo Fighters official account tweeted.

His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.

Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.

No further details about Hawkins death were provided, although local media outlets reported that Hawkins had been suffering from chest pain and an ambulance had been called.

At the time of his death, Foo Fighters were on tour in South America. The band had played in San Isidro, Argentina, last Sunday and were due to perform in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday night  the day his death was announced.

Fans of US band Foo Fighters place lights in front of the hotel where the bands drummer Taylor Hawkins was found dead in Bogota, Colombia (Leonardo Munoz/AP)

Pictures on social media showed fans gathering in front of the stage at the Estereo Picnic festival, with lit candles being placed on stage.

The band were scheduled to perform at the Grammys on April 3 and were due to begin a new tour of North America in May.

Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997 following the departure of the bands previous drummer William Goldsmith.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them in 2021 by Sir Paul McCartney.

Following the release of their most recent album, Medicine At Midnight, the band filmed a spoof-horror film titled Studio 666, in which Hawkins starred alongside his bandmates.

Prior to joining Foo Fighters he had played drums for Alanis Morissette.

. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side  Ozzy  Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022

Tributes to Hawkins poured in immediately on social media from fellow musicians including Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Idol.

Ozzy Osbourne praised Taylor Hawkins as a great person and an amazing musician, and promised to see him on the other side.

@TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician, Osbourne wrote on Twitter.

My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans.

See you on the other side  Ozzy.

Sharing a picture of Hawkins online Idol wrote: So tragic. Rest in peace Taylor.

Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972 and raised in Laguna Beach, California.

He is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
After Donald Trumps supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a host of major corporations vowed to halt donations to Republicans who objected to certifying Joe Biden as president-elect that night.

Somewhat predictably, the corporate backsliding began within months with groups like Accountable.US tracking the giving ever since. Well, the latest numbers are in.

Home Depot (HD) became the new leader through the end of February thanks to a surge of $140,000 last month alone. The company has now reportedly donated $265,000 in total to these lawmakers, dubbed the "Sedition Caucus" by political opponents. All told, 48 of the 147 lawmakers in this group have received money from the companys PAC.

No corporation can truly claim to be on the side of democracy while they throw money at the election objectors in Congress who tried to finish what violent insurrectionists started, Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig said in a statement after the latest numbers came out.

Donald Trump's supporters clashed with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The tally from Herrigs group includes donations from industry and trade groups and finds that, all in, organizations have given over $11.5 million over the last 14 months. Home Depot is third overall with the top two givers being the American Bankers Association PAC ($327,500) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association Political Action Committee ($266,000).

Candidates on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions

Home Depots political action committee has donated almost $2.125 million to candidates this election cycle with candidates of both parties receiving money, according to Federal Elections Commission data.

"Our associate-funded PAC supports candidates on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth," a Home Depot spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

That spokesperson said Home Depot is also one of the largest donors to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition, a gathering of centrist lawmakers. Home Depot's recent ESG report notes diversity alliances with groups the Congressional Black Caucus foundation and the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute.

A Home Depot outlet in Encinitas, California. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

Still, it appears that Home Depot's contributions to election objectors jumped in recent years. Accountable.US looked at Home Depots giving in February 2018 and February 2020 and found that giving to these 147 lawmakers has jumped compared to the same point in previous election cycles.

Over the last 14 months, Home Depot has been buffeted from all sides of the political debate. The Georgia-based company also faced pressure as its home state considered a restrictive voting law that opponents argue disenfranchises Black and Hispanic voters. Home Depot told the Washington Post it was aligned with those raising concerns about the law but said it didn't oppose the proposed voting restrictions themselves.

Home Depot also faced a conservative backlash in recent days after a Canadian branch posted a notice to employees on the subject of white privilege. The company has said the flyer in question was specific to the Canadian store and not officially sanctioned as part of any required company-wide training.

For his part, Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone called the riots a disgrace and criticized the 147 Republican members who voted against finalizing Bidens victory. I dont know what the hell they had in their mind, frankly, he said. What was it, a grandstand play?

Continued focus on the issue

An ever-evolving landscape of companies have been named the top political donor to the 147 election objectors. Six months in, it was the aerospace and defense company General Dynamics (GD). Then, by Jan. 6, 2022, Boeing (BA) became the top donor. Neither company promised to stop the donations, though Boeing encouraged lawmakers to work with President-elect Biden to unify our nation on Jan. 7, 2021.

Companies have struggled to find a balance on these donations. In one notable example, Toyota (TM) made headlines for continuing donations to election objectors early on before abruptly announcing last July it was stopping the practice.

Despite reluctance of companies like Toyota to continue donating to those Republicans, OpenSecrets recently found election objectors are among the top fundraisers among Republicans heading into mid-terms.

Damage inside the Capitol building early on January 7, 2021. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

"The way that has played out over the past year has not been necessarily in line with what all of the companies promised," Anna Massoglia, investigative researcher at the group, put it during a Yahoo Finance appearance in January.

Another January report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) pegged the total giving higher because it counts donations directly to lawmakers as well as the money flowing to their leadership PACs and party committees. The group says 717 corporations and industry groups sent a full $18 million towards these members of Congress in the year since the insurrection.

CREW also more recently spotlighted three companies  Capital One (COF), Cox Enterprises, and Exelon (EXC)  that stopped giving in the immediate aftermath but recently restarted their donations.

Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has told thousands of protesters in central London, including politicians and celebrities, to keep together with Ukraine.

A huge sea of protesters, draped in blue and yellow colours, started near Hyde Park, before snaking through the roads towards Trafalgar Square.

They chanted stand with Ukraine and stop the war, with roads being closed off and traffic stopped.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was at the march, declared the capital will always welcome refugees.

Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, speaking from a military bunker, told the crowd on a big screen near Nelsons Column: We defend right now the same principles.

Please keep together with our country, keep together with Ukraine.

The crowd, many from Ukraine, also marched beneath Yoko Onos Imagine Peace message on an electronic billboard in Piccadilly.

Cheers rang out at Trafalgar Square as a message from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky was played.

Speaking ahead of the demonstration, Mr Khan said he was there to condemn Russias barbaric aggression.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in a solidarity march in London for Ukraine (Aaron Chown/PA)

The London Mayor told the PA news agency: Londoners over the last few weeks have shown that were opening our arms to Ukrainian refugees, whether its by donating money to those charities doing a brilliant job in Ukraine or by opening our homes to those fleeing Ukraine.

Asked on Sky News if he will be taking in a Ukrainian family, Mr Khan said: We personally wont be for a variety of reasons not least protections, security reasons and lack of space.

He continued: It is important throughout the next few days, weeks to make it far, far easier, and much more easier for those who are fleeing Ukraine to come here.

You compare our Governments actions versus the actions of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, its embarrassing.

Weve got be doing much more.

People take part during a solidarity march (Aaron Chown/PA)

Crowds held banners reading stop (Vladimir) Putins war, no fly zone and solidarity with Ukraine and sang as police officers followed.

The London leader also urged those in the capital to continue their generosity towards refugees.

He added: Im full of admiration for anybody who has the space to provide a room for those who have fled Ukraine.

Its really important families are not left to their own devices, the Government has to step up and support them.

It comes as Mr Khan announced more than 1.1 million in funding to support migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum in London.

Ukraines ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told the crowd: I urge you to keep up the good work, the military and humanitarian aid.

The sanctions must continue until the Russian economy has stopped in its tracks.

Poetry was also read out by Oscar-winning actress Dame Emma Thompson, who was draped in a Ukrainian flag, and Skins star Kaya Scodelario.

Labours shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, who was also in attendance, led a chant of stand with Ukraine.

He said: We come here to send a message to the beautiful people of Ukraine that we are with you in this fight.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in a solidarity march (Aaron Chown/PA)

Mr Lammy also called for dirty Russian money that has polluted the UK economy to end.

Ukraines ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told the crowd: I urge you to keep up the good work, the military and humanitarian aid.

The sanctions must continue until the Russian economy has stopped in its tracks.

Poetry was also read out by Oscar-winning actress Dame Emma Thompson, who was draped in a Ukrainian flag, and Skins star Kaya Scodelario.

Protester Zenadin Tkalenko, 43, of Croydon, south-east London  originally from Kyiv, said: My country is under attack, the UK I hope can help.

Putin is a monster who needs to be stopped, people are dying and homes are being destroyed.

This is a big country and it needs to help.
PARIS  In Haircare  the brand for textured hair launched by Ma Coiffeuse Afro, an application to help Black and mixed-race women in France easily book stylists for at-home appointments and learn about products meeting their needs  has completed its first round of funding.

The investment was led by Obratori, LOccitane Groups venture capital fund and accelerator, with Anne de Kerckhove and CRE Venture Capital.

Rebecca Cathline and Emmanuel Derozin launched Ma Coiffeuse Afro in 2016, which has more than 300 stylists available daily. It has built up a significant following, especially among Millennials. Ma Coiffeuse Afro has 228,000 users and 194,000 Instagram fans.

The brand in October 2019 expanded the In Haircare product range, starting with vegan, plant-based ingestibles comprising vitamins and minerals to fortify hair. The product was co-created with Ma Coiffeuse Afros community.

The brand then expanded with a fortifying oil, a scalp serum, gummies and packs.

A months worth of supplements retails for 29.90 euros.

Their in and out approach, their creativity and their inclusivity and engaging brand story definitely resonates with Obratori, and we are excited to write the next page of their journey with them, Obratori said of In Haircare on its LinkedIn page.

Obratori generally invests between 50,000 euros and 200,000 euros into start-ups. Most recently, in December 2021, it invested in Lolo Paris, a French digital-native lingerie brand. Also in 2021, the Marseille, France-based fund invested in Paper Cosmetics, and Melifera, Frances first handcrafted and organic gin.

LOccitane International SA, a beauty company thats listed in Hong Kong, has brands including LOccitane en Provence, Elemis, Melvita and Erborian. Its products are sold in more than 3,000 doors in 90 countries.

For more, see:

LOccitane Groups VC Fund Invests in Lolo Paris Lingerie Brand

LOccitane Group Names New CEO

Paper Cosmetics Closes First FundingvRound
President Biden speaks in Warsaw on Saturday. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

With the war in Ukraine at a critical juncture, President Biden on Saturday used the capital of a country once dominated by the Soviet Union to demand an end to Russian President Vladimir Putin's vast power and to exhort U.S. allies to stand up to Russia's brutal invasion of its neighbor.

"The test of this moment is a test of all time," Biden said in what was designed as a rousing speech for unity uttered at a Warsaw castle destroyed by Nazis in World War II  and later rebuilt.

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden said of Putin  a dramatic final flourish to what the White House termed a major speech and what appeared to be a call to unseat the man he has branded a killer and a war criminal.

The White House later clarified that Biden was not urging regime change, which would have been a major shift in U.S. policy. The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a spokesman told reporters traveling with the president and speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with White House protocol. "He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change.

Still, the comments reverberated in Poland, in Ukraine, where a Russian air attack struck within miles of the Polish border, and in Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was not up to Biden to choose who leads Russia. "The president of Russia is elected by Russians," he said, according to Reuters.

Biden, in his speech, also reached out to the Russian people, saying the United States and the West do not have grievances with them but with their leaders. And he called for worldwide unity, something the administration has not been able to galvanize, with numerous countries sitting on the sidelines of the conflict.

"All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day," Biden said. "My country as well."

He opened his remarks by invoking the late Pope John Paul II, a Pole, whose "Be not afraid" speech in Warsaw in 1979 inspired Poland to eventually break away from Communist rule.

Throughout his visit to Europe, Biden has emphasized the "sacred obligation" the U.S. and its NATO allies have to protect Poland and other member states if Russia spreads its attacks into the eastern flanks of NATO territory. He told Polish President Andrzej Duda in a meeting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will defend "every inch" of its territory "for your freedom and ours."

As Biden visited Warsaw, a fresh volley of explosions was heard on the outskirts of Lviv, in western Ukraine and just miles from the border with Poland. Black smoke billowed on the horizon. Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile attack hit a fuel storage facility. Though the third attack in the vicinity of once-quiet Lviv, it was the first one close to the city's population.

Russia on Friday announced that the "first phase" of its military assault had ended successfully, saying its forces would now concentrate on its main goal: consolidating control of occupied parts of eastern Ukraine. This might represent a scaling down of operations in the face of a failure to advance on key cities  or it may be another feint by Putin to confuse his adversaries.

Saturday's Lviv attacks seemed to suggest the latter. Biden, asked what he thought of Putin's shift in strategy, said he was not sure there had been any shift.

Initially, several U.S. officials embraced the analysis that Putin was scaling back because it fits with their narrative that Ukraine is prevailing in the conflict, even as Washington and European capitals are willing to send supplies and weapons to Ukraine but not troops or fighter jets.

While in Warsaw, Biden also got a firsthand glimpse of the war's toll on Poland. Meeting with Ukrainian refugees near the train station in Warsaw, he said he admired their spirit and resilience and when asked how it affected him, he branded Putin a "butcher."

"He is a butcher," Biden said. "Thats what it makes me feel.

Millions of Ukrainians have fled across Europe or been displaced inside their country since Putin launched the invasion Feb. 24.

Earlier, Biden joined U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at a session in a Warsaw hotel with top Ukrainian officials  Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines foreign minister, and Oleksii Reznikov, the countrys defense minister.

Poland, a NATO ally of the United States, shares a lengthy border with Ukraine and has been both the major destination of Ukrainian refugees and an essential corridor for aid  including military assistance  headed into Ukraine.

There is deep anxiety in Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was signed during Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, that the war could spread into its territory.

But Washington, wary of a wider war with Russia, has not embraced Polish suggestions that an international peacekeeping force be deployed to Ukraine. And the Biden administration has also rejected outright a Polish proposal that Polish MIG-29 fighter jets be transferred to Ukraine via a U.S. airbase in Germany.

Poland has also urged that Washington expedite procedures to accept refugees from Ukraine with families in the United States. The Biden administration now says it will open doors to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Biden and Duda and their delegations met for several hours, discussing the war and the refugee crisis, which has seen some 3.7 million Ukrainians flee the country, an exodus that continues daily and is considered the largest refugee influx in Europe since World War II.

The trip to the Polish capital came a day after Biden visited U.S. forces in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow, some 45 miles west of the Ukrainian border. Washington has bolstered its forces in Eastern Europe in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In his comments to troops, Biden talked of a global struggle between democracies and autocratic forces.

Youre in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs, the president told members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. "Is democracy going to prevail and the values we share, or are autocracies going to prevail?"

During a later briefing on the refugee response, Biden said, the single most important thing that we can do from the outset" to force Putin to stop the war "is keep the democracies united in our opposition.

Before going to Poland, Biden conferred with U.S. allies in Brussels, unveiling new sanctions against Russian officials, among other moves.

The presidents arrival in Poland comes at a crucial juncture in the Ukrainian conflict. Now in its second month, the war has evolved into a grinding and costly battle in which opposing forces on many fronts appear deadlocked  and, in some cases, Ukrainian troops are pushing back their Russian adversaries.

Questions remain about whether Russia will now ramp up its offensive throughout Ukraine or will concentrate its efforts on the east and south, where Russia has had some military success.

In comments Friday, Sergei Rudskoi, a top Russian Defense Ministry official, said that with the "first stage" completed, Moscow will concentrate on the liberation of the Donbas, a large stretch of eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have expanded control since the war began. Russian proxies in the Donbas have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

The combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced," Rudskoisaid.

That assertion came as a Russian assault on the capital, Kyiv, appears to have stalled amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

But Russia depicted the attack on Kyiv not as an attempt to take the capital, but an effort to tie down Ukrainian forces while Russia concentrates on the east.

Western observers see the comments as a face-saving maneuver for Moscow as its forces have bogged down in the field because of military missteps and greater-than-expected Ukrainian resistance. However, many also caution that Putin has repeatedly lied about his intentions and operations, and the new comments must be viewed with skepticism.

Putin has denied from the outset that Russia had aims to occupy Ukrainian territory, saying strikes were meant to cripple Ukrainian military infrastructure. But his governments assault on Ukrainian cities  including Kyiv and the eastern city of Mariupol, scene of vast devastation  seemed to undercut Putins assertions.

Putin has called the war a special operation meant both to bolster Russian security against NATO encroachment and to protect Russian speakers in the east subjected to abuse and genocide. The Ukrainian government denies any systemic abuse of Russian speakers in the east or elsewhere in Ukraine.

In recent days, Russian shelling has continued in various areas, including the outskirts of Kyiv and the northern cities of Kharkiv, Ukraines second most populous, and Chernihiv.

Authorities in Kyiv have announced a new 35-hour curfew.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday, with residents allowed to leave their homes only to get to bomb shelters.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again called on other nations to step up humanitarian and military aid to his beleaguered nation.

They are destroying our ports, Zelensky said in a video address Saturday to Qatars Doha Forum, noting that the war had curtailed grain and other exports from Ukraine. The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.





McDonnell reported from Lviv and Wilkinson from Washington.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A federal jury in San Antonio has awarded more than $10 million to the family of Gilbert Flores, a Texas man who was fatally shot outside of his home by two deputies in 2015.

Video shows Flores with his arms raised above his head in the seconds before he was gunned down by Bexar County Sheriffs deputies Robert Sanchez and Greg Vasquez. They responded to his San Antonio home the night of Aug. 28, 2015 for reports of a domestic dispute.

Gilbert Flores was killed in 2015.





Gilbert Flores was killed in 2015.

Flores mother in a 911 call reported that her son had assaulted his wife and infant child. Flores also told dispatchers that he wanted to die by suicide by cop.

Authorities said Flores was armed with a knife when deputies arrived on the scene.

Then-Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau noted the shooting took place after a lengthy confrontation, during which the deputies first deployed their Tasers and shields in a bid to ward off Flores knife. In the end, both Sanchez and Vasquez fired their guns.

In this photo from Aug. 28, 2015, the Bexar County Sheriff's Department investigates the scene where deputies shot a man as they responded to a domestic disturbance call.





In this photo from Aug. 28, 2015, the Bexar County Sheriff's Department investigates the scene where deputies shot a man as they responded to a domestic disturbance call. (John Davenport/)

Their attorneys argued the deputies feared for the their lives because Flores refused repeated requests to drop his weapon.

A grand jury in 2015 declined to indict the deputies on criminal charges. Flores family filed a civil lawsuit and the jury on Thursday found the two deputies violated Flores constitutional rights, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

The Bexar County Sheriff's Department investigates the scene in 2015.





The Bexar County Sheriff's Department investigates the scene in 2015. (John Davenport/)

An attorney for his family, Robert Wilson, contended that the deputies were not in immediate danger when they opened fire on Flores.

You just dont shoot somebody when they are standing still and surrendering, Wilson said.

Each of the deputies was ordered to pay $1,435,000 to the family in compensatory damages. In addition, Vasquez must also pay $5 million in punitive damages while Sanchez must hand over $2.5 million.

With Wire Services
FILE - In this July 17, 1976, photo members of the Alameda County Crime Lab and FBI are pictured working around the opening to the van where 26 Chowchilla school children and their bus driver were held captive at a rock quarry near Livermore, Calif. California parole commissioners have recommended parole for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom in 1976. The two commissioners acted Friday, March 25, 2022, in the case of 70-year-old Frederick Woods. (AP Photo, File)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  The last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children and holding them and their driver for $5 million ransom in 1976 was recommended for parole on Friday with the support of two of the victims.

Parole commissioners decided Frederick Woods, 70, no longer is a danger to the public after previous panels had denied him parole 17 times.

The decision by Commissioner Patricia Cassady and Deputy Commissioner Keith Stanton will still be considered by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but the governor can't block it because it's not a murder conviction. He could only refer the decision to the full Board of Parole Hearings for a review.

The governor's late father, state Judge William Newsom, was on an appellate panel in 1980 that reduced the men's life sentences to give them a chance at parole. Once retired, he advocated for their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously physically injured during the kidnapping.

Woods accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, already were freed. An appeals court ordered Richard released in 2012 and then-Gov. Jerry Brown paroled James in 2015.

All three were from wealthy San Francisco Bay Area families when they kidnapped 26 children and their bus driver near Chowchilla, about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

They buried the children, ages 5 to 14, along with their bus driver in a ventilated bunker east of San Francisco. The victims were able to dig their way out more than a day later.

Woods read an apology for his crime at Friday's parole hearing.

Ive had empathy for the victims which I didnt have then, Woods said. Ive had a character change since then.

I was 24 years old," he added. "Now I fully understand the terror and trauma I caused. I fully take responsibility for this heinous act.

California law now requires parole commissioners to give greater weight to freeing inmates who were young when they committed their crime, and to those who are now elderly and have served lengthy prison sentences.

This is an individual whos demonstrated how dangerous he is. Hes ruined the lives of dozens of these kids  they still struggle, a lot of them, with the aftereffects of this," Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno said after the decision.

She thinks Newsom may agree to seek review by the full parole board, given the notoriety of the crime.

Hes not someone who should be released," Moreno said. "Hes demonstrated the capacity to do this kind of a crimeto mastermind and carry out something like this.

Newsom's office said that the governor carefully reviews parole decisions to determine whether a parole grant is consistent with public safety.

Woods and the Schoenfelds planned their crime for more than a year. They wanted to get $5 million ransom from the state Board of Education.

James Schoenfeld once told parole officials that he envied friends who had his-and-hers Ferraris. Woods said during an earlier parole hearing that he just got greedy.

Woods said in his 2012 parole hearing that he didn't need the money, and both those backing and opposing his parole Friday referenced his relative wealth.

I believe you have served enough time for the crime you committed, said survivor Larry Park, who supported Woods' release along with Rebecca Reynolds Dailey. But Park added that "Im concerned about the addiction you may have about money, urging Woods to consider getting treatment.

Jennifer Brown Hyde, one of those opposing Woods parole, said he has yet to fully make amends for his crime and is still a millionaire.

He could have done much more," she said. Even the settlement paid to some of us survivors was not sufficient. It was enough to pay for some therapy but not enough to buy a house.

Matthew Medrano, son of Jodi Heffington Medrano, sobbed several times as he recounted watching his mother change from being a loving, outgoing survivor until she experienced darker, bitter thoughts and depression before her early death.

Others opposing Woods parole  survivors Lynda Carrejo, Laura Yazzi Fanning and Carol Marshall, mother of survivor Michael Marshall  also testified about the long-term harm done by the kidnapping. It affected entire families, said Marshall.

Madera County prosecutors said Woods' disciplinary infractions in prison showed he had not yet learned to follow the rules.

But Woods and his attorney, Dominique Banos, emphasized that he had a discipline-free record since his last parole hearing in October 2019.

Woods and his attorney were at the California Men's Colony prison in San Luis Obispo, while other participants were in remote locations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This story recounts all that occurred Saturday in the war in Ukraine. For the latest news, see our latest live updates story.

In a sweeping and forceful speech concluding a four-day trip to Europe, President Joe Biden cast the war in Ukraine on Saturday as part of an ongoing battle for freedom and ended with a blunt call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be stopped.

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said during a visit to Warsaw, Poland, in his strongest comments to date about his desire to see Putin gone.

Shortly after the speech, a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Biden was not calling for Putin to be removed from office.

The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," the official said. "He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that its not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.

Only Russians, who vote for their president, can decide that, Peskov said.

US President, Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle Saturday in Warsaw, Poland. Biden arrived yesterday, meeting with the Polish president as well as U.S. troops stationed near the Ukrainian border. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Biden's speech was delivered hours after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda during a historic visit Saturday where the allies presented a united front against Russian aggression and reaffirmed their commitment to the NATO alliance.

Biden later met with Ukrainian refugees, including children who asked him to say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother. Hes back there fighting.

Biden's visit comes as Moscow appears to be recalibrating its military strategies in Ukraine, even as several media outlets reported a Russian missile struck a fuel depot in the western Ukraine city of Lviv which has largely escaped the devastation other parts of the nation have suffered.

U.S. President Joe Biden, third from left, and Polish President Andrzej Duda shake hands during a military welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Russia's military goals in Ukraine have been hazy since it began its invasion more than a month ago, and new statements suggest Moscow may consider claiming victory without completely overthrowing the Ukrainian government or capturing Kyiv.

Western analysts and leaders were skeptical of the Friday statements, where the deputy chief of the Russian general staff said his forces had largely achieved the "main objectives" of a first phase of the conflict. The power of the Ukrainian military has been "considerably reduced," freeing up troops to "focus on the main efforts to achieve the main goal, liberation of Donbas," said Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi.

The implications of the statement are difficult to determine, according to Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who has studied U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

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"It's plausible that theyre basically trying to ratchet their perceived war aims down to something theyve already accomplished," he said.

Before the invasion, portions of the Donbas in southeastern Ukraine were already controlled by Russian-backed forces. Similarly skeptical, French President Emmanuel Macron said its too soon to say whether the Russians have changed their approach.

But what does appear clear: In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the progress of Russian forces has largely stalled. Kyiv  while battered  remains under the control of the Ukrainian government.

LATEST MOVEMENTS: Mapping and tracking Russia's invasion of Ukraine

NEWS COMES TO YOU: The latest updates on the situation in Ukraine. Sign up here.

WAR'S IMPACT ON FOOD: How Russia's war against Ukraine could make our food prices  from bread to beer  more expensive

Latest developments

In remarks from Warsaw, President Joe Biden slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "butcher" for the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and said the West "has never been stronger." Poland has been on the front lines of the refugee crisis, having accepted some 2 million Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Several media outlets reported that the western city of Lviv, largely spared from the bombardments in other parts of the nation was struck by a Russian missile Saturday. The mayor of the city says one of the targets was a fuel depot.

The U.N. human rights office said it has been challenging to confirm fatalities in Mariupol given the organization's strict methodology for counting the number of civilian deaths in conflict. The office says at least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, but acknowledges that is an undercount.

 The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych in northern Ukraine and seized a hospital there.

 Britain has seized two jet aircraft belonging to Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler as Western governments put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by targeting the luxury lifestyles of his closest supporters. The Times of London described the aircraft as a $45 million Bombardier Global 6500 and a $13 million Cessna Citation Latitude.

People living in a metro station used as a bomb shelter walk in a corridor in Kharkiv on March 26, 2022, during Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.

Governor of Lviv region says man detained on suspicion of espionage

LVIV, Ukraine  The governor of the Lviv region says a man was detained on suspicion of espionage at the site of one of the two rocket attacks that rattled the city on Saturday.

Maksym Kozytskyy said police found the man had recorded a rocket flying toward the target and striking it. Police also found on his telephone photos of checkpoints in the region, which Kozytskyy said had been sent to two Russian telephone numbers.

Rockets hit an oil storage facility and an unspecified industrial facility, wounding at least five people. A thick plume of smoke and towering flames could be seen on Lvivs outskirts hours after the attacks.

 Associated Press

Biden stirs concern with remark that Putin 'cannot remain in power'

After four days of alliance building, emotional interactions with refugees and stirring words about the need to fight for democracy, one sentence that President Joe Biden appeared to tack on to the end of his final speech in Poland threatened to overshadow all he had achieved as he deals with the most significant foreign policy crisis of his presidency.

For Gods sake, Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this man cannot remain in power.

The White House tried to quickly walk it back.

Biden was not promoting regime change, said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The point the president was trying to make in his remarks was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.

Biden may have been saying what he believes, but it was not smart policy to say it aloud, said Tom Schwartz, a historian of U.S. foreign relations at Vanderbilt University. Read more here.

Kremlin responds to Biden's condemnation of Putin

A spokesperson for the Kremlin on Saturday said President Joe Biden's statement that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" was "extremely negative" for U.S. relations with Russia.

Only Russians, who vote for their president, can decide that, Dmitry Peskov told The Associated Press. And of course it is unbecoming for the president of the U.S. to make such statements.

The White House walked back Biden's initial statements in Poland, claiming the president was not endorsing regime change, but meant that "Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region."

Peskov said that with Biden's statements, he was "narrowing the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current administration."

US giving $100 million for civilian security assistance in Ukraine

The U.S. will give Ukraine an additional $100 million in civilian security assistance, the State Department announced Saturday.

The funding will help pay for field gear, medical supplies, armored vehicles and other equipment for Ukraines police and border guards.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers are playing a key role in rescuing civilians, protecting convoys of fleeing refugees and providing security to civilian areas torn apart by Russias invasion, according to the State Department.

The administration repeated past warnings that it is helping document war crimes so those responsible can be held accountable.

 Maureen Groppe

Biden: Autocracy no match for liberty

President Joe Biden said he arrived in Europe with a message for NATO, the European Union and all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul.

We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come, he said.

It will not be easy. There will be cost, but its a price we have to pay Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty.

 Michael Collins

Biden to Russians: 'These are not the actions of a great nation'

Biden appealed to ordinary Russians, first telling them  if youre able to listen  that you ... are not our enemy.

The president said what they experienced at the hands of invaders in World War II is exactly what is happening to Ukrainians by the Russian military.

These are not the actions of a great nation, Biden said of the bombings of hospitals, schools and maternity wards. This war is not worthy of you, the Russian people.

Biden said Putins aggressions have cut his people off from the rest of the world and taken Russia back to the 19th century.

But Biden promised that the United States will stand with you and the brave people of Ukraine who want peace.

For Gods sake, Biden said at the end of his speech, Putin "cannot remain in power."

 Maureen Groppe

Biden: War in Ukraine 'strategic failure' for Putin

President Joe Biden said Saturday the war in Ukraine has been a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin thought Ukrainians would roll over and not fight, Biden said.

Instead, Russian forces have met their match with brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance, he said.

Russias actions have also strengthened NATOs resolve instead of pulling the alliance apart, Biden said.

The west is now stronger, more united than it has ever been, he said.

 Michael Collins

Biden: The ruble is turning into rubble

Biden said the sanctions imposed on Russia are having an impact.

The ruble has almost immediately reduced to rubble, he said.

More: 'It will be a lot harder on people.' How sanctions will impact ordinary Russians

Russias economy is on track to be cut in half in the coming years and will no longer be among the 20 largest, he predicted.

Thats sapping Russias strength and ability to reject power, Biden continued.

It is Vladimir Putin who is to blame. Period, he said.

-- Maureen Groppe

Biden warns against forces of autocracy

President Joe Biden warned Saturday that the battle for democracy did not end with the Cold War.

Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have lived all across the globe, Biden said in remarks from the steps of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.

Today, Russia has strangled democracy, and Vladimir Putin has sought to do so elsewhere  not only in his homeland but by invalidating neighboring nations, Biden said.

Let us resolve to put the strength of democracies into action to thwart the designs of autocracy, he said. Let us remember that the test of this moment is the test of all time.

 Michael Collins

Biden to Ukraine: 'We stand with you. Period.'

Biden praised the brave resistance of Ukrainians and said he was there to deliver a message.

We stand with you. Period, Biden said.

Biden spoke in the packed courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland where American and Polish flags waved in the background. When the president said he suspected Ukrainians were in the audience, a cheer went up.

Biden said Ukrainians resistance is part of a larger fight for essential democratic principles. Those principles, he said, have always been under siege and every generation has to had to fight democracys mortal foes.

 Maureen Groppe

Biden in Warsaw: 'Be not afraid'

In remarks concluding his four-day trip to Europe, President Joe Biden stood on the steps of the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Saturday and recalled the words of Pope John Paul II: Be not afraid.

The White House billed Bidens speech as a major address in which he would address efforts of the free world to hold Russia accountable for the war in Ukraine.

In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed, Biden said. This battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead.

 Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe

Russian missile strikes Lviv fuel depot

LVIV, Ukraine  Air raid sirens sounded Saturday afternoon in the western city of Lviv, and governor of the region Maxym Kozytsky reported three powerful explosions near Lviv without giving details of what was hit. Footage shot by The Associated Press showed thick plumes of smoke rising above the city.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadoviy, tweeted that one of missiles struck an industrial area that include a fuel storage depot, but that there was no indication residences were hit.

"All emergency services are working on the location," he tweeted. "Please stay in the shelters until the air alarm goes off."

Lviv, a city of over 700,000 roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Ukraines border with Poland, has been largely spared from major Russian attacks in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the Russian forces fired missiles on a military training center near Lviv, which at the time was the most westward target, and killed 35 people.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Lviv has become a safe harbor for some 200,000 displaced Ukrainians.

The explosions Saturday came as U.S. President Joe Biden was wrapping up a visit to neighboring NATO ally Poland in which he told Polands president that  your freedom is ours.

- Associated Press

Biden on Ukrainian refugees: You just want to hug them

President Joe Biden got a glimpse of the human toll of the war in Ukraine on Saturday when he visited with a group of Ukrainian refugees whose resilience he said demonstrated the depth and strength of the human spirit.

Theyre an amazing group of people, he said.

Biden mingled for several minutes with refugees and humanitarian officials who are providing assistance to them at a national stadium in Warsaw. The stadium serves as a processing center where refugees are issued identification cards allowing them to work, live, go to school and get social benefits.

Biden stopped in a courtyard that is serving as a distribution site for the World Central Kitchen, the non-profit organization founded by Chef Jose Andres. The group has set up a mobile kitchen and is providing hot meals to the refugees.

US President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war with Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Biden chatted briefly with Andres before walking over to a corner where families were gathered around tables with plates of hamburgers, fries, sausages and other food. Wearing a face mask and accompanied by an interpreter, the president picked up a small girl wearing a pink jacket and held her in his arms for several minutes.

Its so incredible to see all of those little children, Biden told reporters. You just want to hug them.

Biden said each of the children he spoke with asked him to say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother. Hes back there fighting.

I remember what its like when you have someone in a war zone, said Biden, whose late son, Beau, was a veteran of the war in Iraq. Every morning, you get up and you wonder. You just pray you dont get that phone call.

Asked what his visit with the refugees made him think of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden responded: Hes a butcher.

 Michael Collins

Biden stresses sacred obligation to defend NATO allies

President Joe Biden sought Saturday to reassure Poland that the U.S. would come to its defense if it should come under attack by Russia in an escalation of the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. considers its commitment to defend other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a sacred obligation, Biden told Polish President Andrzej Duda during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

You can count on that, Biden said.

The U.S. has sent thousands of forces to Poland to shore up NATOs eastern flank in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. Biden visited with members of the 82nd Airborne Division on Friday during a stop in Rzeszow, Poland, about 60 miles from the border of Ukraine.

In Warsaw, Biden and Duda sat across from each other at a long table beneath a crystal chandelier as the two leaders prepared to discuss the humanitarian crisis sparked by the month-old war. More than 2 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland to escape the war.

Speaking in Polish, Duda said Bidens visit strengthened the bond between the two countries.

Russias invasion has created a huge tragedy for the Ukrainian people and a great sense of threat for the Polish people, Duda said.

We know what Russian imperialism stands for, and we know what it means to be attacked by Russian armed forces, Duda said.

Biden stressed that stability in Europe is critically important to the United States and said the most important criterion is that NATO stay absolutely, completely, thoroughly united and that there be no separation in our points of view.

 Michael Collins

Ukraine official: Russia destroyed 4,500 houses, 400 educational institutions

During a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center, Ukraines development minister said Russian forces have destroyed about 4,500 houses and almost 400 education institutions since the war began last month, according to the Ukrainian news outlet Pravda.

These figures are growing every day, and perhaps every hour, said Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukraines minister of development of communities and territories, according to the report. At this time, when we say the bombing is going on, people are dying, infrastructure is being destroyed."

He added that about 100 factories and enterprises and 150 health care facilities were also destroyed and noted that not all damage can be assessed until the conflict has ceased.

The price tag on the damage could reach tens of billions of dollars, he said.

- Ella Lee

European nuclear group severing ties with Russia and Belarus

The European Council for Nuclear Research is suspending work in Belarus and Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday the 23 member states of CERN Council agreed to halt all events in Russia and Belarus and all scientists in all scientific committees of institutions in Russia and Belarus.

In the announcement Friday, the CERN Council said the restrictions were agreed upon and implemented in an act of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Earlier this month, the CERN Council condemned the military invasion and agreed not to engage in new collaborations with Russia. At the council's June session the group said they will consider more sanctions on Russia and Belarus.

- Ana Faguy

Biden arrives for meeting with Duda

With pomp and fanfare, President Joe Biden arrived at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on Saturday for a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on how allies are responding to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.

Bidens limousine pulled into the palace courtyard shortly after 12:30 p.m. local time.

US President Joe Biden (2ndL) and Polish President Andrzej Duda (L) review a military honour guard during an official welcoming ceremony prior to a meeting in Warsaw on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Duda greeted the president as he stepped out of the car. The two chatted briefly, shook hands with a line of dignitaries and then participated in a formal arrival ceremony that included the playing of each countrys national anthem and a military procession.

 Michael Collins

Holocaust memorial damaged by Russian forces

Russian invaders fired on and damaged Drobytsky Yar, a Holocaust Memorial outside Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the attack on the memorial, which first opened in 2002, via Twitter.

"The Nazis have returned," the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense tweeted. "Exactly 80 years later."

The memorial was created in honor of the 16,000 people killed after Nazi troops invaded the town in 1941.

-Ana Faguy

Ukraine: Women perform significant role in military resistance to Russia

Women make up 15% of Ukraine's military, with nearly 7,000 women serving in its Air Force alone, a top Ukrainian official said Saturday. Ukraines military has 250,000 active-duty troops.

Women are the heart of the resilience of local communities, Peoples Deputy Lesia Vasylenko said in a tweet. Heroic mothers and their inspiring daughters. This is the (Ukrainian) resistance.

People living in a metro station used as a bomb shelter sit and stand in their sleeping area in a train in Kharkiv on March 26, 2022, during Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.

The figure is on par with other nations worldwide, many of which have significantly larger militaries.

About 16.5% of the active-duty U.S. military are women, according to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report. Some branches of the military are more gender diverse than others  roughly 21% of the Air Force is comprised of women compared to 9% of Marines  a 2021 Department of Defense report shows.

About 11% of the United Kingdom Regular Armed Forces are women, according to a 2021 report. The Center for Strategic & International Studies calculated that roughly 4% of the Russian military was women in 2020. The percentage of women in the other reporting NATO nations militaries range from 0.3% (Turkey) to 20% (Hungary), a 2020 NATO report shows.

- Ella Lee

Russia conducted 60 cyberattacks against Ukraine, information protection agency says

Ukraine's information protection agency on Friday said that, between March 15-22, Russia conducted 60 cyberattacks against the nations "critical infrastructure and government organizations, but that most were limited in impact.

The number of attacks is growing, but most of them are unsuccessful, Viktor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraines State Service of Special Communication and Protection of Information, said in a March 23 briefing, according to the agencys Telegram post. Even those that are successful do not affect the operation of critical information infrastructure.

Zhora added that the current activity is less serious than the activity tracked by the agency earlier this year.

- Ella Lee

Russian troops enter city of Slavutych, seize hospital

LVIV, Ukraine -- The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.

Slavutych is located north of Kyiv and west of Chernihiv, outside the exclusion zone that was established around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster. It is home to workers at the Chernobyl site.

Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said Saturday that the Russians also kidnapped the citys mayor, but some media reported later in the day that the mayor was released swiftly. Neither claim could be verified independently .

The governor said that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.

The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd. But the residents did not disperse, on the contrary, more of them showed up, Pavlyuk said.

- Associated Press

Death toll of children reaches 136

In the month since the Russian invasion began, 136 children have been killed.

Reuters reported that 64 of the children were killed in the Kyiv region and 50 were killed in the Donetsk region. An additional 199 children have been wounded.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday, the civilian death toll in Ukraine has exceeded 1,000 since the start of the war.

- Ana Faguy

Top Ukrainian officials to attend Biden speech in Warsaw

A pair of top Ukrainian officials will be on hand in Warsaw Saturday when President Joe Biden delivers a speech on holding Russia accountable for its month-long war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a message on Twitter that he and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will attend the presidents address.

Biden started the final day of his four-day trip to Europe by dropping by a meeting between Reznikov and Kuleba and their U.S. counterparts  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Reznikov tweeted a photo of the meeting  sans Biden  and said they were discussing current issues & cooperation in political & defense directions.

In the evening well also be present at @POTUS speech on the Russian war against Ukraine, Reznikov wrote.

Biden will deliver his remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

 Michael Collins

100,000-plus flee Ukraine on Friday

More than 100,00 people left Ukraine Friday, the State Border Guard Service Ukraine said.

Two-thirds of those who left crossed Ukraine's western borders with EU countries as well as Moldova. The State Border Guard Service estimated 45,000 left Friday night alone.

Meanwhile, many men are returning to Ukraine to defend the country, the Ukrainian government said. 21,000 people arrived in Ukraine Friday night. The State Border Guard Service said more than 420,000 Ukrainians have returned since Russia first invaded.

The United Nations estimates that 10 million people have fled Ukraine since the conflict began last month. Friday's flow of refugees was significantly higher than in recent days. On Wednesday, about 43,000 fled and around 62,000 fled Thursday, according to government figures.

- Ana Faguy

Ukraine president Zelenskyy makes surprise appearance at Doha Forum

DOHA, Qatar  Ukraine's president made a surprise video appearance Saturday at Qatar's Doha Forum, calling on the energy-rich nation and others to boost their production to counteract the loss of Russian energy supplies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid, as he has in a series of other addresses given around the world since the start of the war Feb. 24. He compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

"They are destroying our ports," Zelenskyy said. "The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide."

The loss of Ukrainian wheat already has worried Mideast nations like Egypt, which relies on those exports.

Zelenskyy called on countries to increase their exports of energy  something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

Zelenskyy criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons, raising the possibility of tactical nuclear weapons being used on the battlefield.

"Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet," Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine," he said.

 Associated Press

President Biden to meet with refugees, deliver speech

President Joe Biden on Saturday will cap his European trip talking to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and delivering a speech on holding Russia accountable for its invasion and upholding democratic values.

Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, previewed Bidens remarks as a major address that will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.

Biden will also put the war in historical context and describe where he sees it going from here, Sullivan said.

Before delivering those remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace

The suffering that is taking place now is at your doorstep, Biden told Duda on Friday at a meeting in Rzeszow, where the influx of refugees is the largest. You're the ones who are risking, in some cases, your lives and risking all you know to try to help. And the American people are proud to support your efforts.

On Thursday, Biden announced the U.S. will take in up to 100,000 Ukrainians and provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance.

Poland has taken in more than 2 million refugees, and the numbers continue to grow.

We have never experienced anything like that throughout our history, Duda told Biden.

On Saturday, Biden will meet with refugees at the National Stadium in Warsaw. The stadium is a processing center where refugees are issued identification cards allowing them to work, live, go to school and get social benefits.

I'm here in Poland to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis, Biden said Friday, expressing his disappointment that he cant cross the border into Ukraine for security reasons.

Biden has been in Europe since Wednesday, meeting with NATO allies and other European and world leaders.

The U.S. and its allies announced new sanctions on Russia, additional help for Ukraine, and discussed beefing up force presence in Eastern Europe in the near and longer-term.

 Maureen Groppe

UK sees Russians reluctant to enter urban war

LONDON  Britain's Defense Ministry says Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

A daily update says Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralize defending forces.

The assessment says it is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.

 Associated Press

Zelenskyy: Ukraine will not cede territory to end Russian invasion

Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.

Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.

Rudskois statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still havent been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.

Ukraine destroys Russian vessel; Moscow taps troops in Georgia

Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian transport ship in the port city of Berdyansk that appeared to be on a resupply mission, a senior Defense official said Friday.

The attack on Thursday blew up a tank-landing ship at its pier, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. The Russians have 22 warships in the Black Sea.

Russian combat power in Ukraine, which dipped below 90% for the first time this week, is now between 85% and 90%, the official said. For the first time, Russia appears to be drawing reinforcements from its troops based in Georgia. Combat power includes troops, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles.

Russia has also drawn down its stockpile of precision-guided weapons and is relying more on so-called dumb bombs to bombard cities, the official said. Russia has used about 50% of its air-launched cruise missiles. Russias cruise missiles have at times failed to launch or hit their targets.

 Tom Vanden Brook

Poll shows Americans support Russian sanctions, think Biden should be tougher

A majority of Americans are supportive of the harsh sanctions on Russia but believe Biden needs to be tougher on the Kremlin after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a poll commissioned by the Associated Press and NORC released Thursday.

The poll, which surveyed 1,082 U.S. adults from Thursday to Monday, found 56% of Americans believe Biden's response to Russia hasn't been tough enough, including a majority of 53% of Democrats. A very small percent, about 6%, said they thought Biden had been "too tough," the poll shows.

Across the board, Americans of both political parties were supportive of the harsh economic blows to Russia. The poll showed 68% were supportive of economic sanctions in general with 70% saying they supported the recent banning of oil imported from Russia, which in turn caused gas prices to rise.

 Christal Hayes

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine updates: Biden declares Putin 'cannot remain in power'
The Supreme Court decision is a victory for the Biden administration and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, above. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The Supreme Court lifted part of a Texas judge's order Friday and ruled 6-3 that the U.S. military may refuse to deploy Navy SEALS or other troops who have refused to be vaccinated for COVID-19, citing their religious beliefs.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

The decision is a victory for the Biden administration and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who last year required all service personnel to be vaccinated. In November, the Pentagon said 99.4% of the troops were vaccinated.

In a brief unsigned order, the justices set aside lower court rulings that would prevent "the Navy from considering respondents vaccination status in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions."

Under the Constitution, "the president of the United States, not any federal judge, is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces," Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said in a concurring opinion. "I see no basis in this case for employing the judicial power in a manner that military commanders believe would impair the military of the United States as it defends the American people."

In dissent, Alito and Gorsuch faulted the majority for "rubber stamping" the government's vaccination order and for "brushing aside" the religious objections raised by the SEALS.

In recent months, the justices stopped the federal government from enforcing vaccination mandates on all private employers, but they have allowed states, hospitals and school districts to require vaccinations for their own employees.

For decades, the high court has repeatedly said judges must defer to the military and its commanders on matters involving order and discipline within the ranks.

But in January, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas ruled that the Navy may not discipline or discriminate against 36 SEALS and other special forces who refused to be vaccinated citing religious reasons.

He said some of them believed aborted fetal cells played a key role in developing the vaccine, while others cited "direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine." He said these beliefs "are undisputedly sincere, and it is not the role of this court to determine their truthfulness or accuracy."

The judge issued an order telling the Navy it may not refuse to deploy SEALS on any mission because of their refusal to be vaccinated. Last month, the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans refused the government's request to lift his order.

In appealing to the high court, U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth B. Prelogar called the decision an "extraordinary and unprecedented intrusion into core military affairs." She said that prior to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, nine vaccines had been required of all service members. And the history of the policy dates back to 1777, when George Washington required members of his Continental Army to be vaccinated against smallpox.

She cited the testimony of Adm. William K. Lescher, vice chief of Naval Operations and the second-highest uniformed officer in the Navy, who said the illness of even one member of a small SEAL team due to COVID-19 could compromise the mission.

He said he would regard it as a dereliction of duty to order unvaccinated personnel into an environment in which they endanger their lives, risk the lives of others, and compromise accomplishment of essential missions.

The Biden administration's attorney did not ask the high court to overrule the judge's decision entirely but, rather, to limit its impact. She said the order not only shields the SEALS from being disciplined or discharged, but also "requires the Navy to assign and deploy them without regard to their lack of vaccinations notwithstanding military leaders judgment," she said. "Doing so poses intolerable risks to safety and mission success."

O'Connor's courtroom in Fort Worth is a friendly forum for conservative causes. In 2018, he ruled the Affordable Care Act was entirely unconstitutional, a decision overturned by the Supreme Court on a 7-2 vote.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Two Fort Hood soldiers were sentenced to prison terms Friday for their role in a human smuggling operation uncovered last year, federal prosecutors said.

Isaiah Gore, 21, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and Denerio Williams, 22, was sentenced to 2 years in prison, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas said.

The scheme involved soldiers transporting undocumented people in Texas while wearing their uniforms, according to court documents.

Gore recruited fellow soldiers, paying $2,000 per trip, and Williams went on one of the trips, court documents say. They both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in December.

The investigation began after two other service members, who were wearing their Army uniforms, were caught with two undocumented people in the trunk of their vehicle at a Hebbronville Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas on June 13, officials said.

Those two men, Emmanuel Oppongagyare and Ralph Gregory Saint-Joie, pleaded guilty in August and are awaiting sentencing, prosecutors said.

Another soldier, Ivory Palmer, has also pleaded guilty and sentencing is pending in his case.

The trips did not involve crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to court documents.

In one case, the people were picked up in McAllen, Texas. In another, a person was picked up in South Texas, taken through a Border Patrol checkpoint inside the state, and then dropped off in San Antonio, according to court documents.

Gore told investigators that he had been recruited by members of a human smuggling organization, and that he was told no one would have to cross the border because the undocumented people would already be in Texas, court documents connected to his plea agreement say.

Gore and Williams each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport an undocumented alien within the United States, court records show.

Requests for comment from attorneys listed as representing Gore and Williams were not immediately returned Friday night.
DOHA, Qatar (AP)  Ukraine's president called Saturday on energy-rich nations to increase their production of oil and natural gas to counteract the loss of Russian supplies amid sanctions over Moscow's war on his country.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise video appearance at Qatars Doha Forum, an annual summit in the gas-rich nation that will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup later this year. It's part of a rhetorical offensive of addresses he's given around the world since the start of the war Feb. 24.

Zelenskyy asked countries to increase their energy exports  something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas. Western sanctions have deeply cut into Russian exports, which are crucial for European nations.

The responsible states, in particular the state of Qatar, you are reliable and reputable suppliers of energy resources, Zelenskyy said. And you can contribute to stabilizing the situation in Europe. There is much that can be done to restore justice.

He added: "The future of Europe depends on your efforts. I urge you to increase energy production to make Russia understand that no state should use energy as a weapon and to blackmail the world.

He compared Russias destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war. He also warned the war could affect Ukraine's agricultural exports to the world, which he described as the basis of stability and internal security of many countries.

Russian troops mine fields in Ukraine, blow up agricultural machinery, destroy fuel reserves needed for sowing. They blocked our seaports. Why are they doing this? he asked. "Our state will have enough food. But the lack of exports from Ukraine will hit many nations in the Islamic world, Latin America and other parts of the world.

The loss of Ukrainian wheat already has worried Mideast nations like Egypt, which rely on those exports. Zelenskyy on Friday spoke by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Also on hand was Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the top diplomat for the world's biggest oil exporter. Saudi Arabia so far has said it would stick with an OPEC+ production schedule the cartel struck with Russia and other producers. The kingdom also said it wouldn't be responsible for higher prices as it deals with attacks from Yemen's Houthi rebels amid its yearslong war in the Arab world's poorest country.

Qatar Energy CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi also later said that his nation likely couldn't help immediately with sending more gas to Europe.

Qatar's ruling emir meanwhile criticized Israel for its treatment of Palestinians over the last 70 years, urging the world to stand against a growing global militarization that found its peak in Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sought to draw a line between anti-Semitism and the ability to criticize Israel for occupying lands that Palestinians hope to have a state of their own. Sheikh Tamim's comments come as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in 2020 regularized diplomatic relations with Israel.

It is noteworthy here that the accusation of anti-Semitism is now used wrongly against everyone who criticizes Israels policies, and this impinges on the struggle against racism and actual anti-Semitism, Sheikh Tamim said at the start of the forum.

While stressing solidarity, I would like in this context to remind of the millions of Palestinians who have been suffering from the Israeli occupation and international neglect for more than seven decades," he added. "Similarly, there are a lot of other people, such as the Syrian people and the Afghan people, for whom the international community has failed to render justice.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. It was Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, when government offices are closed.

However, Israel and Qatar have discussed reducing tensions in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Qatar, which supports Islamist groups across the region, has stepped in to provide humanitarian aid, including cash-filled suitcases shipped to Gaza with Israels permission.

Qatar's support of Islamists saw it become the target of a yearslong boycott by four Arab nations  Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE  during President Donald Trump's time in office. That boycott ended just before President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina on hand for the forum, praised the event for having the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Qatar sharing a stage as a sign that the embargo is over.

However, he noted what he described as a Saudi and Emirati reluctance to condemn Russia over its war on Ukraine. He said he hoped the Russian people would rise up against Vladimir Putin and have a change in the regime as they have a very dead future with the way things stood now.

What you've seen on your televisions, like all of us, is war crimes on an industrial scale, Graham said. The question for the world is: Can that be forgiven? Can we be the world we want to be and let Putin get away with this? The answer for me is no.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lujain Jo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lujainjo.
For Starbucks (SBUX) Seattle Shift Supervisor Sydney Durkin, the unanimous vote to unionize at the company's hometown location was a symbolic one.

"It's immense, Starbucks's presence in the city is really huge. It really looms over," Durkin told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "It's one of the largest employers in the city and to really bring it to Starbucks's doorstep is a huge moment. It's letting them know that this movement is not stopping, and it's certainly not stopping at their doorstep."

The Broadway & Denny Starbucks location was the seventh in the country to unionize. The first unionized corporate location occurred in Buffalo, New York, aftera highly publicized battle with corporate officials. As of March 24, there are 155 Starbucks union elections that are in process at the Board at the moment and there are 70 unfair labor practice cases open against Starbucks.

Out of 13 eligible voters in a National Labor Relations Board vote held Tuesday, nine Broadway & Denny Starbucks workers voted in favor of the measure, none voted against the measure, and one vote was challenged by the Seattle-based coffee giant's corporate counsel.

"I haven't been at work, but we have received a letter from our regional vice president basically saying, 'Oh, thanks for voting, sorry that you voted for that way, that's really sad,'" Durkin said. "They're very like 'Oh, we're sorry for you for voting this way,' but otherwise they've kind of left us alone. They haven't said anything really direct. We expect there to be further response here in the next few days though."

Members react during Starbucks union vote in Buffalo, New York, U.S., December 9, 2021. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario

Now that the store is unionized, the workers will need to negotiate with the company for a contract. Durkin said there are a few things that will be brought to the table.

"One of the first things we're bargaining for is just for them to agree to stop union busting, to sign the fair view principles," Durkin explained, adding: "We don't expect them to do that."

Another pain point is the tipping system.

"We are looking for credit card tipping without loss of wages," Durkin said. "Currently, we do not allow credit card tipping, which is how most people pay, which is a large loss of wages for us."

Digital tipping is available for customers who are using a credit card that's saved on the Starbucks app, according to a Starbucks spokesperson. Customers have the option to tip when they are placing an order ahead of time and can also tip with cash when they pick up their order from the store or drive-through.

"We are working on offering tipping for credit card transactions at the register for both the cafe and drive-throughs," a Starbucks spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

Workers are also requesting "free and improved health care," Durkin said. "Currently, the premiums are extremely pretty much sky-high at this company, even though they do offer health insurance."

A pro-union poster is seen on a lamp pole outside Starbucks' Broadway and Denny location in Seattle's Seattle's Capitol Hill neighbourhood. (Photo by Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Lastly, according to Durkin, workers are "looking at wage increases across the board, especially in areas that are not caught up to places like Seattle that have higher wages." Though wage increases would be welcome in Seattle as well, she added, "as they're still not quite enough to live."

Last year, Starbucks said that the coffee giant would raise wages for U.S. hourly workers to nearly $17 per hour  up from the current $12 rate  by the summer of 2022. Furthermore, as of late January 2022, employees with two or more years of service could receive up to a 5% raise, and partners with five or more years of experience could receive up to a 10% raise.

In recent days, investors from Trillium Asset Management have urged the coffee company to adopt a policy of neutrality for workers attempting to unionize.

"Investors should absolutely be on our side and should be wanting this," Durkin said. "When you have employees that are happy to be there, you and have employees that are productive, [and] that are protected, that feel safe and secure in their workplace, they turn in a better product."

Starbucks has consistently opposed unionization. And with former CEO Howard Schultz announcing that he would be returning to his former role on an interim basis, Durkin has a message for the incoming CEO.

"While you've been effective in the past at union busting, this is a completely different campaign and a completely different set of circumstances that I don't really think he's prepared for," Durkin said. "And I think if he's walking into this expecting to be able to use his old union busting tactics on this current movement, he's going to be sorely disappointed," she added.

Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @daniromerotv

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Vladimir Putin appeared to be preparing Russians for a possible scaling back of his ambitions in Ukraine away from seizing Kyiv to fighting for control of the east.

As the Russian Presidents troops suffered a series of setbacks, Moscow said the special military operation would now focus on the main goal, liberation of Donbas.

There were hopes the move could amount to a scaling back of the invasion, as Ukrainian troops were believed to be regaining ground around the capital of Kyiv.

Western intelligence also suggested a Russian brigade commander, Colonel Medvechek, was deliberately run down and killed by his own troops.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson confronted Chinas President Xi Jinping in a frank and candid discussion as western allies tried to pressure Beijing away from offering support to Moscow.

In a terse readout following the 50-minute telephone call, a No 10 spokesman said they had discussed a range of issues of mutual interest including the situation in Ukraine.

The contact came after Nato leaders urged China to abstain from supporting Russias war effort and to refrain from any actions that would help it circumvent sanctions.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, authorities said about 300 people died in a Russian airstrike earlier this month on a theatre where hundreds of people were sheltering.

If confirmed, it is likely to lead to renewed calls for Western powers to step up military support for the Ukrainian forces.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (Shuji Kajiyama/AP)

Facing unexpectedly fierce resistance, the Russian defence ministry said that having accomplished the first phase of military operations, its forces would concentrate on the Donbas region part-held by Moscow-backed separatist rebels.

In his night-time address, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 16,000 Russian troops had been killed in the conflict as he called for Moscow to negotiate an end to the war, but warned he would not give up sovereign territory.

Western officials said the Russian statement was a recognition its forces were overstretched and may have to pause operations around Kyiv and other cities while they focus on the east of the country.

It is clear that Russia is recognising that it cant pursue its operations on multiple axes simultaneously, one official said.

Therefore it is having to concentrate its force, particularly its logistics supply and its firepower, on a more limited number of approaches.

Former British ambassador to the US Lord Darroch believed Mr Putin was attempting to recast his aims, having said at the outset one of them was to denazify the government in Kyiv.

I think hes trying to get his version of events out first. Its a pretty shaky story, lets face it, but hes trying to create the narrative in the hope the Russian people will buy it, and conceal quite how badly this has gone, he told BBC Newsnight.

The former diplomat said its certain that this actually wasnt the plan, adding: They didnt launch a multi-fronted invasion a month ago to now say well actually its just about Luhansk and Donetsk.

An intelligence assessment from the UK Ministry of Defence said Ukrainians were continuing to push back against Russian forces advancing on the capital.

Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of Kyiv, it said.

A man rides a bicycle as black smoke rises from a fuel storage tank following a Russian attack on the outskirts of Kyiv (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

Nato has estimated that in four weeks of fighting, between 7,000 and 15,000 Russia troops have been killed in combat  compared to the 15,000 they lost in 10 years in Afghanistan.

One Western official said of the 115 to 120 battalion tactical groups the Russians had at the start of the operation, 20 were no longer combat effective.

In other developments, environment minister Victoria Prentis told the Telegraph she had taken in a Ukrainian refugee who is a friend of the MPs daughter.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have visited a church on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas to hear how communities are recovering after a devastating hurricane.

The couple flew from Nassau and spoke to locals about the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 before attending a traditional Fish Fry.

William and Kate arrived at the Daystar Evangelical Church to hear what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how residents have since come together to support each other.

Benson Etienne riding his bicycle around the hurricane-hit Marsh Harbour, on Abaco Island in the Bahamas (Manuel Moreno Gonzalez/Unicef)

They were greeted by Pastor Silbert Mills, who explained that one of the three church buildings was completely destroyed, taken off its foundation.

The duke asked which direction the hurricane had come in from before they went inside the damaged building to assess the damage.

The duchess, wearing a pink Rixo dress, said: The church is at the heart of the community when events like this happen.

As they were told about the devastation caused, the duke said: You must have been terrified.

The pastor, who has worked at the church for seven years, told the couple that the UKs Met Office was the most accurate source for tracking storms.

Teams from RFA Mounts Bay delivering aid to the Island of Great Abaco in the Bahamas (LPhot Paul Halliwell/MoD/Crown Copyright)

The couple then sat in the main body of the church to hear from local residents about how they had been affected.

It is estimated that more than 2,000 people lost their lives in the hurricane, including 200 on Abaco.

Speaking ahead of the royals arrival, Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the churchs historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed.

We had three buildings on this property that survived many, many hurricanes going back to hurricane Betsy of 1965, Hurricane Floyd of 1999, he said ahead of the royals arrival, he said.

But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here.

It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation.

Residents were locked down for months, he said, and the NGOs could not get in because of flooding, and later, the pandemic, severely delaying recovery efforts.

Pastor Mills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later.
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YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The situation at the line of contact was relatively stable overnight, the Artsakh military said in a statement.

Overnight March 25-26 and in the morning as of 09:00 the operative-tactical situation at the entire length of the line of contact, including in the eastern borderline, was relatively stable and no significant violations of the ceasefire were recorded. The Azerbaijani side remains in the positions which it took on March 24. Negotiations over their withdrawal to their initial positions are ongoing, the Artsakh Defense Army said.

It added that 15 Defense Army soldiers who were wounded in the Azerbaijani attack are hospitalized. 12 are in satisfactory condition, 1 is in moderate condition while 2 others are critically severe.

Another three Defense Army soldiers were killed in action on March 25 when Azerbaijan bombarded their positions with Bayraktar strike drones.
YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The United States is deeply concerned about Azerbaijan troop movements, the US State Department said.

..we are closely monitoring the situation along the line of contact established following the November 2020 ceasefire. The United States is deeply concerned about Azerbaijan troop movements. Troop movements and other escalatory measures are irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said at a press briefing when asked by a reporter about the situation.

And to your question on the phone call between our Assistant Secretary Karen Donfried, I can confirm that our assistant secretary did speak with both the Armenian and  Armenian foreign minister and the Azerbaijani foreign minister on March 24th, and she just reiterated what Secretary Blinken told the Prime Minister Pashinyan as well as President Aliyev on March 21st and 22nd, which was calling both sides to show restraint and intensify diplomatic engagement to find comprehensive solutions to all of the outstanding issues. Armenia and Azerbaijan just need to use direct communication channels to immediately de-escalate.

On your second question, the United States, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, remains deeply committed to working with the sides to achieve a long-term political settlement of the conflict, Porter said.

On March 24-25 the Azerbaijani troops attacked Artsakh military positions and invaded the Parukh village.

Azeri drone strikes killed 3 Artsakh troops and wounded 15 others.
Chinese vice premier urges stringent steps to curb COVID-19 spread in Jilin

Xinhua) 11:01, March 26, 2022

CHANGCHUN, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Friday demanded stringent measures, including mass nucleic acid testing and thorough contact tracing, to contain the spread of COVID-19 in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while addressing a meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control in the city of Jilin.

Highlighting the complex, arduous and enduring nature of COVID-19 control work in Jilin, Sun said a raft of comprehensive measures should be taken in the next three to five days to ensure at-risk groups are identified and placed in isolation so as to curb the community spread of COVID-19.

Over the past few days, the vice premier inspected communities, hospitals, nursing homes, nucleic acid sampling sites and testing facilities.

Sun urged a more swift response to adapt to the transmission of Omicron variants.

Work is needed to guarantee the supply of daily necessities and meet the people's needs for medications and medical treatment, she said.

High-quality screening should be conducted on a daily basis, and all those who test positive should be sent immediately to designated or temporary hospitals, Sun said.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Chinese side was keen that Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate in the BRICS Summit to be held in China later this year

New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar told visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Friday morning that Sino-Indian ties cannot be normalised as long as the situation in the border areas of the Ladakh sector remained abnormal. During three hours of open, candid and honest talks in which the Chinese side was keen that Prime Minister Narendra Modi participate in the BRICS Summit to be held in China later this year, Mr Jaishankar bluntly told Mr Wang that disengagement between troops of both sides a the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has to be completed in its entirety first.

He told reporters later that the current situation in ties was still work in progress and that there were no timelines decided at the meeting for the disengagement to be completed, adding that India wants the status quo to be restored which existed before April 2020.

By all available indications, Mr Wang  who also met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval for about an hour in the morning  did not give any clear commitment or timelines on Chinese troops disengaging from all friction points in the Ladakh sector where they had transgressed into about two years ago, other than indicating his desire for return to normalcy in ties and the larger significance of the relationship.

In response to a question, Mr Jaishankar further told Mr Wang that disputes should be resolved without use or threat of use of force and nor should there be attempts to unilaterally change the status quo, adding that bilateral ties should be guided by mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests.

EAM Jaishankar also raised objections about the references made by his Chinese counterpart to the Kashmir issue at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers conclave in Islamabad on Wednesday and hoped Beijing would take an independent stand on ties with India and not allow itself to be influenced by any other country.

This was the first time that either foreign minister has visited the others country since the deadly Galwan valley clash between Indian and Chinese troops in mid-June 2020, although they have met in third countries such as Russia and Tajikistan besides speaking on the phone.

Mr Wang was keen to call on PM Modi but the meeting did not take place probably because New Delhi was cold to the idea in the current situation. Also, the visit of Mr Wang to India itself was unannounced because, as the EAM himself put it, the Chinese did not want the visit to be announced earlier and so there was no mutual agreement on prior announcement of the visit.

The Ukraine conflict also came up during the discussion, with both ministers agreeing that there was need for an immediate ceasefire and return to dialogue. Another issue discussed was the situation in Afghanistan though China has not extended an invitation to India to attend a conclave on Afghanistan scheduled to be held in Beijing soon.

EAM Jaishankar also raised the plight of Indian students who are unable to return to China to resume their education amid continuing Covid restrictions imposed by China. Mr Wang apparently agreed to discuss the issue with officials in his country.

In a media interaction later, the EAM said, As you are all aware, my talks with foreign minister Wang Yi have just concluded. We met for about three hours and addressed a broad and substantive agenda in an open and candid manner. We discussed our bilateral relations that have been disturbed as a result of Chinese actions since April 2020... I was very honest in my discussions with the Chinese foreign minister, especially in conveying our national sentiments on this issue. The frictions and tensions that arise from Chinas deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship between two neighbours.

The EAM added,  Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about Chinas desire for a return to normalcy, while also referring to the larger significance of our ties. I was equally forthcoming that India wants a stable and predictable relationship. But restoration of normalcy will obviously require a restoration of peace and tranquillity. If we are both committed to improving our ties, then this commitment must find full expression in ongoing disengagement talks... The completion of disengagement is necessary for discussions on de-escalation to take place. I would describe our current situation as work in progress, obviously at a slower pace than desirable and my discussions with FM Wang Yi today were aimed at expediting the process.

Elaborating on interactions with Mr Wang earlier and its impact, Mr Jaishankar said, Foreign minister Wang Yi and I have been in touch with each other over the last two years, even if we had not visited each others country... And the focus of these interactions has naturally been on the situation in our border areas. Our meeting had led to an understanding on disengagement and de-escalation. The challenge, of course, has been to implement it on the ground. We have had 15 rounds of talks between Senior Commanders and progress has been achieved on several friction points from the disengagement perspective. This needs to be taken forward since.

He added, The impact of the tensions in the border areas on the overall relationship has been visible in the last two years. This is only natural since peace and tranquillity in the border areas have been the foundation of stable and cooperative ties. Indeed, we have agreements that were designed explicitly to strengthen this foundation and prevent the kind of situation that we are seeing today.

On other issues discussed, the EAM said, I also took up strongly the predicament of Indian students studying in China who have not been allowed to return, citing Covid restrictions. We hope that China will take a non-discriminatory approach since it involves the future of so many young people. Minister Wang Yi assured me that he would speak to the relevant authorities on his return on this matter. He also recognised the particular concerns that medical students have in this difficult situation. Also on the agenda were matters pertaining to trade and investment. We continue to press for fairer market access.
A total of 15 crore people are benefiting from the programme in the state, Adityanath said

Lucknow: In the first major decision of the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 in Uttar Pradesh, the state cabinet decided on Saturday to extend the free ration scheme initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic by three more months.

The programme was to expire in March.

A total of 15 crore people are benefiting from the programme in the state, Adityanath said.

Under the scheme, people will continue to get pulses, salt, sugar etc., along with foodgrains, for the next three months.

The scheme of free ration distribution is believed to have had a tremendous impact in the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) victory in the recently-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

"During the COVID-19 period, the prime minister had started the Pradhan Mantri Anna Yojana for every citizen, benefitting 80 crore people of the country and 15 crore people of Uttar Pradesh," Adityanath told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

"The state government had also started a scheme on its own for the 'antyodaya' beneficiaries and the eligible households from April 2020," he said.

Under the scheme, the "antyodaya" families were getting 35 kg of foodgrains and the eligible households were getting foodgrains at the rate of five kg per unit. Along with this, the state government had also provided one kg of pulses, one kg of refined oil and one kg of iodised salt to each family, the chief minister said, adding that one kg of sugar was also being provided to the "antyodaya" families.

He said the scheme was only till March 2022 and the cabinet has decided to continue it for the next three months.

The "double-engine" government has always stood by the people, Adityanath said, adding that even during the Covid period, not only free treatment, but free vaccines were also made available to them.

Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, and cabinet ministers Suresh Kumar Khanna and Swatantra Dev Singh were also present at the press conference.

After the swearing-in ceremony of the ministers on Friday, the first cabinet meeting of Adityanath's new government was held here on Saturday morning.
Since February 2020 the number of displaced people increased by about 520,000. Humanitarian groups highlight food shortages, warn that the country is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. The military have killed more than 1,700 civilians so far, with nearly 10,000 arrested. The US has imposed new sanctions on Myanmar generals.

Yangon (AsiaNews)  The number of internally displaced people in Myanmar has almost reached 900,000; this is one of the most tragic effects of the civil war that broke out after the military carried out a coup in February 2020 that overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

According to the United Nations, clashes between the military and coup opponents displaced about 520,000 people on top of those already displaced, mainly by decades of conflict between Myanmars Armed Forces and ethnic militias.

Humanitarian groups are urging foreign governments to take a more resolute stance regarding the crimes committed by Myanmars generals against the civilian population, Radio Free Asia reported.

They point out that food shortages are pushing the country to the brink of disaster. For civilians, the emergency is getting increasingly severe in the northwestern regions of Magway and Sagaing, and in the southeastern states of Kayah and Kayin. These are the areas with the toughest armed resistance to the junta.

Since the military takeover, the security forces have killed more than 1,700 civilians, arresting nearly 10,000, this according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a humanitarian group.

Yesterday the United States announced more sanctions against Myanmars generals, which come on top of punitive measures already imposed by Washington and its allies.
The other news of the day: Talks between India and China on the Himalayan border go nowhere. A quarter of Hong Kong's population wants to emigrate. Sri Lankas crisis forces two newspapers to suspend publications due to a paper shortage. Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv calls for the union of all Orthodox in Ukraine. Azerbaijan attacks areas in Karabakh still under Armenian control.

SAUDI ARABIA

Yesterday Yemeni rebels bombed a petroleum storage site in Jeddah, a city on the Red Sea that will host the Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. With Iranian support, the Houthis have intensified their attacks on Saudi Arabia, which has militarily backed Yemens internationally-recognised government.

INDIA  CHINA

Without Beijing's military disengagement and a solution to the disputes on the Himalayan border, there will be no improvement in bilateral relations, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a meeting yesterday in Delhi.

HONG KONG

One resident in four of the former British colony plans to emigrate, this according to a poll by the independent Public Opinion Research Institute. The main reasons behind escape plans are the growing lack of personal freedom and the deteriorating political climate.

SRI LANKA

Two of Sri Lankas main newspapers have stopped publishing their paper editions due a paper shortage. The Island and Divaina are victims of the countrys severe economic crisis, which has led to a brutal drop in its foreign exchange reserves.

SINGAPORE

After taking a stand against Russias invasion of Ukraine, Singapore has strongly condemned North Koreas recent ICBM test. For the city-state, it is a further break with its traditionally cautious foreign policy, and a sign of greater support for the United States and its allies in the region.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA

The head of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Epiphanius (Dumenko), appealed to all Orthodox priests of the Moscow Patriarchate to join his Church: "Let us unite around Kyiv in a single local Church since only missiles and bombs arrive from Moscow with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill.

AZERBAIJAN  ARMENIA

Some divisions of the Azerbaijani army have begun to attack areas of Karabakh still under Armenian control. Baku is taking advantage of the fact that most of Russias peacekeepers deployed to the disputed region since 2020 have been sent to Ukraine to take part in the fighting. Azerbaijani forces are said to have already taken the villages of Farukh and Pirljar.
by Guido Alberto Casanova

South Koreas outgoing president and his successor have not yet met for the handover in May. The two disagree over appointments to government positions and a possible pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who is currently in jail. They have also clashed over Yoon's desire to move the presidential residence.

Milan (AsiaNews)  South Koreas presidential transition is turning out to be far more complex than expected.

Although elections were held more than two weeks ago, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative, and the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, a democrat, have not yet met. This is the first time in the country's history.

The two were expected to get together on 16 March but the meeting was cancelled at the last moment, ostensibly for organisational problems, but no details were provided.

Yoon is expected to take office on 10 May, but disagreements with the outgoing administration are complicating the handover.

During the election campaign, Yoon had been very hard on Moon and his government, suggesting even that if he became president, he would launch a corruption probe into Moons administration.

With the elections behind him and the conservatives in power, Yoon spoke in favour of a government of national unity and a possible political thaw. Things have turned out quite differently.

According to various reports in South Korean media, the delay of the ritual meeting seems to be due to differences over former conservative president Lee Myung-bak and the upcoming appointments of some public officials.

Yoon wants Moon to pardon Lee, who is serving a 17-year sentence. According to the president-elect, this decision, in addition to pleasing his own electoral base, would also be a step towards national reconciliation.

However, understandably Moon's Democrats are reluctant (since such a step would be to the advantage of the conservatives), leading some to speculate that negotiations for a double pardon is underway for Lee and liberal politician Kim Kyoung-soo.

The issue of appointments is even more pressing. The conservative committee leading the transition wants to be involved in the selection of officials for those public offices that need to be renewed before the new head of state takes office.

The presidential office made it clear that Moon will not give up his prerogatives before the end of his term, but Yoon's transition team noted the conservatives' interest in the appointments.

The personnel Moon will appoint now are the people the new president will work with, not the president who is about to retire, spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said.

The post of governor of the central bank is among the public offices at stake. On Wednesday, Moon picked Rhee Chang-yong, which has become front-page news.

On the one hand, conservatives complain that the outgoing administration did not consult them; on the other, the presidential office noted that the choice was made with the consent of Yoons transition team.

The touchiest issue however is Yoons desire to transfer the presidential office. The president-elect announced that he does not want to live in the Blue House, the traditional residence of the president, but wants to be closer to the people, working instead from the Defence Ministry compound.

However, Yoons plan to move in right after taking office has left the Defence Ministry in a quandary; relocating on such a short notice will be a hard task, especially at a time of heightened tensions and security concerns on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon criticised the plan as being excessively rushed and refused to release the funds for the office relocation.

So far, the meeting between the two has not yet been rescheduled and the conflict between Yoon and Moon appears to be getting more and more intense.
Sinopec stops a US$ 500 million project with a Russian petrochemical company. China fears secondary sanctions from the US and its allies if it helps the Kremlin. Nothing indicates that Beijing is backing Putin in his Ukrainian campaign.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  Chinas state giant Sinopec has put on hold negotiations for an important investment in Russias petrochemical industry and a gas marketing venture in its northern neighbour.

The move by Asia's largest refining company to halt a US$ 500 million project appears to be motivated by Chinas fears of possible retaliation by the United States and its allies against countries that help Russia mitigate the impact of the sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing has not openly condemned Russias aggression against Ukraine and has repeatedly said that sanctions are not useful in resolving the crisis.

Chinese state media have continued to relay Russian propaganda, which refers to the attack as a special military operation to denazify Ukraine.

On a practical level however, the Chinese are moving with caution. Last week in a virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Joe Biden said that there would be consequences for China if it tries to rescue the Kremlin with economic and military aid.

According to US authorities, nothing suggests that Beijing is helping Moscow in its Ukrainian campaign. For example, the Chinese central bank has not taken steps to shore up the ruble, which is in free fall after the launch of Western punitive measures.

The China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has also suspended lending to Russian entities.

Sinopec's decision to stop teaming up with Sibur, Russias main petrochemical producer, is a clear signal that Beijing is in a pause phase with respect to the conflict in Ukraine, whose outcome has yet to be determined.
This Trans Am seems to be precisely aiming for just a project, as the car is now sitting in someones yard waiting for an eBay auction to end and find a new home.The car comes with very few details, so well have to do some detective work to figure out if its worth buying or not.First and foremost, you dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure out this Trans Am comes in a rough shape. In other words, you should be ready for some serious metalwork, especially as the car seems to exhibit some rust, especially on the floor panels.This isnt necessarily a surprise. This Trans Am has most likely been sitting for a long time in that yard, and more often than not, this means the floor panels and the trunk are among the first parts to fall victim to the invasion of rust.Some parts are also missing, but an in-person inspection is the recommended option if you want to better determine the condition of everything in the car.According to the VIN, this is a 1976 Trans Am born in Ohio and originally fitted with a Pontiac 400 (6.5-liter) 4-barrel engine. But while a Pontiac 400 engine continues to be in the car, it was donated by a 1974 model, and its current condition is unknown.Listed online as part of a no-reserve auction started by eBay seller bjr_620 , this Trans Am could go quite cheap, though its rough condition makes it a tough sell. The bidding starts at $2,500.
This is an indication Android Auto is working exactly as its supposed to work. But most recently, some people started seeing a second message that looks uncanny, to say the least.This second message reads Looking for Android Auto, and it comes in addition to the one mentioned above. In other words, while Android Auto is running on the head unit with absolutely no error, the mobile device still claims its searching for Android Auto.The message is rather strange, especially because the users who ended up struggling with it claim the app doesnt seem to be malfunctioning in any way. On the other hand, getting rid of the message looks impossible, as it doesnt go away after restarting the mobile device or reconnecting the phone to the car.While at first glance users can just continue running Android Auto normally without even caring about this message, some say this mysterious search for Android Auto causes overheating and battery drain.For the time being, no workaround is known to exist, and Google is obviously yet to acknowledge this unexpected behavior. It doesnt seem to be limited to just a specific phone model or brand, as Android Auto users here on Googles forums claim the whole thing happens on Samsung devices and Google Pixels.Without an official statement from Google, the only option for users struggling with this problem is to try the generic workarounds, which include clearing the cache and data and downgrading to an earlier version of Android Auto. Obviously, theres a chance these wouldnt make any difference, but given the search giant has so far remained tight-lipped, they are probably worth a shot anyway.
The Flying Fox was incredibly famous in 2021, and for different reasons. One that is verified was that Beyonce and Jay Z partied on it for a few weeks. And it had a rental price of $4 million a week.And the second, unverified and debunked, that it allegedly belonged to Jeff Bezos . Before you start rolling your eyes, this rumor has been debunked, and even Amazon released a statement against the rumors. Plus, Jeff Bezos has his own megayacht in the works And now, the 446-ft (136 m) charter megayacht has been seized in the Dominican Republic. The yacht arrived in Santo Domingo from La Romana on Monday night, and it was supposed to stay until March 25 to stock up on food and fuel. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) carried out a search of the megayacht on Friday afternoon, and the U.S. instructed the Dominican government not to allow the yacht to leave.The reason is that the yacht is among the vessels wanted by the U.S. and is allegedly owned by a Russian oligarch. According to CDN , the owner of one of the most luxurious yachts in the world belongs to Dmitry Kamenshchik, who also owns the Domodedovo airport in Moscow, Russia, Forbes reports.The same outlet reports that this would put the country in the middle of the conflict between the U.S. and Russia, given that this measure is among the sanctions imposed by Washington to all the Russian oligarchs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The megayacht is powered by two MTU 16V 1163 M84 diesel engines that take it to top speeds of 20 knots (23 mph/37 kph) and a cruising speed of 15 knots (17mph/28 kph), and it can accommodate up to 22 guests in 11 cabins.When it arrived in the Dominican Republic, the charter megayacht reportedly had tourists traveling on it.
President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen talk to the press about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the U.S. Mission in Brussels, Friday, March 25, 2022, in Brussels. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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The Karabakh Armenian army said that its troops are taking appropriate measures to stop the enemys advance. It said it is also working with the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the Armenian-populated territory to try to stop the hostilities.

The Karabakh state minister, Artak Beglarian, spoke later in the afternoon of an unsuccessful Azerbaijani attack on one of the Karabakh Armenian positions in the area.

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry claimed, meanwhile, that Armenian forces tried to launch a sabotage attack on one of its frontline positions but were pushed back. Karabakhs Defense Army was quick to dismiss the claim as a complete lie designed to cover up the Azerbaijani truce violations.

Tensions along the Karabakh line of contact rose dramatically on Thursday after Azerbaijani forces reportedly captured a village in Askeran and tried to advance to strategic hills to the west of it. Three Karabakh Armenian soldiers were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in the area on Friday.

The U.S. State Department expressed serious concern over the Azerbaijani troop movements, calling them irresponsible and unnecessarily provocative. The French Foreign Ministry similarly urged Baku to withdraw its troops to the positions occupied by them before Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed the situation in Karabakh in a phone call late on Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the following morning that the two leaders also spoke by phone on Thursday. He did not comment on Russias possible responses to the escalation.

Armenian officials have said that they expect the 2,000 or so Russian peacekeepers to do more to ensure Bakus compliance with the ceasefire regime and withdrawal from the village of Parukh.

According to Beglarian, the Russian peacekeepers are maintaining their presence in Parukh as well as the nearby village of Khramort. They have made considerable efforts to prevent further ceasefire violations, said the Karabakh official.

Earlier on Saturday, Karabakhs leadership announced that it has appealed to Putin to deploy more Russian soldiers in Karabakh. It said that the existing peacekeeping contingent is too small to carry out its mission in the current circumstances.

The Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Karabakh under the terms of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in November 2020.
Executive Editor Christine Peterson answers your questions and takes your complaints about The Californians news coverage in this weekly feedback forum. Questions may be edited for space and clarity. To offer your input by phone, call 661-395-7649 and leave your comments in a voicemail message or email us at soundoff@bakersfield.com. Please include your name and phone number; your phone number wont be published.
Email Dan Walters of CalMatters at dan@calmatters.org. CalMatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Walters, go to calmatters.org/dan-walters.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed multiple people were taken to the hospital from a multi-vehicle crash that occurred in Bridge City on Friday.

Officials are investigating the crash, which involved six vehicles on Texas 87 at the intersection of Texas 62.

DPS said the preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 4:20 p.m., a 2016 Dodge pickup was traveling east.

It is reported that the driver of the Dodge possibly had a medical episode and traveled through the intersection, striking a 2020 Cadillac SUV, which was traveling west and stopped at the red light in the inside lane, DPS said in a news release. The Cadillac was pushed into a 2020 Hyundai passenger car, which was also stopped at the intersection and traveling west, located in the outside lane.

The Dodge continued and struck a 2019 Ford pickup and pushed it into a 2001 Chevrolet pickup, which was then pushed into a 2018 Chevrolet pickup, all located in the inside lane, traveling west and stopped at the intersection, The release said.

The driver of the Dodge, Patrick Ford of Kirbyville, 47, and the driver of the Cadillac, Cynthia Roy, 60, of Bridge City, were both taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

Related: Rainbow Bridge crash kills child, hospitalizes three

The 16-year-old driver of the Hyundai refused treatment on scene.

The driver of the Ford, Kevin Martinez, 24, of Orange, and passenger Alexis Mendez, 21, along with two child passengers, a 1-month-old and a 1-year-old, were taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital for treatment.

The driver of the 2001 Chevrolet pickup, Joseph Higginbotham, 23, of Orange, and the driver of the 2018 Chevrolet pickup, Wesley Baber, 51, of Orange, was not injured.

The investigation remains ongoing and there is no additional information available at this time, DPS said.

This crash follows a three-car collision that occurred at noon in the westbound lanes of the Rainbow Bridge, which is also on Texas 87.

Officials have confirmed one child died in the crash and at least three people have been taken to the hospital for treatment. The bridge was closed for several hours. DPS confirmed the crash has been cleared.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

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Lamar University students gathered on the dining hall lawn Friday to celebrate Holi, one of India's most popular festivals which celebrates the arrival of spring with music and a color bash.

Traditional foods were also made for the celebratory event and free to all joining in or observing the festivities.

The LU International Student Council first held a Holi fest in 2019 and have continued the tradition since.

Of Lamar's more than 700 international students, roughly 500 are from India and Nepal, said Mustapha Jourdini, executive director of International Education and Services.

The colorful Hindu festival was a taste of home for many and cultural enrichment for others not steeped in the tradition, and comes at a time when Holi's broader message of "good triumphing over evil" seems especially pertinent.

kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com
Members of the Abu Sayyaf Group gather at an undisclosed site on the Philippine island of Basilan in this undated photo.

Troops killed a top-ranking Abu Sayyaf Group leader during a gunfight on the southern Philippine island of Basilan, the military said Saturday.

Radzmil Jannatul (also known as Khubayb), was killed in a clash with members of the elite Scout Rangers in the village of Baiwas on Friday afternoon, said Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway, commander of the 101st Brigade and Joint Task Force Basilan. No other injuries were reported.

The troops conducted clearing [operations] at the encounter site and recovered the body of the killed Abu Sayyaf Group member who was later identified to be Jannatul, Gobway told reporters, adding the gunfight was quick, but intense.

Gobway said troops were tracking followers of Jannatul in the jungles of Basilans Sumisip town on Saturday.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario Jr. lauded the troops efforts, adding Abu Sayyaf members in Basilan have been driven deep into the jungles.

This will totally weaken the group and force the remaining members to give up their fight and save themselves, Rosario told reporters.

The Abu Sayyaf is divided into several factions  one is led by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan and is based on another southern island. While Sawadjaan is considered the top Islamic State militant in the country and has been blamed for deadly bombings on Jolo Island in 2019 and 2020, he has not been heard from since July 2020 and is believed to have been killed in a clash with government troops.

Gobway said Jannatul was the top-ranking Abu Sayyaf commander in Basilan, where the group was founded in the 1990s ostensibly to fight for an Islamic state. It degenerated into a group specializing in kidnappings-for-ransom targeting local businessmen, clergy members and foreign tourists and other criminal enterprises.

He said Jannatul succeeded Basilan group leader Furuji Indama who was killed in late 2020.

On Saturday, troops battled with at least seven Abu Sayyaf members in the jungles near Patikul town in Sulu. Col. Alaric Delos Santos, civil-military operation chief of the Joint Task Force Sulu, said troops from the 41st Infantry Battalion encountered them near a village that was recently cleared of militants.

Delos Santos said the Abu Sayyaf members escaped but left behind an M16 assault rifle and personal belongings. No injuries were reported.
Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy directed that a case be booked against inspector Kambagiri Ramudu. When Ramudu realised this, he removed the official SIM card from his phone on Friday and fled.  Representational image/DC

ANANTAPUR: Kurnool police are searching for an inspector who escaped before being arrested in a case registered against him for collecting bribe from a person for releasing a seized amount.

As part of routine search, a team of Special Enforcement Bureau found 75 lakh cash in a private bus at Panchalingala Check Post on March 19. The money was being taken from Hyderabad to Madurai by Satish Balakrishnan of Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu state.

SEB police handed over the case to Kurnool rural police station on the same day. Inspector Kambagiri Ramudu of the police station reportedly threatened Satish Balalakrishnan of dire consequences though the latter produced necessary documents and papers pertaining to the money meant for purchasing property.

The inspector reportedly demanded a bribe and a group of three people acted as middlemen. After negotiation, Satish Balalakrishnan agreed to pay 15 lakh for release without booking any case.

The inspector and his team took away 15 lakh as bribe from 75 lakh and released Sathish Balakrishnan with rest of the money. The inspector distributed 5 lakh to middlemen and kept 10 lakh with himself.

When Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy came to know about this on Thursday night, he directed that a case be booked against inspector Kambagiri Ramudu. When Ramudu realised this, he removed the official SIM card from his phone on Friday and fled.

Special teams have been formed to nab the inspector. There are allegations that Panchalingala Check Post is a point of smuggling gold and illicit cash through various modes of transport, mostly private buses from Hyderabad.

Kurnool SP has ordered a high-level inquiry into the entire matter.
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This undated photo shows Soviet cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin photo. On Friday, March 25, 2022, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Gagarin has been stripped of his honors by the Space Foundation because he is Russian.
A revolutionary forces commander, Wajdi Badri, right, stands next to a pre-Gadhafi flag as he celebrates the new take over of the western main square in Sirte, Libya, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming NATO killed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of civilians during a 2011 military intervention in Libya.
Hikers gather at the entrance to Hollow Fields in Richmond in July 2019.
Party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao could sit on a dharna in the national capital if the situation warranted, sources said. No date has been confirmed yet. (File Image/Twitter)

Hyderabad: The TRS on Friday announced an action plan to intensify its agitation to press its demand that all paddy grown in the state during the rabi season be purchased by the Centre. The plan included supporting the nationwide strike called by trade unions on March 28 and 29.

Party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao could sit on a dharna in the national capital if the situation warranted, sources said. No date has been confirmed yet.

Ministers who were part of the delegation that visited Delhi to meet union food minister Piyush Goyal to demand paddy procurement but returned empty-handed, briefed the media at the Telangana Bhavan here on Saturday, outlining the programme.

Ministers S. Niranjan Reddy, V. Prashanth Reddy, Gangula Kamalakar and Puvvada Ajay Kumar said agitations and protests would be held across the state from the first week of April, after Ugadi. The TRS rank and file have been directed to take part in the two-day strike called by a joint platform of Central trade unions to protest against the anti-people and anti-worker policies of the BJP government.

All the gram panchayats have been asked to pass unanimous resolutions on March 26 demanding that the Centre procure all the states paddy. Mandal parishads will pass similar resolutions on March 27, zilla parishads on March 30 and municipalities and municipal corporations on March 31.

These resolutions would be sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the union food ministry. If there is no response, TRS leaders and cadres from the village level upwards should intensify their agitation programmes and hold protest rallies after Ugadi, the ministers said.

These agitation programmes will be extended to Delhi later if there is no response from the Centre. The ministers stated that the action plan would be finalised depending on the Centres response. There was no question of going easy on the issue, the ministers stated.
Mill Town is a private impact investment company based in Pittsfield, MA on a mission to improve the quality of life in the community through sustainable investments and projects. Pictured above: BBE design renderings and the finished install at Bousquet Ski Resort in Pittsfield.
VIJAYAWADA: Eight Telugu Desam MLCs have been suspended from State Legislative Council for unruly behaviour after they protested displaying mangalasutras in the house on Friday.

Soon after the council commenced its last sitting of budget session, chairman Koyye Moshenu Raju started the question hour. After education minister Adimulapu Suresh answered the first question, TD MLCs holding placards trooped into the well of the house and started raising slogans displaying mangalasutras. They demanded a discussion on prohibition of liquor and deaths of 24 persons after consuming illicitly distilled liquor in West Godavari.

Even as TD MLCs were protesting, YSR Congress MLC P. Suneetha rushed to well of the house and snatched the mangalasutra and placard from hands of TD legislator Batchula Arjunudu. Another YSR Congress MLC V. Kalyani and independent legislator T. Kalpalatha also rushed to the well protesting against displaying of mangalasutras. The woman MLCs contended that this undermines respect towards women.

When Arjunudu entered into an argument with Suneetha, TD MLC Nara Lokesh advised him not to argue with any of the women legislators.

TD members maintained that they are displaying mangalasutras only to express their sympathy towards women whose husbands died after consuming the illicit liquor in West Godavari.

After the council plunged into turmoil, Moshenu Raju adjourned the house for five minutes to restore normalcy. But even after that heated arguments between ruling YSR Congress and opposition members continued.

Subsequently, panchayat raj minister Peddyreddy Ramachandra Reddy moved a resolution seeking suspension of the eight TD MLCs for unruly behaviour. The resolution was adopted by the house and marshals took the legislators away.

TD MLC Lokesh was seen shouting at the chairman for not allowing a discussion on prohibition of liquor and hooch deaths, despite their protests for last nine days. Lokesh announced that their party is boycotting the session and moved out saying he will not come back to the house again.

The suspended MLCs are Mantena Satyanarayana Raju, Batchula Arjunudu, P. Ashok Babu, Deepak Reddy, K.E. Prabhakar, B.N. Raja Narasimhulu, D. Rama Rao and B. Tirumala Naidu.

During last three days too, TD MLCs got suspended each day for playing castanets, blowing whistles, tearing papers, and throwing them towards the council chairman.
OLYMPIA - Rep. Mary Dye and Rep. Mark Klicker say Gov. Jay Inslee's veto of significant sections in a clean energy facility siting measure Friday will have devastating consequences on the future landscape of Eastern Washington communities and farmland.

House Bill 1812, signed late Friday afternoon by Inslee, establishes the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) as an independent agency separate from the Utilities and Transportation Commission. However, the governor vetoed sections 19, 20, 21 and 22 -- provisions Dye and Klicker were able to add to the bill through an amendment that would have given rural stakeholders more input and a broader long-term picture in the siting review of wind and solar projects.

"We worked in good faith with our Democratic colleagues across the aisle through some very intense negotiations to insert this important amendment into the bill. To say that we are beyond disappointed with the governor's vetoes is an understatement," said Dye, R-Pomeroy.

Dye's Amendment 1812, that became part of the sections vetoed by Gov. Inslee, called for a study of the costs and benefits of energy projects expected to be sited in rural communities over the next 30 years, and for a legislative task force to consider the study. The concept was originally introduced as part of Klicker's House Bill 1871. Both Klicker's bill and the subsequent amendment arose out of concerns that Washington is being divided into clean energy producing counties and clean energy consuming counties as most of the burden of siting large-scale wind and solar farms is falling solely on a few of the less populous counties.

"We wanted to ensure that rural communities would have the opportunity to see what's at stake for the total build-out on the rural aesthetic, not just the visual impact of individual solar and wind farms that are sited here and there. It is critical for our rural communities and local landowners, especially those in Eastern Washington, to see the 'big picture' of what 30 years of siting utility-scale wind and solar would do to Washington's rural landscape," added Dye. "Now that the governor has vetoed these sections, it opens the flood gates for big out-of-state energy corporations to swoop into these small, rural economically-disadvantaged communities and offer leases at a fraction of the value of the agricultural land to struggling farmers and landowners. It's absolutely devastating to our Eastern Washington farmlands."

"Those who are living where the green energy is being sited know that the jobs and tax-base impacts have been more salesmanship than substance," said Klicker, R-Walla Walla. "We asked for a study to show the true costs and benefits, and the governor's vetoes show we were right to be skeptical. If there was going to be good news about jobs and taxes from these projects, the governor surely would have wanted that documented."

"The big out-of-state energy companies will provide just enough jobs to construct the projects, and when that construction is finished, there will be no long-term employment -- just wind machines and solar panels surrounding our rural communities," Dye noted.

Without the amendment, Dye and Klicker say rural stakeholders will have no input in the project siting review. Additionally, had the governor retained the amendment, the Joint Committee on Energy Supply and Energy Conservation would have been required to review forms of economic development assistance, mitigation payments, and viewshed impairment payments that counties not hosting their per capita share of alternative energy resources should provide to counties that host more than their per capita share.

"The governor missed a historic opportunity to build a broader consensus around his clean energy strategy. The Democratic chairs of the environment committees in the House and Senate saw the value in addressing rural concerns, but the governor did not," said Dye. "The governor's strategy amounts to a hasty build-out of clean energy to serve the Puget Sound without any burden of siting massive windfarms in the Puget Sound viewshed. Instead, these facilities will all be sited in our rural counties that have no need for the energy and are already served by clean, affordable hydroelectricity."

"This is a huge loss for people in rural Washington," added Klicker. "It would have been great to receive a report with a forecast of what the full build-out of wind and solar facilities over the next 30 years would look like for rural counties. But the governor's decision today means that won't happen."

The bill would have also required the Washington State Department of Commerce to present a forecast where all alternative energy projects would be sited over the entire period of the clean-energy transition. The review and report would have looked at the level of monetary impact to the landscape and how that visual impact should affect payments or other forms of economic development assistance for viewshed impairment.

"We want to thank the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce, the Yakima County Farm Bureau, and the many elected leaders who spoke out for a better study of what the next 30 years of siting wind farms, solar farms, and transmission corridors in rural Washington would mean for their views, culture and tourism," added Dye. "It's a shame the governor played politics and removed what would have been a significant step in the right direction for everyone involved."

House Bill 1812 is scheduled to take effect on June 30, 2022.
ADILABAD: The bill hiking reservations for scheduled tribes (STs) from six to 10 percent appears far from being approved while ruling BJP at centre and TRS in Telangana are blaming each other for delay even as Telangana Legislative Assembly elections are fast approaching.

Union minister for tribal welfare Arjun Munda, vide a letter in February 2022, informed state tribal welfare minister Satyawati Rathod that they will start processing ST Reservation Bill sent by Telangana government after Supreme Court disposes of cases on ST reservations.

Supreme Court has admitted petitions filed by Adivasi organisations seeking removal of Lambadas from the ST list. However, ruling TRS is attacking BJP-led central government for not taking any initiative in enhancing reservations for tribals to 10 percent in Telangana in view of their increased population in the state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Thudum Debba senior leader Godam Ganesh says the issue of Lambadas, who have been cornering all benefits of reservations meant for STs from 1976, must be resolved first. Otherwise, Lambadas will end up cornering the benefit of enhanced 10 percent reservations at the cost of all other tribal groups in Telangana.

On the first day of monsoon session held in October 2021, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself stated that large scale illegal migrations of Lambadas from bordering Maharashtra into Telangana is affecting interests of local tribals, who are thus losing out on benefits of reservations in education and employment.

Chandrasekhar Rao had also gone on to say that migrating Lambadas are obtaining ST certificates in Telangana by bribing local revenue officials.

Political analysts say Lambadas and their leaders are mounting pressure on Telangana government in state and also BJP at centre government to okay 10 percent reservations for STs before the Supreme Courts judgment. They have become particularly active after state government announced recruitment of 80,039 vacant jobs.

Adilabad zilla parishad chairman Rathod Janardhan of TRS has demanded that the centre clear the ST reservation hike bill immediately, as tribal people are getting less number of jobs and seats when compared to their population. He pointed out that Telangana Legislative Assembly has already unanimously passed the bill increasing reservations to 10 percent.
Congress leaders and functionaries stage dharna with empty gas cylinders in protest against the hike in price of LPG, at Tippapuram road in Vemulawada town under Rajanna Sircilla district on Friday.  DC Image/Puli Sharat Kumar

Vemulawada: When the BJP ruling the nation and the TRS running Telangana are busy holding roadshows and dharnas in a fight between them, who should take care of the peoples issues, asked the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Adi Srinivas.

He was speaking at a rasta roko organised by the Congress party with empty gas cylinders, in a protest against the increase in prices of gas fuel, at Tippapuram road in Vemulawada town under Rajanna Sircilla district on Friday.

"The BJP government that had boasted it was purchasing fuel from Russia at cheap rates is increasing the prices of petrol and diesel again and again. The price of gas per cylinder sold at Rs 400 during the Congress-led UPA term has been increased to over Rs 1,000 by now under the BJP government," he said.

He said former prime minister Indira Gandhi wiped the tears of the women by giving them gas for kitchens at cheap rates. "The BJP is now forcing them to cook with firewood and bringing tears to women by raising gas price."

Before opening the paddy purchasing centres in the state, the TRS ministers went to New Delhi and staged dramas by conducting press meets and misguiding the farmers. The people are aware of the cheap politics of both the BJP and TRS," he warned.

Congress leaders Venkata Swamy, Kanakaiah, Srinivas, Ramesh, Chandrasekhar, Rakesh, Komuraiah, Sathya Laxmi, Lahari, Bharati, Rajashekar, Pradeep, Karunakar, Santosh, Mahesh, Krishna, Ramulu, Prakash, Kiran and Ganesh were among those present.
Women's rights, interests effectively protected in Xinjiang: experts

Xinhua) 11:04, March 26, 2022

XI'AN, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The lawful rights and interests of women from all ethnic groups in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been effectively protected, according to experts at a side meeting of the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The side meeting, themed on achievements in protecting women's rights and interests in Xinjiang, was held on Thursday in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Zulhayat Ismayil, vice president of Xinjiang University, said that the Chinese government has continuously advanced women's development and effectively guaranteed the lawful rights and interests of women of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Under local conditions, Xinjiang has formulated several local regulations to protect women's rights and interests, ensuring the freedom and equality rights of ethnic minority women, noted Zheng Liang, deputy dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University based in south China's Guangzhou city.

Gu Guanghai, dean of the Business School of Xinjiang University, pointed out that the development of the culture and tourism industries in Xinjiang has boosted the employment and income of women of all ethnic groups.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Union Minister of Tourism G.Kishan Reddy speaks during the inauguration of the National Culture festival- 2022 at Arts college in Rajamahendravaram on Saturday. AP Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan, State ministers M.Srinivasa Rao, Ch.Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna, AP BJP President S.Veerraju and Rajahmundry MP M. Bharat are seen. (DC photo)

VIJAYAWADA: Union minister for culture G. Kishan Reddy on Saturday called upon all citizens in the country to hoist the national flag atop their house on August 15 to show their patriotism on 75th Anniversary of Indias Independence Day.

Addressing a large gathering at Government Arts College grounds in Rajamahendravaram to mark the 12th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, he said when he requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct the biennial national cultural festival in Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the PM readily agreed.

Kishan Reddy said nearly 600 artists from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are participating in the cultural programme.

The union minister announced that the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav will be held in Warangal of Telangana on March 29 and 30 and in Hyderabad from April 1 to 3, where Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and governors from five states will take part in the programme to mark the 75th Anniversary of Independence Day as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Kishan Reddy said Prime Minister Modi will visit both the Telugu states to participate in the 125th Birth Anniversary of Alluri Sitharama Raju, who had fought against the British. He pointed out that the centre had allocated  30 crore to organise the event in a big way. He said that they would open a museum on the revolutionary leader in addition to setting up a monument for him in Visakhapatnam.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan inaugurated the 12th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav in Rajamahendravaram, being held under the aegis of South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the call given by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Give Me Blood, I Will Give You Freedom inspired people of the country to fight against British, forcing them to leave the country. In this regard, he commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting up a hologram statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate in Delhi.

The Governor wished the spirit of freedom movement will once again fill hearts of people while celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

AP ministers M. Srinivasa Rao and Ch. Srinivas Venugopala Krishna were among those who participated in the event.
A man who crashed his vehicle while driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit was sent to jail for three weeks Thursday morning.

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A man who crashed his vehicle while driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit was sent to jail for three weeks Thursday morning.

Byron Rincand-Asencio, 28, pleaded guilty on Thursday to driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit in Brandon provincial court.

At approximately 4:21 a.m. on May 13, 2021, police responded to a collision in the 3000 block of Willowdale Crescent, Crown attorney Andrew Sieklicki told the court. One person was trapped in a vehicle and smoke was coming from another.

When officers arrived a few minutes later they saw a vehicle hit "numerous" garbage bins and was parked half on the lawn of a residence, he said. It had extensive front-end damage.

Brandon Fire and Emergency Services paramedics were speaking to the driver, who was getting medical attention for a cut above his eye, Sieklicki said.

Rincand-Asencio was unsteady on his feet and showed signs of being intoxicated when speaking to police, he said.

"When asked by the police how much he had to drink that night, he said A lot," Sieklicki said.

A witness, who said she lived at the address with the vehicle on the front lawn, reportedly told police her Rincand-Asencios vehicle hit her own and it had front-end damage.

At the police station, the accused blew 240 and 230 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood  approximately three times the legal limit in Manitoba of 80 milligrams.

Rincand-Asencio also reportedly swore at police after he was arrested.

Sieklicki recommended a month in jail for the charge along with a 21-month ban from driving.

"This is a situation where Mr. Rincand-Asencio has caused a multi-vehicle accident, ran into the garbage cans and ended up on the front lawn of a house," he said.

Defence lawyer Michael Nerbas said Rincand-Asencio, who was born in El Salvador, is remorseful for the incident and is very willing to take responsibility.

He described the night as an "anomaly" for the accused and came at an emotional time.

Nerbas recommended a $2,700 fine and a 16-month ban from driving.

Speaking to the court, Rincand-Asencio apologized for his actions.

""I never meant to hurt anyone  I dont blame the alcohol, it was all me, it was my decision. I apologize," he said.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said Rincand-Asencios driving was "horrendous" on the May night in question.

"You caused extensive property damage and that could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness you didnt hurt yourself or hurt or kill someone else. Theres a significant accident involved here," Hewitt-Michta said to Rincand-Asencio, adding he made a "terrible mistake."

She said a jail sentence was needed in the case, sentencing him to 21 days in jail and an 18-month ban from driving, which she said gave him credit for the guilty plea.

 dmay@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @DrewMay_
A new Indigenous-led council will be created to support the search for burial sites of children who died at residential schools, the province announced Tuesday.

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A new Indigenous-led council will be created to support the search for burial sites of children who died at residential schools, the province announced Tuesday.

The council is co-chaired by the Manitoba government and Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO), with representatives from organizations, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) and the Manitoba Inuit Association.

Indigenous leaders, governments, organizations and communities will provide guidance and advice on how to support searches for residential school burial sites.

Initial discussions have identified five overarching principles that will guide the councils work: the search for missing children must be Indigenous-led with support from all levels of government; families and survivors will be at the heart of search efforts; health supports are essential to the wellness of all those affected by search efforts including survivors, families and those on the ground searching; the remains of children and the burial locations must be protected; and commemorations are essential for healing, truth-telling and education.

SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels described the committee as a "long time coming."

"Its basically truth-telling. We are searching the grounds for what exactly happened so that the story can come to light."

The beliefs that led to the establishment of residential schools linger to this day, Daniels said, creating the difficult social and economic conditions Indigenous communities and nation members continue to face.

"Those are a very important part of understanding why Indigenous people need to lead this and lead reconciliation and lead the truth behind all of this."

The council marks a significant change in understanding residential schools, said Andrew Carrier, Manitoba Metis Federation minister for residential and day school survivors.

"The reality is we have been directed and told and marginalized for decades, and so this is an opportunity for us to take responsibility of how we are going to do this, how are we going to identify and recognize the trauma and the loss that our families and our communities have lost over the decades," Carrier said.

There are Metis children throughout Manitoba and the western provinces who attended both residential and day schools. He described them as the forgotten students because they were not "status Indians" covered under the Indian Act.

The 215 children rediscovered in unmarked graves in Kamloops, B.C., last year sparked a conversation across Canada about residential school history and the need for active truth and reconciliation in the country, he said.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has stated more than 3,200 children died at residential schools. In Manitoba, the commission determined at least 338 children forced to attend the schools died. At least 104 potential graves have been identified at the former Brandon Indian Residential School.

A focus has been placed on burial sites on or near residential schools, Carrier said, but that does not account for children who ran away from those institutions, never to be heard from again.

"These children are truly lost and this has caused a trauma and a rip in our community."

There is a need to begin healing from these historic wounds. The TRC has several calls to action, including No. 75, working with Indigenous communities and residential school survivors to develop strategies for the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance, commemoration and protection of burial sites; and No. 76, the community most affected by residential school cemeteries will lead the development of strategies, information will be sought from survivors and knowledge keepers in the development of strategies and Indigenous protocols will be respected before investigations of sites.

The unmarked graves are one aspect of the horrific legacy of residential schools, he said. Students faced neglect, medical testing without consent, starvation, sexual and physical abuse on top of other atrocities.

"To recognize the truth is the first step of reconciliation," Carrier said. "We have to open our eyes wide open."

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp

This article has been updated to provide the correct spelling of Manitoba Metis Federation minister for residential and day school survivors Andrew Carrier.
A week after providing a report listing a high risk of moderate flooding this spring, the province delivered a more optimistic outlook on Friday.

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A week after providing a report listing a high risk of moderate flooding this spring, the province delivered a more optimistic outlook on Friday.

Based on data from watersheds in both Manitoba and North Dakota, Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said water flows are now expected to be closer to the levels experienced in 2017.

That includes lowering the flooding risk from moderate to low along the Assiniboine and Souris river basins.

"While the updated report shows more positive, we are still expecting to operate the Red River floodway and we are remaining vigilant as there is always a possibility of a spring weather event," Piwniuk said.

"Our government, along with municipalities and First Nations, are reviewing existing emergency responses and plans, sharing information and preparing flood response resources that will be ready for any sort of event."

The minister also announced he would have more news to share next week about a project to improve the dam in Rivers at Lake Wahtopanah.

In 2020, the dam had a much higher flow of water passing through it than it was designed to handle. There were concerns that the structure might fail, but it managed to stay intact until the floodwaters receded.

As part of preparation for spring runoff, the province announced in a media release that it had installed nine real-time water gauges in reservoirs in southern Manitoba and four more will be installed this year.

The government also confirmed the Rapid City dam, which had water breach its embankment during flooding in 2020, will finally have permanent repair work start this summer.

The Sun has previously reported that the lack of a reservoir lake in the community has been difficult for residents who used it as a water source and as a tourism destination.

Accompanying Piwniuk was Fisaha Unduche, the executive director of hydrologic forecasting and water management for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure.

He said that above-average snowfall in parts of Manitoba this year, like in the southeast and northwest, led the province to believe that runoff could lead to a high risk of moderate to major flooding in most southern water basins when it released its last flood outlook.

However, he said weather has been very favourable over the last two weeks, with temperatures remaining close to zero degrees.

"These conditions are allowing for a very gradual melt, reducing the runoff as the water has time to get absorbed into the ground," Unduche said. "Frost depth is near zero centimetres in the central and southern Manitoba basins. This will also allow the gradual melt to be absorbed into the ground."

Combined with a short-range forecast that predicts that outside temperatures will stay around the freezing point until the beginning of April, the province is less concerned about the flood risk.

On the Red River, water is expected to peak twice at Emerson. First between March 30 and April 2 and then between April 10 and 20. Both the Red River floodway and the Portage Diversion are expected to be used this year.

Another guest at the briefing, Emergency Management Organization head Johanu Botha, said flood preparations have been ongoing since last fall when the provinces flood coordination plan was updated. Joint planning sessions with local planning authorities across Manitoba have been ongoing since the new year.

The province did not respond to a request for comment on how much progress had been made on the Rapid City dam so far and what the anticipated completion date for repairs is.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
The cancellation of the pig and calf scrambles at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is being hailed by animal rights groups.

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The cancellation of the pig and calf scrambles at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is being hailed by animal rights groups.

The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba released a statement Thursday afternoon announcing the events are being pulled just four days before the fair is set to open.

The scrambles involve children between seven and 11 years old chasing herds of piglets or calves in a race to capture one for cash prizes. The fair received pushback from animal welfare groups in Brandon and Winnipeg, citing safety and well-being concerns for the animals and participants.

"The health and welfare of our animals is important to us and has always been a top priority," said Kathy Cleaver, president of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, the organizer of the fair, in the Thursday statement.

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair runs from March 28 to April 2.

When contacted by the Sun on Friday, the Provincial Exhibition declined to give further comment. However, the organization released a statement on its Facebook page late Friday afternoon stating that the Winnipeg Humane Society issued a formal complaint to Manitobas Animal Health/Welfare Brandon.

"After many discussions with the provinces Chief Veterinarian Scott Zaari, we have learned that it is their obligation to look into the complaint," the statement read. "After reviewing, they found probable cause to initiate a formal inquiry into our scrambles."

The statement further explained that the calf and pig scrambles fall within a "grey area" of the Animal Care Act, and if the Winter Fair had proceeded to hold the events, the province "would have no choice but to send an animal protection [officer] to observe the events, from there they could deem us in violation of that act and we as an organization would be liable."

Section 3.1 of the Animal Care Act states that "no person shall inflict upon an animal acute suffering, serious injury or harm, or extreme anxiety or distress that significantly impairs its health or well-being."

If the fair was found in violation of the act, the Provincial Exhibition could face fines, seizure of animals or legal prosecution.

"The unfortunate outcome of this is that not only do we have disappointed children looking forward to the events, but the 1,500 [pounds] of Pork that would be donated to a local food bank is also no longer being donated," the Provincial Exhibition statement read.

Calls to end the scrambles have been ongoing, but a letter from Animal Justice, a Canadian animal law advocacy organization, released on March 15, formally called on fair organizers to cancel the activities, citing cruelty to animals and causing unnecessary stress.

The letter was co-signed by the Winnipeg Humane Society and supported by the Brandon Humane Society.

No one involved in this campaign is against the fair as a whole, reiterated Brandon Humane Societys director and shelter manager, Tracy Munn.

"I say good on them for putting the pigs [welfare] first, and I think its good kids dont have to see that growing up," she said. "Its been a long time coming and Im glad its done. Theres enough violence in the world."

Winnipeg Humane Society animal welfare consultant Brittany Semeniuk was surprised the scrambles were cancelled, and on very short notice, too. She did not receive any notification from fair organizers and only learned about it when the Sun reached out for comment. They had submitted its safety planning for the scrambles, she said, so she didnt expect them to be cancelled this year.

However, as an organization, she said the Winnipeg Humane Society is happy their concerns are also being addressed in terms of the welfare of the animals.

"This move brings the fair one step closer to aligning with a progressive society and how modern-day society views and treats animals."

There could also be legal issues with calf and pig scrambles, according to Kaitlyn Mitchell, the Winnipeg-based staff lawyer for Animal Justice.

In an email, she expressed her contentment with this development, adding the organization was thrilled fair organizers were taking their concerns seriously.

"Encouraging youth to chase and grab at frightened, helpless pigs and calves is antiquated and completely inhumane, and would have also violated federal and provincial animal cruelty laws," she said "We hope that the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair will cancel its pig and calf scrambles for good, just as fairs across Canada have done."

The Provincial Exhibition has not indicated whether the cancellation of the scrambles is long-term or just for this year.

Fairs in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have cancelled their animal scrambles over animal cruelty concerns.

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com, with Brandon Sun files

 Twitter: @karenleghmcki1
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting nine more deaths since Wednesday from COVID-19, bringing the province's death toll from the pandemic over the 100 mark.

Specimens to be tested for COVID-19 are seen at LifeLabs after being logged upon receipt at the company's lab, in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday, March 26, 2020. Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting nine new deaths since Wednesday from COVID-19, bringing the total in the province to more than 100. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting nine more deaths since Wednesday from COVID-19, bringing the province's death toll from the pandemic over the 100 mark.

As of today, 101 people in the province have died from the disease since the pandemic first emerged two years ago.

The province's hospitalization rate hit a new high today, with 33 COVID-19 patients in care.

Officials reported 961 new cases of the disease since Wednesday  454 of those were confirmed as of Thursday afternoon and the remaining 507 as of this afternoon.

The province dropped all of its pandemic-related health measures in most places on March 14, though health officials still encourage residents to wear masks.

Masks are still required in schools, at least until students leave for spring break in mid-April.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2022.
Contemporary artist Josh Blakesley release new single Jesus I Trust In You" | Sundari PR

Los Angeles, CA - OCP recording artist Josh Blakesley has unleashed his second single of the year titled, Jesus I Trust In You as a part of a series of singles being released throughout the year called Outpoured. In support of the new song, yesterday, New Release Today hosted the exclusive premiere of the official music video. Watch it here.

When we say Jesus, I trust in you, were not only expressing our faith in God, were making ourselves vessels open to all that God has for us, says Blakesley. The divine mercy of Jesus pours out of his heart and cleanses us from our deepest sorrows. In suffering, it can be difficult to see, and even more difficult to accept, but when we trust in Him, we are made witnesses to his compassion - his deep and unconditional love for us. Jesus, I Trust In You is a song about Gods mercy flowing out to His people offering peace and healing for all.

The music video was shot on the outskirts of Houston, TX at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, where Blakesley currently serves as the Music Ministry Coordinator. He then recruited video producer/director JW Beatovich to work alongside him on this project.

When speaking about the video, Beatovich says, So much worship music is written for in-person experiences - Mass, prayer services, retreats, etc. We really wanted that in-person experience to come through in this video. Once everyone was in place, we just asked them to pray through the song and ignore the cameras. I hope that people who watch it can enter the prayer like we did.

Jesus I Trust In You is a follow up release to his previous single Come to the Banquet which expounds on the beauty of Gods love. He has released several projects that have debuted on top 20 on iTunes Christian Charts. His debut album was titled Immersed, and his most recent album, Even in This, features songs co-written by Michael Farren, Mia Fieldes, Marc Byrd and Sarah Hart.

For more information on Josh Blakesley, please visit www.joshblakesleymusic.com.

About OCP:

This year, OCP celebrates its 100th anniversary. Founded in 1922 as the Catholic Truth Society of Oregon, we started by publishing apologetic pamphlets to counter the anti-Catholic misinformation and persecution rampant at the time. Later, we published My Sunday Missal booklets to help people participate more fully in the liturgy, a full three decades before the Second Vatican Council. By the later part of the 20th Century, OCP grew from an informative service organization to one of the most trusted publishers of Catholic music and liturgical resources in the world. With 100 years of experience, OCP is equipped and ready to respond to the needs of todays pastoral musicians and worshiping communities.

About Josh Blakesley:

Josh Blakesley believes he has a calling to make music that moves people into prayer and action. In 2003, Josh released his first solo album, Immersed, which included The Lord Is My Shepherd and the popular anthem Our God Is Good. Immersed, released in 2003, was followed a series of albums including, Waiting (2006), Free (2010), You Are the Light (2012), which debuting at #16 on iTunes  Christian and Gospel charts, Even in This (2015) and Mass of Restoration (2017). Recently, he launched a new, on-demand video worship series, The Way with speaker and author Paul George. The Way is a unique series of 10 worship night-style videos promoting introspection, thoughtful prayer and a strong relationship with Jesus Christ.

He travels widely giving concerts at parishes, speaking at youth rallies and leading praise and worship at retreats. He is a veteran of many major events, including World Youth Day, NCYC, NCCYM, Steubenville Youth Conferences and more. Josh is currently the Music Ministry Coordinator for St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church outside Houston, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Heather Blakesley, and their two children, Sophie and Sutton.
Artist Nina Sanadze originally created Call to Peace in response to the division she saw everywhere in society, but her six-metre-high woman raging against war takes on a new dimension after Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Nina Sanadze in front of her sculpture Call to Peace. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

I was devastated with what was happening, but shocked by how the sculpture sort of predicted or accidentally tuned into what happened, she says of the work launched on Sunday in South Melbourne. It shows a woman with her arms outswept, having come from the battlefield, devastated: The mother figure is here to remind us of the horrors of war she has seen and that history that should not be repeated.

The St Kilda-based artist has Jewish Ukrainian/Russian/Georgian ancestry and her family lived for many years in Georgia. They came to Australia as refugees, having fled to Moscow after the Georgian civil war that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, arriving in Melbourne in 1996.

Installed in Clarendon Street, the sculpture is reminiscent of a classical monument, perhaps Nike, the goddess of victory. The public is invited to write wishes for hope and peace, and to hang them on the piece over the next six months.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands of school students took to the streets to march for climate justice. I, like them and so many others, am anxious about our planets future.

Im not a Gen Z climate activist, I am just another Millennial woman who has been guilty of berating herself for considering bringing a child into a climate crisis.

But something is shifting.

People are becoming more sceptical of the directive that we should abridge our desires for the size of our families before demanding the transformation of our energy systems. There is an overdue suspicion of population control, laden with eco-fascist ideas about which populations should be controlled. There is an awareness that a significant chunk of historical emissions can be traced to a few fossil fuel companies. Many people even know that one of these firms popularised the term carbon footprint, an effective metric for making people feel individually responsible for the planet dying of heat stroke.

When it comes to family planning, one series of questions is being eclipsed by another.
I was experiencing something more devastating than the distress and vexation that Emma encounters on her way to self-knowledge. I felt utterly lost.

I realised that behind the masks there were many good friends and loving members of my family, but as they clapped and cheered I was overcome by a strange antipathy. I greeted guests and made conversation but I was someplace else. I had stumbled into a moment of truth: I was out of love with the world and I was not happy.

The experience was disconcerting and left me shaken; but more disconcerting still was my experience a few weeks later, at a surprise party that had been arranged for my birthday. I entered a room to find 60 people covering their faces with shining silver masks.

People made judgments; I didnt heed them. Some asked questions; I didnt answer them. Others  mainly women understood, because they, too, had experienced the unbearable loneliness of marriage. Credit:Stocksy

On a crisp winter day in 1992 I was sitting in my car, waiting impatiently at a traffic light; without warning the red circle started to spin crazily and I was hurtled into a vortex of incomprehension. I managed somehow to make my way home and climb the stairs to my flat, where I lay in a dark room for 24 hours. The following day my condition was diagnosed as Menieres syndrome; the symptoms include hearing loss, nausea and vertigo.

But how to explain it? I had lost no one. I had reached the age of 60 with my family intact and my days filled with projects that interested me. It might seem that my life, like that of Jane Austens heroine Emma, united some of the best blessings of existence. And yet, I was experiencing something more devastating than the distress and vexation that Emma encounters on her way to self-knowledge. I felt utterly lost. I sought professional help and was comforted by the assurance that Menieres syndrome sometimes mimics depression. Medication was prescribed, I gave up eating salt, and I resumed my busy routine.

On the surface, life continued to be ordinary. When a family legacy came my way, I bought a small cottage in the Southern Highlands, a two-hour drive from Sydney. I reminded myself that, even as a child, I had always enjoyed my own company.

My cottage came to represent a piece of real estate in which my state of mind might be remedied. It stood at the top end of a steep and winding road, in a town slightly larger than Meryton, where the Bennet family lived, and considerably larger than Emmas Hartfield. I started to spend my weekends there, getting to know a community like the one Austen described to her niece Fanny as just the thing to be of interest to a fiction writer  or, in my case, a fiction reader. I was hoping for a remedy: a panacea for a malaise I could no longer dismiss.

I had thought I was doing well enough, but as I was arranging the photographs that recorded a gathering on my 70th birthday, I noticed that I was not smiling in any of them.

I wondered why, for someone so privileged, I looked miserable. Was I becoming a misanthrope? I asked myself. The expression on my face seemed to embody Elizabeth Bennets observation to her sister Jane: There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well  The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it.
All care but no responsibility. Better still for page owners of a social media service such as Twitter or Facebook/Meta, the bill gives them an immunity for any defamatory post by a third party on their page. This is intended to protect them from the High Court judgment in Voller, which confirmed that any person who participates in the publication is potentially liable. That judgment was not a surprise. The law of defamation makes a person strictly liable for the act of publication of defamatory material. The anti-trolling bill seeks to go from strict liability to no liability for page owners and, subject to compliance with a complaints scheme, no liability for social media service providers.

Instead, it compels complainants to take their grievances up with the author of the publication who may or may not be able to be identified. Loading Those with control of the social media service, however, may go about their business regardless once they have complied with the complaints scheme. The easy passage provided by this bill for Google, Twitter and Meta suggests it is a pro-protection of the media bill, not an anti-trolling one in any real or practical sense. It runs contrary to the policy direction which the Federal government initiated when it took a world-first position in regulating social media platforms just three years ago.

In the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack in March 2019, where the violence that day was live-streamed on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, the Federal government passed legislation to protect the public from the dissemination of such content and impose heavy sanctions on platforms that did not exercise reasonable care in removing abhorrent and violent content quickly. This was imposing a fault-based liability on them in circumstances where the originator exploited the service for violent ends and those with the power and control over the service were expected to take steps to prevent such abuse. In the wake of the Al Noor Mosque shooting in Christchurch, Australia tightened its online rules. Credit:AP The decision to implement this regulation of social media platforms started a process of wider regulation by the Federal government, probably unintended but necessary, in respect of a number of other (Commonwealth) laws: for criminal offences, harassment, breach of privacy, defamation, and protection of consumers to name a few which needed to move in the same policy direction. It included the regulation of not only the platforms but also those who facilitate the abuse and hatred of others on their pages. Not simply those who start the publication, oddly known as trolls.

Their identity may be known, they may be not. That is not the real issue. They may start the fire but those who have the power and control over the trolls to put the fire out should bear the responsibility to do it. The experience of the last 10 years has been that abuse and defamation are typically aimed at women and children. Loading How, it may be asked, did the anti-trolling bill head in the direction of no liability? This bill is misdirected in providing immunity or defence for simply identifying trolls, rather than providing a consistent and coherent policy direction with other laws, with proper regulation of the platforms and facilitators if they do not take reasonable care to protect the victims by removing the material once they are aware of the trolling.
Rising anger over apartment towers has prompted an eastern suburbs council to employ an advocate to help residents write submissions to try to block building proposals, amid ongoing concern about overdevelopment.

Waverley mayor Paula Masselos said apartment towers were being built that are higher and fatter than our planning rules instruments, especially in Bondi Junction.

Waverley mayor Paula Masselos said the council was blamed for development decisions made by the state government. Credit:Nick Moir

Cr Masselos said the state government was permitting developers to build high-rise apartment towers that breached local planning rules, while proposing to take developer contributions off councils and reallocate the funds elsewhere.

We are being blamed for development decisions that are made by the state government  not Council, she said.
A grandmother who scaled a freight train at Marrickville to protest against Australias inaction on climate change and two other Blockade Australia activists will face court on Saturday, as another man scaled a bridge at Port Botany on Saturday morning.

A man identified as Wenzel climbed the structure around 6.45am, livestreaming on Facebook as he suspended himself over the rail corridor.

I see this as the most meaningful way forward to create the radical systemic change that we all need to continue living on this continent, he said.

Maxim Curmi, Sharon Hodge and Emma Dorge were all bail refused to face Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday. Credit:Blockade Australia

The 29-year-old from Queensland was arrested on Saturday morning and charged on five counts, including endangering the safety of person on railway, refusing or failing to comply with a direction and risking the safety of others by abseiling or jumping off a building.
We wanted to do a bit of a road trip adventure before uni the following year, she said. We went to the caravan park where we knew older people from school and where we could pitch a tent and get a job. I remember the day they [the hearse] arrived at the caravan park. Niamh Maye (centre front plain white shirt) on Christmas Day, 1999. Niamh travelled on Good Friday (29 March) to camp with other fruit pickers and took a lift with Nicklason and Gemmell in the hearse to Jingellic campground. Nicklason agreed to drive her back to Batlow the following morning and they were seen leaving between 10 and 11am. When a friend turned up to wave her off on Sunday, Niamh didnt arrive. Six months later Nicklason, who claimed to have dropped Niamh off near Tumut, was in police custody having been arrested in Brisbane for raping a 19-year-old woman. He jumped from a third storey car park outside Brisbane police headquarters taking his life.

But the investigation continued. Ten years later in 2012 there was an inquest in Glen Innes before Coroner Hugh Dillon. The officer in charge delivered an entirely new theory revealing in shocking detail the apparent location and manner of Niamhs death yet there have been no new searches and no arrests. The court recorded that Niamh died on or about March 30, possibly March 31st 2002 and that her death took place somewhere in the vicinity of Tumut. Brian and Anne Maye with Niamh as a baby. Mr Dillon, now retired who has conducted some 300 inquests, speaking to the Herald on Friday, demonstrated a clear memory of the hearing. He said where the new evidence came from had remained unclear. Police are very reluctant to reveal who informers are so there was this cloud of obscurity surrounding all of this, he said. I remember reading a lot of material but I didnt have any real witnesses to talk to or to cross-examine at the time. We kind of came to a dead-end which was frustrating.

Brian and Anne Maye. From left, brother Kieron Maye and sisters Fionnuala Hagerty and Thomasine Maye. 24th March 2022. Credit:Wolter Peeters The one thing you hate doing if you are running an investigation of that nature is to come up short because what you hope to do is find the answers for the family. The latest twist in the investigation came last year with reports that someone had years previously seen what could have been a grave on farmland in the area. A one-day search with a police cadaver dog found animal bones. Det Senior Constable Stan Wall, the current officer leading the inquiry who is due to leave the force this year, said: The greatest thing to finish my career would be able to give to Brian and Anne some part of their daughter so that it can give some final rest to them. Tumut detective Steve Rose, the initial investigator for five years and now retired, said resources were soon depleted by another missing person investigation in the area.

Of the new line evidence at the inquest, he said: From my understanding, I dont know how much proof or evidence was involved in that, apart from hearsay. I just appeal to anyone who may know something to just remember that this was a girl who went missing 20 years ago and that her family really needs to be able to lay her to rest in the way that they would like. Niamhs parents remain philosophical. Brian said he knew from the moment she was missing that she was no longer alive.Even after all these years if you are looking for an outcome its to close that loop of information to actually be able to say what happened. If you can find out what happened you know where she is and then we can bring her home. Anne Maye lights a candle each day for her daughter Niamh Maye. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Anne, asked how she had coped for the last 20 years said: Children are a gift and you never how long you will have them for. Originally I knew she was dead. How or why or where I didnt know but I thought if you start saying if you are only looking backwards, you are looking at regrets, you are looking at all kinds of things, thats not positive. Loading Niamh was very positive, she was looking ahead...so I thought well look at all the positives. We knew that her spirit was with us every day. If shes in that forest, thats good, shed be comfortable with it to some extent. I light a candle every morning and thats it. None of us use the word closure, it is a meaningless word. It happened and we just have to accept it. A website missingniamh.com is launched by the family today and a podcast Missing Niamh will be launched later this year.
Researchers have managed to raise enough money consider commencing human trials for a groundbreaking malaria vaccine on humans but say their fight for finances highlights ongoing issues with medical research funding.

Griffith Universitys Institute for Glycomics has developed a malaria vaccine that can be freeze-dried, enabling it to be transported and stored without refrigeration. This greatly expands its potential for use in the developing world, where malaria remains entrenched.

Malaria researchers Dr Danielle Stanisic and Professor Michael Good in their lab at the Institute for Glycomics at Griffiths Gold Coast campus.

Over the last five years, the researchers have raised $1.34 million  the next step will involve a phase 1 clinical trial in human volunteers  after partnering with Australian Rotary clubs and receiving grants from the federal governments Medical Research Future Fund, as well as individual donations.

Lead researcher Danielle Stanisic said they were very happy to be able to progress to the next stage of the research to see whether the vaccine is effective in humans.
India has leapfrogged China as the number one country of origin for foreign students in Victoria, as universities and student accommodation providers report a better-than-expected return of internationals arriving to study in Melbourne.

People from India make up a quarter of the 96,300 international student visa holders currently in Victoria, followed by those from China on 19 per cent and Nepal on 7 per cent.

Sanskriti Wason is one of Melbournes large cohort of international students from India. Credit:Chris Hopkins

In March 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese students accounted for just over 25 per cent of the states international student population, with India the second largest contributor at 24 per cent.

Victorias international student contingent has risen to 96,300 this month, after dropping from 151,500 before the pandemic to a low of 68,400 in December 2021.
In a sign of Mr Frydenbergs focus on the poll, the Coalition scrapped a long-standing commitment to build car parks at train stations, which attracted criticism from locals and the national audit office. The embarrassing about-face was influenced by prominent local Liberals, including former Hawthorn MP John Pesutto and Kennett government minister Mark Birrell, who warned of the political consequence of persisting with the policy. Labors head office will spend no money in Kooyong, and will likely direct preferences to the independent, while the Greens have lost momentum after high-profile lawyer Julian Burnside ran in 2019. It means the contest will be between Mr Frydenberg and Dr Ryan, who told The Age she has former senior Liberal staffers in her army of 1300 volunteers. Independent Kooyong candidate Monique Ryan. Credit:Eddie Jim She cites the same three priorities as the other 20 Voices of candidates around Australia: action on the climate emergency (for which she proposes at least 60 per cent emissions reductions by 2030), gender equity, and integrity in politics. She believes she can win, and is motivated by the ability to create change if she holds the balance of power in a hung Parliament. Theres a real thirst for change in this community  and its gathering impetus really quickly. We can see that, she said.

Its going to be very, very close and thats why the Liberals are coming as hard as they are, and its getting personal already. They know Mr Frydenberg is under threat and thats not a pleasant place for him to be. Her reference to personal attacks relates to scrutiny she received for not declaring her membership of the Labor Party between 2007-10 in her first two media interviews (she confirmed she was a party member in a later interview). Dr Ryan, 54, says she joined the ALP hoping then-leader Kevin Rudd would address the issue of climate change, but quit in disappointment. She insists she never attended meetings and believes it was not misleading to say she was a political cleanskin, though her Labor background will inevitably be targeted by the Liberal Party to dissuade disaffected conservatives from switching their support. I dont think joining a party on one occasion 15 years ago makes me not a cleanskin  it doesnt mean Im a Labor stooge, she said, declining to say which party she would support if one party did not secure a majority. The anti-Frydenberg push has frustrated Zach Ristevski, 60, who has been cutting the Kooyong MPs hair for years at Camberwell Junction.

I dont piss in his pocket, I tell him what Im hearing, he said. And I really dont hear much negative stuff against him. They are ganging up on him and I dont know if people like that. With JobKeeper and managing the economy through the pandemic, talking to people today people are still saying hes done a good job. Loading But polling for Mr Holmes a Courts Climate 200 group suggests at least some Kooyong voters have shifted away from the Morrison government, whose leader is particularly unpopular in inner-city seats in major cities. Its data shows Mr Frydenbergs primary vote has dropped from 49.5 per cent at the last election to below 40 per cent. The primary vote figure is an average figure derived from polls between October and March this year. The polls were conducted by telephone and online by political consultancy Redbridge, which is run by former Labor campaigner Kos Samaras but also employs Liberal figures. Climate 200 would not release primary vote data for any other candidate, including Dr Ryan. Seat-by-seat polling is only a temperature read of what the electorate feels like when they are surveyed, but it is not a predictor of how they will vote, Mr Samaras said of electorate-focused pollin.

Mr Samaras, who is conducting polling for Climate 200 across Australia, added that it was a matter of time before Kooyong was lost to the Liberal Party because of the rising number of tertiary-educated young voters moving into densely populated parts of Hawthorn and Kew. ABC election guru Antony Green believes the Climate 200 group is better organised this time. Credit:Jacky Ghossein Speculation about losing Kooyong has spawned a sense of deja vu for the Treasurers team, who read stories before the 2019 election about the Liberal primary vote dropping to 40 per cent, only to end up polling close to 50 per cent and winning comfortably. The partys own internal polling showed the Treasurers primary vote had crumbled to the high 30s before the last election. The strong 2019 result fuelled optimism among Liberals, who believe challengers can gain media attention and animate progressive voters in the seat but ultimately come unstuck due to the popularity of Mr Frydenberg, who was the preferred Liberal leader (38.5 per cent compared to Prime Minister Scott Morrisons 31 per cent) in a February poll by Roy Morgan. Internal Liberal polling indicated the Kooyong MPs primary vote was about 50 per cent around October, before Dr Ryans candidacy was announced.

ABC election analyst Antony Green said Dr Ryan could only win if her primary was about 30 per cent and the Liberal Partys dropped below 45. These markers were met when Liberals Tony Abbott and Sophie Mirabella lost their seats to independents. If Frydenberg is under 40, hes in big trouble, Mr Green said. If the Liberals are anywhere under 45 and the independent is above 30, and about 80 per cent of Labor and Greens preferences flow to the independent, they can win. Loading Nobody knew who Oliver Yates [the independent who polled 9 per cent in Kooyong in 2019] was. The difference this time is the [Climate 200] candidates are all career women, and in electorates like Kooyong there are lots of career women. They are better organised this time, and they are getting special focus from the media. A geographical fissure exists in Kooyong. In much of the western part of the electorate closer to the city, where Hawthorn and Kew lie, the Liberal primary vote sits in the low 40s and the Greens vote is as high as 35.
An election is around the corner and soon no billboard, street corner or light pole will be safe from being covered in red, blue, green, yellow, orange or teal as candidates seek to get their names and faces in front of voters.

Colour is a vital part of political branding. From Tony Abbotts blue ties to the army of red T-shirt-wearing Labor volunteers (so iconic theres even a red shirts scandal), and every spare billboard painted yellow to promote Clive Palmers United Australia Party. Colour is the way to be instantly recognised  but can also be used to trick voters.

Colour is a vital part of political branding. Credit:Jessica Hromas, Alex Ellinghausen, Rebecca Hallas, Peter Braig, Getty

RMIT associate professor in design Dr Brad Haylock said the use of colour gave brands, whether political or commercial, a way to be easily identified. It could also be easily transferred from graphic design on a flyer or poster to other items, such as shirts or flags.

Big washes of colour on a billboard, during a political campaign, really quickly positions that messaging as coming from one side or another, he said.
Sam Henderson has kept a fairly low profile in recent years since his former status as a celebrity financial planner took a star turn as one of the high-profile witnesses of the Hayne royal commission, but his investment savvy re-emerged this week when his Southern Highlands retreat, Highlands Lake House, hit the market.

Henderson was previously best known for his many media gigs, most notably on Skys Your Money, Your Call, before 2018 when he pleaded guilty to dishonesty and defective disclosure charges at the banking royal commission, and narrowly avoided jail to instead be slapped with a $10,000 penalty and a two-year good behaviour bond.

Highlands Lake House in High Range hit the market this week for $5 million.

Central to the charges were claims he promoted himself as holding a master of commerce qualification, and that his firm advised client Donna McKenna, a Fair Work Commissioner, to transfer her superannuation savings into a self-managed fund.

McKenna didnt do so, saving herself a $500,000 loss.
For weeks, a Chicago-based artist watched in horror as cities were destroyed and millions fled war-stricken Ukraine.

Joe Trupia has no personal connection to the conflict raging thousands of kilometres from his home. But with every heartbreaking photo and gut-wrenching video, he became more certain that he had to do something  anything  to help Ukraine. So Trupia, who owns the toy-manufacturing company Citizen Brick, started making miniature figurines in the likeness of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to raise money for the country.

I just felt that I had to act using what I had, Trupia said.

Custom Lego creator Citizen Brick designed a figurine of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to raise money for the war-stricken country. Credit:Joe Trupia

Since the Russian invasion began, countless stories have surfaced about people doing what they can to help Ukraine. Thousands booked Ukrainian Airbnbs to directly help those living through the war. A baker in Texas sold cheesecake to raise funds for the Ukrainian army. In California, two kids propped up a lemonade stand.
Washington: US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing calls to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election after revelations that his wife repeatedly pushed former president Donald Trumps chief of staff to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.

Thomas already participated in the Supreme Courts decision this year to let some of Trumps papers be turned over to a congressional panel investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. He was the lone dissenter from that order, giving no explanation.

Justice Clarence Thomas. Credit:AP

The Washington Post reported on Friday (AEDT) that Ginni Thomas, a political activist, was in close contact with Trumps then chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks following the election, promoting conspiracy theories about President Joe Bidens victory.

The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History, she texted on November 10, the Post reported, citing documents Meadows turned over to the committee.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed airline is all set to roll out its commercial operation from June, its CEO Vinay Dube has said here.

Speaking at an interactive session on the sidelines of Wings India 2022, Dube on Friday said the airline hopes to have a fleet of 72 aircraft in the next five years.

"We hope to launch our first commercial flight in the month of June. We are working very closely with Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) to get our licensing done," he said replaying to query.

He further said the airline plans to have 18 aircraft on ground as part of its fleet within 12 subsequent months of launching and then add 12 to 14 every year making it 72 in five years.

"We are very excited and serve number of people with warmth and affection and kindness," he further said.

To begin with, will have services from metros to Tier II and III cities. There will also be flights from metros to metros so that the aircraft is moved around the system, the CEO had earlier said.

Dube had said the airline targets to start overseas flights in the second half of calendar year 2023 once there are 20 planes in its fleet.

In October, the airlines got no-objection certificate (NOC) for the operations from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

(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.)
was caught in a cross-fire over its operations in Russia, as UK finance minister, Rishi Sunak was questioned on his wife's stake in the company. Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus N R Narayana Murthy's daughter Akshata Murty holds less than 1 per cent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, in a statement to the media, denied that it has any business relationships with local Russian enterprises.

" has a small team of less than 100 employees based out of Russia, that services some of our global clients, locally. We do not have any active business relationships with local Russian enterprises," said the company statement.

When asked if operations were impacted by the European conflict, the company said, "At this point we do not foresee any impact on delivery or services for our clients from our Eastern European centres, and have activated necessary business continuity protocols."

The statement further stated that Infosys is focused on extending support to the community. The company has committed $1 million towards relief efforts for war victims from Ukraine.

During an interview with the Sky News, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's son-in-law said, "I am an elected politician and I am here to talk about what I am responsible for. My wife is not."
department, which successfully conducted board exams during the Covid pandemic in the last two years, is now facing the challenge of issue.

Against the backdrop of verdict by the Special bench of the High Court, the state government has decided not to allow students wearing to take up exams. To ensure smooth conduct of exams, tight police security will be made near the examination centres.

The state government is conducting crucial SSLC (Class 10) examinations from March 28 and will continue till April 11. As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for SSLC exams this academic year.

The exams will be conducted in 3,444 centres across the state. CCTV cameras have been installed in all examination centres and prohibitory orders will be clamped in and around them.

Since the last two years, the teaching fraternity has been under tremendous stress. The teachers pledged their lives and worked during Covid pandemic and conducted board exams. Though, all students were passed, the initiative by the department was appreciated. Separate arrangements were made for Covid affected students to give their exams.

The teachers were also used for Covid-related work and many had lost their lives in the process. Now, its the issue which is equally stressful for them, sources in the department say.

However, the High Court order on hijab is being challenged in the Supreme Court by petitioner students. Opposition Congress is vehemently demanding ruling BJP to allow students to write exams by wearing hijab.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has demanded that the Muslim students with dupatta matching with the uniform be allowed inside the examination halls.

Later, he went on to say that if Hindu, Jain women and religious leaders can wear cloth around their faces, why can't Muslim students?

The statement stirred a controversy and later, Siddaramaiah clarified that he has great respect for religious leaders and he didn't mean to insult them.

Sources in the police department said that even after government order following the court verdict, the students will attempt to write exams wearing hijab and when they will be stopped, there will be chaos near the examination centers. The situation need to be handled properly to ensure that students attending exams are not disturbed, they say.

B.C. Nagesh, Minister for has clarified that students wearing hijab are not allowed to take exams and there is no second thought about it. "We will not allow students with hijab to any exams including board examinations," he said.

Education department is conducting separate exams for all subjects similar to the pre-Covid pattern. The students will have to obtain minimum passing marks this time. The government has clarified that it won't pass the students just like that as it was done in the last two years.

Covid regulations for students have been relaxed and wearing of mask is not mandatory in examination halls. However, the examination halls would be sanitised and social distance will be maintained.

Earlier, the Special bench of High Court has dismissed the petitions seeking permission to wear hijab in classrooms. It also stated that wearing of hijab is not an essential part of Islam.

The court had also directed the state to look into the aspect of role of invisible hands which created the crisis all of a sudden when everything was going smooth in the state.

--IANS

mka/shb/

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After a pandemic-induced hiatus of over two years, regular are set to resume from Sunday with airports and airlines getting ready for normal overseas operations.

Battered by the pandemic, the airline industry is slowly coming back to normalcy and the resumption of normal overseas flights is expected to provide a fillip to the sector.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the capital, which is also the country's largest airport, expects international flight departures to witness a significant jump in the first week of April after the resumption of regular international operations.

While Indian carriers are prepared for normal international services, various foreign airlines, including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and LOT Polish have also announced plans about their services to and from India.

Scheduled international passenger flights have remained suspended since March 23, 2020 in the wake of the pandemic and they will now restart from Sunday.

Overseas flights are being operated now under bilateral air bubble arrangements with various countries.

On March 8, the ministry announced that regular overseas flights will resume from March 27 amid a decline in cases.

The government has also revised the COVID guidelines for international flight operations, including the removal of the requirement to keep three seats vacant on overseas flights for medical emergencies.

Besides, the requirement for the crew for having a complete PPE kit has been done away with.

In a statement on Saturday, IndiGo Chief Commercial Officer Willy Boulter said the airline is keen on resuming international operations back to pre-COVID levels but that will also depend on factors like arrival guidelines of various countries.

"We certainly have plans to open new destinations in the near future as well as pump up capacity on our existing routes as travel further opens up. Reaching economies of scale in such a dynamic environment where ATF and other fixed costs are constantly going up, becomes challenging," he said.

IndiGo is the country's largest airline.

On Friday, a DIAL spokesperson said, "Post resumption of commercial operations, South East Asia and Europe are expected to be the main drivers of further international passenger growth".

DIAL, the operator of IGIA, expects to connect to over 60 international destinations after the resumption of regular overseas flights.

IGIA is the country's largest airport and handled around 1.8 lakh passengers per day during pre-COVID times.

The spokesperson had also said the number of international Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) is likely to increase from 165 per day to 300 per day in summer 2022.

The total weekly departures of are expected to increase 66 per cent in the first week of April once the regular overseas flights commence, according to the spokesperson.

This is in comparison to the flights that operated under bilateral air bubble arrangements during winter 2021.

On Friday, Gulf carrier Emirates said it would re-introduce pre-pandemic service frequency across its destinations in the country from April 1.

Prior to late March 2020, when the scheduled international services were stopped by India, Emirates was operating 170 weekly flights to nine destinations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

All these flights are being restored now, starting from April 1, as per the airline.

These 170 weekly flights include 35 services to Mumbai, 28 to Delhi, 24 to Bengaluru, 21 each to Chennai and Hyderabad, 14 to Kochi, 11 to Kolkata, nine to Ahmedabad and seven to Thiruvananthapuram.

SriLankan Airlines, on Friday, said it would start operating up to 88-weekly flights to India to match the pre-COVID flight schedule. The airline flies to nine cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Chennai and Bangalore.

British carrier Virgin Atlantic would start a second daily service between Delhi and London starting from June 1. Coupled with its service from Mumbai, Virgin Atlantic will offer three daily flights from India, it said on Friday.

"American Airlines is proud to serve India with daily service between New York (JFK) and New Delhi (DEL). As India resumes international flying, we look forward to expanding our presence in the country as we deepen our partnership with IndiGo and plan to launch new service between Seattle (SEA) and Bangalore (BLR) later this year," Rhett Workman, Managing Director Europe, Middle East and Asia Operations at American Airlines, said in a statement on Friday.

Poland-based LOT Polish Airlines, on Thursday, said it would commence flights to Mumbai from May 31 and resume services to Delhi from March 29.

While mentioning about the resumption of regular international flights, Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, on March 8, said, "with this step, I am confident the sector will reach new heights".

On November 26 last year, the Directorate General of (DGCA) had announced the resumption of scheduled international passenger flights from December 15, 2021, but a few days later, the decision was revoked following a surge in cases due to the Omicron variant.

(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.)
Domestic and foreign will operate around 930 daily flights with resumption of scheduled from Sunday. This is around 22.5 per cent lower than pre-Covid levels. In the winter schedule of 2019, operated around 1,200 daily. On Friday, around 120,000 passengers flew in/out of India on 714 flights.

Indian carriers have proposed 1,466 departures per week while foreign have planned 1,783 flights per week, according to data released by the Directorate General of on Saturday.

"A total 60 foreign airlines from 40 countries have been given approval to operate 1,783 frequencies to/from India during summer schedule 2022," the regulator said.

Domestic airlines will operate flights to 43 destinations in 27 countries. IndiGo will have the largest number of departures per week (505) amongst all airlines, followed by Air India (361) and Air India Express (340).

Among foreign carriers, Emirates will have the highest number of flights (170 per week) followed by Sri Lankan Airlines (128) and Oman Air (115).

Earlier this month, government announced resumption of scheduled international passenger flights from March 27 after a ban of two years. Resumption of scheduled mean an end to air transport bubbles, which had replaced regular scheduled flights over the past two years amid Covid.
The Ministry of Ayush has signed a Host Country Agreement with the (WHO) for establishing a WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar in India, with its interim office at the Institute of Training and Research in (ITRA) in Gujarat.

The Centre will be supported by an investment of about USD 250 million from the Government of India. The primary objective of GCTM is to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology and improve the overall health of communities' the world over.

The agreement was signed in Geneva by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush and Director General, WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on March 25.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his message to the event said, "It is heartening to learn about the signing agreement for the establishment of Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. Through various initiatives, our government has been tireless in its endeavour to make preventive and curative healthcare, affordable and accessible to all. The global centre at Jamnagar will help in providing the best healthcare solutions to the world."

Ayush Minister Sarbanand Sonowal said that his Ministry was able to get this due to the initiative and efforts of our illustrious Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added that the Centre will bring far-reaching benefits to traditional medicine systems around the world. He informed that the Centre will bring availability of a better system to connect with the latest scientific methods.

Highlighting the importance of the Indian government's initiative, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said that harnessing the potential of traditional medicine by drawing on modern science and the principles of equity and sustainability will be a game changer for health in the 21st century.

The GCTM will be the first and only Global Centre for traditional medicine across the world. It will focus on building a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicine practices and products and help countries integrate it as appropriate into their health systems and regulate its quality and safety for optimal and sustainable impact. The WHO-GCTM is designed to engage and benefit all the regions of the world.

--IANS

avr/bg

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A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reached Bogtui village in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Saturday and started its investigation into the violence that claimed eight lives earlier this week.

Unidentified people had on March 21 set 10 houses on fire in the village, killing at least eight people, including women and children.

The team, consisting of around 20 members, went inside the house where charred bodies of seven people were found.

We are starting the investigation today. We have to conduct the probe on a war-footing as we have a deadline to meet, the official told PTI.

Sleuths of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CSFL), a unit of the CBI, also visited the gutted houses and started collecting samples.

The on Friday handed over the investigation into the Birbhum killings to the and set a deadline of April 7 to submit its progress report.

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general secretaries and party in-charges of various states met on Saturday to discuss the party's membership drive and the current political situation.

general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal chaired the meeting at the party headquarters here and discussed the progress of the ongoing membership drive and future agitational programmes.

Among prominent leaders of the party who attended the meeting were Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Oomen Chandy, Mukul Wasnik, Tariq Anwar, Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken and treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The meeting comes in the wake of the party's humiliating defeat in the recent Assembly elections held in five states.

The agenda for the meeting was the party's special membership drive and organisational elections, besides planning of agitational programmes.

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External Affairs Minister (EAM) will be on a four-day official visit to the and from March 26-30 following the invitations of his counterparts from the two island countries.

The EAM's will arrive in the today for a two-day visit from March 26-27, which will be followed by a three-day visit to from March 28 that will include his participation in the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on 29 March 2022 in Colombo.

Jaishankar will be visiting the Addu city in the Maldives, during which he will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release said.

"EAM's visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the and enhance its security," the MEA release said.

Jaishankar's visit to from March 28 follows the visits to India by Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, GL Peiris in February 2022.

"The bilateral meetings and interactions which EAM will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that the Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA statement said.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First. EAM's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," the statement further said.

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External Affair Minister arrived in the Maldives on a two-day visit from March 26 to March 27 after he got an invite from his Maldivian counterpart.

"Arrived in the Maldives to a warm welcome by FM @abdulla_shahid [Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid]. Looking forward to my talks with him this evening. #IndiaMaldives special partnership poised to deepen further," Jaishankar said.

Earlier today, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a press release said that EAM will hold discussions with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid.

"EAM visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security," the MEA release said.

After this, Jaishankar will make a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 that will include his participation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting on 29 March 2022 in Colombo.

Jaishankar's visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 follows the visits to India by Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, GL Peiris in February 2022.

"The bilateral meetings and interactions which EAM will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA statement said.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First. EAM's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," the statement further said.

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External Affairs Minister embarked on a five-day visit to the and on Saturday to explore the possibilities of further expansion of bilateral engagement with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

Jaishankar's first destination will be the Maldives, where he will inaugurate a number of India-supported projects and firm up several agreements to further bolster bilateral cooperation.

His visit to from March 28 to March 30 comes over a week after India announced a USD 1 billion line of credit to the island nation to help it deal with the ongoing economic crisis.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said during his visit to the Maldivian city of Addu from March 26 to March 27, Jaishankar will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulla Shahid.

"The external affairs minister's visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the and enhance its security," the MEA said in a statement.

The is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

Jaishankar will visit from March 28 to March 30. The trip follows the visits to India by Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Foreign Minister GL Peiris in February.

"The bilateral meetings and interactions which the external affairs minister will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA said.

Jaishankar will also participate in the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) ministerial meeting on March 29 in Colombo.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in the prime minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First," the MEA said.

"The external affairs minister's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," it said.

SAGAR or "Security and Growth for all in the Region" is aimed at cooperative measures for sustainable use of the oceans in the region.

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External Affairs Minister will arrive in next week for bilateral talks and engagements, the Indian High Commission here said on Saturday.

This will be his first visit to the island nation since India extended an economic relief package to bail out of the current economic crisis.

External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar will undertake a visit to #SriLanka for bilateral and # engagements on 28-30 March, the India mission here tweeted.

Besides India and Sri Lanka, the comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

The summit is being hosted by in its capacity as the chair of the seven-nation grouping BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the virtual summit of the BIMSTEC grouping on March 30, which is expected to focus on expanding economic engagement among its member countries.

The summit comes at a time when Sri Lanka is facing its all-time worst foreign exchange crisis after the pandemic hit the island nation's earnings from tourism and remittances.

India, since mid-January, has provided economic relief in the form of currency swaps, deferred repayments and dedicated credit lines for the purchase of fuel and essential imports.

Jaishankar's visit is taking place at a time when the public outrage over the Lankan government's inefficiency in handling the crisis has come out in the open.

People are holding protests and vigils urging immediate solutions to rid them of fuel and gas queues and enduring long hours of power cuts.

In recent days, the Opposition as well as a section of the government allies had also raised concerns over some of the newly-approved Indian projects in the island nation.

Sri Lanka is facing an acute economic and energy crisis triggered due to shortage of foreign exchange. A sudden rise in prices of key commodities and fuel shortage forced tens of thousands of people to queue for hours outside petrol filling stations. People are also facing long hours of power cuts daily.

All essentials are in short supply due to import restrictions forced by the forex crisis.

India recently announced to extend a USD 1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial assistance to help the country deal with the economic crisis.

New Delhi had extended a USD 500 million line of credit to Colombo in February to help it purchase petroleum products.

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Agriculture Minister on Saturday stressed that it is important to ensure quality of agri produces for enabling farmers to get good prices.

The minister was speaking at 93rd Annual General Meeting of the ICAR Society here, according to an official statement.

Tomar said the Modi government is committed for the betterment of the Indian Agriculture.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always encouraged the farmers and scientists of the country to compete at the global level, he said.

"This has led to the steady increase in the export of agricultural products from India," he said.

Ensuring the better quality of the agricultural products has always been the main concern of the prime minister, the agriculture minister said.

Tomar highlighted the pivotal role played by the ICAR through its research and technology development in creating the food and nutritional security in the country.

He underlined that the record production of the food grains and horticultural products has made India self-sufficient to meet not only the domestic demands but also exports.

In terms of many agricultural products, India ranks first or second in the world and we aim to establish the quality of our products and our credibility as a trusted brand in the world," Tomar said.

The Union Minister noted that quality is important for enabling the farmers to get fair prices for their products.

He urged the Council to start the preparations for its Centenary celebrations (in the Year - 2029) at the national and international levels.

Tomar said the ministry is committed to take forward the Digital Agriculture Mission, which will reduce the farmers' cost of cultivation.

(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.)
Union Minister on Saturday said there was need for heavy investment in the health and education sectors in the country.

Speaking at the inauguration of Ushakal Abhinav Institute of Medical Sciences in Sangli in the presence of Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil, Gadkari hailed the latter's move to create "five-star" government clinics and model public schools in the district.

"Large-scale public-private investment is needed in the social sector, especially in health and education. It is needed as the government has limited resources," he said.

He added that there is less economic viability in setting up a hospital but along with the hospital if a medical and paramedical college is set up, the economic viability and the internal rate of return increase.

India is lagging in the insurance, pension investment and shares economies, whereas almost everyone has health insurance in the US and Europe, with the insurance firm having direct contact with the hospital.

"My department is working on building 350 heliports along the highways because, in the coming days, drones and helicopters will be used for various purposes, including transporting patients to hospitals," he said.

Speaking about organ donation, Gadkari said, "Every year, five lakh road accidents take place in India. Around 1.5 lakh people die and 3 lakh people receive injuries. Some 65 per cent people in the deceased category are in the 18-45 age group. There is great need for organ donation.

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External Affairs Minister extended greetings to his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen and the people of the country on their Independence Day.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Jaishankar said that he looks forward to working together to add more pages to the golden chapter of India- Maitri.

"Warm greetings to FM Dr AK Abdul Momen and the Government and people of # on their Day. Look forward to working together to add more pages to the golden chapter of India- Maitri," he said.

Bangladesh and India are committed to further strengthening and consolidating the existing excellent relations that are founded on commonalities of values, culture and legacies based on mutual trust, respect and understanding.

The Bangladesh Day on March 26 commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

India and Bangladesh observed December 6 as Maitri Diwas as New Delhi had recognised Dhaka on this day in 1971.

India was the second country, after Bhutan, to recognize Bangladesh as a sovereign and independent state on December 6 in 1971. The day was designated by Prime Minister as Bangladesh India Friendship Day (Moitree Dibosh) in March 2021.

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The on Friday restrained five trade unions in the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Kochi, from participating in the nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 called by a joint forum of trade unions.

Considering a plea filed by the challenging the trade unions in the company joining the protest, Justice Amit Rawal issued an interim order restraining the unions from going on strike according to their call from 7 am on March 28 to 7 am on March 30.

In his plea, Chief General Manager in-charge (HR) Kurian P Alappatt had said that under the provisions of Section 22 of the Industrial disputes Act, 1947, strikes and lock-outs in respect of a public utility service are prohibited during the pendency of any conciliation proceedings.

The apprehension of the petitioner was that since the is a public utility service, owing to the strike notice given by the trade unions, the functioning of its various units would be seriously impacted and the intervention of the court was sought.

Cochin Refineries Employees' Association, Cochin Refineries Workers' Association, General and Construction Workers' Union, Cochin Refineries General Workers Congress and Kerala Petroleum And Gas Workers Union had given notices to the BPCL management informing that they are going on strike on March 28 and 29.

A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29, to protest against the Union government's policies affecting workers, farmers and people.

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Prime Minister and Union Home Minister are scheduled to make official visits to during early April, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Saturday, as he made it clear that there will be no discussions regarding the much awaited cabinet rejig, during these visits.

The Chief Minister, who also holds the Finance portfolio said that a committee headed by the Chief Secretary is being constituted for the first time in the state, to supervise budget implementation.

"On April 1, Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah, who is working for reforms in the cooperative sector, will be visiting the state to attend a large meeting related to 'Ksheerabhivruddi bank' that we are planning to launch, aimed at giving a financial boost to the dairy sector that will increase farmers income and provide them financial support," Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, Prime Minister is expected to visit the state on April 5, it is still tentative and has not been fully finalised.

Asked whether the much awaited expansion of his cabinet will be discussed during the visits, he said, "they are visiting the state for government programmes, the cabinet will not be discussed in Bengaluru. Whenever the leadership calls me, I will go to Delhi and discuss it."



There is pressure mounting on the Chief Minister to expand or rejig his cabinet soon, after the Assembly elections in five states.

Some legislators have even been advocating Gujarat-like overhaul of the Cabinet soon, to make way for new faces, ahead of assembly election next year.

There are currently 30 Ministers in the State Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, against the sanctioned strength of 34.

Stating that he has instructed departments concerned to initiate implementation of the budget, Bommai said a committee headed by the Chief Secretary is being constituted to look into implementation and issuing of orders in this regard.

"The committee that also consists of the Development Commissioner will coordinate with all the departments including the finance department, and supervise all the activities from issuing of the work order regarding budget announcements to its implementation," he said, adding that this is for the first time such a special committee is being formed for budget implementation.

Further, noting that his government has given priority to industrialisation, Bommai said, all preparations are on for the Global Investors Meet in November and the government expects a large scale investment.

During the last three quarters, has stood number one in the country in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), he said, adding this shows the trust of foreign investors in our state.

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Home Minister Narottam Mishra has said that company Zomato's new feature promising delivery of food within 10 minutes is akin to jeopardising the life of delivery persons and people on roads and asked the company to change the quick delivery plans.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mishra said that will not be allowed to violate traffic rules and the company will be held responsible for the violation of traffic rules and accidents that occur during the instant delivery process.

"Zomato's plan of delivering food in 10 minutes is like playing with the lives of its employees (delivery partners) as well as the lives of other people. Let alone Zomato, no one will be allowed to violate traffic rules in . I am exhorting to change these plans, Mishra said.

He said persons can reach the destination within 10 minutes only by "driving rashly and dangerously".

"The company will be responsible for any mishap and rules' violation," the home minister added.

founder Deepinder Goyal had on Monday announced the company's plans to start a pilot of 'Zomato Instant' with four stations in Gurugram from April.

Amid criticism of the new feature, the online platform on Tuesday clarified that there are no penalties for late deliveries and no incentives for on-time deliveries for both 10-minute and 30-minute deliveries.

The 10-minute delivery will be for specific nearby locations, the popular and standardised menu only, Goyal had said in a series of tweets.

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A government school teacher who was raided by the (EOW) of police on Saturday for alleged disproportionate assets has turned out to be the owner of 20 colleges, an official said.

The raids were carried out at the house and other premises of Prashant Parmar, a primary school teacher posted in Ghatigaon here, he added.

"Initial investigation after the raids in Gwalior and other places have shown that Parmar owns 20 colleges offering D.Ed and B.Ed courses in the Gwalior-Chambal division. The documents pertaining to these colleges are being probed," EOW Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Chaturvedi said.

"These assets are over 1,000 times his known sources of income. He also owns four offices. The raid is underway and more information about the teacher's disproportionate assets is being collected," he added.

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Transport Minister Anil Parab on Friday urged agitating MSRTC staffers to return to work by March 30



Speaking in the Assembly, Parab said a three-member committee appointed by the government has ruled out the merger of State Corporation with the state government.

He also said the government and the corporation have given the agitators more than what they could.

A section of the Maharashtra State Corporation (MSRTC) employees have been on strike since October last year, demanding that the undertaking be merged with the state government, which would give them better salaries and greater job security.

The three-member committee gave its report and the state government accepted the same in its cabinet meeting. The committee has ruled out the merger demand in its report. The report throws light on financial, legal and administrative aspects, Parab said.

The MSRTC and the state government gave the staffers more than what they could give. Hence, in this backdrop, I request the staffers to resume work on March 30, he said, adding that the state-run undertaking had not sacked anyone so far.

He also asked agitating staffers not to get depressed and attempt suicide.

"It has been said that hundreds of staffers have committed suicide. The fact is 48 have committed suicide. Of this, three committed suicide due to irregular salary. One staffer committed suicide because of debt. Rest are due to personal or other reasons," Parab said.

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Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit Varanasi during his official visit to India from April 1 to 3.

As per the itinerary, he will meet Prime Minister on April 2.

This will be his first visit to India after becoming Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom in July 2021. He has visited India in each of his four earlier stints as PM. His last visit to India was in 2017.

This visit is a part of the tradition of periodic high-level exchanges between the two countries. It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in the health sector, power, connectivity, people to people links and other issues of mutual interest.

This comes after Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi's conclusion of his three-day visit to .

Wang's visit comes in the backdrop of ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, a grant of USD 500 million developmental assistance from the US to Kathmandu, seen as a setback for China.

The Chinese official, associated with China's diplomatic corps in Kathmandu, said that in the lead up to the compact's endorsement, there was a lack of coordination among the Chinese agencies handling Nepal. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he also said the communication gap between Beijing and the Chinese Embassy was also growing, according to the Annapurna Express article.

Nepal's federal parliament did ratify the compact, as the Americans wished, but in the run-up to ratification, Beijing tried hard to stop it.

It sees the USD 500 million development grant to Nepal as a part of America's strategy to encircle China, the article noted.

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A Delhi court has sought CBI's response within two weeks on the bail plea of former managing director and chief executive officer of Stock Exchange (NSE) in connection with the NSE co-location case.

Special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal issues notice to the agency and directed it to file its response to her bail application by April 8.

The application, filed on Friday, claimed that Ramkrishna was not required for further interrogation and that no purpose will be served by keeping her in custody.

The application also said that the accused was ready to follow any condition imposed by the court.

The CBI arrested Ramkrishna on Sunday after her anticipatory bail application was dismissed by the court earlier.

The court had on Thursday dismissed the bail application of NSE's former group operating officer (GOO) Anand Subramanian in the case.

The CBI had recently questioned Ramkrishna in the matter. The Income Tax (IT) Department earlier raided various premises linked to her in Mumbai and Chennai.

Ramkrishna has also been on the radar of the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Recently the CBI court had sent Anand Subramanian, former Group Operating Officer and advisor to Ramkrishna, to CBI custody.

He was arrested by the CBI from Chennai in connection with the NSE case.

The arrest was made in the case related to the co-location scam, the FIR for which was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country's largest stock exchange.

The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to the stock brokers.

Earlier, The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) penalised the Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former CEOs Ramakrishna and Ravi Narayan and two other officials for lapses in recruitment at the senior level.

Narain was the MD and CEO of the Stock Exchange from April 1994 till March 2013, while Ramkrishna was MD and CEO of the NSE from April 2013 to December 2016.

The market regulatory observed that the NSE and its top executives violated securities contract norms relating to the appointment of Subramaniam as group operating officer and advisor to the managing director.

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Union Minister on Friday justified the hikes in fuel prices, thrice in the last four days, saying that the had gone up within the international market owing to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which was beyond the Indian government's control.

Speaking at a session titled New India, New Manifesto-Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas, at the ABP Network's inaugural deas of India' summit here on Friday, Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, also said that, Sometimes, Hindutva is projected in a wrong way.

In India, 80 per cent of the oil is imported. Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the have spiralled up within international markets and we can not do anything about that, he said when asked about the high and prices and how the government was planning to the issue.

The minister said that he has been making a pitch for making India self-reliant since 2004, with which, we need to make our own fuel, while laying stress on the need for developing indigenous energy generation capabilities.

and prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Friday, the third increase in four days, as oil firms recoup losses from holding rates during the period prior to the recently-concluded assembly elections.

These hikes are the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision began in June 2017.

With three increases beginning March 22, and prices have gone up by Rs 2.40 a litre.

A record 137-day hiatus in rate revision ended on March 22 with an 80 paise per litre increase in rates, and similar hikes have followed in the subsequent days.

The prices had been on a freeze since November 4 ahead of the assembly elections in five states -- a period during which the cost of crude oil soared by USD 30 per barrel.

India will soon have a Rs 40,000 crore ethanol, methanol and bio-ethanol production economy, reducing our dependence on petroleum imports, he said.

Leading car and two-wheeler manufacturers in India are working on developing products with flex-fuel engines which will be launched in the coming months, he mentioned.

Highlighting the manufacturing capabilities of India in developing battery and green hydrogen technology, he said, The prices of IC (internal combustion) engines and electric vehicles will be on par in India in the next two years. We are working on developing green hydrogen production indigenously in the country by harnessing it from sources like sewage water and biomass.

Emphasising that the BJP does not accept any discrimination based on caste, religion, language or gender, he said, Sometimes, Hindutva is projected in a wrong way. The basic principle of Hindutva is justice for all and appeasement of none.

According to Gadkari, in the BJP's philosophy, nationalism is the primary focus.

The second focus lies in good governance and development while the third most important pillar is Antyodya, under which we try to uplift those who belong to socially and economically backward classes, he said.

Stating that the Supreme Court has rightly described Hindutva as a way of life, Gadkari said that religion and community are different from each other.

So sometimes, Hindutva is interpreted as anti-Christian and anti-Muslim. In the last seven years (since the Modi-led NDA government came into power), none of the Central government schemes have been discriminatory against anyone. There was no communal approach in our schemes, he said.

On the non-BJP states not declaring the movie The Kashmir Files' tax-free, unlike some BJP ruled states, he said, The Indian Constitution has a Federal structure. Every state government has a right either to make or not to make a movie tax-free. We respect that.

On being asked about the lack of a strong opposition in the country, Gadkari said, I want to tell the opposition that in politics, no defeat is ultimate.

He quoted former US president Richard Nixon, A man is not finished when he is defeated but a man is finished when he quits.

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Electric on Saturday said it is investigating the incident of its electric scooter catching fire in Pune and will take appropriate action.

A video of the company's electric scooter catching fire has been widely circulated on social media with users raising questions over the safety standards of the vehicle.

Reacting to the incident, co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in a tweet: "Safety is top priority. We're investigating this and will fix it."



In a detailed statement on Twitter, the Bengaluru-based company stated: "We are aware of an incident in Pune that happened with one of our in Pune and are investigating to understand the root cause and will share updates in the next few days."



The company further said it is constantly in touch with the customer "who is absolutely safe".

Asserting that vehicle safety is of paramount importance for it, Electric said, "We take this one incident seriously and will take appropriate action and share more in coming days."



This is the first safety-related incident reported since the company started deliveries of the electric scooter. It had earlier faced issues with delivery timelines.

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More than 20 Congress leaders, including former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, held a meeting at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district on Saturday.

Sukhpal Khaira, Congress MLA from Bholath who was present at the meeting, said that it was part of efforts to ensure a speedy revival of the party in .

He said like-minded Cong MLAs, ex-MLAs, 2022 assembly election candidates and the former PCC president converged at the residence of former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema at Sultanpur Lodhi.

"'We're sure party will take future decisions on merit n honesty in accordance with the mandate of 'Badlav' (change)," said Khaira in a tweet.

Sidhu, who quit as unit chief on the direction of Congress president Sonia Gandhi following the party's defeat in the recent assembly polls, shared a picture of the meeting on Twitter.

We will fight for Punjab's rights and truth with good intentions and honesty, he tweeted.

Other prominent leaders present at the meeting were MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Rakesh Pandey, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Ashwani Sekhri, Nazar Singh Manshahia, Pirmal Singh Dhaula and Davinder Singh Ghubaya.

The Congress received a drubbing in the recently-held Punjab assembly polls as it could win only 18 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party stormed to power by bagging 92 seats of the 117-assembly segments in the state.

Navjot Sidhu was also defeated by AAP candidate and political greenhorn Jeevan Jyot Kaur from Amritsar East seat.

Sidhu had resigned as the party's Punjab chief after Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers following the poll debacle.

(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.)
Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will pay a three-day visit to India from April 1 with an aim to further strengthen bilateral ties, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.

Deuba will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2, they said.

Besides official engagements in Delhi, the Nepalese prime minister is also scheduled to visit Varanasi.

This will be Deuba's first bilateral visit abroad after becoming the prime minister in July 2021.

He visited India in each of his four earlier stints as the prime minister of . His last visit to India in his capacity as the prime minister was in 2017.

The people cited above said Deuba's visit to India is in the tradition of periodic high-level exchanges between the two countries.

"It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in the health sector, power, connectivity, people-to-people links and other issues of mutual interest," said one of the people.

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The history and destiny of a nation is determined by 3 Ps -- principles, people and parliament, of India, Sushil Chandra said on Saturday.

"The principles and core values were set out very clearly in the Constitution of . Being a representative democracy, it is the will of her people, which is sovereign and most powerful. The Parliament is the repository of the Trust of people and an expression of this sovereign will," Chandra said at an event where 'Sansad Ratna Awards 2022' were presented to Parliamentarians.

"This casts a heavy responsibility on the Members of Parliament. It is a sacred trust, which, in the words of India's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad ji, has to be approached with humility and prayer," he said at the event organised by Prime Point Foundation, Chennai, here.

Chandra also elaborated on the Parliament and the welfare of people and the importance of good legislature. The classical functions of a good legislature, the CEC said, are being inclusive; to engage and be responsive and raise matters of public importance in Parliament.

He also went on to describe roles of Standing Committees in the Parliamentary democracy and then, narrated the efforts made by the election Commission for improving voter participation and how "despite the pandemic, when other countries cancelled elections, the conducted state assembly polls with all due procedures and protocols followed."

The Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Dr M. Veerappa Moily (Congress) and Dr H.V. Hande (BJP).

The Lok Sabha - Excellence Award General - Overall tally was presented to Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP, Jharkhand); the Lok Sabha - Excellence Award - First time MP - was presented to Kuldeep Rai Sharma (INC, Andaman Nicobar Islands); Lok Sabha - Excellence Award - Women MP - overall tally was presented to Heena Vijayakumar Gavit (BJP, Maharashtra); the Lok Sabha - Topper in Initiated Debates was presented to Saugata Roy (AITMC, West Bengal); the award for Lok Sabha - Topper in Questions was Sudhir Gupta (BJP, Madhya Pradesh), Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award -Sitting MPs - General - was presented to Amar Patnaik (BJD, Odisha), the Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award - Sitting MPs - Women MP - Total tally was presented to Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan (NCP, Maharashtra) and the Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award -Retired MPs was presented to K.K. Ragesh (CPI-M, Kerala).

The Excellence Awards - Lok Sabha Committee were given for Agriculture (Chairman: P.C. Gaddi Goudar, BJP, Karnataka); for Finance (Chairman: Dr Jayant Sinha, BJP, Jharkhand); for Labour (Chairman: Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJD, Odisha) while the same for Excellence Award - Rajya Sabha Committee were given for Education (Chairman: Dr Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe, BJP, Maharashtra).

The awards for Super performers - sustained performance (Sansad Vishisht Ratna) N.K. Premachandran (RSP, Kerala) and Shrirang Appa Barne (Shiv Sena, Maharashtra).

A committee headed by Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS, parliamentary Affairs, and co-chaired by T.S. Krishnamurthy, former of had nominated the MPs for Sansad Ratna Awards 2022 for their performance in the current Parliament till the end of the winter session in 2021.

--IANS

niv/skp/

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The Tenyimi Peoples' Organisation (TPO), an apex body of the Tenyimi tribes in and Manipur, said that the best way to resolve the boundary dispute between the two Northeastern states is to respect the traditional ownership.

In a statement, TPO president Timikha Koza said that it has been more than five years since the "Arbitration Undertaking" was signed in 2017 by the three contending parties over the areas of Kezoltsa, Koziirii, Kazing, Dzkou, agreeing that the dispute shall be resolved by Naga customary way.

The contending parties are Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO) of Nagaland, and Mao Council and Maram Khullen of Manipur, it said.

Since then the TPO through various communications made emphatically clear to the two state governments that it has no intention to meddle in the affairs of the states and its boundaries, but only trying to resolve the misunderstanding and dispute within the Tenyimi tribes, it said.

"In spite of all these appeals and communications, the Government of remains hell-bent on defying the good intentions of the people working towards amicable resolution of the dispute and restoration of healthy relationship amongst all concerned," the TPO alleged.

It is this total disregard and ill-motive of the government, which provoked the SAPO to call for the bandh, it said.

SAPO is observing an indefinite bandh since March 23 over the issue.

The best way to maintain peace and social harmony is to respect the traditional ownership and adjudicate disputes by trying to bring about understanding without harping so much on the state boundaries, the TPO said.

Meanwhile, the Southern Angami Youth Organization (SAYO), which is enforcing the bandh in the Southern Angami areas, said its parent body will call it off once the government withdraws its armed personnel from the disputed area in Kezoltsa.

Speaking to reporters at Kimipfuphe ground of Kigwema village in Kohima district, SAYO president Metekhrielie Mejura said he wondered why the Manipur government was hesitant to remove its forces who have "illegally occupied" Kezoltsa.

"Despite all humble and polite approaches to withdraw armed personnel and stop any developmental activities, they never paid heed in any manner. This is the reason why we have brought the issue to the streets by calling the indefinite bandh," said Mejura.

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The Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) content in has come down to 0.3 per cent from 1 per cent in the past 70 years which is a cause of concern for the agriculture sector, National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) CEO Ashok Dalwai has said.

SOC is the main component of the soil organic matter and gives soil its water-retention capacity, structure, and fertility, he told reporters in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on Friday evening.

Dalwai said that such a drastic fall in the OSC content affects the productivity of soil as micro-organisms do not survive, a key factor to provide nutrients for plants.

Intensive cultivation of crops without providing proper compost to the soil is the reason behind the fall in SOC content, he said, adding that farmers should reduce their over-dependence on pesticides and fertilisers.

Biofertilizers and compost can increase the SOC level of the soil, he added.

He said around 51 per cent of the land was irrigated in the country through major, minor and micro-irrigation projects in the past 70 years but 51 per cent of land under cultivation is rainfed.

"The government is introducing technologically-advanced micro-irrigation projects in these areas, which will save 30 to 40 per cent water," Dalwai said.

He said that the average crop production in irrigated land is 3 tonne per acre while crop production in the rainfed area stood at just 1.1 tonne per acre.

Speaking about the pulses mission launched by the Centre, Dalwai said the production of pulses was increased from 16.7 million tonne in 2016-17 to 25 million tonne in 2021-22. Similarly, the production of oilseeds rose to 32 million tonne this year from 24 million tonne in 2016-17.

He also said that the government was experimenting to introduce sugar beet as a substitute for sugarcane for the production of sugar.

Sugarcane is available for just six months for sugar factories. Introduction of sugar beet as a substitute would reduce the dependency of factories on the sugar cane, he added.

B S Dwivedi, Director ICAR- NBSS&LUP, said that land resource inventory (LRI) and alternate Land Use Plans (LUP) are being prepared for the Vidarbha region in the east Maharashtra.

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Yogesh Maurya, the son of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, sustained minor injuries when the car in which he was travelling collided with a tractor in Kalpi area of Jalaun on Saturday, police said.

Yogesh Maurya was on his way to offer prayers at Pitambara Peeth in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, they said.

Jalaun Superintendent of Police Ravi Kumar said the deputy chief minister's son, along with his three companions, was travelling in an SUV and it collided with a tractor coming from the opposite direction on the highway.

Maurya suffered minor injuries and was taken to the guest house of the Public Works Department, Kumar said said, adding a team of doctors was called and first aid was given to him.

District Magistrate Priyanka Niranjan too reached the guest house, while the damaged SUV was removed from the road with the help of a crane, police said.

Meanwhile, Keshav Prasad Maurya, in a tweet in Hindi, said, "With the blessings of Pitambara maa and all of you, my son Yogesh Kumar Maurya is safe. After consultations with doctors, he will again leave for the darshan of Pitambara maa.

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A three-member team from the had a meeting with J&K Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Saturday regarding the World Bank-funded projects being implemented in .

The team was led by Abhas Jha, Practice Manager, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, South Asia Region, and also comprised Deepak Singh, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist, and Hemang Karelia, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist.

The team lauded the efforts of J&K government in streamlining the implementation of the World Bank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) during the past two years.

The Chief Secretary had a detailed discussion with the visiting team about the progress made on JTFRP.

Mehta emphasised the need for exploring more possibilities for capacity building of engineers in the sphere of seismic proof construction. He expressed hope that the World Bank would continue to support J&K in the areas of climate change, sustainable development, environmental sustainability and other significant sectors.

Later, the World Bank team visited the 500 LPM manifold oxygen plant at SDH Charar-e-Sharief in Budgam, one of the manifold oxygen plants constructed by J&KERA under the World Bank-funded JTFRP.

It was informed that the oxygen plant at Charar-e-Sharief will directly benefit around one lakh people in various areas of the remote Charier-e-Sharief tehsil.

Under the World Bank-funded JTFRP, 30 oxygen plants have been constructed by J&KERA at a cost of Rs 70 crore in the most far-flung areas across J&K.

--IANS

zi/arm

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two officials of the Ltd (IOCL) arrested on graft charges in Maharashtra's Nagpur and Gondia districts were remanded to custody on Saturday, an official said.

The had on Friday arrested Manish Nandle, chief manager (Retail Sales), IOCL, while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a petrol pump owner to transfer the ownership of the pump, he said.

The accused official was produced in a special court and the has obtained his custody till March 29, the official said.

The agency also nabbed Sunil Golar, sales officer in Gondia while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a petrol pump owner to allow the smooth functioning of his establishment. The court remanded him to CBI custody till March 27, he said.

A hunt has been launched for absconding accused N P Rodge, the general manager (retail sales), he added.

During a raid at Nandle's residence, the CBI officials seized some property documents and some cash, while Rs 2 lakh cash and some property documents were recovered from Golar's house in Gondia, it was stated.

(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.)
Hours after taking oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, on Friday held an introductory meeting with his new ministers at Lok Bhavan here.

A senior government official said that Adityanath is likely to meet his cabinet members on Saturday.

"In this introductory meeting, the chief minister thanked the people of the state for reposing their faith in nationalism, safety, good governance and development," the Uttar Pradesh government said in a statement.

He also said that serving the people is the most pious work, and discharging duties with commitment and loyalty provides satisfaction.

Observing that honesty and transparency are extremely important in public life, the chief minister said the focus should be on performance-based work.

The ministers should also keep a special watch on their private staff. They should visit their districts as in-charge ministers, do physical verification of development work and also take feedback from the people, Adityanath said.

The chief minister added that a special programme be organised for the ministers at IIM-Lucknow to give speed to the developmental works, the statement said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese social media platform, users, on Friday called on officials to rethink the zero-COVID policy after Xinhua's official account posted the importance of dynamic zero-COVID strategy and touted it as the most effective and conducive for economic and social development.

The Xinhua post stated that it is a practical and feasible strategy based on China's national conditions.

It asked the citizens to work towards it in a solid and meticulous manner so the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic can be won.

The post received many comments calling for a rethink on a 2-year-old strategy that is causing trouble to the public. The post was deleted later on.

Many posts on have emerged showing the excessive price rise in vegetables due to pandemic control measures. Most of them are from Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The Chinese mainland reported 1,280 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the National Health Commission.

The COVID-19 pandemic situation in continues to heat up as more than 20 provinces and cities have imposed travel bans and lockdowns.

The situation in more than 20 provinces and cities including Jilin, Hebei, Guangdong, and Shanghai has deteriorated.

The country has clung to a zero-tolerance approach to the virus that relies on stringent lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine in government facilities.

Moreover, China's zero tolerant COVID policy resulting in the killing of pets is drawing widespread criticism by Chinese citizens who have started questioning the government regarding violation of privacy, security of the property and cruelty against animals, according to a media report.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister on Saturday said is uniting the world in pursuit of good and wellness as he lauded the Indian embassy's "great effort" in Doha for holding a session for people of 114 nationalities.

In his tweets, Modi also referred to the Ministry of Ayush signing the 'host country agreement' with the World Organization for establishing the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, and said India is honoured to be home to such a state-of-the-art centre.

"This centre will contribute towards making a healthier planet and leveraging our rich traditional practices for global good," he said.

Traditional medicines and wellness practices from India are very popular globally, he noted, adding that the WHO centre will go a long way in enhancing wellness in the society.

The World Organization had earlier tweeted that it and the Indian government have agreed to establish the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine to maximise the potential of traditional medicines through modern science and technology.

(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 Modi government on Saturday extended the scheme to provide 5 kg of foodgrains free of cost to the poor by six months till September 30 at a cost of Rs 80,000 crore.

Barely hours after the newly elected Uttar Pradesh government extended its free ration scheme for three months starting from April, the Centre too chipped in by extending the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), or free foodgrain scheme, for another six months.

The Centre will incur an additional of around Rs 80,000 crore for extending the scheme for another six months, which will be over and above the Budget Estimates for FY23, pegged at Rs 2.06 trillion.

Thus, as of now, the total expenditure on food subsidy, after the current extension of PMGKAY, will be Rs 2.86 trillion.

Under the PMGKAY, the Centre gives an additional 5 kilograms of rice or wheat per month to the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) over and above their usual monthly quota for free.

This means that every poor household would get nearly double the normal quantity of ration, an official statement said.

The programme was first started in April 2020, immediately after the nationwide lockdown as a relief measure, and has since continued non-stop barring a minor break in April 2021.

For the six months starting from April 1, 2022, the Centre will need to allocate around 24.4 million tonnes of wheat and rice for PMGKAY over and above the usual allocation for NFSA.

This should not be much of a problem because as on March 1, 2022, the Centres foodgrains stocks in the Central pool is estimated to be around 97.08 million tonnes, which includes 44.11 million tonnes of unmilled paddy lying with the millers.

This is far more than the normal stocks required to be maintained at the end of the financial year at around 21.04 million tonnes for meeting the buffer and strategic norms requirement.

That apart, the Centre has fixed a target of purchasing around 44.4 million tonnes of wheat from farmers in FY23.

However, how far and by how much will the target be met remains to be seen considering that wheat prices in open markets are ruling almost Rs 200-Rs 300 per quintal more than the MSP of Rs 2,015 per quintal due to surge in export orders in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

If the wheat procurement in the next financial year (FY23) drops below the targeted 44.4 million tonnes to, say, around 35 million tonnes, then it remains to be seen how the government manages the stocks.

This is because it needs to provide around 60.3 million tonnes per year to run the usual public distribution system under the National Food Security Act.

Meanwhile, the Centre said in a statement that after todays extension, the government in total will spend around Rs 3.4 trillion on PMGKAY since its inception in April 2020.

And, it has allocated almost 100.3 million tonnes of foodgrains for free distribution since April 2020, which is over and above the normal ration quota for each household.

The benefit of this free ration can be availed through portability by any migrant labour or beneficiary under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan from nearly 500,000 across the country. So far, over 610 million portability transactions have benefitted the beneficiaries away from their homes, the government statement added.

It added that even though the Covid pandemic has significantly abated and economic activities are gathering momentum, this PMGKAY extension would ensure that no poor household goes to bed without food during this time of recovery.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the UP government in its first cabinet decision under Chief MInister Yogi Adityanath's second term extended the free ration distribution scheme for another three months starting from April .

The state will spend close to Rs 3,500 crore on the scheme. The UP government tops the free rice and wheat with a kilogram of pulses, refined edible oil, salt and sugar free of cost to its almost 150 million ration card holders.

The scheme and its rather corruption-free effective delivery has been touted as one of the main factors that worked in favour of the incumbent Yogi Adityanath government in the just concluded state polls despite all the odds, several political commentators said.
With an aim to boost employment opportunities and give an impetus to electronics manufacturing, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister on Saturday proposed to set up an electronic city in the national capital to create 80,000 jobs.

The announcement was made during his budget presentation for the financial 2022-23. The electronic city will come up at Baprola.

"We will set up an electronic city at Baprola in Delhi to create 80,000 jobs through electronics manufacturing," Sisodia said in his budget speech.

He said the move will also attract IT companies to the national capital.

"We intend to build the electronic city to create jobs. We will also set up a 90-acre plug-and-play manufacturing centre to attract electronic companies to set up base in Delhi. The redevelopment of the non-conforming industrial areas will be done to create six lakh new jobs," Sisodia said.

The deputy chief minister presented a Rs 75,800 crore budget in the Assembly for the financial year 2022-23 on Saturday.

The budget size for the financial year 2021-22 was Rs 69,000 crore. The budget size for 2022-23 is 9.86 per cent higher than the previous year.

This is the eighth consecutive budget of the (AAP) government.

Sisodia said the 2022-23 budget is a "Rozgar Budget".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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From the academic year 2022-23, students will only need to clear Class 12 and CUET to be eligible for admissions to (DU).

The proposal to consider passing marks in the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admissions, and not the cut-offs as earlier, was passed by the varsity's executive council during its meeting on Friday.

The university also accepted the proposal to set up Delhi School of Analytics (DSA) under Institutes of Eminence.

The DSA will offer short and long-term certificate courses, diploma and degree programmes that will enhance the business analytical skills of students.

A proposal to borrow money from the Financing Agency (HEFA) was also accepted by the council despite some members showing dissent.

The DU will be submitting a proposal of Rs 1,075.40 crore to HEFA for infrastructure development and the creation of capital assets.

According to the HEFA funding pattern, the university will have to repay the loan in 20 bi-annual instalments in 10 years.

The dissenting members were apprehensive that the HEFA proposal will make the public funded university shift from a grant-based model to loan-based model of financing and lead the university towards a debt trap.

They strongly opposed the "dangerous movement towards privatisation and the steep hike in the fees of the students" and said taking a loan was "unacceptable".

In another development, the executive council members raised the issue of the College Of Art not commencing its admission process, following which it was decided that a letter be sent to its principal demanding an explanation.

The DU was informed that the office of the lieutenant governor had in-principle approved the merger of College Of Art with Ambedkar University, subject to its de-affiliation from DU.

The varsity, however, has not approved the de-affiliation as its executive council, the highest decision-making body, opposed the move.

The proposal to establish an Institute of Nanomedical Sciences (INMS) was also cleared by the executive council.

During the meeting, some executive council members demanded that one time regulation for absorption of all ad hoc/temporary teachers of DU be introduced and they demanded that a committee be formed to give effect to this.

(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.)
US Secretary of State will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region's security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.

US preoccupation with Russia's invasion of and bolstering NATO's presence in Eastern Europe has fueled concerns that America's attention may be stretched thin.

Indeed, Blinken's trip was rescheduled several times due to developments in Ukraine, and he was scheduled to arrive in Israel on Saturday from Warsaw after breaking off from President Joe Biden's Ukraine-dominated visit to Belgium and Poland.

Blinken's visit also comes as talks over salvaging a landmark nuclear deal with are winding down amid fears in Israel and among Gulf Arab nations that an agreement may not be tough enough to curb Tehran's regional aggressiveness.

Israel was strongly opposed to the 2015 agreement between and world powers and welcomed then-President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the deal.

Israel has warned against reviving the agreement and says it will not be bound by any new one.

Underscoring regional anxieties, Israel's government has hastily arranged a meeting of top diplomats from Arab countries that have normalised relations with Israel.

In addition to Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, their counterparts from Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates will attend.

Those three countries normalised relations with Israel in 2020 in the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration. Egypt and possibly Jordan, the first two Arab states to recognize Israel, will also send representatives to the gathering to be held at a kibbutz in the Negev Desert where Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, spent his retirement years.

The Biden administration has welcomed the Abraham Accords, one of the few Trump foreign policy initiatives it has praised, and expressed interest in negotiating additional ones despite frosty reaction from the Palestinians.

They have watched unhappily as Arab nations recognize Israel while their own status with Israel remains disputed.

The US has repeatedly said it supports a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, after seeing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem, Blinken will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, on the West Bank, to reaffirm that position.

While and the uncertain status of the nuclear negotiations in Vienna may be the issue of most immediate concern to Israel and its neighbors, the war in and efforts to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion loom large.

That conflict has roiled world energy markets, leading the US and Europe to appeal to Arab and other major oil suppliers to step up production.

The war may also soon result in major food security challenges, particularly across the Middle East, which imports vast quantities of grain from .

Bennett has tried to present himself as a potential mediator between Putin, Ukraine and the West but his discussions with the Russian leader have yet to bear fruit.

US, officials say Blinken plans to discuss possible roles that Israel, which has concerns about the Russian presence in its northern neighbor Syria, could play.

Israel has walked a fine line between Russia and Ukraine since hostilities began last month.

Bennett has expressed support for the Ukrainian people but stopped short of condemning Russia's invasion.

Israel regularly conducts airstrikes on what it says are hostile Iranian military targets in Syria.

Such strikes must be coordinated with Russia, which intervened in Syria's civil war in 2015 on the side of President Bashar Assad. Russia is also a party to the Iran talks.

From Israel, Blinken will travel on to Morocco and Algeria.

Apart from seeing senior Moroccan officials in Rabat, Blinken will also meet there with Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates.

He is a key player in the region and met with Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Egypt this past week, and with el-Sissi, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Jordan.

But he angered the United States by hosting Assad recently, drawing a firm rebuke from Washington.

The US said the meeting was inappropriate while Syria's civil war continues and that there should be no business as usual with Damascus.

The visit was Assad's first to an Arab country since the Syrian uprising began in 2011.

The UAE, a US ally and the driving force behind the Abraham Accords, has also tried to avoid angering Russia.

(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.)
President denounced Vladimir Putin as a butcher while comforting refugees in Poland, saying hes not sure the Kremlin has scaled back its military ambitions in Ukraine.

Bidens comments during a tour of a refugee processing center in Warsaw followed a surprise meeting with Ukrainian officials to discuss how the U.S. could further help the country fight off Russias invasion.

While Biden was visiting the Polish capital, reports on social media and television images showed large plumes of smoke rising over Lviv on Saturday, with air raid sirens sounding in the western Ukrainian city thats near the Polish border.

The mayor said Russian missiles had hit Lviv and told people to stay in shelters. Another city official said three large blasts had been felt. Russian missiles have previously hit sites in western Ukraine, including a military training center and buildings near the airport.

Russias military said Friday it is focusing on taking full control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Biden spoke with refugees from Ukraine -- at one point holding up a little girl and taking a selfie -- and met celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andres at a stadium where Andress World Central Kitchen has a food tent set up along with local vendors to provide meals.

More than 10 million people in Ukraine have been forced from their homes and more than 3.4 million have fled the country, including more than 2 million who have arrived in Poland.

Earlier in the day, Biden updated the Ukrainian officials on U.S. efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraines fight against Russian aggression and the two sides discussed further efforts to help Ukraine defend its territory, the White House said in a statement.

The president is on the final leg of a trip aimed at showing U.S. and allied resolve to counter Russias invasion. He joined a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and their U.S. counterparts -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- dropping in about an hour after it began and remaining for about 40 minutes, the White House said.

The meeting comes as the U.S. and its allies look to show strength and unity while papering over differences regarding limited options and the cold realities of the conflict. The U.S. has ruled out direct military intervention in Ukraine, as well as some of the aid sought by its government, such as providing jets or enforcing a no-fly zone with American planes.

With no sign of a peace deal on the horizon, the U.S. and its allies have signaled concern that Putin may act more dangerously if his campaign stalls. NATO leaders meeting in Brussels earlier this week discussed the potential for chemical, biological or even nuclear attacks by Russia on Ukraine.

In Saturdays meeting, Blinken, Austin and the Ukrainian officials discussed outcomes of Thursdays North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Brussels, as well as the U.S.s unwavering commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of the Russian Federations increasingly brutal assault on Ukrainian cities and civilian population, State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Blinken and Austin pledged continued support to meet Ukraines humanitarian, security, and economic needs, Price said.

Its the first time Biden and Kuleba met face-to-face since Putins Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. In a tweet, the Ukrainian said the meeting was focused on practical decisions in both political and defense spheres.

Biden also met Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda, telling him that the U.S. regards its NATO obligation to defend Poland in the event of attack as a sacred commitment. Duda said Poland is interested in purchasing more U.S. weaponry, and raised the prospect of cooperating further to produce U.S. military hardware in his nation.

We are a serious partner, we are a credible ally, Duda told Biden in translated remarks.

Before returning to Washington, the U.S. president on Saturday evening will deliver what National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has billed as a major address on efforts to aid Ukraine and counter Russian aggression.

Biden will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression, Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One on Friday en route to Poland.

The U.S. and European Union on Friday unveiled an agreement to help Europe wean itself off Russian fuel imports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the U.S. and EU of aiming to destroy Russia through hybrid war, a total war.
US President will host Singaporean Prime Minister at the next week, Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced.

During the meeting on March 29, the two leaders will "reaffirm the importance of the US- Strategic Partnership", Psaki said in a statement on Friday.

According to the Press Secretary, Biden will review efforts to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific and discuss Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine with Prime Minister Lee.

"The President also looks forward to deepening cooperation on a range of shared interests, including upholding freedom of the seas, advancing supply chain resiliency, addressing the crisis in Myanmar, and fighting climate change," Psaki was quoted as saying in the statement.

This will be the second meeting between Biden and Lee after their first at the G20 Summit in Rome last October.

Also on Friday night, Lee's office said the Prime Minister's upcoming trip to the US will "build on the robust, longstanding and multi-faceted relationship" between the two nations.

Besides meeting Biden, the Prime Minister will also hold talks with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Cabinet Secretaries and members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

--IANS

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(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.)
North Korea's test of a big new intercontinental ballistic missile prompted the to press Friday for stiffer UN sanctions, but and showed little appetite for tightening restrictions that they have been trying to ease.

A day after North Korea's first long-range test since 2017, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the council to condemn the launch and encourage to return to negotiations.

It was an egregious and unprovoked escalation that threatens the world, said Thomas-Greenfield, whose country joined Albania, France, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom in calling for the meeting.

Thomas-Greenfield added that the US would propose a measure to update and strengthen sanctions. She declined after the meeting to give specifics.

The Security Council originally imposed sanctions after the North's first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and has tightened them over the years, in response to further nuclear tests and increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Britain agreed Friday more sanctions should be considered, and several other members urged action of some kind.

But veto-wielding and proposed last fall to lift sanctions that bar their neighbour from exporting seafood and textiles, limit its imports of refined petroleum products and prohibit its citizens from working overseas and sending home their earnings.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said Friday that further sanctions would threaten North Korean citizens with unacceptable socioeconomic and humanitarian problems," while Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun urged the council to consider how to accommodate the DPRK's justified security concerns.

He suggested that the US didn't do enough to respond to the North's 2018 self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests.

It is right and proper for the US side to show its goodwill, take actions that have practical relevance and work harder to stabilize the situation, build mutual trust, and relaunch dialogue," Zhang said.

Are they going to come up with concrete actions that can actually solve problems, or are they going to continue to use the (Korean) Peninsula as a bargaining chip in their geopolitical strategy?



Many council members expressed alarm at the launch and appealed to to stop.

The world can ill afford to have multiple crises at this time, said Ghanian Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman, pointing to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

(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.)
After announced a pilot programme to test third-party billing systems in Android and across its wider ecosystem starting with Spotify, Epic Games has said that it is not satisfied with the move.

The Fortnite game developer, which sued after it removed Fortnite from Play for including direct payments, said it plans to continue advocating for an open app ecosystem, reports The Verge.

"Apple and Google continue to abuse their market power with policies that stifle innovation, inflate prices and reduce consumer choice," Corie Wright, Epic's VP of public policy, said in the statement late on Friday.

"One deal does not change the anticompetitive status quo. We will continue to fight for fair and open platforms for all developers and consumers," Wright added.

Epic is not part of Google's pilot programme.

The Google programme, announced earlier this week, will allow a small number of participating developers to offer an additional billing option next to Google Play's billing system and is designed to help it explore ways to offer this choice to users while maintaining its ability to invest in the ecosystem.

"We think that users should continue to have the choice to use Play's billing system when they install an app from Google Play," Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management, had said in a blogpost.

The company said it will be partnering with developers to explore different implementations of user-choice billing, starting with .

"As one of the world's largest subscription developers with a global footprint and integrations across a wide range of device form factors, they are a natural first partner," the company said.

The New Delhi-based Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) has called Google's "user choice billing" announcement for "select" developers a clear admission of guilt and an illusion of choice tactic.

--IANS

na/svn/

(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.)
Halfway through the agenda of achieving the UN Goals (SDGs) by 2030, is on track to meet only 26, or 15 per cent, of the 169 targets, the UN Economic Commission for (UNECE) said.

Seven years after the adoption of the in 2015, must accelerate progress or reverse current trends to achieve its 2030 ambitions, according to the report, which identifies the targets and goals where urgent action is required to make the 2030 agenda a reality, Xinhua news agency quoted the UNECE as saying in its 2022 SDG progress report released here on Friday.

"Our report shows that progress has been too slow: where we needed to accelerate progress on 57 targets (last year), this has now increased to 64; while last year we had nine targets for which we needed to reverse the trend, we now have 15," said UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova.

As a few targets, such as those relating to extreme poverty, food security, maternal mortality or safe drinking water, are on track to meet the SDGs, progress in many other categories must be accelerated.

For instance, although extreme poverty is rare in the UNECE region, targets to reduce poverty and income inequality are not on track to be achieved by 2030, as one in five individuals experience multidimensional poverty across UNECE countries, the report said.

While the UNECE region is on track to meet targets on maternal and child mortality and road safety, all other health targets require acceleration, such as the progress towards reducing the incidence and impact of communicable and non-communicable diseases and improving mental health and wellbeing.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected access to healthcare services with the potential to further slow progress on preventable diseases, premature mortality, mental health and family planning, the report said.

Based on the report's assessment, of all the measurable targets the UNECE region will achieve only 26 SDG targets by 2030, while progress has to accelerate for 64 targets and the current trend needs to be reversed for 15 targets.

Meanwhile, about 40 per cent of the 169 targets cannot be adequately measured by official statistics due to insufficient data, which is an "urgent reminder that reliable, accurate, trustworthy statistics are not only the basis of good technical analysis but are the foundation of evidence-based policymaking at all levels", she said.

--IANS

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(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.)
Formula One said its race in will go ahead as scheduled this weekend despite attacks on the kingdom by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The announcement came a day after the rebels attacked an oil depot located about 11 kilometers (seven miles) from the F1 circuit. The 20 drivers on the grid met several times Friday night in talks that stretched well past 2 a.m. to discuss safety concerns.

Formula 1 and the (governing body) FIA can confirm that following discussions with all the teams and drivers, the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will continue as scheduled, F1 said in a statement Saturday.

Following the widely reported incident that took place in Jeddah on Friday, there has been extensive discussion between all stakeholders, the Saudi government authorities and security agencies who have given full and detailed assurances that the event is secure.

F1 added that it has been agreed with all stakeholders to maintain a clear and open dialogue throughout the event and for the future.

There was a third and final practice session later Saturday scheduled to start at 5 p.m. local time with qualifying set to start under floodlights at 8 p.m.

The top three drivers speak to the media after qualifying and team principals were set for their media duties as scheduled in the early afternoon.

The Houthis acknowledged the attacks on Friday evening and state TV called it a hostile operation.

The Jiddah oil depot erupted in flames when attacked during Friday's first practice session. It caused a raging fire that rattled the drivers enough to hold extraordinary talks regarding F1's presence in .

Many drivers expressed their concerns about racing in the region and Saudi Arabia's human rights records when F1 ran its inaugural event at the circuit last December. Now back at the track a little over three months later, tensions are heightened amidst the attacks.

Conversations between drivers, team principals and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali late into Friday night centered on safety and security conditions.

Friday's second practice was delayed 15 minutes because of an earlier driver meeting that included Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the newly-elected FIA president.

Race promoter Saudi Motorsport Company said earlier Friday that the weekend schedule had not been changed and a third practice and qualifying were still slated for Saturday. Drivers were only leaving the track mere hours before they were due to return.

The attack targeted the North Jiddah Bulk Plant, the same fuel depot the Houthis had attacked five days earlier. The plant is just southeast of the city's airport, a crucial hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca.

The plant stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel for use in the kingdom's second-largest city. It accounts for over a quarter of all of Saudi Arabia's supplies and also supplies fuel crucial to running a regional desalination plant.

The Houthis have twice targeted the North Jiddah plant with cruise missiles. One attack came in November 2020. The second attack was Sunday as part of a wider barrage by the Houthis.

An Associated Press photojournalist covering Friday's first practice saw smoke rising in the distance to the east, just after 5:40 p.m. local time. As the flames rose, the tops of the tanks of the bulk plant were clearly visible.

Also, a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in unleashed a barrage of airstrikes on Yemen's capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said Saturday. The overnight airstrikes on Sanaa and Hodeida both held by the Houthis followed an attack by rebels on an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah.

(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.)
nations have condemned the continued testing of ballistic missiles by North Korea, including the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch conducted on Thursday (Local Time), said a US State Department joint statement.

"We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union strongly condemn the continued testing of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch conducted on March 24, 2022," the statement read.

The Foreign Ministers urged the DPRK to fully comply with all legal obligations arising from the relevant Security Council resolutions. They called on the DPRK to accept the repeated offers of dialogue put forward by all parties concerned, including the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

The ministers while touching upon the risk of mass destruction weapons said, "We call on all States to fully and effectively implement all restrictive measures relating to the DPRK imposed by the UN Security Council and to address the risk of weapons of mass destruction proliferation from the DPRK as an urgent priority."

Notably, India and South Korea also condemned the test of a long-range ballistic missile by the DPRK.

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Germany's actual daily Covid-19 infections were likely to be twice as high as the number of officially reported cases, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has said.

"The number of unreported cases is not known, but it can be assumed that the actual number of new infections is more than twice as high," Lauterbach said on Friday at a press conference.

"Unfortunately, it is not a good situation."

Reported infections remained near record figures as 296,498 cases were reported within 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The seven-day incidence per 100,000 residents slightly rose to a new record level of 1,756.4, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nevertheless, a high number of deaths, around 300 per day, and the "impending overload of the health care system are unacceptable," the German Health Minister said.

"We have come to a situation where we cannot simply wait."

Lauterbach defended the recent easing of nearly all Covid-19 measures in Germany, but urged the federal states to use their right to tighten measures again for particularly critical hotspots.

Unvaccinated people should get a jab as they could "hardly avoid infection at the moment." Although elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions were particularly at risk, nearly 90 per cent had not received a fourth vaccination dose.

As of Thursday, 75.9 per cent of Germany's population had been fully vaccinated, with at least 48.6 million booster shots administered, according to official figures. However, 19.5 million people in the country remain unvaccinated.

--IANS

int/khz/

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Prime Minister has "thanked" the Opposition bigwigs -- Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman -- for moving a no-confidence motion against him, saying it helped his party regain popularity, Express Tribune reported.

"Our estranged party workers have returned to [PTI] after seeing their [opposition leaders'] real faces... Nations fall when they stop differentiating between good and evil," Khan said while addressing a public gathering in Punjab's Kamalia district on Saturday.

Calling PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif a "boot polisher" and "Cherry Blossom", the premier said that Sharif knows that if his government stays in power, he would be put behind bars due on corruption charges, Express Tribune reported.

He also lashed out at former premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, saying he had introduced horse-trading in the country's politics.

"If he [Nawaz] returns to Pakistan, he will first attack the judiciary... He is making attempts to create rifts among the judges and he will never allow an independent judiciary to function," Khan said.

He added that Nawaz, who has been living in London since 2019 for medical treatment, will also "target" the military after coming to power because "he wants to control all institutions" to protect himself from accountability, the report said.

Khan said political leaders with offshore assets can never pursue independent foreign policy, fearing that their wealth could be seized.

"I don't want to strain a country's relations with any other country but there is a difference between 'boot polishing' and maintaining balanced ties," he said while referring to the Opposition's criticism of his remarks against EU diplomats.

--IANS

san/arm

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After the no-confidence motion against the government was adjourned to March 28, Imran Khan's party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has intensified efforts to woo its allies.

According to sources, a delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) is likely to hold a meeting with Prime Minister today, reported ARY News.

It is reported that MQM-P convenor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Amir Khan, Waseem Akhtar and Khawaja Izharul Hassan will depart for Islamabad at 4:00 pm on Saturday.

The development comes after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi yesterday reached out to both the key allies of the ruling PTI-- the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), reported ARY News.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi along with Asad Umar and Pervaiz Khattak met the MQM delegation. Qureshi also had a telephonic conversation with Pakistan Muslim League (Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

As per ARY News, Qureshi and Khattak would meet with PML (Q) leadership at their residence.

The PML(Q), that has been in alliance with the PTI government, is yet to take a clear stance over the no-trust move.

The Pakistani National Assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172. The PTI led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, with Imran Khan's PTI having 155 members, and four major allies MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively.

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Iran's top diplomat said Saturday that the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accepted the idea of continuing to be sanctioned by the US if it meant the restoration of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian's remark in a state television interview may signal a possible opening over the stalemated Vienna talks. It also appeared timed for a visit Sunday by a European Union diplomat involved in the negotiations.

Sanctions on the Guard have been one of the remaining sticking points over restoring the tattered nuclear deal, outside of Russia's demand at the 11th hour of guarantees over its trade relationship with amid Moscow's war on Ukraine. The Guard represents one of the major power bases in the Shiite theocracy and is answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the interview, Amirabdollahian acknowledged that the Guard sanctions were a topic discussed.

High-rank Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials in the country always remind us at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a point, and they say that you should do whatever is necessary for the interests of the country, he said. If you reach a point where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue was raised, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue should not be an obstacle for you.

He added: In my opinion, the high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are showing and raising their self-sacrifice to the highest level.

Though later saying that he wouldn't negotiate on the Guard sanctions, the remark Saturday represents the first time he or any other Iranian official suggested it could be traded away in the negotiations. It came as Spanish diplomat Enrique Mora, who has been the EU's lead negotiator in the talks, was travelling to for meetings Sunday.

Earlier Saturday in Qatar, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said all sides were very close to an agreement for a roadmap restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The deal collapsed in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

I hope it will be possible, because now we are discussing about (a) collateral issue which has nothing to do with the core of the nuclear deal, Borrell said. The work has been hard and we are reaching an end.

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Just 60 miles from Ukraine, President saluted Poland on Friday for welcoming more than 2 million refugees who have fled Russia's invasion. Then he met with humanitarian experts on the ground about what will be needed to mitigate the growing suffering.

Biden said he had hoped to get even closer to the border but was prevented because of security concerns. Still, he said he wanted to visit Poland to underscore that the assistance it is providing is of enormous consequence" as Europe experiences the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

It's not stopping," Biden said of the devastation in . "It's like something out of a science fiction movie.

Biden also visited with some of the thousands of US troops who have been sent near Poland's border to assist with the humanitarian emergency and to bolster the US military presence on the eastern flank of NATO. More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Feb 24 invasion, including about 2.2 million to Poland, according to the United Nations.

Within a few days, the number of refugees displaced from since last month will exceed the number of Syrians routed from their homes over years of conflict after a 2011 uprising turned into a full-scale war, said Samantha Power, the US Agency for Development administrator.

The American military commitment in Poland was apparent as soon as Air Force One touched down, rolling past Patriot missile batteries. More hardware, including heavy trucks and other equipment painted with dark green and brown camouflage, was present at the airport. A nearby convention centre serves as a base for the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

Polish President Andrzej Duda joined Biden for a briefing with humanitarian experts.

Duda, through an interpreter, thanked Biden for his support. He said the Poles see the Ukrainians they are receiving as their guests.

This is the name we want to apply to them," Duda said. We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation.

Biden's first stop was with 82nd Airborne troops, at a barber shop and dining facility where he invited himself to sit down and share some pizza. The Americans are serving alongside Polish troops.

With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, while he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mother's maiden name so as not to draw attention to himself. The president jokingly razzed one service member about his standard-issue short haircut and seriously praised the troops, too.

You are the finest fighting force in the world and that's not hyperbole," Biden said.

He later addressed a group of soldiers in more formal remarks, telling them the nation owes you big. He also borrowed the words of the late Secretary of State Madeline Albright to underscore their place in a fragile moment for the US and its European allies.

"The secretary of state used to have an expression. She said, 'We are the essential nation,'" Biden told the troops. I don't want to sound philosophical here, but you are in midst of a fight between democracy and an an oligarch."



Biden will be in Warsaw on Saturday for further talks with Duda and . The Polish leader had planned to welcome him at the airport on Friday, but his plane was delayed by a technical problem.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden was looking to hear directly from the American troops and humanitarian experts about the situation on the ground and what further steps need to be taken to make sure that we're investing US dollars in the right place.

Biden, who spent Thursday lobbying US allies to stay united against Russia, speculated that what he sees in Poland will reinforce my commitment to have the United States make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks, as well as humanitarian assistance needed both inside and outside Ukraine.

Speaking in Brussels after meetings with other world leaders, Biden said he had visited many war zones and refugee camps during his political career and it's devastating to see young children without parents or men and women with blank looks on their faces wondering, My God, where am I? What's going to happen to me?



He said Poland, Romania and Germany shouldn't be left on their own to deal with the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

This is an responsibility, Biden said shortly after he announced $1 billion in additional assistance to help Ukrainian refugees. He also announced that the United States would take in up to 100,000 of those refugees. The White House has said most Ukrainian refugees eventually want to return home.

Biden said the United States is obligated to be engaged and do all we can to ease the suffering and pain of innocent women and children and men" who make it across the border.

He said, I plan on attempting to see those folks ... I hope I get to see a lot of people.

Some refugees interviewed Friday at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, said they hoped to eventually return to Ukraine. They also weren't very hopeful about Biden's visit.

For sure I do not have any expectations" about Biden, said a tearful Ira Satula, 32, from Kremenchug. Satula was grateful for all the support and Poland's warm reception.

But home is home, and I hope we'll be there soon," Satula said.

Olga Antonovna, 68, from Chernigov, said it's really 50-50" that Biden will help enough.

I think that we needed help a long time ago, long before, she said.

Sullivan said Biden will give a speech Saturday on the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world.

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and signed six agreements related to various projects on Saturday.

The Foreign Ministers of and China, Narayan Khadka and Wang Yi, respectively, witnessed the signing and exchange of agreements, MoUs and documents after delegation-level talks.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the agreements is on a technical assistance scheme for the China-aided feasibility study of the cross-border railway.

Another is on on economic and technical cooperation, under which will increase its annual assistance to from Rs 13 billion to Rs 15 billion and will finance some projects that will be mutually agreed upon between the two sides.

Another agreement is on cooperation on the feasibility study of the China-Nepal Power Grid interconnection where will finance the new alignment of the Ratamate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung transmission line.

Similarly, both sides have also signed a protocol on the safety and health conditions of haylage export from Nepal to China. Another agreement is about providing 98 per cent duty free treatment to imported goods in China.

Likewise, the Chinese side has handed over the certificate of Araniko highway maintenance project Phase III to Nepal.

Both sides have also also approved the minutes of the seventh meeting on enhancing cooperation in the railway sector, which took place in January 2022 in a virtual mode.

Another agreement is about Covid vaccine assistance to Nepal. China will donate an additional 4 million doses of Sinovac to Nepal.

The last one is a protocol on sending a Chinese medical team to work in Nepal.

Wang, who is also the State Councilor, arrived in Kathmandu on Friday after completing his working visit to India where he held talks with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar.

--IANS

giri/arm

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said there has been no consensus with on the four points of negotiations mentioned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"There is no consensus with regarding the four points mentioned by the Turkish President. In particular, the only state language in is Ukrainian and will remain so. And in general the classification of key negotiation topics into four points, or any other number, is inappropriate," Kuleba told Ukrayinska Pravda on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan told reporters that Moscow and Kiev were close to an agreement the four issues -- Ukraine's accession to NATO; recognition of the Russian language as the second official language in Ukraine; demilitarisation; and collective security.

But the Russian demands on the future status of Crimea and the eastern Donbas region continue to be the most important disagreement in negotiations, Xinhua news agency quoted the Turkish leader as saying.

Last week, Erdogan had renewed his offer to bring the leaders of and together in Turkey for final decisions on these topics.

In further remarks to Ukrayinska Pravda, Kuleba said his country's delegation to the peace talks with Russia has taken a strong stance and is not backing down from its demands.

He stressed that is insisting first and foremost on a ceasefire, on guarantees of security and of Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The Foreign Minister also noted that Ukraine will continue its dialogue with Turkey and all interested parties in order to restore peace.

"We hope that Turkey, as a friend and strategic partner of Ukraine, will also continue with its support on all tracks. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that imposing new sanctions on Russia and strengthening Ukraine's defence capabilities are equally important factors to stop the Russian war machine and achieve the desired progress in the negotiations.

"This tripartite strategy - sanctions, military support, negotiations - should not be called into question by anyone", he added.

--IANS

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Crude prices rose more than 1% to over $120 a barrel on Friday, as traders reconciled the impact of a missile attack on an oil distribution facility in Saudi Arabia with a possible release of oil reserves by the United States.

Brent crude settled up $1.62, or 1.4%, to $120.65 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended $1.56, or 1.4% higher, at $113.90. Both had dropped $3 earlier.

Both benchmarks notched their first weekly gains in three weeks - Brent rose more than 11.5% and WTI gained 8.8%

Yemen's Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday and the Saudi-led coalition said Aramco's fuel distribution station in Jeddah had been targeted by an attack, but that a fire in two tanks at the facility had been brought under control.

Saudi Arabia said it will not hold responsibility for any shortage of oil supplies in global caused by Houthi attacks on its oil facilities.

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement that has been battling a coalition led by Saudi Arabia for seven years launched missiles on Aramco's facilities in Jeddah and drones at Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries, the group's military spokesman said.

"The market, which was already shunning Russian oil supplies, has another thing to worry about with Houthi attacks potentially impacting Saudi Arabia's production," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, noting that the Houthi attacks were becoming more frequent.

The attack comes just five days after the Houthi group fired missiles and drones at Saudi energy and water desalination facilities, causing a temporary drop in output at a refinery.

With global stockpiles at their lowest since 2014, analysts have said the market remained vulnerable to any supply shock.

The Biden administration is considering another release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that, if carried out, could be bigger than the sale of 30 million barrels earlier this month, a source said.

The U.S. oil rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose seven to 531 this week, its highest since April 2020, as the government urged producers to boost output in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Even though the oil rig count has climbed for 19 straight months, the increases have been small and slowed down recently because many companies focus on returning money to investors rather than boosting output and are facing supply constraints.

Oil prices slipped earlier in the session as exports from Kazakhstan's CPC crude terminal partially resumed and the EU held off on imposing an embargo on Russian energy as members remained split on the issue.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Isabel Kua in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Mark Porter)

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Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President on Saturday accused Prime Minister and his wife Bushra Bibi of receiving bribes to the tune of PKR 6 billion, terming it as a mother of all scandals.

The daughter of former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif made these accusations while addressing her party workers in Model Town here.

On Saturday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that the voting in the National Assembly on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan was likely to take place on April 3 or 4.

I dare to name Farah (a friend of Bushra Bibi) who is involved in receiving millions in transfers and postings and these are directly connected to the Banigala (residence of PM Khan). Once the Tehreek-e-Insaf government is sent home through the no-confidence motion, more stories of corruption will come to the fore, Maryam said.

On Saturday, she led her party's anti-corruption march from Lahore to Islamabad.

The mother of all scandals of the government is that of transfers and postings amounting to Rs 6 billion and it is directly related to the Banigala. In the coming days, startling evidence will surface. has a strong fear that once he is out of power, his thefts' will be caught, she said, while launching an acerbic attack on Khan.

She asked the prime minister to show some self-respect and urged him to resign instead of seeking time to cling onto power.

Today Imran Khan is crying for help not from the public but someone else (establishment) pleading to come forward and help save my government. But let me tell himno one will come to his rescue now, she said.

Asking the premier to stop bluffing the people on holding a trump card,' she said: Imran is left with no cards, rather his government's days are numbered and this a writing on the wall. He is dragging his rule for a few more days by delaying the vote-count on the motion of no-confidence motion against him in the parliament. How much humiliation does he want to embrace by sticking to power without any authority?



Taking taking potshots at Khan's third wife, Bushra Bibi, also known as Bushra Riaz, Maryam said, We know that jadu, tuna' (witchcraft) is going on in Banigala to save Imran's government but that will also not help.

Khan, 69, is heading a coalition government and he can be removed if some of the partners decide to switch sides.

He is facing a rebellion by his about two dozen lawmakers and allied parties which are also reluctant to pledge support to him.

Both Khan and his ministers are trying to give the impression that everything was fine and he would come out victorious out of the trial.

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office.

The PTI has 155 members in the 342-member National Assembly and needs at least 172 lawmakers on its side to remain in the government.

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A senior US defence official told reporters that the has seen indications of Russia sending troop reinforcements from "Georgia" to Ukraine to support its offensive in the Donbas region.

"We've seen our first indications that they are trying to send in some reinforcements from . We have seen the movement of some number of troops from . We don't have an exact number," the official said during a press briefing on Friday.

The official did not clarify what the official meant by "Georgia" since there are no Russian troops in this country. The Defense Department press centre did not immediately respond to Sputnik's inquiry on the issue.

On February 24, Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.

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Amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, a survey found that about 90 per cent of people rejected Beijing's continued claims that was part of .

"About 90 per cent rejected Beijing's continued claims that was part of and their efforts to limit the smaller country's space and threaten it with military force", reported News citing Radio Taiwan (RTI).

The survey found that 88.6 per cent approved of the government seeking closer cooperation with other democracies in order to safeguard peace in the Taiwan Strait. More than 70 per cent also voiced support for legislative efforts to prevent high-level technology experts from being lured to jobs in .

As per the opinion poll results, 74.6 per cent of Taiwanese judged China to be hostile towards Taiwan's government and 59.3 per cent said it also showed an unfriendly attitude towards the people of Taiwan.

While more than 80 per cent approved of the government's stance that the future of Taiwan and the development of relations with China should be subject to a decision by Taiwan's 23-million population.

claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which have been repeatedly opposed by .

Moreover, Taiwan has been extremely concerned about the situation in Hong Kong since passed the National Security Law in 2020. Hong Kong's vanishing democracy, freedom, and human rights prove that "one country, two systems" is a lie.

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The main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in have been completed in general, the Russian military has said.

"The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced," said Sergei Rudskoy, first Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, on Friday.

"Our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing -- the complete liberation of Donbas," he added.

Rudskoy said the Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Nikolaev are blocked by Russian troops, while Kherson and most of the Zaporozhye region are under Russia's full control, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since the start of the military operation a month ago, more than 14,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed and about 16,000 wounded, he added.

"The Ukrainian air forces and air defense systems have been almost completely destroyed. The country's naval forces have ceased to exist," Rudskoy told reporters.

As for the Russian side, 1,351 servicemen have been killed and 3,825 injured, he said.

"I want to emphasise that the special military operation is being carried out strictly according to the approved plan," said Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

--IANS

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The Associated Press has independently documented at least 34 assaults on Ukrainian medical facilities by Russian forces.

AP journalists in have seen firsthand the deadly results of Russian strikes on civilian targets, including the final moments of children whose bodies were shredded by shrapnel and dozens of corpses heaped into mass graves.

AP journalists outside have confirmed the details of other attacks by interviewing survivors and independently verifying war zone videos and photos posted online.

The accounting is part of the War Crimes Watch project, a broader effort by AP and PBS Frontline to track evidence of potential war crimes for the duration of the conflict.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms at least 1,035 civilians, including 90 children, have died and another 1,650 civilians have been wounded since the war started a month ago.

Those numbers are certainly an undercount since scores of bodies now lie under the rubble of demolished buildings or were hurriedly buried in mass graves, or the deaths occurred in areas now under Russian control.

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The then Russian President Boris Yelstin could be blamed, as initially took a fairly relaxed view of the so-called enlargement programme of .

This was in the 1990s when had fallen 'weak' after the split of Soviet Union and a hardliner nationalist -- Vladimir Putin -- was yet to take the centre stage.

In certain quarters it was believed in the early nineties that was almost trapped into believing that it could even join . The real issue was because President Yelstin was himself not consistent.

The Americans and other western powers, including Germany, could thus take advantage of the 'vacillating position' of the Russian leadership. Then US Secretary of State Warren Christopher had said that because had decided to take new members, it should not keep the willing allies in the 'waiting room'.

But at times, Moscow was being assertive as well. On April 2, 1996, Russia and Belarus announced the formation of the Community of Sovereign Republics (CSR).

In the process, Moscow's message was clear -- some of the former Soviet Republics would stick together in unity.

However, the West did not take the episode much seriously. Even Yelstin was on the move. He befriended the then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and visited Beijing.

The Russian President offered his unequivocal support for China's claims on Tibet and also Taiwan. A joint statement was directed against the West.

"...hegemonism, power and repeated imposition of pressure on other countries have continued," it said.

In the subsequent period, Yelstin was re-elected President in July 1996.

The West, meanwhile, played their diplomacy often leaving Moscow's powerhouse Kremlin rather confused on some crucial issues. One such issue was Moscow's demand of a firm commitment against deployment of nuclear weapons in the territory of new members of NATO.

In fact, former US President Bill Clinton and Yelstin even held a summit meet on March 20-21, 1997 at Helsinki. Russia believed it won a pledge that nuke weapons would not be stationed in new member states of NATO.

Thus, when Russia 'reluctantly' agreed to the expansion of NATO, the US decided not to allow any substantial role for Russia in the structure and functioning of the alliance.

Clinton was also firm that he should decide the 'time table' of expansion and that Russia would not stop it.

The delay, Washington thought, would not only give time to Russia to organise itself better, there were other US rivals within NATO who would also get time to 'strengthen themselves'.

There were other instances also where Americans and the West took things for granted and left Russia high and dry.

Analysts recall that within 10-12 days of NATO expansion, it launched air strikes in Yugoslavia. The challenges in Yugoslavia were internal and any 'outside intervention' in the resolution of the crisis was not allowed under the UN Charter.

Predictably, Russia was annoyed. Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was to attend a meeting in Washington, in fact turned around his aircraft and went back to Moscow.

Russia also withdrew its representative from the Russia-NATO Permanent Joint Council in Brussels.

Even Russia's efforts to send humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia was stalled by a neo-NATO member, Hungary.

Ironically, none better than Clinton himself understood quickly that Russia's embrace of NATO was an essential component that was derailed.

NATO, Clinton once said, would fail in the realisation of its "vision of Europe" unless "it embraces the partnership of Russia".

The Kosovo crisis was thus the first major post Soviet Union collapse crisis between Russia and America. It essentially bordered around trust deficit.

(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist and author of 'The Talking Guns: North East India'. The views expressed are personal)

--IANS

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US President again called his Russian counterpart a "war criminal" due to the Moscow's continued invasion of Kiev.

Biden made the remarks during a joint briefing on the humanitarian efforts for Ukraine with Polish President Andrej Duda on Friday in Rzeszow, located close to the Poland-Ukraine border.

In his opening remarks, Biden, who arrived in Poland on Friday, said the "single-most important thing that we can do from the outset is keep the democracies united in our opposition and our effort to curtail the devastation that is occurring at the hands of a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal".

"And I think it will meet the legal definition of that as well," he said.

On March 16, Biden had called Putin a "war criminal" for the first time which evoked condemnation from Russia.

On Wednesday, the State Department made a formal assessment that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

"Based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Our assessment is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources," Secretary of State Blinken had said in a statement.

--IANS

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Russia has reframed its war goals in in a way that may make it easier for President Vladimir Putin to claim a face-saving victory despite a woeful campaign in which his army has suffered humiliating setbacks, military analysts say.

Russia attacked its neighbour by land, air and sea on Feb. 24 and pushed as far as the capital Kyiv - where its forces have been stalled for weeks - in what and the West said was a bid to topple the democratic government of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

On Friday, however, a senior military official said the real objective was to "liberate" the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.

"The main objectives of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished," said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate.

"The combat potential of the Armed Forces of has been considerably reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass."

Donbass, where Putin has accused Ukraine without evidence of waging "genocide" against ethnic Russians - has long occupied a prominent place in Moscow's litany of grievances against Ukraine.

But if capturing the whole of Donbass had been the objective from the start, Moscow could have mounted a much more limited offensive and spared itself the effort and losses involved in invading Ukraine from the north, east and south.

"Obviously they have completely failed in everything they've set out to do and so now they are redefining what the purpose is so they can declare victory," said Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. army forces in Europe who now works for the Center for European Policy Analysis.

"Clearly they do not have the ability to continue sustained large-scale offensive operations... Their logistics problems have been apparent to everybody, they've got serious manpower issues and the resistance has been way beyond anything they could have possibly imagined."

HIGH COSTS

The costs of Russia's "special military operation" have been steep. Rudskoi, the General Staff official, on Friday acknowledged 1,351 deaths among Russian soldiers. Ukraine claims the real figure is more than 10 times as high.

Oryx, a Dutch military blog that records both sides' equipment losses based on verifiable photos and video, says Russia has lost 1,864 pieces of hardware including 295 tanks, 16 planes, 35 helicopters, three ships and two fuel trains. It has verified Ukrainian losses of 540 items, including 77 tanks.

Each side makes regular claims of the amount of enemy equipment it is destroying, but neither confirms its own losses. Thwarted in its offensive, Russia has resorted to pounding cities to rubble with rockets and artillery.

"The advance is stalled or at best very slow at this stage," said Nick Reynolds, a land warfare analyst at the RUSI think-tank in London.

"Its original strategy is now completely unachievable. Its original strategy was to decapitate the Ukrainian government or cause it to collapse by just moving the military into the country... Obviously that didn't happen; quite the opposite."

Russia has more work ahead to achieve even the more modest goal of driving Ukraine's forces out of the east. Of the two regions that make up the Donbass, its defence ministry says Russian-backed forces control 93% of Luhansk but only 54% of Donetsk.

Meanwhile Ukraine is sounding increasingly confident.

Deputy Chief of Staff of Ground Forces Oleksandr Gruzevich said on Friday that Russia would need three to five times more forces to take Kyiv, and was being blocked in its efforts to establish a land corridor across the south coast to link up annexed Crimea with Donbass.

Hodges, the retired U.S. general, said the question now was whether the West would be bold enough to overcome its fears of a Russian escalation using chemical or nuclear weapons - which he said would offer no tactical advantage to Moscow - and step up support to Ukraine even further.

He said more equipment such as long-range rockets, artillery and drones, coupled with provision of Western intelligence, could enable Kyiv to move from defence to attack.

"We're only parcelling out support to Ukraine instead of flooding them," he said. "It feels like we want to keep them from being defeated but we're not willing to let them win."

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister has said that his much-discussed "trump card" has nothing to do with the army, The News reported.

The Prime Minister instead stressed that "attacking the army and damaging it means damaging the future of Pakistan".

He categorically rejected the widespread speculation that his trump card relates to a possible decision concerning the institution of the Army.

"Nothing to do with the army," he said and explained that what he is focusing on is a straightforward matter of national morality and ethics.

"It's not about who forms the government," he said, adding: "To destroy a country all that needs to be done is destroy its ethics."

The Prime Minister was apparently hinting at the way his party MPs changed their loyalties and how they were shown by the media in the Sindh House, Islamabad.

Although the premier did not precisely reveal what his surprise or trump card would be, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry when contacted told The News, "It's a pure political thing, and nothing administrative", The News reported.

Referring to the speculation, Chaudhry said that the premier has the best of relationships with Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Chaudhry said that Khan is not a conspirator, adding that the questions currently being discussed in political and media circles about the prime minister contemplating certain key appointments is simply baseless.

These is all speculation, the Information Minister said.

Instead, Chaudhry quoted Prime Minister Khan as saying that the institution of the army is critically important for and its sovereignty and therefore must be protected and not maligned.

--IANS

san/ksk/

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Turkish President Recep and his Ukrainian counterpart held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The two leaders on Friday discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan told Zelensky that he once again had emphasised Turkey's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity at the NATO leaders' summit, which was held in Brussels on Thursday, said the statement.

The Turkish President said he had told the leaders of NATO members about Turkey's "active and principled policy, and the effective diplomatic efforts comprehensively."

" has put into practice all the help it can in this process," Erdogan told the Ukrainian President.

Earlier on Friday, the Turkish President said he would make a phone conversation with Zelensky and with Russian President Vladimir Putin this weekend or early next week, to inform them about his discussions at the extraordinary NATO summit, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I may probably talk with Putin either this weekend or early next week," the semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted Erdogan as saying.

"As we will evaluate the meetings at the NATO (summit), I will tell him 'Now you should be the architect of a step to be taken for peace' for the next process. We should find a way to end this by suggesting him 'Make an honorable exit'," the Turkish President said.

Moscow and Kiev were close to an agreement on four issues, including Ukraine's neutrality, partial disarmament, security guarantees, and the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, Erdogan told journalists on his flight from Belgium to .

But the Russian demands on the future status of Crimea and Donbas continue to be the most important disagreement in negotiations, he said.

Last week, the Turkish President renewed his offer to bring the leaders of Russia and Ukraine together in for final decisions on these topics.

--IANS

int/khz/

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Swedish music streaming giant is suspending its services in after Moscow passed a new law earlier this month to crack down on free press and speech.

said it had no choice but to leave the Russian market, citing the law that essentially outlaws independent journalism.

" has continued to believe that it's critically important to try and keep our service operational in to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region," a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch.

"Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression and criminalising certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify's employees and possibly even our listeners at risk."

In early March, the Russian Parliament enacted the law that criminalizes sharing what the government deems to be "false information" about Moscow's ongoing war in .

In response, numerous news organisations, including The New York Times and CNN, pulled their journalists out from or suspended broadcasts in the country.

Tech platforms including YouTube, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), and Twitter have all blocked RT and Sputnik accounts, with Apple and Google following suit in their respective app stores.

Meta has expanded a ban on Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik on Facebook and Instagram globally to stop the flow of misinformation as Russian forces make deeper inroads into .

--IANS

wh/ksk/

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Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has hinted at an agreement on "concrete steps" to reduce the number of Russian missiles hitting facilities in .

This was announced by Dmytro Kuleba after his talks with the US delegation led by President Joe Biden in Warsaw.

Kuleba did not specify the details, but hinted quite clearly at the prospect of obtaining additional weapons capable of shooting down missiles, European Pravda reported.

He posted on his account a photo of Defence Minister Alexei Reznikov handing over to Biden and other members of the US delegation "the wreckage of one of the Russian missiles that fired at the Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, better known as the Yavoriv Military Range".

"Today, in developing contacts between Presidents Zelensky and Biden, we agreed on the next steps to ensure that fewer such missiles fall on Ukrainian soil. And, of course, for to win," the Minister said.

The Ukrainian Defence and Foreign Ministers, Oleksiy Reznikov and Dmytro Kuleba, visited Warsaw on Saturday for talks with their US counterparts. Biden personally joined the meeting, European Pravda reported.

During the meeting, Biden promised to achieve Ukraine's victory in the war with Russia.

--IANS

san/arm

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Sentiment among German companies "has collapsed" due to the Ukraine crisis, the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research has said.

Accordingly, the institute's seasonally adjusted Business Climate Index dropped from 98.5 points in February to 90.8 points in March, Xinhua news agency reported.

Due to the sanctions against Russia and the supply chains interrupted by the military conflict in Ukraine, several German companies, including industry heavyweights such as carmaker Volkswagen, have stopped all business with Russia.

Expectations for future business have deteriorated particularly strongly as German companies are "expecting tough times," Ifo President Clemens Fuest said. The corresponding indicator saw a "record collapse" of 13.3 points within one month.

In both manufacturing and trade, the overall index also fell faster than ever before. While the manufacturing sector was in the negative throughout, assessments of the current situation in the trade sector remained good.

Sentiment in the construction and services sectors has worsened due to pessimistic expectations. Although Germany's construction companies have assessed the current situation as worsening, most of them are "still satisfied with their current business."

--IANS

int/khz/

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Author is pushing back after Russian President dragged her into a rant against Western efforts to cancel'' Russian culture.

Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics, the Harry Potter author said Friday in a tweet linked to an article about jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny.

Putin earlier compared recent Western criticism of with efforts to cancel Rowling over her views on transgender issues. Rowling has been criticized after saying she supported transgender rights but did not believe in erasing the concept of biological sex.

The notorious cancel culture has become a cancellation of culture. Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov are excluded from concert posters, and Russian writers and their books are also banned," Putin said during a videoconference with cultural figures.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than 400 firms have stopped their business activities in Russia, as a result of the severe US sanctions on the country for its invasion of Ukraine, founder of a US-based software company Bobby Balachandran said on Friday.

"The last I heard, more than 400 have decided to support the government to stop doing business with Russia," said Balachandran adding that his own company Exterro has stopped its activities in .

Balachandran made the observations while speaking to ANI in the Coimbatore office of the company.

"We follow the governmental norms. So, currently, we are not doing business with at this point," Balachandran told ANI.

On being asked about the kind of software are now denied to as a result of the sanctions, he said, "It's across the board... banking, consumer products... gaming... software is the lifeline today, so if you don't have that (then it's difficult),"

"If you look at the types of software we use, we use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn... it's all made in America," he added.

He described the situation in Ukraine amidst the ongoing conflict as "very sad", saying, "our heart goes to the people who are impacted by it (the conflict)."

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine last month on February 24 after recognising the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics." Russia has since continued to maintain that the aim of its operations has been to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country.

The Russian actions were immediately condemned by almost all the western countries, who rolled out severe sets of sanctions targetting the Russian economy, and key individuals.

The conflict which has now entered its second month has caused a severe humanitarian crisis with millions of refugees fleeing to neighbouring Western countries, including Poland, Romania, Moldova and Hungary.

European Union President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday announced an economic package of EUR 3.4 billion to support EU countries hosting those fleeing the war.

As of March 24, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded a total of 2,788 civilian casualties in the country, among them 1081 killed and 1,707 injured. The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine has reported 135 children as killed in the conflict as of March 25.

(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.)
As Moscow's invasion of Kiev has been underway for more than a month now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said that his country's forces "have dealt powerful blows to the enemy", adding that there were "significant losses" on the Russian side.

In a video address posted on Facebook early Saturday morning, the President said: "Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy, significant losses."

Zelenksy also made a reference to the reported disappearance of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was last seen in public on March 11.

"They say that the Minister of Defence of has disappeared somewhere... I wonder if he personally wanted to visit Chornobaivka?" the President queried.

According to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister, Shoigu suffered a heart attack "after a tough accusation by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine", adding that he is currently "undergoing rehabilitation" in hospital, the BBC reported.

The Defence Minister briefly appeared in a video on Thursday, but there were no official confirmation on his exact whereabouts.

In his video message, Zelensky again thanked "our defenders who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them even when there is no storm. Because there will be fire".

"By restraining Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay."

The President also touched on the suffering in the besieged city of Mariupol which is worsening, as tens of thousands of people are trapped without food, water or heat.

"The situation in the city remains tragic. Absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city."

The port city is key to Russia's military campaign. If it falls, it would give control of one of Ukraine's biggest ports and create a land corridor between Crimea and the Russian-backed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

--IANS

ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.

Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.

Rudskoi's statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still haven't been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.

(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 World Food Program (WFP) has condemned the attack on a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies in south Sudan's Jonglei state that left three people killed.

WFP said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, that the commercial convoy of 44 trucks carrying WFP food assistance came under attack from armed gunmen between Gadiang and Yuai in Jonglei state, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This is completely unacceptable," said Adeyinka Badejo, acting Country Director for WFP in South .

Badejo added that this incident is the third ambush in Jonglei state in the past four months.

The UN humanitarian organisation disclosed that similar attacks occurred in December 2021 and March 2022 respectively.

"These continued attacks and looting only serve to make humanitarian work increasingly challenging and sabotage life-saving food assistance destined for vulnerable communities. Further attacks on humanitarian convoys will put humanitarian assistance at risk where WFP will be forced to suspend its food assistance in greater Jonglei until there is a conducive environment for humanitarians in the area," the Country Director for WFP in South added .

WFP urged the government to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice and safeguard the safety and security of humanitarian staff and assets.

The UN humanitarian organisation said it has invested considerable efforts to negotiate humanitarian access in hard-to-reach areas to ensure isolated and marginalised people receive the assistance they need.

It, however, noted that it's the transitional unity government's responsibility to ensure safety and security for the population and the humanitarian community.

The UN agency called on the government to investigate incidents involving attacks on humanitarian workers or cargo.

--IANS

int/khz/

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The has cancelled its planned meetings with the in Doha, and sees its refusal to allow girls to return to schools as a potential turning point in engagement with the group, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said during a press briefing on Friday (Local Time).

The planned talks with the were set to address key economic issues.

"On cancelled meetings in Doha. That's correct. We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and around the Doha forum and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement," Porter said during a press briefing, reported Sputnik.

Notably, as the new school year begins in Afghanistan, the has announced that the boys can continue their education, however, the doors of the schools will be closed to girls beyond the sixth grade.

Dozens of students have rallied in Kabul on Friday to protest the Taliban's decision to block girls' schools. A number of protestors chanted slogans against the Taliban. One of the slogans said, "No religion has blocked education and the ban on educating girls is blatant gender discrimination."

Condemning the Taliban's decision not to reopen secondary schools to Afghan girls, the and its allies have called on the group to revoke its decision. A joint statement issued by Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, the of America, and the High Representative of the European Union has condemned the Taliban's decision on Wednesday to deny so many Afghan girls the opportunity to finally go back to school.

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U.S., NATO should hold dialogue with Russia, rather than start new Cold War: spokesperson

Xinhua) 11:05, March 26, 2022

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should hold dialogue with Russia, rather than start a new Cold War, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday.

China always believes that security is indivisible. Seeking bloc confrontation and absolute security will only lead to the most insecure scenario. Ukraine should become a bridge for communication between the East and the West, rather than the frontline for major power rivalry, Wang told a regular press briefing.

China proceeds from the merits of the matter itself on the Ukraine issue and makes effort to deescalate the situation, resolve the crisis and rebuild peace, he added.

Noting that nothing is more precious than peace, Wang said the international community should encourage Russia and Ukraine to keep up the talks rather than the fighting, as the continuation and escalation of the conflict will only cause greater casualties and serve no one's interest.

The spokesperson reiterated that there should be no double standard in handling international relations.

Ukraine's sovereignty and security should be upheld, and Russia's legitimate security concerns should also be respected. Europe's peace and stability should be defended, Wang said.

Stressing that China's stance is the same as the aspirations of most countries, Wang said China opposes groundless accusations and suspicions targeting China, and will never be subject to pressure and coercion.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
French parliament chaffed at the ungracious claims by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that they are obligated to help Kyiv in a war it coaxed onto itself.

Paris was displeased that the ex-comedian was lecturing them that they were helping Vladimir Putin to raze his country to the ground.

The Kremlin and its envoys often said that the west is crossing a red line, and Ukraine should be neutral but was supposed to be shopping for nukes.

Zelensky Asks for Help

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader convened with French lawmakers on the eve when Vladimir Putin rolled in to intercede for DPR and LPR facing an assault from Kyiv, per TASS.

He asked Paris to risk losses by boycotting Russia to stagger his forces, reportedly tearing pro-Ukraine muscles.

The Ukrainian leader spoke via video link when he gave these unacceptable demands on France. He accused firms like Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin of helping Russia wage war against his country. It is not the first time he demanded help from an EU country, even if his country is not part of the bloc or a NATO member.

Instead of getting support from lawmakers, it was pure abuse from those who condemned Moscow and its incursion in its neighbor's territory how people sought help from them. French parliament said that the attack on Ukraine does involve France and should distance itself from Zelensky, the Express reported.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

One of the presidential candidates, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, spoke to a reporter and said Paris should have limited involvement and let Kyiv bear out the consequences of its actions, cited the New York Times Post.

He added that the Ukrainian leader has no right to pull them into a war that Kyiv is a part of, even ruling out sending soldiers just like other EU members. In Zelensky's speech, Dupont-Aignan noted the lack of a peace offer.

Florian Philippot, Les Patriotes's party head, was angry that the Ukrainian authorities shamed French companies and called them unworthy. He added that Emmanuel Macron should stand up to what Kyiv is doing to humiliate the dignity of workers in these firms.

Ukraine Attempts Boycott

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba attempted to start a boycott against French businesses like Renault to leave Russia. But pressure kicked in, and the French car manufacturer announced a suspension of the companies' activities.

Joffrey Bollee from the Les Patriotes party called Renault's capitulation to the demand unnecessary and weak, and he felt no firm should stop business on account of the hysterics of Kyiv officials.

Furthermore, he reminded that France has acted against its interest by sanctioning Russia. Bollee questioned the need for French businesses to close because they are only car companies and supermarkets, not defense firms. Since the start of hostilities, US defense firms have been selling briskly. He added that Ukrainian demands are incorrect, and he should be ignored or seen as weak by others.

Generation Frexit leader Charles-Henri Gallois said other bloc members are still doing business with Russia, like Germany. The French parliament says that President Zelensky is out of line, and Paris will not bow down to unreasonable demands that could harm France.

Related Article: Next EU Council Chief Could Be a Puppet in Raw Power Grab by French Leader Macron

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Jurors on Friday found police used excessive force against protesters, violating their constitutional rights, during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd two years ago, ordering the city to pay a total of USD 14 million in damages to a group of 12 who sued.

The jury of two men and six women, largely white and drawn from around Colorado, returned its verdict after about four hours of deliberations. The verdict followed three weeks of testimony and evidence that included police and protester video of incidents.

Lawyers involved believed it was the first trial in a lawsuit challenging officer tactics during the 2020 protests that erupted around the nation over the police killing of Floyd and other Black people.

The protesters who sued were shot at or hit by everything from pepper spray to a Kevlar-bag filled with lead shot fired from a shotgun.

Zach Packard, who was hit in the head by the shotgun blast and ended up in the intensive care unit, received the largest damage amount - USD 3 million.

One of the protesters' lawyers, Timothy Macdonald, had urged jurors to send a message to police in Denver and elsewhere by finding the city liable during closing arguments.

Hopefully, what police departments will take from this is a jury of regular citizens takes these rights very seriously," he said after the verdict.

Elisabeth Epps, a lawyer and activist who was one of the protesters who sued, said the attorneys for the city she loves gaslighted the protesters during the trial, questioning their account of what happened. At one point, a lawyer for Denver called her a professional protester after she testified that she had attended protests since she was a child and had received training about how to respond to being tear-gassed. She grew emotional talking about what it meant to have the jury side with the protesters.

It feels like being seen, Epps said.

The protesters said the actions of police violated their free speech rights and rights to be protected from unreasonable force.

Jurors found violations of both rights for 11 of the protesters and only free speech violations for the other.

The protesters claimed Denver was liable for the police's actions through its policies, including giving officers wide discretion in using what police call less lethal devices, failing to train officers on them, and not requiring them to use their body-worn cameras during the protests to deter indiscriminate uses of force.

During the trial, Denver admitted that mistakes were made at the protests, which it says were unprecedented in their size, duration and amount of violence and destruction. Over 80 officers were injured as protesters hurled rocks, water bottles and canned food at them, and the state Capitol, the hub of the protests, incurred $1.1 million in damage, according to the city.

One of Denver's lawyers, Lindsay Jordan, told jurors that the city had planned a large training in crowd control in the spring of 2020 because of the upcoming presidential election, but it was cancelled because of COVID-19.

She stressed that mistakes made by officers during the protests do not automatically equate to constitutional violations, noting thousands of people returned to exercise their free speech rights despite the force police used over the five days of demonstrations.

The violence and destruction that occurred around the community required intervention, she said.

Five Denver police officers have been disciplined for their actions during the protests, according to the department. Another officer, who was new and still on probation, was fired during the protests after posting a photo of himself and dressed in tactical gear on social media with the comment Let's start a riot.

Aggressive responses from officers to people protesting police brutality nationally have led to financial settlements, the departures of police chiefs and criminal charges.

In Austin, Texas, officials have agreed to pay over USD 13 million to people injured in protests in May 2020, and 19 officers have been indicted for their actions against protesters. Last month, two police officers in Dallas accused of injuring protesters after firing less lethal munitions were charged.

However, in 2021, a federal judge dismissed most of the claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups over the forcible removal of protesters by police before then-President Donald Trump walked to a church near the White House for a photo op.

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Twenty-five years ago, visited Warsaw, Poland, with a warning: Even though the Soviet Union had collapsed, some of NATO's original members weren't doing enough to ensure the alliance's collective defense.

Now it is time for the people of Western to invest in the security of their continent for the next century, said Biden, then a US senator.

Biden, now president, speaks again here Saturday as European security faces its most precarious test since World War II. The bloody war in Ukraine has entered its second month, and Western leaders have spent the week consulting over contingency plans in case the conflict mutates or spreads.

The invasion has shaken out of any complacency it might have felt and cast a dark shadow over the continent.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the speech will outline the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead and what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world stay in unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.

Biden's remarks will end a four-day trip that included an earlier stop for a series of summits in Brussels. While in Warsaw, he also planned to visit with Polish President Andrzej Duda and meet with Ukrainian refugees and the aid workers who have been helping them.

Some 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country, half of them children, according to the European Union. More than 2 million have gone to Poland. Biden previewed his closing speech during appearances Friday in Rzeszow.

You're in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs, the president told members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division as he visited their temporary headquarters. "Is democracy going to prevail and the values we share, or are autocracies going to prevail?"



During a later briefing on the refugee response, Biden said the single most important thing that we can do from the outset" to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war "is keep the democracies united in our opposition.

Biden praised the humanitarian effort as being of such an enormous consequence given the scope of the crisis, which adds up to the largest flow of refugees since World War II. He appeared to lament that security concerns understandably will keep him from visiting Ukraine.

Duda, who appeared with Biden on Friday, said the refugees are guests.

We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation," he said.

The U.S. has been sending money and supplies to aid the refugee effort. This week, Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 refugees.

The U.S. and many of its allies have imposed multiple rounds of economic and other sanctions on Russian individuals, banks and other entities in hopes that the cumulative effect over time will force Putin to withdraw his troops.

Biden was scheduled to return to Washington after his speech in Warsaw on Saturday.

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The US will introduce a new (UNSC) resolution that will update and strengthen sanctions against in the wake of Pyongyang test firing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Washington's envoy to the world body announced.

"... Because of DPRK's increasingly dangerous provocations, the US will be introducing a chapter seven Security Council resolution to update and strengthen the sanctions regime," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a UNSC meeting held on Friday, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The ICBM launch on Thursday ended the North's self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing that had been in place since November 2017, reports Yonhap News Agency.

This was the latest show of force following 11 previous rounds of missile tests this year that included the firing of a new hypersonic missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

"The Security Council must speak publicly and with one voice to condemn the DPRK's unlawful actions and encourage the DPRK to return to the negotiating table," Thomas-Greenfield told the Council meeting.

The rare public meeting of the UNSC on North Korea, the first of its kind since 2017, came at the request of the US and five other members of the 15-member council, including the UK and France.

The envoy reiterated that the US remains "committed to a diplomatic solution. We hope the DPRK will accept our repeated offers of dialogue. But we also cannot stand idly by in the face of the DPRK's repeated Security Resolution violations".

She also dismissed calls for sanctions relief for North Korea, saying, "Why should the Security Council reward bad behaviour?"

It was however, not immediately clear when the US plans to introduce the new UNSC resolution.

The US had previously sought to impose additional UNSC sanctions on following Pyongyang's repeated missile provocations this year, but efforts have so far failed due to opposition from Russia and China, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the Security Council and close allies of .

During the meeting on Friday, Russia again opposed the US' call for enhanced sanctions, saying it will create "unacceptable socio-economic and humanitarian problems" for the people of North Korea.

--IANS

ksk/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Federal officials are extending pandemic relief that helps big keep coveted takeoff and landing rights for flights this summer at busy airports in City and Washington, DC.

The move by the Federal Aviation Administration will let leading keep their dominant positions at major airports into late October, even if they drop some flights.

Normally, that fail to use their assigned rights, or slots, at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York, and Reagan National Airport outside Washington, risk losing them.

However, regulators waived that rule in March 2020 when airlines cut flights due to the pandemic.

The FAA has extended the slot-use waiver four times, with the last grace period set to expire Sunday. Instead, the FAA will extend the waiver for flights only through October 29, it said in a decision scheduled to be published in the Federal Register next week.

The agency cited the evolving and highly unpredictable situation globally around COVID-19.

The FAA will also extend relaxed rules regarding flight schedules at Newark (New Jersey) Liberty Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International and San Francisco International.

The waivers were supported by the trade group for large US airlines plus Lufthansa, British Airways and other big international carriers.

Smaller airlines often oppose such measures, which they say make it harder for them to grow at the busiest airports.

The FAA's action comes as U.S. air travel edges closer to pre-pandemic levels.

More than 2 million people per day have passed through airport security checkpoints in March, a decline of 13 per cent from the same month in 2019, according to government figures. Trade group Airlines for America says international travel to and from the U.S. is down 42 per cent from 2019.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi, March 26: Western commentators are struggling to describe the significance of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Fareed Zakaria has described it as a "seismic event", the most significant event since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and believes it marks "the end of an age". Francis Fukuyama has called it "a critical turning point in world history". He views it as the latest assault on liberalism that had started well before the war when illiberal authoritarian regimes had emerged in several major countries; he sees the war as a reminder "in the most vivid way possible what the consequences of illiberal dictatorship are". Thomas Friedman simply says: "Our world is not going to be the same again."

These cataclysmic prognostications from Western sources have not had the same reverberations in . Four years of the anarchy wreaked in the region by Donald Trump followed by one year of Joe Biden's insipid and shaky presidency have already created a diplomatic churn, with regional states pursuing fresh engagements and alignments, interactions that are independent of the US. The region, in short, has come of age and is anxious to define its own interests and shape its own policy approaches and alignments.

This is best exemplified by the first reactions of the region's principal role-players - despite many being long-standing US allies, not one of them, besides Kuwait, has sided with the US in sharply condemning Russia; not one of them has imposed harsh sanctions to cripple the Russian economy.

Regional responses to the war

On 23 February, a day before the Russian invasion, the UAE and Russian foreign ministers spoke telephonically about regional and developments and emphasised their "keenness to enhance the prospects of UAE-Russian cooperation". On 25 February, the UAE abstained on a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that was critical of Russia. Two days later, it again abstained on a procedural resolution to refer the invasion to the UN General Assembly. Soon thereafter, Russia rewarded the UAE by abstaining on a UNSC resolution that described the Houthis in Yemen - who had fired drones on Abu Dhabi on 17 January this year - as a "terrorist" organisation.

Saudi Arabia, a US ally from 1945, in response to the US' sanctions on energy exports from Russia, refused to increase its oil production to bring down global oil prices. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, both refused to take calls from Biden when he was seeking to make personal appeals to them to increase oil production. Later, both of them took calls from President Putin and also spoke to the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, in an apparent mediation effort. A little later, when an American journalist asked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if Biden had misunderstood him, the prince answered: "Simply, I do not care."

Qatar, the world's major gas producer, has been courted by both the US and Russia. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, was the first Gulf leader welcomed in Biden's White House in January this year, with his country being conferred the status of a "major non-NATO ally". Biden's interest was to encourage Qatar to divert some of its gas to European markets to make up for reduced Russian supplies following the energy-related sanctions that the US imposed on 8 March. In response, Putin addressed a letter to the emir setting out how bilateral relations could be expanded; it was delivered during the annual meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha. Rather than choose sides, the Qatari foreign minister took the mediation route by making calls to his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.

Turkey, a NATO member with close political, military and economic ties with Russia, has been manoeuvring through a diplomatic minefield. It criticised Russia's recognition of the two break-away republics, and later, described the invasion as a "state of war", but announced no punitive sanctions.

Calling the invasion as "war" did invoke the provisions of the Montreux Convention of 1936 which would prevent the entry and exit of Russian ships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. But the ground situation is not so straight-forward: the convention does not restrict movements of ships to or from their home base; thus, Turkey cannot ask ships already in the Black Sea to leave or prevent Russian ships returning to their home base in the Black Sea.

Israel, perhaps the US' closest ally in West Asia, has opted for what an Israeli scholar, Eran Etzion, has called "strategic selfishness" - adopting a neutral posture as between the US and Russia and then diverting attention from its failure to back the US through some hectic interventions in Moscow and Kyiv as part of its "mediation" effort.

The Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, in his response to the Ukraine invasion said Iran "opposed both war and domination". The last was a reference to Russian concerns relating to NATO's eastward expansion. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was more categorical: on 1 March, he referred to the Biden presidency as a "mafia regime" and said: "All sorts of mafias control their country and bring presidents to power. They create crises in the world to maximise their power." He added that "the root of the crisis in Ukraine is US policies that create crisis. Ukraine is a victim of these policies."

West Asia's distancing from the US

The near-total absence of support for the US from across the region appears to have surprised many of its officials and even some commentators. But the factual position is that distancing from the US has been a steady process for some years, though specific reasons may differ from country-to-country.

In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the first concerns emerged in the early days of the Arab Spring -- they saw the toppling of Hosni Mubarak, with the US doing nothing to back its old ally. This was followed by what they saw as US failure to intervene in the Syrian conflict and effect regime change after evidence emerged in January 2013 of the use of chemicals weapons by the Bashar al-Assad government against its civilian population a month earlier. Later, in September 2019, they saw the Trump administration not responding to the serious attack on Saudi oil facilities, allegedly by the Houthis, but clearly with Iranian support.

The final straw was the ignominious US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, under Biden, with the US being viewed as again abandoning an ally, the government in Kabul. As the commentator on regional affairs, Hussein Ibish has said, "Disappointment and lack of confidence in Washington is almost unanimous among its Middle East friends, and for good reason".

Even as US credibility as a security-provider plunged to new depths, many regional states simultaneously built substantial political, energy, economic and logistical-connectivity ties with Russia and China. Russia built its regional credibility during the chaotic Trump period. After ensuring, through the use of its military, that no regime-change would occur in Damascus, Moscow emerged as the go-to capital for almost all regional leaders who found Putin effectively serving their diverse interests.

For Israel, Russia was the only player capable of restraining the presence of Iran and Hezbollah at its northern borders with Syria, even as it periodically provided the green signal for Israeli attacks on Iranian assets in Syria. Hence, not surprisingly, Israel was restrained in its response when the Ukraine invasion occurred, with its leaders saying that its "operational freedom" over Syria depended on Putin's "good will".

In contrast to the Trump presidency, Biden was hostile to Saudi Arabia and its crown prince throughout his election campaign, when he referred to the country as a "pariah" and then, early in his administration, announced he would not interact with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; for good measure, he also released the CIA report that strongly suggested that the crown prince was behind the Jamal Khashoggi murder. Biden also insisted on an early end of the war in Yemen and stopped the supply of "offensive" weapons to the kingdom.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Russia have been partners from 2016 in the management of oil supplies in world markets by the "OPEC +" coalition that brings together OPEC members working in tandem with Russia and a few other oil producers -- Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, South Sudan and Sudan.

This grouping, through considerable internal discipline, was able to ensure adherence to national quotas by member-states and successfully weathered the challenge of low prices in the face of shale oil production. Following their agreement in August 2021, the "OPEC +" have ensured that prices have gradually crossed $100/ barrel and today hover around $125. In this background, it is not surprising that the kingdom has prioritized the interests of "OPEC +" and refused Biden's plea for increased oil production.

Despite its NATO membership, Turkey has pursued strategic autonomy, and it is to Russia that it has turned. Blaming the US for protecting Fethullah Gulen, whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of masterminding the failed coup of July 2016, Turkey built military ties with Russia, starting with the purchase of the S-400 missile defence system. The two countries, with Iran, became partners in pursuing the Astana peace process in Syria. In the interest of preserving ties with Turkey, Russia accommodated the latter's military ambitions in the country, its backing of extremist elements at Idlib, and its hostile actions against the Kurds. Russia also countenanced Turkey being on the opposite side in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict late last year as also in Libya.

In the face of crippling sanctions imposed by the US, Russia has been a principal political and economic ally for Iran. Russia-Iran ties flourished during the eight years of the Rouhani presidency - the president visited Moscow four times, while Foreign Minister Javad Zarif went there thirty-three times.

After assuming the presidency in August 2021, Ebrahim Raisi has continued to prioritize ties with Russia, imparting to them a greater security, economic and geopolitical content, the last focusing on their shared interests in Syria, Afghanistan and the Eurasian landmass in general. In January 2022, during his first visit to Moscow as president, Raisi gave Putin the draft of a bilateral 20-year cooperation agreement.

Given the strong indications from the Biden administration that it was disengaging from West Asian affairs, over the last year regional powers had already begun to explore among themselves how their differences could be effectively addressed. Saudi and Iranian officials met each other four times at meetings organised in Baghdad, though there are so far no indications of progress in regard to bilateral ties or the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen. A fifth round was suspended in mid-March, a day after Saudi Arabia carried out mass executions that included 41 Shia, though it is also likely that Iran was then focused on the final stage of the nuclear agreement discussions in Vienna.

Turkey's outreach to the region has been more fruitful. Ankara hosted the UAE national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, in August 2021, and then, in November, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. The latter announced UAE investments of $10 billion in Turkey's ailing economy, after which the UAE central bank placed $5 billion in a swap arrangement in Turkey to bolster the national currency. Turkey has also made diplomatic overtures to Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Besides the impetus provided to these engagements by possible US disengagement from the region, other motivating factors are the reduced sense of concern emanating from political Islam among the Gulf leaders and Egypt and, linked with this, the need to adopt a fresh approach to the conflicts in Syria and Libya which have reached a military stalemate.

The Ukraine war has created a fresh churn in regional diplomacy.

Ukraine's impact of West Asia

The immediate impact in of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been in five main areas:

- Turkey's management of ties with Russia and the US, while retaining its commitment to strategic autonomy.

- UAE's diplomatic engagements as part of its assertive strategic diversity.

- Saudi Arabia's energy diplomacy to ensure the integrity of OPEC +.

- Iran's difficult negotiations on the nuclear agreement in Vienna.

- The serious food crisis facing the region.

- Turkey's tight-rope diplomacy

In the context of the Ukraine conflict, Ankara has become the centre of intense diplomatic activity - it has received in quick succession: the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg; the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz; the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Besides these dignitaries, the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu hosted his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Antalya, on 10 March.

Erdogan had every reason to be deeply concerned about the Ukraine war: his economy is in dire straits, he is under considerable US pressure to play a role as a NATO member even as he has been reluctant to alienate the Russian leader, and, above all, he faces national elections in June 2023 - sensing his weak position, opposition leaders were coming together to inflict a heavy defeat on him and, possibly, take the country back to the Western alliance.

As of now, Turkey is crucially dependent on Russia - the latter supplies about half of Turkey's natural gas, two-thirds of its wheat imports and a big chunk of its tourism revenue; Russia is also building Turkey's first nuclear power plant and is a partner in the Syrian peace process. But Turkey has close ties with Ukraine as well: it is a valued market for its military products and a partner in the development of certain defence items. Hence the need for tight-rope diplomacy.

However, as note above, Turkey's recognition of a "state of war" between Russia and Ukraine hardly has any strategic implications in terms of the Montreux Convention; its value is symbolic, a signal to its NATO partners that it remains allied with them. This has also led the Turkish president to offer to mediate in the conflict - a Turkish role in the peace process is perhaps likely to be more palatable to the belligerents, particularly if Israel moves in as a partner in the mediation effort. Israeli commentator, Ben Caspit, has noted that Turkey and Israel could be coordinating their peace moves, following the goodwill generated by the visit of the Israeli president to Ankara on 9 March.

Erdogan's principal effort now is to convert the challenge generated by the Ukraine war into a personal opportunity - by placing his country at the centre peace initiatives, obtaining the maximum possible economic advantages from all sides, and building his profile at home as a leader in a regional crisis in order to reap benefits in the elections next year.

UAE's diplomatic activism

As the UAE abstained on the UNSC vote criticising Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its commentators appeared to be in a triumphant mode. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, who is believed to reflect official thinking, wrote that the UAE vote followed from the country's "foreign policy activism", which in turn emerged "from being confident in its decisions and approach" to regional and global affairs. He added that this approach might not please Washington, "but that's the way things are going to be from now on". Abdulla went on to describe the present scenario as a "post-American world [and] post-America Gulf", which "translates into also more of China, in the region and throughout".

Some Western commentators have described UAE diplomacy as "hedging", ie, maintain close ties with the US, but, at the same time hedge by building other relationships as well - at the global level, this means China. As US commentator Jon Alterman has recently pointed out, the bulk of China's trade with Europe and Africa passes through UAE ports; China is a major presence in developing the country's infrastructure; the UAE works with Huawei, the Chinese 5G telecom equipment, despite US protests, and a quarter of a million Chinese nationals live in the UAE. After the UAE cancelled the purchase of fifty American F-35 fighter planes worth $23 billion, largely due to US technology transfer restrictions, it acquired a dozen Chinese Hongdu L-15 training fighter aircraft, as part of its diversification of military supplies.

UAE's hedging also explains its extraordinary diplomatic activism in recent times - substantial engagements with Iran and Turkey, which were followed by hosting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Dubai on 18 March, signalling not just an increasing distance from the US, but also asserting its own presence in a contentious area.

A little later, on 21-22 March, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed joined Egyptian president, Abdelfattah al-Sisi and Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, at a tripartite summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian resort on the Red Sea. UAE commentator Abdulla said the three were conveying a "collective message" to the US and Iran.

The three leaders brought considerable collective synergy to the conclave: their discussions focused on the implications of the successful conclusion of the nuclear agreement with Iran and of the Ukraine conflict, and pursuit of tripartite economic cooperation. Other matters examined were the management of tensions in Gaza in coming weeks and the outlook for Syria following al-Assad's public rehabilitation. Though alignment of positions and interests is some way off, the tripartite meeting had considerable symbolic value - a high-level conclave of regional leaders without any US presence.

Taking a cue from the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, Israel is convening on 27-28 March a meeting of the three Arab countries - the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco - which have normalized ties with it, with their US counterpart, giving the latter one more opportunity to get these countries, particularly the UAE, to back the US on the Ukraine war.

Iran and the JCPOA negotiations

Towards the end of February this year, the talks in Vienna on reviving the nuclear agreement with Iran, technically called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that had started in April 2021, seemed to have reached their final stage - most issues had been agreed to, with only a few "sticking points" requiring final approval. Following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine from 24 February, the negotiators attempted to insulate the discussions in Vienna from the conflict, even though Russia was a member of the P4+1 (others being China, the UK, France and Germany, with the European Union as the coordinator).

On 5 March, the Ukraine war seeped into the conference room when Russia sought written guarantees that the sanctions imposed on it due to the war would not affect its role in the implementation of the JCPOA. The reference here was to the JCPOA provision that Iran would ship its extra enriched uranium to Russia and the latter would also help to downgrade the Fordow nuclear facility to shift it from its weapons potential to medicinal use.

It took ten days for this matter to be resolved - with Russia's role in the JCPOA being reconfirmed. During this period, Russia was castigated in the Western media for seeking to deliberately scuttle the agreement at the last moment. That this was just posturing became clear when, nearly a fortnight after the Russian issue was resolved on 14 March, the nuclear agreement has not been finalized.

The outstanding issue relates to the removal of the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist organisation (FTO) by the US; this had been done by the Trump administration in August 2019, soon after the US withdrew from the JCPOA. Given that the IRGC is already subject to several other US sanctions, the removal of the FTO tag hardly has any practical implications - but its symbolic value is considerable for both sides.

For Iran, the IRGC is the guardian of the Islamic revolution and, as a state institution, has responsibility for the defence of national borders and the waters of the Persian Gulf. Hence, the FTO designation is just not acceptable to Iran. At the same time, the removal of the tag is now a factor in US domestic - the Republicans and even a few Democratic senators are opposed to it, as are the Israeli prime minister and foreign minister.

Israel and some Arab states, possibly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, want the talks to fail so that the sanctions on Iran are not lifted, and Iran's role in regional affairs remains restricted. But the argument against this position is that it is far better to restrict Iran's weapons programme than live with the constant threat of it opting to develop nuclear weapons - US withdrawal from the JCPOA only encouraged Iran to violate the JCPOA provisions and enrich uranium up to 60 percent, just short of weapons grade.

The worrying aspect of the stalemate at Vienna is the escalation in what Israel calls its "campaign-between-wars" with Iran. In February, Israel attacked an Iranian arsenal of hundreds of drones. On 7 March, in a bombing in Syria, Israeli aircraft killed two Iranian IRGC officers. On 13 March, Iran fired missiles into Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, targeting what Iran called operational bases of Israel's intelligence service, Mossad. Iran officially described this as a "wake-up" to regional states that were hosting Israeli facilities.

Saudi Arabia's energy diplomacy

Through February, the US sent several Patriot anti-missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia to protect the kingdom from drone and missile attacks directed at Saudi energy and other targets by the Houthis in Yemen. This is an effort being made by the Biden administration to placate Saudi Arabia and rebuild relations that have been frayed by public expressions of hostility by the US president directed at the country and its crown prince.

None of this has worked so far. On 22 March, the editor of the English-language Saudi daily, Arab News, headlined his article, "Biden is becoming a master at losing friends and alienating allies". He then cited: attempts to remove the FTO tag from the IRGC; failure to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation, despite the frequent attacks on Saudi energy facilities; and, above all, the failure to back the US' longstanding allies - in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Israel, and, most recently, Ukraine, whose president had to plead for US weaponry after being denied NATO membership - in short, alienating the very friends who would "help deter authoritarian aggressors bent on harming US interests and values".

This sense of deep grievance in the kingdom has been reflected most emphatically in the Saudi response to desperate US pleas to increase oil production and ease global prices that skyrocketed to nearly $140/ barrel after the US placed an embargo on Russian energy exports. The kingdom has steadfastly adhered to the "OPEC +" agreement to implement modest increases of 400,000 barrels/ day from August 2021 to September 2022, an arrangement that is being implemented in close cooperation with Russia.

Oil analysts have noted that, between them, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have spare capacity of more than 3 million barrels/ day and, given that total Russian oil exports are 5 mbd, they could easily bring down prices by just producing their spare capacity. However, Anchal Vohra, writing in Foreign Policy, has pointed out that Gulf rulers "no longer feel the need to be on the right side of the United States and are embracing newer alliances with like-minded authoritarians".

The challenge of food security

While political positions, engagements and alignments are being pursued among different actors in and North Africa (WANA), the dark cloud haunting the entire region is the threat to its food security. Russia and Ukraine together provide 40 percent of the region's wheat imports; the dependence of some countries is even higher - 85 percent in the case of Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, and 90 percent in Lebanon. The conflict has exacerbated the existing problem of hunger - 55 million people in WANA experience hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Human Rights Watch (HRW) have pointed out that Ukraine's Black Sea region, presently affected by the war, provides 12 percent of food calories traded in the world; besides wheat, the country is also the leading global exporter of sunflower oil, barley, corn, rapeseed and poultry. On 9 March, Ukraine banned food exports to safeguard domestic interests, but, HRW says that, even when conflict ends, supply disruptions will continue as the war has destroyed agricultural infrastructure and machinery, and several farmers have fled to safer places.

Linked with the disruption in food supplies is the problem of rising prices - in war-torn Yemen, Australia has quoted for wheat supplies at $600/ tonne, as against the pre-war Ukrainian price of $255/ tonne. Given the sensitivity of food prices in a country where a third of the population is below the poverty-line, in Egypt the staple flat bread is heavily subsidised, with consumers paying just a tenth of the production cost: the annual subsidy on bread is $3.2 billion; in the financial year 2021-22, the additional cost will be nearly $700 million.

Compounding food issues in WANA is the fact that major countries in the region are experiencing poor harvests due to drought, perhaps brought on by climate change. The US Department of Agriculture has projected that Iran, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt will together need to increase their grain imports in 2021-22 to 35.5 million tonnes, i.e., 17 percent of the world total, as against 25.9 million tonnes in the previous year, or 13 percent of the total.

Not surprisingly, given that the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago were triggered by a regionwide economic crisis, some commentators are suggesting that the Ukraine could aggravate popular discontent; though this might not evolve into angry agitations for change, (perhaps because the experience of the pandemic has made people more stoic), there will be fresh pressures on governments to attend to popular interests, beyond the concerns brought on by matters related to security and strategic interests.

Outlook for WANA

A month after the commencement of the Ukraine war, the principal feature of in West Asia have been the attempts of the principal regional states to maintain a balance as between the US and Russia, basing their position variously on "strategic diversity", "strategic selfishness" or just plain hedging. Despite considerable US pressure and behind-the- cajolery, none of the states concerned has rushed to the US embrace - an extraordinary exhibition of independence of action.

What the region has witnessed has been a flurry of interactions - with national leaders sitting in bilateral and even trilateral conclaves to exchange views and assessments. Their most immediate concerns relate to the Ukraine war and the JCPOA and, related to that, Iran's role in regional affairs. The most interesting conclave has been the one that brought together Egypt, the UAE and Israel at Sharm el-Sheikh, but, before the Ukraine conflict we had seen Iraq, Jordan and Egypt announcing an economic and political partnership, while Iran could still bank on its support bases in Syria and Iraq, even though the latter was wearing thin under popular pressure.

What is different about these alignments from the Trump era is that earlier they had constituted conflictual battle-lines - Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt were ranged against Iran, Iraq, Syrian and the militia, Hamas and Hezbollah. At present, none of these alignments is inherently conflictual --- in fact many partners of one group are actually engaged with members of other groups, e.g., the UAE and Saudi Arabia with Iran, and Syria with the UAE.

The second change in the region is that the influence of political Islam, as represented by the Muslim Brotherhood and its diverse affiliates, has largely abated. The Brotherhood is riven with internal divisions, with its adherents debating a thoroughgoing revamp of its ideological basis and the need for greater openness to a broader set of interests that would include: popular participation in politics, liberalism, development, poverty and inequality, climate change, etc. This absence of ideological competition has opened opportunities for new interactions - with Turkey and Qatar now open to fresh interactions with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, as also with Israel.

The third feature of regional affairs is the long-term value that each regional player attaches to ties with Russia and China: based on the solid foundations of energy, trade, investment and logistical connectivity initiatives, for each country these ties have begun to include a strategic content - increasing dialogue on political matters and expanding defence ties. These relations, taken together, constitute a significant change from a few years ago when the US was the sole go-to partner for most regional states.

Commentators are generally baffled about the shape of things to come. Most suggest, somewhat lazily, that the present-day assertions of autonomy by regional states will be short-lived and they will fairly soon re-join the US alliance. This assessment has misread the powerful signals emanating from national capitals - West Asia has truly changed; the US will not find in the region the unthinking support for its approaches, most of which had earlier obtained reluctant backing even when they were harmful to regional interest and pursued against regional counsel.

The Ukraine war has not created a new regional order; it has ensured that it is strengthened - and regional players pursue their interests independently and confidently.

(The author, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, holds the Ram Sathe Chair for Studies, Symbiosis International University, Pune.)

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative

(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 renaming of Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office YouTube channel has triggered speculation that the beleaguered may step down as Prime Minister at the public rally called by him in Islamabad on Sunday.

The rally is a show of strength by Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the opposition is geared up for a no-trust vote in the National Assembly to oust his government. faces mounting economic and social challenges as his government battles corruption allegations levelled by the opposition.

The change in the YouTube channel's name on Saturday has raised eyebrows. The channel had a verified tick when it was named Prime Minister's Office and has now been renamed 'Imran Khan'.

has been hard-hitting in his counter-offensive at the opposition terming oppositions "dacoits" and has urged people to come in large numbers to Islamabad's Parade Ground on March 27.

"I want my people to come to Parade Ground tomorrow, tomorrow we will show a sea of people!" PTI said in a tweet referring to Imran Khan.

The political challenges have mounted for Imran Khan even as his government is negotiating with IMF on USD 6 billion rescue package and battling unemployment and price rise.

The no-confidence motion was submitted by opposition parties on March 8 after the PPP's long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan.

As the crucial no-confidence motion session inches closer and uncertainty continues to shroud political alliances, at least fifty ministers belonging to the ruling party have gone 'missing' from the political front, Express Tribune said on Friday citing sources.

More than 50 of the federal and provincial ministers have not been seen in public since the opposition began stacking up perils against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the report said.

Imran Khan had on Wednesday said he will not "resign under any circumstances" amid mounting pressure from the opposition.

"I will not resign under any circumstance. I will play till the last ball and I will surprise them a day before as they are still under pressure. My trump card is that I have not laid any of my cards yet," he had said.

Najam Sethi, a Pakistani journalist, said that Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give on Sunday and his 'mind games" are meant for the military establishment and the judiciary for "positive" results.

"Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give tomorrow. He is playing "mind games" (big jalsas, good vs evil, high moral ground, etc) of which he is a self-confessed master! These "mind games" are meant to prey on the Miltablishment and Judiciary for "positive" results!" Sethi said in a tweet.

According to Geo News, Khan had said earlier this week that he had good relations with the military. But army seems to have lost trust in Khan over his stance leading to a stand-off over the appointment of the intelligence agency's - ISI chief.

The Pakistani National Assembly has 342 members and Imran Khan needs the support of 172 members to prove his majority.

The PTI led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members - PTI (155 members) and four major allies MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively.

Imran Khan and his party members are trying every trick under their sleeves to avert turmoil.

After the move of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan's government got deferred to March 28 in the National Assembly, his party has intensified its efforts to woo its allies.

Opposition parties have said that Khan, who had come to power on the slogan of fighting corruption, was "found hiding crucial information" from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding foreign funding case.

According to News International, The State Bank of Pakistan's documents handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the PTI foreign funding case show that information about transactions worth more than USD 2 million dollars from 14 different foreign countries and hundreds of millions rupees' local transactions into the party's bank accounts was not provided to the ECP authorities.

The report said the documents also show that Imran Khan's PTI received USD 29,800 donations in 2013 from a businesswoman and her Pakistani American husband but their donation was also concealed from the ECP.

(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.)
Emami on Friday announced the acquisition of Dermicool, one of the leading brands in heat powder and cool talc category from Reckitt.

The acquisition is funded through internal accruals and is subject to customary closing conditions.

The brand is popular for providing cooling and respite from prickly heat caused during summer season. It commands approximately 20% market share in the high growth and low penetrated category. Combined with Emami's Navratna Cool Talc, Emami will become leader in this niche category which would also help realise synergetic benefits and optimize costs.

Harsha V Agarwal, director, Emami, said, "We are very happy to announce the acquisition of Dermicool brand which offers great synergy with our existing businesses and is a perfect strategic fit. It will strengthen our presence to make us #1 in the prickly heat powder & cool talc category. With increasing global warming and soaring summer temperatures, such problem solution niche products are poised for strong growth in future."

Emami, as one of its core business strategies, has always been open to growth through inorganic route. Zandu, Kesh King and German brand Creme 21 are some of the brands or businesses acquired by the Company in the past few years.

Emami is one of the FMCG Companies in India in personal & healthcare space and is the flagship company of the diversified Emami Group of Companies. It is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing personal care, healthcare and beauty products. Emami's leading brands are Boroplus, Navratna, Zandu, Fair & Handsome and Kesh King among others.

The company reported 5% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 220 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 209 crore in Q3 FY21. Consolidated revenue rose by 4% YoY to Rs 972 crore. Domestic business grew by 3% on a year-on-year basis.

The scrip shed 0.14% to end at Rs 449.95 on the BSE yesterday.

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All proceeds from the auction of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will go towards Project Nanhi Kali, to support the education of underprivileged girls in India.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) announced its entry into the NFT universe, with the release of its first tranche of tokens.

NFTs are digital assets that are stored on the blockchain. NFTs have captured the interest of the digitally savvy and constantly connected generation.

The company initially proposes to start with four series of NFTs of iconic Thar vehicle. It will be released in collaboration with Tech Mahindra. The estimated investment towards the same is less than Rs 1 crore.

This first-ever series comprises four NFTs that will be put up for sale via an auction starting 29 March 2022, on Tech Mahindra's NFT marketplace christened 'Mahindra Gallery'.

The winners of the auction will be invited to the Mahindra Adventure Off-road Driver Training Academy (Igatpuri, Maharashtra) or to the new state-of-the-art Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT, Chennai), to experience the thrill of 4x4 motoring.

"All proceeds from the auction will go towards Project Nanhi Kali, to support the education of underprivileged girls in India. Access to education helps the girl child in fulfilling her dreams and lays the foundation for an equal society," M&M said in a statement.

M&M offers a wide range of products and solutions ranging from SUVs, pickups, commercial vehicles, and tractors, to electric vehicles, two-wheelers, and construction equipment.

M&M's consolidated net profit surged 127.2% to Rs 1828.69 crore on a 9.1% increase in net sales to Rs 23594.46 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

Shares of M&M declined 0.15% to close at Rs 764.70 on Friday, 25 March 2022.

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The NBFC, on Saturday, announced that its board has approved the fund raising program for the issue size of Rs 7,800 crore for the FY 2022-23.

As per the exchange filing, the company's board has given a green flag for the fund raising, which includes issuance of redeemable Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) upto the overall limit of Rs 7,800 crore by way of private placement or/and public issue in one or more tranches.

Manappuram Finance is one of India's leading gold loan NBFCs. The company reported 46% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 261 crore on a 9% decline in total income to Rs 1,506.85 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Shares of Manappuram Finance declined 2.26% to close at Rs 114.45 on Friday, 25 March 2022.

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Motherson Sumi Systems said that it has won an order from Boeing to manufacture and supply aftermarket molded polymer parts for commercial airplane interiors.

This is the first order for Motherson from Boeing. The order will commence from Q3 FY23 and will be produced in a Motherson plant situated in Noida, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

Motherson is scaling its capabilities to provide integrated solutions to the aerospace industry. With capabilities in aerospace ecosystem such as materials, aerostructures, wiring harnesses and global manufacturing footprint, Motherson has the necessary knowhow to support the upcoming ramp-up of production for major global aircraft manufacturers. This is in line with our growth strategy to strengthen non-automotive business as announced during our five-year plan, Vision 2025.

Commenting on the deal, Kunal Bajaj, CEO (Aerospace division), Motherson,said, We are delighted to be a part of Boeing's global supply chain on plastic components. With this order, Motherson becomes a Tier-1 supplier to Boeing. This marks the beginning of a new journey in line with Motherson's vision for growth in aerospace.

Motherson Sumi Systems is a specialised automotive component manufacturing companies for OEMs.

The company reported 69% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 245.08 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 798.38 crore in Q3 FY21. Total revenue from operations declined 6% YoY to Rs 16,117.51 crore during the quarter.

The scrip rose 2.49% to end at Rs 135.60 on the BSE on Friday.

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The Chinese Foreign Minister went to Delhi after the row over the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, which was replaced by concern over western action in Ukraine before the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa summit (BRICS) in China.

One goal is to open a line of discussion between Delhi and Beijing in place of world events. It seems the concerns in Ladakh have been shelved, and an impasse over remarks about Jammu and Kashmir made that India reminded as none of their concern.

China's Unusual Outreach

Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister and State Councilor arrived in Delhi a day after India "turned down" what it said was inappropriate "uncalled for" comments he made regarding Jammu and Kashmir at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting held in Islamabad, reported the Express UK.

According to the Chinese embassy, no announcement was made prior to the official's visit, and no meeting was scheduled with officials.

One of his scheduled activities is to see the External Affairs minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday as part of his official functions.

It cannot be denied that the Ladakh incident at the LAC has left strained relations between Beijing and Delhi for some time and was a concern for both nations, cited Foreign Policy.

Looking beyond this misunderstanding to revive bilateral talks and arrange for the scheduled talks for the BRICS summit to be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping late this year.

BRICS Summit

Beijing reportedly suggested a series of events to kick off the discourse, commencing with high-level visits from both parties. The Chinese foreign minister hopes to iron out all obstacles for the BRICS summit diplomatically later in the year.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

China's ultimate objective is to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BRICS summit in person, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. This year it will be Beijing's turn to chair the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral in 2022 and accommodate leaders on the sidelines.

Last Wednesday, India told the leaders in China that it should not air anything about internal concerns. Wang, a participant in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, made this statement, saying that the concerns of Islamic friends are important. He added that China has the same aspirations for its friends in Islamabad.

This remark by the Chinese official drew a rebuke from the Ministry of External Affairs. Arindam Bagchi, a representative of the Ministry of External Affairs, stated they repudiate China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi's completely unwarranted remark towards India in his address at the Opening Ceremony of the OIC, noted Indian Defence News.

Reacting to the Chinese officials is not so common in airing a rebuke, as this would reflect that New Delhi does not want to relent on its stand.

India made it clear that the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir cannot be interfered with by anyone else, even Beijing. Bagchi chastised and said New Delhi does not offer unwanted statements where it is not concerned.

This prior statement is the usual answer to reference to Jammu & Kashmir; otherwise, India's internal affairs are it is own. Wang Yi should have kept silent, they added. Last March 19, after the Beijing visit, India Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told China that the Ladakh issue is not done yet.

Related Article: Rupee-Ruble Payment Arrangement Coming Soon Despite Opposition and Warning from the Biden Administration's For Modi To Ditch Russia

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How reliable is the data put out in the annual rich lists on the number of wealthy people and the extent of their wealth? A look at information from income tax, real estate deals, sales of high-end automobiles and disclosures by elected representatives suggest a mismatch between these lists and the reality, writes T N Ninan. Read it here



In other views:

Devangshu Datta analyses why successor states to the former Soviet Union did not become economic powerhouses. Read it here



T C A Srinivasa Raghavan asks whether the Indian zeitgeist till 2014 was truly secular and has it now changed as completely as the economic spirit changed in the 1970s? Read it here



Chintan Modi weighs the pros and cons of online events versus their physical versions and the dubious benefits of phygital functions. Read it here



QUOTE OF THE DAY

In the near term there are really no good options, other than begging an Asian buyer or two to give up their LNG tanker for Europe,

Robert McNally, former presidential energy adviser, on US gas supply plans for Europe
Former chief minister on Saturday alleged that Nitish Kumar, who succeeded him in the seat of power, "fell on the feet" of Prime Minister in Lucknow because of majboori' (compulsions) she could not fathom.

The RJD leader made the remark while talking to reporters here outside the state legislature, which is in session.

Kumar was in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Friday to attend the swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath.

A lot is being read into the body language of Kumar at the glittering ceremony. His photographs, greeting the PM with folded hands and bending at his waist, have been lapped up by the opposition in .

They have sought to juxtapose the chief minister's current stance against his famous rivalry with Modi when the latter was the Gujarat CM, whose rise to national prominence had caused him to snap several years old ties with the BJP.

It has been the opposition's contention that Kumar's "body language" was symbolic of his "capitulation" before the BJP which has now overshadowed his JD(U) in terms of numerical strength in the state legislative assembly.

"Kuchh majboori hogi..... Pradhan Mantri ka pair pakad liye" (there must have been some compulsion that made him fall at the PM's feet), said Rabri Devi, tongue- in cheek.

The JD(U) was predictably riled and the most vicious counter attack came from Kumar's outspoken political aide Upendra Kushwaha.

"It is called shishtachaar' (courtesy). must not be knowing what it means, which is evident from the durgati' (plight) of her own daughter in law", said Kushwaha.

The allusion was to Aishwarya, the wife of Rabri Devi's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who had accused her in-laws of having driven her out of her their house following her estrangement from her husband.

Aishwarya's father Chandrika Roy, who was earlier with the RJD, joined the JD(U) after the ugly spat with the family of Lalu Prasad, husband of who is the founding president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

(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.)
Political slugfest over the Birbhum killings continued for the fifth day on Saturday, with the ruling claiming that opposition leaders were indulging in "narrow-minded over dead bodies" and the saffron camp accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led party of trying to protect the perpetrators.

state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh asserted that opposition parties were trying to "malign the image of the state government over the issue even as the administration was doing its bit to deliver justice" to the families of the eight victims killed in the violence in Rampurhat town's Bogtui village.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the CBI to take over the probe into the case from the government-formed SIT and sought a report within a week.

Talking to reporters, Ghosh said, "As directed by the honourable high court, the CBI will be extended all necessary help by our government. We want those involved in the ghastly incident to be brought to book."



"The CM has already talked to the affected families. A SIT was also formed and action was being taken. This shows the sincere intent of the government. The opposition, however, is indulging in narrow-minded over dead bodies. The BJP seeks CBI probe for any and every incident."



The saffron party which began a two day sit-in at Rampurhat town on Saturday in protest against the killings alleged "many big fish" of the were involved in the incident.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari stated that the truth would automatically tumble out if phone call lists of several TMC leaders are checked.

Adhikari, who was leading the sit-in, alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was not concerned about keeping Bengal secure.

"She did not take action as men of her party attacked opposition activists. Even now, when members of her party were getting killed over spoils from sand, coal and road contract work, she isn't saying much. The bike-borne TMC brigade does not hesitate to set aflame women and childten. The party will be decimated in the coming polls," Adhikari maintained.

Taking a dig at Banerjee's journey by a helicopter to Bogtui, the BJP added that she "had lost touch with the ground".

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented a "Rozgar Budget" in the Assembly on Saturday with an outlay of Rs 75,800 crore for the financial year 2022-23, focussing on creating 20 lakh jobs in five years by setting up an electronic city and promoting night economy, retail and wholesale markets in the national capital.

The size for the next financial year is 9.86 per cent higher than that of the previous year -- Rs 69,000 crore -- Sisodia said, adding that Delhi's economy is recovering gradually from the impact of COVID-19.

"The Rozgar will take the economy of Delhi on the path of progress and generate lakhs of employment opportunities," he asserted.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lauded his deputy for presenting a that has "taken care of" every section of the society.

"Many congratulations to Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia for presenting the 'Rozgar Budget' for Delhi. This budget will create employment on a large scale for youngsters. Every section of Delhi has been taken care of in this budget," he said in a tweet in Hindi



In the 2022-23 budget, the heath sector has been allotted Rs 9,669 crore, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has set aside Rs 16,278 crore for education.

Presenting the budget for the eighth consecutive year, Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the city government will spend Rs 4,500 crore in the next five years to generate 20 lakh jobs and Rs 800 crore will be set aside in the 2022-23 budget for the purpose.

Under its "Rozgar Budget", the Kejriwal government will organise shopping festivals to promote retail and wholesale markets in the city, seeking to make these places attractive for tourists and create jobs to boost the economy. An amount of Rs 250 crore has been allocated for this in the 2022-23 budget.

"Other states have learnt a lot from the Kejriwal model of governance when it comes to improving government schools and creating jobs. I am sure that with this 'Rozgar Budget', Delhiites will be benefitted.

"In the next one or two years, state governments will also learn from this (Rozgar Budget) on how both government and private sectors can provide opportunities for people," Sisodia said during his budget speech.

He said an artificial intelligence-based website and a mobile application -- "Rozgar Bazaar 2.0" -- will be launched with an aim to provide at least one lakh jobs every year to the youngsters of Delhi, especially women.

An electronic city will be set up at Baprola to create 80,000 jobs by attracting big IT companies, Sisodia said, adding that a "food truck policy" will also be introduced under which local delicacies will be promoted.

These food trucks will be allowed on streets from 8 pm to 2 am, a move that is aimed at promoting night economy in the national capital.

The deputy chief minister said smart urban farming will be promoted and turned into a mass movement in association with the Pusa Institute, adding that 25,000 new jobs are expected to be created.

The will conduct an employment audit of the budget allocations for its departments and agencies.

Talking about the budget allocation for the health sector, Sisodia said an amount of Rs 1,900 crore has been proposed to upgrade the state-run hospitals. An amount of Rs 475 crore has been set aside for "Mohalla Clinics" and polyclinics in the 2022-23 budget.

"We have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, but all of us are aware of the severe damage it has caused to the social and economic progress of the country. Delhi is no exception to this," he said.

The deputy chief minister said drinking water availability has increased by 10 per cent, adding that the Yamuna river will be completely cleaned in the next two years.

(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.)
Photographer Zhang Xinming documented life in a capsule hotel in Southwest Chinas Chongqing, after being forced to stay there for 55 days in 2021 due to a Covid-19 outbreak. While the iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, which in 1972 became the first practical example of capsule architecture, has fallen into disrepair, the idea of the capsule hotel is not outdated. These hotels have appeared in cities across China to provide people with a cheap place to stay overnight

May 05, 2022 07:17 PM
Bastion-P anti-ship missiles are one of the weapon systems that are part of Russia's modernization of its military forces that will shatter the confidence of anyone at its receiving end.

After getting hit by unstoppable hypersonic missiles, the Ukrainians are getting another formidable Soviet hammer as Putin's revenge.

Zelensky's forces can only cry for weapons while Russian arms are getting more accurate in tearing apart the Ukrainians who once shelled the DPR and LPR viciously.

Russia Admits Firing Anti-Ship Missiles

Ukraine's forces are supposed to fare well against Russian federations forces after hyperfast missiles lobbed at them, but the Bastion will make the local defender sweat bullets, reported the EurAsian Times.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video last March 23 that shows its K-300P Bastion-P coastal defense missiles firing and hitting their targets.

The Ministry of Defense said the Bastion system fired and struck the hardware of Ukrainian troops accurately, wrecking even undisclosed western armaments.

Joe Biden and NATO leaders sent weapons to Ukraine despite the warning of terrible reprisals by the Kremlin, states CNBC.

They are now fair game, and weapon caravans will be blasted to bits, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview mentioned The Straits Times.

According to a Russian defense ministry spokesman, the ship killer missile was made to demolish Ukrainian military sites close to the Black Sea port of Odesa, per Al Jazeera,

This could indicate that the Bastion-P anti-ship missiles have been employed against Kyiv twice. Many open-source intelligence Twitter users suggest that the missiles were launched from a site in Crimea.

Read Also: Joe Biden Net Worth 2022: How Wealthy Is the 46th President of the United States?

There were various lingering questions about why Russia uses some of its most sophisticated weapons. This year, it deployed Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to destroy a weapons storage depot in Ukraine, marking the weapon's first deployment.

It will intercept and destroy high-value naval vessels off the coast. Seen as the last line of defense, Moscow has implemented this system in some of its most strategic marine areas in the past few years.

Like China, the Kremlin invested in the K-300P coastal defense in Kuril Island. The isles are located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which Tokyo and Moscow contest.

Once Crimea was annexed in 2014, the missiles were arming a brigade in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. It is also used to deny NATO forces by stationing them in its territorial waters and huge Arctic coastline and resource-rich areas owned by Russia.

Ship Killer Specifications

K-300 Bastion-P or the SSC-5 Stooge are based on the P-800 Oniks supersonic ship killer cruise missile; could be used in warships and submarines called SS-N 26 Strobile (NATO term). Also, for export called the Yakhont.

It flies at Mach 2.2 with 180 miles as the target range; it has several important components like two command and control vehicles. Can fly high or low altitude as well.

Bastion-P anti-ship missiles work together to strike primary or secondary targets as programmed using an inertial navigation system supported by GLONASS to guide the missile.

Use for land strike makes it a versatile system to use in making short work of Ukrainian target and a layer of Russian missile strategy.

Related Article: A-50 Mainstay AEW&C Aircraft From Russia That Equates With the E-3 Sentry Used by the USAF To Command the Skies

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A new study by scholars on why Vikings left their home in Greenland offers a hypothesis about why these people went after colonizing the area successfully.

Another perspective is how history books should be revised how the even is seen via new allegations. Several hypotheses have been shut and sealed on how the event is interpreted through another lens.

Reason Why the Vikings Left

No one knows how the Norsemen ever decided to leave south Greenland during the start of the 15th century after settling in 985. How it came to happen has not been answered yet, reported ScienceDaily.

One accepted conclusion is that the already freezing temperature like a mini-Ice Age is the culprit, forcing a departure for the medieval sailors.

A new inquiry headed by the University of Massachusetts Amherst is contesting the initial hypothesis in Science Advances.

The authors of the study said that freezing temperatures but drought caused the Norse populations to migrate from their homes.

Settling in Greenland, where these people called home, is the Eastern Settlement in 985; survival all year round was done by clearing shrubs and planting grass as food for animals they had.

The local population of the settlement reached about 2,000 people; four hundred years later, the ecosystem collapsed.

Norse Settlement

For a long time, everyone in the scientific community accepted the departure of Norse inhabitants as a cause by the effects of the mini-Ice Age, when temperatures dropped low in the North Atlantic, which killed the crops planted in the settlements.

Raymond Bradley, professor of geosciences at UMass Amherst, pointed out the significant fact; until the study, no exact data was taken from known Norse settlements, noted Eurekalert.

He went on to say that the ice core data employed in earlier studies to simulate historical Greenlandic conditions was obtained from a location over 1,000 kilometers north and over 2,000 meters higher in altitude, providing clues for the study of why Vikings left.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

Furthermore, studies of how climate had the range to farm would factor; results took the team by surprise. He and his co-authors visited Lake 578, close to one of the largest groupings of farms in the Eastern Settlement and close to a former Norse farm.

The researchers gathered samples for three years at the lake that coincided with the climatic record at the selected location in two millennia.

A member of the group Boyang Zhao is the study lead researcher conducting the study for a Ph.D. related to geosciences and part of the Brown University.

Researchers analyzed the ancient sample with a lipid called BrGDGT, which can be used to reconstruct temperature.

Co-author, Isla Castaeda, explained that with an appropriate comprehensive record, one could directly connect the altering patterns of lipids to temperature changes.

Detecting the second market, which is a wax-like coat on plant leaves, can determine the rates at which the grasses and other livestock-sustaining plants lost water due to evaporation.

Zhao said while the temperature barely changed throughout the Norse settlement of southern Greenland, it became steadily drier over time.

Norse farmers had to feed their livestock stored hay over the winter, and even in good years, the animals were often so emaciated that they had to be dragged to the fields once the snow melted. The new study revealed the Vikings were victims of climatic conditions they had no control over and had to leave the Norse Settlement in Greenland.

Related Article: Seven Viking Tombs from the 10th Century With Remains of Eight People Discovered by Swedish Archeologists

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Photo: wikimedia commons A box turtle

A Sechelt man was sentenced to six months' probation Friday after pleading guilty to the theft of Zoomer the box turtle from Vancouvers Science World.

Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Elizabeth Burgess heard William Edward Richardson, 49, took the turtle while visiting the Vancouver attraction with his three children on July 19, 2021.

Burgess heard the family didnt believe Zoomers habitat was acceptable.

In their non-expert opinion, they believed the cage was too small, defence lawyer Ryman Yeung told Burgess.

So Richardson went to his car, got some bolt cutters and removed Zoomer, court heard.

Richardson took Zoomer to a lake and spent five hours with the turtle observing it to see if it wanted to be released, Crown prosecutor Paul Pietrusinski said.

He said Zoomers species is not native to the West Coast and dont survive outside.

We are aware this could be the case with Zoomer, Pietrusinski said.

Defence said Richardson had done his research.

"He believed the warm climate in B.C. would allow the turtle to survive here, Yeung said.

The judge gave Richardson six months probation.

You will write a letter of apology to Science World, Burgess said.

Pietrusinski said Science World staff had expressed feelings of guilt at Zoomers loss.

The court heard Zoomer was a well-cared-for Science World animal ambassador and had been there more than 20 years.
Photo: Twitter Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Saying Florida public schools are making sexually explicit books available to children, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday to give parents a say in what books schools can and can't have in their libraries.

It will force all elementary schools to provide a searchable list of every book available in their libraries or used in instruction. School boards must let the public know when they plan to consider approving new instructional books and allow anyone to comment. Any objections to the material, by a parent or not, must be reported to the state.

Unfortunately, we've seen some books in some of these libraries, I mean you're talking about kids in middle school, some of the stuff that has ended up there is incredibly, incredibly disturbing stuff, DeSantis said. Parents understand when they see this. They understand how to blow the whistle on this.

The bill also sets a 12-year term limit for school board members.

Democrats opposed the bill during the legislative session that ended earlier this month, saying that it amounts to censorship and compared it to book burning. But it aligns with DeSantis' agenda to squash school district decisions he disagrees with.

You have some groups that want to take away classic books like To Kill a Mockingbird,' but they want things like, Gender Queer: A Memoir, which is a cartoon-style book with graphic images of children performing sexual acts. That is wrong," DeSantis said. They want to eliminate Of Mice and Men,' but Lawn Boy, a book containing explicit passages of pedophilia is somehow accepted."

Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon said the bill is part of the governor's culture wars designed to help him win the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

The governor's actions today and his words just illustrate his political ambitions. He cares more about rallying a base of people who will support him in a future presidential bid than he does about making sure Floridians have access to housing, have access to quality health care, she said. The bill he signed today is going to cause more stress and strain on school systems.

The books DeSantis mentioned were political flashpoints in Texas and Virginia and were removed from libraries. Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaigned on the issue.

Gender Queer is an autobiography by Maia Kobabe, who was born female, but now identifies as nonbinary and asexual. The School Library Journal described it as a book to be savored rather than devoured, this memoir will resonate with teens.

Its also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand, the review continues.

Lawn Boy is a semiautobiographical novel by Jonathan Evison. The Washington Post said, Evison takes a battering ram to stereotypes about race and class" and said it's "spiked with angst and anger, but also full of humor and lots of hope."

After controversy about the book, Evison said he received death threats and explained that a passage some find objectionable is not about pedophilia, but rather an adult character recalling a sexual encounter he had as a fourth grader with another fourth grader.

DeSantis also used the bill signing ceremony to denounce critical race theory in schools, mask mandates in schools and Dr. Anthony Fauci. He also encouraged people to pay attention to school board races and vote members out.

Florida now joins places like Russia and China, modern-day examples of what happens when free thought and free speech are tightly restricted in all levels of society, including in school, Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book said in a statement. As a mom and a former classroom teacher  and simply an American who values freedom of speech  this is a very, very scary place to be.
Joe Biden will provide energy shipments to the European Union as a solution to cut the Russian monopoly that ties the bloc, even the US.

Years of developing natural gas and oil have given Russian President Vladimir Putin a stranglehold on the bloc that has no alternative to turn to.

It can be noted that the US government was willing to deal with Iran, Venezuela when Saudi Arabia slammed its door to the US president.

Biden, Von der Leyen Announce Solution to Russian Oil Dependence

Washington and unidentified producers are getting tapped to supply liquefied natural gas for energy-starved European countries by the end of 2022.

As part of the deal, the White House says its sources can clear 15 billion cubic meters of LNG and deliveries rivaling Russia's capacity, according to the Daily Mail.

Biden and Ursula von der Leyen announced a joint task force to come up with solutions finding other options than the energy that the Kremlin allegedly weaponizes. The White House even provided a fact sheet to show it has a plan but no definite sources.

Sources say that it's a chance for a Democrat push to green energy and unrealistic climate goals, though it's a good nudge to the EU in favor of anything but gas.

More oil and gas are coming through. VDL reportedly told media that the bloc would need extra LNG and oil for two more years or two winters, cited 5 Chicago.

The National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to reporters that the Biden administration would deliver the energy shipments to the EU. One concern is that big oil producers don't mind the US president, Joe Biden.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

It seems so daunting that the US wants to solve decades of the energy dependence of the bloc on Russia. These exports of gas and oil through Russian pipelines are cheaper, and the EU likes it.

The question lies in whether the US will find a way to provide 40 percent of gas needs, 27 percent of oil, also 46 percent of coal needed by bloc members.

America wants the EU to put more sanctions on Russia for moving in to stop an alleged all-out attack by pro-Ukraine forces, which is seen as an invasion.

Frustration on the side of the US is apparent as Brussel and its members won't commit because Putin can shut the gas tap, per Business Standard.

Hopes are high that adding more gas supplies would make allies go all out on the sanctions, which remains something to seem.

The EU Is Divided

The US president said that the EU is united, but it's far from the truth. The crisis brings about too many problems. A total EU embargo will take all 27 state members to make it happen, but risking energy security is something no one wants to dare risk.

Prices are more than ten times higher than a year ago, US exporters have already delivered record volumes of LNG to the EU for three months.

It might be harder to provide more LNG as a promise; sources as plentiful as Russia's are unmatched. Many facilities are at optimum output now; many of the needed infrastructures will not be ready yet.

Russia's gas pipelines have the biggest capacity, especially Nord Stream 1 and 2, Yamal, and one going to China. Energy shipment projected by Joe Biden depends on the supply and facilities he can use to achieve it if it can be done.

Related Article: Britain, Canada Sidelined From the EU Council Meeting in Brussels When All Leaders Are Needed

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Photo: Nelson Bennett Dewatering the Springer pit was the first task in restarting Mount Polley's copper mining operations.

Hundreds of workers who worked at the Mount Polley copper mine near Williams Lake are being recalled and new ones being recruited, as the mine ramps up for a spring restart, buoyed by high copper prices.

And once Mount Polley is making money again, Imperial Metals (TSX:III) may consider restarting its long-idled Huckleberry mine.

Well look at Huckleberry as soon as we get this running properly, Imperial Metals CEO Brian Kynoch told BIV News.

Mount Polley was shut down in 2014, after a massive tailings pond collapse. The company rebuilt the tailings pond and spent more than $70 million in environmental rehabilitation, most of which was focused on restoring Hazeltine Creek, which flows into Quesnel Lake.

The company was able to restart the mine in 2016, but then shut down again in 2019, after copper prices fell below US$3 per pound, which is what the company needed at the time to make a profit on the mine.

It had also put its Huckleberry copper mine near Houston, B.C. into care and maintenance in 2016. Imperial Metals only revenue since 2019 has come from its 30% share of the Red Chris mine.

Copper prices nearly dipped below US$2 per pound in March 2020, with the beginning of a global pandemic. But by October 2020, copper cracked the US$3 per pound mark, then US$4 per pound in February 2021, and continues a major rally.

Copper is now at about US$4.70 per pound. Some analysts predict base metals  especially copper and nickel -- are in another supercycle, fueled by a recovering global economy, under-investment in new copper mines and an energy transition that demands a huge amount of copper for things like electric cars.

Roughly 100 workers have been on the job for a few months now at Mount Polley's Springer pit -- first removing water then pre-stripping waste rock to expose ore bodies -- and preparing the processing mill for a restart.

Were targeting having 1 million tonnes of ore in stockpiles when we start, Kynoch said.

He expects to restart the mill next month. By May or June, Kynoch expects the mine will employ roughly 350 people. Kynoch hopes most of the workers will come from local communities like Williams Lake and Likely.

Were really trying hard to hire locals, Kynoch said. Were hoping to get lots of the people we had there before back. And I think well have to do some training and bring some new people on and train them up.

The company continues to do exploration in the area to try to extend the life of the mine, which has only a few years left of proven resources.

On the regulatory front, Imperial Metals is seeking a water discharge permit extension for the water in its rebuilt tailings pond. The water is first settled and then treated, if necessary, and then discharged into Quesnel Lake via an outfall pipe.

The original permit, which was based on the mine continuing to operate through 2022, expires in December.

It had that end date because if we kept mining straight through, the mine would be closing (by the end of 2022), Kynoch said. We had to shut down because of the low prices. We still want to mine, so we want an extension to the discharge permit that we currently have.

The only water that has been collecting in the tailings pond since 2019 has been from precipitation.

Asked when he thought the company might be thinking of restarting the Huckleberry mine near Houston, B.C., Kynoch said: Give me a year to get Mount Polley up and running, and then well move our focus over.
Photo: Stoke Sisters

A Squamish guide has organized a group to help empower and unite women interested in backcountry adventuring in the Sea to Sky area.

Stoke Sisters founder Melanie Wiese has led trips that include winter camping and a paddle in the Squamish Estuary.

Another winter camping trip will occur on March 26 and 27.

Additionally, Wiese said she plans hiking trips in the summer and hopes to offer a sea kayaking trip.

Wiese, an outdoor guide, said that the idea for the group was conceived after she noticed that not many women were participating in the same adventure activities as men.

Whenever there are women in the group, its definitely the minority, she said.

After noticing that, she said she wanted to create a space where women could come together.

I want to make these things happen by connecting more women and being out there and doing cool things together, she said.

Working as a guide for Canada West Mountain School, Wiese said her joy stemmed from teaching and watching others grow in the backcountry.

She said that the backcountry can give people newfound confidence by getting through challenges.

For Wiese, the group needed to be for women because after learning some new skills, they could go on to teach or help other women.

Then they can empower each other. They help them [get] into the community to help each other and not need guides or instructors, she said, adding that they can also share gear like sleeping bags or mountain bikes.

Wiese noted that the women who participated in the first winter camping clinic were already leaving messages for the second clinic with details about how to stay warm or what extra items they found useful. Wiese said they were even encouraging each other that it was well worth the effort despite the difficulties of the trip.

Theres this awesome new conversation and exchange going on right now, which is exactly what I was hoping would happen, said Wiese. Its really nice to see.

Currently, Wiese said the group operates by working with local partnerships like with the Canada West Mountain School and, in the summer, Be Wild Adventures and Wellness. Additionally, she said she wants to reduce the barriers for women to access, so she tries to work with partners that offer gear options or find local partners to provide discounts.

To learn more about Stoke Sisters go to the group's Facebook page or send an email to [email protected]
Photo: Nicole Jean A Barred Owl found dead near Pemberton in February

While riding her bike last summer, Pemberton local Nicole Jean came across a dying hawk on the side of the trail. Wanting to help, she rode into a nearby yard to see if the homeowners had gloves she could borrow to safely transport the bird to an animal rehabilitation centre, but unfortunately the bird died before it could be treated.

While tending to the suffering hawk, the homeowners recounted their own story to Jean of seeing a hawk drop dead out of the sky and land in their yard just one day before.

Fast forward a few months, while out for a walk on a crisp February day, Jean once again came across a large bird dead in the snow. This time it was a Barred Owl.

I have now found three dead birds in the last seven months. And Ive just had knee surgery so Im not exactly out and about covering a large amount of terrain, yet still have managed to find three animals, said Jean, who made a post on the Pemberton Community Forum Facebook page to bring awareness to her concerns.

Since that post, five other people have contacted me to say theyve found dead owls and hawks. Ive lived in Pemberton for a long time, 25 years, and have noticed in the last year that in my neighbourhood there have been fewer [large birds]. Normally, in the spring, you see the hawks sitting on a fence post, but theyre not there anymore.

From there, Jean contacted someone at the provincial Ministry of Environment who then put her in touch with the British Columbia Interagency Wild Bird Mortality Investigation Plan, which took in the bird for testing.

While she has not received the test results yet, Jean believes the deaths could be caused by slow-acting rat poisons entering the birds systems through the rodents that they hunt.

Although the cause of death cant be known for certain until test results come back, Jeans hypothesis isnt a far stretch. In fact, it has been an issue across the province for years, according to BC SPCA research communications specialist Erin Ryan.

I think the biggest problem with this issue is we dont know the full scope of how big it is, she said. So owls that eat poisoned rodents, if the poison doesnt kill them right away, we often dont see the sub-lethal effects. And I think this has been happening for a very long time, but I think in the last couple years there has definitely been a pique in community interest because community members are the ones finding these poisoned animals out in the wild and its upsetting to them.

Ryan explained that anti-coagulant rodenticideswhich work by thinning the blood and causing the animal to slowly die from internal bleeding over days or weekshave been the most prominent tool in the pest control industry for a long time, which has led to everyday people following that lead for their own rat and mouse problems without realizing the dangers they present to other animals higher in the food chain.

With the increased awareness of this issue over the last couple years, the B.C. Government imposed a temporary, 18-month ban on all second-generation anti-coagulant rodenticides across the province, which took effect in July of 2021.

Second generation rodenticides were designed to be more potent and faster-acting, which in turn means they are also more dangerous for animals that prey on the rodents that eat them.

Moving forward, Ryan hopes to see a more comprehensive ban on rodenticides across the province, and hopes the pest control industry does a better job of identifying why a home has a pest problem in the first placeand addressing the root causes instead of resorting solely to poisonings.

The part that gets overlooked a lot is a truly integrated pest management approach, she said. As long as there is food and shelter, the mice and rats will just keep coming back. So what Id like to see the industry do more of, and what customers can do, is more of that proactive management. Keeping on top of sanitation and building maintenance to make sure we are preventing problems before they happen.

Meanwhile in Pemberton, Jean is set to make a presentation to the villages mayor and council on April 5, and hopes to see them adopt a policy to join the other 20 B.C. municipalities that have completely banned anti-coagulant rodenticides already.

For more information on alternative options for rodent control visit the SPCA's website.
Photo: RCMP From left to right, Jason Dalrymple, Liam Bellamy, Myra Bellamy, Dawn Bellamy.

UPDATED: 4:45 p.m.

BC RCMP have stood down the Amber Alert issued this morning after an alleged parental abduction has ended peacefully, with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) locating the family safely.

The Amber Alert was issued at 12:15 p.m. on Saturday after Fort St John RCMP believed that Jason Dalrymple has taken Dawn Bellamy and her two children against their will.

Police stated that they may be in danger while in his presence. Indications were that the suspect was heading east, possibly to Ontario.

Information was sent to police in neighbouring jurisdictions across the country, who also began their own search efforts.

By 3:30pm PT (6:30pm ET), the OPP confirmed that they had located the vehicle and the four individuals in Kenora, Ontario, just east of Manitoba.

RCMP stated in their press release that the man was taken into custody. The mother and her two children are safe and receiving support.

"We would like to thank our law enforcement partners in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario who where instrumental in finding everyone so quickly. They extended the Amber Alert in their provinces, followed up on TIPS and conducted searches," Sergeant Chris Manseau shared in the release.

"We would also like to thank the media for getting the information out about the Amber Alert so quickly. In addition, we want to thank the public for engaging and sharing the information on their social media feeds with others across Canada."

Charges are pending as the suspect remains in custody. The investigation is active and ongoing and the Fort St. John RCMP will work with the OPP to further the investigation.

ORIGINAL: 12:25 p.m.

Mounties in British Columbia say an Amber Alert has been activated as they search for a four-year-old child and his baby sister who were allegedly abducted on Thursday.

They say Liam Bellamy and his 10-month-old sister Myra went missing from the Fort St. John area and their father Jason Dalrymple is the suspect.

"Fort St. John RCMP has grounds to believe that Jason Dalrymple has taken Dawn Bellamy and her two children against their will from their residence in Fort St John and that they are in danger while in his presence," the BC RCMP said in a press release.

"The suspect is believed to be headed east, possibly to Ontario,"

Police say they may be travelling in a 2004 olive green Jeep Grand Cherokee with the licence plate HT1 84A.

Liam is described as having short, dark brown hair with brown eyes, while his baby sister Myra has very light hair with blue-hazel eyes.

Police say their 36-year-old father is balding and often wears hats or toques, and he has a moustache or goatee that's light brown and reddish in colour.

The children's mother, 23-year old Dawn Bellamy, is described as being Indigenous with dark brown hair, brown eyes and potentially wearing blue glasses.

Police are asking the public to call 911 if they see the children or the suspect.

They say he should not be approached.

The alert was sent out to smartphones across British Columbia Saturday afternoon  the second time such a function has been used in B.C.


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Local Chattanooga artist, Lourans Mikhail, has been selected for a month-long artist residency at Chateau Orqueveaux in France. Mr. Mikhail is a multimedia artist working in several visual disciplines: murals, painting, sculpture, and graphic design.

Review for Lourans Mikhail:

Lourans Mikhail focuses on bringing attention to perspectives that are underexposed while highlighting issues surrounding race, violence, social inequalities, sexism, culture, and drugs in present-day society. Fusing street art flair with pop-surrealism, he eliminates the glamor from everyday life as a way to question the reality of our belief structures.



I was a little shocked at first to read my acceptance letter," said Mr. Mikhail. "It was very affirming to read that out of hundreds of artists from several different countries across the world I was selected. It was a moment that cemented me on my path as a confident professional artist.

Mr. Mikhail is a disabled Marine veteran and a father of two girls. He holds a Bachelors in Graphic Design and continues to expand his repertoire through an array of platforms including audio/video production and recording. His works are included in national and international collections.

Although hes only been a professional artist for several years, Mr. Mikhail was honored to have a solo show in San Diego at Thumbprint Gallery, one of the top galleries in the city. He was given short notice (three weeks) to prep 20-25 pieces, and at the time had only five pieces ready, but he pushed through and was ready to showcase his cutting edge work in record time.

When they contacted me I was only five pieces into my series titled 'Different Strokes,' but I went for it," said Mr. Mikhail. "I created everything from idea to final product in the first show they had with in-person viewing during the first year of the COCVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Mikhail has shown in galleries across Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, and most recently Chattanooga. He was also featured in an interactive exhibit at the New Americans Museum in San Diego. He has also painted large scale public murals in cities like Memphis, San Diego, New Orleans, Anaheim, Nashville and Chattanooga.

Mr. Mikhail is a proud resident of Chattanooga and is a member of Association of Visual Artists. He has participated in multiple group art shows since moving to the area, and is planning a solo show in late 2022 after his residency.



Mr. Mikhail serves as the Facility and Maintenance manager for Sculpture Fields at Montague Park so that he can stay connected to the regions top sculpture artists, and works with the Chattanooga Fashion Expo as their art director. He and his partner, Shanna Forrestall of 4FC Productions, have also created a new online show called Chit Chat Chattanooga that interviews and highlights local business owners, artists and influencers in the city.

I love Chattanooga because its so beautiful and the surrounding nature is an amazing catalyst to inspire or reset yourself when youre in a funk," said Mr. Mikhail. "I enjoy collaborating with the many other local talented creatives who live here.






c Friday on successful mentor programs in the community. She highlights the positive effects of Big Brothers Big Sisters not only for the kids but for the Greater Chattanooga area.

A lot of our kids dont have people that show up for them, said Ms. Whatley. I think two people end up together because they were meant to be in each others lives and I think our programs help facilitate that.

BBBS is a nationwide non-profit program that matches adult volunteer mentors or Bigs with children or Littles, who usually have an absent parent or live with a family member or foster parent. She says about 35 percent of their Littles have a parent who is incarcerated. She mentions they are kids who didnt start their life on third base but instead, had to cover all the bases themselves.

The program claims that studies show Littles are more confident, more likely to steer clear from drugs and alcohol, do better in school, get along better with others and feel better about themselves. They claim 90 percent of Littles saw improved academic performance and are on an educational path that leads to competitive careers. BBBS says 67 percent of former Littles say that their Big played a role in their decision to go to college.

In Chattanooga, there are six mentor programs, community and school based as core options and Beyond School Walls, E-Mentoring, UTC Bigs and Bigs in Blue as specialty options. Beyond School Walls is a workplace program where middle school Littles meet employee volunteer mentors weekly to experience the workforce in an area of interest - Ms. Wheatley said Unum is a participant.

The E-Mentoring program fills the need for mentoring high school students through virtual sessions since they cannot go off campus often, said Ms. Whatley. UTC Bigs, a university club with 160 members, makes it the largest non-Greek club, offering college students the ability to become mentors. UTCs program also holds two events each school year, one of which helps fundraise. Bigs in Blue however, aims to build stronger bonds between law enforcement and families they serve by connecting Littles to police communities.

BBBS in Chattanooga, over 65 years, has served 20,000 kids, said Ms. Whatley. I always say our mission is a little different in that our program is deep not wide.

Ms. Whatley told Civitan that Chattanooga currently has 350 kids being mentored. She said mentoring is available to anyone over 18 who passes background and reference checks and follows through with the orientation and training process. She said Bigs must spend four to six hours monthly with Littles. But she recommends a three hour meeting twice a month with Littles. She recommends mentors stay with their Little for at least a year.

We have mentors who have had as many as three Littles, said Ms. Whatley. Its because theres something about the program that changes your perspective and who you are as a person.

As BBBS does not cross gender match, Ms. Whatley said there is a need for men mentors because most Littles are missing a father figure. She also said retired people make excellent mentors since they have more time to give and most have cared for or been parents to a child.

Ms. Whatley said kids find BBBS School-Based program through teacher/counselor recommendations. While the Community-Based program finds kids through recommendations from family members, peers, neighbors, etc.
The City Council may set a moratorium on new non-owner occupied short term vacation rentals through next Jan. 9.

Chairman Chip Henderson said the council has received a number of STVR requests involving owners who do not live at the address.

He said it has brought a number of concerns from neighborhoods.

Here is the proposed ordinance:

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHATTANOOGA CITY CODE, PART II, CHAPTER 11, ARTICLE XX, ADDING A NEW SECTION 11-519, ENTITLED, MORATORIUM ON THE ACCEPTANCE OF SHORT TERM VACATION RENTAL APPLICATIONS FOR NON-OWNER, OCCUPIED RENTAL

PROPERTIES, WHICH ARE NOT THE PRIMARY RESIDENCE OF THE APPLICANT, FOR A PERIOD BEGINNING MARCH 22, 2022, UP TO AND INCLUDING, JANUARY 9, 2023.

______________________________________________________



WHEREAS, the Chattanooga City Council has received a number of requests for Non-

Owner, Occupied Short Term rental properties within residential neighborhoods in the City since the adoption of revised Short Term Vacation Rental Regulations in 2017, 2018, and 2019; and

WHEREAS, the Chattanooga City Council has determined that it should impose a

moratorium on the acceptance of Short Term Vacation Rental Applications for Non-Owner,

Occupied Rental Properties, which are not the primary residence of the Applicant, for a period

beginning March 22, 2022, up to and including, January 9, 2023, in order to allow the

Chattanooga City Council to review and develop additional regulations to address concerns as to

Non-Owner, Occupied Short Term Vacation Rental properties within the City of Chattanooga.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHATTANOOGA,

TENNESSEE:



SECTION 1. That Chattanooga City Code, Part II, Chapter 11, Article XX, be amended

by adding a new Section 11-519, entitled, Moratorium relating to Short Term Vacation Rental

Applications for Non-Owner, Occupied Rental Properties, as follows:

ARTICLE XX.  SHORT TERM VACATION RENTAL CERTIFICATE



Sec. 11-519. - Moratorium relating to Short Term Vacation Rental Applications for Non-

Owner, Occupied Rental Properties.



A moratorium on the acceptance of new Short Term Vacation Rental Applications for

Non-Owner, Occupied Rental Properties, which are not the primary residence of the applicant,

for a period beginning March 22, 2022, up to and including, January 9, 2023, in order to allow

the Chattanooga City Council to review and develop additional regulations to address concerns

as to Non-Owner, Occupied Short Term Vacation Rental properties within the City of

Chattanooga.



SECTION 2. BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED, That this Ordinance shall take effect

immediately from, and after its passage, and extending, up to and including, January 9, 2023.
Captain Jason Chambers from Below Deck Down Under not only caught the eye of his crew and guests but also the viewers who have crowned him the hottest Below Deck captain.

Chambers is also the youngest of the four franchise captains and admitted he wasnt ready for the hot captain moniker. The hottest, youngest captain in the franchise! he jokingly exclaimed. Youngest, yeah. Its a few years. Hottest? Thats makeup! He also dished how he stays so fit and healthy, especially while being on charter, which is can often be a time of temptation when you have a chef who is constantly preparing rich, decadent meals.

No one has slid into Captain Jasons DMs  yet

So far he hasnt fielded too many marriage proposals since Below Deck Down Under hit Peacock and said he stays pretty isolated from the fanfare. Not yet, he said about receiving wild DMs from fans. Thankfully, I actually live on a remote island in the Philippines, so my Internets not that good. So Im here in America now, which Im enjoying being here for a week, and reality is just starting to set in now.

Captain Jason Chambers |Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

While Chambers has a good sense of humor about being called the hottest, some of his crew and the guests made it perfectly clear they wouldnt mind hooking up with the handsome captain. One of the female guests plopped down on the couch next to Chambers, wearing a gold bikini asking him what he was looking for during the pirate-themed party. She joked how pirates are always looking for gold and she was the pirate booty. She then asked Chambers what he was looking for, as almost an opening for him. He, of course, didnt take the bait. Gold, he deadpanned.

How does the youngest Below Deck captain stay in great shape?

Theres a good reason why Chambers is catching everyones eye. He is seen virtually all over the boat, performing deck work and even slinging a guest over his shoulders and carrying her to the tender. So how does he stay so fit? Be a yacht captain for 20 years and surround yourself with young people, he said.

It's hard to forget about Captain Jason pic.twitter.com/z4IWXNxHgk  Peacock (@peacockTV) March 21, 2022

And be active, he added. Im very adventurous. I love getting in the water and doing things, Im just an active person. Not only is Chambers doing deck work (and sometimes stew work  not to mention being the midnight plumber), he was also seen hitting the elliptical early in the morning.

He avoids the snack pantry too

Chambers also admitted that being a yacht captain means always being surrounded by amazing food. I do [have a pretty strict eating protocol], he said. Otherwise you just cant stop going to the snack cabin. Youre eating snacks all the time. You have to force yourself not to indulge.

Chief stew Aesha Scott said on Hannah Ferriers podcast Dear Diary, Youre Effed she grazes on snacks so often that she ends up eating like five bags of M&MS.

Captain Lee Rosbach from Below Deck, known as the stud of the sea has addressed the food temptations on charter and his weakness. Its hard to get my protein fill on the water, but I just eat what the chef makes, he told GQ. Ill tell him that I dont need a lot of pasta. Pasta is my weak spot. God, I love it. If Im having a cheat day, Im going straight for a big old plate of pasta. I mostly try to avoid large amounts of anything.

Catch Captain Jason Chambers in action on Below Deck Down Under. New episodes drop every Thursday on Peacock.

RELATED: Captain Jasons Biggest Below Deck Down Under Challenge  Let Everyone Hang Himself if They Want to [Exclusive]
How I Met Your Mother featured plenty of ever-changing relationships as Ted Mosby, Robin Scherbatsky, and (sometimes) Barney Stinson navigated the dating scene in New York. But one couple remained the same throughout most of the series: Lily Aldrin and Marshall Eriksen. These lovebirds met on their first day of college and have remained together ever since. They had their ups and downs, but they always proved their love for one another. Here are some of Lily and Marshalls sweetest moments on How I Met Your Mother.

Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen and Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin in How I Met Your Mother | Richard Cartwright/CBS via Getty Images

Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrins tearful reunion after their breakup

At the end of season 1, Lily (Alyson Hannigan) left Marshall (Jason Segel) to pursue her artistic dreams in San Francisco. The couple called off their wedding and broke up for the summer. Lily later returned to New York and wanted to get back together, but Marshall said he wasnt sure he could trust her.

Marshall began seeing another woman, which caused Lily to get so jealous that she stalked the woman down the street and hid in Marshalls apartment during their date in season 2 episode 7, Swarley. Lily ran out in tears when Marshall caught her, and the two had a heartfelt conversation outside. Marshall told Lily that she was crazy and he missed her, resulting in a passionate kiss. In that moment, Marshall realized Lily was the only woman he wanted.

Marshall and Lilys wedding after a chaotic day

TBT: Behind the scenes with Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan! pic.twitter.com/jgUh5X11vI  HIMYM (@OfficialHIMYM) July 22, 2021

Marshall and Lilys wedding in season 2 episode 21, Something Borrowed, didnt go quite as planned. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong  their harpist went into labor, Lilys ex-boyfriend crashed the event, and Marshall shaved his head in a panic.

Still, even though their special day didnt turn out how they wanted, Lily and Marshall managed to gather their friends outside by a tree for an intimate ceremony. In a sweet moment that brought tears to even Barneys (Neil Patrick Harris) eyes, Lily and Marshall shared everything they loved most about each other. Even though their wedding day was a bit chaotic, all they needed was each other to make it one of their best days ever.

When Marshall didnt let their traditions die

More than a decade into their relationship, Marshall and Lily still kept up with their traditions. They would tell each other what they ate for lunch, bring craft beer back from a trip, watch Predator together on Valentines Day, and more.

However, in season 4 episode 13, Three Days of Snow, a major snowstorm caused Lilys and Marshalls wires to cross. Neither of them knew if the other would still hold on to their traditions. Still, Marshall showed up at the airport to pick Lily up with an entire orchestra. He told Lily what he ate for lunch that day and reminded her how much he loved her. No matter how long theyd be together, Marshall would never let their traditions die.

Marshalls reaction to Lilys second pregnancy

Toward the end of the series, Lily and Marshall had one of their biggest fights of all time. Marshall had accepted a judgeship behind Lilys back, which would alter their plans to move to Italy for Lilys art collecting job. The two had said some awful things to each other. However, none of it mattered when Lily told Marshall her big news.

In season 9 episode 20, Daisy, Marshall and the gang tried to figure out where Lily went after their argument. They ended up at The Captains (Kyle MacLachlan) house, where Lily secretly took a pregnancy test. When Marshall confronted Lily, she said they couldnt go to Italy. However, Marshall insisted that they needed to.

Of course we are. Lily, we have to do this. Youre going to live in Rome, and youre going to get your dream because youre giving me mine, again, he said.

When Marshall and Lily redid their vows in hilarious ways

Lily and Marshalls first wedding vows pulled at the heartstrings, but their second vows were even sweeter. In season 9 episode 22, The End of the Aisle, the couple decided to update their vows because they had broken many of them.

This time, they shared much more realistic vows, like Marshall promising not to shout at Lily when shes going to the bathroom. Marshall and Lily also promised to update their vows again and not worry so much about keeping all of them because they knew their relationship wasnt perfect. But their love was real, and thats all that mattered.

How I Met Your Mother is now streaming on Hulu.

RELATED: How I Met Your Father Fan Theory: Lily and Marshall Eriksen Hosted the Game Night in Episode 5
The COVID-19 pandemic situation in the United States has slowly started to show signs of improvement as cases continue to drop following the surge earlier this year, but experts warn of a potential wave that could break out in New York and other states.

The previous outbreak was caused primarily by the highly transmissible Omicron variant that dominated the majority of infections in the winter months. But just last week, the number of new cases decreased by more than 16% and hospitalizations dropped by more than 27% based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

COVID-19 in the U.S.

However, health experts have shared their opinions that the current downtrend of the coronavirus pandemic will not last. Many are warning of a potential wave that could hit the U.S. soon amid the spread of the new BA.2 subvariant. It is more commonly referred to as a "stealth" version of the Omicron variant.

The warnings come as nearly half of all countries in Europe have observed increases in the number of COVID-19 infections in their regions. In the last two weeks, the UK has reported a 60% increase in new cases, France has recorded 88% more, and Italy has seen a rise of 67%, as per BestLifeOnline.

Read Also: Airlines Urge Biden To Lift Mask Mandates, Testing Requirements as COVID-19 Hospitalization, Death Rates Decline

Previously, local, state and federal governments have ordered the easing of coronavirus-related restrictions due to the dwindling number of cases. Authorities have urged their residents to return to their pre-pandemic routines with the removal of mask and vaccine mandates and are keeping offices, restaurants, and theaters open.

But the ways that officials can protect their citizens from the virus continue to be hampered with new pills that can treat infections are being stalled in the buying process. Additionally, an aid package that provides funds for various programs related to the pandemic has been stalled in Congress.

Vaccination Rates

According to the New York Times, despite many Americans being unwilling to get vaccinated against the coronavirus infection, experts said that health officials could still be doing more to help their people. They argued that authorities can have door-to-door delivery of booster shots to older people who are willing to take them but are unable to travel regularly.

Furthermore, the coronavirus vaccination rate in the United States has fallen to the lowest level it has been since the early stages of the 2020 campaign. Authorities said that the seven-day average in the nation, which includes vaccine doses of all types, fell to only 127,000 per day this week.

The numbers show an alarming decline, most especially since in January, authorities recorded more than one million shots per day. Though the number of Americans who received two doses rose to 75% of adults, the number of administered booster shots continues to lag behind.

The situation comes as booster shots are seen as particularly important due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant and BA.2 subvariant. The two strains are believed to have a greater ability to evade the protection provided by only two doses of the coronavirus vaccines, The Hill reported.



Related Article: COVID-19 Cases in Schools Can Be Cut by 80% With Better Ventilation System, Italian Study Reports

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Kylie Minogue has yet to make her American debut on this reality competition series. Still, her original songs impacted RuPauls Drag Race and RuPauls Drag Race: UK vs. The World. Heres what we know about her appearance on Drag Race Down Under.

Kylie Minogue appeared on the RuPauls Drag Race spinoff, Drag Race Down Under

Kylie Minogue performs on stage during The Fashion Awards 2021 | Kate Green/BFC/Getty Images for BFC

With RuPauls Drag Race snagging several Emmy Award wins, host and creator RuPaul took this reality series overseas. Theres Drag Race UK, Drag Race Thailand, Drag Race Holland, and Drag Race Espana, among other spinoffs.

For Drag Race Down Under, artist Minogue appeared as a guest judge, along with her sister Dannii Minogue and the Jojo Rabbit filmmaker Taika Waititi. With Minogue being an Australian-born pop star, it makes sense for her to appear on this version of the competition show.

Im so excited to finally be a part of RuPauls Drag Race for the first series [of] Down Under, Kylie said in a statement. Its such an iconic show, and I cant wait to watch the contestants perform their hearts out to win the title of Down Unders first Drag Superstar!

Several Kylie Minogue songs appeared in the RuPauls Drag Race franchise

Minogue songs appeared in several Drag Race episodes, including season 14. When June Jambalaya and Maddy Morphsis landed in the bottom two, these contestants lip-synced for their lives to I Love It from Disco.

For RuPauls Drag Race: UK vs. The World, the lip-sync between the finalists was also a Minogue song. Blu Hydrangea and Mo Heart performed Supernova in front of RuPaul, with Blu Hydrangea eventually earning the title of Queen of the Mother-Tucking World.

Minogue wouldnt be the only artist with several tracks featured in RuPauls Drag Race, as several Lizzo, Ariana Grande, and Britney Spears originals became well-known lip-sync songs.

Kylie Minogue is known for her song Cant Get You out of My Head

In addition to her 2020 release Disco, Minogue debuted several well-known tracks throughout her music career. The best-known being Cant Get You out of My Head.

This artist is also known for her support of the LGBTQ community even dating back to the 1980s. In honor of 2018s Pride Month, the artist announced performances at New York Citys Pride Island and the Bowery Ballroom.

It happened without me knowing it, Minogue said of her gay icon status during an interview with Billboard. I was in Sydney, and theres a famous bar on Oxford Street called the Albury, and at the time, it was the gay bar in the gay area in Sydney.

I was in the car, my manager was in the car with me along with a couple [of] other people, and someone said theres Kylie Night at the Albury tonight, she continued. And I was like What?! Id never heard of a Kylie Night, but I said We should go! We should go!

RELATED: RuPauls Drag Race Fans Are Comparing Charli XCXs All-Stars 6 Look to This Disney Channel Pop Star
When Reba McEntire was in college, she dated Bobby Shillings before her first marriage. And she once pulled a playful prank on her rodeo family that inadvertently exposed how they felt about the college sweethearts staying together forever. If he didnt know before that my family didnt want me to marry him, McEntire wrote in her autobiography, he definitely knew then.

Reba McEntire | Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Gateway Celebrity Fight Night Foundation

Reba McEntires serious romances before her first marriage

As McEntire recalled in her autobiography, Reba: My Story, she had a couple of serious romances before her first husband, Charlie Battles. One was with Shillings, but before that was her high school boyfriend, Rick Wilson, who proposed to her on their third date.

She dated him sporadically through the end of high school and the beginning of college. But she decided to end it when he made demands that didnt jive with her plans.

According to her, he called her up one morning and told her he was going to come to pick her up from college. They were getting married in Dallas and honeymooning in Hawaii, he said.

McEntire shared shed been partying the night before, and he called at 7 a.m. Rick, she said, I am not going to get married. Im having way too good a time in college.

She asked him not to call back and hung up. Of course, he didnt respect that wish. Dont you ever hang up on me again! she remembered him yelling when she picked up the phone again. But she was ready to move on.

After Rick came Bobby Shillings, who I met in college, McEntire wrote. He was good-looking, but somewhat of a renegade  not quite what Daddy and Mama had in mind for me for matrimony.

Reba McEntire felt terrible for Bobby Shillings after her familys reaction to a prank

McEntire shared in her autobiography she called her familys home and talked to her sister, Susie, while she was dating Shillings. But she wasnt calling her up for a sisterly chat. She told her to share the news she was headed to Louisiana to get married. Then, she hung up.

Susie liked to have died, McEntire said. She started crying and went to Mama and told her what I had said.

Her mother very calmly called the Highway Patrol in an attempt to have them picked up by authorities. The McEntire family didnt realize the young couple was just headed to their house.

McEntire said they drove up the driveway to find her family gathered at the door. Though she was 19 then, she said she thought her mother would whip her. What do you mean scaring your little sister that way? she asked while holding onto a braided leather cord.

It was a joke, McEntire said she yelled, but Susie wouldnt talk to her.

I felt terrible for Bobby, she concluded. If he didnt know before that my family didnt want me to marry him, he definitely knew then.

Charlie Battles and Bobby Shillings scuffled over Reb McEntires honor

Reba McEntire | Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Another story McEntire recalled in her autobiography came from the time she was dating Battles, following her breakup with Shillings. She said Battles kind of impressed her when he threw her ex through a window for giving her the middle finger at a dance.

I was a little shocked and embarrassed by Charlies actions, but kind of impressed too, she noted. No one had ever fought for me before.

Shillings walked away, seemingly unharmed. And McEntire eventually married Battles in 1976, though it wasnt a happy union for long. They divorced in the late 80s, prior to her 26-year marriage to Narvel Blackstock.

RELATED: What Led to Public Shouting Between Reba McEntire and Narvel Blackstock?
Ryan Reynolds is a proud father of three kids. And he has dealt with issues parents can relate to. For example, his children end up forming an obsession over certain media. Reynolds and his wife once tried to curb their daughters fixation on the infamous Baby Shark song.

A piece of music is not the only thing Reynolds kids love. The actor has mentioned how often his daughters watch Disneys Frozen. And with his trademark humor, he brainstormed a solution for parents with the same problem.

Ryan Reynolds kids adore Frozen a little too much

Frozen became one of the highest-grossing Disney films upon its release, and the sequel outperformed it years later. People everywhere had a positive response, with children as its biggest fans. But as all parents know, that leads to repeated viewings.

Like Reynolds is one parent whose children have become obsessed with the animated film. And hes brought it up multiple times. In a video from IMDb, he brought up the idea of a warning for Frozen. He joked that the site should invent a parents guide, with suggestions for eliminating the desire to play it nonstop.

Because weve seen it enough times in my house, and I would love to be able to tell my children that its like, I dont know, causing ocular harm to someone other than me, Reynolds joked.

Who are Ryan Reynolds wife and kids?

Actors Blake Lively (L) and Ryan Reynolds pose with their daughters as Ryan Reynolds is honored with star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 15, 2016 in Hollywood, California. | Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Reynolds wife is fellow actor Blake Lively. They met in 2010 on the set of Green Lantern. Lively portrayed his characters love interest, leading to a friendship and, eventually, more. The two got married in 2012.

Reynolds and Lively welcomed their first child, her James, in TK. In 2016, Inez was born, followed by Betty in 2019. Their names sparked inspiration for family friend Taylor Swift, who paid tribute to them with her music.

Reynolds prefers to keep his family out of the spotlight like many other celebrities. Still, he occasionally shares anecdotes about his kids like a proud parent.

In 2019, Reynolds shared an image of his newborn in a forest. He wrote that he wants his children to have a childhood in Canada as he did. Rather than experiencing the chaotic Hollywood scene, Reynolds wants his daughters to grow up with a natural playground. But now that theyre part of the Disney family, maybe hell change his tune about Frozen.

Is Reynolds part of the Disneys MCU?

For those who arent aware, Disney owns Marvel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe grew under the media giants watch. However, Reynolds Deadpool remained firmly under the Fox X-Men umbrella  that is, until Disney bought them up, too.

Reynolds has made jokes that Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe lacked the presence of Deadpool. Hes also spoken about what a Disney Deadpool will look like, guaranteeing fans an R-rated film is still what hes shooting for. Deadpool 3 is in the works, but its unclear exactly how it will fit into the MCU. For now, Ryan Reynolds can focus on gaining exclusive Disney access for his Frozen-obsessed kids.

RELATED: Deadpool 3: Shawn Levy to Direct Ryan Reynolds Next Outing as Wade Wilson
Paul McCartney wrote songs about a number of unconventional subjects. For example, he wrote a song about the homes of Curly Putman, the writer of Tom Jones hit Green, Green Grass of Home. The songwriter didnt realize his connection to Pauls hit at first.

Paul McCartney | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Paul McCartney and other members of Wings stayed at the home of the writer behind songs by Tom Jones, Dolly Parton, and George Jones

Putman wrote songs like Green, Green Grass of Home, Dolly Partons Dumb Blonde, and George Jones I Turn to You. During a 2013 interview with The Tennessean, Putman discussed a time he crossed paths with Wings. Paul McCartney and Wings were coming over here to do a tour, he recalled.

And Pauls wife Linda, her father was Tree Publishing Companys lawyer, Putman added. [Paul] told him to find them some place to stay where they could rehearse for their tour. So we went out and Buddy looks all over the country for em.

Putman discussed what Wings needed during their stay in Tennessee. You know, a place suitable with horses and things that they might like, he said. We couldnt find anything, so Buddy was sweet-talking me and said, Curly, why dont you let them stay at your place?'

RELATED: The Beatles: Paul McCartney Said 1 of Their No. 1 Songs Was Inspired by The Beach Boys

What happened when locals saw Paul McCartney riding a bike

Putman revealed how Wings retained their privacy while staying in Tennessee. We had two houses, he said. One the band, Wings stayed in  they stayed in the little small house down the road and they had a gate there then had to keep somebody at the gate to keep people from coming in. I live up on a hill.

While the members of Wings stayed on Putmans property, Paul regularly went biking. He greatly enjoyed the experience. People who saw him didnt realize they were looking at a former member of The Beatles.

Putnam didnt initially know that Wings song Juniors Farm was about him. Well, Junior was me, he noted. I didnt know at first, that he did this for me, but Claude Putman Jr. is my real name.

RELATED: The Beatles: John Lennon Said Paul McCartney and George Harrison Overshadowed Him on This Song

The way listeners in the United States and the United Kingdom reacted to the song

Juniors Farm became a hit. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 17 weeks. Juniors Farm appeared on the compilation album Wingspan: Hits and History. Wingspan: Hits and History hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 14 weeks.

Juniors Farm became a more modest hit in the United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, the song reached No. 16 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks. Meanwhile, Wingspan: Hits and History reached No. 5 and remained on the chart for seven weeks.

Juniors Farm was a hit and it became part of Putmans legacy.

RELATED: The Beatles: John Lennon and Paul McCartney Used These 2 Words in Their Song Titles and Lyrics to Connect to Fans
After Clayton Echards season of The Bachelor, fans are more than ready to see Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia take over as the next leads of The Bachelorette 2022. However, its still unclear how the two women from Claytons season will share the spotlight as the leads. To make matters even more confusing, The Bachelorette 2022 spoilers from Reality Steve originally suggested filming may take place on a cruise ship, but hes since dispelled them.

[Spoiler ahead: The Bachelorette 2022 spoilers ahead regarding possible filming location.]

Where did they film The Bachelorette 2021?

Gabby and Rachel from The Bachelor | ABC/Craig Sjodin

Bachelor Nation fans know The Bachelor mansion well. Clayton Echards cast stayed in the mansion located in Agoura Hills, California, in the Santa Monica Mountains of Malibu, The Sun reports. The mansion, which is named Villa de la Vina, was built back in 2004. It was sold in 2010 for $1.7 million. Today, the publication reports the property goes for around $4.4 million.

While The Bachelor and The Bachelorette production teams utilize the mansion for filming, the owner of the property, Marshall Haraden, reportedly lives there the rest of the year. Theyre here 42 days, twice a year, Haraden told Us Weekly, according to The Sun.

Mansion aside, The Bachelorette 2021 had multiple filming locations. StyleCaster reports they filmed at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, California; as well as the Marquette Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Semple Mansion in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the Iberostar Hotel in Punta de Mita, Mexico.

The Bachelorette 2022 spoilers: Reality Steve no longer suggests filming may take place on a cruise ship

The Bachelor lead Clayton Echard in the mansion | John Fleenor/ABC via Getty Images

So, where will Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey have their season filmed? According to The Bachelorette 2022 spoilers early on, the leading ladies might head out on a cruise.

ScreenRant reports spoiler guru Reality Steve has details. He claims a copy of an email from Virgin Cruise Lines states an American TV company approached the cruise line to buy three weeks on the entire cruise ship. Reality Steve notes the TV company allegedly wanted to pay over the odds for the entire ship for three weeks. It seems this would happen in April 2022. This fits the shows filming schedule.

So, did The Bachelorette producers approach Virgin Cruise Lines? Reality Steve notes he doesnt know for sure. But given the timeline and productions desire to do something different this season, it could happen.

An update from Reality Steve on March 24, 2022, gives a different story, though. He reports the cast heads to Paris after Los Angeles. From there, he doubts production brings in a cruise ship. The producers of The Love Boat, a different reality series, likely booked the cruise.

That would only leave one episode since I doubt theyre going to Paris then turning right back around and coming to the states for cruise filming, he wrote. Could that email be in reference to filming the new Love Boat reality dating show that just got picked up? We just dont know yet. I havent heard any confirmation on the cruise ship being for Bachelorette filming. If I do, Ill let you know.

Will Jesse Palmer host The Bachelorette 2022?

Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams Were Given Notice About Jesse Palmer Being 'Bachelorette' Host https://t.co/457C3YvIQT  Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) March 22, 2022

Fans hoping to see Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams back at the helm will be disappointed. Jesse Palmer, the host of Clayton Echards season, will reportedly host The Bachelorette 2022.

The decision came at some point throughout this past season that Jesse was a safe choice for the next Bachelorette season, a source told Us Weekly. Theyre still testing him out for a more permanent role, just like they tested out Tayshia and Kaitlyn for two seasons.

According to the source, ABC wants Chris Harrison-style hosting back on the table, and Palmer seems to deliver. Its unclear who will host Bachelor in Paradise Season 8. We also dont know if fans will see Bristowe and Adams again within the franchise in the future.

Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook!

RELATED: The Bachelorette 2022: Reality Steve Reveals When Filming Begins
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Bible researchers decipher earliest Hebrew inscription known as curse tablet The inscription is also the earliest mention of the name of God, archaeologist claims

Biblical researchers say they have decoded an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as a curse tablet that predates by centuries any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel. The inscription was found on Mt. Ebal, the mountain of the curse, mentioned in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8.

Cursed, cursed, cursed  cursed by the God of YHWH, you will die cursed, cursed you will surely die, cursed by YHWH cursed, cursed, cursed, reads the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text recovered on a small, folded lead tablet, the Associates for Biblical Research announced at a press conference at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston, Texas, on Thursday.

I believe the amulet dates to the Late Bronze II age, or as early as 1400 BC, Scott Stripling, ABRs director of excavations, told The Jerusalem Post.

He added, This is earlier than many skeptics believe the Bible existed, making this the earliest appearance of the word YHWH in Israel and it was found at a covenant site. The implications are enormous and will reverberate for many years to come.

The amulet, known as a defixio or curse tablet, came to light in December 2019 when Stripling, also the director of the Archaeological Studies Institute at the Bible Seminary went with his team to wet sift the discarded material from excavations conducted in 1982-1989 in the West Bank

Those excavations were conducted by the late Haifa University archaeology professor Adam Zertal who discovered the altar of Joshua on Mount Ebal near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.

This amulet and its inscription do not predate the Bible, Stripling said. We believe it coincides with the biblical events. We talk about verisimilitude, a consistency between what we read in the text and what we find in the material culture. If the text were true, this is what you would anticipate finding, and indeed, it is what we found.

Haifa University professor Gershon Galil told The Times of Israel, This is a text you find only every 1,000 years.

Some have raised concerns about the claims, with one unnamed academic telling The Times of Israel, The fact that they are publishing it in the news before being published scientifically is a bit off."

The Associates for Biblical Research said an academic, peer-reviewed article will be published later this year. The researchers include: Stripling, Galil, Ivana Kumpova, Jaroslav Valach, Pieter Gert van der Veen, Daniel Vavrik and Michal Vopalensky.

According to the Bible, Mount Ebal was the mountain from which the curses were called out for those who broke Gods law when the children of Israel made a covenant with God before entering the land of Israel.

Deuteronomy 11:29 reads, When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.
The US imposed new sanctions against entities helping North Korea's missile test and warned China and Russia to refrain from any "provocation," according to Jalina Porter, a spokesperson for the US State Department.

North Korea claimed to have fired a large, new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, a test that its leader, Kim Jong Un, said was intended to display the power of its nuclear arsenal and deter any military actions by the United States. It was the first comprehensive ICBM test by the nuclear-armed country since 2017, Reuters reported.

US Imposes Sanctions on Russia, North Korea Companies

Porter, referring to North Korea by its official name's initials, termed the launch a "brazen" breach of the United Nations Security Council's resolutions. She said she couldn't comment on China's and Russia's possible Security Council positions.

The United Nations was moved by North Korea's most recent ICBM launches in 2017. Sanctions have been imposed by the Security Council, but the US and its allies are at odds with Russia and China over the Ukraine conflict, making such a reaction more difficult.

The Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act gives the US the authority to impose sanctions on foreign individuals, businesses, and governments who participate in proliferation operations.

For transferring sensitive items to North Korea's missile program, the US imposed sanctions on the Russian entities Ardis Group of Companies LLC (Ardis Group), PFK Profpodshipnik, LLC, and Russian individual Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin, as well as the DPRK entity Second Academy of Natural Science Foreign Affairs Bureau (SANS FAB), and DPRK individual Ri Sung Chol (aka Ri Su'ng-ch'o'l).

Sanctions were also levied by the US on Zhengzhou Nanbei Instrument Equipment Co. Ltd, a PRC firm for supplying Syria with chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation equipment managed by the Australia Group.

The imposition of INKSNA sanctions on PRC companies continues to attract attention to PRC businesses' participation in proliferation, as well as the PRC's export control implementation and nonproliferation record. According to NDTV, the sanctions will be in place for two years and will restrict US government purchases, aid, and exports.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: New Satellite Images Shows Terrible Damage in Eastern Ukrainian City

North Korea Is Suspected To Fire New Missile Test Soon

According to analysts, North Korea's return of nuclear brinkmanship indicates a desire to solidify its reputation as a nuclear state and extort economic concessions from Washington and others from a position of strength. While the country is experiencing economic challenges, Kim Jong Un may feel compelled to brag about his military achievements and instill internal loyalty, as per AP News.

An alleged hypersonic weapon, a long-range cruise missile, and an intermediate-range missile capable of reaching Guam, a major US military base in the Pacific, were among the other recent tests. After establishing that two previous midrange launches comprised components of the new ICBM, the US and South Korean forces expected a full-range test of the Hwasong-17.

Following a slew of nuclear and ICBM tests in 2017, Kim Jong Un halted them ahead of his first summit with Trump. The negotiations, however, came to an end in 2019 when the US rejected North Korean demands for a large lifting of US-led sanctions in exchange for a limited surrender of the North's nuclear capability.

Three ICBM test flights in 2017 indicated that they could reach the US mainland. The bigger Hwasong-17 might be equipped with numerous warheads in order to overwhelm missile defenses.

North Korea's ruling party made a veiled warning in January, citing US hostility, to terminate Kim Jong Un's ban on ICBM and nuclear testing. The South Korean military also has discovered indicators that North Korea is reopening some of the nuclear-testing tunnels it exploded right before Kim Jong Un met Trump for the first time in 2018. According to some experts, North Korea might restart nuclear testing in the coming months.

Related Article: White House Condemns North Korea's Long-Range Missile Test; Expert Warns Warhead ICBM Puts USA 'at Risk'

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The Russian Orthodox Church is complicit in the war against Ukraine

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is highly checkered, with moments of greatness alternating with periods of failure and corruption. Sadly, as Vladimir Putin has attacked Ukraine and created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, the ROC is writing another dark chapter.

While other Christian organizations have spoken out boldly against Putins war, the ROC has remained silent  and complicit. Their moral error is so egregious that the World Council of Churches has no real choice. Just as other global organizations have barred Russian participation, so should the Russian Orthodox Church be expelled from membership.

Before the socialist revolution of 1917, the ROCs main priority seemed to be accumulating wealth and power rather than caring for its believers. As a result, the roofs of churches shimmered with gold. At the same time, peasants, workers and the poor in cities and throughout the country went without and even starved.

However, a generation later, when Hitler attacked, Russia had to buy weapons from the United States and Great Britain to defend itself. In response, the ROC rehabilitated its image by donating some of its gold to support the state's efforts. Consequently, following World War II, the Soviet regime, despite its general hostility to organized religion, still viewed the Church somewhat more favorably. But this alliance came at a high and profoundly corrosive price: the state's security apparatus, the KGB, penetrated all the levels and structures within the Orthodox Church.

This development had tremendous implications for the ecumenical movement. In 1961, in the middle of the Cold War, the World Council of Churches (WCC) held its Third General Assembly in New Delhi, India. At the beginning of the assembly, black limousines brought a ROC delegation from the Soviet embassy. This church delegation may have been received with great pomp by the world ecumenical movement, but sharp observers sensed something was wrong. Among the ROC delegates were agents of the KGB. These clerical spies reported back to Moscow on the activities during the assembly. They also ensured that ROC participants would be answering to a higher power  and not a divine one.

Thus, the way was opened for ROC leaders with KGB ties to attain positions within the WCC. For example, a Russian archbishop became a member of the WCC Central Committee; there is now ample evidence he was also a KGB operative. Such deep penetration of the WCC happened repeatedly, as the KGB successfully carried out its strategy to infiltrate the WCC structures thoroughly.

Not coincidentally, the WCC directed its anti-arms protests against Western weapons but said nothing about Soviet nuclear-powered missiles in Eastern and Central Europe. As Ernest Lefever of the Ethics and Public Policy Center has documented, the WCC began to provide financial support for various revolutions around this time, even helping to arm guerrillas fighting in numerous countries worldwide  although WCC leadership later stopped taking such actions.

I experienced the impact of Christian groups friendliness to authoritarian socialism in my home country of Czechoslovakia, which the Soviets invaded in 1968 while I was a university student. Communists infiltrated both Catholic and Protestant groups, and some pro-communist trends persisted in the Czech ecumenical movement even after the revolution of 1989. For example, after Czech church groups organized financial collections in 2006 to support persecuted Christians in Cuba, a WCC representative visited Prague's Ecumenical Council of Churches. During this visit, this person falsely claimed that a WCC delegation had recently visited Cuba without observing any persecution of local Christians.

The ROC remains influential in today's ecumenical movement, often  and successfully  demanding various concessions. Patriarch Kirill, the current ROC primate in Moscow, likes to be photographed with Putin, who has been unstinting in showing him his favor. Both seem to believe in the value of reuniting church and state. Putin makes a great show of kissing an icon in the church, and in return, he receives loud approval of his regime from ROC leadership.

The current Russian-Ukrainian war has fully revealed this horrible compact between Putin and Kirill. Furthermore, the war also has a religious dimension. The Russian Orthodox Church would like to absorb the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which in 2019 achieved its independence from Moscow after the Ecumenical Patriarch of Istanbul recognized its autonomy. But the religious component goes far beyond Kirills desired reunification.

Various parties have called on Kirill to speak out against the unprovoked invasion. His previous silence implied he already tacitly supported the mad President Putin's intentions toward Ukraine. Still, his more recent comments confirmed that he not only supports Putin but also has his own motivations to justify the murderous aggression actively.

In a February 27 sermon, the Patriarch said, God forbid that the present political situation in fraternal Ukraine so close to us should be aimed at making the evil forces that have always strived against the unity of Rus' and the Russian Church gain the upper hand. As Paul Elie, a senior fellow of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, observes, Kirill has now explicitly cast the conflict as a culture war  a holy war  between religious traditionalism and liberalism.

In a rare media interview, Bartholomew of Constantinople severely rebuked Russia for waging war against coreligionists. Later, in a written statement, he demanded that Putin immediately stop any act of violence, anything that spreads pain and death. If the WCC cares about peace, it must not allow such behavior among its members. The ROC should not be permitted to continue as a WCC member until it turns away from this false path of religious nationalism.
Most Christians see their spiritual lives as private, but outlook clashes with their role as disciples: study

While Christians by definition are disciples of Jesus who accept and help with the spreading of the Gospel, a majority see their spiritual lives as private which is counterproductive to their mission in society, a new report from Barna Research shows.

Insights recently published by the research firm in a report titled Growing Together show that 56% of Christians in the U.S. see their spiritual lives as entirely private.

While holding this view of privacy, however, the majority of Christians in this group were found to be less likely to say it's very important to see progress in their spiritual life; say their faith is very important in their life today; and less likely to have weekly time with God.

In other words, the idea that faith should be kept private is one part of a bigger swirl of negative conditions that need to be addressed for people to see spiritual growth, Barna researchers noted.

The data informing the report was collected from two online surveys. One survey was conducted from Dec. 22, 2020, through Jan.18, 2021, and involved 2,511 randomly selected adults who self-identify as Christian and live within the United States. The second survey was conducted from June 1 through July 4, 2020, with 2,930 U.S. adults.

The report showed that Christian adults desire friendships that will challenge them and help them grow in their faith yet the older an individual is, the less likely they are to be part of a discipleship community. Boomers, for example, were found to be the generation least likely to be a part of a discipleship community and 63% of them believe their spiritual life is entirely private.

Gen Z, on the other hand, were found to be more than twice as likely as boomers to be part of a discipleship community. A majority do not see their spiritual life as private, but a significant minority, 46% of them, do. And researchers say the impact of technology on culture is partly to blame.

Even before COVID-19, individuals expressed feeling distant from others, and Christians are not exempt. Part of this can reasonably be attributed to the rhythms of our digital society. We have become accustomed to experiencing hyper-connection and disconnection all at once, Barna said.

It was further pointed out that Jesus, through His example with His disciples, never kept His faith private.

Discipleship is a powerful way to meet a communal need for vulnerability and companionship, researchers said.

When Jesus discipled the 12, the spiritual and day-today matters of their lives intermingled. Life was not private or compartmentalized. Meals and miracles, frustration and affection, sermons and naps, trials and celebrations  they shared it all, they added. Christians should consider what it would mean to do the same today.

A survey released last October by Probe Ministries, a nonprofit that seeks to help the Church in renewing the minds of believers with a Christian worldview, found that nearly 70% of born-again Christians disagree with the biblical position that Jesus is the only way to God.

The survey also found that among the top reasons given by born-again Christians for not telling others about their faith is the acceptance of pluralism. When asked why they dont share their beliefs with others, born-again respondents chose They can get to Heaven through their different religious belief, We shouldnt impose our ideas on others, and The Bible tells us not to judge others as their top three responses, respectively.

At first glance, this may seem surprising. But in a culture where pluralism is a dominant part of all religious groups, it begins to make sense, Steve Cable, senior vice president of Probe Ministries said. And the pluralistic reasons were dominant, attracting around two-thirds of the population across all religious groupings.
Calif. bill seeks to end states sanctuary law protecting criminals following murders at 2 churches

A California lawmaker has introduced a bill to repeal the state's sanctuary law, which came under severe criticism earlier this month after an undocumented immigrant shot three of his daughters and a chaperone before killing himself inside a church in Sacramento.

Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, introduced the bill, AB 1708, on Monday to repeal Senate Bill 54, the sanctuary law that was passed in 2017 and prevents law enforcement from notifying federal authorities about the release of undocumented immigrants from jail, ABC 10 reported.

It was a bill specifically designed not to help immigrants, not even to help all undocumented immigrants, but rather, it was a special protection extended to those who are both in the country illegally and have committed crimes while here, Kiley was quoted as saying.

Kiley referred to the March 4 shooting by 39-year-old Mexican national, David Mora, who murdered his own children, ages 13, 10 and 9, and their chaperone before killing himself inside the sanctuary of The Church in Sacramento.

He was in the country illegally, Kiley pointed out. Not only that but the previous week, he had been arrested. Hed been arrested for assaulting a police officer, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) asked about his release because of his criminal history and because he was in the country illegally. But the sheriff's office had to say, Sorry, we arent able to give you that information, because of the Sanctuary State law.

Mora was in the United States illegally, as his visa had expired, ICE spokeswoman Alethea Smock told The Associated Press at the time.

ICE agents had not been notified about Mora, identified in documents as David Fidel Mora-Rojas, overstaying his visa because of the sanctuary law.

After the shooting, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones wrote on Facebook: In the coming days and weeks, liberals and activists will try and spin the narrative, dredge up sympathy for the monster that killed them, and talk about how this could have been prevented. They will talk about the horrors of ghost guns, as if no other weapon or gun was available to him, and legislators will clamor for more restrictive gun laws to make themselves feel better. Theyll call me racist and evil.

He continued, But let me be perfectly clear, there is only ONE thing that allowed this horrific tragedy to occur with certainty: the deplorable state of our national immigration policies, and Californias Sanctuary State Laws.

In a separate church murder carried out by an undocumented immigrant in November 2020, 32-year-old Fernando De Jesus Lopez-Garcia was wielding a knife as he murdered two people and wounded three others at Grace Baptist Church in San Jose, California.

The ICE revealed that the suspect had an extensive criminal history, and had been deported three times before committing the murders. The sanctuary law, however, protected him and allowed him to go undetected after he snuck back into the U.S.

Talking about the prospects of Kileys bill, David Jaroslav of Federation for American Immigration Reform pointed out in an article published on the groups website that both chambers of the Legislature are heavily controlled by Democrats, but Kiley appears to believe the shocking avoidable tragedy of the church murders may have led to a new bipartisan appetite in the state to repeal the sanctuary law.

Under the sanctuary state law, individual cities and counties may (although they dont have to) honor federal immigration detainers for people in their custody if theyve previously been convicted of any of a list of prior criminal offenses, he wrote. Detainers are official requests from ICE to hold an alleged illegal alien for up to 48 hours past their release on local charges so ICE can pick them up and start the deportation process.

Jaroslav added, Under AB 1708, state and local law enforcement would be required to honor a detainer for anyone with convictions for any of that list of prior crimes, or currently charged with any of them.

The bill will likely be heard this spring.
Ukrainian American pastor kidnapped by Russian forces: report

Invading Russian troops have reportedly abducted a 50-year-old Ukrainian American pastor in the southern city of Melitopol, a month after they captured the citys mayor and released him six days later in exchange for nine Russian soldiers.

About 10 Russian soldiers arrived at the home of Dmitry Bodyu, bishop of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol city last Saturday and took him away, his family said, according to NBC News, adding that the troops also confiscated his American passport and the familys phones and other devices.

The Russian troops were not aggressive and seemed to know he was a pastor and a U.S. citizen, the pastors wife, Helen Bodyu, was quoted as saying.

His eldest daughter, Esther Lily Bodyu Ogawa, said, They walked in and they just started kind of questioning him right away, like, Are you guys American citizens?  thats one of the first questions they had.

The soldiers returned the following day and asked for his Bible and a sleeping bag, The National News reported.

I am worried, Bodyu Ogawa was quoted as saying. I mean, deep inside, I believe and I want to believe that hes safe and hes going to come home. But of course, from not knowing exactly whats going on and how he is and not getting any information, thats what is, of course, building up that worry inside.

Along with the pastor, others who are being held captive by Russian troops in Melitopol are Sergiy Prima, the chairman of the District Council of Melitopol; activist Olga Gaisumova; and police officer Dmitry Stoikov, according to the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.

The pastor immigrated with his parents from the Soviet Union to the U.S. when he was 17, but returned to Ukraine later in life, according to his family. In 2014, he left Crimea after the Russian annexation because of his American citizenship.

After the Russian invasion, the pastor had urged residents to seek shelter in his church.

His last Facebook message before his abduction, read: If you need help of any kind or you have nowhere to stay or afraid to be at home...the church is open. I am in the church building...very thick walls...solid building. Thats why you can be there. We will try our best to supply as much as possible May Gods peace be upon your hearts and keep you safe. Lets all pray and call on the Lord that the Lord will keep us from every harm in the name of Jesus Christ.

Russian forces occupied Melitopol, a city of 150,000, on March 1.

On March 11, Russian forces abducted the citys mayor, Ivan Fedorov, and released him six days later in exchange for nine Russian soldiers, according to Reuters.

Since Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, at least 1,081 civilians have been killed and 1,707 injured as of a Friday update from the United Nations. Among those killed are 93 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 airstrikes, the U.N. statement reads.

In Russia, police have arrested thousands of people protesting against the invasion of Ukraine amid widespread censorship of social media and news outlets.

About 100 Christian leaders in the U.S., 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.
God loves addicts, too

We are in the worst overdose crisis weve ever been in in the United States, according to the executive director of a drug addiction resource center in Denver. "Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45."

Two people were arrested this week in Washington, D.C., on narcotics charges after 14 people overdosed on a lethal batch of drugs laced with fentanyl.9 of the people who overdosed died.

And earlier this month, five West Point cadets overdosed after ingesting fentanyl-laced cocaine while on spring break in Florida. The Fort Lauderdale Fire Chief said, We were able to get some of those individuals back, so their heart was beating again, with a Narcan. However, four of those individuals were still in respiratory arrest.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine. It is often used to treat patients who are experiencing severe pain. But when street dealers lace drugs with fentanyl, you can barely see with the naked eye the amount of fentanyl it takes to take a persons life.

It is therefore wise to assume that any pill or drug not purchased from a pharmacy could contain fentanyl. This includes illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.) as well as prescription medications (Xanax, Oxycodone, etc.)."

Thankfully, there are those who experience recovery from drug addiction. A clinical consultant in New Hampshire said, Ive been in the field for 13 years and in recovery for 26 and I want readers to know this: Anyone, anywhere, at any time can recover. I work in this field because of the miracles I see every day.

A 29-year-old from Philadelphia said, Recovery is not an exact science, or a recipe that can be applied to different people in different ways. But many of us do recover. I wish I knew the answer to this current crisis. All I can do is keep my hand open and available to the next person who may need help.

God loves addicts, and Christ can help anyone who draws close to the Lord.

Kendra writes,

"I was in and out of addiction since the age of 14. I had a very rough childhood that included sexual abuse and both of my parents were in addiction. These things led me to try different drugs at an early age. I always felt unloved and like an outcast. Turning to drugs to numb my internal pain eventually led me to lose everything, including my kids. But God had bigger plans for me. I began surrendering everything to Jesus and put Him first in every area of my life. Women of Hope has helped me find Jesus. I walk in His presence every day. Because God has healed me and saved me, I am now able to share with others how God has freed me and broken the chains off my life."

Kristen writes,

"Ive struggled most of my life with addiction. I started at the age of 16 with pills (opiates and Xanax) and marijuana. I managed to maintain this addiction for the most part and still carry out my duties as a daughter, wife and mother for many years. But at the age of 30 this all changed. I discovered methamphetamine. I was hooked on the first high it gave me from the very first time. I had energy to do anything and it helped me to lose weight too! I thought I had found the miracle drug".

She continued,

"But within 2 years, I had lost nearly everything that meant anything to me. My home, my children, my freedom even. But by the grace of God, I have been given another chance at life. After another probation violation and a failed drug test, I was sent from jail to Women of Hope. I am almost 10 months into the program now and have found the me that I thought I had lost forever. I now have a good relationship with my children and a newly found relationship with Jesus Christ. I no longer allow the drugs to lead me down that same dark path I did, for now I have the light of the Lord to guide my path."

God loves you, my friend, regardless of how entangled you may have become with your addiction. If you will trust Christ, you can begin to develop the habit of calling on Jesus 24/7. Frederick Faber said, Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory.

The King of the Universe and Savior of the world told His disciples: Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).

You see my friend, there is hope. The fact that Christ is alive means you too can rise from the tomb of your addiction. Trust Jesus to wash away your sins, and surrender your life to the Lord today. It wont be an easy journey going forward, but it is the only path to victory in this life, and the only path to the beauty and perfection of Paradise in the world to come.

If you find yourself battling an addiction today, are you ready for a new life? Come near to God and He will come near to you (James 4:8). Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
Despite triple-digit prices and calls for US producers to drill baby drill and rapidly increase oil output, rig activity continues to show only moderate growth.

Oil and gas producers cite a number of hurdles to quickly ramping up output amid concerns about supply shortages, high energy prices and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has prompted the US and much of the world to boycott Russian energy supplies. Those hurdles include investor demand to return cash to shareholders rather than investing in new drilling, a tight labor market and supply chain constraints that make it challenging to obtain more rigs, tubulars or other goods needed to drill wells.

Still, activity is increasing as oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly report Friday  the US rig count rose by seven to 670, the highest level since April 2020. The rig count also rose for a record 19th consecutive month but the March increase of nine rigs was the lowest since September 2020. The rig count is 253 rigs higher than the 417 at work a year ago.

There were 531 rigs drilling for oil, up seven for the week and 207 higher than the 324 at work last March. The number of rigs drilling for natural gas was unchanged at 137  45 more than the 92 working last year.

Texas added six rigs for 326 at work within the state  a gain of 121 rigs from the number of rigs counted the previous March. New Mexico fell one rig to 96. Louisiana (2), North Dakota (1) and Pennsylvania (1) joined Texas as producing states seeing gains for the week. Alaska (1) and Ohio (1) joined New Mexico in reporting declines.

The Permian Basin added three rigs for 319 at work, 98 more than the 221 reported a year ago.

Lea County, New Mexico, remains the most active county in the Permian with 56 rigs, down two for the week. Eddy County, New Mexico, follows with 36, up one for the week.

Martin County reported 32 rigs for a second week while Midland County added one rig for 31. Loving County had 25 rigs, up four and the biggest increase among Permian counties this week. Reeves County added one rig for 23. Howard and Upton counties each reported 19 rigs, unchanged for Howard and up one for Upton. Glasscock and Pecos counties each reported 10 rigs, unchanged for both counties.

Enverus Rig Analytics said its US rig count fell by 13 in the last week to 754 as of March 23. Activity levels are up 2 percent in the last month and 58 percent in the last year. The count was as high as 775 in the last week compared to a peak of 769 the prior week, representing a six-well peak-to-peak increase. The March 23 reading is likely an indication of rig downtime rather than rigs being released.

As of March 23, the Anadarko Basin has six fewer rigs running than a week ago, at 58. However, the peak-to-peak weekly change was a two-rig increase. In the Permian, nine fewer rigs were active March 23 at 297, while the region had a smaller peak-to-peak decline of two rigs. The Appalachian daily count was down by three and by two on a peak-to-peak basis.

For plays with 10 or more rigs, seven stand out for their gains in the last year. SCOOP activity is up 214 percent, or 15 rigs, to 22. Camino Natural Resources (plus three to three), Citizen Energy (plus three to three), Continental Resources (plus two to five) and Gulfport Energy (plus two to two) account for 10 of the added wells.

Powder River Basin rig levels have charted a 200 percent, or eight-rig, YOY increase to 12. Anschutz Exploration (plus two to three) and Continental (plus two to two) fueled 50% of the increase. The Bakken rig count is up 143 percent YOY, or 20 rigs. Two-rig increases were tallied by ConocoPhillips (at two total), Continental (six), Enerplus (two), Ovintiv (two) and Whiting Petroleum (three).

In the Eagle Ford, drilling activity has increased 88 percent, or 29 rigs, in the last year to 62. More than 50 percent of that increase is attributable to BP (plus three to four), Chesapeake Energy (plus three to three), Recoil Resources (plus two to two), Repsol (plus two to two), SilverBow Resources (plus two to two), Validus Energy (plus two to two) and Verdun Oil & Gas (plus two to two).

Rounding out the plays with increases of 80 percent or more are the Uinta Basin (plus five to 11), Texas Haynesville (plus 12 to 27) and STACK (plus eight to 18).
With coronavirus cases rising in parts of Europe and Asia, scientists worry that an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant may soon push cases up in the United States too.

Experts are also keeping their eyes on another mutant: a rare delta-omicron hybrid that they say doesn't pose much of a threat right now but shows how wily the coronavirus can be.

The U.S. will likely see an uptick in cases caused by the omicron descendant BA.2 starting in the next few weeks, according to Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute.

Its inevitable we will see a BA.2 wave here, he said.

One reason? After about two months of falling COVID-19 cases, pandemic restrictions have been lifted across the U.S. Many people are taking off their masks and returning to indoor spaces like restaurants and theaters.

And the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the share caused by BA.2 is up significantly. The CDC reported Tuesday that the variant accounted for about 35% of new infections last week. In the Northeast, it was about half.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, told ABCs This Week over the weekend that he also thinks the U.S. will likely face an uptick similar to whats happening in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, where BA.2 is the dominant strain. He said he doesnt think it will be a surge.

The U.K. has "had the same situation as weve had now, Fauci said. They have BA.2. They have a relaxation of some restrictions such as indoor masking and theres a waning of immunity from vaccines and past infections.

Keri Althoff, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, cautioned that CDC case counts underestimate the true numbers because some people are no longer getting tested and others are testing at home and not reporting the results. Also, she said, not every specimen is genetically sequenced to determine the variant.

It's clear, she said, "BA.2 is coming onto the scene.

One reason the variant has gained ground, scientists say, is that its about 30% more contagious than the original omicron. In rare cases, research shows it can sicken people even if theyve already had an omicron infection  although it doesnt seem to cause more severe disease.

Vaccines appear just as effective against both types of omicron, but breakthrough infections are possible. And experts point out that vaccination rates are lower in the U.S. than the U.K. About 74% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated in the U.S, compared with 86% in the U.K.

We need to emphasize that were not protected in this country compared to peer countries, Topol said.

Still, not all experts are equally concerned about a BA.2-related rise in U.S. cases. Dr. James Musser, head of genomic medicine and infectious diseases at Houston Methodist, said the variant has so far only caused about 1% to 3% of cases in his medical system. Cases there have usually tracked closely with whats happening in the U.K.

He called BA.2 something were keeping an eye on, but said, Im not losing sleep over it.

That's how many scientists view the other variant that some in the public are calling deltacron, a hybrid containing genetic information from both delta and omicron.

Earlier this month, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said the hybrid has been detected at very low levels in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. And two recent studies, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, point to a tiny number of cases in the U.S.

Much remains unknown about the hybrid. Theres no evidence it causes more severe disease, and it doesnt look like its infecting many people. CDC researchers identified 9 samples, seven from the mid-Atlantic region in a study released Monday that hasn't yet been peer-reviewed. Topol, who was not involved in the research, said theres no evidence it has the potential to spread.

Its common for coronaviruses to shuffle gene segments, said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. With two variants circulating at the same time, people may get double infections, and a progeny virus could emerge.

Given the virus ability to spawn new mutants  and the rise of BA.2  experts say people should get vaccinated if theyre not and keep their masks handy.

Keep your guard up, Topol said. This is not over.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Russia has recently announced its scaled-back goals in the Ukraine war on Friday as the country's military forces stall and struggle to advance near the capital Kyiv due to steadfast defense.

Officials who are leading the invasion said that Moscow would be focusing its attention on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the East. In the announcement of the scaled-back goals, the Russian Defense Ministry said that they would now prioritize the liberation of the Donbas region which is home to pro-Russia separatist enclaves.

Russia-Ukraine War

The head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operation Directorate, Sergei Rudskoi, said that Russia has significantly reduced the combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He noted this has allowed Moscow to focus on achieving its main goal, which is the Donbas region.

Military analysts argue that the decision to reframe Russia's goals may make it easier for President Vladimir Putin to claim a "face-saving" victory. Previously, Moscow said that its goal with the invasion was to demilitarize Ukraine. However, Western officials have said that it was a baseless pretext for a war that is believed to be seeking the toppling of the Ukrainian government, as per Reuters.

Rudskoi's remarks come amid the alleged stall of Russian military forces advancing near Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, such as Kharkiv. Furthermore, Moscow has failed to achieve air superiority in the region and has suffered heavy losses of troops since the beginning of the war a month ago.

Read Also: 4 Russian Spies Try To Hack Nuclear Plant, Electrical Companies In Attempt To Disrupt Global Energy Production, US Prosecutors Claim

President Putin previously claimed that the war on Ukraine was going according to plan as he initially called it a "special operation." In Rudskoi's briefing, he also noted that Russia has suffered the loss of 1,351 military personnel while 3,825 others have been injured. However, the U.S., NATO, and Ukrainian officials estimate the casualties to be much higher.

According to CNN, the top general said that Russia did not originally plan to siege Ukraine and wanted to prevent destruction and mitigate losses among personnel and civilians. Despite Rudskoi's remarks, it is unclear whether or not Russian troops will be shifting their posts or it was just a public message.

Failure to Capture Cities

The situation comes as Ukrainian deputy interior minister Anton Geraschenko posted a statement on Facebook noting that Russia defense minister Sergei Shoigu has been missing and has not made public appearances since mid-March. The official is believed to be suffering from health concerns and a potential heart attack.

Shoigu has not been seen for 12 days save for appearing on Russian television screens for a few seconds. Prior to that appearance, there were rumors that the official may have received punishment for the situation of the invasion of Ukraine and the failure to capture Kharkiv or Kyiv.

An independent Russian news website, Agentstvo, earlier cited an anonymous source when it said that the general, who was one of the most trusted men in the country, had experienced heart-related health issues. On the other hand, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied allegations of Shoigu being sick, saying the official had many concerns to attend to, The Guardian reported.



Related Article: [Report] Russia Uses Phosphorus Bombs Sparking Fear of Chemical Warfare; NATO Deploys More Troops to European Allies

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Courtesy photo /Laredo Police Department Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Courtesy photo /Laredo Police Department Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Courtesy photo /Laredo Police Department Show More Show Less 5 of 5









A high-ranking member of the Cartel Del Noreste has been extradited through Laredo to face drug charges in Texas, authorities said.

On Thursday, the Government of Mexico detained Jose David Moreno in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a $15,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of a Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot defendant who is facing charges of assault on multiple police officers.

Authorities said that they have been trying to arrest the fugitive since June and identified him as Jonathan Daniel Pollock. The suspect is one of a group of Floridians who allegedly attacked police and also face charges of theft of government property and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Capitol Hill Riot

The suspect is only one of a small group of people who are trying to avoid law enforcement personnel after being charged for their involvement in the Capitol Hill insurrection. Court documents showed that Pollock took several weeks off of his job and traveled to D.C. sometime around Jan. 6, 2021

Pollock's coworkers said that when the suspect returned, he initially bragged about his attendance and involvement in the insurrection. However, a few days later, he said that he had a family emergency, left, and never returned to work, as per CNN.

When one of the suspect's coworkers visited his house, prosecutors said that it was Pollock's father who answered the door, returned his son's office keys, and said that he had no knowledge of where the defendant had gone.

Read Also: Former Proud Boys Leader Indicted, Charged With Conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol Hill Insurrection

Prosecutors have accused Pollock of brutally punching two police officers in the face, kneeling another personnel, dragging one more down a flight of stairs, charging at police officers with a flag pole, grabbing a personnel's neck and pinning him to the ground, and ramming a police shield into a personnel's neck.

According to ClickOrlando, FBI Tampa Acting Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said in a news release that the agency has been trying to locate and arrest Pollock since last summer. He noted that the charges against the suspect will not be going away and must be dealt with, arguing that the FBI was determined to bring the felon to justice.

Jan. 6 Defendants

The situation comes as U.S. authorities are continuing their crackdown of Jan. 6 rioters, with one suspect, identified as 49-year-old Guy Wesley Reffitt of Texas, who was found guilty of five criminal charges.

The list includes transporting a firearm in furtherance of a civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; entering or remaining in a restricted area or grounds with a firearm; obstructing officers during a civil disorder, and obstruction of justice-hindering communication through force or threat of physical force.

A jury made up of Washington, D.C. residents took two days of deliberation to hand out their verdict on the suspect. Many of the potential jurors said that they either lived or worked near the Capitol building or had relationships with police officers in the area who were injured by the chaotic crowd.

Judge Dabney Friedrich, in selecting jurors, looked for individuals who could keep an "open mind" despite previous reports about the incident. The final group of jurors included employees from NASA and the Department of Defense, as well as a public school maintenance supervisor, NPR reported.



Related Article: Capitol Riot Case: Ex-West Virginia State Lawmaker Pleads Guilty, Could Serve Up to 5 Years in Prison

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For Maribel Hernandez, falling ill with COVID-19 at a Louisiana crawfish processor and losing her job was terrible enough. But the Mexican guest worker was in for another shock. A federal labor investigation in 2020, initially focusing on worksite safety, revealed that the company failed to pay Hernandez and 99 other guest workers a total of $138,629 in overtime earnings.

The 100 workers were deprived of pay "amid the pandemic, when food industry workers put themselves at risk to support the economy," U.S. Labor Department officials announced in August of 2021. Officials recently told the Center for Public Integrity that 35 of the foreign workers were also owed $12,922 in sick pay required under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Shortchanging workers such as Hernandez isn't an isolated problem. From 2005 to 2020, U.S. employers around the country were ordered to pay more than $42.5 million in back wages to 69,000 workers who perform seasonal low-wage jobs on H-2A and H-2B visas.

But labor advocates are worried that many more workers are being cheated. They're also concerned that investigations by the Labor Department  which has special oversight over guest workers  aren't keeping pace with a dramatic increase in workers. Closed cases focused on allegations of violations specific to H-2A and H-2B visas increased only slightly from 424 cases in 2011 to 478 in 2019, according to a Public Integrity analysis of department data. Over the same period, the total number of these annual guest worker visas issued leaped from 106,000 to 302,000. Demand for more visas is surging, despite the Trump era rise in anti-foreign worker rhetoric in some states.

Like anyone employed in the U.S., guest workers have protections under the law and the right to complain to government officials, confidentially, about suspected wage theft. But advocates say that workers often hesitate because of the very structure of the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. They're uniquely vulnerable: Guest workers' visas tie them to a specific employer, and if a boss even suspects they're whistleblowers, workers can fear they'll lose their visas and a coveted chance to work legally in the United States.

"The workers who contact us, we talk to them, and a lot of them know that their rights are being violated," said Caitlin Berberich, attorney with Southern Migrant Legal Services in Nashville, whose clients seeking pro bono legal aid include guest workers. But many choose not to act.

In the spring of 2020, Hernandez's immediate concern was health, not pay. She and other H-2B workers at Acadia Processors LLC in Crowley, Louisiana, began testing positive for the coronavirus. Supervisors first confined those with COVID-19 symptoms to company bunkhouses, then on May 15 ordered workers to board vehicles bound for state-supplied quarantine housing, Hernandez said in a complaint she later filed with the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Coughing and in pain, Hernandez and a co-worker instead headed to a hospital. They'd complained that the company was slow to prevent virus spread at work, and worried that they might not receive medical care in quarantine.

The women say they intended to resume work once healthy. But the women claim a company liaison they spoke to from the hospital told them Acadia was required to report them to immigration officials for leaving work in violation of their visas. The women filed a complaint a few weeks later with the Labor Department claiming they'd been fired in retaliation for voicing safety concerns. "I feared that staying in the quarantine housing would put my life in jeopardy," Hernandez told investigators in a sworn written statement.

Six months later, the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found "insufficient evidence" to support the claim. But OSHA alerted the department's Wage and Hour Division to suspected sick pay violations  and that led to the discovery that Acadia hadn't properly calculated overtime pay and bonuses per pound of crawfish processed.

Hernandez was home in Veracruz state, Mexico, when she learned of these findings. She'd left Louisiana in June of 2020 after she felt better. She eventually received a share of overtime wages and sick pay owed, which officials say Acadia has fully paid. But she missed two months of work after losing her employer-sponsored visa.

Acadia Processing didn't respond to requests for comment. SeafoodSource.com reported last year that Julie Broussard, a co-owner, told the industry news website: "It is our policy not to comment on legal matters." In June 2020, a year before the wage violation was announced, the Lafayette Advertiser spoke to Scott Broussard, a co-owner, who said Hernandez and her co-worker were not fired but had "fled the scene." He also said that Acadia had followed all the state's recommendations for personal protective equipment and social distancing."

Hernandez is still upset  yet she wants to be a guest worker again.

"The truth is: I want to go back," the 31-year-old mother said during a phone interview. "I'm trying to find a new job now so I can work again and support my family."

Enduring abuse to keep visas

Hernandez's disappointment  and desire  is not unusual among guest workers.

H-2B visas for non-farm work and H-2A visas for farm labor don't pave the way to legally immigrate. But they do allow foreigners to legally, if temporarily, spend months at a time earning far more than at home. Mexico's minimum daily wage is only $7.15 in U.S. dollars. Compare that to the $9.75 an hour and $14.63 for overtime beyond 40 hours a week that Acadia Processors said its guest workers would earn. If they were fast, workers could earn more than hourly minimums if they were paid by the pound of crawfish they peeled, according to Labor Department records.

But despite reams of visa-specific regulations and statutes, guest workers can feel powerless. Most speak little English. They often work in isolated areas and depend on employers for daily needs. Some depend on bosses for meals. H-2A workers count on housing that employers are required to provide for free. Hernandez and her H-2B co-workers lived in company housing for $50 a week. Most of all, workers depend on employers for visas. And to keep visas, some have endured stark abuse.

Federal prosecutors in California, Florida and Georgia allege that labor contracting networks not only stole wages, but also committed visa fraud and other crimes. In Georgia, armed individuals allegedly menaced guest workers in fields. Less dramatic but more common are allegations of bosses cheating on overtime, refusing to pay visa and travel costs, as required, and manipulating the visa system to lower workers' pay.

"These programs are fundamentally flawed," said Evy Pena, development director in Mexico City for the Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, the Center for Migrant Rights, a group based in Baltimore and Mexico. The center helped Hernandez file her OSHA complaint.

Trouble starts, Pena said, because U.S. law ties workers' visas to sponsoring employers. Workers can't just quit and quickly find another job at will. Because of this, advocates are urging President Joe Biden's administration to do more to protect workers who speak up from sacrificing visas and income their families need, as Hernandez did. What's more, outspoken workers risk blacklisting from future jobs, which, like retaliation, is illegal. But getting involved in a lengthy investigation can also be daunting for guest workers. Labor Department data also shows that half of H-2A and H-2B probes last seven months or longer, compared to four months for all wage theft cases.

Wage investigators declined an interview, but in an email said their unit "takes retaliation very seriously and uses all tools at its disposal when encountering employers that have engaged in retaliatory activity."

Some guest workers, as an alternative, turn to pro bono or other attorneys they've heard are trustworthy.

A civil lawsuit filed last October in Louisiana, for example, accuses Sterling Sugars Sales Corp., a Franklin sugarcane processor, of having "knowingly made false statements" when it applied to the Labor Department for required clearance for guest workers. Filed by Southern Migrant Legal Services, the suit on behalf of 14 workers alleges that Sterling "knowingly misrepresented" workers' duties by claiming that they'd be "agricultural equipment operators" eligible for H-2A farmworker visas.

Instead, the complaint alleges, the workers' sole job was to drive big rig trucks between processors and cane fields owned by other employers. Workers earned a local guest farmworker rate of $11.88 an hour in 2021, about 40% less than comparable trucker work in the area, according to the suit. Since most of these farmworkers are exempt from federal overtime rules, Sterling also allegedly avoided paying overtime  although workers often allegedly drove as many as 80 hours a week.

If workers had H-2B instead of H-2A visas, the suit argues, pay rates would be set much higher.

Sterling didn't respond to requests for comment, but denied wrongdoing in an initial response filed last December in U.S. District Court in Lafayette. The workers' suit, the company argues, misstates "laws, regulations and statutes" governing guest worker programs. Among other defenses, it alleged that its "pay practices do not and at no time did violate" the Fair Labor Standards Act, whose provisions include overtime pay requirements.

Placing workers in the wrong visa category isn't the only way businesses can try to game the visa system. Since 2010, labor officials have confirmed 757 instances when H-2B workers performed duties that should have merited higher pay. Employers had to pay $880,000 in back wages.

To bring in guest workers, businesses must prove to the Labor Department's Office of Foreign Labor Certification that advertising didn't attract enough U.S. workers. Then they ask the Department of Homeland Security for clearance for visas.

Regardless of how many individual job requests labor officials certify, Congress has capped H-2B visas at 66,000 a year. But the system includes exemptions and authorizes the Labor Department and Homeland Security to jointly add more visas if they're convinced businesses could otherwise suffer harm. Last year labor officials certified 181,451 H-2B jobs, far more than double the cap. In response, 20,000 more H-2B visas have been added this year for businesses to use. H-2A visas are uncapped. Labor certifications for H-2A jobs more than doubled since 2016 and surpassed more than 317,600 in 2021.

More than 90% of H-2A and 75% of H-2B workers are from Mexico. The programs echo the former Bracero Program, a World War II-era agreement with Mexico to supply guest workers to fill U.S. farm labor shortages. Braceros, a name derived from Spanish for "arms," continued to be recruited until Congress ended the program in 1964 due to complaints of harsh treatment.

Managing visas, creeping corruption

To deter abuse, U.S. consular staff who interview guest workers before granting them visas provide the workers with online information and pamphlets about their rights  including the right to complain confidentially to labor officials.

Meanwhile, labor investigators are subject to business pressure to soften oversight. Since 2016, language attached to the Labor Department's budget has forbidden the agency from enforcing a wage rule for H-2B workers that industries argue is too onerous. With some exceptions, the rule is that if work slows  if crawfish supply drops, for example  guest workers must still be paid for three-fourths of the work hours contracts promised.

To prevent businesses from using guest workers to depress wages, labor officials are empowered to set minimum pay for these jobs higher than local or prevailing rates. But Center for Migrants Rights legal director Benjamin Botts, a former Labor Department attorney, said he's seen employers get around protections.

A yearslong case Botts handled in Salinas, California, led to an order to pay $1.1 million in back wages and other damages in 2016 for strawberry workers whom officials said were underpaid and extorted. Fernandez Farms managers told a group of 85 to 90 guest farmworkers they wouldn't get jobs again, officials said, if they revealed to investigators that bosses were charging for housing and refusing to reimburse visa and travel costs that for one woman added up to $1,500. An administrative law judge determined that supervisors "made it clear to the workers that if they did disclose violations, there would be repercussions, and told the workers that the investigators would not follow through on any promises."

Extortion is illegal on both sides of the border. But as a Government Accountability Office report recognizes, some recruiters in Mexico have demanded kickbacks for reserving jobs for workers. A bribe is considered a "cost-shifting" violation that eats into workers' financial compensation. Failing to reimburse workers' expenses for visas and trips to and from U.S. jobs is another cost-shifting violation. Labor Department data shows investigators confirmed nearly 22,000 cost-shifting violations resulting in payment of $3.7 million in back wages from 2005 to 2020.

Investigators also confirmed 2,300 violations of H-2A housing rules resulting in $670,000 in payments to workers.

Advocates say workers often endure some cheating to preserve what money they do get. Peer pressure can also be a factor.

"There are entire communities in Mexico that are reliant on these programs," Pena of the Center for Migrant Rights in Mexico said. "If anyone reports abuse, it can mean that employers can retaliate not only against those specific workers who are speaking out, but also against their family members in the community."

Louisiana guest workers Olivia Guzman and her husband Fausto Garcia faced pressure in Mexico as well as blacklisting from U.S. crawfish industry jobs, according to complaints they filed in 2014 and 2015, respectively, with the National Labor Relations Board. They settled their cases with compensation. In a rare recognition of harm suffered, they were also cleared recently for U visas, U.S. residency permits for crime victims or witnesses who've been threatened during U.S. investigations. When Guzman met with other guest workers in Mexico to discuss concerns, she experienced intimidation, said attorney Mary Yanik, Tulane University Immigrant Rights Law Clinic director in New Orleans.

Guzman and Garcia belong to the Mexico-based Coalition of Sinaloan Temporary Migrant Workers. From Mexico, Guzman told Public Integrity that many women who process crawfish complained to her about not getting overtime. "They take advantage of people with hope and desire to work," she said.

'I am the one with the power here'

Near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an ongoing Labor Department case against a large sugarcane farm raises fresh concerns about intimidation guest workers can face at their U.S. worksites. Marty Walsh, Biden's secretary of labor, has said that the department intends to get tougher on employers who exploit the undocumented. In this Louisiana case, officials recognize that guest workers  though here legally  are especially vulnerable because visas tie them to employers.

Last September, the department sued Rivet & Sons, a 6,000-acre Louisiana farm, demanding protections for guest workers and back wages. Three workers fled the farm after workers videotaped Glynn Rivet, then co-owner of Rivet & Sons, as he cursed, brandished two pistols and fired shots near the workers on June 8. The day before, Rivet grew hostile when workers asked for more drinking water and he told them to get it from a ditch, according to the Labor Department's Sept. 22 lawsuit.

Officials allege that the same day that Rivet fired his pistols, he transported workers to a field and drove off shouting: "I am the one with the power here."

After the pistol incident, workers contacted police, and within days three left the farm, forfeiting jobs they expected to have from March 15 to Jan. 15, labor officials said. "Because (they) were H-2A workers, their choices were limited because they were not free to seek other employment in the United States," officials wrote in the lawsuit. "In sum, they were trapped with only two choices: stay or go," and three workers chose to go "to avoid further acts of violence."

The department is demanding that Rivet & Sons pay workers who fled lost wages, travel costs and other expenses due to losing their jobs. Officials also said that one of Rivet's sons asked workers to recant what they told police or face losing work because the farm could shut down.

Glynn Rivet was arrested June 11 and charged with four felony charges of aggravated assault and illegal use of weapons. If he completes a pre-trial diversion program, charges could be dropped. In a Dec. 30 court filing, the Rivet sons asked for the Labor Department's suit to be halted because they'd removed their father from company ownership and management after the incident. The sons also argue that workers who left did so voluntarily.

Ideally, advocates argue, Homeland Security could agree to give guest workers who flee abuse "parole," a temporary status, and permits to look for other worksites in need of labor. A bill in Congress would provide U visas to such workers but hasn't advanced.

The Rivet & Sons case isn't the first time the farm has come up in a labor dispute. Although it isn't named as a defendant, the company figures prominently in an ongoing class-action lawsuit filed in August of 2020 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas. H-2A workers are suing Lowry Farms, an Arkansas labor contractor, accusing it of cheating workers it supplied to Louisiana farms  including Rivet & Sons  between 2016 and 2019. Rivet & Sons is not accused of wrongdoing in the suit.

Lowry Farms worker Bernabe Antonio Benito says in a sworn statement that he worked in Rivet's sugarcane fields in 2018 with about 40 other workers. A recruiter in Mexico gave him a document guaranteeing a salary of $10.73 per hour in U.S. dollars, Benito said, but "it was not so."

"It was never explained how my salary and those of the other workers with H-2A visas were being paid," he said, "and it was not clear either whether it was per acre, per workday, or another way.  Most of the time, the check stubs did not show the correct number of hours that I had worked."

In a court filing, Lowry Farms denies allegations of wrongdoing. Gregory Thomas, lawyer for the business and owner Michael Clayton Lowry declined to comment.

According to Labor Department records, officials closed a case in 2015 against a previous Lowry business, Clay Lowry Forestry, after the business paid a total of $2,567 in back wages to 37 H-2B workers and $5,000 in fines.

"We need to overhaul this entire system," said the Lowry workers' attorney, Anne Janet Hernandez of the Southern Poverty Law Center, "to make sure that individuals can come here to work and contribute to our economy on their terms and not exploitative terms."

Caitlin Berberich, the Southern Migrant Legal Services attorney, agrees. She represents the 14 Sterling Sugars Sales Corporation truckers who allege they were misclassified as H-2A farmworkers and underpaid in Louisiana. H-2A workers are allowed to drive products to storage, but only if they also perform a significant amount of actual farm labor, and only if their boss produces more than half of what they transport. The workers say that wasn't true for them.

In Mexico, Maribel Hernandez, the underpaid Louisiana crawfish worker, has a warning for prospective guest workers who think a permit to work in the United States guarantees fair pay and fair treatment. "Know your rights," she said. "We came with legal papers, and we went through such pain."
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas helped lead the Republican charge against anti-racism efforts at a private school in Washington during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing this week for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. But leaders at the private school in Houston where the senator sends his two daughters have articulated a similar commitment.

Cruz said during the hearing that the curriculum of Georgetown Day, an expensive private school in Northwest Washington where Jackson is one of 23 members of the board of trustees, was filled and overflowing with critical race theory. Critical race theory is an academic concept that Republicans have increasingly used as a vague, catchall term to criticize how educators infuse ideas about racism and inequality into curriculum.

Flanked Tuesday by a blown-up page from Antiracist Baby, by Ibram X. Kendi, Cruz held up book after book that he described as assigned reading at the school and grilled Jackson about whether she endorsed their messages.

Cruzs comments were part of a surprising assault on Georgetown Day as Republicans sought to exploit barely coded appeals to racism during the hearing for Jackson, who is poised to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. The school, which her daughter attends, has for decades educated children of the liberal and conservative elite. Parents who enroll their children pay more than $40,000 a year.

St. Johns School, where Cruzs daughters are students, is also an elite institution, with annual tuition topping $32,000, according to its website. And leaders there have advocated a similar anti-racist stance.

In June 2020, shortly after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer who pinned Floyds neck under his knee, setting off protests across the country, school leaders wrote to the community about their approach.

St. Johns, as an institution, must be antiracist and eliminate racism of any type  including institutional racism  within our school community and beyond, wrote Mark Desjardins, then the schools headmaster, and John Moody, chair of the board of trustees.

A statement on community and inclusion, approved by the board in 2018, says the school ensures cultural intelligence and proficiency for all community members. It also incorporates cultural proficiency, diversity, global awareness and inclusivity into all facets of the curriculum.

The New Republic and The Washington Post reported earlier on St. Johns. A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately provide answers to questions late Thursday.

In an interview Wednesday, Cruz said his questions during the hearing were not meant to suggest that parents did not know what their children were learning, or that there should be any action taken against the school  which would undermine principles like school choice and private school autonomy that Republicans champion.

Im saying that Judge Jackson is on the board of a school that aggressively teaches critical race theory, he said, and that is an extreme and divisive theory that pits children against other children, divides us based on race, and teaches a false and revisionist history of our nation.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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The US President's youngest son Hunter Biden had ties with a corrupt Ukrainian company and even secured a fund for Ukraine's biotech research program, according to the emails found in his notorious laptop.

At least in part, Moscow's assertion that Hunter Biden helped fund a US military bioweapons research program in Ukraine is true.

According to the commander of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Forces, a plan of contact between US government agencies and biological objects in Ukraine exists.

The Russian military leader's claims were a blatant propaganda tactic to justify President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and foment strife in the United States, as per intelligence experts.

Hunter helped secure millions of dollars in financing for Metabiota, a Department of Defense contractor specialized in research on pandemic-causing illnesses that might be deployed as bioweapons, according to fresh emails obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com from Hunter's abandoned laptop.

Hunter Biden Is Related to a Corrupt Ukrainian Gas Company

He also connected Metabiota to Burisma, a rumored corrupt Ukrainian gas company, for a "science project" involving high-security facilities in Ukraine. Although Metabiota is nominally a medical data company, its vice president wrote to Hunter Biden in 2014 to discuss how they might establish Ukraine's cultural and economic independence from Russia, which is an unusual ambition for a biotech corporation.

Hunter Biden may have played a key role in ensuring Metabiota was permitted to perform pathogen research just a few hundred miles from the Russian border, according to emails and defense contract data. When Russian armies entered Ukraine last month, the project became a national security liability for Ukraine.

Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's youngest son, was the President of the now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC in Washington, D.C., but his legal team has disputed any participation with the fund's other branches, including the Delaware-based Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Forces, explained that the Rosemont Seneca fund is closely associated with top Pentagon contractors, specifically naming Metabiota and the Black and Veach companies, which he described as "the main supplier of equipment for Pentagon biolaboratories around the world."

During the briefing, the Russian military designated the latter company as a contractor in a 2015 transaction between the US government and Ukraine, Big News Network reported. Following its strike on Ukraine last month, Moscow issued a warning about shady US-sponsored pharmaceutical and biological research being conducted in hidden facilities strewn around the country.

Read Also: New Book Reveals Rift Between Joe Biden, Kamala Harris; Will This Help Donald Trump Get Back to the White House?

Americans Believe Joe Biden Gained From Hunter's Business Deals

The military attack occurred after a seven-year impasse over Ukraine's refusal to execute the Minsk agreements, and Russia's ultimate recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics in the Donbass. The agreements negotiated by Germany and France were intended to normalize the status of certain territories inside the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine proclaim itself a neutral nation that would never join the NATO military alliance led by the United States. Kiev believes the Russian invasion was unprovoked and refutes suggestions that it planned to seize the two republics by force.

Meanwhile, a recent survey revealed that the majority of Americans feel the discoveries concerning Hunter Biden's notorious laptop are "significant" and that President Biden was aware of - and may have profited from - his son's foreign business dealings.

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll of 1,000 US voters, 66 percent feel the laptop story is relevant, and 48 percent believe it is "extremely important," according to the study released Thursday.

The contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, which contained a plethora of emails, text messages, images, and financial records exchanged between Hunter, his family, and business acquaintances, were deemed "not at all essential" by just 15% of those questioned. The papers revealed how the president's son leveraged his family name and political ties to gain a competitive advantage in international commercial operations, as per NY Post.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Scandal: US President Joe Biden Slammed for "Lying to the American People," Son Is Predicted To Be Indicted

@YouTube

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and BC release immigration draw results Canada's provincial immigration draws from March 21 to 25. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

Sans Font Size A

A

This past week, Quebec released its immigration draw results. BC held its weekly Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) round of invitations. Ontario and Manitoba also held PNP draws.

Among the many ways to immigrate to Canada, the PNP allows participating provinces to tailor their own immigration programs. Quebec has more autonomy over its immigration system than any other province, and so it does not participate in the PNP.

People who want to immigrate through a provinces immigration system typically need to submit a profile through an expression of interest system. Provincial officials then invite candidates whose profiles fit the criteria for an immigration program. Invited candidates apply for a provincial nomination or a Certificat de selection du Quebec (CSQ) in Quebec.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

For Quebec, the expression of interest system is called Arrima. PNPs may have their own EOI systems or invite candidates with profiles in the federally-managed Express Entry system.

Express Entry is a points-based system, where candidates with the highest points get invited to apply for permanent residence. Having a provincial nomination from an Express Entry-aligned PNP gives candidates an automatic 600 points toward their score. This award boosts candidates to the top of the pool, and primes them to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence.

Here are the PNP results from this past week, along with the details of Quebecs most recent Arrima draw.

Ontario

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) invited 471 candidates who may be eligible for the Ontario Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream. These candidates needed to have a profile in the Express Entry system with a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of at least 350. Ontario invited candidates who had created an Express Entry profile between the dates of March 24, 2021, and March 24, 2022.

Ontarios Express Entry-linked Skilled Trades Stream offers a pathway to permanent residency for Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class candidates. The OINP invites eligible candidates to apply for a provincial nomination.

To be eligible, candidates need to be living in Ontario with a valid work permit. They also need to have a minimum of one year of full-time work experience or the equivalent in part-time work. They must have completed this work experience in the province in a skilled trade listed in Minor Group 633 or Major Group 72, 73, or 82 under Canadas National Occupational Classification (NOC).

Manitoba

The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) invited 191 candidates to apply on March 24. The invitations were divided across three immigration streams:

Skilled Workers in Manitoba  102 invitations with a minimum score of 769;

Skilled Workers Overseas  64 invitations with a minimum score of 712; and

International Education Stream  25 invitations with no score requirement.

Out of all who were invited to apply, 43 had profiles in the Express Entry system.

If you want a nomination from Manitoba, you need to register an Expression of Interest with the MPNP. This puts you in a position to receive an LAA through the Skilled Workers in Manitoba and Skilled Workers Overseas streams.

Manitoba then ranks candidates out of 1,000 points for their human capital factors, as well as their connections to the province. The MPNP then issues invitations to eligible candidates who may apply for a provincial nomination.

BC

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) held its weekly round of invitations on March 22. About 204 BC immigration candidates received invitations to apply for a provincial nomination.

A total of 132 of these candidates were invited through a general draw. These candidates must meet the requirements of one of British Columbias Express Entry BC or Skills Immigration categories, which are managed through the Skills and Immigration Registration System (SIRS).

Candidates who received invitations in this draw were from the Skilled Worker, International Graduate, and Entry Level and Semi-Skilled subcategories and needed a minimum provincial score between 77 and 128 depending on the program.

The province also held four draws for candidates in targeted occupations:

47 early childhood educators with scores of at least 78;

11 healthcare workers with scores of at least 78;

less than five healthcare assistants with scores of at least 63; and

nine animal health technologists and veterinarians with scores of at least 78.

Quebec

On March 10, the Ministere de lImmigration, de la Francisation et de lIntegration (MIFI) invited 506 to apply for a permanent selection under the Quebec Regular Skilled Worker Program (QSWP).

Candidates had to have profiles in the Arrima Expression of Interest system with scores of at least 577 points and they had a valid job offer outside of the Montreal Metropolitan area.

The following table contains the list of occupations that were eligible to be invited in this draw:

NOC Code Professions 0213 Computer and information systems managers 2147 Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers) 2171 Information systems analysts and consultants 2172 Database analysts and data administrators 2173 Software engineers and designers 2174 Computer programmers and interactive media developers 2175 Web designers and developers 2241 Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians 2281 Computer network technicians 2282 User support technicians 2283 Information systems testing technicians 3012 Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses 3233 Licensed practical nurses 3413 Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates 4031 Secondary school teachers 4032 Elementary school and kindergarten teachers 4214 Early childhood educators and assistants 5131 Producers, directors, choreographers and related occupations 5223 Graphic arts technicians 5241 Graphic designers and illustrators

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Wilkes Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening then becoming cloudy with periods of light rain after midnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening then becoming cloudy with periods of light rain after midnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
China's top legislator holds talks with Kyrgyz parliament speaker

Xinhua) 11:06, March 26, 2022

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds talks with Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Talant Mamytov via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Talant Mamytov via video link on Friday.

Noting that China appreciates Kyrgyzstan's firm support on issues related to China's core interests and major concerns, including those related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, Li said China will continue to support the development path independently chosen by Kyrgyzstan.

Li said that the two sides should continue to carry out anti-pandemic cooperation, promote cooperation in medicine, health care and other fields, and jointly build a community of health between the two countries.

The two sides should expand practical cooperation, better synergize development strategies, expand the scale of economic and trade cooperation, jointly build a high-quality Belt and Road, and continuously deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, he said.

Noting that China and Kyrgyzstan are a community of shared interests and security, Li said that the two countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation, actively carry out joint actions and take preventive measures.

He called on the two sides to firmly prevent violent and terrorist forces and safeguard the security and stability of the two countries and the region.

Li stressed that legislatures of the two countries have long maintained friendly exchanges, which plays an important role in the development of bilateral relations. The legislative bodies should have further communication at various levels, share legislative experience in agriculture, the digital economy and other fields, and work toward closer coordination on multilateral occasions to safeguard international fairness and justice, he said.

Mamytov offered congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kyrgyzstan and China. He noted that through the joint efforts of both sides, the two countries have established a bilateral relationship featuring mutual trust, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Mamytov thanked China for its valuable support for Kyrgyzstan in the fight against COVID-19, and said the Kyrgyz Parliament is willing to strengthen exchanges with the NPC and make positive contributions to the promotion of bilateral cooperation.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds talks with Kyrgyz Parliament Speaker Talant Mamytov via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Certain Honda and Acura models are reportedly affected by a vulnerability known as replay attack. What this particular vulnerability does is allow a nearby hacker to unlock the affected vehicle and even start its engine.

Honda, Acura Models Affected by Replay Attack Vulnerability

Some Honda and Acura models are said to be affected by a replay attack vulnerability, according to a report by Bleeping Computer.

The report cites multiple researchers who have disclosed the vulnerability, including computer scientist Blake Berry as well as Cybereason CSO Sam Curry. Two professors from the University of Massachusetts, Hong Liu and Ruolin Zhou, have also been credited.

The replay attack vulnerability affecting these vehicles allows a nearby hacker to unlock the affected car and even wirelessly start its engine. The researchers have likewise revealed that the replay attack vulnerability is seen in older models and has largely remained unfixed.

Specifically, 2016-2020 Honda Civic (LX, EX, EX-L, Touring, Si, Type R) cars are the models that are primarily affected.

The Bleeping Computer report notes that a similar vulnerability was spotted in 2020 that likewise affected Honda and Acura models. Particularly, the affected models were:

2009 Acura TSX

2016 Honda Accord V6 Touring Sedan

2017 Honda HR-V (CVE-2019-20626)

2018 Honda Civic Hatchback

2020 Honda Civic LX

A similar vulnerability was also spotted earlier this year and shared on Twitter by a user with the handle @Kevin2600. You can view the tweet below:

So plus the one [CVE-2021-46145] I found a few months ago, we now have at least 3 CVEs related to Honda https://t.co/HoVahGCbtA Well done! @Honda :p  Kevin2600 (@Kevin2600) March 24, 2022

Read Also: 2022 Honda Civic Si Price More Expensive vs. 2020 Model: Specs, Features, Reasons for Price Increase

How the Replay Attack Vulnerability Works

PCMag defines replay attack as "A breach of security in which information is stored without authorization and then retransmitted to trick the receiver into unauthorized operations such as false identification or authentication or a duplicate transaction."

In this specific case, the replay attack vulnerability has been tracked as CVE-2022-27254.

According to Bleeping Computer, "The attack consists of a threat actor capturing the RF signals sent from your key fob to the car and resending these signals to take control of your car's remote keyless entry system."

Will Honda Update Older Models?

The Bleeping Computer report also reveas that the publication has reached out to Honda regarding the vulnerability its older models have and the Japanese car maker has provided a statement.

Per the the report, the statement mentions that Honda has yet to verify the researchers' findings. Because of this, the company is unable to confirm the if their models are at risk when it comes to the replay attack vulnerability.

However, despite the potential risk, Honda has told Bleeping Computer that it "has no plan to update older vehicles at this time." Bleeping Computer's report has also noted that Honda reasoned out that car thieves can use other means in order to steal a vehicle.

Related Article: Are Tesla EVs Around the World Hacked? Teen Hacker Explains How He Gained Access To All Tesla Models
By Priyanjana Bengani (@acookiecrumbles) and Jon Keegan (@jonkeegan) IRE NICAR Conference  March 4, 2022 Slides: English | Russian

The Tow Center would like to thank Dr. Svetlana Borodina and the Harriman Institute for translating this presentation into Russian.

What is this?

This checklist is meant to be used as a reporting tool to help journalists and researchers when trying to find out who published a website. This is meant to be used in conjunction with offline reporting techniques.

Following this checklist does not guarantee that you can unmask an owner of a website who does not want to be found, but it can help surface crucial clues and connections that can act as leads for further reporting.

 Strong recommendation: while running through this checklist, create a data diaryit can be a TextEdit doc, a Google Doc, just the Notes app, whatever. It is important to be able to retrace your steps.

Site Content



Text

 Are there any authors listed? If the site is WordPress, try this wildcard search on Google to reveal the author list: https://yourwebsite.com/author/*/

 Are there any email addresses or contact information? If there are email addresses, do those share the domain with the website? Does the email show up in haveibeenpwned.com? Check to see if there is a Gravatar associated with that address: https://en.gravatar.com/site/check/ [email protected]

 Whats the servers local time? Look at the datetime attribute in links on WordPress sites. GMT timestamp can reveal time zone based on GMT offset: <time class="updated" datetime="2022-03-04T10:21:40+06:00">March 4, 2022</time>

 Does the website have a privacy policy or terms and conditions that mentions an LLC or what regional laws apply?

 Does the website have an RSS feed? Does the RSS feed give any additional information about authors / stories that arent visible on the site? You can pull RSS article links into Google sheets using IMPORTFEED





Features and functionality

 Does the website have a newsletter? Check for the physical postal addressrequired by the CAN-SPAM Act in the US

 Does the website have a newsletter?  Does the website collect donations?

 Does the website collect donations?  Does the website have an e-commerce store? Or, does it sell products? Try walking through the checkout process (without paying). Sometimes the real payee name is revealed just before you confirm the payment.

 Does the website have an e-commerce store? Or, does it sell products?

Links

 What domains does the website link to most? (Requires scraping)

 What domains does the website link to most? (Requires scraping)  Who links to the domain most often? Google search operator: link:yourwebsite.com Check backlinks on ahrefs.com 

 Who links to the domain most often? Do the links have UTM codes?



Photos, images, and documents

 Are there author photos? Use reverse image search to see if the same images appear elsewhere Check sensity.ai to see if the image is GAN-generated Read more about spotting GAN-generated images here.

 Are there author photos?  Do the images have EXIF data? Instructions here.

 Do the images have EXIF data?  Do the images have any other identifying information? Run through the list here

 Do the images have any other identifying information?  Where are the images hosted? If on AWS S3, the bucket name can be revealingor you might find the bucket isnt secure.

 Where are the images hosted?  Are there PDFs hosted on the site? On a search engine, filetype:pdf site:<yourwebsite.com> If you find some, check the metadata with Get Info in your PDF viewer.

 Are there PDFs hosted on the site?

Social Media

If there are any social media profiles mentioned on the site, they are worth investigating.

 Are there any social media accounts in the <meta> section of the HTML?

 Are there any social media accounts in the <meta> section of the HTML?  When were the individual accounts created? Does it line up with the site history?

 When were the individual accounts created? Does it line up with the site history?  What platform has the biggest reach?

 What platform has the biggest reach?  Is the messaging different across platforms?

 Is the messaging different across platforms?  Do they have completely distinct account names across social media platforms or are they more or less the same? Note: just because you find the same account name across platforms doesnt necessarily mean they belong to the same person!

 Do they have completely distinct account names across social media platforms or are they more or less the same?



Facebook

On the Facebook profile, go to Page Transparency:

 Is there an address and phone number for the page?

 Is there an address and phone number for the page?  Does the page history reveal a different name? Has the page shifted topics?

 Does the page history reveal a different name?  When was the Facebook page created?

 When was the Facebook page created? Is the page running any groups?

Is the page running any groups?  Has the page run any ads? Has the page run political ads?

 Has the page run any ads? Has the page run political ads?  Does Facebook flag any related pages for the given page? Rely on Facebooks algorithms to find connections!



Twitter

On Twitter, the account might be part of a pod or network that boosts it. Using en.whotwi.com, its worth checking:

 Who is the account engaging with?

 Who is the account engaging with?  What are the accounts tweeting patterns?

 What are the accounts tweeting patterns? # What hashtags are associated with the account?

# What hashtags are associated with the account? Who were the accounts first follows / followers? Find this here: https://en.whotwi.com/

Who were the accounts first follows / followers?



Other platforms

Dont forget to check to see if the site has accounts on Youtube, Instagram, Reddit, Github

Infrastructure

 Have you archived the website? (You always should!) you can do this on archive.org or use their browser extension. you can grab the whole website on Terminal with wget : wget -mpEk <yourwebsite.com>

 What is the website using? Is it using WordPress, Squarespace, something else?

 Where is it hosted? Is it on Google Cloud, AWS, Cloudflare, something else?

 Are there any trackers present? You can check Blacklight to begin with.

 How is the site monetized? Are there any affiliate links (Amazon, etc.)?

 What are the various tracking identifiers, and are those shared with other domains? Check Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Quantcast, NewRelic, etc. Use tools like builtwith, RiskIQ, or Dnslytics to see if other domains share the same ID.

Are there any relevant subdomains? Use Farsight Security DNSDBScout Flexible.

 Are there historic WHOIS records? Look at Whoxy or RiskIQ.

 Has the site changed over time? Look at archive.org to see whether the domain shifted tremendouslyand if so, when.

 Did the earlier version of the site have more information? People can remove info when a sites been up for a while.



Resources & Tools



Books

Open Source Intelligence Techniques  Michael Bazzell https://inteltechniques.com/book1.html

Verification Handbook  edited by Craig Silverman https://datajournalism.com/read/handbook/verification-3

Website Infrastructure

Blacklight: The Markups real-time website privacy inspector.

builtwith.com: gives you the infrastructure of the site, including IP addresses, analytics codes, tech stack, etc. Freemium model.

DNSDBScout: allows you to search and flexible search for passive DNS lookups including IP <-> domain mapping.

Dnslytics: offers a range of tools including reverse Analytics and reverse DNS lookups, as well as WHOIS data. Freemium.

RiskIQ: a threat intelligence tool that allows you to get reverse IP, reverse analytics, WHOIS, SSL, subdomains, etc.

Whoxy: a tool that lets you see historical WHOIS registrations. Free.

The Internet Archive browser extension.



Social Media Accounts

Sensity AI: check if an image is GAN-generated or not. Freemium.

whotwi.com: create a profile-at-a-glance for any account on Twitter. Free.

View this checklist on GitHub.

Sign up for CJR 's daily email

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Priyanjana Bengani and Jon Keegan
Google Fiber subcontract workers in Kansas City, Missouri, have recently voted to join the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) and have successfully secured bargaining rights with leadership.

According to a CNBC report, the workers consist of 10 full-time workers employed under BDS Connected Solutions through Google's parent company, Alphabet, Inc. They work in a retail store for Google Fiber, which is Google's project that provides high-speed internet access to 19 US States, including Missouri, per Google Fiber.

Google Fiber Subcontractor Vote Details

According to Fortune, the subcontractors previously filed their petition for a vote to join the union with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on January 4, 2022, the first anniversary of the AWU's establishment.

The subcontractors' petition also called for the NLRB to name BDS Connected Solutions as the employer instead of Google.

The subcontractors voted 9 to 1 in favor of unionizing with the hope that Google subcontract workers and full-time employees receive equal protections and benefits.

Fortune noted that the 10 subcontractors are now the first AWU-Communication Workers of America (CWA) that have bargaining rights with leadership thanks to the NLRB's formal recognition. Previous Alphabet union members were found to not have gone to that length, and as such, they could not negotiate with their employer for labor contracts.

Read More: [VIRAL FLASHBACK] They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard Meme: Here are Popular Examples on YouTube

The AWU now has more than 800 members in various locations across the company, but it previously operated through a "minority union" model, in that the union does not have bargaining rights with leadership.

CNBC mentioned that the Kansas City subcontractors' efforts could motivate other worker unions and groups to pursue their own elections.

Eris Derickson, a retail associate at BDS Connected Solution and Google Fiber and one of the 10 subcontractors, said that their campaign faced many efforts to discourage them from exercising their right to a collective voice on the job. However, it was clear to them that they can "positively shape [their] working conditions to ensure [they] all have access to the quality pay, benefits, and protections [they] have earned."

"We all enjoy our work with Google Fiber and look forward to sitting at the negotiating table with BDS Connected Solutions to set a new standard for our workplace to improve both worker, customer, and company experience," Derickson said.

BDS Connected Solutions was unable to comment regarding this development, CNBC said.

Inspiration to Workers in Other Sectors

CNBC reports that the subcontractors' success is part of a broader movement in the tech industry where employees under tech companies are trying to unionize. In fact, Amazon workers across several locations are doing just that, with them being in the process of voting for the second time on whether to form a union or not.

This movement is also found in other labor sectors such as retail and foodservice sectors at companies like Starbucks and Recreational Equipment, Inc.

Even tech workers at the New York Times are fighting union-busting attempts to deter them from forming a union, according to the Guardian.

Related Article: Google Denies Pay Raise Despite Inflation: How Much Does a Google Employee Earn?
Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky, has been added to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Covered List with the agency stating that it poses unacceptable risks to national security in the United States.

Russian Cybersecurity Firm Kaspersky Threatens US National Security

Kaspersky has been added to a list that had previously been dominated by Chinese telecommunications companies for the first time.

U.S. authorities have long feared the threat of Kaspersky software exposing American networks to malicious activity emanating from Moscow. However, Kaspersky has consistently denied being a tool of the Russian government.

According to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr: "I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list. Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state-backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America's interests."

More than just an anti-virus company, Kaspersky is a multinational cybersecurity powerhouse that offers many services. The services covered by the FCC decision include information security products, solutions, and services provided by Kaspersky or any affiliated companies, including subsidiaries or affiliates, as well as services provided by third-party vendors.

Blocking Telecommunication Firms

As reported by Bleeping Computer, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday also added China Telecom (Americas) Corp, and China Mobile International USA Inc. to the list.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had already blocked the Chinese enterprises on the list from entering the United States market. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rejected China Telecom's application to provide phone service in an October vote, while the agency rejected China Mobile's bid to provide phone service in 2019 due to security concerns.

According to Bloomberg, last year, the Federal Communications Commission put five Chinese companies on the list: Huawei Technologies Co., ZTE Corp., Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.

The banning of these five companies is done legally through the law that came into force in 2019; Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. As of this writing, Kaspersky is the first company from Russia to be included in FCC's list.

Read Also: Hacktivism of Anonymous: Here's How the Legion of Hackers Defended Ukraine from Cyberattacks

National Security Threat

As reported by Reuters, the FCC did not mention anything about the geopolitical threat implied with the possible retaliation of Russia to the imposed sanctions of the country. President Joe Biden warned the country about possible cybersecurity attacks.

Kaspersky expressed their dismay in a statement saying the decision was made on political grounds. Rather than conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky's products and services, the company claimed that the move was "unsubstantiated and is a response to the geopolitical climate."

FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel stated that they have been working with national security partners to keep an updated list of communications equipment and services that pose an unacceptable risk to the country's national security, since last year.

In addition, Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel noted: "Today's action is the latest in the FCC's ongoing efforts, as part of the greater whole-of-government approach, to strengthen America's communications networks against national security threats, including examining the foreign ownership of telecommunications companies providing service in the United States and revoking the authorization to operate where necessary. Our work in this area continues."

Related Article: Microsoft Confirms Lapsus$ Hack, Details Steps To Enhance Security
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Chevrolet has announced that it will be donating a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT All Star Edition to the 16-year-old driver who went viral for driving his Silverado through a tornado.

The video of the incident went viral earlier this week after it was posted on YouTube.

Chevrolet Silverado Survives Tornado

A red Chevrolet Silverado, specifically a first generation model, went viral earlier this week after it was captured on camera as it was thrown around by a tornado in Texas. Much to everyone's astonishment, the Silverado drove away after and the drive is safe and sound.

According to a report by Road & Truck, the video of the incident was uploaded on YouTube by a storm chaser named Brian Emfinger. You can view the video below:

"It does a 360-degree spin while sitting perpendicular to the road before being pushed back upright by the tornado's gusts," the report says of what happened to the Silverado. It likewise notes that the only damage that the vehicles seems to have sustained noticeable scratches

16-Year-Old Driver of the Chevrolet Silverado

If the fact that the Chevrolet Silverado survived a tornado is not amazing enough, the fact that the driver is a 16-year-old just might.

According to Houston-based news station KHOU 11, the driver behind the wheel in that viral video is none other than Riley Leon. In the news station's interview with the 16-year-old, he said that while the experience was shocking for him, he was not really scared that much.

However, Leon did note that his red Silverado, which is family-owned, ended up being dented after going through the tornado. Aside from that, the vehicle also had scratches and its glass shattered.

He said that seeing what happened to his car broke him down because he had just finished paying his father off for it despite the fact that it was passed on to him.

Read Also: 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Specs, Design, Price, Release Date: GM Scheduled to Debut New Car on October

Chevrolet Announces That It Will Replace the Chevrolet Silverado

The viral video and the story behind it has apparently reached Chevrolet itself. In fact, Car and Driver has reported that the car maker has announced that it will replace the 16-year-old's damaged Silverado with a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT All Star Edition.

The announcement, which was posted on Chevrolet's social media accounts, reads: "Chevrolet, together with Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet of Fort Worth, TX, are donating a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT All Star Edition in Cherry Red to Riley Leon and his family after he survived a powerful tornado while driving in his Silverado."

Chevrolet and Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet of Fort Worth, TX, are donating a 2022 Silverado to Riley Leon and his family after he survived a powerful tornado while driving his Silverado. Our hearts are with other families that were affected by these storms. https://t.co/A7SCupjsSF https://t.co/ZWDoRc2PDn  Chevrolet (@chevrolet) March 25, 2022

Chevrolet adds in its announcement that they are grateful that the 16-year-old is safe and that they will likewise be donating $50,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to help fund the recovery efforts in Texas following the series of tornadoes and storms.

Related Article: Chevrolet Silverado 2022 EV Specs and Rumors: 400 Miles Range Capacity Teased!
New Orleans and jazz are so intrinsically linked that instead of using a cliche like they go together like peanut butter and jelly, it feels like goes together like New Orleans and jazz could BE the cliche. Recently discovered, however, was a little-known rule outright banning jazz in New Orleans schools. I could describe this ban as weird or crazy but Ill give the benefit of the doubt to anyone reading this that you dont have to strain your brain to think of why some people in 1922 banned jazz.

To step away from the story for a moment, can we just talk about how delightful the phrase they banned jazz is? Its a beautiful sentence, auditorily and aesthetically. Try saying it out loud to yourself, its a great time. With any inflection, a guaranteed mood booster. They banned jazz? They banned jazz! They banned jazz. Its approaching cellar door status.

Linguistics aside, the ban was apparently passed in 1922, making its overdue repeal fall 100 years after its creation by pure chance. Refreshingly, no one is making much of any effort to pretend they dont know what likely caused the ban. School board president Olin Parker pulled no punches, saying Im very glad that we can rescind this policy. I want to acknowledge it. It was rooted in racism.




By Park Han-sol







A free online screening highlighting "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae's filmography is scheduled to run throughout next month on the Korean Cultural Center New York's website.







The event, presented as part of the center's "Korean Movie Nights at Home: Master's Series of 2022" to spotlight distinguished Korean actors' cinematic achievements, will feature six of Lee's movies  from heartfelt romances to crime thrillers  with English subtitles: "Deliver Us from Evil," "New World," "Assassination," "The Thieves," "Big Match" and "Il Mare."







It was the Netflix original survival drama that launched Lee to global stardom. But in Korea, he had already established his name as one of the most sought-after actors, with his career spanning nearly three decades on both the big and small screen.







In addition to starring in "Sandglass," an iconic 1995 drama that reached a domestic viewership rating of as high as 64.5 percent, the actor has played multiple memorable roles, including in the espionage action film, "Assassination," set during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial occupation of Korea and the Joseon-era period drama, "The Face Reader."







The cultural center added that the romance fantasy, "Il Mare," is notable for being the first Korean film to be remade in Hollywood as "The Lake House."







Lee's role as Sung Ki-hoon in "Squid Game," acclaimed for its uniquely twisted transformation of Korean children's games into a life-or-death competition to win 45.6 billion won, has earned him a string of prizes this year: the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, the Critic's Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series.


What is a man-in-the-middle-attack?

A man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack is a type of cyberattack in which communications between two parties is intercepted, often to steal login credentials or personal information, spy on victims, sabotage communications, or corrupt data.

MitM attacks are attacks where the attacker is actually sitting between the victim and a legitimate host the victim is trying to connect to, says Johannes Ullrich, dean of research at SANS Technology Institute. So, they're either passively listening in on the connection or they're actually intercepting the connection, terminating it and setting up a new connection to the destination.

MitM attacks are one of the oldest forms of cyberattack. Computer scientists have been looking at ways to prevent threat actors tampering or eavesdropping on communications since the early 1980s.

MITM attacks are a tactical means to an end, says Zeki Turedi, technology strategist, EMEA at CrowdStrike. The aim could be spying on individuals or groups to redirecting efforts, funds, resources, or attention.

Though MitM attacks can be protected against with encryption, successful attackers will either reroute traffic to phishing sites designed to look legitimate or simply pass on traffic to its intended destination once harvested or recorded, making detection of such attacks incredibly difficult.

Man-in-the-middle attack examples

MitM encompass a broad range of techniques and potential outcomes, depending on the target and the goal. For example, in SSL stripping, attackers establish an HTTPS connection between themselves and the server, but use an unsecured HTTP connection with the victim, which means information is sent in plain text without encryption. Evil Twin attacks mirror legitimate Wi-Fi access points but are entirely controlled by malicious actors, who can now monitor, collect, or manipulate all information the user sends.

These types of attacks can be for espionage or financial gain, or to just be disruptive, says Turedi. The damage caused can range from small to huge, depending on the attackers goals and ability to cause mischief.

In a banking scenario, an attacker could see that a user is making a transfer and change the destination account number or amount being sent. Threat actors could use man-in-the-middle attacks to harvest personal information or login credentials. If attackers detect that applications are being downloaded or updated, compromised updates that install malware can be sent instead of legitimate ones. The EvilGrade exploit kit was designed specifically to target poorly secured updates. Given that they often fail to encrypt traffic, mobile devices are particularly susceptible to this scenario.

These attacks can be easily automated, says SANS Institutes Ullrich. There are tools to automate this that look for passwords and write it into a file whenever they see one or they look to wait for particular requests like for downloads and send malicious traffic back.

While often these Wi-Fi or physical network attacks require proximity to your victim or targeted network, it is also possible to remotely compromise routing protocols. That's a more difficult and more sophisticated attack, explains Ullrich. Attackers are able to advertise themselves to the internet as being in charge of these IP addresses, and then the internet routes these IP addresses to the attacker and they again can now launch man-in-the-middle attacks.

They can also change the DNS settings for a particular domain [known as DNS spoofing], Ullrich continues. So, if you're going to particular website, you're actually connecting to the wrong IP address that the attacker provided, and again, the attacker can launch a man-in-the-middle attack.

While most attacks go through wired networks or Wi-Fi, it is also possible to conduct MitM attacks with fake cellphone towers. Law enforcement agencies across the U.S., Canada and the UK have been found using fake cell phone towersknown as stingraysto gather information en masse. Stingray devices are also commercially available on the dark web.

Researchers from the Technical University of Berlin, ETH Zurich and SINTEF Digital in Norway recently discovered flaws in the authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocols used in 3G, 4G and due to be used in 5G wireless technology rollouts that could lead to attackers performing MitM attacks.

Man-in-the-middle attack prevention

Though flaws are sometimes discovered, encryption protocols such as TLS are the best way to help protect against MitM attacks. The latest version of TLS became the official standard in August 2018. There are also others such as SSH or newer protocols such as Googles QUIC.

If it becomes commercially viable, quantum cryptography could provide a robust protection against MitM attacks based on the theory that it is impossible to copy quantum data, and it cannot be observed without changing its state and therefore providing a strong indicator if traffic has been interfered with en route.

For end-user education, encourage staff not to use open public Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi offerings at public places where possible, as this is much easier to spoof than cell phone connections, and tell them to heed warnings from browsers that sites or connections may not be legitimate. Use VPNs to help ensure secure connections.

The best methods include multi-factor authentication, maximizing network control and visibility, and segmenting your network, says Alex Hinchliffe, threat intelligence analyst at Unit 42, Palo Alto Networks.

Prevention is better than trying to remediate after an attack, especially an attack that is so hard to spot. These attacks are fundamentally sneaky and difficult for most traditional security appliances to initially detect, says Crowdstrikes Turedi.

How common are man-in-the-middle attacks?

Though not as common as ransomware or phishing attacks, MitM attacks are an ever-present threat for organizations. IBM X-Forces Threat Intelligence Index 2018 says that 35 percent of exploitation activity involved attackers attempting to conduct MitM attacks, but hard numbers are difficult to come by.

I would say, based on anecdotal reports, that MitM attacks are not incredibly prevalent, says Hinchliffe. Much of the same objectivesspying on data/communications, redirecting traffic and so oncan be done using malware installed on the victims system. If there are simpler ways to perform attacks, the adversary will often take the easy route.

A notable recent example was a group of Russian GRU agents who tried to hack into the office of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at The Hague using a Wi-Fi spoofing device.

Greater adoption of HTTPS and more in-browser warnings have reduced the potential threat of some MitM attacks. In 2017 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reported that over half of all internet traffic is now encrypted, with Google now reporting that over 90 percent of traffic in some countries is now encrypted. Major browsers such as Chrome and Firefox will also warn users if they are at risk from MitM attacks. With the increased adoption of SSL and the introduction of modern browsers, such as Google Chrome, MitM attacks on Public WiFi hotspots have waned in popularity, says CrowdStrikes Turedi.

Today, what is commonly seen is the utilization of MitM principals in highly sophisticated attacks, Turedi adds. One example observed recently on open-source reporting was malware targeting a large financial organizations SWIFT network, in which a MitM technique was utilized to provide a false account balance in an effort to remain undetected as funds were maliciously being siphoned to the cybercriminals account.

The threat still exists, however. For example, the Retefe banking Trojan will reroute traffic from banking domains through servers controlled by the attacker, decrypting and modifying the request before re-encrypting the data and sending it on to the bank. A recently discovered flaw in the TLS protocolincluding the newest 1.3 versionenables attackers to break the RSA key exchange and intercept data.

The proliferation of IoT devices may also increase the prevalence of man-in-the-middle attacks, due to the lack of security in many such devices. CSO has previously reported on the potential for MitM-style attacks to be executed on IoT devices and either send false information back to the organization or the wrong instructions to the devices themselves.

IoT devices tend to be more vulnerable to attack because they don't implement a lot of the standard mitigations against MitM attacks, says Ullrich. A lot of IoT devices do not yet implement TLS or implemented older versions of it that are not as robust as the latest version.

A survey by Ponemon Institute and OpenSky found that 61 percent of security practitioners in the U.S. say they cannot control the proliferation of IoT and IIoT devices within their companies, while 60 percent say they are unable to avoid security exploits and data breaches relating to IoT and IIoT.

With the mobile applications and IoT devices, there's nobody around and that's a problem; some of these applications, they will ignore these errors and still connect and that defeats the purpose of TLS, says Ullrich.

Editors note: This story, originally published in 2019, has been updated to reflect recent trends.
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NEW MILFORD  For four years, through tough times and happy occasions, busy days and not so much going on, New Milford resident Joann Rodriguez Matos could always rely on a coffee and hiking routine she developed with her friend, Chris Pante.

Pante died in February from COVID-19, at the age of 58.

In her late friends memory, Matos created a Coffee & Hiking Social Group, as a way to meet new people to carry on their coffee and hiking tradition.

Through the group, which has garnered over 100 members within the week it opened, Matos said she wants to encourage people to value their time together, since you never know the last time one will see a person, said Matos, 59, a mother of three and grandmother of two.

Matos met Pante after their 30-year Danbury High School reunion.

Pante ran the Chris Pante Talk Show on Comcast Cables Ch. 23, which discussed current events.

He contacted Matos about an autobiography on child abuse that she wrote, called Hot Peas and Butter: The Children in the Basement, and asked her for an interview. While Matos wanted to hold off on the interview while she worked on a second book, the pair ended up becoming friends.

We talked on the telephone and struck a friendship. Then, one day, I asked him, Are you interested in going for a hike with me at Tarrywile Park? He said, Sure, Id love to. And thats where it began, she said.

Going for coffee before the hike was soon added to their get together.

Over the next four years, the friends would met every few weeks, depending upon their schedules and the weather.

Chis was the most wonderful person  a stand-up comedian, Matos said. But he also had some really strong beliefs. He was very, very much eager to really get to the grassroots of what was going on in the world. We had some really nice discussions.

The friends got COVID at the same time  in January.

What struck me was that I survived. I said to him I was always afraid of getting COVID because I had respiratory problems throughout my life as a kid, said Matos, who is a stay-at-home grandmother. She lost her previous job as an administrative assistant during the pandemic.

His death broke my heart, she added. COVID stole my friend from me.

She said she frequently reads his text messages and talks to him out loud, and misses him every day.

Through the coffee and hiking group, Matos said she would like to celebrate the lives of those who have been lost to COVID by supporting each other and offering our friendship.

Additionally, she said the group is also about getting to know ones neighbors and their every day struggles.

Everyone loves a cup of Joe and a hike, but most of all we need to stay connected and learn about each other on Gods green earth, she said. Chris liked to get to the deep roots of a conversation and share that with the world. We walked and we talked and we shared our life stories together. True to his profession, he knew how to get that story out of you and make you feel comfortable in knowing that his intentions made a difference in this world.

Danbury resident Norman Buzaid was neighbors with Pante and has known him for 30 years.

Chris was a great guy  always happy go lucky and always helpful whenever Ive ever needed help around the house, such as moving stuff. He also helped my son and daughter with school and sports, Buzaid said.

One memory he shared was of Pante always driving home in his convertible with the top down, in the pouring rain, he said.

He was always, always in a good mood, Buzaid added.

Michael Kaufman, a Ridgefield resident, said he could not have asked for a better friend, when referring to Pante, whom he knew for nearly 50 years.

Chris loved to laugh and always made his family and friends laugh and smile, said Kaufman, who went to Danbury High School with Pante. He was a loyal and caring friend to many.

This is seen in the number of people who had donated to the GoFundMe site created for the Christopher G. Pante Memorial Scholarship Fund at Danbury High School, Kaufman said.

Pante was a New York Mets fan and loved going to the home opener. One of his friends is organizing a group to go to the first home game on April 15.

I plan on being there to watch the Mets play, share wonderful memories and stories of our friend Chris, and pay tribute to him, Kaufman said. We know Chris will be with us in spirit and watching over us. We expect good weather and a Mets win.

More hikes planned

The coffee and hiking group has already held their first meet-up  they met at Dunkin Donuts on Exit 12 in New Milford and then went to Harrybrooke Park for a stroll.

About 10 people came, Matos said. We went all the way through Harrybrooke Park where there is running water and a fall, and then we came all the way back. It took a leisurely half hour to 45 minutes.

Once the nice weather comes, Matos said she expects the group to really take off. She has researched local places to hike, such as Steep Rock Preserve in Washington, and posted those places on the groups Facebook page.

Additionally, she plans to bring some business to the smaller coffee shops in New Milford by bringing in the group.

She hopes to plan both evening hikes during the week and Sunday hikes at noon.

From Pantes death, Matos said she has learned not to take people for granted.

Especially, with COVID, we dont know how long we truly have. People need to have people to rely upon, Matos said. This has been a very lonely and scary pandemic.

sandra.fox@hearstmediact.com 203-948-9802
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Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Stamford resident Jeff Maron was one of thousands of Connecticut residents who rode Metro-North Railroad trains into New York City each weekday for work.

Now, Maron works solely from home but is looking forward to a full-time return to office in the future. And as Metro-North offers more weekday trains starting Monday, it is taking another step toward a return to prepandemic service.

Increasing the frequency of trains is one attribute of a return to work and commuting mentality, Maron said.

With the service enhancement by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, each of the Metro-North Railroad lines  New Haven, Harlem and Hudson  will see a bump in weekday trains as the agency struggles to boost its weekday ridership rates.

The increase in service will result in train service reaching 89 percent of prepandemic levels, according to a Feb. 22 MTA statement.

As more riders return to traditional peak periods, Metro-North is improving the attractiveness of its weekday service, Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said. We have been listening to our customers and the message is clear - they want more trains and seating capacity as well as faster trips. This is exactly what our latest service increase provides.

The increase in service will offer more peak trains with shorter travel times and an increase in train arrivals, according to the statement. It will also mean less crowded trains and a reduction in travel times at some stations by up to 13 minutes.

For New Haven Line riders, weekday service will increase from 244 to 278 trains, with additional trains between Grand Central, Stamford and New Haven, according to the statement.

In New York, weekday trains on the Harlem Line will increase from 190 to 208 and on the Hudson Line from 142 to 156.

New Haven is seeing the largest boost in service because it is the busiest of the three Metro-North lines, said Aaron Donovan, MTAs deputy communications director.

All of the lines have, generally speaking, the same reductions and increases in services as the pandemic unfolded or evolved, Donovan said. New Haven is the busiest line and has most trains to start.

The MTAs goal with the service increase is to entice weekday riders to return to the train system, Donovan said. With the changes, there will be more express peak-hour trains as well, he said.

Recently, Metro-North ridership tipped over the 50 percent marker, Donovan said, meaning the railroad is at about half of prepandemic rider levels.

The increase in service comes on the heels of the MTAs return to peak fare costs and the rollout of a new 20-trip ticket, presented as a cost-effective alternative to the monthly pass.

For someone previously on a five-day schedule, now, perhaps a 20-trip ticket is attractive, Donovan said.

Jeff Maron, the Stamford commuter, said that Metro-North was returning to normalcy in a skewed order, suggesting that a return of more train service should have come before a return to peak costs, or, at the same time.

If we do it piecemeal, we are never going to get everybody back to what we used to have. Too many folks have now gotten used to the new normal, Maron said. I applaud the MTA for increasing service, but that alone is not a determining factor in getting people back on the rails, especially people who need to get on subway when they get to Manhattan.

Maron, who is vice chair of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said he had traveled to work on Metro-North trains for three decades before COVID-19 changed the workplace.

Using a monthly pass, Maron rode the rails to and from work in NYC from the crack of dawn to the edge of night. When COVID-19 hit, he was amid a job change and worked remotely until September 2020, when he began driving into work each day.

I started taking the train spring 2021 and through spring and summer 2021, I then mixed between driving and taking the train, but mostly driving, Maron said. From November 2021 forward, I was working only from home. I talked to a lot of people constantly about whats happening on the rails. Part is the city issue and part is the subway.

Like many, Maron believes the lower train ridership numbers reflect a systemic shift in working culture and the realization that many jobs can be done remotely. Most of Marons company, however, is back in the office daily, where he hopes to be soon, too.

State Sen. Will Haskell, who chairs the state Transportation Committee, also believes Metro-North ridership will eventually return to previous levels, if not on the same schedule.

While chairing the Transportation Committee, Haskell is also seeped in some of the areas most impacted by the fluctuations in Metro-North as he represents Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton.

Commuting patterns may look different in perpetuity. It may no longer be necessary to go to the city five days a week, Haskell said. Even if folks arent commuting in the same way, we will see the same level of ridership. If not Tuesday morning, then Friday night. If not Wednesday evening, then Saturday evening.

Regardless of the current ridership patterns or levels, Haskell said a return to 89 percent of prepandemic train service is a positive sign for Metro-North.

That means we are nearly back to what we were before anyone heard of social distancing, he said.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
Contributed Photo / Connecticut State Police

A retired Connecticut State Police lieutenant and Clinton police commissioner was charged with driving under the influence Friday night, according to state police.

A Guilford man told Westbrook police around 7:20 p.m. Friday that he was tailgated by retired Lt. Robert Derry while driving on Boston Post Road, police said. When he stopped at a traffic light at North Grove Beach Road, Derrys car struck the back of the mans vehicle, according to a criminal information summary from state police.
The alleged test-firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile from an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 24, in this photo distributed by the North Korean government. AP-Yonhap





The United States will introduce a new U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution that will update and strengthen UNSC sanctions against North Korea, the head of the U.S. mission to the U.N. said Friday.







Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also called for full implementation of the existing sanctions on North Korea to prevent Pyongyang from engaging in further provocations.







"And because of DPRK's increasingly dangerous provocations, the United States will be introducing a chapter seven Security Council resolution to update and strengthen the sanctions regime," the U.S. envoy said in a UNSC meeting held in New York to discuss North Korea's latest missile launch, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.







Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Thursday (KST), following 11 previous missile tests this year that included the alleged firing of a new hypersonic missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile.







The latest missile launch also ended the North's self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing that had been in place since November 2017.







"The Security Council must speak publicly and with one voice to condemn the DPRK's unlawful actions and encourage the DPRK to return to the negotiating table," Thomas-Greenfield told the council meeting, broadcast live.







The rare public meeting of the UNSC on North Korea, the first of its kind since 2017, came at the request of the U.S. and five other members of the 15-member council, including Britain and France.







The U.S. diplomat reiterated that the United States remains open to dialogue with North Korea, but insisted that they cannot stand idly by until Pyongyang returns to negotiations.






GUILFORD  The Guilford Art Leagues annual exhibition is featured all month in the corridor and meeting room at the Guilford Free Library. Of the 43 images on display, more than half embrace this years theme of Lets Face it! which allows for numerous interpretations.

There is a wide selection of media, styles and subjects, and most of the artwork is for sale.
UPDATE: BRIDGEPORT  A Texas man was shot outside the Bridgeport Public Library overnight after a verbal fight inside a downtown bar and restaurant, according to the Bridgeport Police Department.

The 32-year-old man was taken to St. Vincents Medical Center for treatment, police said. He was shot multiple times in the groin and lower limbs, according to police.

The man told police that a verbal dispute allegedly took place inside a bar and restaurant on Broad Street. When he left the establishment, two men followed him and shot him by the Bridgeport Public Library, which is also on Broad Street, according to Bridgeport Police Capt. Kevin Gilleran.

The man was expected to survive his injuries, Gilleran said.

Both suspects fled from the scene, Gilleran added.

Detectives found a crime scene outside the public library and collected evidence, he said.

The Bridgeport Emergency Operations Center had received a call at about 2 a.m. from the hospital that two people had walked into the emergency room with gunshot wounds, police said. Police later determined that the second persons injury was not related to this incident nor was it the result of an assault.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Bridgeport Police Detective Joe Badolato at 203-576-5100. Tips can also be submitted by calling the Bridgeport Police Department Tip Line at 203-576-TIPS (8477).

Editors note: Police reported earlier that a man and a woman were shot near a business on Broad Street. Police updated their statement, sayng a Texas man had been shot multiple times on Broad Street and a second persons injuries were not related to this incident.
Free speech in schools is under assault from both the left and the right. Ironically, neither realize that they are trying to do the same thing: Suppress messages they dont like. Both are inconsistent with what should be a core value of educational institutions to allow all ideas and views to be expressed.

Incidents at Yale Law School and UC Hastings College of Law, involving progressive students trying to keep invited conservative speakers from addressing their audiences, have renewed attention on how the hecklers veto can be a threat to free speech principles.

There is no doubt that freedom of expression on a campus, and academic freedom as a principle, would be rendered meaningless if protestors and dissenters had a recognized right to shout down speakers who participate in authorized campus events. However, these challenges to a culture of free expression are trivial compared to efforts by a number of Republican state legislatures to direct how race and gender are taught in public schools and colleges.

Most of these bills emerge from a recently supercharged effort by Republican officials  including a number who participated in the confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson  to condemn certain ideas that they claim emerge from critical race theory and transgender rights activism.

For example, in Alabama, House Bill 8 would bar public K-12 schools and public institutions of higher education from teaching, instructing or training any student to adopt or believe certain concepts relating to race or sex. House Bill 9 would bar any teaching or training designed to lead individuals to adopt or believe divisive concepts.

In Alaska, House Bill 330 would prevent colleges from persuading or attempting to indoctrinate a student to adopt or affirm certain ideas related to sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin.

Similar bills are pending in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Each of these bills was sponsored by a Republican officeholder.

In Florida, a bill that recently passed the House and Senate bars public colleges from adopting any instructional materials that espouse, promote or compel belief in certain ideas about race and gender. It also prohibits educators (including college faculty) from subjecting any student or employee to training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels such student or employee to believe those same ideas, including ideas about the relevance of past racial injustice.

Collectively these bills represent a sweeping attempt to restrict what can be read, taught and discussed at colleges and universities. It is unclear what would be deemed speech that causes one to adopt or believe particular ideas. Arguably, all exposure to views can cause some to adopt them.

Some of these laws say that students could not be asked to read materials that espouse the view that one race or sex is superior to another, which (among other things) would prevent exposure to many basic documents of American history, the history of political theory or a great deal of literature. Students could never learn about the arguments defending slavery or Southern succession.

Prohibitions against arguments that advocate for favorable treatment based on a persons race or sex would make it impossible to debate basic topics such as affirmative action. If passed, these bills might make it impossible for psychologists to study the sources of racist attitudes and behaviors. They could ban faculty from exposing students to arguments central to an understanding of feminism, race studies or the rights of transgender persons.

In other words, these bills would fundamentally undermine the core mission of colleges and universities, which is to generate new knowledge, preserve inherited knowledge and empower students to critically analyze competing ideas.

Many individuals on the right who are quick to criticize students who attempt to silence individual speakers are unacceptably silent on the more sweeping threats to freedom of thought and expression represented by these systematic partisan assaults on teaching and learning.

Similarly, those who support the use of the hecklers veto by student protestors are depriving themselves of the arguments necessary to resist these Republican bills.

Many of the protestors claim that colleges and universities should not tolerate speech that is considered hateful, racist, sexist, or otherwise divisive. But this is precisely the same justification offered by those who are sponsoring these anti-teaching, anti-learning bills.

The student protestors and their allies would undoubtedly make the case that they are opposing truly bad ideas while the Republican legislators are opposing important ideas. But that is not how censorship works. Once one grants that administrators and other officials should have the authority to censor and punish bad ideas, there is no predicting who will be the target of such repression.

In fact, based on the history of free speech in the United States as well as these contemporary efforts, there is every reason to predict that the people most vulnerable to censorship will be progressive voices. The left should strongly embrace free speech values because the left might have the most to lose if those values are eroded.

Howard Gillman is chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, and Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of Berkeley Law. They are co-chairs of the national advisory board of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.


North Korea's test of a big new intercontinental ballistic missile prompted the United States to press for stiffer U.N. sanctions Friday, but China and Russia showed little appetite for tightening restrictions that they have been trying to ease.



A day after North Korea's first long-range missile test since 2017, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the council to condemn the launch and encourage Pyongyang to return to negotiations.



''It was an egregious and unprovoked escalation'' that threatens the world, said Thomas-Greenfield, whose country joined Albania, France, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom in calling for the meeting.



Thomas-Greenfield added that the U.S. would propose a measure ''to update and strengthen'' sanctions. She declined to give specifics after the meeting.





The Security Council originally imposed sanctions after the North's first nuclear test in 2006 and has tightened them over the years, in response to further tests and its increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.



Britain agreed Friday that more sanctions should be considered, and several other members urged action of some kind.



But veto-wielding China and Russia proposed last fall to lift sanctions that bar their neighbor from exporting seafood and textiles, limit its imports of refined petroleum products and prohibit its citizens from working overseas and sending home their earnings.



Russian Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said Friday that further sanctions would ''threaten North Korean citizens with unacceptable socioeconomic and humanitarian problems,'' while Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun urged the council ''to consider how to accommodate the DPRK's justified security concerns.''



He suggested that the U.S. didn't do enough to respond to the North's 2018 self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear weapons tests.



''It is right and proper for the U.S. side to show its goodwill, take actions that have practical relevance and work harder to stabilize the situation, build mutual trust, and relaunch dialogue,'' Zhang said. ''Are they going to come up with concrete actions that can actually solve problems, or are they going to continue to use the (Korean) Peninsula as a bargaining chip in their geopolitical strategy?''



Many council members expressed alarm at the launch and appealed to North Korea to stop.




People look at an apartment in Seoul's Dongdaemun District that was severely damaged in a fire, March 26. Yonhap





A woman was found dead and four others were hospitalized following a fire at a high-rise apartment building in central Seoul, Saturday, according to officials.







The fire broke out on the seventh floor of the 25-story apartment building in Dongdaemun District at around 12:34 p.m., leaving the 40-something resident on the seventh floor dead, police and firefighting authorities said.







About 72 residents fled or were rescued, with four of them sent to the hospital for treatment after smoke inhalation.







The interior of an apartment severely scorched by a fire in Seoul's Dongdaemun District, is seen in this March 26 photo. Yonhap





The fire was extinguished after a nearly two-hour operation that mobilized 72 firefighting personnel and 20 fire trucks.







Authorities assume the fire started in the living room of the 7th-floor flat where the blaze burnt through the interior entirely and spread to the next door and upper units.







They were looking into the cause of the fire as well as the exact cause of the woman's death. (Yonhap)




By David A. Tizzard





When President Moon Jae-in came to power, there was a great deal of optimism about what he would achieve. Many people here felt the country was finally turning a corner and a man of the people would wrest control from out-of-touch elites and place it in the heart of those who had fought for democracy and freedom. President Moon seems like a decent man. He has led Korea with dignity on the world stage. He has earned the support of many citizens of this country. His approval ratings remain higher than any other Korean president leaving office. He has also had the unenviable task of leading the country's battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.







To be the president in our age seems incredibly difficult. Social media has warped political discourse beyond recognition: Rumors, gossip, slander and just straight-up fake news fly around society with little-to-no accountability. Digital platforms are well aware that controversy and hatred garner more user interaction than nuance and thus emotions become a driving tool of conversation. Politics has become a moral conversation for many. No longer is it about policies, legislation or seeking compromise over the best methods of allocating limited resources to citizens while knowing it will be impossible to create a society in which everyone is happy. Instead, political figures are now seen as existential threats and labeled as evil rather regularly by citizens. I get enough abuse about my writing, my ideas, (and my face). I can't even imagine the psychological effects it must have on a person to be charged with leading a nation of 50 million people in the 21st century. In that sense, again, President Moon has my sympathy and respect.







An internet expression which seems to describe some elements of modern discourse is "bitch eating crackers." This is when you dislike someone so much that anything they do, irrespective of how minor or inoffensive it might be, annoys you beyond any?rational?level. The simple act of them eating crackers will cause you to be angry. People feel like that about leading Korean figures on both sides of the political aisle. So, while conscious of such views, what can we say of President Moon's five-year term in terms of his own goals and achievements?







In his inauguration speech, President Moon stated,?"We will eradicate the authoritarian presidential culture. As soon as preparations are complete, we will exit the Blue House and open an era of the Gwanghwamun presidency." Five years later, the president is still in the Blue House. Modifications have taken place and there is certainly more communication and transparency than the previous administration. However, he is now seemingly trying to prevent the man he hand-picked as prosecutor from starting his own term outside the Blue House. So do we want a president in the Blue House or not? Is this about reality or are we back to the crackers?







The era of the Gwanghwamun president didn't result in many press conferences or interactions either. President Moon had claimed, "After work, I may visit a market to exchange friendly talks with those whom I encounter. Large-scale public debates in Gwanghwamun Square are also part of my plan." Of course reality, pandemics, and social distancing means plans don't always come to fruition. However, there was not a great deal of interaction between the President and reporters. Korea remained different from many of its democratic counterparts in that respect. While other world leaders field questions from other politicians and members of the public on a weekly or regular basis, President Moon has held four New Year's press conferences, four news interviews, and two dialogue sessions with the public over the past five years. The few that he did hold seemed largely curated and with little challenging content, questions, or discussion.





President-elect Yoon, however, seems to be making a habit of eating at every small little restaurant you can think of and actually doing what President Moon promised he would. This hasn't got much coverage in the English-language press but locally it's become known as

Whether the president-elect will actually speak regularly to the people and the media once he takes office remains to be seen. But if he does, he will be acting out President Moon's stated goals.







And what of the high-level corruption President Moon was charged with eradicating from Korean politics, business and government? More specifically, those he replaced, ex-President Park Geun-hye and Samsung's Lee Jae-yong? The former was sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined nearly 17 million dollars. The latter was sentenced to five years. The candlelight revolution was seen by many citizens as the inevitable rise of the people: the overthrowing of dictatorship and the final phase of the "minjung (people)" democracy movement. Both of the aforementioned figures, however, are now at home. Park Geun-hye was pardoned in pursuit of national unity while Lee was released because his role in Samsung was deemed in the national interest. Powerful figures being released by government decree because they are influential seems to contain more echoes of the past than revolutions for the future.







President Moon also brought hope of better relations with North Korea. At PyeongChang, athletes from the two countries mirrored what they had done in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 by walking together under the blue unification flag. President Moon then shared photos of him meeting with Chairman Kim in Pyongyang, at Baekdusan, in the DMZ, and with President Trump. Engagement, support and understanding was the key to reducing military tensions. His presidency, however, will end with North Korea having blown up the joint liaison office building at Gaeseong, continuing to fire a barrage of missiles into the East Sea, and seemingly refusing to talk with Seoul.







President Moon has achieved much during his five years. His supporters will rightly point to many of his achievements. However, I'm not sure that being a man of the people, fulfilling the promise of the candlelight revolution vis-a-vis high-level corruption, or improved relations with North Korea should necessarily be counted among these. There is at least room for a nuanced discussion on the issues rather than simply parroting the narrative that these things have been achieved. Such conversation certainly doesn't mean he is a bad person nor that he failed; instead, it shows the difficulty of modern politics.





Many will see this piece as an attack on the current president or support of the incoming president-elect. It should be seen as neither. It's an attempt to put down the crackers and look at how presidential pledges and reality match-up. Our ideas and actions are driven by social media rhetoric and grand narratives disseminated by media corporations and powerful groups with an interest in various issues. I'm not immune to this and don't claim any special insight. However, the political science journals, the academic literature, and the professors discussing state affairs seem far more measured in their assessments of this latest transition in

than what I see online. Words matter, of course. But the reality in which we live is surely far more important.











Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.


Jessica Loch, left, died on March 21, 2011 after crashing into her tree - leaving her devastated mum Susan, right, behind

A mum-of three has revealed how a police officer's knock on the door in the wee hours of a wet Monday morning left her broken-hearted and 'wanting to die'.

Susan Loch's 19-year-old daughter Jessica was ten minutes from home when she came off a notorious section of the highway and crashed into a tree.

The teenager from Mollymook, near Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast was travelling to her boyfriend's house in nearby Vincentia and was killed instantly.

Susan, 59, told FEMAIL the accident, which happened 11 years ago, sent her straight into a 'living hell'.

'All I wanted is to have my baby back. I had all of these wonderful people offering help and support but it didn't matter because they couldn't give me the one thing that could actually make everything better.'

She and her husband Brad spiralled into their own pits of despair, each blaming themselves for their sweet daughter's shock death.

'I was the one who convinced her to get her licence, I said she needed to be independent because we lived in a small town,' Susan said.

The young woman was driving to see her boyfriend who lived in a nearby town - she crashed off a notorious stretch of road

The family including dad Brad, eldest son Nathan, youngest Dylan, mum Susan and Jessica before the accident

'And because I wasn't home on the night Brad has blamed himself for not forbidding her from driving because it was dreadful weather.

'But in reality guilt is useless and it wasn't either of our faults. She loved being able to drive and nothing my husband said that night would have kept her at home.'

The couple have two boys as well, Nathan who was 18 at the time of the accident and Dylan, who was 14.

'Nathan heard the knock on the door and got his dad, it was the police to tell him that Jess had been in a fatal accident,' she said.

Susan was staying with her elderly parents that night, her husband and the police had to wait for the accident to be cleared before they could drive to her.

'It was 6am, they waited for me to wake up . When I saw them both standing there I knew something bad had happened to Jessica,' she said.

From that moment Susan said she was 'completely numb', she told herself she 'just had to survive until the funeral' and then she could succumb to her broken heart.

Susan has written a book, revealing how she went from wanting to die to being able to enjoy life again, following the crash

'I remember sitting on the back deck in those early days thinking of death and not knowing how I could go on for another day.'

The funeral was attended by 400 people, a testament to the youngster's popularity in the community.

'We walked out of the service and put Jess' coffin into the hearse to the the tune of Angus and Julia Stone's Big Jet Plane. For years when I heard that song I had to turn it off.

'My husband and sons, even Jess' cousin had it in their playlists and it drove me crazy. They hear it and remembered her in life, I couldn't do that it just reminded me of death.

Susan and Brad pictured with baby Jessica, the parents both blamed themselves following her death

They remember her as a kind, friendly young woman who would happily spend hours chatting to her parents

The mum said she would dream of death, sleep in her daughter's bed and became detached from her physical life.

'Looking back I don't know how I had the strength to do it. Even picking the coffin, there are so many options it is overwhelming and the worst thing I have ever had to do.'

Susan has written a book about her grief and how her family worked through it to come out a decade later stronger than ever.

'I was in a really dark place for so long, but I am glad I didn't [end my life] because now I look forward to every day and love my life,' she said.

Susan said Jessica wanted to become a journalist which prompted her to write the book

It took four years of work for the words to come together on the page but it is the mum's final act for her daughter who had dreams of becoming a journalist.

She embarked on the project five years after her daughter's death and said it helped her gain the closure she needed after losing her first born child.

Susan hasn't let her mother, sons or husband read the book for fear of the devastating story triggering them and dragging them back to the hardest part of their lives.

'It is a really raw story, my son tried to read it once and couldn't make it past the first page.'

Her and Brad's relationship had been on the rocks before the accident, she admits they probably would have separated if they hadn't been somehow united by grief.

But it hasn't been easy - the mum said she was so desperate to escape the sympathy of people in town and memories of her daughter that she took a job in Sydney.

'Brad later said I abandoned our family and him in their time of need,' she said.

'But if I hadn't I honestly don't think I would be here today, I definitely wouldn't have found a way to thrive again.'

Jessica with her younger brothers who have since decided to live life to the max for their lost sister

She has since asked her boys if they felt the same, but they told her she did the best she could.

'They told me I was a great mum and they could see how hard I was working to be there for them.'

In Sydney Susan joined a group for bereaved mums where she learned that time could help her pain and found comfort in knowing others could relate to her pain.

She then made friends with a woman in her home town, who had lost a son years earlier, and they made a pact to survive.

'You just do little deals with yourself until you start seeing the light again,' she said.

Susan said on the day of Jess' funeral she was 'numb' as she had always imagined wedding dress shopping for her daughter not looking for the right coffin

Susan attended the funeral of a fellow bereaved mother who couldn't cope with losing her son.

'I remember seeing her other two kids sitting there and it broke my heart because those kids represented the children of all of the mums and dads who couldn't cope with loss.

'They represented my boys in those early years and I am just so thankful that I came through.'

When Jess first died Susan would visit her tree to have a chat and a sip of wine.

She missed having her bubbly teenager stretched out on her bed chatting, curling up on the couch together and even watching her put on makeup from her perch at the bathroom door.

And she feared for her other two children who grew up 'living life to the max', travelling the world and taking risks in their sisters name.

'I would be petrified every time they hopped in a car for years,' she said.

The mum said she once said she was a mum-of-two after the accident but was shattered with guilt so never said it again

When her youngest son decided to go to Bali for Schoolies Susan couldn't help but be nearby in case something happened.

She had been an avid traveller in her youth but had decided the party island wasn't her.

So she was shocked when her trip there fast-tracked her healing journey as she bonded with her taxi driver who had lost a child and found spiritual fulfilment.

The family come together to celebrate Jess' birthday and to mark March 21, her death day, every year.

Susan's book 'Jessica's gift' is available at Harry Hartog, Berkelouw, Dymocks, Bookface and also many independent bookstores in NSW, QLD and VIC.
The UK's number one parenting site for product reviews has announced its annual list of must-have items for parents for 2022.

MadeForMums has put over 1,100 products across 102 categories through a rigorous judging process using a panel of expert judges and at-home trialling by more than 1,000 family testers.

The winning products were chosen based on a range of criteria including ease of use, effectiveness and value for money.

This year's winners reflect the desire for more sustainable products and the importance of multi-function items that problem-solve, take up less space, and have a longer life, thus reducing waste and saving money.

Winning products include 2.99 compressed biodegradable wipes, reusable bacteria-destroying 17 swim nappies, a clothing rental service, and a 49.99 cuddly toy elephant that records a parent's voice.

Here, FEMAIL reveals MadeForMums top 12 award-winning products for 2022

Chicco Goody Plus Stroller

Price: 189

The Chicco Goody Plus, 189, is a space-saving stroller using an auto-fold function. It's lightweight frame mean it's great for public transport or trips away

What is it? The Chicco Goody Plus is a space-saving stroller using an auto-fold function, meaning parents simply press the button on the handle and the stroller will fold itself.

Parents are able to add a carrycot, so it's suitable from birth, and use with a compatible car seat.

It's lightweight frame mean it's great for public transport or trips away. It even folds small enough to take on some airlines as hand luggage.

MadeForMums tester says: 'I love the convenience of this buggy. It's very light and easy to pick up and carry when folded and made getting ready to head out to the shops or for a walk a lot quicker. A great stroller for my developing toddler.'

Available from: John Lewis, Amazon and Baby Planet

GenieWipes Compressed Towel Wipes

Price: 2.99

GenieWipes Compressed Towel Wipes, 2.99, come in tiny portable pellets the size of mints and expand when you put them under the tap

What is it? These compressed towel wipes come in tiny portable pellets the size of mints, which when you pop them under the tap transform into large, biodegradable wipes.

The 100 per cent natural cotton wipes will expand to 20 x 22 cm after placing the pellets into cold water or warm water for a few seconds and they won't dry out like packets of wet wipes can.

MadeForMums tester says: 'Sturdy but soft, biodegradable and, what is very important, very easy to transport. I found them to be a great eco-friendly alternative to baby wipes.'

Available from: Amazon

Jaspar The Dreamy Elephant Sleep Aid

Price: 49.99

The Dreamy Elephant, 49.99, allows parents to record up to 20 minutes of lullabies, songs or messages

What is it? The Dreamy Elephant allows parents to record up to 20 minutes of lullabies, songs or messages to help maintain a bond when you can't be there in person.

The super-cute toy has a host of other useful features, such as the Smart Cry Sensor and single-touch buttons for each sound.

MadeForMums tester says: 'My baby loves it when I sing her a lullaby as it always calms her down, so being able to record this was amazing. It's a great product with value for money.'

Available from: Not on the High Street, Robert Dyas and Amazon

Tutti Bambini CoZee XL Bedside Crib & Cot

Price: 299

Tutti Bambini has developed a longer-lasting multi-stage sleeping system, 299, that transforms to match different sleep stages for your child

What is it? Tutti Bambini has developed a longer-lasting multi-stage sleeping system that transforms to match different sleep stages for your child.

Once your baby has outgrown the drop-side bedside crib, the CoZee XL easily turns into a cot without requiring screws or DIY kit.

Parents can also buy an additional accessory pack to turn their crib into a rocking bassinet and an expansion pack to create a toddler bed and a sofa.

MadeForMums tester says: 'Although my daughter is still only tiny, I love the idea of a product that will grow with her. The crib was simple to set up (we didn't even need to use the instruction manual) and it's really simple to use too. The crib seemed very comfortable for my daughter, who settled straight into it.'

Available from: Tutti Bambini, Baby Planet and Olivers Babycare

Pura Eco Nappies

Price: 13p per nappy

Pura Eco Nappies, 13p per nappy, are disposable nappies are made using 100 per cent green electricity and with no production waste going to landfill

What is it? Pura Eco Nappies are disposable nappies are made using 100 per cent green electricity and with no production waste going to landfill.

The Pura nappies are cheaper than lower environmental impact alternatives, selling for a similar price to other name-brand disposables.

Pura is also currently the only disposable nappy brand working with NappiCycle, a service aiming to keep nappies out of landfill and recycle them into good, such as road surfaces.

MadeForMums tester says:'Comfortable nappies that absorb really well so bottoms don't get sore, plus we had no leaks for wees or poos in the day or at night.'

Available from: Amazon and Ocado

Baby Tula Pre-School Carrier

Price: 129.90

The Baby Tula Pre-School Carrier, 129.90, is an ergonomic pre-school carriers are suitable for older kids and toddlers

What is it? These ergonomic pre-school carriers are suitable for older kids and toddlers, but not as big or bulky as a hiking carrier.

Multi-purpose and easy to use, the product features reinforced construction for extra support meaning it's comfy for parent and passenger.

MadeForMums tester says: 'My 4 year old always wants to be carried when we go out and this product definitely made it possible to carry her with ease. Both myself and my husband tried it and it helped avoid many toddler tantrums.'

Available from: Amazon and Tula

MAM 6in1 Electric Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer

Price: 90

The MAM 6in1 Electric Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer, 90, is an all in one sterilising and heating solution

What is it? The MAM 6in1 Electric Steriliser & Express Bottle Warmer is an all in one sterilising and heating solution.

It can warm food and milk and defrost breastmilk as well as using electric, microwave and cold-water steriliser functions for your feeding equipment including breast pump parts.

MadeForMums tester says: 'It really does it all! I love that the bottle warmer is handily tucked away inside the main steriliser making it easy to store and keeping it relatively compact.'

Available from: Boots, Amazon and John Lewis

Koo-di Happy Home Foldaway Playpen

Price: 120

The Koo-di Happy Home foldaway playpen, 120, creates an instant babyproof space, which you can use inside and outdoors thanks to its waterproof base

What is it? The Koo-di Happy Home foldaway playpen creates an instant babyproof space, which you can use inside and outdoors thanks to its waterproof base.

The roomy size is big enough for more than one child yet folds down compactly into an over-shoulder bag.

The zip-up door keep babies and toddlers safely confined to one part of your home while offering a few extra years' use as a den for older kids.

MadeForMums tester says: 'A great sized playpen that makes life easier especially at dinner time when my toddler is usually around my feet. It also helps keep my son away from our dog when he's in a bit of a 'grab the dogs ears' mood!'

Buy from: Jojo Maman Bebe and Kidly

Happy Nappy DUO Swim Nappy

Price: 17

The Happy Nappy DUO Swim Nappy, 17, is the first proven to keep harmful bacteria and viruses out of pool water

What is it? Families introducing their baby or toddler to the local pool or a dip on holiday can save cash and packing space with the Happy Nappy DUO.

The reusable swim nappy is the first proven to keep harmful bacteria and viruses out of pool water, thanks to its active silver inner layer.

The double nappy system also means parents don't have to double up with a disposable swim nappy underneath each time.

MadeForMums tester says: 'Comfortable, durable, total poo catcher and easy to put on. The silver lining that kills any bacteria before it enters the pool is an amazing development and as a microbiologist I think that makes me more excited than anyone else.'

Available from: Splash About and Amazon

Baby Jogger Summit X3 Pushchair

Price: 474

The Baby Jogger Summit X3 Pushchair, 474, is a great-value multi-tasking pushchair is designed for off-road adventures

What is it? This great-value multi-tasking pushchair is designed for off-road adventures but with features flexible enough for everyday use, including one-handed fold, multi-position recline and large storage basket.

For babies from six months, it can handle all-terrain woodland walks with ease, thanks to its air-filled tyres and all-wheel suspension.

Then at nine months, parents can lock the front wheel in place and use it as a performance jogging buggy.

MadeForMums tester says: 'A smooth, quiet and comfortable ride plus there's plenty of growing room for my daughter so it will last us a long time. Also my husband ran his fastest buggy-running 5k using this, so if PBs are important to you then this piece of kit might help you achieve them!'

Available from: Amazon and Baby Jogger

The Little Loop Clothing Rental Service

Price: 18-36

Little Loop's founder set up her business to combat waste in the world of children's clothing. Clothing costs 18-36

What is it? Recently seen winning four offers of investment on Dragons Den, Little Loop's founder set up her business to combat waste in the world of children's clothing.

Little Loop provides a 'shared wardrobe for kids', enabling you to keep your child in stylish, and seasonal clothing, without being left with piles of clothes when your child grows out of them.

Membership opens the door to a wardrobe of ethical, organic clothing brands such as Frugi  simply choose, use and return when you're ready.

MadeForMums tester says: 'A great idea for those who can't easily access second-hand clothes or don't have the time or money to source premium sustainable brands.'

Available from: The Little Loop

Bugaboo Stardust Travel Cot

The Bugaboo Stardust, 199, is a stylish travel cot that proves incredibly easy to set up with a flat-fold and lightweight design

Price: 199

What is it? The Bugaboo Stardust is a stylish travel cot that proves incredibly easy to set up with a flat-fold and lightweight design

The cot combines unique aerospace technology and smart design to offer parents an all-in-one, ultra-comfortable travel cot that you can use at home or on the go.

MadeForMums tester says: 'Lightweight, easy to unfold/fold, and the built-in mattress is comfortable and makes setting the cot up even easier. We travel a lot with our baby to visit family and the Stardust has certainly made squeezing everything into the boot a lot easier.'

Available from: Bugaboo, Boots and John Lewis
The Foo Fighters are a band born of tragedy - formed in the wake of the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994.

Dave Grohl, a member of both, has now suffered yet another devastating loss in Taylor Hawkins, who passed away while the Foo Fighters were on tour in South America.

Hawkins, 50, was found dead in a hotel room in Bogota, Colombia, where the band were due to pay at a festival on Friday night. No cause of death was immediately confirmed.

The band said it was 'devastated by the untimely loss', adding: 'His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.'

Hawkins played in the Foo Fighters with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl on vocals for more than two decades, alongside Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee. He joined in 1997 following the departure of the band's previous drummer, William Goldsmith.

The loss of Hawkins will come as a devastating blow to Grohl, who lost another bandmate in Cobain in 1994. The Nirvana frontman, 27, was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington, on April 8 - three days after suffering a fatal gunshot wound.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl at the 'Studio 666' film premiere in Los Angeles in February

Grohl pictured with Kurt Cobain (middle) and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic in November 1991

Around a week earlier, Cobain had checked out of a rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles without telling his family or friends. He disappeared for a few days, prompting his wife Courtney Love to hire a private detective to find him on April 3.

He was located the following day in Seattle, but refused to return home to Los Angeles.

Grohl, who played in Nirvana with Cobain from 1990 to 1994, previously described the day he heard of the frontman's death as the 'darkest' of his life, saying 'not a day goes by' when he doesn't think of Cobain.

However, in his memoir The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, Grohl explains he was told of the late vocalist's death twice - once at the start of March and again in April.

Grohl says he first received a call on March 3 to say Cobain had overdosed at a hotel in Rome, according to the New York Post. He wrote: 'My knees gave out and I dropped the phone as I fell to my bedroom floor, covering my face with my hands as I began to cry.'

But he then got a second call to say Cobain was still alive, and would likely survive.

The loss of Hawkins will come as a devastating blow to Grohl (right), who lost another bandmate in Cobain (middle) in 1994. Pictured left: Chris Novoselic

Pictured: Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana during a live performance

Despite the glimmer of light on what Grohl described as the 'darkest day' of his life, it was little over a month later when he was dealt this devastating news again - but this time, the second call never came.

He wrote: 'This time it was for real. He was gone. There was no second phone call to right the wrong. To turn the tragedy around. It was final.'

Not long after this devastating news, Nirvana disbanded.

Grohl told Louder in 2018 that he was immediately asked to join several other bands as a drummer, but "couldn't imagine doing that because it would just remind me of being in Nirvana".

"Every time I sat down at a drum set, I would think of that," he said.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters perform as part of the Bridge School Benefit 2000

The Nirvana frontman (right), 27, was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington, on April 8 - three days after suffering a fatal gunshot wound. Pictured left: Grohl

Pictured left to right: Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins

Grohl, who played in Nirvana with Cobain (second from right) from 1990 to 1994, previously described the day he heard of the frontman's death as the 'darkest' of his life

The musician's answer was to form the Foo Fighters, which began as a one-man project. He later recruited bass player Nate Mendell, drummer William Goldsmith and former Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear.

Hawkins joined in 1997, after Goldsmith claimed he was essentially fired from the Foos. This was disputed by Hawkins, who said his predecessor essentially "buckled under the pressure".

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them in 2021 by Sir Paul McCartney. Prior to joining Foo Fighters he had played drums for Alanis Morissette.

Tributes have poured in for Hawkins following news of his death, with Nickelback, Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Idol leading the messages.

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters speak onstage at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2013

'In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @FooFighters, @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad,' wrote Nickelback on Instagram.

Ozzy Osbourne praised Taylor Hawkins as a 'great person and an amazing musician,' and promised to 'see him on the other side.'

Sharing a picture of Hawkins online, Idol wrote: 'So tragic. Rest in peace Taylor.'

Hawkins was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1972 and raised in Laguna Beach, California.

He is survived by his wife Alison and their three children.
This petition filed by Shin Song-hyuk (better known as Adam Crapser) is the first and only attempt by an inter-country adoptee to hold the Korean government accountable for failing to uphold its duty in such an adoption. Courtesy of Lee Kyung-eun



By Lee Kyung-eun



This article is the 31st in a series about Koreans adopted abroad. In pursuing the truth, we must adhere to the principle of "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Anything less than the absolute truth is nearly equivalent to a lie. Seeing as the authorities in the country of origin and receiving countries lack interest in launching their own investigations, the continuation of the "Dialogues with Adoptees" article series will attempt to initiate its own attempts to uncover the truth. To fix the system, we must first clarify what is wrong.  ED.




Royal fans were delighted to discover a breathtaking image of Kate Middleton in the rain was taken by the same photographer who captured an iconic shot of Harry and Meghan.

The photograph was taken by Samir Hussein as the royal couple continued their tour of the Bahamas yesterday morning, arriving in the rain at Sybil Strachan Primary School in Nassau.

As they stepped out of their car, the heavens opened, and Mr Hussein captured an astonishing photograph of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laughing in the rain.

Kate, who was wearing a dress by Self Portrait and jewellery by Bahamian designer by Nadia Irena, said as she walked under an umbrella in the rain: 'Oh my gosh. The weather, sorry, we've brought England's rain with us.'

Images of the moment are reminiscent of shots of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their farewell tour in March 2020 - which were also captured by Mr Hussein.

This photograph was taken by Samir Hussein as the royal couple continued their tour of the Bahamas yesterday morning, arriving in the rain at Sybil Strachan Primary School in Nassau

Images of the moment are reminiscent of shots of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their farewell tour in March 2020 - which were also captured by Samir Hussein

After royal fans discovered the connection, one joked: 'Every time it rains, they say: "Activate Samir Hussein."'

Another said: 'Another set of gorgeous pics from Samir Hussein.'

The earlier images of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle capture the couple giving each other the 'look of love' as they made their first post-Megxit appearance in 2020.

The couple were seen stepping out arm-in-arm underneath an umbrella in the pouring rain to attend the Endeavour awards evening at Mansion House in London.

Speaking about the image later, Mr Hussein said: 'I spoke to some of their team and they were really happy about it and talking about it.'

After royal fans discovered the connection, one joked: 'Every time it rains, they say: "Activate Samir Hussein"'

The photographer went on to describe the image as 'one in a million'.

He said: 'It's a one in a million when all the elements you could wish for as a photographer come together - perfect timing, great lighting, strong symbolism and amazing subjects make this a magical photo I am extremely proud of.'

The recent images of Kate and William were taken as the couple continued their tour of the Bahamas at Sybil Strachan Primary School, where they dropped in on a class to meet pupils and staff, and joined the morning assembly.

In a speech during the assembly, Kate told the children: 'I hope you didn't get too wet coming here and apologies for bringing this British weather with us.' The Duchess added: 'Thank you so much for such a warm welcome.'

She said the couple's three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis 'all love being by the sea', adding: 'So I hope they will be able to experience your clear waters and beautiful beaches before too long.'
Kate Middleton last night wowed in white mother-of-pearl and gold jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels as she attended a glittering dinner with Prince William on the final stop of their Caribbean tour.

The earrings and necklace are not new to the duchess, 40, who previously wore the pricy set when she joined A-list celebrities on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards in 2020.

The matching mother of pearl jewels by luxury French brand Van Cleef & Arpels together retail for around 13,000. The necklace and drop earrings are from their Magic Alhambra collection.

Kate wore them with a bespoke Grecian floor-length gown by British couturier wedding designer, Phillipa Lepley, paired with a 225 blue satin Hayworth clutch bag by Lulu Guinness.

Kate Middleton last night wowed in a pair of white mother-of-pearl and gold earrings and necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels as she attended a glittering dinner with Prince William on the final stop of their Caribbean tour

The duchess' 'Magic Alhambra Necklace', which retails at 7850, is pictured above

Prince William donned a suave blue velvet blazer and bow tie at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar hotel in Nassau. This is the final stop of the royal couple's Caribbean tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The couple were attending a reception hosted by the Governor-General, in which they met community leaders and notable people from across The Bahamas' islands.

Kate's timeless jewellery was fit for the occasion. Her Magic Alhambra earrings retail for 5,400, while her necklace is worth a staggering 7,850.

Online, the production description reads: 'The Magic Alhambra jewellery creations gather different-sized Alhambra motifs, coming together in a joyful dance.

The matching mother of pearl jewels by luxury French brand Van Cleef & Arpels together retail for around 13,000. The necklace and drop earrings are from their Magic Alhambra collection

Kate wore them with a bespoke Grecian floor-length gown by British couturier wedding designer, Phillipa Lepley, paired with a 225 blue satin Hayworth clutch bag by Lulu Guinness

'Inspired by the clover leaf, their asymmetric designs feature different associations of materials.'

The duchess previously wore the set to the 73rd annual EE British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in February 2020. On this occasion, she paired the jewels with a white and gold Alexander McQueen gown.

Prince William and Kate have visited Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas during their weeklong Caribbean tour, which began last Saturday.

Speaking on the penultimate night of their visit, William told guests in the Bahamas, who included the country's prime minister Philip Davis, that whatever the future holds the bonds between the UK and the nations will "endure".

The duke said: "Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence - your Golden Anniversary.

The jewellery is not new to the duchess, 40, who previously wore the pricy set when she joined A-list celebrities on the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards in 2020 (pictured)

Pictured: Prince William and Kate Middleton at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards in 2020

"And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this:

"We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

"Relationships evolve. Friendship endures."

Barbados took the historic move of replacing the Queen as head of state in November, and elected its first president during a ceremony witnessed by the Prince of Wales.
The Duchess of Cambridge cut a graceful figure in a pastel pink midi dress this afternoon as she visited a church on the final day of her week-long Caribbean tour.

Kate Middleton, 40, was pictured in the chic ensemble as she and Prince William left their hotel in the Bahamas ahead of their first official engagement of the day.

She was later seen greeting locals who had gathered to meet the royal couple after touching down in Abaco, a chain of islands in the northern Bahamas.

The duchess opted for a 245 pink midi gown by much-loved brand Rixo for the occasion, which featured a button-down collar and subtle animal print design.

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner.

The Duchess of Cambridge cut an elegant figure in a pastel pink midi dress this afternoon as she visited a church on the final day of her week-long Caribbean tour

The duchess opted for a 245 pink midi gown by much-loved brand Rixo for the occasion, which featured a button-down collar and subtle animal print design

Once again keeping her look simple, Kate opted for minimal jewellery, and wore her sleek brown tresses in loose waves

Prince William and Kate are visiting the Daystar Evangelical Church on Abaco's main island this afternoon, which was rebuilt after a hurricane tore through the region.

Abaco was dramatically struck by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, which hit the area with winds of up to 185mph and left devastation in its wake.

The hurricane damaged 75 per cent of homes across the chain of islands.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on.

They will hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island when the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during a difficult time.

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner

Prince William and Kate are visiting the Daystar Evangelical Church on Abaco's main island this afternoon, which was rebuilt after a devastating hurricane tore through the region

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on. Pictured: Kate Middleton at Daystar Evangelical Church

The royal couple are speaking to people at the church to learn about Hurricane Dorian

Once again keeping her look simple, Kate opted for minimal jewellery, and wore her sleek brown tresses in loose waves.

She accessorised with a simple suede, pink clutch bag described online as 'roomy enough for your essentials and fastens with a secure magnetic popper'.

Emmy London adds: 'This versatile clutch comes with a detachable gold and leather chain strap for your shoulder. It's a timeless piece and a must for your wardrobe.'

Her dress is by trendy brand Rixo, a favourite among a slew of British celebrities including This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby.

Abaco was dramatically struck by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, which hit the area with winds of up to 185mph and left devastation in its wake

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on, and pay a visit to the Daystar Evangelical Church

Prince William and Kate Middleton are seen during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church in Great Abaco

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee

Kate Middleton picks a flower for a young boy who waited to meet the royal in the Bahamas

Yesterday, Prince William and Kate greeted crowds and local fishermen as they walked along Montagu Bay in New Providence on the final stop of their Caribbean tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The sailing regattas in The Bahamas is one of the first that has taken place since the start of the Covid pandemic and both William and Kate pitched in as they raced each other in separate yachts.

In a video shared on their Instagram, the couple thanked the teams for their hospitality and for enduring the poor weather.

In the choppy waters, the duke sailed to victory in a race against Kate today during a rain-affected regatta in The Bahamas to celebrate the Queen's jubilee.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on, before paying a visit to the Daystar Evangelical Church

Kate, 40, was pictured in the chic ensemble as she and Prince William left their hotel in the Bahamas ahead of their first official engagement of the day

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II. She also sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing.

His boat came in about five minutes ahead of four others including one featuring the Duchess of Cambridge, who suffered the ignominy of coming in last with her crew.

It was a second consecutive victory for William, who beat his wife in the King's Cup charity regatta off the Isle of Wight in 2019 when they last raced on the water. On that occasion her boat was disqualified.

Kate triumphed when the ultra competitive couple raced yachts in New Zealand in 2014.
Blood-oxygen tests that falsely claimed to be 'NHS-approved' have been removed from Amazon, eBay and Wish following an investigation by a consumer watchdog.

Pulse oximeters became popular during the pandemic among Covid patients and people recovering from the virus to monitor their oxygen levels.

But an investigation by Which? found 11 out of 15 devices it looked at on the sites failed to meet UK medical requirements.

Some did not have correct CE marks  proving they were checked by medical professionals  or lacked them entirely.

Many of the devices, which cost as little as 99p, claimed to be NHS approved or used the health service's logo on their packaging.

Amazon, eBay and Wish removed the devices from their websites after being contacted by Which?.

But the consumer watchdog said it 'was not good enough' and called for tougher laws to stop online companies marketing these products.

Pulse oximeters became popular during the pandemic among Covid patients and people recovering from the virus for monitoring their blood oxygen levels. But a Which? investigation found 11 out of 15 devices sold by online retailers failed to meet UK requirements (above)

Pictured above is the UK Fingertip Pulse Oximeter sold on eBay that failed to meet regulations. It carried labels saying it was 'NHS-approved', but health bosses pointed out that the health service does not approve any medical products for sale in the UK

Another device that fell foul of regulations was the Bee Smart pulse oximeter sold on Amazon. This too did not have the correct CE mark, required for all medical products sold in the UK, and also claimed to be 'NHS approved'

Pulse oximeters work by being clipped onto someone's finger and shining red and infrared light through the body to measure oxygen levels in the blood.

Blood containing lots of oxygen absorbs more infrared light and lets more red light pass through it. Blood without enough does the opposite.

The NHS currently offers them to over-65s and vulnerable patients who have tested positive for Covid but are not so sick they need hospital care.

Which devices were investigated by Which? The following devices were the 11 found not to meet UK medical requirements for selling: Bee Smart Pulse Oximeter, 12.99, bought from Amazon. Failed to meet required CE standards. Claimed to be 'NHS approved'.

Failed to meet required CE standards. Claimed to be 'NHS approved'. Kamrose Pulse Oximeter, 7.99, bought from Amazon. Failed to meet required CE standards.

Failed to meet required CE standards. Tanness Finger Pulse Oximeter, 5.99, bought from Amazon. Failed to meet required CE standards.

Failed to meet required CE standards. UK Fingertip Pulse Oximeter, 0.99, bought from eBay. Failed to meet required CE standards. Claimed to be 'NHS approved'.

Failed to meet required CE standards. Claimed to be 'NHS approved'. Unbranded finger pulse oximeter, 4.66, bought from Wish. Failed to meet required CE standards.

Failed to meet required CE standards. M260 Nail Pulse oximeter, 5, bought from Wish. Failed to meet required CE standards.

Failed to meet required CE standards. OEM Pulse oximeter, bought from eBay. Removed by seller during investigation. Failed to meet CE standards.

Removed by seller during investigation. Failed to meet CE standards. Unbranded fingertip pulse oximeter, bought from eBay. Removed during investigation. Failed to meet required CE standards.

Removed during investigation. Failed to meet required CE standards. Unbranded pulse oximeters (x3), bought from Wish. Removed during investigation. Failed to meet required safety standards. Advertisement

Which? looked at 15 devices as part of the investigation in January, at the height of the Omicron wave.

All devices passed accuracy tests for measuring oxygen levels in the blood, Which? said.

But 10 out of 15 had improper CE marks, while another had no mark at all.

These are legally required for medical devices to be sold in the UK.

A number of devices sold on Amazon and eBay also carried claims they were 'NHS-approved'.

One of the devices which failed to meet UK requirements was the Kamrose Pulse Oximeter, sold on Amazon.

The 7.99 device had a 4.5 star rating out of 694 reviews and could be ordered for next-day delivery on Prime.

The Bee Smart Oximeter which was rated four stars from 64 reviews similarly did not meet requirements.

It was sold on Amazon for 12.99 and available via Prime.

A listing for the 99p UK Fingertip Pulse Oximeter on eBay showed it had been sold five times in the last 24 hours.

Natalie Hitchins, head of home products and services at Which?, said it was 'very concerning' that devices without necessary markings and 'brazenly' claiming to be NHS approved were being sold in the UK.

She said: 'Which? believes the Government needs to do more to protect consumers from a lack of effective safeguards when they are shopping online by bringing in tougher regulations for online marketplaces.

'Consumers should be wary of cheap oximeters sold online.'

After concluding their investigation, Which? received another email from Amazon advertising further medical devices claiming to be 'NHS-approved'.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: 'The NHS does not approve or endorse any medical devices, including oximeters.

'The department strictly controls the NHS identity and takes unauthorised use or adaption of the NHS logo and the letters NHS very seriously.

'Where issues around misuse of the NHS identity and brand are brought to our attention, we actively investigate and will not hesitate to take the necessary action if we find unauthorised use.'

An Amazon spokesperson said it had 'proactive measures' in place to prevent suspicious or non-compliant products from being listed.

They added: When appropriate, we remove a product from the store, reach out to sellers, manufacturers, and government agencies for additional information, or take other actions.'

Asked why it was listing products that were claiming to be NHS approved, the spokesperson said: 'We have removed the products you have flagged and asked for relevant supporting evidence from the sellers for their claims.'

An eBay spokesperson added: 'We have strict policies in place to regulate the sale of medical devices and have removed the single listing flagged by Which? that did not comply with these policies.

'However, we are pleased that Which?'s investigation found that the vast majority of products purchased on eBay met the relevant standards for safety and performance.'

On selling 'NHS-approved' products, eBay said: 'These items breach our medical devices policy, which sets out that when listing medical device products on eBay, sellers must comply with labelling requirements that apply to the packaging and Instructions For Use (IFU).

'We have removed these items from the site.'

Wish said: 'All of our merchants must comply with local laws whenever selling on our platform, as noted in Wishs Merchant Terms of Service and Wish Policies.

After learning that these two listings were in violation of UK legal standards, which is a violation of our terms and policies, we promptly removed the listings from the platform in accordance with local law.'
It was 'a simple instruction' to the British people, said the Prime Minister: 'You must stay at home.'

With that sombre televised address, shown on March 23, 2020  two years ago last week  the country was plunged into its first national lockdown.

After weeks of surging Covid infections, and horrified by the staggering scale of hospitalisations and deaths in Spain and Italy, the Government had concluded there was no option but to issue an unprecedented order to curb the growing pandemic crisis. It was following the science, after all.

Doom-laden epidemiological models had pointed to a possible UK death toll of 250,000 within five months.

Efforts to 'flatten the curve'  to drive down infection numbers and protect the NHS  had not been enough, Government advisers had concluded.

Just a week earlier, on March 16, Boris Johnson had advised Britons to stop going to pubs and restaurants, to avoid non-essential travel and to work from home if they could.

Within days, schools were shut and those considered most vulnerable to the virus  pregnant women, the over-70s and people with serious health conditions  were advised not to go outside.

After weeks of surging Covid infections, and horrified by the staggering scale of hospitalisations and deaths in Spain and Italy, the Government had concluded there was no option but to issue an unprecedented order to curb the growing pandemic crisis. It was following the science, after all. (Pictured: Boris Johnson addressing the nation in 2020)

Advocates for England's previous lockdowns, Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance (left) and Britain's Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (right) walk through Westminster on February 21, 2022

By March 20, all pubs, restaurants and cafes were ordered to close, along with cinemas, gyms and leisure centres.

'We are going to defeat this disease with a huge national effort to slow the spread by reducing unnecessary social contact,' the PM told the nation.

That was Friday. By Monday, the Government had issued its most draconian stay-at-home order, a legal mandate that permitted people to leave their homes only for specific purposes: to shop for basic supplies, for medical purposes, for exercise or for work.

This lasted seven weeks, and led to some of the most heartbreaking and damaging moments of the pandemic.

Listen to the debate on Medical Minefield

Dying patients said goodbye to loved ones via a video call. Women gave birth without their partners.

Mental health issues, particularly in the young, began to take root. Reports of domestic violence rose dramatically as women were trapped with their abusers.

And it wasn't the last. In November 2020 there was a second national lockdown, lasting four weeks.

And then, in January 2021 came the big one: a lockdown that lasted almost three months.

The true toll won't be known for some time.

However the general scientific consensus, rarely challenged, is that these measures were a necessary evil that saved lives. But just how true is that?

The timeline of England's lockdowns March 16, 2020 At the beginning on the month, the first UK Covid death is confirmed. Government advises against non-essential travel and socialising, and suggests working from home. Four days later schools close, along with pubs and restaurants. March 23 First lockdown begins. Non-essential shops are closed and Britons are ordered to stay at home. Days later, this is made a legal requirement. Deaths peak at 1,076 on April 8th. June 1 First lockdown begins to ease. Schools begin to reopen as do non-essential shops, two weeks later. On June 23rd the PM announces that the UKs national hibernation is coming to and end. July 4 Pubs, restaurants, hairdressers reopen  except in Leicester, which is subject to the first local lockdown, with non-essential shops remaining closed. September 14 Rising cases led to the introduction of rule of six indoors and outdoors. By the end of the month, the work from home begins again and a 10pm curfew came into force for pubs, bars and restaurants October 14 Three tier system of Covid-19 restrictions begins in England. In the highest tier hospitality venues are closed. People are not permitted to mix with other households at home, but can meet in groups of up to six outdoors. November 5 Second national lockdown in England, but schools stay open. At the end of the month, the Prime Minister announces that three households will be able to meet for five days over Christmas. December 2 The second lockdown ends, and England returns to a three-tier system. On 21st December London and South East are put into new Tier 4 restrictions, with a stay-at-home order and mixing permitted with just one other person in an public outdoor space. 2021 January 6 The third national lockdown begins. Schools close  a day after they went back following the Christmas break. In February, the PM publishes roadmap for lifting lockdown, and hotel quarantine for arrivals from 33 countries begins. March 29 Stay at home order ends but Britons can only mix with six people, or two households, outdoors. Earlier in the month the roadmaps Step 1 saw schools in England reopen. April 12 Roadmap Step 2 sees non-essential retail, hairdressers, pubs and restaurants reopen. Step 3, starting May 17th, allows six people or two households to meet indoors. Theatres and stadiums reopen. In June, restrictions on funerals and weddings end. July 19 Freedom day. All legal limits on social contact  except for those with Covid symptoms  are removed. This wasnt the end  in September, Plan B measures included work-from-home advice and mask mandates. But no more lockdowns. Advertisement

While there is no doubt that robust measures were necessary against a new and devastating virus, was lockdown truly the only route through those dark days of the pandemic, or the right one?

For the past few weeks, in a series of reports probing the science that has underpinned key pandemic decisions, The Mail on Sunday has investigated the accuracy of PCR tests and the chaotic way Covid-related deaths were recorded.

Today, in the final part, we talk to the growing number of experts who say that lockdowns had little benefit  a cure that was worse than the disease.

One of them is Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, who has recently published a book, The Year The World Went Mad, about the UK's pandemic policy failures.

Speaking this week on The Mail on Sunday's Medical Minefield podcast, Prof Woolhouse said: 'I think that lockdown will be viewed by history as a monumental mistake on a global scale, for a number of reasons.

'The obvious one is the immense harm the lockdown, more than any other measure, did in terms of the economy, mental health and on the wellbeing of society.

'Clearly things needed to be done to bring waves of infection under control.

'But many analyses suggest that lockdown itself didn't have a huge impact on reducing the health burden. That was achieved in other ways.'

Analysing the effect of any single Covid measure is difficult, and researchers have managed it with varying degrees of success.

In the UK, 'lockdown' refers specifically to the stay-at-home order. But some studies also include school and border closures, business closures and curfews in their definition of lockdown.

And when all these measures are looked at together, they do indeed have an impact  reducing infection rates by up to 80 per cent.

One paper that did attempt to tease out the benefits of individual measures, published last month, found stay-at-home orders reduced global Covid deaths by just 2.9 per cent.

By comparison, business closures cut deaths by ten per cent and school closures by nearly five per cent.

The authors, economists linked to Johns Hopkins University in the US, have been accused of bias  one has repeatedly equated lockdown measures with fascism  and 'cherry-picking' papers to suit their hypothesis.

'If you start with a premise and select studies which are likely to back that premise, you don't come to an objective answer,' says epidemiologist and Government adviser Dr Raghib Ali, at the University of Cambridge.

But intriguingly, Dr Ali and others also admit the researchers have a point.

In a critique of the paper, Australian epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz describes it as an 'extremely poor quality study'.

But he also points out that, while the figures quoted are 'pretty meaningless, the general idea is not totally wild'.

He wrote: 'If we define lockdown as 'the marginal benefit of stay-at-home orders on top of many other restrictions' it's probably fair to argue that the benefit might be quite small.

'Indeed, that's been shown before, and is quite a reasonable position based on the evidence.'

Another study that backs this, published in Science in February last year, found 'stay at home' measures reduced Covid transmission by an average of 13 per cent on top of other measures such as closing schools and non-essential shops, and banning small gatherings.

The study, which looked at evidence from 41 countries around the world, concluded this was a 'small effect' and meant 'some countries could control the epidemic while avoiding stay-at-home orders'.

It also found something intriguing: lockdowns could, in a worst-case scenario, actually increase transmission of the virus by up to five per cent.

This may be an effect of allowing it to spread within households, experts say.

Prof Woolhouse has argued that, if the aim was partially to protect society's most vulnerable, lockdowns failed.

'We focused on this idea that if we stopped the virus transmitting among everybody, that this would somehow be sufficient to protect those who were at risk,' he says. 'And it wasn't.'

Prof Woolhouse also argues that for lockdown to have had an effect it would need to have been imposed earlier.

This is what worked in Australia and New Zealand, which pursued a 'zero Covid' strategy.

In the UK, lockdown was seen  at a point of desperation  as the only option left remaining. (Pictured: The Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives slogan)

Prof Woolhouse has argued that, if the aim was partially to protect society's most vulnerable, lockdowns failed. (file photo)

'We passed that point in the second half of February 2020,' he says.

'Lockdown as an intervention only makes sense in the context of zero Covid, and by the time it was imposed it was no longer the appropriate tool.

'There are ways we could have responded to the pandemic that would have avoided most of the lockdown, and saved more lives.

'But lockdown happened anyway because by that stage no one  including me  was prepared to risk waiting to find out if [restrictions introduced prior to our full lockdown on March 23] had worked.'

But that stay-at-home order was, for most, the hardest part of the pandemic. 'It made everything so much harder than it might have been,' he adds.

Countries that had earlier lockdowns, better testing capacity and were able to identify and isolate cases fared better during the initial wave of the pandemic.

In the UK, lockdown was seen  at a point of desperation  as the only option left remaining.

But Prof Woolhouse argues people had already become more cautious. Studies using anonymised mobile phone location tracking data show contacts between people plummeted in early March (although the biggest drop was March 24, the day after lockdown).

Dr Ali says: 'The purpose of lockdown is to reduce contacts, but if people are doing that anyway, the additional benefit [of making it a legal requirement to stay at home] is obviously somewhat reduced.

'Case numbers at the time weren't really available because there was no community testing, so we've had to work backwards from hospital admissions. From that, there's actually some evidence that Covid cases may have peaked before lockdown came in, or around that time.

'If we had known then what we know now, I don't think we would have needed to lock down.'

A recent inquiry by officials in Sweden into the handling of its pandemic  where there was no lockdown and the population was expected to voluntarily follow 'advice and recommendations'  found this reliance on people's behaviour was 'fundamentally correct'.

Lockdowns across Europe were also neither necessary nor defensible, the report added.

Would this have worked in the UK? The evidence shows the impact of interventions were less effective in the second wave precisely because people were already socialising less frequently and masks, hand sanitiser and safety screens were in use.

This led Dr Ali and others to advise Ministers not to impose lockdown a fourth time in December 2021, with the emergence of highly transmissible Omicron.

'In the second and third lockdowns, in November 2020 and again in January 2021, we have a better idea of when cases peaked and again it seems this happened just before lockdown came in,' Dr Ali says.

Mr Meyerowitz-Katz adds: 'A lot of people underestimated the impact of voluntary behaviour change on Covid-19 death rates.'

Prof Woolhouse believes that the second and third lockdown are 'very hard to defend'.

'We had the tools in place, the knowledge in place, the systems in place to do it a different way,' he says. 'And we didn't do that.'

But again, it's easy to say in hindsight.

Dr Ali, who backed all three lockdowns, says: 'At the time of the second lockdown we hadn't started the vaccination programme, we had predictions that hospitals would be overwhelmed, particularly intensive care units, so for that reason alone I thought it was reasonable.

'The third was different  we had vaccines, so lockdown was about flattening the curve, postponing infections until people had their jabs.'

The UK is now facing a significant further wave of infections from a more transmissible variant of Omicron, but with a highly vaccinated population even the most cautious experts agree the benefits of another lockdown are unlikely to outweigh the harms.

Like many experts, Professor Stephen Griffin, virologist at the University of Leeds and a member of Independent Sage, believes there is 'no question whatsoever' that locking down first time round 'prevented hospitalisations and deaths'.

He says: 'In the absence of a vaccine  and we need to remember we didn't have anything to treat this virus back then other than oxygen  we needed to reduce cases.

'If we'd let it run, we'd have had an even more profoundly upsetting mortality rate than we've already seen.'

However, he adds: 'No one would realistically say lockdown should be a strategy any more. There are so many things we could do to get transmission down.'

Samir Bhatt, professor of statistics and public health at Imperial College London, agrees.

'Once you close the shops, suggest people stop going out to work in an office and stop people gathering, the incremental effects of each measure become less and less.

'But that doesn't mean lockdowns weren't necessary to drive the R rate below one.'

In the end, what we don't know is what scientists call 'the counterfactual'  in other words, what would have happened in the UK if we had not locked down.

Looking just at home nations, which are comparable because of broadly similar populations, Dr Ali says that 'despite England having less stringent restrictions we've had, if anything, a slightly lower death rate [than in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland]. It suggests there's no obvious relationship between restrictions, mandatory interventions and death rates.'

A study published in The Lancet came to a similar conclusion. Sweden, which took a relatively relaxed approach, recorded a similar rate of deaths to neighbouring Denmark and Finland  both of which imposed strict lockdowns  at about 90 per 100,000.

In comparison, the UK  which had tougher restrictions than all three  recorded 127 excess deaths per 100,000.

Yet that is still well behind Spain, at 187, and Italy at 227  both of which had particularly stringent lockdowns.

Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Singapore, which had strict border controls, quarantine and testing regimes, did not record any excess deaths.

In Hong Kong, where the zero Covid strategy failed spectacularly to keep Omicron out, the death rate at present is bewilderingly high.

And China, still attempting to keep Covid out, has just put vast swathes of the country under lockdown.

As Dr Ali puts it: 'Some people say lockdowns were beneficial, others that they were really terrible.

'The reality actually is much closer to the idea that it didn't make much difference either way.'

For those who made painful sacrifices, that won't be an easy truth to swallow.
The first time I saw CPR being performed was on TV. I was in my teens  it was probably the American medical drama ER. Maybe it was Casualty.

There would always be a frantic scene of a medic pumping away at a patient whose heart had stopped.

Someone would rush in with defibrillator paddles. Someone else would yell 'CLEAR!'

For a moment, all hope seemed lost and then the body would jolt back to life. Relief all round. The patient was up and talking, or perhaps even heading home, before the credits rolled. It was gripping, dramatic and glamorous.

Years later, as a fledgling doctor working on a crash team on hospital wards, I got to see it and do it for real  and it couldn't have been more different.

CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation as it's formally known, is brutal and undignified.

It's given when the heart stops  so in effect the patient has died  in the hope that it will bring them back to life. But it almost never works, because it is generally carried out on patients who are the sickest and the most frail in the hospital.

Their clothes are pulled off so the crash team can get paddles on their chest, and there are medical staff everywhere.

Some are feeling for a pulse, others are cleaning up blood and vomit. It is noisy. Someone is shouting out the number of chest compressions, doctors grunt as they press down. Rib fractures are incredibly common because of the force needed to start the heart  you can hear the bones break.

If a patient's heart does start beating, they may be left with bruised or bleeding lungs. And damage to the brain and kidneys is not uncommon  because of the time spent without the heart pumping blood around the body.

In 80 per cent of cases where CPR is successful, the patient never leaves hospital.

DRAMATIC: The sanitised TV version of CPR, as seen on ER, with George Clooney, right

Two-thirds of them die within a few days. About two per cent are left in a long-term vegetative state  neither dead, nor truly alive.

The one time I did bring someone back, when I was working in A&E, the man was in intensive care for two weeks. Then we realised he would never recover and had to turn off the ventilator. It was horrible for his family.

Later, as a surgeon specialising in breast cancer, I had to discuss all this with patients. Whether we want to be resuscitated if our heart stops is a routine question doctors ask when they admit someone.

It can feel alarming. But it's important, if someone is particularly ill and not going to get better  with late-stage cancer, for instance  that they understand if their heart stops, CPR really will just delay the inevitable, at best.

More recently, I've had to face up to my own potential death, after being diagnosed with breast cancer twice  for the first time in 2015, when I was 40, and then again three years later.

Thankfully, my treatment was a success. But the experience spurred me into making some decisions about how I'd like my life to end. It wasn't easy.

No woman wants to talk to her husband about how she might die before him. But it's vital we make our wishes known.

In particular, I have made it clear that if I reach the end of my life  if my cancer comes back and my heart stops beating  then I don't want CPR.

Of course, if I had a sudden heart attack out in the street tomorrow  while I'm fit and healthy  and a defibrillator was close by, then I would absolutely want someone to try it on me.

But that's because I'd actually have a chance of recovering.

The chances are, if I'm very unwell  whether I'm being cared for at home or in hospital  that even if CPR did restart my heart, I'd be in a worse state. And that's not how I want to die.

I'd like to be in bed surrounded by my family, not a team of doctors trying to bring me back to life. It doesn't mean I won't receive treatment. Far from it. But I just want medical care to make me as comfortable as possible at the end.

LIZ O'RIORDAN: I'd like to be in bed surrounded by my family, not a team of doctors trying to bring me back to life. (file photo)

Of course there will be those with long-term health conditions who think the opposite. They might say: I want to be given a chance no matter what.

But that needs to be a decision that's made after considering the facts. And I'm all for that. No one can tell you what to choose.

For a person in full health, whose heart stops unexpectedly, CPR, if given within minutes, offers a ten to 20 per cent chance of survival.

There is still a significant risk of long-term damage, but the benefits far outweigh this.

If a person has serious long-term health problems, and their heart stops unexpectedly, CPR has a smaller chance of success  the heart may restart, but the body is unlikely to recover.

And if a person has a terminal illness, if they are dying, and if there's significant damage to the lungs, liver and kidneys, CPR is futile, in my opinion.

Restarting the heart cannot repair the damage already done by the illness.

Of course, like anyone, I was horrified to read of 'Do not resuscitate' orders being written on medical files of elderly people in care homes during the pandemic, without prior discussion.

And I have heard of cases where doctors have explained things badly and have caused distress. Not all doctors have an excellent bedside manner.

In hospital, if you are too poorly to tell someone what you want, a senior doctor may decide not to administer CPR if it would do more harm than good  and loved ones can find this difficult without careful conversations beforehand.

If you have a relative who's been admitted, and is very unwell, it's worth raising the subject. If the wish is to have CPR doctors will try to honour that.

And if, having thought about this, you think that you might not want to be resuscitated in some circumstances, then there are steps you can take to make sure people know.

If you are already under the care of a medical team, discuss your wishes with them.

There is a form your doctor will fill in to keep in your medical notes called a DNACPR  Do Not Attempt CPR.

This doesn't mean you won't get treatment  but if your heart stops, there will no attempt to restart it. This form is not legally binding.

If you want to make sure your relatives know your wishes, you can create a living will that lets you refuse medical treatment.

It can be altered. It's only used if you're unable to communicate. It's another way to ensure people close to you know your wishes.

You can fill it out online, by visiting mydecisions.org.uk. You then print it off, and post or email copies to people who need to know.

Or you can call Compassion In Dying on 0800 999 2434, who can post a paper version.

You don't need a solicitor  in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, medical teams are legally bound to follow what's written on the form.

In Scotland, living wills are not legally binding but doctors generally honour them. And if you change your mind or want to amend your form, simply create another.

I made a living will. It wasn't pleasant. But I'm content to know I will be spared CPR  and have the death I want.
Ambulance Cert: 15, 2hrs 16mins

Rating:

The Worst Person In The World Cert: 15, 2hrs 8mins

Rating:

Michael Bay is still best known as the director of Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor and Armageddon before he got distracted more recently by the lucrative but career-stalling Transformers franchise.

Nevertheless, his creative hallmarks remain guns, big explosions and car chases, and all three feature large and deafeningly loud in Ambulance, which was shot in Los Angeles during the pandemic.

At its throbbing heart, its one big, macho adrenaline rush with Jake Gyllenhaal and Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II playing adopted brothers who rob a bank together, only for the whole thing to go horribly wrong.

Two brothers hijack an ambulance  that already has a resourceful paramedic (Eiza Gonzalez) on board  after an attempted robbery goes wrong

Their only means of escape is to hijack an ambulance  that already has a resourceful paramedic (Eiza Gonzalez) and a badly wounded police officer on board.

Within minutes, theyre being pursued by pretty much the entire LAPD. Its almost an hour longer than the 2005 Danish film on which it is based and has echoes of both The Taking Of Pelham 123 and Speed.

Preposterous and two-dimensional, occasional flashes of humour show were not meant to be taking it too seriously. But if big-action films are your thing, this will probably hit the mildly exhausting spot.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (both above) star as the brothers in this big-action picture

Julie is a young woman living in Oslo. Shes in her late 20s but cant decide what she wants to do with her life or what sort of man she would like to share that life with.

Does that make her The Worst Person In The World, as the title of Joachim Triers much-admired new drama suggests, or perfectly ordinary?

Thanks to the intelligence of the screenplay, the cleverness of the film-making and the quiet brilliance of Renate Reinsve in the central performance, youll enjoy deciding.
Shell's boss had his pay cut after a string of gruesome deaths, including a gun attack on workers.

Ben van Beurden was docked 132,283  ten per cent of his base salary  after the firm recorded eight deaths last year. A police officer and six staff from an engineering contractor died when gunmen attacked a bus convoy en route to a gas project in Nigeria.

A lorry driver died in a refuelling accident at a petrol station in Pakistan and a contractor perished when a wall fell over during demolition work in Indonesia.

Cash in hand: Ben van Beurden still took home a salary of 1.3million and a 2.1million bonus

Van Beurden still took home a salary of 1.3million and a 2.1million bonus. Thanks to the energy crisis the value of his shares has jumped.

He said: 'I am determined that we learn from these terrible incidents. We must do everything possible to ensure that anyone who works for Shell goes home safe and well.'

BP did not cut boss Bernard Looney's 2.4million bonus following two deaths, citing 'record low levels' of 'safety events'.

However, after four deaths at Glencore, the miner docked 85,700 from the pay of boss Gary Nagle this month.
Investors may choose to climb aboard Rolls-Royce when markets reopen tomorrow.

The troubled plane engine maker's stock has yo-yoed since the pandemic put the brake on travel.

But the shares have just received a surprise lift after a blog post from financial website Betaville said Rolls was about to be involved in a 'significant corporate transaction' with an unidentified suitor.

Hard work: The last time Rolls was linked to takeover speculation was after its 2020 cash call

The last time Rolls was linked to takeover speculation was after its 2020 cash call and, before that, in 2015 following a string of profit warnings.

Shares in Rolls's defence industry rivals have been boosted by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, potentially strengthening their position to snap up struggling competitors.

However, broker Jefferies is circumspect. It says the UK Government's golden share would deter most bidders.

Arch-rival BAE Systems could be a contender, but a Rolls swoop would be a huge change in strategy, it added.

To complicate matters, newish chairman Anita Frew is hunting for a replacement for long-suffering boss Warren East, who departs at the end of the year.

Could he be dragged into a dramatic final chapter?

Boost for Ted Baker

Ted Baker's share price has resembled a moth-eaten suit of late.

But the emergence this month of a potential bid from US private equity firm Sycamore Partners has sent the stock up 43 per cent.

That's bad news for computer-driven hedge fund Voleon Capital.

It closed its short position after the bid emerged.

Keep an eye on SocialAmp

Here's a long-term bet worth keeping an eye on  digital marketing agency SocialAmp.

The firm was founded by four young British entrepreneurs and counts MTV, Nickelodeon and Boohoo among its clients.

They've even convinced billionaire Boohoo co-founder Mahmud Kamani to invest.

The company expects profits of 5million in the next financial year and there could be a flotation within three years. Promising.

New chief at IQE

This week will bring the first appearance of new IQE chief Americo Lemos.

He joins the UK-listed semiconductor maker from New York rival Global-Foundries at a crucial juncture, as supply chain issues continue to cause headaches.

Analysts at stockbroker Peel Hunt expect limited growth this year, but hope that Lemos can move the manufacturer from 'an order taker to an order hunter'.
With an election in about eight weeks and the cost of living surging, Scott Morrison will be eager to ease pressure on Australians in his March 29 Budget.

The Prime Minister has revealed he will be offering 'targeted' support to Aussies in need, which is expected to take the form of one-off cash handouts.

There is also speculation the Federal Government will announce some tax cuts such as slashing the 44 cents-a-litre fuel duty amid soaring costs at the bowser.

Hotel and pub owners have called for a beer duty cut that could make schooners 30 cents cheaper but Mr Morrison has refused to confirm if he will do this.

There will also be several huge infrastructure projects, including a $5.4billion dam in North Queensland, providing thousands of jobs for tradies.

So what can you expect in the 2022 Budget?

The Government is expected to hand out a one-off cash payment of between $200 and $400 to low-income Aussies. Pictured: Tradies in Sydney

If you're a low or middle-income earner

The Government is expected to hand out a one-off cash payment of $250 to low-income Aussies to help them with the increasing cost of living.

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.

Mr 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.

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.

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. Pictured: A woman fills up in Sydney

If you want to buy a home

The Home Guarantee Scheme will expand to provide a further 50,000 places to support more first home buyers.

The scheme allows buyers to put down only a five per cent deposit, with the taxpayer stumping up the rest.

There will be an additional 35,000 places available for first home buyers, 5,000 places for single parents and 10,000 places for people who buy or build a new home in a regional area.

Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said to date there have been no defaults on loans since the program began three years ago.

Who benefits from the expanded home guarantee scheme? Under the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme, the Government will make available:  35,000 guarantees each year, up from the current 10,000, from 1 July 2022 under the First Home Guarantee, to support eligible first homebuyers to purchase a new or existing home with a deposit as low as five per cent;  10,000 guarantees each year from 1 October 2022 to 30 June 2025 under a new Regional Home Guarantee, to support eligible homebuyers, including non-first home buyers and permanent residents, to purchase or construct a new home in regional areas, subject to the passage of enabling legislation; and  5,000 guarantees each year from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025 to expand the Family Home Guarantee announced in last years budget. Australias first ever specifically targeted single parent family housing scheme supports eligible single parents with children to buy their first home or to re-enter the housing market with a deposit of as little as two per cent. Advertisement

If you're a driver

Mr Morrison is under pressure to temporarily reduce the fuel tax of 44.2cents-a-litre.

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.

It has been speculated the Government will cut beer tax which is paid by brewers

If you're a beer drinker

It has been speculated the Government will cut beer tax which is paid by brewers.

Earlier this month the boss of the Australian Hotels Association, Stephen Ferguson, revealed he has met with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to discuss a potential cut.

A typical full-strength keg of beer is taxed at $37.76 per litre of alcohol in Australia, which has the fourth-highest beer tax in the developed world.

Slashing the tax in half would mean drinkers would pay 30 less for a $7.50 schooner if the savings were passed on from brewers to pub owners to drinkers.

The move would help kickstart the hotel and pub industry after it was crippled during Covid lockdowns.

Pictured: Sydney parents Martin Wheelan and Maggie Wojtysiak who have recently welcomed six-week-old Clara

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.

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.

This table shows how much a families with two kids will save depending on their income

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.

A new drug for cystic-fibrosis sufferers called Trikafta will also be subsidised, saving those with the condition up to $250,000.

Pictured: Sydney tradies Alline Lapruza, 32, (right) and Gleyse Silva, 26

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

If you're a tradie

The Budget will include dozens of major infrastructure projects to provide thousands of jobs for tradies.

These include $5.4 billion to build the Hells Gates Dam in North Queensland, creating more than 7,000 jobs.

Up to 60,000 hectares of irrigation would be opened up through a 2100 gigalitre dam bolstered by three downstream irrigation weirs.

Another $483 million will be for a 970 gigalitre dam at Urannah in Queensland which will help nearby producers develop 20,000 hectares of irrigated land.

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.

In total, a further $17.9 billion will go towards new and existing infrastructure projects under the government's 10-year rolling investment pipeline.

The overall program will amount to a record $120 billion.

Which projects are being funded? New commitments funded in the 202223 Budget include:  $3.1 billion in new commitments to deliver the $3.6 billion Melbourne Intermodal Terminal Package (VIC), including: o $1.2 billion for the Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal in Beveridge, taking the total investment to $1.62 billion; o $280 million for Road Connections, including Camerons Lane Interchange, to the Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal; o $740 million for the Western Interstate Freight Terminal in Truganina; and o $920 million for the Outer Metropolitan Ring - South Rail connection to the Western Interstate Freight Terminal.  $1.6 billion for the Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast (Beerwah-Maroochydore) rail extension (QLD)  1.121 billion for the Brisbane to the Gold Coast (Kuraby  Beenleigh) faster rail upgrade (QLD)  $1 billion for the Sydney to Newcastle  (Tuggerah to Wyong) faster rail upgrade (NSW)  $678 million for Outback Way (NT, WA, QLD)  $336 million for the Pacific Highway - Wyong Town Centre (NSW)  $336 million for the Tasmanian Roads Package  Northern Roads Package  Stage 2 (TAS)  $200 million for the Marion Road  Anzac Highway to Cross Road (SA)  $145 million for the Thomas Road  Dual Carriageway  South Western Highway to Tonkin Highway and interchange at Tonkin Highway (WA)  $140 million for Regional Road Safety upgrades (WA)  $132 million for Central Australian Tourism Roads (NT)  $120 million for the Adelaide Hills Productivity and Road Safety Package (SA)  $46.7 million towards the Athllon Drive Duplication (ACT) The Budget also includes additional funding for existing projects and Roads of Strategic Importance corridors, including:  $2.264 billion for the North South Corridor - Torrens to Darlington (SA)  $352 million for the Milton Ulladulla Bypass (NSW)  $320 million for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road (Stages 2 and 3) (WA)  $200 million for the Tonkin Highway Stage 3 Extension (WA)  $45 million for the Ballarat to Ouyen  Future Priorities (VIC)  $68.5 million for the Cooktown to Weipa Corridor Upgrade bringing the total Australian Government funding to the corridor to $258.5 million (QLD) Advertisement

If you're an apprentice

The government is also providing $365.3 million to support an extra 35,000 apprentices and trainees get into a job through an extension of its 'boosting apprenticeship commencements and completing apprenticeship commencements' wage subsidies.

Any employer who takes on an apprentice or trainee up until June 30, 2022, can gain access to 50 per cent of the eligible Australian apprentice's wages in the first year, capped at a maximum payment value of $7,000 per quarter.

This reduces to 10 per cent in the second year, capped at a maximum payment value of $1500 per quarter, and then five per cent in the third year, capped at a maximum payment value of $750 per quarter.

The Government is expected to include a range of measures that benefit women in the Budget

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.

There is also a $58million National Action Plan to tackle the fertility condition endometriosis.

The funding will go towards building treatment centres, improving telehealth services and offering Medicare rebates for MRI scans related to the disorder, which affects one in nine Australian women.

More than a quarter of the funding will go to establishing specialised endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics in each state and territory.

The Budget will include a range of measures to improve Australia's health system. Pictured: Two nurse in Sydney

If you work in health

The Budget will include a range of measures to improve health.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services will benefit from a four-year rolling funding agreement and annual increases from July 1, 2023.

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.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced $28.1million to establish a new agency - Genomics Australia - to support the integration of genomic medicine as a standard of healthcare in Australia.

The Government will also give $52.3 million in funding for mental health service Lifeline Australia over four years from July 2022.

Medicare is expected to cost taxpayers around $126billion over four-year forward estimates.

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

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.

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 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.

Under a new tax regime, farmers will treat revenue from the sale of carbon credits as primary production income to reduce their tax bills. Pictured: Soldiers rebuild a farm after QLD floods

If you're worried about terrorism

Australia will establish a national register for convicted terrorists as part of the federal government's national security funding in the upcoming budget.

A nearly $87 million package will go towards the register and further support for anti-terror agencies that tackle high-risk offenders.

The register will target terrorists currently serving prison time who are considered a high-risk of reoffending once released.

Since 2014, 144 people have been charged in 71 counter-terrorism related operations around Australia.

'In 2022, as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and once more gather in crowds we cannot be complacent about the terrorist threat,' Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said.

'With 18 convicted terrorists due for release into the community within the next four years, we need to do everything we can to ensure our agencies have the tools and resources they need to protect our communities from harm.'

Australia currently does not monitor terrorism offenders in the long term after they are released from prison.

The new register will be designed with the states and territories and will involve long-term reporting obligations for offenders at the end of their sentences.

Australia will establish a national register for convicted terrorists as part of the federal government's national security funding in the upcoming budget. Pictured: Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews is shown seized weapons by Australian Federal Police inspector Michael Crighton in Sydney

If you're a truckie

An inland freight route tipped to be a second Bruce highway will get an extra $400 million funding boost.

Upgrades to the more than 1,100-kilometre route - running from Charters Towers in North Queensland to Mungindi on the NSW border - aim to move trucks off existing highways, making it safer and more efficient to transport freight across the two states.

The inland route will also be used as an alternative to the Bruce highway in wet weather events.

Upgrades will include realignments, overtaking lanes, flood resilience and drainage works, pavement widening and safety treatments.

The extra funding will take the total cost of the upgrades to $800 million. The works expect to create more than 2,000 jobs in Queensland.

An inland freight route tipped to be a second Bruce highway will get an extra $400 million funding boost

If your internet is slow

More than a million premises in regional and rural Australia will be able to access faster NBN speeds as part of an almost $500 million budget boost.

The federal government has set aside $480 million to help increase speeds on the NBN's fixed wireless network, as well as introducing greater data limits as part of the Sky Muster service.

A further $270 million will be brought in by NBN Co from its own funds.

It is expected the NBN boost would expand the fixed wireless footprint by almost 50 per cent, with an extra 120,000 premises able to access fixed wireless services.

Speeds are expected to increase by up to 100Mbps for most premises on the fixed wireless network, with almost all of the 750,000 premises able to access expanded coverage.

A 250Mbps service will also be available to 85 per cent of premises.

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

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.

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'.
Russian operation in Ukraine to continue until goals achieved: Medvedev

Xinhua) 11:07, March 26, 2022

MOSCOW, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia's special military operation in Ukraine will continue until all tasks set by President Vladimir Putin are fulfilled, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

"These targets are related to the future of Ukraine: the status of Ukraine as a neutral state, a state that does not pursue an anti-Russian policy, a state that is not militarized, and a state as our normal neighbor," Medvedev said.

Russia launched the special military operation a month ago primarily because these goals were not achieved through diplomacy, he said in an interview with Russia's RIA Novosti news agency and RT broadcaster.

The main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been completed in general, and the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced, the Russian military announced on Friday.

The Russian military will "concentrate on the main thing -- the complete liberation of Donbass," said Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the main site of Monday's plane crash in Tengxian County, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, in this photo released by Xinhua News Agency. AP-Yonhap





Chinese emergency workers have not found the second black box from the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed this week with 132 people on board, officials said Saturday.







But they have found an emergency location transmitter from the plane that had been close to where the second black box  the flight data recorder  had been installed, Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters.







The team is also seeking the data module from the flight data recorder itself.







The other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, was found Wednesday and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts.







Flight MU5735 was travelling from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast Monday when the Boeing 737-800 plummeted from cruising altitude to crash in a heavily forested area of the Guangxi region.







No survivors have been found.







A total of 120 people have been identified from samples taken from the site, said Zheng Xi, head of Guangxi's fire and rescue department. None of the main components of common explosives were detected in the crash debris, he said. (Reuters)


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First lady Jill Biden visited a children's research hospital where she met with pediatric Ukrainian cancer patients who fled the war-torn country for treatment.

On Friday, the first lady made a visit to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee where she privately met with Ukrainian pediatric cancer patients and their relatives.

The first lady told reporters she spoke to the families about their journey to the U.S. and watched the children play with Play-Doh.

'They seemed comfortable and they didn't seem sad,' Biden said. 'They were just like normal kids, like normal families. It was just, it's amazing.'

Biden added that she was inspired by the work done by St. Jude and how it turns 'devastation into hope.'

After Russia invaded Ukraine last month, St. Jude teamed up with foundations in Poland to evacuate children with cancer from the war zone, CEO James Downing said.

The collaboration has helped more than 600 patients by translating medical records and coordinating convoys from the Ukrainian city of Lviv to the Unicorn Marian Wilemski Clinic, a triage center in Poland.

On Friday the first lady visited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee where she privately met with Ukrainian pediatric cancer patients

Biden added that she was inspired by the work done by St. Jude and how it turns 'devastation into hope'

During her visit Biden also met with a cancer survivor and toured a laboratory where doctors research how T-cells can fight pediatric brain tumors

From there, sick children have been transported to cancer centers in Europe, Canada and the U.S.

Earlier in the week, St. Jude received four Ukrainian children, whose ages ranged from 20 months to eight years old, who in addition to receiving cancer treatment will also get therapy to address their psychological, emotional and cultural needs, the hospital said.

The four patients arrived to the states aboard a U.S. government-operated medical transport aircraft from Krakow, along with a St. Jude doctor who had been in Poland with them, the hospital said.

A woman sits next to a child patient in the basement of Okhmadet Children's Hospital in Kyiv

Children suffering from cancer who have been forced to shelter in Ukrainian hospital basements will not survive unless they are able to evacuate to specialist centres where they can continue their treatment, doctors have warned.

Children with cancer are receiving limited treatments after they were moved to the basement floor of Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital amid Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine

The U.S. has granted patients and their families accelerated immigration parole status and a second group of Ukrainian patients are set to arrive at the hospital next week, Downing said.

St. Jude began working with the government and hospitals in Ukraine in 2019 to assess the level of care they could provide, establishing ties with four Ukrainian hospitals and other entities in Poland, Moldova and Romania, Downing said.

Within hours of the Russian invasion, St. Jude was asking its partners how it could help, Downing said.

'In those early hours of the war, it was clear that, over time, children were going to have to be evacuated,' Downing said.

Downing said he knows of at least two children who have died in the process of moving from Ukraine to Poland.

'It is a journey that is life threatening, in and of itself,' Downing said. 'I think it was Marlo who said these children face two wars - the war of fighting cancer and the war in their homeland.'

During her visit Biden also met with a cancer survivor and toured a laboratory where doctors research how T-cells can fight pediatric brain tumors.

The first lady's stop in Memphis was the first leg of a trip Friday that also includes travel to Colorado for a Democratic National Committee finance event in Denver, the White House said.

Her visit to St. Jude, considered a leading researcher of cancer and other life-threatening diseases that affect children, is part of her and President Joe Biden's so-called Cancer Moonshot effort, which aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.

In Ukraine children suffering from cancer have been forced to shelter in hospital basements and have had their treatments interrupted due to shelling by the invading Russian troops.

Doctors and nurses, who are only able to provide a basic form of chemotherapy due to a lack of supplies, fear a lack of treatment will mean the children will get sicker and some will not survive.

A man hurries to walk away from a building that was just hit by Russian bombardment, and caught on fire, in the Moskovskyi district in Kharkiv

Refugees wait for transport after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland

Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region on March 25

'These children suffer more because they need to stay alive to fight with the cancer - and this fight cannot wait,' Dr Lesia Lysytsia told NBC News earlier this month from the basement of Okhmatdyt Kyiv's largest children's hospital.

'If the children's cancer treatment is interrupted further by the war, 'our patients, they will die,' Dr Lysytsia warned

'We will calculate how many people or soldiers have died in attacks, but we will never calculate how many patients weren't diagnosed of a disease in time, how many patients died because they didn't receive treatment,' she added. 'It's an epic amount of people.'

At Kyiv Regional Oncology Center, some young cancer patients were suffering from such low blood counts - and supplies were so short - that doctors were forced to do blood transfusions from parents to children, said Julia Nogovitsyna, program director at Tabletochki, Ukraine's largest child cancer charity.

Despite the situation being so dire, evacuating the sick children to a medical center in Lviv, western Ukraine, where there are more supplies of medicine and the conditions are safer, is extremely difficult for doctors.

'Patients and their parents ask me if it's safe, and I say "I don't know",' Dr Lysytsia told the news outlet. 'I don't even know if it's safe to go outside. It's possible they go out near the hospital and they'll be attacked.'

Doctors are fearful the children could be killed if they do evacuate them, as Russian bombs and rockets rain down on Ukraine.

For many Ukrainian children, the war has meant sheltering in basements and subway stations while the Russian forces attack their cities. An orphanage in city of Kropyvnytskyi has been forced to retreat to a bomb shelter.

An image, shared by Ukraine's National Guard, showed dozens of children - some so young they have been placed in cots - standing in an underground shelter while concerned carers looked on.

'The photo the whole world should see,' the National Guard tweeted. 'This is a shelter in a specialized orphanage in the city of Kropyvnytskyi in Ukraine. All the children there are orphans. Many are sick.'

The sheltering comes as the Kremlin announced it had concluded the first 'phase' of its invasion of Ukraine.

That raised the possibility Moscow was coming to grips with its failure to achieve its goals after rushing tanks and troops to try to encircle key Ukrainian cities.

Russia now says it will focus on the Donbas region.

President Vladimir Putin may have dialed back his war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation's resistance in a month of fighting and attacks on civilians that included up to 300 feared killed after Russia bombed a theatre.

Putin had sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, vowing to destroy the country's military and topple its pro-Western president.

But his army has made little progress on capturing key cities, and its attacks on civilians have become more deadly.

A statement out of the Kremlin suggested Moscow may be recalibrating its strategy.

'The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out,' said Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff administration on Friday.

'The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been substantially reduced, which allows us to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbas,' he added  referring to territory seized by Russia in 2014 that is mostly controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the 'powerful blows' of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin's troops killed as the war entered its fifth week.

Zelensky's troops are preparing to take back the city of Kherson today, which was the first major city the invading forces took control of.

An adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister said he thought the city would be won back today.

Markian Lubkivskyi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces.

'We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities.'
A senior British Army officer who was the deputy director of the Government's Covid-19 task force has appeared in court accused of falsely claiming more than 43,000 in allowances to pay school fees.

Retired colonel Marcus Reedman, 50, was serving as a Lieutenant Colonel at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) building, in Whitehall, at the time of the allegations between October 2016 and May 2017.

Reedman, whose last post was as the deputy director of the Covid-19 task force as acting brigadier, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

He faces a single charge of fraud relating to claims for Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) claims.

Retired colonel Marcus Reedman, who was the deputy director of the Government's Covid-19 task force has appeared in court accused of falsely claiming more than 43,000 in allowances to pay school fees. (He is pictured above with then-PM David Cameron in 2014)

The payment is aimed at allowing children of service personnel to remain at the same schools to enable their serving parent to be accompanied by their spouse as they are posted to different locations.

CEA payments come with conditions and include rules stating that the spouse must not be away from the residence at work address (RWA) for more than 90 days per year.

Reedman allegedly 'dishonestly failed to disclose' to the MoD that he was no longer 'serving accompanied' at his RWA, which he was under a legal duty to disclose, according to the charge.

He is said to have accepted three payments totalling 43,470 over the course of a single school year.

Reedman, whose last post was as the deputy director of the Covid-19 task force as acting brigadier, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday. He faces a single charge of fraud relating to claims for Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) claims

Reedman, who appeared in the dock wearing a dark suit, white shirt and pale blue tie, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, during the hearing.

His lawyer, Bob Scott, gave no indication of plea to the charge.

District Judge Michael Snow sent the case to Southwark Crown Court, where Reedman is expected to appear for a plea and trial preparation hearing on April 22.

Reedman, who has been pictured alongside the Prince of Wales and then-prime minister David Cameron during his career, was released on unconditional bail.

An MoD spokesperson said: 'We can confirm we have completed a criminal investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.'
The infamous Florida man at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 who was photographed making off with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's lectern is claiming to have played a joke on the media before heading to prison.

Adam Johnson, about to turn himself in for a 75-day prison sentence for his behavior at the Capitol, was allegedly planning to hold a 'going to prison' party at a Bradenton, Florida restaurant called Caddy's.

Stephen Ananicz, the manager of Caddy's, said he put a kibosh on the event because it was attracting negative attention.

'Caddy's Bradenton is a family-friendly waterfront restaurant that had no knowledge of a 'Going to Prison' event being planned at its location,' Ananicz said in a statement. 'This event was never discussed or planned with anyone associated with the Caddy's brand.'

Ananicz added that the reports have led to staff being abused and in receipt of threatening emails.

Stay-at-home dad Adam Johnson, 38, who stole Nancy Pelosi's podium during the Capitol riot, on Friday was sentenced to 75 days in prison, a $5,000 fine and 200 hours of community service (Pictured: The now-viral photograph of Johnson carrying Pelosi's lectern)

Prosecutors said Johnson was 'not a mere tourist' but rather 'part of a mob.' Above, Johnson in front of a Capitol sign

Caddy's Bradenton restaurant in Florida, where Johnson was allegedly holding a 'going to prison' party before it was canceled

The Facebook page allegedly for Adam Johnson, who will be going to prison for stealing Nancy Pelosi's lectern while breaking into the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021

Adam Johnson posts on Gab about his alleged party at Caddy's Bradenton

The event is still live on Facebook and has 41 people listed as attending.

Johnson, 38, was caught holding Pelosi's lectern during the riot and was arrested two days later. He pled guilty to knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds in November of 2020.

He's one of over 770 people in nearly all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have been arrested in connection to the Capitol riot.

Johnson, on the conservative social media site Gab, said Friday that it was all just a joke.

'So I threw a public party on April Fools day for my incarceration and just like I thought, the media swallowed the whole story,' he wrote. 'Thank God we have journalists covering who is having parties these days.'

'I was hoping to keep this bit going a little longer,' he added. 'It's both sad and hilarious that the news covered this and the internet warriors got triggered about me seeing my family and my loved ones before I leave. There is no party. Well at least not a public one.'

Johnson (circled in red during the riot) apologized for his actions, saying he felt 'ashamed,' and asked for leniency in light of his cooperation

Johnson entered the Senate Wing with other protesters (left) and was seen in a smoke-filled hallway (right) after the rioters attempted to breach the House Chamber

A Florida stay-at-home father-of-five, Johnson was also assessed a $5,000 and 200 hours of community service, with a judge saying that a 'message has to be sent.'

Johnson, who lives in Tampa and is married to a doctor, apologized for his actions and asked for leniency before the judge announced his sentence, which is one of the harshest yet for a misdemeanor related to the riots.

'I am ashamed to have been a part of it,' Johnson told the judge during Friday's hearing.

He also claimed that had he come across Speaker Pelosi on the day of the insurrection, he would have asked her for a photograph.

'If I did find her, I would ask for a selfie with her, if anything,' Johnson said. 'I bear no ill will toward her or her office at all.'

Johnson was picked up by the authorities in Florida within days of the January 6 insurrection (pictured in his January 8, 2021, mugshot)

Johnson, who has five sons between the ages of 6 and 14, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

The rioter gleefully placed Pelosi's $1,000 podium in the center of the Capitol Rotunda, posed for pictures and pretended to make a speech, prosecutors said.

He later bragged that he 'broke the internet' and was 'finally famous.'

Johnson has insisted that he has been cooperative with the federal investigation and did nothing to conceal evidence.

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Johnson to 90 days in prison.

'He wasn't a mere tourist,' Assistant US Attorney Jessica Arco told the court. 'He was part of a mob that, in his own words, was trying to overthrow the government.'

Arco played a video recording from the Capitol, showing Johnson trying to open a door of what he thought was Pelosi's office.

Johnson's attorneys asked the judge to sentence him to one year of probation with credit for the weekend that he spent in jail after his arrest.

The defense lawyers said Johnson didn't know that the podium belonged to Pelosi when he moved it from a cloak room.

'Arguably, if he latched onto some other piece of government furniture for his photo opportunity jail time would not even be a consideration,' they wrote in a court filing.

Johnson and his wife have received death threats, his lawyers said.

'His wife's medical practice suffered financially and some of Adam's oldest friends will no longer speak to him or his family,' they wrote.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton said America is on a dangerous path when many citizens believe that they 'have a right to do whatever in order to have the person who they want in power sitting in the White House.'

'That's what we see in banana republics,' the judge said. 'That's what we see in countries like we're experiencing now over in Ukraine. That's where we're headed if we don't do something to stop it. And I don't know what we do to stop it.'
Jurors on Friday found police used excessive force against protesters, violating their constitutional rights, during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020 - and ordered the city to pay a total of $14 million in damages to 12 who sued.

The jury of two men and six women, largely white and drawn from around Colorado, returned its verdict after about four hours of deliberations.

The verdict followed three weeks of testimony and evidence that included police and protester video of incidents.

Lawyers involved believed it was the first trial in a lawsuit challenging officer tactics during the 2020 protests that erupted around the nation over the police killing of Floyd and other black people.

The protesters who sued were shot at or hit by everything from pepper spray to a Kevlar-bag filled with lead shot fired from a shotgun.

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Jurors on Friday found police used excessive force against protesters, violating their constitutional rights, during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020 - and ordered the city to pay a total of $14 million in damages to 12 who sued. Denver PD officers clear a man who fell to the street after they used tear gas and rubber bullets

A Denver police officer shoots a pepper ball toward a man as he retreats during a protest outside the State Capitol over the death of George Floyd in Denver, May 30, 2020

Pictured: Denver Police fire tear gas canisters during a protest outside the State Capitol over the death of George Floyd, in this file photograph taken on Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Denver

Zach Packard, who was hit in the head by the shotgun blast and ended up in the intensive care unit, received the largest damage amount - $3 million.

One of the protesters' lawyers, Timothy Macdonald, had urged jurors to send a message to police in Denver and elsewhere by finding the city liable during closing arguments.

'Hopefully, what police departments will take from this is a jury of regular citizens takes these rights very seriously,' he said after the verdict.

Elisabeth Epps, a lawyer and activist who was one of the protesters who sued, said the attorneys for the city she loves gaslighted the protesters during the trial, questioning their account of what happened.

At one point, a lawyer for Denver called her a 'professional protester' after she testified that she had attended protests since she was a child and had received training about how to respond to being tear-gassed.

Lawyers Elizabeth Epps, left, and Tim MacDonald, right. MacDonald had urged jurors to send a message to police in Denver and elsewhere by finding the city liable during closing arguments

She grew emotional talking about what it meant to have the jury side with the protesters.

'It feels like being seen,' Epps said.

The protesters said the actions of police violated their free speech rights and rights to be protected from unreasonable force.

Jurors found violations of both rights for 11 of the protesters and only free speech violations for the other.

The protesters claimed Denver was liable for the police's actions through its policies, including giving officers wide discretion in using what police call 'less lethal' devices, failing to train officers on them, and not requiring them to use their body-worn cameras during the protests to deter indiscriminate uses of force.

During the trial, Denver admitted that mistakes were made at the protests, which it says were unprecedented in their size, duration and amount of violence and destruction.

Over 80 officers were injured as protesters hurled rocks, water bottles and canned food at them, and the state Capitol, the hub of the protests, incurred $1.1 million in damage, according to the city.

Police officers pepper spray a woman next to the Colorado State Capitol as protests against the death of George Floyd continue for a third night on May 30, 2020 in Denver, Colorado

Lawyers for the protesters who sued stressed they were not accused of being violent themselves.

One of Denver's lawyers, Lindsay Jordan, told jurors that the city had planned a large training in crowd control in the spring of 2020 because of the upcoming presidential election, but it was canceled because of COVID-19.

She stressed that mistakes made by officers during the protests do not automatically equate to constitutional violations, noting thousands of people returned to exercise their free speech rights despite the force police used over the five days of demonstrations.

'The violence and destruction that occurred around the community required intervention,' she said.

Five Denver police officers have been disciplined for their actions during the protests, according to the department.

Another officer, who was new and still on probation, was fired during the protests after posting a photo of himself and others dressed in tactical gear on social media with the comment 'Let's start a riot.'

Aggressive responses from officers to people protesting police brutality nationally have led to financial settlements, the departures of police chiefs and criminal charges.

In Austin, Texas, officials have agreed to pay over $13 million to people injured in protests in May 2020, and 19 officers have been indicted for their actions against protesters.

Last month, two police officers in Dallas accused of injuring protesters after firing less lethal munitions were charged.

However, in 2021, a federal judge dismissed most of the claims filed by activists and civil liberties groups over the forcible removal of protesters by police before then-President Donald Trump walked to a church near the White House for a photo op.
The NYPD union boss has hit out at former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio after 104 cops were found guilty of misconduct during the clashes with BLM protesters in 2020.

The officers were found guilty of misconduct by the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board - which was assembled by de Blasio.

Paul DiGiacomo, head of the Detectives Endowment Association, said the cops were simply following de Blasio's orders during the tense and sometimes violent confrontations with BLM demonstrators.

'The police department only does what they're ordered to do by the Mayor of the City of New York,' he told DailyMail.com Friday.

Paul DiGiacomo, (right) head of the Detectives Endowment Association, said the cops were simply following de Blasio's (left) orders during the tense and sometimes violent confrontations with BLM demonstrators

The NYPD union boss has hit out at former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio after 104 cops were found guilty of misconduct during the clashes with BLM protesters in 2020. Protestors in Times Square confronted police officers during protests for George Floyd on Saturday, May 30, 2020 in New York

The Civilian Complaint Review Board investigated 313 complaints against police officers that were involved at the racial justice protests. The CCRB has completed 127 investigations so far with another 103 still pending regarding apparent police abuse

The investigation, which was conducted during the prior administration, looked into 750 complaints lodged by protesters against police for misuse of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and making false statements.

Protests erupted across the nation after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, leaving the NYPD to calm the chaos in New York City.

Multiple types of misconduct were uncovered by the CCRB and include use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and untruthful statements.

Among those who complained, people said they had broken arms, fractured eye sockets, received concussions, nerve damage and cuts, all through the actions of NYPD officers.

'Command Disciplines are recommended for misconduct that is more problematic than poor training but does not rise to the level of charges. An officer can lose up to 10 vacation days as a result of a Command Discipline,' the CCRB reported on its website.

A third of the complaints could not be probed because officers did not follow correct protocols with some covering name plates, shield numbers, wearing protective equipment that belonged to another officer, did not switch on bodycams or failed to properly complete paperwork.

'The CCRB has seen unprecedented challenges in investigating these complaints, particularly around the identification of officers due to the failure to follow proper protocols, officers covering their names and shield, officers wearing protective equipment that did not belong to them, the lack of proper use of body-worn cameras, as well as incomplete and severely delayed paperwork,' the agency wrote in the report.

The board investigated 313 complaints against police officers that were involved at the racial justice protests

A third of the complaints could not be probed because officers did not follow correct protocols with some covering name plates, shield numbers, wearing protective equipment that belonged to another officer, did not switch on bodycams or failed to properly complete paperwork

Among those who complained, people said they had broken arms, fractured eye sockets, received concussions, nerve damage and cuts, all through the actions of NYPD officers

The CCRB took in more than 700 complaints from protesters and substantiated 65 of those complaints accusing 104 officers of 187 acts of misconduct

The board investigated 313 complaints against police officers that were involved at the racial justice protests.

A single complaint can contain allegations against multiple officers.

The Patrol Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch points out that no one has prosecuted the damage done to his officers by the protesters.

'Despite CCRB's attempts to substantiate cases on the flimsiest of evidence, the vast majority of complaints they investigate don't result in a finding of misconduct,' he said. 'Meanwhile, almost none of the violent agitators who injured nearly 400 police officers during the protests have been identified or held accountable.'

NYPD officers arrest a protestor during a 'Black Lives Matter' demonstration in May 2020

During one protest on the Brooklyn Bridge former Chief of Department Terrance Monahan was injured when he was attacked by one of the protesters.

The CCRB took in more than 700 complaints from protesters and substantiated 65 of those complaints accusing 104 officers of 187 acts of misconduct.

The board recommended that 61 officers be charged criminally and 43 receive internal department charges, like loss of vacation time.

Ten officers have been disciplined so far.

DiGiacomo said that there was clearly a bias on the de Blasio board.

One way to fix that is to put the board members through police training so that they can understand what the cops go through.

'I think they need to go through training and firearm tactics,' DiGiacomo said. 'They should understand shooting scenarios, and I think some sort of role playing or be at the civil unrest, demonstrations and understand and feel what the cops are going through.'

Last year, New York state Attorney General Letitia James sued the NYPD. She said that the NYPD's harsh tactics suppressed free speech.
An Australian journalist and mother of two detained in China is facing life in prison when she faces court next week.

Cheng Lei, a former anchor for Chinese state media, has been detained in the country for over 19 months and faces accusations she provided state secrets or intelligence overseas.

The high profile presenter is due to be tried in Beijing's No.2 People's Court after she was arrested and held in custody in the city since August 2020 under 'residential surveillance', an extrajudicial interrogation process.

Chinese-born Australian journalist and mother-of-two Cheng Lei could face a life sentence when she is tried in a Chinese court next week

Ms Cheng studied in Melbourne and Brisbane and worked as a business analyst before pursuing journalism

Ms Cheng has been detained in China for more than 19 months and is accused of providing state secrets to foreigners

UTS China Studies professor Feng Chongyi told media outlets 'residential surveillance' allows Chinese authorities to detain people accused of endangering state security.

Mr Chongyi said the locations are usually facilities run by the secret police.

Ms Cheng, who studied in Brisbane and Melbourne, was separated from her children aged 10 and 12 years, when she was detained last year.

Both children attend school in Melbourne.

The mother of two was separated from her children when she was detained in Beijing in August 2020

Ms Cheng was working for Chinese state-owned English language broadcaster CGTN before her arrest

Ms Cheng's detention was confirmed on the same day as China announced a second inquiry into Australian wine exports amid a testing period of relations between the two countries

Cheng's television career in China began with CNBC before she took a role as an anchor on state-owned English-language news channel China Global Television Network.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been contacted for comment by Daily Mail Australia.

Australia-Chinese relations may be further strained by the case following two years of strained relations between the two countries.

Trade wars sparked by the Federal government's call for a probe into the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan, and most recently a potential deal between the Chinese and Solomon Islands Governments allowing access to Chinese warships, have placed Australia-China relations at an all-time low.

Cheng's television career in China began with CNBC before she took a role as an anchor on state-owned news channel China Global Television Network

Its not likely Australian diplomats will be able to attend the trial, replicating their experience during the trial of another Australian citizen Yang Hengiun, where diplomats were banned from the closed trial.

Mr Yang also faced charges relating to national security.

Under Chinese state secrets laws 'whoever steals, secretly gathers, purchases, or illegally provides state secrets or intelligence for an organization, institution, or personnel outside the country is to be sentenced from not less than five years to not more than 10 years of fixed-term imprisonment'.

'When circumstances are particularly serious, they are to be sentenced to 'not less than 10 years of fixed-term imprisonment, or life sentence.'

When circumstances are minor, they are 'to be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, control, or deprivation of political rights,' according to article 111 of China's criminal law.
A P&O ferry has been detained in Northern Ireland by the coastguard after 'failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training'.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the ship, named the European Causeway, had been detained in Larne, Northern Ireland last week 'based on concerns over its safety' and to 'prevent them going to sea'.

In a statement the agency said the vessel would remain under detention 'until all these issues have been resolved' by P&O Ferries.

It comes after nearly 800 workers were fired without notice last week, sparking backlash from across the political spectrum.

A P&O ferry has been detained in Northern Ireland by the coastguard after 'failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training'. Pictured: P&O's European Causeway ferry

Following the news, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took to Twitter and said P&O would 'not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training'

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the ship, named the European Causeway, (pictured) had been detained in Larne, Northern Ireland last week 'based on concerns over its safety' and to 'prevent them going to sea'

The agency said: 'We can confirm that the European Causeway has been detained in Larne.

'The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected.

'Detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea.'

Following the news, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took to Twitter and said P&O would 'not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training'.

He wrote: 'Following my instruction to inspect all P&O vessels prior to entering back into service, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has detained a ship for being unfit to sail.'

'I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training.'

The RMT union responded to the detention of the vessel with open arms and said all of the company's 'ferries should be impounded'.

General Secretary Mick Lynch said: 'The seizing of the European Causeway by the MCA tonight shows that the gangster capitalist outfit P&O are not fit and proper to run a safe service after the jobs massacre.

'This mob should be barred, their ships impounded and the sacked crews reinstated to get these crucial ferry routes back running safely.'

The Labour MP for Hull East, Karl Turner, also wrote on Twitter: 'It gets worse for P&O Ferries, news just in that the European Causeway on the Cairnryan-Larne route has failed her Port State Inspection.

'The vessel is arrested and detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Larne.'

This news comes as it emerged today that the chief executive of DP World - the parent company of P&O Ferries - warned Grant Shapps about a new 'low-cost competitor' that would pose a challenge to the business in a meeting in November.

The RMT union responded to the detention of the vessel with open arms and said all of the company's 'ferries should be impounded'

The minutes of a meeting between billionaire Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem and Mr Shapps have been published by the Commons Transport Committee.

In the record of the meeting, the DP World boss told Mr Shapps that Irish Ferries had emerged as a 'new lost-cost competitor' and added: 'This poses challenges in respect of P&O's operations.'

He said the company was making 'a significant amount of income from the passenger side of our business', but 'the margins are so tight on the cargo side'.

Mr Shapps is reported to have responded: 'I'm aware of the issues relating to P&O. I recognise you will need to make commercial decisions, but please do keep us informed.'

Meanwhile, the millionaire CEO of P&O ferries reportedly emailed sacked staff this morning telling them he would not fire them in the same way again - a day after telling MPs he 'would do it again'.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the millionaire chief executive of P&O Ferries should resign

The email from Peter Hebblethwaite, who is paid 325,000 to run the firm and lives in a plush 1.5million Cotswold farmhouse, appeared to backtrack on the defiance he showed at a fiery committee evidence session in front of MPs.

In yesterday's meeting, he told MPs he 'would do it again' and called a new 5.50 hourly wage 'competitive'. This morning, he allegedly told sacked staff that 'this type of dismissal could not and would not happen again'.

Boris Johnson today backed calls for his resignation, with transport Secretary Grant Shapps demanding he step down following his 'brazen', 'arrogant' and 'breathtaking' admission in Parliament yesterday that he broke the law by sacking 800 workers without notice.

Outraged MPs branded the disgraced boss a 'shameless criminal' and called on him to quit, calling his position 'untenable', and fuelled calls for a criminal prosecution. The PM has repeatedly threatened to impose potentially unlimited fines 'running into millions of pounds' if the operator were found to have broken any British laws.
Boris Johnson has hailed small businesses backing the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal as the 'best of Britain'.

The Prime Minister said donations from the nation's shopkeepers and entrepreneurs were making a 'big difference'.

In an astonishing response to the humanitarian crisis, the Mail Force charity has now raised more than 9.1million to help refugees fleeing the horror in Ukraine.

Britain's small business owners are boosting the fund through their own donations  with the scheme given the tag 'small business, big difference'.

The initiative also shines a light on the nation's entrepreneurs after two years of hardship during the pandemic.

Boris Johnson has hailed small businesses backing the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal as the 'best of Britain'. (Above, a child clutches a loaf as he leaves besieged Mariupol)

In an astonishing response to the humanitarian crisis, the Mail Force charity has now raised more than 9.1million to help refugees fleeing the horror in Ukraine. (Pictured, a girl inside a damaged building in Mariupol)

Yesterday the Prime Minister said: 'It's fantastic to see small businesses making a big difference by joining up with the Mail's Ukraine appeal which has already raised record-breaking sums.

'Since Putin's illegal invasion began, we've seen countless examples of UK businesses going above and beyond to support those forced to flee their homes in Ukraine.

'They really are the best of Britain and their generosity will make a real difference on the ground by keeping children in school and saving lives with vital food, water and medicine.'

Fiona Summers, who sells exercise machines known as Leg Masters, is among those to have donated.

The mother of five, who donated 250, said: 'Just looking at the images of those poor people, it's like history is repeating itself with the Nazis.

'I try to imagine myself in their position and of course it's impossible as I am so disconnected in my comfortable life here while they are suffering there.

'I wish there was more we could do to help them. I try to picture myself underground with my five daughters living as they are, with that horrific sense that a bomb might drop any moment. If they can get to Britain, I would certainly give them our spare rooms.'

Mrs Summers, 56, who created the Leg Master with her inventor husband Neil, sells the fitness gadget online and via the QVC shopping channel. She added: 'I salute the Mail's appeal and hope everyone gives generously.'

Another 250 was given by Rudy Porter, 59, who owns the Slick Willie's skateboard shop in west London. He said: 'We are one world, and we need to help where we can.'

Mr Porter, who has a 22-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, said: 'It's horrific, what is happening in Ukraine.

'For me one of the important things is if we can help look after mothers and daughters in this country somehow and pay for their accommodation. It is easier for the fathers who have to stay and fight if they know their families are in a safe environment.

'If we were invaded and I had to fight, I couldn't do it unless I knew my wife and children were safe.'

A Ukrainian serviceman secures the site of a bombing at a shopping centre in Kyiv

The 'small business, big difference' idea is the brainchild of entrepreneur Alison Cork, who runs online interiors business, Alison At Home.

Miss Cork, 58, said: 'It is inspirational to see the UK small business community leading again by example  the collective generosity is indeed making a big difference.'

Becca McClure, 31, who runs glamping business North Sky Yurts in Yorkshire, is also getting behind the initiative.

The mother of one, who runs the firm with business partner Charlotte Paine, said: 'The scenes we are seeing on TV from Ukraine are just so shocking there is no way you can go about daily business and not be affected.

'As the mum of a toddler, the very thought of being uprooted, forced to run out of your house, out of your city and find somewhere to stay in safety is just unimaginable. Is there some way of helping them?'

The Mail Force campaign was kick-started by a 500,000 donation from parent company DMGT at the personal request of Lord and Lady Rothermere.

Since then the money from generous readers has rolled in.

The Mail Force charity is giving money to aid organisations already helping refugees. These include the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which has received a 1million donation.

The Red Cross, CARE International, Unicef and the Refugee Council have received 500,000 each.

Donations of 250,000 have also been made to the AMAR Foundation and The Halo Trust.
The city of Everett, Washington State was paralyzed on Friday afternoon after a police officer was shot and killed outside a Starbucks before leading police on a two mile high-speed chase that ended with a multi-car crash across from the campus of Everett Community College.

Initially there were reports of a shooting at a Starbucks to which police responded.

Gunshots were heard at around 2:15pm. A uniformed officer was seen on the ground in the moments after the shooting in the parking lot of the Starbucks coffee shop as the gunman sped away, running over the body in the process.

One witness said the officer was killed instantly having being shot in the head.

But the suspect's crime spree continued as the gunman sped off in his car causing a multi-car accident.

Officer Dan Rocha, 41, was killed in the line of duty on Friday afternoon

Pictured: Everett Police Officer Dan Rocha (far right) with Chief of Police Dan Templeman (center) and others in an April 18, 2019 photo captioned: Congratulations to the graduating Basic Law Enforcement Class #780 and Everett officers Gottas, House, Ingimarsdottir & Rocha. We look forward to your success working in the Everett community!

A suspect believed to be responsible was the shooting of a police office was taken into custody by police at the scene of a car accident on Friday, in Everett, Washington

The suspect has not yet been named. He was caught after a two mile police car chase following the shooting outside of Starbucks

A person is taken into custody by law enforcement personnel at the scene of a shooting Friday

The suspect, a white male, was seen being arrested by police on Everett traffic cameras

Law enforcement personnel investigate the scene of a three-vehicle crash on Friday after a suspect who was fleeing police caused the accident

Law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies investigate the scene of the shooting

On Friday evening, the fallen officer was named as dad-of-two, 41-year-old Dan Rocha who had lived in Everett for more than a decade and served with the Everett Police Department since 2017.

'It is with great sorrow that we inform our community that Officer Dan Rocha was killed today in the line of duty. He first worked in parking enforcement and in 2018 became a fully commissioned police officer.

'He served the City of Everett as a patrol officer in North Everett for most of his career and was well respected by both the community and his fellow officers. His loss will forever leave a void in our agency and our community. Officer Rocha is survived by his wife, two sons and large extended family. Please keep them in your thoughts during this extremely difficult time,' the Everett Police Department wrote in a statement.

The suspect was driving a Mini, seen center. He was quickly arrested, pictured by the zebra

Several cars were involved in collision after a fleeing suspect drove through an intersection

The suspect was believed to have been driving this Mini Cooper which led to the collision

Members of the emergency services were all quickly on scene following the collision

Up to 30 patrol cars were on scene. The suspects Mini Cooper can be seen, center

On Friday evening, the fallen officer was named as dad-of-two, 41-year-old Dan Rocha who had lived in Everett for more than a decade and served with the Everett Police Department since 2017

Officers chased the suspect in his Mini Cooper for about two miles through Everett.

The suspect was then involved in a car crash at the intersection of 35th and Rucker.

It caused a white van with children inside to topple onto its side while a blue vehicle was also seen to be a write-off having been involved in the smash.

The suspect, a white male, was quickly arrested and taken into custody, police said. His arrest was caught on traffic cameras positioned at the intersection. He transported to Providence Colby Campus hospital.

So far, the identity of the suspect or officer involved has not been released reports Komo.

The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response team have also responded to the scene together with officers from the Everett Police Department.

Everett Police described what was happening as a 'significant incident' on Friday afternoon

A blue car could be seen having been totaled while a white van rolled onto its side

Three cars were involved in the collision on Friday afternoon in Everett

The scene of the car accident could be seen in footage from a television news helicopter

A ten mile air exclusion zone was set up around the city following the crime spree

The office was shot outside a Starbucks. HIs patrol vehicle can be still seen in the parking lot. The officer's body was placed under a yellow sheet, seen in the center of the picture

Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers released a statement on the officer's death on Friday evening.

'Our hearts ache for the family, friends, and colleagues of the fallen officer,' it read.

'On behalf of Snohomish County, we offer our deepest condolences to the entire community shaken by this loss of life and those police officers who will be out keeping our community safe, even under the shadow of this tragedy.

'We will provide any support the City of Everett needs and call on everyone to take a moment to honor the people who are here to serve and protect.'
Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis' former girlfriend denies his claims that she stole $350,000 from a company he's connected to.

Francis had shared an apparent arrest warrant, written in Spanish, that states that Wilson is wanted for an abuse of trust was against Birchfield LLC, in Mexico.

But lawyers for Wilson say they 'categorically and unequivocally deny there is an arrest warrant in Mexico or anywhere else.'

'This is yet another fabrication perpetrated by Joe Francis, who is a fugitive from justice evading arrest while living in Mexico,' they told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'Joe Francis will be arrested if he ever returns to the United States and serve years, not days, in jail.'

Francis told the media in December that Wilson had 'kidnapped' their children. He was supposed to see his his twin seven year old girls, Athena and Alexandria for Christmas but his ex had gone 'off the grid.'

The former couple have both accused each other of domestic abuse.

But Wilson's representatives said Francis had his in person visitations revoked due to 'his constant threats against Ms. Wilson.'

'The judge in Mexico has denied Mr. Francis access to his children. He has a long history of violence, drug abuse, and is a wanted man in the United States. He also has over $30,000,000 in judgments against him,' they allege.

Joe Francis and Abbey Wilson with their daughters Athena and Alexandria in happier days

Francis claims, without evidence, that Wilson became hooked on fentanyl and he believes that she's hiding in the Mexican interior with her Narco trafficker boyfriend the two girls.

'At the height of the non-vaccinated part of the pandemic she was heavy into using of these drugs,' he said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

'I had given her access, as anyone would, to a couple of my bank accounts and she was able to transfer large sums of money out of Mexico to America, to her US bank accounts.'

Wilson's reps denied being involved in any 'kidnappings' and said she does not date anyone who is a 'narco trafficker'.

'All of Mr. Francis's problems in Mexico are his own doing and he should realize that he can only hide out so long in Mexico,' they added. 'Ms. Wilson is simply a victim of domestic violence and mental terrorism inflicted on a monthly basis by her former boyfriend, Joe Francis.'

Francis built a resort in Mexico called Casa Amara where he lives in exile because of an active warrant for his arrest in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal. He met Wilson during a 'Hottest Girls in America' competition in 1997 and settled down south of the border.

The 'warrant', which is in Spanish, does not mention an amount of money, nor does mention the children or kidnapping.

Girls Gone Wild Creator posted this photo of his daughter with a comment griping about their custody dispute

Abbey Wilson took to Instagram last year to complain about the lack of child support from her ex Joe Francis

A lawyer for Joe Francis's estranged wife Abbey Wilson says she has full, temporary custody of the couple's twin seven-year-old daughters Athena and Alexandra

Wilson, right, accused Francis of domestic violence, but he claims that she made it up

About that time Francis was charged with domestic violence for allegedly spitting on her, hitting her and dragging her around his beach front home by her hair in front of the children.

He claims that she made the whole thing up and bribed Mexican authorities to charge him with a crime.

'All of the sudden she made up some fake domestic violence thing, then she paid a prosecutor named 'Karen' 100,000 pesos,' he said, to have him arrested and charged.

'It's backed up by nothing,' Francis said. 'You can talk to my staff. I'll pay you a million dollars if you can get one of them to say I've ever yelled at her. I just don't do that.'

Francis was arrested in August on domestic violence charges, made sure to tag the Casa Aramara resort that he built in the beach town of Punta de Mita, Mexico, near Puerto Vallarta.

He was held in custody for several weeks and went through court ordered therapy and his case was eventually dropped.

Francis met Wilson (not pictured) on a 'Hottest Girls in American' contest

Joe Francis (right) during Girls Gone Wild and Coochie Power Mardi Gras 2004 Weekend at The Embers & The Ritz Carlton in New Orleans

The Kardashians seen here schmoozing with Joe Francis. His Puerto Vallarta resort is a favorite of Kim Kardashian

Wilson was a former model and personality, she is pictured arriving at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre

Joe Francis and Abbey Wilson step out in Las Vegas for Scott Disick's 30th birthday

Wilson's lawyer Ronald Richards previously told DailyMail.com that Francis has been 'physically and verbally abusive' and the mother has 'full, temporary custody.'

Richards also provided records of the court case.

Wilson has also said that Francis has paid minimal child support after their separation.

'I don't like domestic violence as part of my house,' Francis said.

He said as a result of the charges he's only seen his kids nine days in the last two years. During Christmas, he accused her of parental kidnapping when they did not show up to his house for the holidays.

'I have joint custody of my children,' he said. 'They should be allowed to see their father, but instead she's crazy.'

'This is beyond a custody battle,' he said. 'This is a crime. This is a real crime.'

Francis said that her Narco-trafficker boyfriend had his lawyer kidnapped for three days and zapped him with a Taser on his genitalia to torture him.

Francis compared himself to Liam Neeson in the move 'Taken' about a retired special forces agent who must track down his daughter's kidnappers.

He said he's tried to help his ex, but he feels that her addiction has taken control of her.

'I've tried to get her to go to therapy sessions and then the therapists are like, there's nothing I can do,' he said.

While he's been trying to resolved the custody issue with his former squeeze, he's been able to host several celebrity guests, like Kim Kardashian, who drops by the resort he built in on the Pacific coast of Mexico with his soft core porn money.

For now, Francis is beside himself with worry that the girls are not injured when authorities kick down his ex's door.

'I really hope that my daughters are recovered as quickly as possible and that the operation peaceful,' he said. 'And that she goes calmly. There are 50 police officers coming for her right now.'

He said that he just wants his daughters to be with him.

'Joe Francis loves his daughters very much and misses them so much,' he said. 'And what their mother has done is tragic.'
Hundreds of shoppers have queued for hours outside of luxury watch stores across the country to get their hands on a highly sought after new watch.

Long lines began to form outside of Swatch at The Fashion Capital shopping centre in Chadstone, Melbourne, at 6.30am on Saturday as shoppers tried to get their hands on the new MoonSwatch.

A passerby filmed shoppers crowded outside the closed doors as they eagerly waited for the store to be opened by staff two-and-a-half hours later at 9am.

Similar scenes unfolded in Sydney with hundreds more shoppers camping outside of Pitt Street Mall overnight.

The frenzied shopping has been sparked by the release of the budget MoonSwatch - a long-awaited collaboration between Swatch and Omega.

Long lines began to form outside of Swatch at The Fashion Capital shopping centre in Chadstone, Melbourne, at 6.30am on Saturday

Similar scenes unfolded in Sydney with hundreds more shoppers camping outside of Pitt Street Mall overnight

The frenzied shopping has been sparked by the release of the budget MoonSwatch - a long-awaited release between Swatch and Omega

The watch only costs $380 and is a cheaper version of the classic Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, which can fetch more than $10,000.

Melbourne shoppers were filmed already worn out by the long wait time and sitting on the floor or resting on camping chairs.

The queue snaked from the front of the store and continued hundreds of metres down one side of the shopping centre before it curled around to the other side.

Police officers were forced to help security and manage the growing crowd of customers.

'Police and security here at the front of Swatch watch in Chadstone,' one person wrote on Twitter.

'What is social distancing?? It appears these people really want this new watch. The Swatch shop probably holds five customers at the most. Will be an interesting day.'

Another social media user took to Instagram to complain the long queues had ruined her birthday plans.

Police and security here at the front of Swatch watch in Chadstone. What is social distancing?? It appears these people really want this new watch. The Swatch shop probably holds five customers at the most. Will be an interesting day pic.twitter.com/5l8LAczPjS  Luke Dennehy (@LukeDennehy) March 25, 2022

The queue snaked from the front of the store and continued hundreds of metres down one side of the shopping centre before it curled around to the other side

Police officers were forced to help security and manage the growing crowd of customers (pictured, The Fashion Capital shopping centre at Chadstone)

'No Moon Swatch for my birthday I guess,' she wrote.

Speculation had been swirling for months of a collaboration between Swatch and Omega - before it was confirmed the MoonSwatch would be launched on March 26.

There are 11 watches in the range and they are only sold in a number of Swatch stores located around the world.

Each watch is based on a space theme and titled after a planet or moon - with all the names beginning with the word 'Mission'.

'Mission to Mars', 'Mission to Mercury' and 'Mission to Uranus' are among the different names.

The watches have been designed so the colours and layouts reflect the planets they are named after.

Have never seen anything like it, hundreds if not a couple of thousand people lining up for the new Omega Swatch watch. I wondered why it was so busy here Im off to target! pic.twitter.com/XpKjK0FmLq  Luke Dennehy (@LukeDennehy) March 25, 2022

Speculation had been swirling for months of a collaboration between Swatch and Omega - before it was confirmed the MoonSwatch would be launched on March 26
White House COVID tsar Dr. Anthony Fauci said he's not going to comment on the decision by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to create a vaccine exemption for athletes and performers after the city fired over 1,000 workers for not getting the jab.

Fauci, 81, spoke to Fox News' Neil Cavuto and seemed hesitant to take a side on the situation.

'I'm not there on the ground in New York,' Fauci said. 'I don't have a good feel for what the situation is. So, it really is a tough problem.'

When Cavuto pushed Fauci on the idea of just one vaccination rule for everyone, Fauci again hedged.

'I dont want to be taking sides on that,' he said. 'I think that the mayor had a difficult decision to make, as you mentioned, when you introduced the topic. Theres been a lot of pushback on that. Because some are seeing it as unfair. You can understand that. But you also have to look at the mayors side. Again, its a tough call. Its really a tough call.'

White House COVID tsar Dr. Anthony Fauci said he's not going to comment on the decision by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to create a vaccine exemption for athletes and performers

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at a press conference to announce the end of COVID-19 vaccine mandates for New York based professional athletes and performers

The exemption will allow Brooklyn Nets' star Kyrie Irving to play his first home game at the Barclays Center this Sunday

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci on New York mayor lifting vaccine mandates for professional athletes and entertainers pic.twitter.com/DJWU2rWIB3  Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) March 25, 2022

Unvaccinated New York City workers who were fired from their jobs for not getting their shots, unleashed fury on Adams on Thursday after he lifted the vaccination mandate solely for professional athletes and performers.

Adams held a press conference at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, with representatives from Mets and Yankees, to announce that he was lifting the ban on unvaccinated big league jocks from competing in sports, and actors and musicians from taking the stage.

The move doesn't help 9-to-5 workers across the five boroughs who either lost their jobs or can't work because of the vaccine mandate, held over from the last mayor, requiring all workers have their jabs.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (shown here at the podium) lifted a ban on unvaccinated athletes and performers being able to play

Speaking from the Mets' Citi Field Thursday, former police captain Adams said he is lifting the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for pro athletes and performers effective immediately

Fauci also said that he has no fear should he become a target again of Republican politicians if they take control of the House and Senate this November.

Fauci said that despite his back-and-forths with the likes of Senator Rand Paul and other Republicans in the past, he'd be unafraid if his appearances on Capitol Hill were set to increase.

'I have absolutely nothing to hide or nothing to be concerned about, of anything that I've done,' he said. 'So I never have been - and not now and will never be - afraid of hearings done in good faith in oversight.'

He did deride how he felt he'd been treated by some Republicans in past hearings.

'I mean, obviously, if you looked at some of the hearings, they've started off out of nowhere to be ad hominem attacks without even asking a reasonable question.'

Dr. Anthony Fauci - White House COVID Tsar - appears on Neil Cavuto on Friday, saying he has 'nothing to hide' should he receive increased scrutiny if Republicans return to power.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, has been an antagonist of Dr. Fauci in several Senate hearings, with plans for more should Republicans take back Congress

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci to Neil: I'll never be afraid of hearings done in good faith pic.twitter.com/0yknPyYyM3  Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) March 25, 2022

Top Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate are already crafting a sweeping wishlist of investigations into Fauci among other subjects in the event they take back the Congressional majority in November, a new report suggests on Sunday.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) have floated the idea of investigating Fauci, the White House chief medical adviser, for accusations ranging from abuse of power amid the COVID-19 pandemic to claims he funded viral research in Wuhan, China that allegedly could have led to the disease's outbreak.

Paul could very likely become Senate Health Committee chair if Republicans retake the Senate, currently split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaking vote. The current ranking member on the panel Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is retiring.

'If we win in November, if I'm chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we'll go after every one of [Fauci's] records,' the Kentucky lawmaker told podcast host Lisa Boothe in February.

Meanwhile Senators Rand Paul and Tom Cotton have been calling for Congressional and even criminal probes into White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci

'We'll have an investigator go through this piece-by-piece because we don't need this to happen again.'

Cotton told Fox News that Fauci should be criminally prosecuted in an interview late last year, as the GOP accused the health expert of funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

'He should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,' Cotton said in September.

Paul announced he's introducing an amendment a couple of weeks ago to boot Dr. Anthony Fauci out of the job he's held since 1984, accusing the medical expert of 'abusing' his power during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's the latest move in a war of words between the two arch-rivals that's lasted nearly the entire pandemic since it began in March 2020.

'We've learned a lot over the past two years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed 'dictator in chief.' No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans,' Paul wrote in a Fox News op-ed.

'To ensure that ineffective, unscientific lockdowns and mandates are never foisted on the American people ever again, I will introduce an amendment to eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci's position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and divide his power into three separate new institutes.'

Paul said the amendment to the United States Code would be voted on as soon as this week.

'Each of these three institutes will be led by a director who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term. This will create accountability and oversight into a taxpayer-funded position that has largely abused its power and has been responsible for many failures and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic,' he explained.

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 960,000 Americans since it began.

Its two years have been marked by partisan battles over health mandates such as lockdowns, vaccine requirements and mask rules.

Paul, who has been among the loudest critics of broad public health orders, bashed Fauci as an 'unelected bureaucrat with far too much power.'

Fauci and Paul have frequently clashed during the COVID-19 pandemic

'No one person should have the sole authority to dictate science, especially when that one person wasn't ever following the science. I've said that from the beginning, and I've been proven right over, and over, and over again. On masks, lockdowns, schools, natural immunity, all of it,' the Kentucky Republican said.

He referenced a late November 2021 CBS interview that sparked GOP outrage, during which Fauci said his critics -- who are all Republicans -- were actually 'anti-science.'

'I'm just going to do my job and I'm going to be saving lives and they're going to be lying,' he said at the time.

Paul, who trained and practiced as an ophthalmologist before being elected to Congress, said on Monday: 'I've been a physician for over 33 years. In all my years studying and practicing medicine, I had never encountered someone with the gall to proclaim himself 'the science' and portray anyone opposing him as 'attacking science.' That is, until Dr. Fauci became the COVID dictator-in-chief.'

'If Fauci was simply one family doctor in Peoria, his mistakes would not be so catastrophic. But since Fauci is allowed to be a medical czar for the whole country, his errors are amplified throughout the land,' he added.

'When Fauci misinforms the public that cloth masks work, he risks the health of anyone who believes a cloth mask will protect them when caring for a spouse or relative with COVID.'

Fauci had also hinted at rumors that he might retire in the near future, but put them to bed for the time being last week.

Speaking a day after he'd said 'I can't stay in this job forever,' Fauci appeared determined to stay when asked on ABC's This Week if he really was thinking of quitting.

He answered: 'I'm not so sure, George,' the director of the National Health Institute told anchor George Stephonaupolous. 'I want to make sure we're really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different. We're still in this.'

.@GStephanopoulos: Are we approaching the point where we are past the pandemic phase and you'll go get some rest?



Dr. Fauci: I'm not so sure. I want to make sure we're really out of this before I really seriously consider doing anything different. https://t.co/AcoWdwYNTg pic.twitter.com/iRMDlyZXG4  This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 20, 2022

Dr Anthony Fauci addressed comments that he made on on Saturday hinting that he would retire once the COVID-19 pandemic fades away in the U.S., suggesting that the country 'still has a way to go' before that happens

'We have a way to go. I think we got clearly going in the right direction. I hope we stay that way,' he added.

On Saturday, the second Chief Medical Advisor to the President in U.S. history was questioned over whether the country was finally ready to turn the page from the end of the COVID pandemic and if he intended to get 'some rest' once that point in time arrives.

Fauci, who also serves as Joe Biden's medical advisor and as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease

'I have said that I would stay in what I'm doing until we get out of the pandemic phase, and I think we might be there already,' he said. 'I don't have any plans right now to go anywhere, but you never know. I can't stay at this job forever.'

Fauci has served as public health expert for more than 50 years and has advised every American president since Ronald Reagan, becoming the nation's top COVID expert while drawing criticism over the nation's handling of the pandemic.
Thousands of British families who have offered sanctuary to Ukrainian refugees were stuck in a massive backlog last night.

More than 25,000 completed applications have been submitted to the Homes for Ukraine scheme  meaning a high number of Britons have matched themselves up with evacuees.

But Government sources said so far only 1,000 visas have been approved.

And the number of refugees who have reached Britain through the scheme is even smaller, with one source putting it at 'dozens'.

That is a fraction of what ministers promised, showing the programme is seriously behind schedule.

More than 200,000 Britons have volunteered to help through Homes for Ukraine which offers hosts 350-a-month from the Government as a 'thank you' for taking in refugees for a minimum of six months.

Oxford classics don Alfonso Moreno (right), 49, and his family have been matched up with logistics worker Mariia Makliudova (left), 27, who fled Kyiv with relatives

Refugees minister Lord Harrington told MPs this month he expected 'thousands' of evacuees would arrive by now.

Britons who volunteered to take refugees after the scheme opened on March 14 yesterday described their anger and frustration at delays.

One immigration insider told the Mail: 'There haven't been the thousands of arrivals in this country that were predicted by ministers. In fact, there's only been a trickle of perhaps dozens...It's just all very, very slow.'

A Government source said: 'The number of visas awarded so far is not what we would have liked. Things are now moving more quickly and will continue to ramp up significantly, but we can't predict when the rest of the 25,000 applications will be cleared.'

Of the more than 200,000 Britons who have volunteered to help, the 25,000 completed applications will have seen hosts pair up with refugees through social media or existing friendships.

Ministers are under pressure to reveal how much delay is being caused by civil servants still working from home, but a Government spokesman yesterday insisted 'hardly any' were doing this.

The number of visas given to refugees through another scheme for those with family connections in the UK rose sharply this week. A total of 20,100 visas had been approved through the Ukraine Family Scheme by Thursday with the Home Office finalising an average 2,500 a day.

Here we reveal some of the families who have offered to open their homes to refugees but are frustrated by the delays:

REFUGEES IN LIMBO

Partners Rob Leadbeater, 49, and Paul Madraszek, 61, have offered a safe haven to a family-of-five at their six-bedroom home near Worcester.

They will take in translator Hanna Marchuk, 39, husband Volodymyr, 41, and their three children after being introduced to them via a third party on Facebook.

Partners Rob Leadbeater, 49, and Paul Madraszek, 61 (both pictured), have offered a safe haven to a family-of-five at their six-bedroom home near Worcester

They will take in translator Hanna Marchuk, 39, husband Volodymyr, 41, and their three children (above) after being introduced to them via a third party on Facebook

The Kyiv family are now living in temporary accommodation near the Polish border. Mr Leadbeater said: 'These people need to leave the country now.

The war is the main issue but you have also got the psychological impact on the children. They are in a limbo situation which is so unhealthy.'

PULL OUT STOPS NOW

Anne and Chris Tattersall have been communicating with a family stuck in Poland for two weeks.

Mrs Tattersall, 62, a former mayor in Torrington, Devon, said: 'It's a war, why can't they just let them in? Then we can process them the same way Ireland did.

'Every other country has pulled out all the stops, but not the UK.'

Anne and Chris Tattersall (above) have been communicating with a family stuck in Poland for two weeks

Mr Tattersall, 63, added: 'I said that we will pick them up from wherever. If we've got to drive to Poland, then we will drive to Poland  it doesn't matter.

'We can offer shelter and love... I'm sure the majority of people like myself will do anything just to make it work.'

The Tattersalls are trying to help a woman called Alana, who has a nine-year-old child, and her grandparents.

ANXIOUS TO HELP

Oxford classics don Alfonso Moreno, 49, and his family have been matched up with logistics worker Mariia Makliudova, 27, who fled Kyiv with relatives.

She has been given the go-ahead to come to the UK and is hoping to catch a flight on Monday.

Dr Moreno told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think Ukrainians are desperate for help and all of us here in the UK are desperate to help Ukrainians.'

SPEED UP PROCESS

Former DJ Alex Lane, 48, and husband David, 38, are due to open up their home in Blackpool to a Kyiv accountant and his family.

They are making their way across Europe but are struggling with the demands of the visa scheme.

Mrs Lane said: 'I have always felt the need to help people in need.

'He has fled his home in a hurry and didn't take all the paperwork with him.'

She added: 'Given the situation these refugees are in, I think the process needs to be sped up.'
A minister has accused some of his fellow Tories of standing in the way of the trans debate as he praised controversial campaign group Stonewall.

Mike Freer said there was opposition to progress for trans people from all sides of the House of Commons and House of Lords, and that the so-called debate had become toxic and dehumanising.

Despite the Cabinet Office recently telling Whitehall departments to withdraw from Stonewalls Diversity Champions programme over fears it tries to rewrite policies and stifle free speech, the minister told a conference organised by the charity that he wanted to continue working with it.

Addressing Stonewalls Workplace Conference by video yesterday, Mr Freer, who is gay, said the charitys relationship with the Government was mature enough to withstand the occasional disagreement.

He added: As the Minister for LGBT+ policy, I am all too aware of the toxic and dehumanising discussions surrounding trans rights. It is everyones responsibility to address this.
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The wreckage of a sinking Russian warship was left smouldering in a Ukrainian port on Friday after the country's navy scored a direct hit on the vessel the day before, incredible satellite images showed.

The Ukrainian navy said Thursday that it had struck the Orsk, a 370ft Russian Alligator-class tank carrier, as it was sitting at anchor in the captured port of Berdyansk, in the south of Ukraine.

Satellite images taken today from above the port showed a huge plume of thick smoke rising into the air from the blackened wreckage of the destroyed ship that appeared to be sinking into the ocean.

Multiple photos and videos on Thursday showed smoke rising from the port as one ship sat at the harbour in flames, while another two sailed away - one of which also appeared to be damaged.

Ukraine also claimed two more ships were damaged and a 3,000-ton fuel tank was destroyed when the Orsk was sunk, causing a fire that spread to nearby ammunition supplies.

Just three days before the strike, Russian state media had filmed the Orsk at the port unloading armoured vehicles which it said would reinforce troops in nearby Mariupol - prompting speculation that Ukraine could use the video to target the vessel.

The wreckage of a sinking Russian warship - the Orsk - was left smouldering in a Ukrainian port today after the country's navy scored a direct hit on the vessel on Thursday, incredible satellite images showed (pictured)

The Ukrainian navy said early Thursday that it had struck the Orsk, a 370ft Russian Alligator-class tank carrier, as it was sitting at anchor in the captured port of Berdyansk, in the south of Ukraine. Satellite images taken today from above the port showed a huge plume of thick smoke rising into the air from the blackened wreckage of the destroyed ship

The Ukrainian navy has destroyed an Alligator-class Russian landing ship and damaged two others which were unloading reinforcements and supplies at the captured port of Berdyansk, in the south of Ukraine

One vessel was shown consumed by fire (left) as two other boats fled (centre), at least one of which also appeared to be on fire though was able to escape the port

Flames and smoke are seen rising from what appears to be a Russian Alligator-class landing ship docked at the port of Berdyansk, in southern Ukraine, after Kyiv's navy claimed to have destroyed a vessel called Orsk

A Ukrainian ballistic missile struck the 112-metre Alligator-class Orsk vessel on Thursday, causing huge explosions in the port of Berdyansk. As flames broke out on board the veseel, two other Russian ships also damaged in the strike  one apparently ablaze  hastily put to sea.

The attack, a major morale boost for the Ukrainians, was caught on film and beamed around the world.

Berdyansk  that lies 50 miles south-west of the besieged city of Mariupol  has been under Russian control since February 27. Earlier this week, a Moscow TV channel broadcast images of supplies and armoured vehicles being unloaded from the Orsk.

But the propaganda was spotted by Ukrainian forces and at 7am on Thursday, an OTR-21 Tochka missile struck the Orsk, which has a displacement of 4,000 tons when fully loaded.

The ship, which is capable of carrying 20 tanks and 400 troops, partially sank after the fire burned out of control and ignited ammunition on board.

Blazes were extinguished on board a pair of Ropucha-class landing ships docked alongside as they escaped eastwards, but they appeared to be seriously damaged.

UK intelligence reports questioned why Russia left such an important vessel in place for several days with ineffective cover  particularly after heralding its arrival.

According to these reports, the blast damaged facilities at the port  which can only hold up to five vessels  hampering Russian hopes of unloading more landing craft.

One report said: Not only has Russias ability to bring in support been curtailed, likely slowing offensive operations in the south, but three of its 11 landing ships in the Black Sea have been lost or damaged.

The incident suggests poor damage control or ammunition handling and is further indication of sub-par Russian performance.

Berdyansk is of strategic significance to the Kremlin as part of its plan to cut off Ukraine from the sea.

Its capture helps the Russians build a bridge between Crimea in the south and the Donbas region in the east, areas already under Russian control when the invasion was launched a month ago.

Many of those fleeing Mariupol have sought refuge in the city, which has seen many protests against the invasion despite being occupied by the Russians.

Smoke and flames rise over the port of Berdyansk, located in the south of Ukraine and occupied by Russian forces, as Kyiv's navy claimed to have hit the Orsk - a huge Russian tank-carrier

Images show an explosion at the port with a Russian Alligator-class transport ship visible at the dock. It was not immediately clear from the images whether the port or the ship had been struck

A fireball rises into the air over the port of Berdyansk, a Ukrainian port on the Sea of Azov which has been captured by Russian forces and was being used to ferry reinforcements to shore before it was struck

If the Orsk is confirmed as destroyed it would mark the largest vessel Ukraine has hit and another embarrassing loss for Vladimir Putin's army

Adding to Putin's woes, Western officials said Friday that Ukraine has managed to disable 20 Russian battalions, while a Kremlin army chief hinted that Moscow may scale back its attack on its neighbour and instead focus on 'liberating' the eastern Donbas region.

Russia's defence ministry also updated its losses in Ukraine to 1,351 soldiers, adding that 3,825 soldiers had been wounded - figures that are far lower than Western intelligence estimates that put Moscow's losses in the tens of thousands.

In a military update, Moscow attempted to put a positive spin on its disastrous invasion saying that the first phase of its military campaign in Ukraine was over.

But the update - combined with the West's claim that Russia has lost 20 out of the 120 battalions originally massed on Ukraine's border - is the latest sign that Putin has rolled back his ambitions, and is on the run.

In another embarrassing blow to Putin, it was revealed today that a Russian brigade commander had died after being run down with a tank by his own troops.

Western officials believe Colonel Yuri Medvedev was brutally taken out by mutinous soldiers after their 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses.

But despite the apparent change in tactics, smaller-scale strikes continued without pause as Russia, suffering heavy losses and meagre progress against key targets, pursues its relentless campaign of bombardment against Ukraine's cities.

In one attack on Friday, Ukraine said a Russian missile attack had hit a military command centre in the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine. Kyiv officials reported the attack on Friday, adding it was unknown if there were any casualties.

'Today at around 4.30 p.m, the Russian occupiers launched a missile strike on the territory of the Air Force Command in Vinnytsia,' the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram.

It posted an image of the alleged centre in rubble and said missiles had hit 'several buildings, causing significant damage to infrastructure'.

When Russia unleashed its multi-pronged invasion on February 24, a swift toppling of Ukraine and its democratically elected government seemed likely.

But as Wednesday marked four full weeks of fighting, Russia has been bogged down in a grinding military campaign with no sign of progress.

The slow Russian advance has seemingly taken the Kremlin by surprise, and Western officials have said that Moscow made a 'catastrophic miscalculation'.

Russia attempted to re-frame its war goals in a way that may make it easier for Putin to claim a face-saving victory despite a woeful campaign in which his army has suffered humiliating setbacks, military analysts say.

Ukraine has disabled 20 Russian battalions, Western officials said today, as a Kremlin army chief hinted that Moscow may scale back its all-out attack on its neighbour and instead focus on 'liberating' the eastern Donbas region. Pictured: (L-R) Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, hold a briefing on Russian military action in Ukraine, in Moscow on March 25, 2022

In a potentially significant shift in Moscow's tactics, Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of Russia's armed forces, said the first phase of its campaign was over and its troops would now focus on the 'liberation' of the Donbas region in Ukraine's east.

Rudskoi said the shift was possible because 'the combat potential of Ukraine's armed forces has been significantly reduced which allows (us) - I emphasise once again - to focus our main efforts on achieving the main goal - the liberation of Donbas.'

The Donbas is the largely Russian-speaking eastern part of the country where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 and where many residents have expressed support for Moscow.

In the eight years of fighting, at least 14,000 people have been killed in the region.

Rudskoi claimed Russian forces had 'practically' destroyed Ukraine's air force and anti-aircraft defences as well as the navy.

But Rudskoi's comments were contradicted by Ukraine and Britain's Ministry of Defence, which said Russian forces were being pushed back.

'Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of Kyiv,' Britain's defence ministry said in a daily update.

In the south, logistical problems and Ukrainian resistance are slowing the Russians as they look to drive west toward the port of Odesa, the ministry added.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba indicated no let-up in his country's refusal to accede to Russian demands after what he termed 'very difficult' talks with Moscow.

'We insist, first of all, on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine,' he said.

A cyclist rides past by houses destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2022

And while Mariupol and other places are now charred ruins, Western systems including shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles have helped Ukraine's armed forces hold their line - and increasingly to go on the offensive.

'Obviously they have completely failed in everything they've set out to do and so now they are redefining what the purpose is so they can declare victory,' Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. army forces in Europe who now works for the Center for European Policy Analysis, said of Russia's latest update.

'Clearly they do not have the ability to continue sustained large-scale offensive operations... Their logistics problems have been apparent to everybody, they've got serious manpower issues and the resistance has been way beyond anything they could have possibly imagined.'

A Western official said Russia's failure to organise so far has been 'remarkable', pouring scorn on the claims that it had achieved the main military objectives.

They said that losses had been 'really high' in some areas. At the outset 115-120 battalion tactical groups were in the Russian force, but 20 battalions were now not thought to be 'combat effective' and had been withdrawn, either because repairs were needed to vehicles or because of massive losses.

In some instances three battalions had been merged together to redeploy.

A Russian battalion typically consists of approximately 600 to 800 officers and soldiers, 200 of which are infantrymen equipped with around 10 tanks and 40 infantry fighting vehicles - such as armoured troop carriers.

A NATO official estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, and added that between 30,000 to 40,000 Russian soldiers are estimated to have been killed or wounded in total.

By comparison, Moscow lost about 15,000 soldiers in Afghanistan over 10 years.
Two people were killed on Friday when a helicopter suffered a mid-air breakup near Dallas and came plunging to earth in a fiery crash.

The helicopter crashed about 11.30am into a vacant lot on a busy commercial strip along Texas 66 in Rowlett, killing the pilot and another person on board, but leaving no one on the ground injured.

Because the doomed chopper came down in a busy area during the lunch-hour rush, there were multiple witnesses, and video shows the aircraft's tail rotor tumbling to earth separately from the body.

Police said the two victims were both adults and were not related to each other, but their identities have not been released pending notification of their families.

The body (right) and tail rotor (left) were seen falling to earth separately in this video taken by an eye-witness, which will prove valuable to NTSB and FAA officials investigating the crash

The helicopter crashed about 11.30am into a vacant lot on a busy commercial strip along Texas 66 in Rowlett, killing the pilot and another person on board

Bystanders attempted to render aide, but the fire raging in the wreckage made any rescue attempt impossible

The helicopter was owned by Sky Helicopters in Garland, and was on a training flight when it came down, according to KDFW-TV.

The private company offers helicopter tours of Dallas, flight training, and also contracts with several local television stations to provide aerial news coverage.

Sky Helicopters did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com on Friday afternoon.

FAA records show the chopper was a 2016 Robinson R-44 Rotorcraft, which retails for about about $475,000.

The R-44 is the best-selling civilian helicopter in the world, but has a long history of deadly crashes, according to a 2018 Los Angeles Times investigation. Privately held Robinson Helicopter company disputed those findings.

The body of the helicopter that crashed on Friday landed in an empty field surrounded by several businesses, while the tail section landed on a nearby storage business.

The main body landed in a vacant lot, just narrowly missing nearby businesses

Witnesses reported seeing the helicopter's tail rotor break midair, sending the aircraft into an uncontrollable spin before it crashed and burst into flames

'I heard an explosion, and a few seconds later, I saw the helicopter hit the ground. I jumped out, it was already in a ball of fire, I jumped out and tried to get him out, but it was too late,' Philip Herndon told the local Fox affiliate.

Other bystanders attempted to render aide, but the fire raging in the wreckage made any rescue attempt impossible.

'You could see people getting close, you could see them back away shielding themselves, because it was just so hot,' John Rangle told the station.

'It was nothing they could do to save them, unfortunately.'

Witnesses reported seeing the helicopter's tail rotor break midair, sending the aircraft into an uncontrollable spin before it crashed and burst into flames, said Rowlett police Detective Cruz Hernandez.

The FAA interviewed witnesses on Friday afternoon and NTSB investigators are due to arrive early Saturday morning to survey the damage

No one else was reported injured in the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

The FAA interviewed witnesses on Friday afternoon and NTSB investigators are due to arrive early Saturday morning to survey the damage.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner removed the remains of the two victims from the burned wreckage.

The investigation continues.
Cases of potential malpractice at scandal-hit NHS maternity units continue to emerge, lawyers have warned on the eve of a bombshell report into the crisis.

More than 1,800 families suffered trauma through the death or serious injury of their baby  or in some cases the mother  at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in the two decades up to 2019 in Britains worst maternity scandal.

A damning interim report by independent midwife Donna Ockenden in December 2020 highlighted a litany of cultural and clinical failures at the Shropshire trust in which mothers were routinely blamed for baby deaths.

Katie Wilkinss unborn baby girl died after busy midwives left the mum-to-be in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her

But despite the attentions of NHS regulators on the trust, lawyers are still being contacted over alleged cases of labour ward malpractice.

Clinical negligence lawyer Beth Heath said her firm is dealing with six potential cases dating from 2020 and another two from last year involving alleged poor maternity care at the trust, which runs hospitals in Telford and Shrewsbury.

Forgotten for 48 hours Katie Wilkinss unborn baby girl died after busy midwives left the mum-to-be in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her. Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived at the over-stretched Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to be induced in February 2013. But there were no beds available and instead Miss Wilkins claims she was forgotten in a side room for more than two days, and only visited by staff a handful of times. When a midwife checked her progress, the babys heartbeat could not be found. Miss Wilkinss daughter, Maddie, was delivered stillborn the following day  two and a half days after she was admitted. Last night the 26-year-old said she hoped the report would be the first step to getting justice for her daughter. Advertisement

Her firm received dozens of calls from worried patients after a BBC Panorama documentary on the scandal last month.

The full report will be released on Wednesday and will cover issues uncovered throughout all 1,862 cases of the scandal, the burgeoning extent of which was first exposed by the Daily Mail four years ago. The report is expected to name individual staff members.

Mrs Heath, head of clinical negligence at Lanyon Bowdler in Shrewsbury, said: Over a two-year period eight cases in any ordinary trust might not be unexpected.

But after everything that has gone on in Shropshire, its a worry... In my experience people dont come forward straight away so I would expect that number to rise. Of the eight most recent cases  which are outside the scope of the Ockenden review  two relate to birth injuries, three are maternal injuries and three are neo-natal deaths.

The lawyer said she has had her own baby since questions started being asked about the trust, but despite living in the area, had travelled outside it to give birth.

That was a deliberate choice because of everything I have learnt during this period, she said.

Mrs Heath acknowledged that changes are now starting to bear fruit at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, but added: It is not going to be a quick fix.

There is a complete lack of trust in the community  and I can say that speaking as a local person  but we all want to see the improvements happen.

The scandal grew after Jeremy Hunt, health secretary at the time, commissioned Mrs Ockenden to examine what started out as a suspicious cluster of 23 incidents at the trust in 2017.

The interim Ockenden Report into 250 clinical cases highlighted a recurring failure by staff to properly monitor a babys heart rate  something first identified as an issue within the trust in 2007.

It shed light on a natural birth culture, excessive use of forceps and repeated misuse of a labour-inducing drug and a lack of compassion.

Lawyer Laura Preston, of Slater and Gordon, likened the scandal to events at Mid Staffordshire  where up to 1,200 patients died needlessly between 2005 and 2009. She said: I have never seen a situation where there has been an issue for so long in the same trust.

A trust spokesman said: We take full responsibility for the failings in the standards of care within our maternity services and we offer our sincere apologies.

An investigation by West Mercia police is ongoing.
A man with 'criminally insane' inked on the back of his head has been jailed after killing his brother at his niece's birthday party.

Darren Adcock, 30, died from a catastrophic brain injury in a coward punch attack by his older brother Christopher John Adcock, 39.

The 30-year-old and father-of-two had planned to have his brother as best man at his upcoming wedding before his life support was switched off on April 3.

Christopher John Adcock, 39, (pictured) killed his younger brother in a one-punch attack at a child's birthday party in Landsborough on Queensland's Sunshine Coast

Christopher was a habitually violent offender on parole when he punched his brother from behind at their niece's birthday on March 11, 2021, at Landsborough on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

On Friday, Adcock pleaded guilty to unlawful striking causing death, domestic violence offence and wilful damage at Brisbane Supreme Court.

The court heard Adcock believed Darren owed him money and began sending him threatening texts in the lead up to the attack, reported The Courier Mail.

Darren had blocked his number and had previously taken a domestic violence order against his brother.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer O'Brien said weeks later at his niece's birthday Adcock had approached his brother from behind and punched him with a right-hook to the head.

The blow rendered the father-of-two unconscious before his head forcefully hit the concrete path.

Darren Adcock, 30, (pictured) died from a catastrophic brain injury and had his life support switched off on April 3

Adcock appeared remorseful at the scene before fleeing to Rockhampton where he attempted to injure a police dog during a confrontation with police.

In a victim impact statement Sharlene Martin, Adcock's sister, said her older brother was supposed to protect the family but is now its 'biggest destroyer'.

'You have not only taken the life of your younger brother but the life of your family,' a tearful Ms Martin said.

She said taking Darren's sons, aged three and four, to a palliative care facility to say goodbye to their father was the most difficult part.

Darren (pictured) was attacked by his brother from behind in a one-punch attack at his niece's birthday party on March 11

'(Dad) stayed there day and night watching his son die,' she said as Adcock stared at his sister without emotion.

Mother Cheryl Adcock said in a victim impact statement she had lost two sons and the attack has left them a 'broken family'.

'We live broken and empty with now a broken family and you are the one who caused it all,' she said.

Emma Mollet, Darren's fiancee, told the court her family's life had been broken by a violent selfish act.

Adcock's barrister Nicholas Brown said his client had shown remorse through his early guilty plea and didn't want to put his family through more pain.

Justice David Boddice noted his criminal history was littered with violent offences, some of which included torture.

'You are a perpetrator of violence in a whole array of occasions, many of which are totally senseless,' he said.

Mr Boddice said he would now have to live with the actions of his consequences and had caused his family 'life long pain and devastation'.

Adcock was sentenced to 10 years prison and must serve at least 80 per cent of his jail time before he is released.
A four-year-old Tasmanian girl found after spending two nights in remote bushland is well despite a few bruises, scratches and bites, her relieved mum says.

Shayla Phillips was located about a kilometre from where she was last seen on the Tasman Peninsula, on Friday afternoon.

About 100 people were involved in the search and as rescue crews feared she would have to spend another night in the open, the pre-schooler was found just after 4pm.

State Emergency Service crews conducting a close-to-ground search spotted her on a steep slope in dense bushland near Halls Rd in Stormlea.

'I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart with everything I have that I am currently sitting here with my precious baby girl with a few bruises scratches bites and a urine infection after spending over 48 hours alone in the Bush,' mum Bianca Page posted on Facebook.

'A huge big thankyou to the SES Tasmania, Police Victorian officers, ambulance and all the locals of the peninsula, my friends and family and ... the whole of Tasmania.'

Shayla's mother Bianca Page (pictured with an exhausted Shayla after she was found) posted a thank you to Facebook: 'I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart with everything I have that I am currently sitting here with my precious baby girl with a few bruises scratches bites and a urine infection,' she wrote

Shayla Phillips was located about a kilometre from where she was last seen on the Tasman Peninsula on Friday afternoon

State Emergency Service crews conducting a close-to-ground search spotted the four-year-old on a steep slope in dense bushland near Halls Rd in Stormlea, Tasmania

Police officer Inspector Gavin Hallett says Shayla was able to walk but appeared disoriented and officers reunited her with her mother as soon as they could.

'It was obviously very emotional when I passed the happy news on to mum. She was very grateful,' he told reporters on Friday.

She was then taken to hospital in Hobart by ambulance.

The area where she was found was about 500 metres from the nearest home and had previously been searched from the air but not on foot.

A man shakes the hand of a police officer after Shayla was found on Friday afternoon

'We've said all along this was a search and rescue operation ... We knew that if we just kept pressing away we would find her,' Police officer Inspector Gavin Hallett said of the search for Shayla

Insp Hallett said he knew search crews, combing their way through dense bushland, simply had to persevere.

'We've said all along this was a search and rescue operation ... We knew that if we just kept pressing away we would find her,' he said.

Thermal imaging drones, helicopters, divers and police sniffer dogs were involved in the search.

Shayla had been playing outside with dogs from a neighbouring property when she went missing.

Late on Friday, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said the news was heartwarming and thanked everyone who helped.
The right to express an opinion  even one that offends or upsets  is a cornerstone of any liberal democracy.

Unconstrained debate, the engagement with conflicting ideas, the exchange of challenging views in the pursuit of knowledge  these have propelled our nation forward.

Yet two centuries after the Age of Enlightenment, this great tradition is rapidly being replaced by a pernicious culture of dogmatism and censorship. Depressingly, free speech is under attack as never before in modern times.

We are in danger of sleepwalking back into a dark era of Puritanism, where an intolerant, self-appointed mob silences those who express uncomfortable opinions and question the woke orthodoxy.

On topics from gender and race to Brexit, heritage and history, anyone who openly disagrees with the warped worldview of this Left-wing thought police is treated as a dangerous heretic who must be punished.

The Prime Minister (pictured on Thursday) made waves with a laudable foray into the transgender debate, saying openly that men and women are biologically different. To the vast majority of Britain, thats simple common sense

Transgressors are metaphorically burned at the stake  marginalised, demonised, cancelled.

The roll call of victims is endless. Novelist Sir Philip Pullman hounded out as Society of Authors president for supporting a colleague accused of racial stereotyping... JK Rowling attacked for defending womens rights against transgender militants ... eminent Oxford professor Nigel Biggar victimised for daring to suggest the British Empire was not all bad

Naturally, the woke brigade doesnt confine its self-righteous ire to the famous and distinguished. Many ordinary people are also paying the price for holding the wrong views  losing their jobs or official posts, even probed by police. The repercussions for society of this witch-hunt are profoundly chilling.

People become frightened to express opinions  even those they know to be true  for fear of being smeared as racists, bigots or transphobes. Ideology, however distorted, triumphs over reality.

So the Mail wholeheartedly welcomes Dominic Raabs pledge to launch a free speech revolution. Invoking the spirit of free expression champions such as John Stuart Mill, the Justice Secretary will strengthen safeguards for people to speak their minds.

By replacing Labours loathed Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, free speech will become a legal trump card, preventing the malign closing down of debate.

As Mr Raab says in these pages: The parameters of free speech and democratic debate are being whittled away, whether by the privacy issue or whether its wokery and political correctness. Crucially, it will also protect the ability of the Press to investigate corruption, injustice and hypocrisy without fear of being muzzled by the wealthy.

(And while vowing to defend free speech, shouldnt the Government revisit the Online Safety Bill which, while striving to tackle harmful internet content, threatens to stifle debate by giving censorship powers to social media firms?)

Novelist Sir Philip Pullman (above) was hounded out as Society of Authors president for supporting a colleague accused of racial stereotyping

Still, this blueprint for a freer Britain is a fine start. But Boris Johnson should use it as a launch pad to prosecute a ferocious war on woke.

The Prime Minister made waves with a laudable foray into the transgender debate, saying openly that men and women are biologically different. To the vast majority of Britain, thats simple common sense.

Yet shifty Sir Keir Starmer refuses to define what a woman is for fear of upsetting a tiny but shrill minority of activists. How can voters possibly trust a politician who cannot even acknowledge the most basic realities of human biology?

The truth is, with its focus on woke obsessions which are of microscopic interest to 99.9per cent of people, Labour is spectacularly out of sync with working and middle-class voters.

Yet such insurgent ideologies are sweeping at breakneck speed through institutions, from Whitehall and town halls to universities and the NHS.

The Mail wholeheartedly welcomes Dominic Raabs pledge to launch a free speech revolution. Invoking the spirit of free expression champions such as John Stuart Mill, the Justice Secretary will strengthen safeguards for people to speak their minds

How else would a British hospital put itself in the despicable position of telling police that a patient could not have been raped because there were no males on the ward (the alleged attacker was in fact transgender)?

How else could male-bodied transsexual prisoner Karen White be transferred to a female jail, where fellow prisoners were sexually assaulted?

In the salons of the metropolitan bien pensant, such changes may be satisfyingly right-on. To millions of ordinary people (not least the women who want single-sex spaces) they are deranged.

Of course, every single person believes in protecting the rights of minorities, who should be treated with sensitivity and care.

And the limits of decency and the law must be respected even by the most ardent of free-speech advocates.

But we must not let freedom of expression be eroded by screaming, ignorant mobs, terrified of open debate, who spew bile and try to cancel anyone failing to adhere to their politically correct groupthink.

In the past decade, successive Conservative governments have lost their way by paying too much heed to the self-appointed gatekeepers of isms and phobias.

If ministers stand up to them, they wont just be safeguarding a cornerstone of our democracy. They may find it a winner at the ballot box.
The Kremlin has accused the US of trying to divert attention from its own biological weapons programme by raising fears Russia could use them.

The US funds research in Ukraine into the dismantling of weapons of mass destruction at 46 laboratories.

But Russia claimed yesterday this could be used for offensive purposes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured in December 2020)said the US is trying to divert attention away from the chemical and biological weapons programmes it has been carrying out in various countries, including Ukraine

Meanwhile, concerns are growing that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine. It used the same tactic to sickening effect in Syria.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US is trying to divert attention away from the chemical and biological weapons programmes it has been carrying out in various countries, including Ukraine.

Some believe Russia is considering a false flag operation  giving the impression that Ukraine is using chemical weapons to justify such an attack.

US President Joe Biden denies the US is running a chemical weapons project in Europe.
Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, has been identified as the general sacked earlier this week by Vladimir Putin.

It has been reported his abrupt dismissal was due to the heavy losses and strategic failures seen during the Russian military's month-long invasion of its neighbour.

He was identified by a Western official on Friday who also named the seven Russian generals they said had so far been killed in the 30 days since the Russian president ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24.

The latest to die, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, was a commander of Russia's 49th Combined Arms Army in its southern military district, the official disclosed.

The sixth Russian commander killed since the invasion began was said to have been Colonel Yuri Medvedev, who was brutally taken out by mutinous soldiers after their 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses.

Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, has been identified as the general sacked earlier this week by the Kremlin

Pictured: A charred Russian tank, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on the front line in the Kyiv region, March 20, 2022

A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Russian artillery system 'Grad', in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022

The Western official claimed the commander had been killed by his own troops, 'as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade'.

'We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,' the official said, noting he was 'run over'.

He added it was a further sign of 'morale challenges that Russian forces are having'.

'They really have found themselves in a hornet's nest and they're suffering really badly,' the official said.

Among the others said to have been killed is General Magomed Tushaev, of the Chechen Special Forces deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

Another is believed to have been Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, commander of the army's 49th combined arms division, who became the fifth general to be killed after being taken out in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Rezantsev, who bragged on just the fourth day of the war that it would be over in a matter of hours, was apparently killed after the Ukrainian army destroyed the commanding post of the 49th Russian Army in southern Ukraine.

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol while Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Meanwhile Major-General Andrey Kolesnikov, Commander of the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Division, was also killed in fighting on March 11.

Major-General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3.

Pictured: A still grab from a video allegedly showing Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev being stretchered into a hospital after suffering severe injuries to his legs. A Ukrainian journalist has claimed that Medvedev was run over by a tank driven by his own soldier

Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, commander of the army's 49th combined arms division, was killed in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces, sources in Kyiv said

Major-General Andrey Kolesnikov (left), Commander of the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Division, was also killed in fighting on March 11 and Major-General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, (right) was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, (left) commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol while Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (right) was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv

The number of both rank-and-file Russian troops and senior officers allegedly killed in the month-long war has shocked Western military and security officials.

It has been blamed in part on communications and logistics issues, leading senior officers to use unencrypted channels which has exposed them to Ukrainian forces.

Putin is thought to have planned for a short and sharp invasion lasting only a few days, aimed at decapitating the government and installing a puppet regime. Instead he has found himself sucked into a hugely demanding war of attrition.

The Kremlin claimed Friday that just over 1,300 military personnel have died in the war, but estimates of four or five times that number are seen as credible in Western capitals.

Officials there believe around 20 of the 115-120 battalion tactical groups deployed by Moscow in Ukraine are 'no longer combat effective' due to the losses sustained.

'After a month of operations to have somewhere in the region of perhaps a sixth... of the forces being no longer combat effective - that's a pretty remarkable set of statistics,' the Western official said.

A Russian battalion typically consists of approximately 600 to 800 officers and soldiers, 200 of which are infantrymen equipped with around 10 tanks and 40 infantry fighting vehicles - such as armoured troop carriers.

Despite mobilising a force of between 150,000 and 200,000 Russian troops, Moscow has failed to anticipate anything other than weak resistance by the Ukrainian forces - likely owing to Russian intelligence failures.

A senior NATO military officer said the alliance estimates that Russia has suffered between 30,000 and 40,000 battlefield casualties in Ukraine through the first month of the war, including between 7,000 and 15,000 killed.

Blunders early on in the campaign including poor planning and logistics that saw vehicles stall due to breakdowns, run out of fuel and get bogged down in mud are thought to be behind the eye-watering officer death toll - as commanders were forced to the front to fix the problems before being picked off by Ukrainians.

In a potentially significant shift, the Russian army said the first phase of its campaign was over and its troops would now focus on the 'liberation' of the Russian-speaking Donbas region in Ukraine's east.

Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of Russia's armed forces, said the shift was possible because 'the combat potential of Ukraine's armed forces has been significantly reduced'.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, however, indicated no let-up in his country's refusal to accede to Russian demands after what he termed 'very difficult' talks with Moscow.

'We insist, first of all, on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine,' he said.

And while Mariupol and other places are now charred ruins, Western systems including shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles have helped Ukraine's armed forces hold their line - and increasingly to go on the offensive.

'Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometres (22 miles) east of Kyiv,' Britain's defence ministry said in a daily update.

Further east, Russian strikes targeting a medical facility in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv killed four civilians and wounded several others, police said.

A cyclist rides past by houses destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2022

A local resident points at an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 25, 2022

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said Friday that about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike last week blew up a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering - a catastrophic loss of civilian life that, if confirmed, is likely to further crank up pressure on Western nations to step up military aid.

In a vain attempt to protect those inside from missile and airstrikes that Russia has rained down on cities, an enormous inscription reading 'CHILDREN' in Russian had been posted outside the grand, columned theater to make it visible from the air.

For days, the government in the besieged ruins of Mariupol was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 attack.

The post on its Telegram channel Friday cited eyewitnesses, but it was not immediately clear whether emergency workers had finished excavating the theater ruins or how witnesses arrived at the horrific figure of lives lost.

Still, the emerging picture of gruesome casualties could refocus attention on the refusal thus far of countries from the NATO alliance to supply warplanes or fly patrols to protect Ukraine's airspace, despite repeated pleas from the country's embattled president.

The scale of devastation in Mariupol, where bodies have laid unburied amid bomb craters and buildings have been hollowed out by relentless attacks, have made information difficult to obtain.

But soon after the attack, the Ukrainian Parliament's human rights commissioner said more than 1,300 people had taken cover in the theater, many of them because their homes were destroyed in Russia's siege. The building had a basement bomb shelter, and some survivors did emerge from the rubble after the attack.

The new reported death toll came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden and allied leaders promised that more military aid for Ukraine was coming.

But they stopped short of providing the heavy weaponry that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said is urgently needed. NATO nations fear that providing planes, tanks and the no-fly zone in Ukraine's airspace could increase the risk of them being drawn into direct conflict with Russia.

The U.S. and the European Union on Friday did announce a move to further squeeze Russia economically: a partnership to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy and slowly dry up the billions of dollars the Kremlin gets from sales of fossil fuels.
Australian politician Bob Katter said removal of croc was win for commonsense

Kowanyama's Mayor says the animal's removal is a 'relief for the community'

Crocodiles which measure more than four metres long are considered 'iconic'

'good sized' saltwater c rocodile in far north Queensland

A huge 'iconic' crocodile that chased terrified children up a tree at a remote Queensland community swimming area has been shot dead.

The February incident, which generated international headlines for locals living at Cape York in far North Queensland, saw calls for the feared reptile to be removed permanently.

They got their wish this week, with Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers killing the saltwater crocodile following a call from Robbie Sands, the mayor of Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire.

Some locals were unimpressed at the development, but Australian politician Bob Katter, the Federal Member for Kennedy, felt it was a win for common sense.

'When a crocodile kills you it's one of the most cruel deaths you could ever have  there's terror and there's pain,' he said.

A huge 'iconic' crocodile that chased terrified children up a tree in a remote Queensland community last month has been shot dead by rangers

The move angered some locals, but Australian politician Bob Katter, the MP for Kennedy, felt it was a win for common sense with large numbers of crocodiles in the area for many years

'How can you not get upset when a little child is torn to pieces, in the most cruel manner humanly possible.'

Mr Katter also called out protection legislation of the reptiles, which has seen crocodiles explode in terms of increased numbers across the region.

In his eyes, the flow on effect has seen parks and playgrounds in far North Queensland 'taken away' due to the actions of 'city imbeciles', Yahoo reported.

Katter also believes far more people have been taken by crocs than the reported figures.

The children cheated death last month after the croc chased them out of the water from popular community swimming spot Magnificent Creek near Kowanyama.

Aged between 11 and 14, the youngsters were eventually rescued by local police.

Locals who opposed the shooting of the crocodile pointed to the fact the animal was 'only' 3.5 metres in length.

Larger crocs measuring up to four metres are considered iconic under Queensland conservation law.

The Department of Environment and Science confirmed the crocodile located by rangers was a 'good size' at 3.5 metres long.

'Due to the crocodile's size and its immediate proximity within the town, adjacent to recreational areas, it presented a high risk to community safety,' the statement read, according to the ABC.

'The animal was declared a problem crocodile and, as there was no other option to remove the animal safely, it was humanely euthanised.'
Her mother and stepfather flew to South America this month ahead of wedding

Served three years behind bars, met her partner after she was released in 2020

Sainsbury was caught with 5.8kg of cocaine as she tried to board a flight in 2017

Convicted Australian drug dealer 'Cocaine Cassie' Sainsbury has married her girlfriend in Colombia.

Ms Sainsbury, 26, who was caught with 5.8kg of cocaine in her luggage at Bogota Airport in April 2017, met her partner, IT whiz Tatiana, soon after she was released from the El Buen Pastor jail in 2020.

She took to Instagram on Saturday to post a selfie with the added hashtag #justmarried.

Earlier this month, Ms Sainsbury was reunited with her mother Lisa Evans in Colombia for the first time in four years ahead of her wedding.

Ms Sainsbury, 26, and her then fiancee Tatiana met her mum and her husband Nick Evans at El Dorado Airport in Bogota - with the Australian couple witnessing the exchanging of wedding vows overnight.

The emotional Bogota airport reunion was where Ms Sainsbury was nabbed with the 5.8kg haul of cocaine in her luggage as she attempted to board a flight to London.

Convicted Australian drug dealer 'Cocaine' Cassie Sainsbury (pictured right) has married her IT whiz girlfriend Tatiana (left) in Colombia

Sainsbury, 26, confirmed she had exchanged vows with Tatiana (pictured) in a Instagram post to her 15,000 plus followers

She spent almost three years in El Buen Pastor jail for her crime and is unable to leave Colombia because she is completing her sentence on bail after getting an early release due to Covid almost two years ago.

Ms Sainsbury currently lives with Tatiana at an apartment in the Chapinero suburb of Bogota.

Last November, she showed off her glitzy engagement ring as she opened up about Tatiana and made plans to return to Australia after the years locked up in a torrid Colombian prison.

Ms Sainsbury shared the news of her previous engagement to her 15,000 Instagram followers, posting a photo proudly posing with her ring.

'So hard to choose a wedding dress,' she wrote. 'Yes people I'm engaged.'

In celebration of her upcoming nuptials she posted a series of photos with Tatiana, a 33-year-old computer technician from Bogota who she met through mutual friends on May 26, 2021.

They couple plan to live between Colombia and Australia once Sainsbury is able to return to her home country.

'It was a really unexpected relationship,' Ms Sainsbury told Daily Mail Australia from Bogota.

'We had shared a group of friends and one night we went out for a birthday and we literally hit it off.'

After a short romance, Ms Sainsbury said Tatiana further surprised her by proposing to her last year during a getaway to Cartagena on the Colombian coast.

'She put a ring on it!' Ms Sainsbury said of the engagement. 'She'd been planning for a while trying to find a ring that she thought was perfect for me and in the end she found it.

Sainsbury shared the news of her engagement last year to her 15,000 Instagram followers, posting a photo proudly posing with her ring (pictured)

Sainsbury (pictured) spent three years in Bogota's El Buen Pastor prison after she was convicted for smuggling 5.8kg of cocaine into the country in April of 2017

'She took me to Cartagena and organised a small, romantic dinner at a cosy little restaurant on the beachfront. She asked me to marry her there.'

In July last year Ms Sainsbury told Daily Mail Australia her new lover was unaware of her past and why she had been headline news in Australia, but that has now changed.

'I shared everything with her about everything,' she revealed.

'Basically [Tatiana] said she wasn't going to judge me on my past, she was really mature about the whole situation.

'I feel like I'm the happiest I've ever been. It's nice to feel like I can be myself with no judgement from someone who is always there for me.'

Ms Sainsbury said she wants to return to her hometown of Adelaide as soon as possible but delays in the Colombian legal system caused by the incursion of Covid-19 into the country mean she is still waiting on the decision of a judge before she is allowed to return home.

Cassie Sainsbury became headline news in Australia when she was caught with 5.8kg of cocaine in April of 2017 in Colombia

Sainsbury (pictured being escorted to a court hearing in Bogota in 2017) became engaged to a fellow female inmate, Joli Pico, while in prison, before her current relationship with Tatiana

'We'll get married and then the plan is to go back home for a while, sort things out there, see my family and then make a decision about what the big plan will be,' she said.

'She's never been to Australia. We'll probably end up between Australia and Colombia because obviously her family is here so it will be like, some time here, some time there type of thing.'

Ms Sainsbury, whose Australian accent has been transformed by a Latin lilt after her four-and-a-half years in Colombia, has undergone many changes since her arrest in April 2017 when cocaine packaged inside 18 headphone boxes was found in her suitcase.

Coming out as gay is one such change.

Ms Sainsbury became engaged to a fellow female inmate, Joli Pico, while in prison, before her current relationship with Tatiana once she'd been released.

'It has always been something there,' she said of her attraction to women. 'I had relationships like that [in Australia]...but not as serious,' she said.

'Tatiana said she wasn't going to judge me on my past, she was really mature about the whole situation' Sainsbury said of her new love

Ms Sainsbury said the lowest point of her whole ordeal since she was first arrested was when she became seriously ill with bacteria in her stomach while inside El Buen Pastor prison.

'When I became sick I was taken out of prison into hospital and that is what saved me,' she said.

While in prison she was locked in a two-metre by two-metre cell with up to five other inmates and says she still has nightmares about it.

Ms Sainsbury said she is focused on putting her past behind her rather than trying to prove the claims she made in a 60 Minutes program in April 2020 that pressure from a Brazilian drug lord had caused her to undertake the cocaine smuggling mission.

She claimed back then that a mysterious man named 'Angelo Sanchez' allegedly threatened to kill her mother and then-boyfriend, Scott Broadbridge, unless she committed the crime.

Sainsbury was just 22-years-old when she was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine hidden in her luggage at Bogota airport (pictured, arriving for a court hearing in Bogota in 2017)

'I want to move forward but trust me there are still days where I ask myself, 'why me?'' she said in a recent interview

'I want to move forward but trust me there are still days where I ask myself, 'why me?',' she stated.

'I feel like if I keep trying to bring up the past, I'm never going to be able to move forward. I just want to be able to put all this behind me and live a normal life.'

But Ms Sainsbury said she does take note of the perceptions Australians have about her.

'I still care. Believe it or not, the comments people make obviously affect me,' she confessed.

'I try not to let it affect me too much, I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about me. I can't tell someone not to have their own opinion.'

Sainsbury said the perception of her by Australians does affect her. 'I'm not sure what to expect, to be honest,' she said of returning to her home country

'I feel like if I keep trying to bring up the past, I'm never going to be able to move forward. I just want to be able to put all this behind me and live a normal life, Sainsbury said, pictured above at the time of her arrest in Colombia in April 2017

She said she is concerned about whether she will be able to readjust to life in Australia, where she has said she wishes to establish a personal training business and is open to reality television offers.

'I'm not sure what to expect, to be honest,' she said.

A love of Colombian culture and people was one of the positive things to come from her experience since she'd been out of prison, Ms Sainsbury added.

'Through everything I went through, I learnt to take the best out of the experience I could... meeting new people, maturing, learning more about myself,' she said.

'To make it feel like it was not a complete loss of time, using what I learnt from the experience to become the person I've become.'
Four days into the invasion, Ukraine started issuing old-fashioned war bonds to finance military action.

Now it is trying a very modern initiative  raising funds by selling NFTs based on key events of the war with Russia so far.

NFTs or non-fungible tokens are unique computer files that act as a digital certificate of ownership for anything from a song to a work of art.

All the money raised will go to support the army and civilians of Ukraine. Launching the collection, Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted: While Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech.

Hope: The NFT celebrating a mother who gave birth in subway

Global support: the NFT showing Boris Johnsons tweet and the flags of the G7 nations

A total of 54 NFTs will be listed covering the first three days of the invasion and will go on sale early next week.

Entitled Meta History: Museum Of War, each will show a substantial event with an illustration by an artist.

One relates to a mother giving birth in a Kyiv subway, while another features Boris Johnsons tweet calling for a Nato summit.
A Ukrainian government advisor today claimed that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has had a heart attack after being blamed by his ally Vladimir Putin for the failure of the invasion to meet its goals.

Anton Gerashchenko, who works in the Ukrainian interior ministry, wrote on Facebook that Shoigu - who has not been seen in public since March 11 - suffered the medical episode after a confrontation with Putin.

The Kremlin has been accused of faking a video showing Shoigu on a video call with Putin on 24 March.

It came as the Kremlin last night said in a briefing that Moscow may scale back its attack on its neighbour and instead focus on 'liberating' the eastern Donbas region - as Western intelligence says Russia's advance has stalled and it has lost 20 battlions with seven generals killed.

Gerashchenko said: 'Shoigu's heart attack happened after a tough accusation by Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine'.

Shoigu, who is in charge of the bloody invasion of Ukraine, vanished and has not been seen in public since March 11, fuelling speculation about his whereabouts.

In the footage released on Thursday by state-run RIA news agency, an image of Shoigu mysteriously appears on the top left-hand corner of a video split screen set up in front of Putin as the Russian President spoke to his Security Conference.

In the moments before an image of Shoigu appears, his screen is black and the image shakes about for a few seconds - despite all of the other officials appearing clearly on the screen from the beginning of the call.

The clip did not contain audio nor did it show Shoigu speaking.

The release of the footage comes amid reports Shoigu and Putin's relationship has become strained after Russia's military operation in Ukraine has led to more than 15,000 Russian troops being killed.

Moscow today released dubious footage claiming to show Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting if top officials after vanishing from public view for 13 days

Video, released by Russian state media, purports to show Shoigu (top left corner) on the Zoom call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday - but questions have been raised over whether his appearance is a recording of old footage

Vladimir Putin has started a witch-hunt among his inner circle and has grown wary of close allies, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured together), after the US and Britain received leaks of his military plans

Meanwhile, Shoigu's younger daughter Ksenia, 31, was seen posing in the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow in a photo posted online.

The Kremlin has been accused of using old footage and pictures of Shoigu on TV after he vanished from public view.

It comes after it was revealed Putin had started a witch-hunt among his inner circle and was growing wary of close allies after the US and Britain received leaks of his military plans.

In the moments before an image of Shoigu appears, his screen is black (pictured top left of the screen)

And the image shakes about for a few seconds - despite all of the other officials appearing clearly on the screen from the beginning of the call

In the footage released by state-run RIA news agency, an image of Shoigu mysteriously appears on the top left-hand corner of a video split screen set up in front of Putin as the Russian President spoke to his Security Conference

Shoigu's public appearances have been significantly curtailed in the past week, while his younger daughter Ksenia, 31, was seen posing in Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow (pictured)

Asked about Shoigu's whereabouts, the Kremlin said it was understandable that the defence minister was devoting less time to media appearances.

'The defence minister has a lot on his mind right now. A special military operation is under way. Now is not really the time for media activity,' spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Shoigu is a veteran of Russia's political landscape who rose to prominence as the head of the Emergencies Ministry in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On March 18, Shoigu, 66, was mentioned in a Kremlin website report saying he and Putin had discussed the 'the progress of the special operation in Ukraine' with permanent members of the security council. But videos and pictures were not shown.

On the same day, Channel One aired a story about Shoigu presenting awards, yet an image used with the report was the same as shown on March 11.

Earlier in the war he had been more visible, and frequently quoted. His circle said he was unwell - with heart problems, investigative news outlet Agentstvo was told by a source close to the minister.

Shoigu is seen as one of Putin's closest and most loyal allies.

However, strains have appeared over the conduct of the war with him and other leading army and security chiefs.

Despite mobilising a force of between 150,000 and 200,000 Russian troops, Moscow failed to anticipate anything other than weak resistance by the Ukrainian forces - likely owing to Russian intelligence failures.

A senior NATO military officer today said the alliance estimates that Russia has suffered between 30,000 and 40,000 battlefield casualties in Ukraine through the first month of the war, including between 7,000 and 15,000 killed.

In June last year his sister Larisa Shoigu, 68, died of Covid.

The Russian president is seeking out 'guilty men' behind his stalled invasion of Ukraine and is said to be 'incandescent' that the US and Britain have been privy to Moscow's military tactics.

Among those rousing suspicion is Putin's close ally Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, (pictured on holiday together) who is in charge of the bloody military operation in Ukraine which is believed to have led to more than 10,000 troops being killed, and mass civilian deaths

Sources said leaks, which have been passed by London and Washington to Kyiv, had been blamed as the reason Russia's top generals and elite forces have been targeted so effectively in Ukraine.

Sources say Putin has been dismissive in private of long-time ally Alexander Bortnikov, FSB security service head, and started snapping in meetings at Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff.

Bortnikov has been spoken of as a stand-in leader should Putin fall in a coup.

Another target of Putin's fury is Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed forces, who may face imminent removal as part of a wider purge.

Earlier ahead of the invasion he publicly humiliated SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin.

But Putin is reportedly more concerned with losses of military hardware - for which he has blamed Gerasimov - than more battlefield casualties.

A toll of 50,000 would be 'nothing compared to the goals that will be achieved after the victory', he is said to have told his commanders.

Some believe he is planning for a deal he will sell as a Ukrainian 'surrender' and a 'victory parade' in Moscow in early May.

'He is incandescent that US and UK intelligence appear to know the Russian army's next moves all the time, starting with predicting the invasion before he was ready to acknowledge it,' said one source.

Sources say Putin has been dismissive in private of long-time ally Alexander Bortnikov, FSB security service head, and started snapping in meetings at Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff (pictured)

Another target of Putin's fury is Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed forces, (pictured with Putin, first left) who may face imminent removal as part of a wider purge

Earlier ahead of the invasion he publicly humiliated SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin

The loss of more than a a dozen generals is seen as linked to these real time leaks of his military operation movements.

Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov said military counterintelligence is probing an FSB security service department.

Russian top military officials killed during invasion Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev

Major General Vitaly Gerasimov

Major General Andrei Kolesnikov

Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky

Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko

Colonel Sergei Porokhyna

Colonel Sergei Sukharev

Colonel Andrei Zakharov

Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky

Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov

Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov

Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov

Major Viktor Maksimchuk

General Magomed Tushaev

Captain Andrey Paliy

Captain Alexey Glushchak

Colonel Alexei Sharov Advertisement

'That could mean that, finally, people in Moscow started asking themselves why the US intelligence was so accurate,' he told The New Yorker.

'Military counterintelligence is mostly about mole-hunting, identifying the sources of leaks.

'So it looks like now Putin is getting angry, not only with bad intelligence and the bad performance in Ukraine but also about the sourcing of the US intelligence about the invasion, and why US intelligence was so good before the invasion, and why the Americans knew so many things about what was coming.'

He also believes Putin in blaming his underlings for 'the lack of popular support in Ukraine for the Russian troops', as if locals were expected to cheer the arrival of the invaders.

He said Putin's top brass are still too scared to tell him the truth.

'You have so many people now in jail, even people from the FSB. So if you think, from the point of view of a military general, is it really safe to say something to Putin that he would not like? I think it's a big challenge for them.'

The climate of fear means that intelligence on the scale of Ukraine's likely resistance to Russian invaders was hidden from Putin.

But Soldatov does not expect a move by his inner circle to assassinate Putin, despite the increasing hostile treatment they face.

'I think now Putin is almost in no danger,' he told ZDF Heute in Germany. 'He has two security services, who are primarily responsible for ensuring that nothing happens to Putin personally.

'We know that he himself is a former intelligence officer, who understands the different risks. He often claims that he successfully survived from 12 to 13 assassination attempts on his life. In this sense, everything is safe for him.'
Susan Smith, one of the most notorious prisoners in South Carolina's prison system, has been sending romantic letters to her boyfriend from the prison where she is serving a life sentence for drowning her two young sons in 1994.

Smith, now 50, has reportedly started a long-distance relationship with an unnamed man, with the hopes that the relationship will continue if she's released on parole in November 2024, a family member told People.

The man, a divorcee who reportedly works in home construction and has two adult children, was described as being in his 40s and living just outside the state capital of Columbia.

The mystery man allegedly wrote to Smith after seeing a documentary about her and her crimes.

Susan Smith (pictured in undated mugshot) is one of the most notorious prisoners in South Carolina's prison system

Susan Smith's mugshots when she was first arrested in 1994

She killed her sons; 3-year-old Michael Daniel Smith, born October 10, 1991, and 14-month-old Alexander Tyler Smith, born August 5, 1993

'They write letters all the time,' the family member told the outlet.

'They started about a year ago. Handwritten letters about what their future will be. She's very romantic like that, always wanting to find a happily ever after.'

In one letter obtained by the news outlet, Smith wrote that 'I hope I get to see you f2f [face to face] soon.'

In a second letter, she wrote 'I can't believe I can fall for someone I've never met.'

Smith has spent more than 26 years in a South Carolina jail for murdering 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex after a man she was having an affair with said he didn't want kids.

David and Susan Smith arrive at the Union County Sheriff's office in Union, South Carolina on October 27, 1994

Law enforcement officials, 1 clad in scuba gear, talking lakeside as they comb the water's bottom for the car of Susan Smith, who admitted to drowning her sons in John D. Long Lake

Toys & pics of Michael & Alex Smith at John D. Long Lake shore shrine, site of drowning murder of two boys by their mom Susan Smith (she said they were abducted)

Smith's boys disappeared on October 25, 1994.

That day, she told deputies they had been taken by an unidentified black man during a carjacking and she wept on national television as she and her husband David begged for their safe return.

But her story quickly unraveled and she was forced to admit she had strapped her kids into the back of her car, and let it roll into a lake.

It was claimed she carried out the heartless crime after a man she was having an affair with left her claiming he didn't want children.

Smith was sentenced to life in prison for two counts of murder but continued to find herself in trouble behind bars, receiving at least five infractions for self-mutilation and the use and possession of narcotics or marijuana, among other things.

In 2000, then 28, she was disciplined for having sex four times with 50-year-old prison guard Houston Cagle - who was later jailed for three months for the affair.

Smith confessed to the sexual encounter with Cagle after testing positive for an STI.

David Smith, father of the boys, leaves the church after funeral services for the two young boys

Smith is led from the Union County Courthouse after the first day of testimony in the penalty phase of her trial. Smith was convicted in the October 25, 1994 murders of her sons

David Smith holds up a picture of his murdered sons Michael and Alex and smiles July 28 after his ex-wife [Susan] Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of murder

The following year, prison captain Alfred Rowe also pleaded guilty to having sex with Smith and was sentenced to five years probation.

She has also run afoul of drugs rules, after she was caught with marijuana and narcotics. She was disciplined twice in 2010 and once in 2015 for the offences, losing privileges for more than a year.

Privileges that can be lost, include visitation, canteen and telephone privileges.

Smith insists she is 'not the monster society thinks I am' and revealed to reporters in 2015 that she had been planning to kill herself, not her sons, on the night of the tragedy.
A Minnesota man who was taken prisoner by Russians while trying to leave Ukraine has been freed after 10 days.

Tyler Jacob - who was attempting to leave Ukraine, where he worked as an english teacher - was released Friday, according to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who had been working to bring him home.

'I am relieved that Tyler is safely reunited with his wife and daughter,' the former presidential candidate said in a statement. 'Over the last two weeks, my team and I have been in close contact with his family, the State Department, and the U.S. embassy in Moscow working towards this outcome, and I am grateful that we were able to help bring him to safety.'

Jacob, 28, was a native of the Minnesota town of Winona, was apparently freed through the efforts of the US Embassy in Moscow, according to Klobuchar.

'I am so ecstatic that Tyler is safe,' Tina Hauser, Jacob's mother, added in the statement. 'This has been a harrowing experience, and I am so grateful to the officials in the State Department and embassy who helped us locate Tyler and get him out of Russia. I am especially grateful to Senator Klobuchar for her steadfast support through this whole process. This was a parent's worst nightmare, but I can rest easy tonight knowing my son has made it to safety.'

Tyler Jacob - who was attempting to leave Ukraine, where he worked as an english teacher - was released Friday, according to Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who had been working to bring him home.

Tina Hauser (left) says her 28-year-old son, Tyler Jacob (right), who has been living in Ukraine, was taken prisoner by Russian troops on Saturday

Jacob, 28, was a native of the Minnesota town of Winona, was apparently freed through the efforts of the US Embassy in Moscow, according to Klobuchar

His father spoke with CNN on Friday and said that he wasn't mistreated but that he clearly looked tired.

'It was a roller coaster,' said John Quinn, Jacob's father. 'It was up and down, the hurdles that we had to get over to get him to safety. They were treating him very well there. He had no complaints at all about how he was treated.'

Jacob's mother, Tina Hauser, said that she got to communicate with her son via a video conference earlier Friday.

The State Department would not confirm the news when asked to comment Friday night.

'We are aware of these reports, but due to privacy considerations have no further comment.'

Jacob's parents said Jacob met a Ukrainian woman online last summer - visiting her in November before falling in love and getting married in January

Tina Hauser (pictured right), Jacob's mother, spoke about her son while he was still detained in Russia

Bill Quinn (pictured left), Jacob's father, said that his son was not mistreated in the Russian prison but that he still wanted him home

Footage that was released by a Russian state-owned video news agency showed Jacob fleeing Ukraine passing through a checkpoint in Crimea, before his parents say he was taken prisoner by the Russian military.

Hauser told local outlets that the last time she spoke with her son was a week ago Saturday, when he told her he was being forced by the Russian troops to board a bus out of Kherson and leave his Ukrainian wife and stepdaughter behind.

Speaking to DailyMail.com on Thursday, Hauser said she had not heard from Tyler in five days. She said that officials with the US State Departments have petitioned the Russian government to reveal her son's whereabouts and whether he is 'still alive.'

Video that was shot in Armiansk, Crimea, on Saturday night by the Russian video-on-demand company Ruptly shows Jacob going through a Russian checkpoint en route to Turkey.

In an interview with the outlet, Jacob said that he planned to take a charter flight to Turkey with some people he had met on the bus.

'I think I'll be OK,' he said in the video.

Sometime later, according to Jacob's parents, he was seized by Russian troops and taken away.

'My worst nightmare is coming true, and I'm fearful that they are going to torture him and kill him and I'm not ever going to see my son again,' Hauser told KAALTV through tears.

The article that accompanied the Ruptly video alleged that the evacuation of 140 foreign nationals fleeing Ukraine was made possible by Russia's Ministry of Defense.

'The evacuation was organized at the request of foreign embassies seeking assistance with ensuring the safe conduct of their citizens from the territory of Ukraine, but also in response to pleas from foreign nationals, addressed to the Russian military command of Kherson,' the agency was quoted as stating.

When the bus reached the Russian-held Crimea, Jacob, who was the only American on board, was removed by Russian troops

Jacob, from Minnesota, was living with his wife and stepdaughter in Kherson on the Black Sea when the Russian invasion began three weeks ago. This satellite image from March 15 shows the Kherson airbase on fire after an alleged airstrike against Russian forces occupying the base

Jacob boarded an evacuation bus for foreigners headed to Turkey on Saturday, when this photo of Ukrainian protesters was taken in Kherson

Jacob's parents said Jacob met a Ukrainian woman online last summer - visiting her in November before falling in love and getting married in January.

In order to stay in the country, he got a job teaching English in a small village outside Kherson - but just one month later, Russian troops invaded Ukraine, and the newlyweds, as well as Jacob's new stepdaughter, found themselves trapped, he told Ruptly on Saturday.

'He met a girl over there, fell in love, got married, and now we are in a mess,' Tyler's father, John Quinn, told WCCO-TV.

Kherson, a southern city of 290,000 on the Black Sea, was captured by invading Russian forces early in the war, which is now in its fourth week.
Donald Trump and his children have agreed to be deposed in a class action lawsuit charging that the family duped people into investing in allegedly dodgy companies.

Don Jr will sit for his deposition first on May 10, followed by his brother Eric on May 12 and the ex-president on June 16.

But there is still not set date for Ivanka, because 'defendants have not yet offered a deposition date.'

Trump's other children, Tiffany and Barron, are not named in the suit.

There has been no location set for the proceeding, according to NBCNews.

Filed in 2018, investors claim that the Trump got 'secret' payments from the multi-level marketing company ACN Opportunity, a vitamin and health company, the Trump Network and the Trump Institute, a business training company that would teach participants the 'secrets to success.'

In exchange, the suit says the family would promote the businesses on 'Celebrity Apprentice' and other live events.

The alleged quid pro quo violated federal anti-racketeering law and mislead sales staff who lost money investing in the marketing company.

The lawsuit claims that the family raked in million on the scheme between 2005 and 2015

The lawsuit claims that the family raked in million on the scheme between 2005 and 2015.

'Donald J. Trump told prospective investors that '[y]ou have a great opportunity before you at ACN without any of the risks most entrepreneurs have to take,' and that ACN's flagship videophone was doing 'half-a-billion dollars' worth of sales a year.'

Trump also told investors that he had 'experienced the opportunity' and 'done a lot of research,' and that his endorsement was 'not for any money.' Not a word of this was true.'

The Trumps never owned any of the companies that they touted and lawyers for the family have argued that they aren't responsible for investors' losses.

The Trump lawyers said that they were merely giving opinion and the statements amounted to 'puffery,' NBC reported.

This is one of many depositions Trump and his kids have had to sit through lately. Others include, an assault outside Trump Tower and a lawsuit claiming fraud in the Trump inauguration, according to CNN.

They are currently battling New York Attorney General Letitia James to avoid giving their sworn testimony in a civil case charging they inflated the value of their properties.

Trump sued the AG to halt the suit.
Almost 500 drivers a day have been caught using mobile phones and not wearing seatbelts while behind the wheel by new hi-tech traffic cameras.

The Queensland Government reported 6,288 people were nabbed by the innovative mobile phone and seatbelt cameras in the two-week period between January 25 and February 7.

The new automated system uses artificial intelligence (AI) software to analyse instantly high-definition photos taken through the windscreen of every passing car.

Almost 500 drivers a day have been caught using mobile phones and not wearing seatbelts while behind the wheel by new hi-tech traffic cameras in Queensland

Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads Mark Bailey said the latest round of figures - which equates to 500 a day - was 'absolutely unacceptable'.

'These people have a clear lack of regard for themselves and those around them,' he said.

'It's time unsafe drivers in Queensland realise it is only a matter of time until they're caught and fined heavily for driving distracted or not wearing a seat belt.'

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk compared driving while using a mobile phone to drink driving in a Tweet on Saturday

Mr Bailey said more than 37,594 Queenslanders have been caught flouting road rules since November 1 last year.

Of the figure, 26,491 drivers were sprung using their phone behind the wheel, while 11,000 were caught not wearing a seatbelt or wearing one incorrectly.

Drivers caught using a mobile phone risk being stung with a $1,033 fine and motorists without a seatbelt can cop three demerit points and a fine of $413.

Minister Bailey said the state government would be cracking down on motorists who continue to break road rules.

Drivers caught using a mobile phone risk being stung with a $1,033 fine and motorists without a seatbelt can cop three demerit points and a fine of $413

'We're cracking down on phone fiends and those not wearing seatbelts  with new anywhere anytime high-tech cameras and heavy fines,' he said.

'We know using a phone while driving is the equivalent of getting behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.07  0.10 - it's just not on.

'It's simple. If you don't want a fine, don't break the rules.

Mr Bailey reminded motorists that an average of 29 people are killed and 1,284 are seriously injured each year from crashes caused by distracted drivers.

In 2021, nearly 40 per cent of fatalities and people seriously injured were from car accidents where drivers failed to wear a seatbelt.

The state of the art cameras were switched on in Queensland in July 2021, with nearly $18 million in fines so far dished out to distracted drivers.
Created by Dwight and Angelique Morrison, PS Remember is a new and exciting social media platform that connects students past, present, and future in over 2.5 million schools in more than 147 countries worldwide.

Its unique database and search engine allow students to connect and socialize like never before with students in other countries. For example, a student currently attending the University of Ghana can now connect directly with other students attending the University of Lagos in Nigeria, the University of Nairobi in Kenya or even the University of South Africa in South Africa.

Thinking about studying abroad? PS Remember can help you connect internationally with students in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, Brazil, India and many more countries. Get to know more about the schools or programs you are considering attending from real students before investing your time and money.

PS Remember can also reconnect users with former classmates from high school, college, or university regardless of the graduation year even if the school has since closed or changed its name. This feature has helped many people locate long lost friends, especially the ones that have been suddenly displaced by war or unforeseen circumstances. Reconnect with your former classmates regardless of where they are currently located.

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A 59-year-old man is dead after suffering critical head injuries while working in a coal mine in central Queensland.

Police responded to the workplace incident at the Moranbah North underground mine, inland from Mackay, about 10pm Friday.

The operation is owned by multinational company Anglo American, who confirmed on Saturday that the fatality was the result of an injury sustained in a lifting incident overnight.

The worker was a contractor for Mastermyne, a partner of mine owner Anglo American

A miner is dead after he sustained critical head injuries in an underground mine in central Queensland

'We are devastated by the loss of one of our colleagues at Moranbah North Mine and our thoughts are with their family and friends,' CEO Tyler Mitchelson said in a statement.

'We have ceased mining activities at Moranbah North and will undertake a full investigation with relevant authorities so we can understand how this incident occurred.'

The man was an employee of contractor Mastermyne. The company says his family has been notified.

'We are devastated by the loss of one of our colleagues at Moranbah North Mine.' Anglo American CEO Tyler Mitchelson said

Mines inspectors are attending the site on Saturday to commence investigations.

'Our thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased worker,' Resources Safety and Health Queensland said in a statement.

State government assistant minister and Member for Keppel Brittany Lauga said the news was awful.

'My condolences to this mine worker's friends and family. No one should go to work and not come home. I hope all the first responders are doing ok also,' she said on Facebook on Saturday.

The man's death at the Moranbah North mine was preceded by another man's death there in February last year, in an incident that saw four more employees helicoptered out to hospitals in Mackay and Rockhampton.

An explosion in another Moranbah mine saw five people left in a serious condition at the Grosvenor coal mine in May 2020.

Bradley Hardwick died when the grader he had been operating struck him on February 20, 2019

Anglo American was charged in 2020 in the Clermont Industrial Court over the death of miner Bradley Hardwick following a runaway grader hitting him in 2019.

After Friday's incident CFMEU Queensland president Stephen Smythe told ABC he couldn't believe how often tragic accidents are happening.

'It's a tragic, terrible event again, once again in the mining sector. I'm just lost for words.

'It's just happening all too often now, fatalities and serious accidents in the coal sector,' he said.
President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign vow to alter longstanding US nuclear doctrine, and will instead embrace existing policy that reserves America's right to use nukes in a first-strike scenario, according to multiple reports.

As Russian forces continue their bloody assault on Ukraine, Biden is under pressure from NATO allies not to abandon the right to use nuclear weapons to deter conventional attacks.

Since the Cold War, American policy has allowed for first-strike use of nuclear weapons under 'extreme circumstances,' such as responding to an invasion by conventional forces, or chemical or biological attacks.

But on the campaign trail, Biden had vowed to switch to a 'sole purpose' doctrine, which maintains that the US would only use nuclear weapons to respond to another nation's nuclear attack.

President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign vow to alter longstanding US nuclear doctrine, and will instead embrace existing policy that reserves America's right to use nukes in a first-strike scenario

The new Nuclear Posture Review says that the US would only use nuclear weapons in 'extreme circumstances', which is similar to language from prior reviews. Pictured: A LGM-30 Minuteman III is launched as part of a test

Instead, Biden's recent Nuclear Posture Review reaffirms that nuclear deterrence is the 'fundamental role' of the nuclear arsenal, rather than the 'sole purpose', US officials told the Wall Street Journal.

Though the difference in wording may seem slight, Biden's proposed 'sole purpose' doctrine sparked fears among allies from Europe to Japan, who feared that the change in posture would embolden adversaries.

And given Vladimir Putin's latest moves against Ukraine, NATO allies in particular feared that a shift in policy would encourage Russia to launch new conventional attacks or use chemical weapons, knowing that a nuclear response from the US was out of the question.

Russia currently maintains the world's largest nuclear arsenal with 6,257 warheads compared to America's 5,550, according to the Arms Control Association.

Given Vladimir Putin's latest moves against Ukraine, NATO allies in particular feared that a shift in policy would encourage Russia to launch new conventional attacks

Instead of the 'sole purpose' doctrine, the new Nuclear Posture Review says that the US would only use nuclear weapons in 'extreme circumstances', which is similar to language from prior reviews conducted by both the Obama and Trump administrations.

One insider said that Biden decided to abandon his 'sole purpose' vow specifically after Russia invaded Ukraine.

'You don't want to look weak. It was on the President's desk awaiting his decision, then Ukraine happened,' an arms control expert who consulted with Biden's nuclear policy officials told The Daily Telegraph.

'The optics are extremely bad when Russia is being as threatening as it is,' the person said.

A nuclear-capable Ohio-class submarine, part of the nuclear triad, is seen in a file photo

U.S. officials told the Journal that said the administrations review is also expected to lead to cuts in two nuclear systems that were embraced by the Trump administration.

If Congress agrees, it would mean canceling a program to develop a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile and retiring the B83 thermonuclear bomb.

However, the review does support the extensive modernization of the U.S. nuclear triad: land-based ballistic missiles, submarine-based missiles, and bombers, which is projected to cost over $1 trillion.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China until it lifts a block on ministerial meetings.

'So long as China continues to refuse to have dialogue with Australian ministers and the prime minister, I think that's an entirely proportional response,' Mr Morrison told reporters on Saturday regarding meeting China's ambassador.

'That would be a demonstration of weakness and I can assure you as prime minister that's the last message I'd ever send to China.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says there will be no diplomatic thaw in relations with China and to do so would be a 'demonstration of weakness' (pictured, Mr Morrison during a round table meeting prior to a press conference in Sydney on Saturday)

The comments come on the back of the superpower signing a security deal with the Solomon Islands, which was leaked on social media on Friday, allowing its ships to be based in the Pacific and to have a navy base.

The deal has triggered geopolitical anxieties for Australia and the US, both wary of China's expansionist footprint in the region.

'China has completely blocked any minister-to-minister dialogue,' the PM said.

'Until ... that block is removed by China, well, I think Australians would see it as very inappropriate for me to engage in that dialogue with an ambassador.'

Mr Morrison also defended his government's track record of providing foreign aid to Pacific countries in a pointed message to predecessor Kevin Rudd characterising his criticisms as 'straight lies'.

'We actually increased our investment in overseas development assistance in the Pacific by 50 per cent ... while (Labor) were chasing votes for the Security Council throwing money at countries far away from our region,' he said.

The comments come on the back of the superpower signing a security deal with the Solomon Islands, which was leaked on social media on Friday, allowing Chinese ships to be based in the Pacific and to have a navy base (pictured, Chinese President Xi Jinping)

In a statement on Friday, the Solomon Islands said 'broadening partnerships is needed to improve the quality of lives of our people and address soft and hard security threats facing the country'.

Australia will allocate $22 million in the upcoming budget for the Solomon Islands government to fund salaries for essential workers to help with the impacts of civil unrest and COVID.

The archipelago switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019, which partly led to deadly riots in the capital Honiara last November.

Australia, which has historically provided security to the Solomons, led a policing mission after the riots, following a request from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

A spokesperson for the US State Department said the draft security agreement and the police deal did not address the underlying issues that contributed to the November unrest.

'We do not believe (People's Republic of China) security forces and their methods need to be exported,' the spokesperson added.

'This would only fuel local, regional and international concerns over Beijing's unilateral expansion of its internal security apparatus to the Pacific.'
One man is dead and a 15-year-old girl is injured following a weekend shooting at a shopping mall on the outskirts of Chicago.

The shooting occurred just after 7pm at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont, a shopping center located right next to O'Hare International Airport.

The teen girl injured in the shooting expected to survive after being struck in the wrist, a Rosemont police spokesman said.

A third man may also have been struck in the shooting, but he fled the scene and his injuries could not be confirmed, according to police.

One man is dead and a 15-year-old girl is injured following a shooting Friday night at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont, Illinois

Authorities work the scene at the Rosemont Outlet Mall where a fatal shooting occurred inside

The teen girl injured in the shooting expected to survive after being struck in the wrist, a Rosemont police spokesman said

The identity of the deceased man was not made public, but police said that he was in his 20s.

Police called it an 'isolated shooting' that was possibly 'targeted' and said that two suspects fled the scene in a red car.

After midnight, the Rosemont Public Safety department said that a single person of interest had been 'located', and that a search of the entire mall had been completed.

Following the shooting, panicked shoppers huddled in stores as police cleared the mall room by room.

A reunification site for people separated from friends and family was established at the Caddy Shack restaurant on the other side of Balmoral Avenue from the mall.

Rosemont Public Safety Department Sgt. Joe Balogh said a third man may also have been struck in the shooting, but he fled the scene and his injuries could not be confirmed

Police called it an 'isolated shooting' that was possibly 'targeted' and said that two suspects fled the scene in a red car

The investigation is being handled by Rosemont detectives with forensics help from the Major Case Assistance Team (MCAT), a multi-jurisdictional force that supports the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Police said early on Saturday that interviews were underway and detectives were reviewing video evidence.

It comes as Chicago experiences a dramatic and sustained crime wave.

While murders are roughly flat so far in 2022 compared to last year, they are up 24 percent from 2020 and 74 percent from 2019.

The Chicago Transit Authority, meanwhile, recorded a spike in crime of 56 percent in January and February, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Dame Margaret Beckett has announced that she will not stand at the next general election, 48 years after first being elected to Parliament.

The Derby South MP told her local Labour Party last night that she would not ask for their votes when the next election is called.

The 79-year-old was the first woman to be made Foreign Secretary in Tony Blair's government, and briefly served as the Leader of the Opposition following the death of John Smith in 1994.

She contested the party leadership the same year, losing out to Blair.

First elected to Lincoln in the late 1974 general, she has been returned to Parliament 10 times by the people of Derby South.

In a statement posted by her office, Dame Margaret said: 'Serving the residents of Derby South has been an honour. I will continue to serve local people until the next general election.'

Dame Margaret Beckett has announced that she will not stand at the next general election, 48 years after first being elected to Parliament

Dame Margaret contested the party leadership in 1994, losing out to Tony Blair (pictured together with John Prescott)

The 79-year-old was the first woman to be made Foreign Secretary in Tony Blair's government, and briefly served as the Leader of the Opposition following the death of John Smith in 1994

In a statement posted by her office, Dame Margaret said: 'Serving the residents of Derby South has been an honour. I will continue to serve local people until the next general election'

News of her retirement from Parliament provoked tributes from several senior Labour figures.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: 'Margarets nearly four decades of resolute dedication to Derby South has made her a legend of our Party.

'As the UKs first female foreign secretary, and Labours first female leader, she is a trailblazer. Margaret, I thank you for everything youve given, and achieved.'

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow Work and Pensions Minister, said: 'Margaret is a brilliant friend and inspiration. She brought in the National Minimum Wage, was Defra Secretary, first female Foreign Secretary and of course showed immense courage & leadership when we mourned the sudden loss of John Smith.

'Parliament & the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] will miss her.'

News of her retirement from Parliament provoked tributes from several senior Labour figures

Alex Norris, the shadow Levelling Up minister added: 'Margaret is a real inspiration for East Midlands colleagues.

'A trail blazer in so many ways, not least our countrys first female Foreign Secretary. Thank you, Margaret.'

It comes just months after the veteran politician lost husband Leo, who died in December aged 95.

The pair married in 1979 with Leo, a local Labour party chairman, becoming a central member of Dame Margaret's constituency team.

Dame Margaret's announcement comes just months after the veteran politician lost her husband Leo, who died in December aged 95 (pictured together in 2019)

His role as her office manager, on a salary up to 30,000, provoked some criticism for claims of nepotism - although the couple's work-life combination has been described as one of Parliament's 'most successful partnerships'.

Dame Margaret is the second-longest continuously serving female MP, with Harriet Harman having held Camberwell and Peckham for one more year.

However in December, the 71-year-old 'Mother of the House' also announced she would leave Parliament at the next election.

It followed a run of veteran Labour MPs, including Dame Margaret Hodge, 77, and Barry Sheerman, 81, saying they would not contest the next general election.

Ms Harman and Dame Margaret's departures will make Diane Abbott the longest-serving female Labour MP.
A British man has described the 'relief' he felt after welcoming a Ukrainian refugee into his Lancashire home after a 'torturous past week' of waiting.

Max Fox, 32, welcomed Vlad - who he met while helping with humanitarian aid efforts in Poland - to the UK as he landed at Manchester Airport on yesterday.

Vlad, 26, has already struck up a relationship with the house cockapoo before falling asleep in the Poulton-le-Fylde home where Mr Fox lives with his partner.

Max Fox, 32, welcomed Vlad, 26 - who he met while helping with humanitarian aid efforts in Poland - to the UK as he landed at Manchester Airport on yesterday

Mr Fox met Vlad in Poland. He submitted an application to bring him back to the UK on March 18 and put Vlad up in a hotel until the application was successful.

Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, anyone in the UK with a spare room or home can register their interest in hosting someone as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months.

Mr Fox said he has already been told of potential job opportunities for Vlad.

He told PA news agency: 'It was just a definite relief. It's been quite torturous the past week.

'So to actually get him here and to kind of close that chapter and (move) onto the new chapter, that was nice.

'It was a nice feeling for sure. But there's still work to be done.'

Vlad has already struck up a relationship with his cockapoo before falling asleep in Mr Fox's Poulton-le-Fylde home after his arrival

Mr Fox, an artistic director for a group of hotels in Blackpool, made contact with Vlad - who was in Poland when the government enforced conscription - online before the pair met in person in Krakow.

He said: 'Initially, I went with kind of a motto that I need to make sure that I've got a connection with somebody, because I don't want to have somebody in my home that I don't have that initial connection with.

'But as soon as I met him, even before speaking to him, I just saw the desperation in his eyes, and I knew that I needed to help, so he was the one.'

As Vlad does not speak English, Mr Fox said it's been helpful for him to have the dog around.

'(The dog) has actually really taken to Vlad, as soon as he arrived they built this relationship,' he added.

'I think because of the language barrier it's good for him to have the dog.

'We've come back to the house and he's gone straight to bed. He's literally just woken up now.

Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, anyone in the UK with a spare room or home can register their interest in hosting someone as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months

'It must have been absolutely exhausting.

'And God bless the vulnerable people, and the elderly, and the children that are having to live under those circumstances right now. It's heart-breaking.'

He encouraged others with spare room to offer it to a refugee if they can, saying 'Poland is at capacity' and is 'going to sink very, very soon'.

He added: 'You can't just take one country and put it in another country and expect everything to be okay. It's just not achievable.

'Anybody that does have a spare room, just be human and offer it if you can. If you've got that availability and you're comfortable then go for it.

'Take that risk, because to help somebody else is the biggest achievement.'

Mr Fox plans to continue volunteering and to use the money he has raised.
It came as President Zelensky welcomed 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles to fight off Russian fighter jets

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President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the 'powerful blows' of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin's troops killed as the war entered its fifth week.

Zelensky's troops are preparing to take back the city of Kherson today, which was the first major city the invading forces took control of.

An adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister said he thought the city would be won back today.

Markian Lubkivskyi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces.

'We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities.'

Zelensky also welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to 'liberating' Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians.

He made a surprise video appearance at Qatar's Doha Forum today, where he criticised Russia's war and called on the United Nations and world powers for more help.

Putin may have dialled back his war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation's resistance in a month of fighting and attacks on civilians that included up to 300 feared killed after Russia bombed a theatre.

However, Ukraine said Russia's suggestion it is retreating from Kyiv to focus on Donbas did not seem to be true.

Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, spokesman for the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, said today: 'Take into account there is a huge amount of misinformation coming from the Russian Federation. We cannot trust them.'

He added: 'At the moment we don't see any withdrawal of Russian troops. We can't reduce the defence capacity of Kyiv.'

It came as a Western official reported that a seventh Russian general, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, had died in Ukraine and that a colonel had been 'deliberately' killed by his own demoralised men.

US President Joe Biden met in Poland with two Ukrainian ministers on Saturday in the first face-to-face meeting between the US president and top Kyiv officials since Russia's invasion began.

In an address last night Zelensky said: 'Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy. Significant losses.'

'I am grateful to our defenders who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them even when there is no storm. Because there will be fire.

A man hurries to walk away from a building that was just hit by Russian bombardment, and caught on fire, in the Moskovskyi district in Kharkiv

A destroyed Russian MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) vehicles with the ammunition still intact can be seen in Kyiv

Russian T80 tank captured by the Ukrainian service members is seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region

Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region on March 25

In a surprise appearance by video link at Qatar's Doha Forum today (pictured) Zelensky called for more help from world powers

President Joe Biden joins a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw, Poland

It came ahead of a speech by President Biden later today that officials say will be a 'landmark' address

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov made a rare trip out of Ukraine to see the American politicians

Zelensky said: 'Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy. Significant losses'

Russian forces have carried out intense shelling of Ukrainian cities in an attempt to further their invasion of the country

Smoke rises in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv following Russia's attacks on March 26. The city is one of many to face heavy Russian strikes

Smoke rises the air in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, Saturday, March 26. Ukrainian authorities said Saturday that they cannot trust statements from the Russian military Friday suggesting that the Kremlin planned to concentrate its remaining strength on wresting the entirety of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region from Ukrainian control

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the 'powerful blows' of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin's troops killed

Putin's Russian invaders reportedly fired at and damaged a Holocaust Memorial in Drobitsky Yar, on the outskirts of Kharkiv

Zelensky has welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to 'liberating' Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians. Pictured: Destroyed apartments in the city centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25

A destroyed Russian T-72 battle tank can be seen at the outskirts of Kyiv Oblast. Ukraine's Ministry Defense claimed they have destroyed 561 Russian tanks

FILE - Anti- tank barricades are placed on a street as preparation for a possible Russian offensive, in Odesa, Ukraine, March 24. The Black Sea port has been mining its beaches and as it prepared to defend itself against Putin's forces

'By restraining Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay.'

Zelensky said the devastation of Mariupol was getting worse, with tens of thousands trapped in the southeastern city without water, food or heating.

He said: 'The situation in the city remains tragic. Absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city.'

The Kremlin has disputed that 16,000 Russian troops have been killed, claiming the figure is just 1,351.

Russia said it destroyed an ammunitions and weapons storage site with Kalibr cruise missiles on March 25 and in the same day had hit fuel depots and Ukrainian strongholds in a huge operation across the country.

Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed Russia had destroyed 1,618 Ukrainian tanks and 1,453 special military vehicles during the operation.

Major General Igor Konashenkov (pictured) claimed Russia had destroyed 1,618 Ukrainian tanks and 1,453 special military vehicles during the operation

Russia said it destroyed an ammunitions and weapons storage site with Kalibr cruise missiles on March 25 and in the same day had hit fuel depots and Ukrainian strongholds (pictured)

Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said its troops were continuing to fend off Russian attacks on Kyiv.

It said Russia has had trouble replacing its fighters after a series of hard-fought battles and that the Kremlin's equipment was in 'poor technical condition' because of 'negligent prior exploitation and prolonged storage'.

It said this meant Russia's capability in Ukraine was severely hindered. Other cities across Ukraine are holding against ongoing Russian attacks.

Chernihiv, which is north of Kyiv, is surrounded by Russian troops. The city's mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko, said on Saturday the 'whole city is destroyed completely'.

He said: 'For us it's easier for us to count which buildings have not been damaged.

'Residential buildings, schools, hospitals, children's libraries have been bombed.

'There have been mass killings by mines or artillery that has hit a line of innocent civilians who are waiting in line to buy bread, to buy some food. What sort of military structure is that? It's just a food shop.'

He said he was collecting people's testimonies of the bombings to use against Russia in international courts.

'Russia has been consciously committing crimes,' he said. 'The Russians have been consciously shelling on peaceful civilians for several weeks. They have been killing peaceful citizens.'

He added Western countries that continued to buy Russian energy 'sponsor our shelling, they sponsor the killing of our population'.

An unexploded bomb on the floor of an apartment in the northern city of Chernihiv on March 25. Chernihiv mayor said the city was 'destroyed completely'

Ukrainian forces have hit back at Russia in Chernihiv. Troops destroyed a Russian cargo truck (pictured) that was allegedly carrying thermobaric rockets, which can supposedly melt people's organs

Chernihiv, which is north of Kyiv, is surrounded by Russian troops. The city's mayor, Vladyslav Atroshenko (pictured), said on Saturday the 'whole city is destroyed completely' (File image)

Chernihiv city mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky pictured together in 2020, before Putin's army invaded Ukraine

Joe Biden met in Warsaw with Ukrainian ministers Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov this morning.

It was a possible sign of growing confidence in the fightback against Russian forces.

The officials discussed 'the United States' unwavering commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity,' State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Blinken and Austin 'pledged continued support to meet Ukraine's humanitarian, security, and economic needs,' he added.

Biden last met Kuleba in Washington on February 22, two days before Russia began its assault. Since then, Kuleba has also met with Blinken in Poland next to the border with Ukraine on March 5.

The US President is on the second and final day of a visit to Poland after he met with EU and NATO leaders in Brussels earlier in the week.

After the meeting he said: 'We discussed our efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraine and the significant military and humanitarian assistance the United States is providing.'

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (left) and US President Joe Biden (centre) visited Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw today. President Biden said: 'You dont need to speak the same language to feel the roller-coaster of emotions in their eyes'

President Biden and Prime Minister Morawiecki during a visit a reception point for Ukrainian refugees at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, March 26

After talking to the Ukrainian ministers, Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace.

He then visited Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Biden said: 'You dont need to speak the same language to feel the roller-coaster of emotions in their eyes.'

On Friday, the US president spoke to US soldiers stationed in Poland near the Ukrainian border and aid workers helping refugees fleeing the conflict.

He praised Ukrainians for showing 'backbone' against the Russian invasion and referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as 'a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal'.

'And I think we'll meet the legal definition of that as well,' he said.

The mangled remains of Russian military vehicles and equipment beside charred trees in a field near Trostianets, eastern Ukraine

Three Ukrainian soldiers inspect the wreckages of multiple Russian military vehicles on March 25 in the Sumy region

A burnt out Russian armoured car at the side of a dirt road near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region of Ukraine

Destroyed Russian military vehicles are seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region, Ukraine March 25

Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, including the barrel of a tank's main gun

A destroyed Russian tank is seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region, Ukraine March 25

Two destroyed Russian APC (armoured personnel carrier) can be seen in the Kyiv region of Ukraine

: A man looks for his belongings in the rubble of his house located in the town of Byshiv on the outskirts of the city of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 25

Russia was filmed firing three missiles from a submarine at Ukrainian ammunition stores on Saturday. Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov said they were Kalibr cruise missiles

Zelensky compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

He said: 'They are destroying our ports. The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.'

He added: 'The future of Europe rests with your efforts.'

He called on countries to increase their exports of energy - something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

He criticised Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons.

Kuleba and Reznikov met with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier today

President Joe Biden eats pizza as he visits with members of the 82nd Airborne Division at the G2A Arena, on March 25, in Jasionka, Poland

An apartment block was ripped to shreds after an airstrike carried out by Russian forces on a residential area of Kyiv

The missile strikes happened on March 25 and tore a huge hole in the side of this Kyiv block of flats, as the war entered its fifth week

Another apartment block in Kyiv had windows blown out after air strikes on the same day in the Ukrainian capital

A destroyed apartment is seen after Russian forces were ordered by Putin to continue shelling in Kyiv on Friday, March 25

Cars were crumpled after debris fell on them during a Russian air strike in residential areas of Kyiv on March 25

Ukraine has disabled 20 Russian battalions, Western officials said today, as a Kremlin army chief hinted that Moscow may scale back its all-out attack on its neighbour and instead focus on 'liberating' the eastern Donbas region. Pictured: (L-R) Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, hold a briefing on Russian military action in Ukraine, in Moscow on March 25, 2022

Although the number of Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn homeland and crossing into Poland jas fallen in recent days, the total number of people that have left is close to three million.

The number of people fleeing Ukraine for Poland has started to fall in recent days, with 30,500 crossing on Friday, down 6.4 per cent from the previous day.

The Polish Border Guard said only 30,500 people had made the border crossing on Friday. A 6.4 per cent decrease on the previous day.

By 6am on Saturday just 6,100 people had made the crossing, a figure down 11 per cent for the same time frame on Friday.

The UN said 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees of the war, which accounts for 8.5 per cent of the population.

Refugees wait for transport after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on Saturday, March 26

A woman cradles a baby in the ticket hall at Przemysl Glowny train station on March 26, after fleeing the Russian invasion

Refugees wait for transport after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on March 26

Refugees board a train bound to Krakow, at Przemysl Glowny train station in Poland on the border with Ukraine

Ukrainian refugees board a train to Krakow, at Przemysl Glowny train station at 10am on Saturday March 26

By 6am on Saturday just 6,100 people had made the crossing into Poland from Ukraine, a figure down 11 per cent for the same time frame on Friday

The UN said 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees of the war, which accounts for 8.5 per cent of the population

The number of people fleeing Ukraine for Poland has started to fall in recent days, with 30,500 crossing on Friday, down 6.4 per cent from the previous day. Pictured: Ukrainian refugees rest in the ticket hall at Przemysl Glowny train station

Refugees from Mariupol get out from a van that they used as transport as they arrive at a refugee center in Zaporizhia, Ukraine

Ukrainian refugees look out from a bus at a refugee center in Zaporizhia, southeastern Ukraine on Friday, March 25

A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Russian artillery system 'Grad', in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022. But the update - combined with the West's claim that Russia has lost 20 out of the 120 battalions originally massed on Ukraine's border - is the latest sign that Vladimir Putin has rolled back his ambitions, and is on the run

In one attack on Friday, Ukraine said a Russian missile attack had hit a military command centre in the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine. Kyiv officials reported the attack on Friday, adding it was unknown if there were any casualties. The Ukrainian air force posted an image (pictured) of the alleged centre in rubble and said missiles had hit 'several buildings, causing significant damage to infrastructure'

A cyclist rides past by houses destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25, 2022

Volunteers and neighbours try to extinguish a fire at a house shelled by the Russian army in Horenychi, in the Bucha Raion of the Kyiv Oblast

Volunteers and neighbours try to extinguish a fire at a house shelled by the Russian army in Horenychi, Ukraine, March 25

'Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet,' Zelensky told Qatar's Doha Forum today.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said today that Britain will give 2million of food supplies to areas of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces in Putin's 'barbaric invasion'.

The announcement followed a direct request from the government of Ukraine.

Warehouses in Poland and Slovakia are being readied to supply goods to Ukraine from early next week.

Around 25 truckloads will be delivered by road and rail to the Ukrainian communities in greatest need.

It is estimated over 12 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance across Ukraine, with the actual figure likely to be much higher, the government said.

Foreign Secretary Truss said: 'This vital donation of food and supplies will help support the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia's barbaric invasion.

'Our teams are working day and night with our Polish and Slovakian friends and the government of Ukraine to ensure those at most risk get the essential supplies they so badly need.'

President Zelensky said more than 37,000 people had been evacuated from encircled cities after 18 humanitarian corridors were created this week.

A possible Russian backtrack came ahead of a planned meeting by US President Joe Biden with Ukrainian refugees in Poland and talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw before he gives a speech on the 'brutal war', the White House said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the February invasion to destroy Ukraine's military and topple pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelensky, bringing the country under Russia's sway.

A local resident points at an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 25, 2022

But Sergei Rudskoi, a senior general, suggested a considerably reduced 'main goal' of controlling Donbas, an eastern region already partly held by Russian proxies.

His surprise statement came as a Western official reported that a seventh Russian general, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, had died in Ukraine and that a colonel had been 'deliberately' killed by his own demoralised men.

Complicating Moscow's challenges, invasion troops were facing a counteroffensive in Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city under Russian control.

Flames and smoke rise from a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022

Firefighters battle a blaze following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022

A man recovers items from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25

Children sit in a refugee center in Nadarzyn, near Warsaw, Poland, on Friday, March 25, 2022. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries to escape the invasion

Refugees and volunteers have lunch together at the Kust volunteer center of Dnipro in the restaurant in Dnipro, Ukraine on March 25, 2022

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the Ukrainian people, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 25, 2022

Visiting Rzeszow, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Ukraine, Biden praised Ukraine's 'incredible' resistance, comparing the conflict to a bigger version of communist China's 1989 crushing of protests in Tiananmen Square.

Biden told soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division that the struggle in eastern Europe represents a historic 'inflection point'.

'Are democracies going to prevail... or are autocracies going to prevail? And that's really what's at stake,' Biden said.

The US leader was briefed on the humanitarian situation, with more than 3.7 million refugees fleeing Ukraine, most of them into Poland.

Earlier, he ended a trip to Brussels for meetings with Western allies by announcing new measures to help the European Union shed dependence on imported Russian energy.

The plan is part of a sea change in the West, which for years has shrunk from direct confrontation with the Kremlin, but now seeks to make Putin a pariah.

Smoke and flames rise over the port of Berdyansk, located in the south of Ukraine and occupied by Russian forces, as Kyiv's navy claimed to have hit the Orsk - a huge Russian tank-carrier

Images show an explosion at the port with a Russian Alligator-class transport ship visible at the dock. It was not immediately clear from the images whether the port or the ship had been struck

EXCLUSIVE: 'I will kill to protect my city, my family, my country': Young Ukrainian mothers tell how they have joined up and taken up arms to defend Odesa from Putin's forces

BY NICK FAGGE IN ODESA, UKRAINE, FOR MAILONLINE

Two Ukrainian mothers of young children have told how they will kill and be killed to protect their beloved city of Odesa from Russian invaders.

Before the war Olena Lolesnyk and Kamila Suleymanova held down normal jobs and spent their free time taking their sons to the many beaches and parks of this picturesque resort town, known as the 'Pearl of the Black Sea'.

But after Russian warships threatened to mount a seaborne assault of ancient port, these fiercely protective women took up arms to defend Ukraine.

Now Olena, 30, and Kamila, 33, are part of a unit of Ukraine's 3014 Army that is the final line of defence for Odesa  a long-held prize of the Kremlin.

Mothers Olena Lolesnyk, 30, (left) and Kamila Suleymanova, 33, have taken up arms to defend Ukraine

The pair attended a military ceremony to honour Ukraine's National Guard in Odesa, southern Ukraine

'I am prepared to kill to protect my city, my family, my country,' blonde-haired Olena told MailOnline, after she collected a bravery award from the city mayor.

'I try not to think about whether I might die, but I am prepared to give my life to protect everything I love.'

Kamila added: 'My mother does not know that I have joined the army.

'But we have to defend our land. It is for our children.'

The pair were speaking after they attended a military ceremony to honour Ukraine's National Guard.

Dressed in khaki-green uniforms, body armour, tin hats, and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, they stood shoulder to shoulder with their male comrades, as a military band played the Last Post.

The parade was held next to a famous statue of Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great, who founded the city in 1794.

But now this symbol of the Russian Empire is covered in sand-bags and surrounded by Ukrainian military hardware to protect it from the Kremlin warships that threaten to reduce the historic port to rubble.

Tank traps, barbed-wire and machine gun emplacement now litter the tree-lined boulevards and pedestrian walkways throughout the city centre.

Formally the fourth most important city in the Russian Empire, and with huge strategic value as Ukraine's main sea port, Odesa is a major Kremlin goal.

Russian warships fired shells into the town last week wrecking buildings.

A Ukrainian soldier guards in front of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet and one of the city's symbols, behind a heavy barricade in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26

A woman asks for permission to cross the barricades while Ukrainian soldier guards in front of the Odesa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet

And the Ukrainian Army is on high-alert of a coordinated Normandy-style beach landing and parachute assault that could surround the city on three sides.

So ordinary citizens  like the two mothers  have taken up arms in their droves to defend their homes.

Back on parade, Olena revealed she does not know who will look after her nine-year-old son David if she is killed.

Her mother is dead and she split up from his father a long time ago.

But the 30-year-old, who usually works for a trade union, says she had no other choice than to help defend the city.

She said: 'This is my duty.

'At the moment I work in the army stores.

'But my unit is based here in the city of Odesa so if the Russians invade I will shoot them from the barricades.

Kamila, who used to work for the city council, said she felt she had no choice but to join the army.

She said: 'My son Daniel is 12 years old. I have to protect Odesa for him, for his future.

'I used to work in an office but now I go on patrol and man a post with my unit.'

Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv where corpses in the street and smashed houses are now commonplace will become next Mariupol, locals say

BY CHRIS MATTHEWS FOR MAILONLINE

There are fears that the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which has been holding out against Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, could become the next Mariupol.

People living in the city have no power, heating or drinking water and have faced heavy Russian bombardment.

Natalya Vakula, 44, and Nastya Kuzyk, 20, were both injured in the heavy strikes on Chernihiv but were able to flee to a hospital in Kyiv.

Smoke rises out of an apartments building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Locals fear it could become the next Mariupol

Natalya Vakula, 44, gestures in a hospital in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, while recovering from injuries to her leg after a Russian attack in Chernihiv, Saturday, March 26

Nastya Kuzyk, 20, is comforted by her mother Svitlana, 50, while recovering in a hospital from the injuries caused after a Russian attack in her home of Chernihiv

An unexploded bomb landed in an apartment in Chernihiv on March 25 during the bombardment of the city by Russian forces

At pharmacies, the lists of medicines no longer available grow longer every day.

Ihar Kazmerchak, 38, a linguistics student in Chernihiv, said people were afraid the city could become the next Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian troops for three weeks.

He said: 'Ravaged houses, fires, corpses in the street, [and] huge bombs are not surprising anyone any more.

A fire truck parked in front of an apartments building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv

The central stadium is seen damaged by shelling in Chernihiv in mid-March after heavy shelling

A satellite image shows an overview of burning oil storage tanks and an industrial area in Chernihiv

Market buildings were damaged by shelling, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continued in the northern city of Chernihiv

There are fears that the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, which has been holding out against Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, could become the next Mariupol. Pictured: A public library was damaged by shelling in Chernihiv

The city is close to the border with Belarus and on the road to Ukraine's capital Kyiv but is surrounded by Russian forces, with residents unable to flee

'Food is running out and shelling and bombing doesn't stop.'

He said he starts his day in long queues for drinking water, rationed to 10 litres per person.

On Wednesday, Russian bombs destroyed Chernihiv's main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital.

People living in the city have no power, heating or drinking water and have faced heavy Russian bombardment. Chernihiv is north of Kyiv but in surrounded by Russian forces, with people living there worried it could become the next Mariupol

The southern city of Mariupol (pictured today) has been under bombardment for three weeks and looks a shadow of what it used to look like

On Friday, artillery shells rendered the remaining pedestrian bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to get out or for food and medical supplies to get in.

Refugees from Chernihiv who fled the encirclement and reached Poland this week spoke of broad and terrible destruction, with bombs flattening at least two schools in the city centre and strikes also hitting a stadium, museums, nursery schools and homes.

They said people are drinking water from the Desna River and air strikes were killing people while they wait in line for food.

An apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, on March 25

A number of ceasefires were organised to allow civilians to flee the city but many of the periods of peace were broken

Bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites have given rise to war crime allegations against Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Fedorovych, 77, said he narrowly escaped a bomb that fell on a queue of people waiting for bread.

He said the blast killed 16 people and injured dozens, blowing off people's arms and legs.

The siege is so intense some of those trapped cannot even muster the strength to be afraid anymore, Mr Kazmerchak said.

'People are simply tired of being scared and don't even go down to the basements,' he said.

Just over a month into the invasion, Russia's attack has slowed into a grinding war of attrition as its military tries to pound cities like Chernihiv into submission.

The aftermath of Russia army bombardment on the children hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, which stunned and appalled the world

Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry the injured pregnant woman from the maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol on March 9. Both she and her unborn baby later died

Ukrainian servicemen and firefighters stand in the area outside of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol on March 9

A woman walks past building obliterated by Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Sunday, March 13

A second piece of footage shows a string of high-rise buildings burning next to a row of charred structures that appear to have already been hit by Russian missile strikes in Moscow's relentless bombardment of the city

Residents sit on a bench near an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Bombings of hospitals and other non-military sites, such as the Mariupol theatre where Ukrainian officials said a Russian air strike is believed to have killed some 300 people last week, have given rise to war crime allegations.

Questions about the future direction of Russia's offensive surfaced on Friday when a high-ranking military official said the main objective of the first stage of the operation - reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity - had 'generally been accomplished'.

Donbas is a largely Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.

A spokesperson for Mariupol City Hall in a Telegram post said: 'From eyewitnesses, information appeared that about 300 people died in the Drama Theater of Mariupol'

This satellite image illustrates what the Mariupol theatre looked like before it was reduced to rubble by Russian shelling

New satellite images show the collapsed remains of Mariupol theatre which was sheltering hundreds of children and their families before being levelled in a Russian airstrike

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, appearing by video-link at Qatar's Doha Forum, compared the destruction of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo.

'They are destroying our ports,' Mr Zelensky said. 'The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.'

He called on countries to increase their exports of energy to give European nations an alternative to Russian oil and gas.

'The future of Europe rests with your efforts,' he said.
Calls for a Russian general dubbed the 'butcher of Mariupol' to face a war crimes trial - after he was accused of ordering the attack on the theatre which killed 300 - come as survivors continue to lay bare the tragedy of the besieged city.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, who in a chilling intercepted phone call appeared to be berating a junior officer for not cutting off the ears of a private who had been caught not wearing his uniform properly, is suspected to be behind the horror faced by residents.

Video released for the first time yesterday showed injured civilians covered with dust filing out of the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre after it was near-totally destroyed in Russian bombs aimed at building on March 16 despite a large inscription saying 'children' being clearly visible on the pavement outside.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev was accused of ordering the attack on the Mariupol theatre which killed 300

A spokesperson for Mariupol City Hall in a Telegram post said: 'From eyewitnesses, information appeared that about 300 people died in the Drama Theater of Mariupol as a result of a bombardment by a Russian aircraft.

'I do not want to believe in this horror. I want to believe that everyone managed to escape.

'But the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act say otherwise.'

Olexander Scherba, Ukraine's ex-Austrian ambassador, this week branded Mizintsev the 'Butcher of Mariupol' while Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of Ukraine's Centre for Civil Liberties, called on him to face war charges.

A spokesperson for Mariupol City Hall in a Telegram post said: 'From eyewitnesses, information appeared that about 300 people died in the Drama Theater of Mariupol'

This satellite image illustrates what the Mariupol theatre looked like before it was reduced to rubble by Russian shelling

New satellite images show the collapsed remains of Mariupol theatre which was sheltering hundreds of children and their families before being levelled in a Russian airstrike

Evacuees from Mariupol and Melitopol wait after getting out of a van that arrived at an evacuation point in a large convoy of cars and buses carrying hundreds of people

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev: The 'butcher of Mariupol' thought to have part in siege of Aleppo Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev has served as the Director of the Russian National Centre for Defence since 2014. According to The Times, the general was born in Averinskaya, a village northeast of Moscow, in 1962. He became a Soviet army commander of a platoon in East Germany after studying at the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School. Mizintsev was then sent to the Caucasus as the Soviet Union fells and was back in Moscow by the late 1990s. In 2003 he became head of operations directorate of the chief of staff. As he was head of the National Centre for Defence Management by 2015, Mizintsev was also likely to have helped devise Russia's military strategy in Syria - including the bloody siege of Aleppo, which has chilling parallels with the horror being inflicted in Mariupol. Advertisement

Ms Matviichuk earlier tweeted a photo of the general, captioned: 'Remember him. This is Mikhail Mizintsev. He is leading the siege of Mariupol.

'It was he who ordered the bombing of a children's hospital, the drama theatre etc. He has huge experience of destroying cities in Syria.

'Well take care of the meeting him in the Hague.'

Mizintsev, who has served as the Director of the Russian National Centre for Defence since 2014, is thought to be in charge of Mariupol's siege earlier this week when he personally issued a demand for Ukrainian troops defending the port to surrender - which they rejected.

It means Mizintsev likely gave the order to bomb a maternity hospital in the city that killed a heavily pregnant woman and her unborn child; to bomb a theatre sheltering hundreds of children who were likely buried alive in the rubble; and to indiscriminately shell neighbourhoods in attacks that have left corpses rotting in the streets.

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Mariia Rodionova, 27, a teacher who had lived in the theatre for 10 days before it was bombed, told the BBC: 'There was only rubble. For two hours, I couldn't do anything. I just stayed there. I was in shock.'

Sergey Zozulya, 47, who had his arm blown off before managing to flee Mariupol, called the actions of Russian forces a 'genocide'.

He told the i: 'Corpses are lying on the streets because there is nowhere to bury them or dispose of them properly.

'There was no food, at the time we left we had a piece of bread, three boiled eggs and two boiled potatoes, we left with no food for the children, no nappies, our trousers were wet, those were the conditions.'

Sergey Vaganov, 63, who managed to escape the city with his wife Iryna, told an interview with Al Jazeera that the constant fear of attack meant the pair just 'waited for death'.

He added: 'I was thinking  what would we run out of first? Food? Water? Or will a bomb land on us?'

NATO's deputy-secretary general Mircea Geoana called the war 'barbaric' and that 'according to international conventions, deliberate attacks on civilians are war crimes.'

The US Secretary of State this week accused Russia of war crimes.

Antony Blinken in a statement said: 'I can announce that, based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russias forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

'Our assessment is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources.

'The US government will continue to track reports of war crimes and will share information we gather with allies, partners, and international institutions and organizations, as appropriate.

'We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions.'

The remains of the drama theatre which was hit by a bomb when hundreds of people were sheltering inside, amid ongoing Russia's invasion, in Mariupol, Ukraine

Mariupol's population was more than 400,000 when the siege began almost a month ago, and at least 2,000 civilians have already died in the shelling - though local officials say the true toll could reach 20,000 when final tallies are made.

Hospitals in the city have also been targeted, with a maternity ward struck by Russian bombers on March 9 leaving a mother and her unborn child dead, while wounding other women who were in labour at the time.

Perhaps the worst attack came March 16, when a theatre with bomb shelters underneath it that was housing up to 1,300 civilians was directly hit by a Russian airstrike.

A police officer helps people off a bus after a large convoy of cars and buses arrived at an evacuation point, carrying hundreds of people evacuated from Mariupol and Melitopol

Residents sit on a bench near an apartment building destroyed in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

At least 130 people are known to have escaped the wreckage of the building, but it is feared that many others were trapped in the bomb shelters which were covered by rubble.

Around 100,000 people are thought to still be trapped inside Mariupol 'in inhumane conditions' and under constant attack, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky when he spoke earlier this week.

Mr Zelensky accused Russian forces of not only blocking a humanitarian convoy trying to take desperately needed aid to Mariupol but seizing what another Ukrainian official said were 15 of the bus drivers and rescue workers on the aid mission, along with their vehicles. He said the Russians had agreed to the route ahead of time.

Footage this week emerged of civilians weaving their way through streets littered with dead bodies and piles of debris as they desperately attempt to escape from the decimated city of Mariupol.
A women's rights group meeting to discuss single-sex spaces was protested by trans activists - leading to police being called.

Around 200 protestors holding up placards that read 'Some women have penises' and 'If you are transphobic - do one' gathered outside a venue in Manchester where Women's Place UK were holding their discussion.

The group was hosting its annual conference to consider 'the importance and future of single-sex provision in policy and law'.

But it is reported that the protestors stationed themselves outside the Mechanic Institute conference centre's door with a sound system.

Around 200 protestors, brought together by Manchester Trans Rise Up, protested a meeting by Women's Place UK where the feminist group was discussing single-sex spaces

Later, Greater Manchester Police said that officers attended as a 'precaution', but no arrests were made. Police did help move the crowd apart so the Women's Place attendees could leave the building safely

Activists at the protest said some group were trying 'to push a narrative that trans women are predators' adding that they saw Women's Place's stance on single-sex spaces as 'b*******'

The protest was organised by the Manchester Trans Rise Up group, which described Women's Place as a 'transphobic hate group'.

Later, Greater Manchester Police said that officers attended as a 'precaution', but no arrests were made.

Police did help move the crowd apart so the Women's Place attendees could leave the building safely.

Activists at the protest said some group were trying 'to push a narrative that trans women are predators' adding that they saw Women's Place's stance on single-sex spaces as 'b*******'.

'We believe Woman's Place UK is trying to make women-only spaces that exclude the existence of trans women,' two attendees told the Manchester Evening News. 'We feel that its important to stand up against that.'

In a statement, Womans Place UK denied they were 'transphobic'. They also said they welcomed those with opposing views to attend their events and 'debate with us directly'

In a statement, Womans Place UK denied they were 'transphobic'. They also said they welcomed those with opposing views to attend their events and 'debate with us directly'

In a statement, Womans Place UK denied they were 'transphobic'. They also said they welcomed those with opposing views to attend their events and 'debate with us directly'.

A Womans Place UK spokesperson said: We are a grassroots women's campaign. Accusations of transphobia are entirely unjustified and are often used as a tactic to shut down discussion which many women have valid concerns about - the retention of our right under the Equality Act 2010 to single sex spaces, services and sports.

'Our last meeting in Manchester was held in 2018, where Kristina Harrison, who is trans, spoke from the platform alongside Ruth Serwotka and Bea Campbell.

Police did help move the crowd apart so the Women's Place attendees could leave the building safely

The feminist group thanked Greater Manchester Police for what it said was a 'very supportive police presence'

The protest was organised by the Manchester Trans Rise Up group, which described Women's Place as a 'transphobic hate group'

'Our events are public and we welcome people with opposing views to attend, listen to our concerns and debate with us directly.'

The feminist group thanked Greater Manchester Police for what it said was a 'very supportive police presence'.

Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP, said: 'The women holding this meeting have a right equal to those of the protesters to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.'

'We support the right to protest. But the right to harass, intimidate, abuse or silence? No.'
A young mother has allegedly been stabbed to death in a 'horrendous attack' that left her toddler soaked in blood and shocked police and paramedics.

Mackenzie 'Max' Anderson, 21, died outside her Mayfield home after an alleged domestic violence incident in Newcastle late on Friday.

Her former partner Tyrone Thompson was arrested at the scene and is under police guard while in hospital for a hand injury.

Mackenzie Anderson, 21, has died in a brutal alleged stabbing that left her toddler soaked in blood and shocked hardened police and emergency services

Ms Anderson's ex-boyfriend Tyrone Thompson was arrested at the scene

The grisly scene shocked first responders and left a seasoned senior police officer severely shaken

Detectives allege the 22-year-old broke into Ms Anderson's home and attacked her.

Ms Anderson died outside her unit despite desperate attempts by paramedics to save her

Police said they found the young mother lying on the landing outside her Crebert Street unit with 'significant injuries'.

The grisly scene shocked first responders and left a seasoned senior police officer severely shaken.

Newcastle City Commander Superintendent Wayne Humphrey confirmed the child at the scene was found 'covered in blood'.

'I've just spent the last 20 minutes or so viewing body worn footage and it was a horrendous scene, horrendous,' he said.

Ms Anderson died outside her unit despite desperate attempts by paramedics to save her.

Police confirmed her son, 3, was found 'covered in blood' but was not injured.

The alleged killer is currently under police guard at John Hunter Hospital awaiting surgery on a hand injury.

It is understood police intend to charge him with murder.

Four ambulances and a specialist care team tried to save Ms Anderson but to no avail.

A bloodied three-year old child was rescued by Newcastle police from a Mayfield unit where a 21-year-old woman died from stab wounds late on Friday

'Officers attached to Newcastle City Police District were called to a home unit on Crebert Street, Mayfield, about 10.40pm (Friday 25 March 2022), responding to reports a man had broken into the unit,' a NSW Police statement read.

Ms Anderson's shocked family began to pay tribute on Saturday.

'We will love and miss you always beautiful girl ... fly high gorgeous,' said Naomi Anderson.

Superintendent Humphrey confirmed the child found at the scene was 'unharmed' and is now safe with relatives.

The ex-boyfriend is understood to not be the father of the child.

'Police arrived to find a 21-year-old woman critically injured lying outside her home. Police and NSW Ambulance paramedics rendered assistance but the woman died at the scene.

'She had suffered a number of stab wounds.'

Police initiated 'strike force slant' to investigate her death and the circumstances.
Rentree chargee pour les 70 deputes avec des projets de loi plein le cartable et autant de questions pour les ministres pour la premiere seance de 2022.

1.Announcements

2.Papers

3.Questions

4.Motion

The Honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity 

That all the business on todays Order Paper be exempted from the provisions of paragraph (2) of Standing Order 10.

5.Statements by Ministers

6.Public Bills

FIRST READING

(i)*The National Flag, Arms of Mauritius, National Anthem and OtherNational Symbols of Mauritius Bill

(No. I of 2022: The Honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity)

(

ii) *The Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Bill

(No. II of 2022: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

7.Motion

Dr the Honourable Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development 

This House is of opinion that 

(a) A census of dwellings shall be taken for Mauritius between 30 April 2022 and 20 June 2022 to collect statistics in respect of every building; and

(b) A census of population shall be taken for Mauritius between 19 June 2022 to 01 August 2022, in respect of all persons alive at midnight on the night on 03 July 2022.

8.Public Bills

(a)SECOND READING

*The Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Bill

(No. II of 2022: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(b) COMMITTEE STAGE

*The Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Bill

(No. II of 2022: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(c) THIRD READING

*The Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Bill

(No. II of 2022: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(d) SECOND READING

*The Town Planners Council Bill

(No. XIX of 2021: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(e) COMMITTEE STAGE

*The Town Planners Council Bill

(No. XIX of 2021: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(f) THIRD READING

*The Town Planners Council Bill

(No. XIX of 2021: The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism)

(g) SECOND READING

*The Revision of Laws (Amendment) Bill

(No. XX of 2021: The Honourable the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security)

(h) COMMITTEE STAGE

*The Revision of Laws (Amendment) Bill

(No. XX of 2021: The Honourable the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security)

(i) THIRD READING

*The Revision of Laws (Amendment) Bill

(No. XX of 2021: The Honourable the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security)

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Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu appeared tense and tired as he was today shown on TV chairing a meeting as the Kremlin sought to dispel swirling rumours that he had suffered a heart attack.

The wax-faced 66-year-old army general, whose voice was rough and raspy, was reading from notes in an apparent crisis session to obtain more cash for his disastrous war from the Finance Ministry.

There was no immediate proof of when the televised Shoigu session broadcast took place, although it clearly referred to the 'special military operation' - Kremlin-speak for the war - underway in Ukraine.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured) appeared tense and tired as he was today shown on TV chairing a meeting

There is also speculation that Shoigu had sought to resign at the start of the war - like other members of Vladimir Putin's inner circle - but that his plea was rejected by the strongman.

The defence minister told military officials after a session with the finance ministry that it was essential to keep up the pace of weapons deliveries to troops.

The previous definite appearance of Shoigu was on 11 March, although the Russians say he attended a video conference with Vladimir Putin on 24 March.

There is speculation that Shoigu (left) sought to resign at the start of the war but that his plea was rejected by the strongman (right)

Sceptics believed this was a fake with Shoigu's face on the screen but likely not in fact in attendance.

Ukrainian government advisor Anton Gerashchenko on Friday seized on speculation in Moscow that Shoigu had suffered either heart problems or an actual heart attack.

'Shoigu's heart attack happened after a tough accusation by Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine,' said the Ukrainian.

Ksenia Shoigu, 31, the daughter of Russia's Minister of Defence Serge, pictured with her father

He appears to allude to a version in Moscow that Putin and Shoigu fell out in the first few days of the war in February when it became clear a quick victory was out of the question.

One claim is that security was strengthened around Shoigu - ostensibly to stop Western assassination attempts.

Some in the inner circle perceived this as a 'form of arrest', it was claimed.

Shoigu - who has been mentioned as a plausible Putin successor - complained of a deterioration of his health, but the Russian leader was said to be unsympathetic.

One one occasion, Putin was informed that Shoigu 'felt unwell and complained of pain and burning in the region of his heart'.

Ksenia pictured with her father, holding her baby daughter Milana, and with husband Andrey

The Russian president denied medical assistance to his friend and instead branded him a 'malingerer', according to General SVR Telegram channel, which claims inside sources.

'Only after the president was informed that Shoigu had lost consciousness did Putin allow physicians to be admitted.'

It is also claimed that Shoigu had sought to resign on 10 March but was refused by Putin, who said he would be transferred to other duties after the war.

Meanwhile, Putin is said to be taking military advice on the war from Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, rather than Shoigu whose role at meetings is like that of 'an extra'.

There have been rumours that others who sought to resign since the start of the were Head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, and even Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Shoigu's daughter Ksenia, 31, a financial analyst, caused surprise by posing with her baby in an image dominated by the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine

Nabiullina was persuaded by Putin to work for 'several months' and ease the major financial crisis now engulfing sanctions-hit Russia before being allowed to quit and even emigrate.

Shoigu's daughter Ksenia, 31, a financial analyst, caused surprise by posing with her baby in an image dominated by the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine.

In June last year his elder sister Larisa died from Covid.

In the video issued today, Shoigu said: 'Taking into account the conduct of the special military operation, this year it is necessary to maintain the set pace for the supply of advanced weapons to troops.'

This should include 'robotic systems, information support and electronic warfareand logistics'.

One one occasion, Putin was informed that Shoigu 'felt unwell and complained of pain and burning in the region of his heart'

When asked about Shoigu's whereabouts, the Kremlin said the defence minister was devoting less time to media appearances because of the war.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: 'The defence minister has a lot on his mind right now.

'A special military operation is under way. Now is not really the time for media activity.'

This comes as it was revealed that Putin had started a witch-hunt among his inner circle and was growing wary of close allies after the US and Britain received leaks of his military plans.

According to sources the leaks, which have been passed by London and Washington to Kyiv, had been blamed as the reason Russia's top generals and elite forces have been targeted so effectively in Ukraine.
A British man who had been missing for more than a week has been found dead down a well on the Algarve beside his lifeless dog.

Searches for 22-year-old Harry Bradley began shortly after he disappeared from the village of Paderne near the holiday resort of Albufeira on March 17.

Police yesterday confirmed they had found his body, alongside that of his dog, Nim, in a well in the town of Sao Bartolomeu de Messines a 15-minute drive north.

The discovery was made just before 8am local time.

Officers said his locked and parked Renault Berlingo van had been discovered nearby on waste ground.

They had been focusing the search, which involved sniffer dogs, on the area after detecting a signal from his mobile phone.

Police yesterday confirmed they had found the body of missing British man Harry Bradley, 22, (left) alongside that of his dog, Nim, in a well in the town of Sao Bartolomeu de Messines, Portugal

Officers made the gruesome discovery after triangulating a signal from Harry's mobile phone to the Sao Bartolomeu de Messines area. Pictured: A missing persons poster distributed to local Algarve residents

Harry is believed to have been living in the village where he was last seen after going out for a walk with his pet.

The cause of his death was not immediately clear although well-placed sources said there was no evidence pointing to a crime.

An autopsy will now take place although the results are not expected to be publicly released.

Searches for the missing Brit began shortly after he disappeared from the village of Paderne (above) near the holiday resort of Albufeira on March 17

When Harry disappeared, his parents led calls for his safe return with a desperate plea, telling local media that there 'is no trace where he could be of it something serious has happened to him'.

Harry reportedly arrived in Portugal four years ago after finishing his A-Levels. His family have lived in the Algarve region since 2017, and he is understood to have been helping his father with construction work.
Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev has said the Ukraine crisis is worse for Russia than the Cold War was.

In an interview with state agency Sputnik News, the politician, who is now deputy head of security council, said during that period Russia wasn't faced with sanctions on 'industries, agriculture, and individuals'.

He also said Russia's counterparts weren't 'trying to bring the situation to a boiling point' then.

Medvedev (right) served as president from 2008 to 2012, in his election campaign promising to elect predecessor Vladimir Putin (left) as Prime Minister

In the interview Medvedev also claimed the 'economic war on Russia' will bring about 'the destruction of the entire world economic order'.

He added: 'They are seizing assets of financial institutions and even of the [Russian] Central Bank, and are even talking about foreclosing these assets, about nationalising them in other words. Well, look, this is a war without rules.'

Medvedev served as president from 2008 to 2012, in his election campaign promising to elect predecessor Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister.

It is by many believed Putin, who then became president again in 2012, was a de facto leader at the time, only putting Medvedev in power because he wasn't constitutionally able to serve a third consecutive term.

Medvedev also told Sputnik that while 'no one wants any war, much less a nuclear war, which is a threat to the very existence of human civilisation', it's 'obvious' that this a threat that 'always exists'.

Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev has said the Ukraine crisis is worse for Russia than the Cold War was

He added that he agrees with those who say that 'the development of nuclear weapons has prevented a huge number of conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries'.

In an interview with RIA news agency the ex-president also said there are several grounds under which Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons, including an attack on the country or encroachment on infrastructure as a result of which Russia's nuclear deterrent forces would be paralysed.

But he added that negotiations - even in the most difficult situations such as those around Ukraine - are Moscow's preferred path to proceed.

Despite remarking that the situation for Russia is worse and claiming 'the destruction of the entire world economic order' is on the horizon, Medvedev also said it is 'foolish' to believe that Western sanctions against Russian businesses could have any effect on the Moscow government.

He told RIA news agency in an interview that sanctions will only consolidate Russian society and won't cause popular discontent with the authorities.

In the interview Medvedev also claimed the 'economic war on Russia' will bring about 'the destruction of the entire world economic order'

The West has imposed an array of sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but one month into the war, the Kremlin says it will continue the assault until it accomplishes its goals of Ukraine's 'demilitarisation and denazification'.

Some of the sanctions have specifically targeted billionaire businessmen believed to be close to President Vladimir Putin.

'Let us ask ourselves: can any of these major businessmen have even the tiniest quantum of influence of the position of the country's leadership?' Medvedev said.

'I openly tell you: no, no way.'

When asked about Russia's place in the world, Medvedev told RIA news agency that it's a 'big, significant' and 'very good' country.

He added its place 'is destined for it by history and, if you like, by God...And Russia has its own future, its own positioning, its own pride, its own strength, its own opportunities, its own problems.'
President Joe Biden got an update on the startling developments on the ground in Ukraine Saturday as he attended a meeting with Ukrainian's foreign and defense minister at a time when Moscow is redefining its war aims.

Biden was joined by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, hours after a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded more 'bravery' from NATO allies who are arming Ukraine.

'The [NATO] Alliance is taking decisions as if there [were] no war,' Andriy Yermak told Atlantic Council.

In Warsaw, Biden met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov hours after the Kremlin announced it had concluded the first 'phase' of its invasion of Ukraine.

That raised the possibility Moscow was coming to grips with its failure to achieve its goals after rushing tanks and troops to try to encircle key Ukrainian cities.

Russia now says it will focus on the Donbas region.

President Joe Biden participates in a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, second from left, and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Warsaw

Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak asked for more 'bravery' from NATO allies

Biden and the Ukrainians made small talk while reporters were in the room, talking about travel and sleep.

Biden shared his own experience: 'You're looking at a fella who's traveled over a million 200,000 miles'

'I learned how to sleep,' he said.

The president, while a senator, commuted daily between his home in Wilmington and Washington D.C. via Amtrak. Also as chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as vice president, Biden traveled abroad extensively.

Biden spent about 30 minutes in the meeting, which was not originally on his schedule, before heading to a sit down with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Biden last met with Kuleba on Feb. 22 in Washington  two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his brutal invasion.

Ukraine is the main subject of Biden's meetings in Poland

The Russians are claiming thier invasion has moved past its first stage.

'The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out,' said Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff administration on Friday.

'The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been substantially reduced, which allows us to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbas,' he added  referring to territory seized by Russia in 2014 that is mostly controlled by pro-Moscow sepratists.
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The Lyon County Sheriff's Office arrested 41-year-old Troy Driver (pictured) and charged him with kidnapping 13 days after Naomi Irion, 18, was last seen

Police have arrested a suspect in the alleged kidnapping of a missing Nevada teen who was last seen in her car in the parking lot of a Walmart nearly two weeks ago.

The Lyon County Sheriff's Office on Friday arrested Troy Driver, 41, and charged him with kidnapping 13 days after Naomi Irion, 18, was last seen in Fernley, Nevada, about 34 miles east of Reno.

Police said they located and impounded the Chevrolet Silverado High Country truck that was 'possibly involved' in the crime and searched it for evidence.

In the meantime, the investigation is still active and police are continuing their search for Irion.

Police have not confirmed if Driver is the man seen in surveillance or confirmed if Driver knew Irion.

In surveillance footage from before her disappearance, Irion can be seen parking her car in the Walmart lot and sitting in the driver's seat while she waited for a company shuttle to take her to her job at Panasonic. An unidentified man wearing a hoodie was filmed approaching Naomi's car after circling the area.

It's unclear if she was in the store at the time he broke into the vehicle or if she was in the car, but footage shows the pair driving off with the man in the driver's seat.

The pair then drove out of the lot with the man behind the wheel. Her abandoned car was found less than a mile away on March 15 but there has been no sign of Naomi since then.

Police said there was 'evidence of a crime' inside the car, but did not reveal what they found.

Police said they located and impounded the Chevrolet Silverado High Country truck that was 'possibly involved' in the crime and searched it for evidence

An unidentified man was filmed approaching Naomi's car in the Walmart parking lot after circling the area

Before Friday, the sheriff's office had said only that Irion's disappearance was 'suspicious in nature.' But Melissa Thomson, the sheriff's dispatch shift supervisor, told The Associated Press Friday night it is now investigating the incident as a kidnapping.

'The FBI has changed their flyers to refer to it as a kidnapping,' she said. She didn't provide any additional details and didn't know when any more information would be released.

Casey Valley, Naomi's older brother who she lives with, spoke to the media last week and said the suspect 'circled around the parking lot maybe to make sure there were no witnesses.

'He came up behind the car and forced his way into the driver's side of the car. Maybe her door was unlocked.

'He either said or did something to make her move to the passenger seat, and then he drove her car away into an unknown direction.'

Irion's family said the teen went on a date with an unknown man the day before she vanished and had complained about being sexually harassed at work.

Panasonic knew about the harassment and had handled it 'internally,' according to Naomi's brother.

Naomi's father Herve Irion works for the State Department. When she was around 13, the family moved to Moscow, then they went to Frankfurt and finally settled in South Africa.

Distraught: Naomi's mother Diana sobbed with worry, describing her as an 'extraordinary' woman who was excited about her life

Naomi Irion, 18, has been missing since March 12 when she was abducted from a Walmart parking lot in her car

Her distraught family revealed to DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview this week that the 18-year-old was exploring life as a free, young American woman after growing up in sheltered communities in Russia, Germany and South Africa as a result of her father's job in the State Department.

Irion moved to America last year to live with her older brother Casey Valley, an Apple employee who served in the Navy as a nuclear machinist from 2009 to 2016. She wanted to learn how to drive, get a job, go on dates and attend community college.

Fernley, where she was living with her brother, is a safe area where the residents are stunned by what has happened.

The day before she vanished, Naomi went on a date with a man who has not been named in Reno. It's likely they met on a dating app but her family does not know which one. She had accounts on Tinder, Hinge and Bumble.

Her family does not think he is involved in her disappearance but say law enforcement is aware of him. Before she was taken, Naomi was enjoying living in America after years of being sheltered, they said.

'She really wanted to experience life in America being an American kid. Most kids get to learn how to drive a car and go on dates and get some freedom but in the diplomatic community overseas, you can't have that. You can't learn how to drive a car. You can't really go on dates safely.

'You have to be secure and there's a lot of security that keeps us safe. She hadn't experienced life without that yet.

'She really wanted to explore herself as a free American young woman and what that looked like for her.'

Naomi's family say she had accounts on Hinge, Bumble and Tinder. She had been meeting people online and at work, and was a 'member of the LGBTQ community', her family said

'She was so excited to move back to America,' her mother, Diana, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday after flying in to Nevada from South Africa, where she still lives with her husband and their three younger sons.

Diana's husband, Naomi's father Herve Irion, works for the foreign service and has held posts in Moscow, Frankfurt and Pretoria. He is now in Nevada with his wife Diana and their three Ukrainian-born adopted sons to join the search for Naomi.

Until this year, Naomi had never driven nor gone on dates freely. She was meeting people 'online' and at work, just like other teenagers and adults, her family said.

She was excited about having a car, a job in the Panasonic factory in Reno, where she was making friends. She moved to Fernley to live with her older brother and his long-term girlfriend Nikki last year after graduating from the American school in South Africa.

Her plan was to use her brother's safe home as a launchpad for her own life, saving up enough money from her job at Panasonic to afford her own place, and enrolling in community college.
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Swatch had to close its London stores today, with its Carnaby Street location having to shut after being open for just half an hour, following chaotic scenes as customers fought to get their hands on the highly-anticipated MoonSwatch which went on sale today.

Police officers were seen speaking to store staff as crowds tried to get inside, a customer said, with some who had been queuing for the space-inspired collection launch since Friday afternoon.

The man, who did not want to be named, said: 'There were about three Metropolitan police officers. They were clearly not really prepared for it (the crowds). The Swatch company didn't appear to provide any crowd control measures at all.'

He said those present were told the shop would not reopen today, and he believed only around 10 customers were able to make it into the store before it closed.

Pictured: Swatch in Carnaby Street, London, was forced to close their doors early after crowds got out of control

Police have closed all London Swatch watch stores due to chaotic scenes when they opened to the public on the first day of the launch of the MoonSwatch collection. Pictured, the store in Covent Garden

Swatch said: 'We are very sorry but due to unprecedented health and safety reasons, we have had to close our Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and Oxford Street stores. We will update you soon'

Police and security staff were on site in London after customers tried to force their way into the shop to get the MoonSwatch

After hours of waiting in an orderly queue, late customers tried to barge their way into the store ahead of those who had been there overnight, the witness said.

The disorder broke out after it was reported that customers who had arrived late attempted to cut the queue and force their way in past those dedicated fans who had waited outside overnight.

The disruption meant Swatch was forced to close early citing unmanageable crowds which left some fans walking away empty handed despite waiting hours.

Huw Rowlands, 41, who made the journey into London from Cardiff by coach at 3am, said it's 'annoying' that he never 'stood a chance' at getting his hands on a watch.

He told MyLondon: 'They massively underestimated demand. I understand creating hype, but there was a complete lack of crowd control.

'The queue broke down at the front with a mod at the door resulting in the store having to be temporarily closed and the police called shortly after 9am.

'I'm disappointed I didnt get a watch, although it was a risk I was willing to take. Its annoying I never stood a chance - absolutely zero - and Swatch knew this from the carnage of the Australian launch.

'Its cost me over 100 [to get here] and has been a waste of my day. At least with an online launch, the website crashes and just you try again later. Seems to have worked for them though.

Customers congregate at the doors to the Swatch store on Carnaby Street, central London, in a bid to get their hands on the newly-released MoonSwatch - a highly anticipated collaboration between Omega and Swatch which went on sale today

People camped out overnight outside the Swatch store in Carnaby Street London, to ensure they got their new MoonSwatch

'There was a queue at the Omega store just to look at them through the window.'

The Swatch shop in the capital's Carnaby Street had warned customers to get there early in expectation of large queues.

On March 30 Swatch Group said: 'We are overwhelmed by the fantastic support of our customers and by their extraordinary enthusiasm for the Bioceramic MoonSwatch Collection.

'We do our best to fulfill demand and we hope that anyone who is moonstruck by this OMEGA x Swatch collaboration will soon be able to lay their hands on one of these watches.

The Bioceramic MoonSwatch Collection is not available for the time being for purchase online. We remind you that it is not a limited-edition and will soon be available again in selected Swatch stores.'

MyLondon reports that a spokesperson for Swatch said: 'Swatch has closed its London stores for health and safety measures. Thank you for understanding.

'We are very sorry but due to unprecedented health and safety reasons, we have had to close our Covent Garden, Carnaby Street and Oxford Street stores. We will update you soon.'

It comes as long lines began to form outside of Swatch branches in London, Edinburgh, Delhi, Melbourne, Rotterdam, Bologne and New York, to name a few, on Saturday as shoppers tried to get their hands on the new release from the Swiss watchmaker.

The frenzied shopping has been sparked by the release of the budget MoonSwatch - a long-awaited collaboration between Swatch and Omega.

The highly-anticipated timepiece went on sale this morning with a price tag of 207 but is already on eBay for more than 3,000.

The MoonSwatch is an affordable take on the famous collector's favourite Speedmaster Professional - also known as the Moonwatch because it was the first watch worn by an astronaut walking on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Reports surfaced of chaos erupting at the London branch after some customers tried to cut in front of those who had queued

A crowd of shoppers were left disappointed when the Swatch store closed early due to the volume of customers in London

The iconic brands say they collaborated in a bid to deliver 'the best of both words' between luxury and affordability - with the MoonSwatch coming in at 207 while the original model will easily set you back 5,000.

The brands say they have drawn their design inspiration from space, to create a collection of eleven Swatch models named after planetary bodies, 'from the giant star at the centre of the solar system to the dwarf planet at its periphery'.

The watch features all the key design elements that the original Moonwatch has including the asymmetrical case, the famous tachymeter scale with the dot over ninety and the distinctive Speedmaster subdials.

The companies sent watch collectors into a frenzy on Thursday when they announced the design collaboration and queues formed outside selected branches across the world this morning as fans were desperate to get their hands on a piece.

Photos showed queues snaking through streets across the world while police officers were deployed to some branches to help manage the crowds.

The iconic brands say they collaborated in a bid to deliver 'the best of both words' between luxury and affordability

Pictured: The watches were released on sale this morning and are already selling for more than 3,000 on eBay

The new MoonSwatch was launched today and fans were queuing before shops opened their doors. Pictured: Dubai store

Customers formed queues and crowds in the Netherlands with both the Amsterdam (l) and Rotterdam (r) branches being busy

In New York City, the Swatch branch in Grand Central Station were prepared with barriers for the expected queues

Lines went all the way down the Rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris as Swatch collectors queued to get their new MoonSwatch

Queue with a view: Customers in Edinburgh at least had decent weather and a view of the city's castle while they waited

It wasn't just London's Carnaby Street branch that was busy today as the Oxford Street Swatch also saw huge crowds

The collaboration between Omega and Swatch has been highly anticipated and was officially released today. Pictured: Porto

In total, the companies have released 11 versions of the MoonSwatch. Pictured: Swatch fans queue in Bologna, Italy

Police were forced to help security and manage the growing crowd of customers (pictured: Chadstone in Australia)

Melbourne: queue snaked from the front of the store and continued hundreds of metres down one side of the shopping centre

The company said in a statement: 'Omega's Moonwatch is legendary and a must-have for collectors. Swatch's witty BIOCERAMIC MoonSwatch collection makes the iconic design accessible to fans everywhere.

'It's a down to earth take on the watch that went to the moon, which is a perfect representation of Swatch's joy of life and innovation philosophy.'

Speculation had been swirling for months of a collaboration between Swatch and Omega - before it was confirmed the MoonSwatch would be launched on March 26.

Each watch is based on a space theme and titled after a planet or moon - with all the names beginning with the word 'Mission'.

'Mission to Mars', 'Mission to Mercury' and 'Mission to Uranus' are among the different names.

The watches have been designed so the colours and layouts reflect the planets they are named after.

'The Swatches are perfect for budding Moonwatch fans, and I can't think of a more appropriate icon for our shared project,' said Raynald Aeschlimann, president and chief executive officer of Omega. 'We went to the moon; now we're exploring the whole Milky Way.'
One ferry has been detained in Northern Ireland after being deemed 'unfit to sail'

Protestors have today gathered in Liverpool, Hull and Dover to demand action

Protests are taking place at UK ports over the sacking of hundreds of seafarers by P&O Ferries, as calls grow for the company's boss to quit.

Protestors and union members have gathered at ports in Liverpool, Hull and Dover to blockade the entrances.

Some demonstrators were seen carrying banners saying 'Save our seafarers' while others demanded that P&O's ferries be 'seized'.

The Trades Union Congress meanwhile shared video showing P&O Ferries dockers in Rotterdam refusing to load freight onto a ferry set for Hull 'in solidarity with the 800 seafarers illegally sacked by P&O'.

The demonstrations come after a ship operated by the ferry firm was detained for being 'unfit to sail' in Northern Ireland.

Protests are taking place at ports in Liverpool, Hull and Dover over the sacking of hundreds of seafarers by P&O Ferries, as calls grow for the company's boss to quit. Pictured: Protests at the port of Liverpool

LIVERPOOL: Some demonstrators were seen carrying banners saying 'Save our seafarers' while others demanded that P&O's ferries be 'seized'

DOVER: Hundreds were seen taking part in a demonstration against the dismissal of P&O Ferries workers organised by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at the Port of Dover, Kent

DUBLIN: Irish trade union workers also held a rally at Dublin Port outside the P&O terminal in support of the sacked workers

Police were seen holding back traffic from attempting to enter one port to the north of Liverpool because of the protests

The company sparked widespread outrage when it sacked almost 800 seafarers earlier this month, and plans to replace them with agency staff on cheaper salaries

The European Causeway vessel has been held at the port of Larne due to 'failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training', the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

The MCA said there were no passengers or freight on board the European Causeway vessel when it was detained.

RMT Union general secretary Mick Lynch said: 'All the protests today were well attended with hundreds turning out in Liverpool, Hull and Dover to support the P&O workers in their fight for justice.

'There will be more protests, more campaigning and more political pressure this week as we ratchet up the fight and harness the public anger at the jobs massacre on our ferries.'

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he will not compromise the safety of P&O vessels and insisted that the company will not be able to rush training for inexperienced people.

The company sparked widespread outrage when it sacked almost 800 seafarers earlier this month, and plans to replace them with agency staff on cheaper salaries.

The European Causeway vessel has been held at the port of Larne due to 'failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training', the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite this week admitted to MPs that the company 'chose' to break the law with the mass summary sacking without consulting unions.

The millionaire boss has been told to resign for the shocking revelation, Commons business committee chair Darren Jones saying he 'should be fined, struck off and prosecuted'.

Labour has written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng asking whether the Government will seek the removal of P&O Ferries' chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite as a director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.

In a letter, the party accused the Government of 'sitting on their hands' rather than taking action to hold P&O to account, adding that the 'toothless response risks giving the green light to exploitation'.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the 'shameful misconduct of P&O Ferries has ruined livelihoods' as she called for the sacked workers to be reinstated and for Mr Hebblethwaite to be 'barred' as a director for his role in the crisis.

P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite this week admitted to MPs that the company 'chose' to break the law with the mass summary sacking without consulting unions

Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed Mr Shapps' call for Mr Hebblethwaite to quit.

In Larne, the local mayor of the Mid and East Antrim Council, William McCaughey, said they would support the reinstatement of the staff immediately.

'It is ridiculous what P&O Ferries has done to the staff, we in Larne would be very keen to see staff reinstated, it is the least that P&O could do,' he said.

Alliance East Antrim MLA Stewart Dickson welcomed the impounding of the ferry as a safety measure.

'It's not like the crew of an airplane getting off one Easyjet and getting on to the next one where the controls are the exactly the same, and everything is in the same place,' he told PA.

'No two ships are the same, and you cannot just fly a crew in and expect them to be able to sail a ship.

The RMT union said it welcomed the detention of the European Causeway and it demanded the Government 'seize the entire fleet' of P&O vessels

Labour has written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng asking whether the Government will seek the removal of P&O Ferries' chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite as a director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986

'Every control will be in a different place, but particularly all those health and safety drills that have to be gone through, everything from lifeboat stations to how each item of equipment operates.

'It seemed to me it was going to be very difficult for staff to be able to take on that role in such a short period of time.

'I am absolutely delighted they have (impounded the ship). This isn't vengeance against P&O [Ferries], it's about passenger safety and the safety of the crew as well.

The RMT union said it welcomed the detention of the European Causeway and it demanded the Government 'seize the entire fleet' of P&O vessels.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: 'We can confirm that the European Causeway has been detained in Larne.

'It has been detained due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training.

'The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected.'
President Joe Biden emphasized the 'sacred' tie of NATO in his meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Saturday as he sought to strengthen ties amid Russia's war with the Ukraine.

In his remarks, Biden emphasized the U.S. commitment to NATO's Article Five, the provision that if one member of the alliance is attacked, then all others members will come to its aid.

Poland shares a 300 mile border with Ukraine and is one of the many Eastern Europe nations worried it could get caught up in Vladimir Putin's war, particularly if he expands his reach.

'We take article five as a sacred commitment. Not a throwaway. A sacred commitment that relates to every member of NATO,' Biden said.

The president repeated his pledge at the end of his remarks to offer double reassurance.

'We take as a sacred obligation article five. A sacred obligation of article five. And you can count on that,' he said, adding 'for your freedom and ours.'

One of the goals of Biden's trip was to emphasize unity among the allies in the face of Russia's aggression, which the president emphasized in his remarks.

'I am confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing it up separating the eastern flank from the west that he hasn't been able to do it and we all stayed together and so I just think it is so important that we keep in lockstep,' Biden said.

The two leaders greeted each other warmly when Biden arrived outside the presidential palace, with a 15-second handshake. At one point Biden has his hand on Duda's shoulder.

Biden was given a formal welcome with a military band and a formal reveiw of the troops.

The president kicked off the final day of his trip to Europe meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.

He'll later meet a few of the refugees who have fled the war-stricken Ukraine. He's staying in a hotel across the street from Warsaw's central train station, a major arrival point for Ukrainian refugees. Some 3.5 million have fled the country with 2 million in Poland.

Duda, who appeared with Biden on Friday, said the refugees are 'guests.'

'We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation,' he said.

The U.S. has been sending money and supplies but will ramp up its contributions. Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would welcome an additional 100,000 refugees.

Biden also is set to make what the White House is billing as a major speech on the war.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the speech will outline the 'urgency of the challenge that lies ahead' and 'what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world stay in unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.'

President Joe Biden, in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, emphasized the U.S. committment to NATO's Article Five

Polish President Andrzej Duda and U.S. President Joe Biden inspect the honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Warsaw

Biden and Duda will meet to discuss the war in the Ukraine and the resulting refugee crisis

Duda and Biden inspected the troops as part of fomal arrival ceremony

Biden and Duda greeted each other warmly, shaking hands

Biden, in his motorcade, approaching the Presidential Palace in Warsaw

In a surprise appearance by video link at Qatar's Doha Forum today (pictured) Zelensky called for more help from world powers

Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced it had concluded the first 'phase' of its invasion of Ukraine.

That raised the possibility Moscow was coming to grips with its failure to achieve its goals after rushing tanks and troops to try to encircle key Ukrainian cities.

Russia now says it will focus on the Donbas region.

President Vladimir Putin may have dialed back his war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation's resistance in a month of fighting and attacks on civilians that included up to 300 feared killed after Russia bombed a theatre.

Putin had sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, vowing to destroy the country's military and topple its pro-Western president.

But his army has made little progress on capturing key cities, and its attacks on civilians have become more deadly.

A statement out of the Kremlin suggested Moscow may be recalibrating its strategy.

'The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out,' said Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff administration on Friday.

'The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been substantially reduced, which allows us to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbas,' he added  referring to territory seized by Russia in 2014 that is mostly controlled by pro-Moscow sepratists.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has been beaten back by the 'powerful blows' of Ukrainian forces, with 16,000 of Putin's troops killed as the war entered its fifth week.

Zelensky's troops are preparing to take back the city of Kherson today, which was the first major city the invading forces took control of.

An adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister said he thought the city would be won back today.

Markian Lubkivskyi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces.

'We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities.'

Refugees wait for transport after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland

Zelensky has welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to 'liberating' Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians. Pictured: Destroyed apartments in the city centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 25

Russian T80 tank captured by the Ukrainian service members is seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region

Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region on March 25

A man hurries to walk away from a building that was just hit by Russian bombardment, and caught on fire, in the Moskovskyi district in Kharkiv

Zelensky also welcomed a delivery of 1,500 German anti-aircraft missiles, while alleged war criminal Putin was said to be scaling back his invasion aims to 'liberating' Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as he continued to shell civilians.

He made a surprise video appearance at Qatar's Doha Forum today, where he criticised Russia's war and called on the United Nations and world powers for more help.
Russia's $140billion supply of gold could be sold at bargain prices after sanctions by the West halted its trade on the open market.

The country has the world's fifth biggest gold supply, with more than 2,300 tonnes of gold stored in Bank of Russia vaults in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Vladimir Putin built up Russia's gold supply after the 2014 invasion of Crimea in order to protect Moscow from the brunt of global sanctions.

But new restrictions by the US, the EU and more prevent Russia's central bank from doing business with the West.

The price of gold has climbed steadily as investors ditch rubles and bet on the precious metal

Russia has one of the world's largest supplies of gold - but will now struggle to sell it abroad

Global traders and banks, which might typically buy Russia's bullion in return for currency, now fear the bad PR or direct financial penalties of doing business with Russia.

That means severing one of Russia's most valuable routes toward economy security - and it appears to be working.

'This is why they bought their gold, it was for a situation just like this,' Cork University business lecturer Fergal O'Connor told Bloomberg.

'But if no one will trade it with you, it doesn't matter.'

Russia may instead be forced to sell its formerly lucrative supply - worth more than 100 billion - to central banks in India and China.

Those deals will come at a lower price, commodities analysts CPM Group predict.

And the blow to Russia could be even greater if Western politicians expand so-called 'secondary sanctions' to punish those buying or selling Russian gold anywhere - including key market China.

Earlier this month City marketplace the London Bullion Market Association - the world's most important - banned all gold bars made in Russia.

Russians are buying gold as a reliable alternative to collapsed rubles, allowing domestic values to remain steady.

Abroad, however, Russia's once-reliable gold reserves remain out in the cold.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embraced their competitive side during a boat race as they took park in 'a very special regatta' in the Bahamas ahead of their final day in the Caribbean.

Prince William and Kate greeted crowds and local fishermen as they walked along Montagu Bay in New Providence on the final stop of their Caribbean tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The sailing regattas in The Bahamas is one of the first that has taken place since the start of the Covid pandemic and both William and Kate pitched in as they raced each other in separate yachts.

In a video shared on their Instagram, the couple thanked the teams for their hospitality and for enduring the poor weather.

The Caption read: 'Taking to the sea yesterday for a very special regatta here in The Bahamas. Thank you to the crew for braving the rain! It was a close race'

It comes as Prince William delivered a speech in which he said he insisted that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

Today, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are due to visit the Daystar Evangelical Church which suffered damage during Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

During their visit, on the final day of their Caribbean tour, they will hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time.

Kate was pictured wearing a pink animal shirt midi dress with a button down collar and long sleeves paired with camel suede wedge heels both from Farfetch and a pink bag from Emmy London.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge revealed their competitive side during a boat race as they took park in 'a very special regatta' in the Bahamas ahead of their final day in the Caribbean. Pictured: Kate gets stuck in despite the rainy weather

Safety first: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge don life jackets during the regatta in the Bahamas yesterday afternoon

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II

William and Kate wave to excited crowds as they attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their way to attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

In the choppy waters, the duke sailed to victory in a race against Kate today during a rain-affected regatta in The Bahamas to celebrate the Queen's jubilee.

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II. She also sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing.

His boat came in about five minutes ahead of four others including one featuring the Duchess of Cambridge, who suffered the ignominy of coming in last with her crew.

It was a second consecutive victory for William, who beat his wife in the King's Cup charity regatta off the Isle of Wight in 2019 when they last raced on the water. On that occasion her boat was disqualified.

Kate triumphed when the ultra competitive couple raced yachts in New Zealand in 2014.

Earlier, Kate was pictured holding a newborn baby during a royal walkabout with Prince William as the couple continued their protest-hit tour of the Caribbean with a visit to a school in the Bahamas amid torrential downpours.

Kate sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing

Kate Middleton was in hysterics with crew members, as they all wore hats of the vessel's name Ants Nest II

The royal couple greeted crowds who gathered in Parliament Square before attending the colourful Junkanoo Carnival in Nassau to celebrate the monarch's Platinum Jubilee alongside the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, and his wife Ann-Marie.

Kate was pictured speaking to a mother in the crowd and cradling her baby's head before the iconic street parade, which featured locals wearing colourful costumes and dancing to music.

It comes as Prince William signalled that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

On the sixth day of their tour of the Caribbean yesterday, the future king said the Royal Family 'respect the decisions' of countries like The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize when it comes to their future in a nod to the critical 'colonialism' commentary and protests that accompanied welcoming crowds.

Since beginning their tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the Cambridges were greeted like rock stars by the public - but politicians, including the prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, used meetings to make clear in public they will push for the island to be a republic with a referendum this year.

Critical royal observers led by by Meghans cheerleader-in-chief Omid Scobie and BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond made claims of a series of tone deaf PR moments that smacked of colonialism - leading to more social media criticism despite the couple's warm welcome on the ground.

The royal couple have attended a reception hosted by the Governor-General during which they will have the opportunity to meet community leaders and notable people from across The Bahamas' many islands

Speaking at the black-tie reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith, William said: 'Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence - your Golden Anniversary.

'And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this: We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

'Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.'

At the evening reception, the Duchess of Cambridge stepped out in a stunning Grace-Kelly style gown that looked worlds away from this afternoon's wet yachting regatta.

They received one of the warmest welcomes of their tour as they mingled with eminent Bahamians from the fields of culture, law, religion, business, medicine and politics.

Before they left William and Kate were presented with a model of a sloop sailing boat similar to the one they sailed on earlier in the day.

The roses on the dress of guest Mildred Murphy caught Kates eye and she complimented her. 'She said I looked amazing and I said the roses were for the flower of England. She said she loved visiting the school today and said how well the children behaved and how nice it was for her to have that experience.'
President Joe Biden on Saturday compared Poland's taking in more than 2 million Ukraine refugees to the migrant situation on the Southern border of the U.S.

The odd comparision came as Biden was thanking Polish President Andrzej Duda for his country's response to the humanitarian crisis and pledging U.S. financial aid.

'We do acknowledge Poland has taken on a lot with all of the responsibility,' Biden said.

'The fact that you have so many Ukrainians seeking refuge in this country of Poland. We understand that because we have, at our southern border, thousands of people per day literally, not figuratively, trying to get into the United States,' he said.

Refugees wait for transport after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland; Poland has taken in nearly 2 million refugees

Ukrainian refugees board a train bound to Krakow, at Przemysl Glowny train station, after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Ukrainian refugees rest in the ticket hall at Przemysl Glowny train station, after fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine

President Joe Biden compared Poland's taking in more than 2 million Ukraine refugees to the migrant situation on the Southern border of the U.S.

Some 3.5 million people have fled the Ukraine and nearly 2 million are in Poland, which shares a nearly 300-mile border with its neighbor.

Humanitarian organizations, NGOs, and governments around the world have sent food, money and medical equipment to help what the United Nations is calling the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.

In contrast, the officials on the United States border are dealing with a flux of immigrants, many from Latin American countries, who are seeking a better life.

But most of the crossings are illegal and they are on the rise.

According to preliminary U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data obtained by The Washington Post, authorities are on pace to make more than 200,000 detentions along the Mexican border in March, the highest monthly total since August.

CBP has been overwhelmed with the number of migrants, trying to find places to hold them as they await answers on their applications for asylum.

And the United States government, since March 2020, have used the emergency public health order known as Title 42, to allow CBP agents to bypass standard immigration proceedings and rapidly deport most migrants to their home countries or to Mexico.

A family seeking asylum in the USA give their documents to USA border patrol after crossing into the USA from Mexico in Yuma, Arizona

Border patrol agents and members of the Texas Army National Guard light the path as asylum-seeking migrants from Central and South America wade through the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico

The government has carried out more than 1.7 million expulsions, saying the Title 42 measures are needed to prevent the spread of covid.

Currently immigration courts are backlogged with 1.7 million cases and asylum claims can take up to five years to be adjudicated. About 672,000 of the cases waiting to be heard are asylum cases.

The situation on the U.S. southern border has become a political hot potato with Republicans decrying the large number of migrants crossing the border and Democrats preussing Biden to end the Title 42 rule, calling it an inhumane policy.

Duda, who appeared with Biden on Friday, in contrast, said the Ukrainian refugees coming into his country are 'guests.'

'We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation,' he said.

The U.S. has been sending money and supplies but will ramp up its contributions. Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would welcome an additional 100,000 refugees.

Biden told Duda the United States would do more to help the Ukrainian refugees.

'We believe that we should do our part relative to Ukraine as well by opening our borders to another 100,000 people,' he said.

The funding will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance, according to the White House.
The president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce apologized publicly for posting a photo on Instagram posing with two white girls - minors whose ages are unconfirmed - wearing Native American headdresses.

The photo has since been taken down from Suzanne Clark's Instagram account. The Chamber told Politico that the two girls wearing the offending garments in the photo are minors - their ages and their relation to Clark are unclear.

Noting that Politico Influence had contacted her office about the photo, intending to run a story, Suzanne Clark sent a forewarning email to staff, which was posted to Twitter along with the offending photo by a reporter for The Intercept.

'I wanted you to hear this from me first,' she wrote.

'During my vacation, a DJ came to the dance floor and put various types of headwear, including headdresses, of some of the other people in my group.'

Susan Clark (center), the president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, posted a photo on Instagram posing with two white girls wearing Native American headdresses. The Chamber of Commerce told Politico that the girls were minors - their relationship to Clark is unclear

Suzanne Clark, pictured, was named the executive vice president of the US Chamber in 2014, and was appointed as the body's first female president in its 107-year history in 2019. She said the offending photo was a 'momentary lapse in judgement'

'While they were only worn for the seconds it takes to snap and post a photo, it was wrong to don those headdresses, which hold deep meaning for Native Americans," Clark admitted.

'All of this was a mistake, and I am deeply sorry. As the leader of this organization, it is my highest responsibility to be intentional in how I represent our members, our work and this team.'

'This is a reminder to me that even momentary lapses in judgement can be harmful.'

Clarke, in a note to staff, says she is "deeply sorry" for a "momentary lapse in judgment" and says "it is my highest responsibility to be intentional in how I represent our members." pic.twitter.com/d31W5rWEq1  Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 25, 2022

Clark sent a forewarning email to her staff about the photo after Politico Influence reached out to her for comment, writing that 'all of this was a mistake'

Clarke was appointed CEO in March of this year, succeeding Tom Donohue (left), who led the organization for 24 years

Clark was named the executive vice president of the Chamber in 2014, and was appointed as the body's first female president in its 107-year history in 2019.

She was appointed CEO in March of this year, succeeding Tom Donohue, who led the organization for 24 years. She initially began her tenure with the Chamber as Donohue's top aide in 1997.

The Chamber of Commerce has not responded to DailyMail.com's requests for comment.

On social media, users lambasted the CEO for her thoughtless decision.

'It is NEVER okay to support the wearing of sacred wear that holds a special purpose and meaning for a culture and history you have limited to no understanding about,' tweeted @oneandonlyenha. 'Disgusting, Suzanne Clark President of US Chamber of Commerce. Get educated.'

'This is Suzanne Clark, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful Big Tech front group in the country,' wrote @fightmonopolies. 'This is who @Google, @Facebook and @Amazon point to for lobbying in Washington.'
Two Ukrainian mothers of young children have told how they will kill and be killed to protect their beloved city of Odesa from Russian invaders.

Before the war Olena Lolesnyk and Kamila Suleymanova held down normal jobs and spent their free time taking their sons to the many beaches and parks of this picturesque resort town, known as the 'Pearl of the Black Sea'.

But after Russian warships threatened to mount a seaborne assault of ancient port, these fiercely protective women took up arms to defend Ukraine.

Now Olena, 30, and Kamila, 33, are part of a unit of Ukraine's 3014 Army that is the final line of defence for Odesa  a long-held prize of the Kremlin.

Mothers Olena Lolesnyk, 30, (left) and Kamila Suleymanova, 33, have taken up arms to defend Ukraine

The pair attended a military ceremony to honour Ukraine's National Guard in Odesa, southern Ukraine

'I am prepared to kill to protect my city, my family, my country,' blonde-haired Olena told MailOnline, after she collected a bravery award from the city mayor.

'I try not to think about whether I might die, but I am prepared to give my life to protect everything I love.'

Kamila added: 'My mother does not know that I have joined the army.

'But we have to defend our land. It is for our children.'

The pair were speaking after they attended a military ceremony to honour Ukraine's National Guard.

Dressed in khaki-green uniforms, body armour, tin hats, and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, they stood shoulder to shoulder with their male comrades, as a military band played the Last Post.

The parade was held next to a famous statue of Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great, who founded the city in 1794.

But now this symbol of the Russian Empire is covered in sand-bags and surrounded by Ukrainian military hardware to protect it from the Kremlin warships that threaten to reduce the historic port to rubble.

Tank traps, barbed-wire and machine gun emplacement now litter the tree-lined boulevards and pedestrian walkways throughout the city centre.

Formally the fourth most important city in the Russian Empire, and with huge strategic value as Ukraine's main sea port, Odesa is a major Kremlin goal.

Russian warships fired shells into the town last week wrecking buildings.

A Ukrainian soldier guards in front of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet and one of the city's symbols, behind a heavy barricade in Odesa, Ukraine, March 26

A woman asks for permission to cross the barricades while Ukrainian soldier guards in front of the Odesa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet

And the Ukrainian Army is on high-alert of a coordinated Normandy-style beach landing and parachute assault that could surround the city on three sides.

So ordinary citizens  like the two mothers  have taken up arms in their droves to defend their homes.

Back on parade, Olena revealed she does not know who will look after her nine-year-old son David if she is killed.

Her mother is dead and she split up from his father a long time ago.

But the 30-year-old, who usually works for a trade union, says she had no other choice than to help defend the city.

She said: 'This is my duty.

'At the moment I work in the army stores.

'But my unit is based here in the city of Odesa so if the Russians invade I will shoot them from the barricades.

Kamila, who used to work for the city council, said she felt she had no choice but to join the army.

She said: 'My son Daniel is 12 years old. I have to protect Odesa for him, for his future.

'I used to work in an office but now I go on patrol and man a post with my unit.'
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan say he is 'full of admiration' for Britons who have stepped forward to house Ukrainian refugee families - but admitted he wouldn't himself because of a 'lack of space'.

The Mayor of London joined a huge crowd at Hyde Park for a march and vigil to send a unified message of support to the people of Ukraine this afternoon.

Speaking ahead of the demonstration, Mr Khan praised Londoners for 'opening our arms' to Ukraine, and said the UK should be doing 'much more' to aid Ukrainian refugees.

But when asked by a Sky News presenter if he would be welcoming a Ukrainian refugee to live with him, Mr Khan said he 'personally won't be'.

The Labour politician, who lives in Streatham, south London with his wife and two children, said the decision not to host was down to 'a variety of reasons, those being protection, security and a lack of space.'

But Mr Khan said Londoners were 'going above and beyond' to help, not just donating money to charities but also by opening their homes to those arriving.

'I've been incredibly proud of the actions of Londoners over the last few days and weeks, and what's clear is that we've been sending a message that is loud and clear that refugees are welcome here,' he added.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is so far the only senior politician to commit to hosting a Ukrainian refugee family, after Boris Johnson ruled out welcoming Ukrainian to No10 on security grounds.

There has however been increased pressure from Tories and Labour to do more to help those fleeing indiscriminate Russian missile attacks.

Mr Khan continued: 'In relation to this issue, the government has been appalling, we have been lobbying them for weeks now to do what other countries in mainland Europe have done and make it far far more easier for those people fleeing for their lives, refugees, to be able to come to London.

'There is a disconnect between the generosity shown by Londoners and Brits across the country and the actions of our government - the complex visa forms, the delay, the red tape makes it really hard.

A sea protesters draped in the Ukrainian colours of yellow and blue then made their way towards Trafalgar Square.

Protestors waved Ukrainian flags, held anti-war placards and sported yellow and blue outfits as they huddled together in their thousands and marched on Trafalgar Square for the 'London Stands With Ukraine' rally.

People take part in a solidarity march for Ukraine following the one-month mark of the Russian invasion in London's Trafalgar Square

The sea of protesters were draped in blue and yellow, holding Ukrainian flags and holding placards with messages of solidarity with the people of Ukraine

Those taking part in the march paraded through the streets of central London with homemade placards of support for Ukrainian people and refugees. Pictured in Haymarket, London

People at Piccadilly Circus waved their Ukrainian flags and wore blue and yellow for the occasion, under the backdrop of the Yoko Ono's 'Imagine Peace' sign on the Piccadilly lights billboard

Trafalgar Square was packed out with supporters waving Ukrainian flags and signs covered the walls with 'London Stands With Ukraine'

London Mayor Sadiq Khan say he is 'full of admiration' for Britons who have stepped forward to house Ukrainian refugee families - but admitted he wouldn't himself because of a 'lack of space'

The Labour politician, who lives in Streatham, south London with his wife and two children, said the decision not to host was down to 'a variety of reasons, those being protection, security and a lack of space.'

Protestors waved Ukrainian flags, held anti-war placards and sported yellow and blue outfits as they huddled together in their thousands and marched on Trafalgar Square for the 'London Stands With Ukraine' rally

Activists joined with London Mayor Sadiq Khan for the march and vigil, spelling out a strong message of unity and support to the Ukrainian people from the capital. Pictured: Children sported yellow and blue outfits and waved flags

Trafalgar Square has been decorated in the colours of Ukraine, and British, Ukrainian and European politicans are all set to address the swelling crowds later on Saturday afternoon

Demonstrators wave Ukrainian national flags during a 'London stands with Ukraine' protest march and vigil, in central London

A placard depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during a demonstration in support of Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in central London

Politicians on taking in refugees: Transport Secretary Grant Shapps 'I'm in touch with the Ukrainian family who are coming to live with us in our home, and so I'm hearing about it direct on the ground. One of my kids is at uni, and as this is for a minimum six months we can use his room [for the family]. I haven't quite worked out what to do when I comes back.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson 'There are specific challenges around security on housing people in No 10,' his spokesman said. 'Various ministers have been asked about this. Obviously it will come down to individual circumstances.' Health Secretary Sajid Javid 'I'm starting to have a conversation with my wife on that and I think many households - as you say, and I'm pleased you brought this up - are probably thinking about this across the country.' Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove 'I'm exploring what I can do. I know that there are others who have. Without going into my personal circumstances, there are a couple of things I need to sort out - but yes.' Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds 'I would love to help, without any kind of political consideration or grandstanding ... you will know we are a family of six here in Stalybridge, so we don't have a lot of room and that might not be as attractive as other places might be.' Advertisement

Activists joined with Mayor Khan for the march and vigil, spelling out a strong message of unity and support to the Ukrainian people from the capital.

Trafalgar Square has been decorated in the colours of Ukraine, and British, Ukrainian and European politicans are all set to address the swelling crowds later on Saturday afternoon.

Ukrainian refugees from the war-torn nation are expected to speak at the vigil, which is being held from between 3 and 5pm.

They joined in global unison with fellow anti-war demonstrations being held across the world, including Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Lithuania and Greece.

The scenes come just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on European citizens to 'come to your squares and make yourselves visible' in a stirring address on the eve of a one-month anniversary of Russia's invasion.

Mr Khan and Ukraine's ambassador, Vadym Prystaiko, are among those providing speeches on Saturday. Messages of support are also expected from the Mayors of Brussels, Amsterdam and Athens.

Other speakers today will include MP David Lammy, Chair of the London Assembly Andrew Boff and the President of the Trades Union Congress Sue Fearns.

'We come here to send a message to the beautiful people of Ukraine that we are with you in this fight,' said Mr Lammy, who also called for 'dirty Russian money' that has 'polluted' the UK economy to 'end'.

It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky this week demanded global protests over the illegal invasion of his country, which has so far cost the lives of thousands of people and displaced more than three million Ukrainians.

Addressing politicians in a stirring speech in English, the Ukrainian premier warned the deadly war was 'only the beginning' of Russia's assault on western democracy.

'The war of Russia is not only the war against Ukraine. Its meaning is much wider,' he warned.

'Russia started the war against freedom. This is only the beginning for Russia on the Ukrainian land. Russia is trying to defeat the freedom of all people in Europe. Of all the people in the world.'

When Russia unleashed its invasion on February 24 in Europe's biggest offensive since the Second World War, a swift toppling of Ukraine's democratically elected government seemed likely.

But with Wednesday marking four full weeks of fighting, Russia is now bogged down in a grinding military campaign.

With its ground forces repeatedly slowed or stopped by hit-and-run Ukrainian units armed with Western-supplied weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops are bombarding targets from afar, falling back on the tactics they used in reducing cities to ruins in Syria and Chechnya.

NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the four weeks of war, where ferocious fighting by the country's fast-moving defenders has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.

Mr Khan and Ukraine's ambassador, Vadym Prystaiko, are among those providing speeches on Saturday. Messages of support are also expected from the Mayors of Brussels, Amsterdam and Athens

Women wrapped in Ukrainian flags pose for a selfie during the pro-Ukraine demonstration in London

The London rally joined in global unison with fellow anti-war demonstrations being held across the world, including Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Lithuania and Greece

A young demonstrator holds up a placard reading 'I stand with Ukraine' during the solidarity march in London

An elderly demonstrator holds the flag of Ukraine aloft as she joins a march of thousands of people through London on Saturday

Mr Khan, who organised the march and vigil, is expected to announce over 1million in funding to support Ukrainian migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who have come to London.

In addition, the mayor will provide 50,000 in match-funded donations for the Here for Good Ukraine Advice Project.

In a statement ahead of the march, Sadiq Khan said: 'I'm proud that today Londoners are uniting in their thousands today to send a message of support to the people of Ukraine.

'These innocent people have been through unimaginable pain and suffering over the last month, and by joining together today we are showing that we stand with them.

'I'm also pleased to announce that London will be giving more than 1.1m to support migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum in the capital, including those coming from Ukraine. We have a proud history of providing sanctuary to those fleeing conflict, and this funding will ensure that support is there to help in their time of need.'

Dame Helen Mirren said: 'It has been devastating to see this horrific ongoing attack against the people of Ukraine, and my thoughts are with them at this terrible time.

'It's important that we send a message of support so that Ukrainians know that they are not alone, and I'm proud that the people of London are standing together in their name this Saturday.'

Meanwhile, on his tour of Europe to rally support for Ukraine, President Joe Biden branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'butcher' after holding emotional conversations with Ukrainian refugees  including a pair who fled the horror of the siege at Mariupol.

'He's a butcher,' Biden said when asked what he thought of Putin after what he has done to the people he was meeting.

His comment came as Russia bombed Lviv, a city in western Ukraine around 245 miles from Warsaw, where Biden is located. CNN reported the Russians hit a fuel depot as Biden prepared to make remarks on the war in the Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on his tour of Europe to rally support for Ukraine, President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a butcher after he visited with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw

A man hurries to walk away from a building that was just hit by Russian bombardment, and caught on fire, in the Moskovskyi district in Kharkiv

Smoke rises in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv following Russia's attacks on March 26. The city is one of many to face heavy Russian strikes

Biden spent nearly an hour meeting with a series of refugees during a visit to World Central Kitchen, which set up an outpost in Warsaw as part of its efforts to help feed millions of Ukrainian refugees in Ukraine itself and in countries that are taking them in.

He offered hugs and words of comfort as he met with those who escaped the fighting and volunteers helping to feed and shelter the refugees.

'To see all those little children just want to just want a hug. They just want to say, Thanks. 'It just makes you so damn proud. And they're wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,' Biden told DailyMail.com when asked what kind of an impression the visit made on him.

Biden didn't have a an answer when asked about how it would be possible to get aide inside Mariupol, which has been subject to a relentless bombardment. The administration has drawn the line on anything that would involve U.S. boots on the ground, even while surging arms to the Ukrainian military and announcing an additional $1 billion in humanitarian aide.

'It's astounding,' Biden said. He also commented on Russia's claim of a new military posture, after a Kremlin defense official announced the main part of the 'first stage' of its invasion was over and it would concentrate efforts on the Donbas region.

Asked what he thought of the change in Kremlin strategy  a question he avoided earlier in the day when meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda  Biden responded: 'I'm not sure they have.'
Finland could face 'disruptive' Russian behaviour including cyber hacks and potential border violations if it tries to join NATO, the country's president warned.

President Sauli Niinisto said Moscow could breach Finnish territory and launch cyber attacks should Helsinki ask to enter the Western military alliance.

Niinisto said: 'We dont even know all the possibilities for hybrid influencing that someone may invent. The entire world of information technology is vulnerable', according to AP.

Finnish president Sauli Niinisto (right) met with Boris Johnson (left) at Number Ten this month

Finnish PM Sanna Marin has taken a hard line against Moscow and supports tougher sanctions

Were Finland to join NATO, it would become the sixth state to share a land border with Russia

Vladimir Putin has expressed his fear of NATO encirclement around Russia, warning Finland and Sweden they would be met with 'military and political consequences' should they join

He added: 'Even some important society functions can be disrupted.'

The president made the striking comments as a record majority of Finns now support joining NATO, despite Russian warnings against the idea.

Public support for Finland's entry was 62% earlier this month, up from 53% at the start of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Last month Russian foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Finland and Sweden risk 'military consequences' if they launch a NATO accession bid.

She said: 'Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries.

'Their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and some military and political consequences.'

If Finland were to join the alliance, it would become the sixth member of the alliance to share a land border Russia - further escalating Kremlin fears of NATO 'encirclement'.

Yet any potential NATO entry bid by Helsinki won't be the president's decision.

Although Finland's president is technically in charge of foreign policy, the role is now mostly constitutional.

Prime minister Sanna Marin - who has championed a tougher sanctions regime against Moscow and said Finland's position toward NATO 'will change' as a result of the war in Ukraine - is far likelier to lead any possible Finnish bid.

Marin's tough view towards the Kremlin has made her one of the West's most hardline leaders.

She has repeatedly refused to rule out a Finnish application to join the alliance - unlike Ukrainian president Zelensky.

Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin has repeatedly refused to rule out a NATO entry bid Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin has repeatedly refused to rule out a NATO entry bid

Finland and Russia fought a brief but bloody war over the winter of 1939-1940 in -43C climes

What Finland and Ukraine do have in common are testy relations with Russia: Finns are proud of the defence of their country against Stalin's aggression in the Winter War of 1939 and 1940.

Facing up to 750,000 invading Soviet troops in -43C temperatures, a Finnish army half that size held off a Russian invasion for three months until it agreed a ceasefire.
The 18-year-old pedophile at the center of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's Senate hearing said he was shocked to see his name in the news, but admitted what he did was 'monstrous.'

Wesley Hawkins, now 27, was scurrying around D.C. looking for a new job while Senate members were discussing his case at length in a nationally televised SCOTUS hearing, unbeknownst to him.

He was aware that Jackson, 51 - the judge who had sentenced him to three months in jail and 10 years on the sex offender registry for child pornography in 2013 - was before Congress as a Supreme Court nominee after hearing her name in the news a few weeks ago.

After seeing her picture, he immediately knew it was her but gave the matter little thought, The Washington Post reported.

Now, Hawkins stands in disbelief that his case, which received no local press almost a decade ago, was being discussed at the center of the nation's Capitol and his name was being said before Congress as Jackson received heat for her reported lenient sentences for sex offenders.

Hawkins watched two hours of the Senate hearing on YouTube as he sat hunched over and balling his fists into his shirt as he cycled through shock and neutrality on Thursday, The Post reported.

Despite saying he's a changed man who is no longer 'sexually confused,' he doesn't blame anyone who goes as far as calling him a 'monster.'

'If someone heard my name in that confirmation process or just saw it online because they were looking on the [sex offender] registry and want to call me a monster, I understand. I dont blame them for that, and to an extent, I agree with them, because what I did was a bit monstrous,' he told The Washington Post.

'When I got to a place that I could think about what I had done, retrospectively, I was disgusted. If someone else wants to continue to see me that way, I cant stop them. But what I hope is that when people look over time they can see he was just a young man, that hes grown and learned from his actions.'

Despite that now his mother's worst fears are happening and his case is gaining media attention, he told the Washington Post that he felt sympathy for Jackson, despite not being 'very happy that she gave me three months.'

However, 'after reflection in jail,' Hawkins realize that Jackson had given him a second chance after he was hearing from 'other people who said it was their first time arrested and they got five years, six years.'

'I feel that she chose to take into consideration the fact that I was just getting started [in life] and she knew this was going to hold me back for years to come regardless, so she didnt really want to add on to that,' he told the Washington Post.

SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson has been hammered on her lenient sentencing toward sex offenders. One of the first cases as a federal district judge in Washington was Wesley Hawkins in 2013, who she sentence to three months in jail, three months home detention, and six years of supervised release after he was found with child pornography

A tear rolls down Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's cheek during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington

Jackson justified her sentence at the time by saying the sentencing was fair because it 'allows you, Mr. Hawkins, to spend enough time in prison to understand and appreciate the consequences of your actions'

His case was one of the first Jackson dealt with after being confirmed by the Senate as a federal district court judge in Washington in 2013.

At the time, 18-year-old Hawkins, a gay man, was found with 17 videos and 16 images of underage boys - ages eight to 12 - engaging in various sex acts after an undercover detective found five YouTube videos he had posted. He told the detective that he was interested in 11- to 17-year-olds in 2012.

He also uploaded 36 images and videos of child porn to his iCloud account, when police executed a search on his apartment. There were videos of 11- and 12-year-olds committing sexual acts, a video of an 11-year-old being raped by an adult male and a video of an eight-year-old committing a sexual act, to name a few.

He entered a pre-indictment guilty plea, admitted possession to authorities, and also wrote a letter to Jackson expressing remorse.

'I cannot say how much I regret what I have done,' he wrote in the letter, dated November 18, 2013, to Jackson.

'I have disappointed everyone in my family and everyone who has ever cared for me. I hope that I can make up my mistake and that this will not end my life before it starts.'

Hawkins, who had a written a letter of remorse to Jackson in 2013, said he was shocked to hear his case, which received no local press at the time, was at the center of Jackson's nominee hearing. In addition, he doesn't blame those who call him 'monstrous' for his actions when he was 18, but hopes that people see that he has changed

He also stated in the letter that he will 'never do this or any crime ever in my life' and begged Jackson to 'bless' him with a 'second chance.'

Jackson sentenced him to three months in jail, followed by three months of home detention, six years of supervision, and he had to be registered on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

Despite her 'lenient' sentence, the judge admitted that Hawkins' crime was a 'very serious' and 'heinous crime,' but claimed that he did not 'pose any risk to children' after a psychological report concluded there wasn't a reason to believe he was a pedophile.

However, Jackson justified her sentence at the time by saying the sentencing was fair because it 'allows you, Mr. Hawkins, to spend enough time in prison to understand and appreciate the consequences of your actions but not so long that you will be subjected to harm in prison or introduced to incorrigible influences such that you are lost to society forever,' and that he was not the one to produce the images and videos himself.

Republicans are now slamming her 'slap on the wrist' sentence because it was much lower than the federal standard for sex offenders.

Federal guidelines advise eight to 10 years in jail for a sex offense, however, prosecutors for Hawkins' case only recommended two years and the probation officer assigned to the case only recommended a year and a half. Hawkins' own defense attorney only recommended a day in jail and five years of supervised release, all of which Jackson took into consideration.

She also took into consideration the children's age and Hawkins' own age at the time: 18. She viewed the incident as 'a situation in which you were fascinated by sexual images involving what were essentially your peers.'

However, Hawkins was caught again with child pornography in 2019 and was required to check into a halfway house for the remaining six months of his supervision by Jackson.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, blamed Hawkins' short sentence for his relapse. He said at the hearing: 'I think he got caught with child pornography again, and he wouldnt have if he had been in prison the eight to 10 years the guidelines called for.'

'What did Wesley Hawkins do in 2019, judge?' Cotton had asked Jackson, who replied: 'I don't remember.'

Hawkins, however, had not 'reoffended.' It was determined he was 'high risk of reoffending,' as he 'continued to seek out sexually arousing, non-pornographic material and images of males 13 to 16 years old,' according to a person close to the case.

'As it clearly states in [my court file] it was not because I reoffended, it was not because I had done anything even illegal,' Hawkins told the Washington Post. 'According to the treatment I was in, they felt I was at a high risk of reoffending.'

When Hawkins was caught, he had just been laid off from a job he had worked at for three years and was 'troubled.'

'I was a troubled young man who was sexually confused,' Hawkins told the Washington Post. 'I came from a neighborhood and a family that was very disapproving of homosexuality, and I thought that I couldnt come to them because when I did, they would say: "This is wrong, dont do it, point-blank."

'I went online to other young people who had these images. Thats how it came about.'

Hawkins' case (pictured on the list behind Senator Ted Cruz) has been a hot topic at the hearing due to his sentence being lower than federal guidelines

It is common for judges to inflict a sentence below federal sentencing guidelines, even Trump appointees have done it repeatedly.

The White House has argued that in five of the seven cases, Jackson's sentences were the same as or greater than what the probation office recommended. Probation offices analyze the offender's background and other factors to recommend increasing or decreasing sentences. But in this case, Jackson gave a sentence far less than even the probation office asked for, prompting the Republican ire.

She noted that Hawkins was a collector of the images, but like other 'lookers' she'd sentenced, 'they're not involved, say the defendants. They're not focused on you know, what is actually happening to the children.'

She noted that in some cases she had sentenced those involved in child pornography to 25 years.

Senator Ted Cruz, who plans to vote against her, didn't think that was enough.

'If you look at her record as a federal judge in criminal cases and particularly cases concerning child pornography over and over and over again, she gives incredibly lenient sentences,' Cruz said. 'In every single case where she had discretion a child pornography case, she gave dramatically lower sentences than the sentencing guidelines provide for, and that the prosecutor asked for.'

'And the Democrats just kept getting upset, saying, "How dare you focus on her actual record?" You know, I think the American people are concerned whether we'll have a Supreme Court justice that's going to follow the law, or we're going to have a Supreme Court justice that is looking for loopholes to let violent criminals out of jail,' he said.

'And I've got to say, her answers and her record in this regard were really concerning,' Cruz said.

Of Jackson's 100 sentencings over eight years as a trial judge, Republicans focused in on seven child porn cases where they viewed her sentences to be too lenient.

Hawkins now spends most of his days looking for a new job, reading one of his favorite books by a Jamaican novelist, and binge-watching his favorite Netflix series The Last Kingdom.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting a church in the Bahamas that has been rebuilt after it was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as their Caribbean tour comes to a close.

The couple were all smiles as they left their hotel this morning on their way to the church Abaco - a chain of islands in the northern Bahamas which was dramatically hit by Hurricane Dorian with winds of up to 185mph and left devastation in its wake.

It damaged 75 per cent of homes across the chain of islands and resulted in tragic loss of life.

Prince William and Kate will travel to Abacos main island to learn about the impact of the hurricane and to see how communities are still being rebuilt more than two years on.

It comes as Prince William delivered a speech in which he said he insisted that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

Today, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Daystar Evangelical Church which suffered terrible damage during Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

During their visit, on the final day of their Caribbean tour, they heard first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time.

The Cambridges then moved on to pay their respects to the victims of Hurricane Dorian by laying a wreath at Abaco's Memorial Wall.

Kate opted for a 254 pink midi gown by much-loved brand Rixo for the occasion, which featured a button-down collar and subtle animal print design.

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner.

Their final stop on the island of Abaco saw The Duke and Duchess visit a Fish Fry  a quintessentially Bahamian culinary gathering place which is found on every island in The Bahamas.

They met vendors who prepared a taste of Bahamian cuisine, including the local favourite  conch salad.

Kate picks a flower and hands it to a young boy as she speaks with children during a visit to Great Abaco, Bahamas, to remember the victims of Hurricane Dorian

The Duke also got to show off his parental touch as he gives a high-five to a young boy as the royals mingled with those who had gathered to greet them

The Duke and Duchess stand over the Abaco Memorial Wall as they pay tribute to the victims of Hurricane Dorian which ripped through the island with 185mph winds

Pictured: Kate delicately lays a wreath at the foot of the Abaco Memorial Wall as William watches on

Kate carried a beautiful wreath before placing it at the foot of the Abaco Memorial Wall

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Abaco's Memorial Wall on Saturday

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are warmly greeted by officials as they arrived at Daystar Evangelical Church in the Bahamas

The Cambridges were shown around the area by church leaders. Hurrican Dorian's 185mph winds ripped through Great Abaco in 2019, damaging three quarters of the homes in the area

William engaged with several locals including a little girl whose hand he held as she stood next to a seated elderly lady

Kate beamed as she posed up a storm smiling with countless locals for photos, including a number of small children

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the churchs historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed.

'We had three buildings on this property that survived many, many hurricanes going back to hurricane Betsy of 1965, Hurricane Floyd of 1999,' he said ahead of the royals arrival.

'But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here.

'It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation.'

Residents were locked down for months, he said, and the NGOs could not get in because of flooding, and later, the pandemic, severely delaying recovery efforts.

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later.

'It's been difficult,' he added. 'And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they're still seeing doctors.'

The church building remains unusable, with windows still blown out and chunks of concrete wall missing.

Pastor Mills said they did not have the insurance needed to rebuild and that the focus has been on helping those who had lost their homes.

They are now looking to donors to rebuild the church so it can be used by the community.

Pastor Mills said it still 'felt like a dream' to have the Duke and Duchess visit.

'The fact that they would want to come to a place that provides spiritual guidance and a place where people come to pray speaks volumes of their concern for humanity,' he said.

Among those who met the royal couple were Ian Fair 74, a private banker from Somerset, and his partner Deborah Jones-holt 49, from Yorkshire.

Mr Fair, a founding chairman of the Bahamian stock exchange, came to the Bahamas in 1969 on a two year work contract and never left.

He presented the church with a $15,000 donation that will be used to refurbish the inside.

Mr Fair, whose two sons-in-law were on Abaco when the hurricane hit, said he believed it had set the island back 25 years.

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the churchs historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed

'We had three buildings on this property that survived many, many hurricanes going back to hurricane Betsy of 1965, Hurricane Floyd of 1999,' he said ahead of the royals arrival'

'But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here'

'It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation'

Residents were locked down for months, he said, and the NGOs could not get in because of flooding, and later, the pandemic, severely delaying recovery efforts

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later

'It's been difficult,' he added. 'And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they're still seeing doctors'

Their final stop on the island of Abaco saw The Duke and Duchess visit a Fish Fry  a quintessentially Bahamian culinary gathering place which is found on every island in The Bahamas

Both William and Kate were shocked by the way a chef prepared the sea snail at the fish fry

Their Royal Highnesses met vendors who prepared a taste of Bahamian cuisine, including the local favourite  conch salad

Kate tried conch, a common name for medium-to-large-sized sea snails, as a coconut shell sat in front of her at a fish fry

William and Kate were all smiles as they watched a chef prepare and serve conch at a fish fry

A fish fry is a quintessentially Bahamian culinary gathering place which is found on every island in The Bahamas

Kate enjoyed a taste of conch salad from a tasting container as she looked radiant in a stunning pink dress

Kate shook hands with one of the chefs responsible for the delicious spread as William waved and engaged in conversation

Kate enjoyed a drink during their visit as the pair stood chatting away at a bar and met several locals

William also took a few sips from the plastic cup while the Royal duo enjoyed a visit to a fish fry

Well wishers lined the streets, many waving the Bahamian flag, as they attempted to get a glimpse of William and Kate

Kate crouched down and spoke to a local girl who was dressed to the nines in a stunning princess outfit

One local girl allowed Kate to have a look at the photo she had taken with her Nikon camera

Kate held hands with an elderly lady and a young while kneeling down near metal barriers

The pair will learn about the impact of the hurricane and to see how communities are still being rebuilt more than two years on

Kate cut a radiant figure in her all-pink matching ensemble as she arrived in Great Abaco on Saturday morning

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner

Pictured: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting a church in the Bahamas that has been rebuilt after it was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as their Caribbean tour comes to a close

During their visit, on the final day of their Caribbean tour, they will hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time

Prince William and Kate shake hands with officials as the final leg of their Caribbean tour gets underway on Saturday

Prince William and Kate will travel to Abacos main island to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shake hands with officials as they arrive on Abaco's main island for their final day

The couple listen on as religious leaders and local officials reveal the devastating toll of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on. Pictured: Kate Middleton at Daystar Evangelical Church

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee. Their eight-day trip marks their first joint official overseas tour since the onset of COVID-19

The Cambridges are a picture of sombre concentration as they hear about the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

Large crowds had gathered long in advance to get a sneak peek at the Cambridges before they arrived in Great Abaco

Kate is pictured arriving at Daystar Evangelical Church where she will hear about the devastation wrought by the 185mph winds of Hurricane Dorian on the island

The Duchess of Cambridge cut a graceful figure in a pastel pink midi dress this afternoon as she visited a church on the final day of her week-long Caribbean tour

Once again keeping her look simple, Kate opted for minimal jewellery, and wore her sleek brown tresses in loose waves

Their Caribbean trip marks the first official royal overseas engagement by the Cambridges since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020

The Cambridges are hearing the first-hand experiences of clergy leaders and locals who lived through Hurricane Dorian

Prince William and Kate peer out of the window of the destroyed Daystar Evangelical Church as they tour the Bahamas on the last leg of their Caribbean tour

Pictured is the damaged Daystar Evangelical Church prior to the arrival of Prince William, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Pictured: An officer of the Royal Bahamas Police Force stands guard outside the rebuilt Daystar Evangelical Church

Yesterday, Prince William and Kate greeted crowds and local fishermen as they walked along Montagu Bay in New Providence on the final stop of their Caribbean tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The sailing regattas in The Bahamas is one of the first that has taken place since the start of the Covid pandemic and both William and Kate pitched in as they raced each other in separate yachts.

In a video shared on their Instagram, the couple thanked the teams for their hospitality and for enduring the poor weather.

In the choppy waters, the duke sailed to victory in a race against Kate today during a rain-affected regatta in The Bahamas to celebrate the Queen's jubilee.

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II. She also sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing.

His boat came in about five minutes ahead of four others including one featuring the Duchess of Cambridge, who suffered the ignominy of coming in last with her crew.

It was a second consecutive victory for William, who beat his wife in the King's Cup charity regatta off the Isle of Wight in 2019 when they last raced on the water. On that occasion her boat was disqualified.

Kate triumphed when the ultra competitive couple raced yachts in New Zealand in 2014.

Earlier, Kate was pictured holding a newborn baby during a royal walkabout with Prince William as the couple continued their protest-hit tour of the Caribbean with a visit to a school in the Bahamas amid torrential downpours.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge revealed their competitive side during a boat race as they took park in 'a very special regatta' in the Bahamas ahead of their final day in the Caribbean. Pictured: Kate gets stuck in despite the rainy weather

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II

William and Kate wave to excited crowds as they attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their way to attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

Safety first: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge don life jackets during the regatta in the Bahamas yesterday afternoon

Kate sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing

Kate Middleton was in hysterics with crew members, as they all wore hats of the vessel's name Ants Nest II

The royal couple greeted crowds who gathered in Parliament Square before attending the colourful Junkanoo Carnival in Nassau to celebrate the monarch's Platinum Jubilee alongside the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, and his wife Ann-Marie.

Kate was pictured speaking to a mother in the crowd and cradling her baby's head before the iconic street parade, which featured locals wearing colourful costumes and dancing to music.

It comes as Prince William signalled that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

On the sixth day of their tour of the Caribbean yesterday, the future king said the Royal Family 'respect the decisions' of countries like The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize when it comes to their future in a nod to the critical 'colonialism' commentary and protests that accompanied welcoming crowds.

Since beginning their tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the Cambridges were greeted like rock stars by the public - but politicians, including the prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, used meetings to make clear in public they will push for the island to be a republic with a referendum this year.

Critical royal observers led by by Meghans cheerleader-in-chief Omid Scobie and BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond made claims of a series of tone deaf PR moments that smacked of colonialism - leading to more social media criticism despite the couple's warm welcome on the ground.

The royal couple have attended a reception hosted by the Governor-General during which they will have the opportunity to meet community leaders and notable people from across The Bahamas' many islands

Speaking at the black-tie reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith, William said: 'Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence - your Golden Anniversary.

'And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this: We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

'Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.'

At the evening reception, the Duchess of Cambridge stepped out in a stunning Grace-Kelly style gown that looked worlds away from this afternoon's wet yachting regatta.

They received one of the warmest welcomes of their tour as they mingled with eminent Bahamians from the fields of culture, law, religion, business, medicine and politics.

Before they left William and Kate were presented with a model of a sloop sailing boat similar to the one they sailed on earlier in the day.

The roses on the dress of guest Mildred Murphy caught Kates eye and she complimented her. 'She said I looked amazing and I said the roses were for the flower of England. She said she loved visiting the school today and said how well the children behaved and how nice it was for her to have that experience.'
The two Arizona sisters who killed themselves at a Swiss suicide clinic last month were scheduled to end their lives together last year, but the trip was delayed due to pandemic travel restrictions, according to assisted suicide officials.

Dr. Lila Ammouri, 54, and nurse Susan Frazier, 49, were originally slated to travel to Basel, Switzerland, in August 2021 to die at the Pegasos Swiss Association assisted suicide clinic - five months before they died on February 11.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International, an international nonprofit that advocates for legalizing voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide, told DailyMail.com that the sisters reached out to his organization in October 2020 to become members and learn about how they could end their lives.

After warning them about the dangerous and legal concerns of killing themselves in the U.S., Nitschke said Ammouri and Frazier opted to travel to Switzerland to die in the Pegasos clinic, since it does not require patients to be terminally ill or suffering from a life-limiting illness.

He said the sisters had originally scheduled their trip in August 2021, but the plan was delayed due to COVID travel restrictions amid the Delta variant surge.

Nitschke added that while the process was not cheap - costing about $11,000 per person without accounting for travel costs - the sisters were adamant about dying in peace together.

'The idea of two people dying together is not possible in the U.S.,' Nitschke told DailyMail.com, 'but the sisters made it very clear to us that they wanted to end their lives together.'

Suzan Frazier, left, and her sister Lili Ammouri, right, died by assisted suicide in Basel, Switzerland, on February 11. The sisters had researched how to kill themselves back in October 2020 and had a trip to Basel set for August, 2021

The trip to Pegasos' office, pictured, had been postponed in August 2021 due to flight restrictions caused by the pandemic. They finally got there on February 3, 2022

The sisters opted to use Pegasos, a nonprofit in the field, which has a facility in Basel (pictured). Pegasos allowed the non-terminally ill sisters to die together

Dr. Philip Nitschke, director and founder of Exit International, one of Switzerland's largest assisted suicide advocacy nonprofits

Nitschke said the sisters had completed a psychiatric evaluation when they arrived at Basel to ensure they were in the right mental capacity to make such a decision.

In a joint statement filed with Exit, Pegasos Director Reudi Habegger said: 'Pegaso's Swiss Association is committed to ensuring that adults capable of judgement can exercise their right to a self-determined, humane death.

'After careful clarifications and within the framework of the official rules, we respectfully accompany people with unbearable suffering on their last journey.'

Nitschke added that while he sees many couples wishing to die together when one of them has a terminal illness, Ammouri and Frazier's case is extremely rare.

'Exit has only seen one previous occasion when in 2017 in Gold Coast, Australia, mother Margaret Cummins, 78, and her daughters Wynette and Heather, aged 53 and 54 all decided to end their lives together,' he said.

HOW ARIZONA SISTERS WENT ABOUT ENDING THEIR LIVES TOGETHER October 2021: Dr. Lila Ammouri, 54, and Susan Frazier, 49, sisters from Arizona, contact Exit International, one of Switzerland's largest assisted suicide advocacy nonprofits. They speak with director and founder Philip Nitschke and his staff on how they can end their lives. The sisters were told how they could get drugs that could kill them humanely, but were advised that killing themselves in the U.S. carries dangerous and legal issues as assisted suicide is only legal in 11 states and only if the patient is suffering a terminal illness with only six months to live. The sisters then begin inquiring about traveling to Switzerland to die. March 2021: The Sisters join the Pegasos Swiss Association, which does not requite patients to be terminally-ill or suffering from a life-limiting illness to die. August 2021: The sisters are slated to travel to Pegasos' office, in Basel, Switzerland, but the trip is called off due to pandemic travel restrictions amid the Delta surge. February 3, 2022: The sisters depart from Phoenix, Arizona to Basel. February 10, 2022: Ammouri calls her brother, Cal, who does not know what the sisters intend to do. A colleague receives a misspelled text from one of the sisters, worrying them. February 11, 2022: The sisters go the Pegasos clinic and end their lives together. February 15, 2022: Frazier fails to show up for work, triggering friends and colleagues to look for her and her sister, filing a missing persons report February 18, 2022: Swiss authorities and the US Consulate confirm that the sisters died within the legal framework of the country. March 22, 2022: Cal learns that his sisters are dead after being called by reporters. Advertisement

Nitschke noted that the sisters, who triggered a hunt from friends and family seeking answers when they never returned to Arizona on February 15, most likely traveled in secret out of fear of being stopped.

'We've seen extreme cases in the past where people go to the airport to stop patients from coming over here or event get them certified as mentally incompetent to stop them.'

It comes as the sisters' only known relative - their brother Cal Ammouri, 60, of New York - demanded answers over their deaths, which he did not learn about until reporters reached out to him earlier this week.

'They were so secretive, especially with me,' Cal told the New York Post. 'Can someone tell me what happened? Do people snap just like that?

'It could be. You wake up one day and you don't feel like life is precious.'

Although Cal admitted he has not seen his sisters in 30 years, he said he spoke to them regularly over the phone and called them shortly before their trip to Switzerland.

He told the Post that he got a call from Ammouri on February 10, the day before her death, but that she sounded normal.

Frazier's employer, Aetna Health, in Phoenix, raised the alarm after she failed to return to work on February 15, with many friends and colleagues speculating that they had been kidnapped after they received odd messages from them.

Dr. David Biglari, a longtime friend of sisters, said he and others were worried when they had not heard from the duo for a week after they arrived in Basel, Switzerland, on February 3.

Then on February 10, just a day before the sisters took their own lives at what is most likely Basel's Pegasos assisted suicide clinic, Biglari said one of the sisters' co-workers had gotten an odd message.

It read: 'Hey! Sorry you needed surgery. I hope you're [sic] pain is controlled. I'm currently in Europe on a little vacation.'

Biglari, an associate program director of cardiology at the University of Arizona, told Fox 10 that the misspelled 'you're' was one of several messages that had he and his colleagues believe that the person on the other side of the phone was not actually one of the sisters.

'Some of the text communications they had, we are certain they were not from them,' Biglari said, as he and others initially believed that the sisters were kidnapped when they failed to show up for work on February 15.

'They were most likely fabricated with someone else.'

After learning of their suicides, Biglari said he still wanted answers.

Selinda Staggers, a medical assistant who worked remotely with Ammouri, said her jaw dropped about the doctor's death.

'She was the nicest, sweetest person,' Staggers told the Post. 'Always asked me about myself. She was very normal, very kind, very professional.'

Like Cal, Staggers said she saw no indication that Ammouri was depressed.

The sisters traveled to Basel on February 3, staying a week in the city and completing a psychiatric evaluation before dying together on February 11

The grieving brother said that both sisters appeared happy, with Lila owning a home in Phoenix and enjoying her job helping patients with serious illnesses and pain, and Susan recently getting a promotion.

'Why would you leave your jobs, your home, your loved ones, just abandon everything,' Cal asked. 'I just want some answers.'

Cal told the Post that he kept in touch with his sister after they were separated during their parents' divorce years ago. Cal and their father, Andrew, moved to New York where he currently resides in Washington Heights, while they went to Arizona with their mother, Faye.

'I begged them to call me every week but they hardly ever did,' Cal said. 'I had to be very careful how I talked to them. One slip and it was, ''Oh, boy.'''

Dr. David Biglari, a long time friend of sisters, had believed that the sisters were kidnapped after colleagues said they received odd messages from the sisters that they believed were sent by someone else just hours before their deaths

A misspelled text message from sisters Dr. Lila Ammouri and nurse Susan Frazier tipped off friends and co-workers that something was wrong

Dr. Biglari has not shared any of the other texts. DailyMail.com has contacted the medic for more information.

Meanwhile, DailyMail.com has also discovered an unusual property maneuver made by Ammouri in the weeks leading up to her death.

She placed million dollar Cave Creek home in an intrafamily trust on January 25, 17 days before she and her sister killed themselves.

The arrangement, also known as a living trust, allows family members, friends or even business partners to receive the property after her death without having to go through the legal process of probate to prove they're the rightful heirs to an estate.

The trust would have allowed Ammouri to specify who would receive the home, free of estate taxes, or split up the value of the property to multiple people. It remains unclear who was named as a recipient in the trust.

According to public records, Ammouri purchased the home in 2014 for $549,000. The single-family home features three bathrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a pool in a spacious backyard. It has doubled in value since she purchased it.

Ammouri had put her $1 million Cave Creek home in an intrafamily trust on January 25, less than two weeks before the sisters trip to Switzerland

The trust allows the home to be transferred to family without the conventional legal process of proving they're the heirs to the property

According to public records, Ammouri purchased the home in 2014 for $549,000. The single-family home features three bathrooms, 2.5 bathrooms

The home also has a large pool in a spacious backyard

A spokesman for the Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed to The Independent that the sisters had died by suicide 'within the legal framework'.

Pegasos says it accepts applications from patients the world over, but insists it refers anyone who is suffering from depression to counselling services.

Its website states: 'Pegasos believes that for a person to be in the headspace of considering ending their lives, their quality of life must be qualitatively poor.

'Pegasos accepts that some people who are not technically 'sick' may want to apply for a VAD. But this does not mean the person is 'well'. (Assisted suicide patient) Professor David Goodall was one of these people.

'He was not sick but his eye sight was failing him, as was his mobility. Old age is rarely kind. The decision to end one's life is an intensely personal one. Pegasos makes every effort to understand fully the unique circumstances of everyone who makes contact with us.'

Basel is home to an assisted suicide service called Pegasos, whose website is pictured. Unlike the more famous Dignitas clinic, patients do not have to be terminally-ill or severely disabled to end their lives there

The company says it accepts application for people all over the world and has no required waiting period for assisted suicide

Dignitas is the most famous suicide clinic, but is based in a different Canton (county) to where the sisters took their lives. It only offers an $8,000 assisted suicide to people who are terminally-ill, or who live with a disability that severely limits their quality of life.

Other clinics across Switzerland also offer similar services, with patients given a solution of barbiturates dissolved in water, which guarantees a painless death after being consumed.

Visitors to the clinics must undergo stringent checks before being allowed to avail of their services.

Pegasos, in particular, which has English speakers on staff, requires looking for assisted suicides to be members of the organizations and pay fees that exceed $11,000.

Michael Lutz, a spokesperson for the Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor's Office, told The Independent that the sisters death did not immediately result in a criminal investigation since it was strictly performed through legal means.

The Phoenix Police Department, who were contacted by friends and family to investigate the incident, said they could not open a case since it was outside their jurisdiction.
Families of the 81 men put to death by Saudi Arabia in a single day have spoken out about the countrys hosting of Sundays Grand Prix just two weeks after the executions.

More than half of those killed were said to have taken part in anti-government demonstrations and nearly three-quarters were accused of non-lethal offences.

It led seven times F1 champion Lewis Hamilton to describe the stories he was hearing about abuses in Saudi Arabia as 'mind-blowing'.

'Ultimately it is the responsibility of those in power to make the changes and were not really seeing enough. We need to see more,' he said.

But speaking on the eve of Sundays Grand Prix in Jeddah, the brother of executed pro-democracy activist Mohammad al-Shakhouri, criticised Hamilton and F1 aces for not speaking out more about human rights abuses.

Families of the 81 men put to death by Saudi Arabia in a single day have spoken out about the countrys hosting of Sundays Grand Prix just two weeks after the executions (Lewis Hamilton pictured on Saturday ahead of qualifying)

Hamza al-Shakhouri said: 'You say holding the race in Saudi Arabia puts what the government has done to us in the spotlight, but you are not speaking out to shine a light on those injustices.

'Please practice what you preach to help make sure that more people like Mohammad are not killed for simply campaigning for democracy.

'If events like the Grand Prix take place without criticising human rights abuses, it gives them the green light to kill more people. If you dont at least speak out, many more lives will weigh on your conscience.'

Human rights campaigners claim Saudi Arabia has executed another 16 people since the 81 died  and the desert kingdom is on course to put 500 to death this year.

Speaking on the eve of Sundays Grand Prix in Jeddah, the brother of executed pro-democracy activist Mohammad al-Shakhouri (above), criticised Hamilton and F1 aces for not speaking out more about human rights abuses

Mohammad, 37, was arrested at a checkpoint during unrest among the minority Shia community in the countrys Eastern Province in 2017.

He was accused of 'seeking to destabilise the social fabric and national cohesion by calling for sit-ins and demonstrations and raising anti-state slogans'.

Al-Shakhouri spent three months in solitary confinement during which it's claimed he was subjected to torture including beatings and sleep deprivation.

Based on confessions extracted under torture, and without proper legal representation, he was convicted by a court in February 2021 and sentenced to death, its claimed.

Mohammad (above), 37, was arrested at a checkpoint during unrest among the minority Shia community in the countrys Eastern Province in 2017

One relative of a pro-democracy demonstrator who was killed said: 'We are still grieving  we havent even been able to bury him.

'Formula One is coming to a country that is mourning without even acknowledging our pain and suffering.'

The brother of another Shia protestor, Mustafa al-Khayat, said F1 should not fall for Saudi Arabiss PR spin just because it let women watch the Grand Prix.

Yasser al-Khayat said: 'It is not even two weeks since Mustafa was killed, and you are trying to legitimise the regime that killed him, because they dont ban women and young people from attending the race.'

The brother of another Shia protestor, Mustafa al-Khayat (pictured), said F1 should not fall for Saudi Arabiss PR spin just because it let women watch the Grand Prix

Campaigners were scathing in their criticism of F1 boss Stefano Domenicali after he described himself as a 'true believer in the fact that sport has to make sure that human rights is at the centre of our agenda, together with the country where we are going'.

Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve, the human rights charity, told him in a letter: 'By choosing to race in the country, F1 has a responsibility to speak out about these atrocities.

'A failure to do so will be seen as an effective endorsement of the torture and execution of these pro-democracy demonstrators, and many others who are at risk of execution without notice, including child defendants'.

The execution of 500 people in one year would dwarf the previous Saudi record for the highest number in one year, which was 186 in 2019.
The Beau Biden Foundation raked in nearly $4 million in 2020 but only spent some $550,000 on protecting children from abuse - what it states is its mission, according to tax filings.

The Delaware-based foundation pulled in $3.9 million in 2020, including a $1.8 million infusion from The Biden Foundation, according to tax filings. It also took in a $225,000 donation from a top political donor to President Joe Biden, 79.

Despite the extra $2 million, the charity only spent $544,961 toward its mission of protecting children from abuse.

The foundation - which started less than a month after he died in 2015 - only spent about 58 percent of its budget on its mission in 2020, according to CharityWatch, a watchdog group.

The group said top-rated non-profits typically spend around 75 percent the budget on programs.

'A 58 percent program ratio does not reflect a high level of financial efficiency,' CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron told the New York Post.

The foundation did, however, spend almost $1 million, with the majority of it going toward covering several six-figure salaries of those who hold executive spots within the company, according to the filings.

The Beau Biden Foundation debuted in June 2015, less than a month after Beau (pictured with Joe in 2009) died of cancer. The foundation, which focuses on protecting children from abuse, brought in $3.9million in 2020 - including a $1.8million infusion from The Biden Foundation - but only spent around $550,000 on its mission

The nonprofit's CEO Patricia Dailey Lewis - who served as a deputy Attorney General in Delaware under Beau, 46, who died of cancer in 2015 - made $150,660 in 2020, including a $3,500 bonus, according to tax filings.

Former COO Joshua Alcorn was paid $131,437. Alcorn has since stepped down from the company and Peter Curcio is now the chief financial officer.

In addition, several Biden family members have served on the board of the charity throughout the years, including Hunter Biden - whose recent laptop fiasco has brought the family name back to national attention.

Biden's daughter Ashley and Beau's widow Hallie have also been on the board. Hallie is currently the only family member still on the board. It is unclear if the Bidens received a salary from the foundation.

The company spent around $1million that year, with the majority of it funding the six-figure salaries of those who hold executive positions. Current CEO Patricia Dailey Lewis (left) was paid a generous $150,660, including a $3,500 bonus, in 2020. COO Joshua Alcorn, who has since left the non-profit, (right) was paid $131,437

Several Bidens have served on the board, including Beau's wife Hallie (pictured together in 2011), who is the only family member left on the board. Biden's children Hunter and Ashley have also served on the board

In addition, following Biden's inauguration, the foundation said it would stop taking money from lobbyists and foreign donors. It also said it would provide a transparent list of major donors on its website. However, the donor list - which was reportedly available on the website earlier this week - disappeared on Friday.

The website currently only displays the 2022 donors, who made over a $2,500 donation. There are currently no donors listed for this year.

The Masimo corporation and foundation were reportedly on the 2020 list. Both are headed by Joe Kiani, who made a $750,000 donation to Unite the Country PAC - which is Pro-Biden - in 2020.

He was also put on the presidential advisory committee for science and technology. Kiani has reportedly made millions off government contracts, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

A representative for the Masimo Foundation said it has contributed to the Beau Biden Foundation for several years and supported it 'because of the work it does for kids.'

The foundation was made in Beau's honor and belief that 'no child should be threatened by a predator'

The Biden family's other foundations - The Biden Foundation and The Biden Cancer Initiative - have suspended operations since Biden ran for president in 2019.

The Beau Biden Foundation was founded in June 2015 after he died of cancer and is centered around the protection of children from abuse.

Beau, a father of two - Natalie and Robert II - was a big believer that 'child abuse is preventable.'

On the website, it reads: 'We believe, as Beau did, that no child should be threatened by a predator - either an adult or a peer - and that children abuse is preventable.

'We believe the best way to prevent child abuse is to educate adults and children.'

The foundation offers workshops on various topics, such as sexting, grooming, teen violence, bullying and internet safety, to name a few. The foundation also goes to schools, senior centers and community centers to perform these workshops.

Workshops are offered both in-person and virtually and start at $500.
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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited a fish fry today with Kate, in a pink Rixo dress, trying local delicacy conch pistol  said to have the same effect as viagra.

Kate held up the strip of flesh, which comes from the inside of the conch - and is commonly said to be the conchs male genitalia - before putting it in her mouth to gain a round of applause from the crowds.

The Duchess said: Im a little bit more adventurous than William is. As the pair joked around, he said: I can handle it.

Their final stop on the island of Abaco saw The Duke and Duchess visit a Fish Fry  a quintessentially Bahamian culinary gathering place which is found on every island in The Bahamas.

She added that she had already tried conch fritters but had yet to try conch salad. She then got hold of a knife and helped stall owner Jade Kow Adderley, 39, who owns the Kow Conch Stall.

They were offered conch salad. William said: Ladies first, before Kate tried it and said: Delicious.

Mr Adderley said: She was a good helper. Id like her to stay and help me at the stall.

William then made an impromptu stop at a bar. He slapped the bar top and said: This is my stop!

William was offered a Gullywash  coconut juice with condensed milk. He seemed to enjoy it and joked: You guys talk amongst yourself Im staying here.

They moved on to stalls by the beach where vendors were selling handbags and homemade honey.

While talking to stall owner Kimberly Roberts, 49, of Abaco Ceramics, William looked at the honey for sale in jars on the table then pointed to Kate and said: Catherine has bees at home.

They then tried some lobster salad at the Island Fusion streetfood stall before moving on to a walkabout to greet local people.

The Duke and Duchess shook hands with well wishers and spoke to people about the effects of the hurricane. William turned own the chance to hold a baby but agreed to pose next to it.

They also met Stephen Gardiner, a Bahamian 400m Olympic champion.

It comes after they visited a church in the Bahamas that has been rebuilt after it was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as their Caribbean tour comes to a close.

The couple also went to Abacos Memorial Wall to remember the many victims of the hurricane. The Duchess laid flowers and they paused for a moments silence.

John Pinder, an Abaco MP, told them the British were some of the first to arrive with aid in the immediate aftermath and that they would never forget it.

He added: 'Abaconians far and wide look forward to a friendship with Great Britain for many, many, many years to come.'

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited a fish fry today with Kate, in a pink Rixo dress, trying local delicacy conch pistol  said to have the same effect as viagra

She held up the strip of flesh, which comes from the inside of the conch and is commonly said to be the conchs male genitalia, before putting it in her mouth to applause from the crowds

The Duke and Duchess shook hands with well wishers and spoke to people about the effects of the hurricane. William turned own the chance to hold a baby but agreed to pose next to it

Kate said: Im a little bit more adventurous than William is. As the pair joked around, he said: I can handle it

She added that she had already tried conch fritters but had yet to try conch salad. She then got hold of a knife and helped stall owner Jade Kow Adderley, 39, who owns the Kow Conch Stall

They were offered conch salad. William said: Ladies first, before Kate tried it and said: Delicious

Mr Adderley said: She was a good helper. Id like her to stay and help me at the stall

Kate appeared to enjoy the strip of flesh, which comes from the inside of the conch, as she smiled while eating it

They then tried some lobster salad at the Island Fusion streetfood stall before moving on to a walkabout to greet local people

They moved on to stalls by the beach where vendors were selling handbags and homemade honey

William then made an impromptu stop at a bar. He slapped the bar top and said: This is my stop!

William was offered a Gullywash  coconut juice with condensed milk. He seemed to enjoy it and joked: You guys talk amongst yourself Im staying here

The Duchess of Cambridge also cuts vegetables and prepared fish during a visit to a Fish Fry in Abaco

Kate was all smiles as she used a large knife to chop up the sea snail flesh and create a conch salad

William engaged with several locals including a little girl whose hand he held as she stood next to a seated elderly lady

Kate held hands with an elderly lady and a young while kneeling down near metal barriers

Kate beamed as she posed up a storm smiling with countless locals for photos, including a number of small children

Children hold signs saying 'Will' and 'Kate' as well wishers line the streets of Great Abaco in The Bahamas

Kate crouched down and spoke to a local girl who was dressed to the nines in a stunning princess outfit

One local girl allowed Kate to have a look at the photo she had taken with her Nikon camera

They also met Stephen Gardiner, a Bahamian 400m Olympic champion

Well wishers lined the streets, many waving the Bahamian flag, as they attempted to get a glimpse of William and Kate

The couple were all smiles as they left their hotel this morning on their way to the church Abaco - a chain of islands in the northern Bahamas which was dramatically hit by Hurricane Dorian with winds of up to 185mph and left devastation in its wake.

It damaged 75 per cent of homes across the chain of islands and resulted in tragic loss of life.

Prince William and Kate will travel to Abacos main island to learn about the impact of the hurricane and to see how communities are still being rebuilt more than two years on.

It comes as Prince William delivered a speech in which he said he insisted that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

Today, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Daystar Evangelical Church which suffered terrible damage during Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

During their visit, on the final day of their Caribbean tour, they heard first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time.

The Cambridges then moved on to pay their respects to the victims of Hurricane Dorian by laying a wreath at Abaco's Memorial Wall.

Kate opted for a 254 pink midi gown by much-loved brand Rixo for the occasion, which featured a button-down collar and subtle animal print design.

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner.

In a speech last night, Prince William recalled holidaying in the Bahamas with his late mother Princess Diana in 1993, reminiscing on memories made in the vivid blue waters of Nassau in the Bahamas.

The Caribbean was a favourite holiday destination of Prince Diana, particularly after her separation from the Prince of Wales. (Pictured: Diana, far left, with William in the island of St Kitts in 1993)

He remembered snorkelling around the 'James Bond wrecks' with mother Diana, describing it as the 'best holiday ever' - and it seems the pair are planning on returning with their three children.

The three-day trip to the picturesque nation of 700 islands has had such an effect on William and Kate that they have vowed to bring George, Charlotte and Louis back one day, MailOnline understands.

After spending the last two nights at The Cove luxury resort on Paradise Island, where they have been ensconced in the three-bedroom 4830ft Penthouse Suite with floor-to-ceiling windows and wrap-around ocean views, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been FaceTiming their children to share the experience, a source said.

Relaxed and chatty, the couple were overheard thanking staff for everything they had done for them, telling them the hotel was 'wonderful', the food 'amazing' and that they 'couldn't wait to come back with their children'.

'They said they have FaceTimed their children to show them the views, which blew them away, and that they can't wait to come back with them,' a source said.

'Hopefully William will be able to created the same happy memories with his family, that his own mother did with him'.

The Caribbean was a favourite holiday destination of Prince Diana, particularly after her separation from the Prince of Wales.

She would often take William there with his brother, Harry, and almost 30 years ago she whisked them to the five-bedroom Casuarina Beach in the Bahamas.

Situated in Lyford Cay, a gated community on the western tip of New Providence Island, they stayed as guests of Kate Menzies of the newsagent millionaire Menzies family, and accompanied by Andrew Charlton, a lifelong friend of Prince William, and Catherine and Harry Soames, the family of politician Nicholas Soames.

The group flew to the Bahamas from Florida, where they had spent two days at Walt Disney World and visited the set location for 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'

Lyford Cay is one of the Bahamas' most exclusive communities, with neighbours including Sean Connery and the Bacardi family.

The Duke of Cambridge played a madcap game of football with a group of young boys from the Grand Bahama Childrens Home as his Caribbean tour drew to a close.

William took a shine to a 13-year-old who used a wheelchair, and when he asked the boy what he wanted to do the youngster replied, 'play soccer' and they head towards two goals.

The future king was visiting the centre with wife Kate to meet the youngsters in the homes extensive garden and learn about their lives.

The duke and his new found friend were quickly joined by other small boys and at one stage there were four footballs on the pitch whizzing around with William in goal.

Next on the 13-year-olds list was a nearby swing and slide and he was pushed by the duke in their direction  William later quipped 'He knows thatll say yes.'

As the 13-year-old and two other boys swing up in the air a concern duke smiled but said: 'These swings are very high guys, please dont fall off.'

The Grand Bahama Childrens Home provides a loving home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families.

Since it was established in 1977 by the local community, the home has cared for over 900 children and now looks after around 30 children ranging from one to seventeen.

When the Cambridges first arrived they sat at large table covered in a colourful mosaic design, and with some of the younger children filled in the final pieces.

Kate asked one little girl dressed in a pink tutu and tiara 'Is that going to fit in?' and said 'yes' as the youngster slotted the piece of ceramic home, adding: 'You look very lovely I love your tiara'.

They also unveiled a plaque outside the entrance of The Grand Bahamas Children's Home.

Prince William and Duchess Kate met children during a visit to the Grand Bahama Children's Home which provides a loving home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families, in Freeport, Bahamas

When the Cambridges first arrived they sat at large table covered in a colourful mosaic design, and with some of the younger children filled in the final pieces

Prince William pushed the swings for children at the Grand Bahama Children's Home

Located on the island of Grand Bahama, the children's home was established in 1977 by the local community and has cared for over 900 children in the past 45 years (Prince William pushing the swings at the home)

The Prince watched on as children played on the swing set playground at the children's home in Freeport, Bahamas

The Duke and Duchess spent time with the children and heard from staff (pictured) about how they provide a safe and secure environment which gives vital support to vulnerable children on the island

William took a shine to a 13-year-old who used a wheelchair, and when he asked the boy what he wanted to do the youngster replied, 'play soccer' and they head towards two goals

The future king was visiting the centre with wife Kate to meet the youngsters in the homes extensive garden and learn about their lives

The duke and his new found friend were quickly joined by other small boys and at one stage there were four footballs on the pitch whizzing around with William in goal

Kate asked one little girl dressed in a pink tutu and tiara 'Is that going to fit in?' and said 'yes' as the youngster slotted the piece of ceramic home, adding: 'You look very lovely I love your tiara'

The Grand Bahama Childrens Home provides a loving home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families. Since it was established in 1977 by the local community, the home has cared for over 900 children and now looks after around 30 children ranging from one to seventeen. Kate pictured interacting with a young child

The Duchess of Cambridge interacts with a child during a visit to Grand Bahama Children's Home, on day eight of their tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee

Kate and William looked relaxed in as they walked to the Fish Fry, a quintessentially Bahamian culinary gathering place

Kate opted for a 254 pink midi gown by much-loved brand Rixo for the occasion, which featured a button-down collar and subtle animal print design. She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner

Kate picks a flower and hands it to a young boy as she speaks with children during a visit to Great Abaco, Bahamas, to remember the victims of Hurricane Dorian

The Duke also got to show off his parental touch as he gives a high-five to a young boy as the royals mingled with those who had gathered to greet them

The Duke and Duchess stand over the Abaco Memorial Wall as they pay tribute to the victims of Hurricane Dorian which ripped through the island with 185mph winds

Pictured: Kate delicately lays a wreath at the foot of the Abaco Memorial Wall as William watches on

Kate carried a beautiful wreath before placing it at the foot of the Abaco Memorial Wall

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrive at Abaco's Memorial Wall on Saturday

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are warmly greeted by officials as they arrived at Daystar Evangelical Church in the Bahamas

The Cambridges were shown around the area by church leaders. Hurrican Dorian's 185mph winds ripped through Great Abaco in 2019, damaging three quarters of the homes in the area

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church Abaco in The Bahamas, to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Pictured with one of the church leaders

The Duke of Cambridge speaks to locals in Abaco, which was dramatically hit by Hurricane Dorian which saw winds of up to 185mph and left devastation in its wake

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the churchs historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed.

'We had three buildings on this property that survived many, many hurricanes going back to hurricane Betsy of 1965, Hurricane Floyd of 1999,' he said ahead of the royals arrival.

'But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here.

'It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation.'

Residents were locked down for months, he said, and the NGOs could not get in because of flooding, and later, the pandemic, severely delaying recovery efforts.

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later.

'It's been difficult,' he added. 'And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they're still seeing doctors.'

The church building remains unusable, with windows still blown out and chunks of concrete wall missing.

Pastor Mills said they did not have the insurance needed to rebuild and that the focus has been on helping those who had lost their homes.

They are now looking to donors to rebuild the church so it can be used by the community.

Pastor Mills said it still 'felt like a dream' to have the Duke and Duchess visit.

'The fact that they would want to come to a place that provides spiritual guidance and a place where people come to pray speaks volumes of their concern for humanity,' he said.

Among those who met the royal couple were Ian Fair 74, a private banker from Somerset, and his partner Deborah Jones-holt 49, from Yorkshire.

Mr Fair, a founding chairman of the Bahamian stock exchange, came to the Bahamas in 1969 on a two year work contract and never left.

He presented the church with a $15,000 donation that will be used to refurbish the inside.

Mr Fair, whose two sons-in-law were on Abaco when the hurricane hit, said he believed it had set the island back 25 years.

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the churchs historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed

'We had three buildings on this property that survived many, many hurricanes going back to hurricane Betsy of 1965, Hurricane Floyd of 1999,' he said ahead of the royals arrival'

'But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here'

'It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation'

Residents were locked down for months, he said, and the NGOs could not get in because of flooding, and later, the pandemic, severely delaying recovery efforts

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later

'It's been difficult,' he added. 'And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they're still seeing doctors'

The pair will learn about the impact of the hurricane and to see how communities are still being rebuilt more than two years on

Kate cut a radiant figure in her all-pink matching ensemble as she arrived in Great Abaco on Saturday morning

She paired the shirt dress with a matching 370 clutch bag by Emmy London and 160 wedge heels by Spanish brand Castaner

Pictured: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting a church in the Bahamas that has been rebuilt after it was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as their Caribbean tour comes to a close

During their visit, on the final day of their Caribbean tour, they will hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time

Prince William and Kate shake hands with officials as the final leg of their Caribbean tour gets underway on Saturday

Prince William and Kate will travel to Abacos main island to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shake hands with officials as they arrive on Abaco's main island for their final day

The couple listen on as religious leaders and local officials reveal the devastating toll of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting communities in Abaco to see how they have been rebuilt two years on. Pictured: Kate Middleton at Daystar Evangelical Church

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee. Their eight-day trip marks their first joint official overseas tour since the onset of COVID-19

The Cambridges are a picture of sombre concentration as they hear about the devastation of Hurricane Dorian in 2019

Large crowds had gathered long in advance to get a sneak peek at the Cambridges before they arrived in Great Abaco

Kate is pictured arriving at Daystar Evangelical Church where she will hear about the devastation wrought by the 185mph winds of Hurricane Dorian on the island

The Duchess of Cambridge cut a graceful figure in a pastel pink midi dress this afternoon as she visited a church on the final day of her week-long Caribbean tour

Once again keeping her look simple, Kate opted for minimal jewellery, and wore her sleek brown tresses in loose waves

Their Caribbean trip marks the first official royal overseas engagement by the Cambridges since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020

The Cambridges are hearing the first-hand experiences of clergy leaders and locals who lived through Hurricane Dorian

Prince William and Kate peer out of the window of the destroyed Daystar Evangelical Church as they tour the Bahamas on the last leg of their Caribbean tour

Pictured is the damaged Daystar Evangelical Church prior to the arrival of Prince William, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Pictured: An officer of the Royal Bahamas Police Force stands guard outside the rebuilt Daystar Evangelical Church

Yesterday, Prince William and Kate greeted crowds and local fishermen as they walked along Montagu Bay in New Providence on the final stop of their Caribbean tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The sailing regattas in The Bahamas is one of the first that has taken place since the start of the Covid pandemic and both William and Kate pitched in as they raced each other in separate yachts.

In a video shared on their Instagram, the couple thanked the teams for their hospitality and for enduring the poor weather.

In the choppy waters, the duke sailed to victory in a race against Kate today during a rain-affected regatta in The Bahamas to celebrate the Queen's jubilee.

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II. She also sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing.

His boat came in about five minutes ahead of four others including one featuring the Duchess of Cambridge, who suffered the ignominy of coming in last with her crew.

It was a second consecutive victory for William, who beat his wife in the King's Cup charity regatta off the Isle of Wight in 2019 when they last raced on the water. On that occasion her boat was disqualified.

Kate triumphed when the ultra competitive couple raced yachts in New Zealand in 2014.

Earlier, Kate was pictured holding a newborn baby during a royal walkabout with Prince William as the couple continued their protest-hit tour of the Caribbean with a visit to a school in the Bahamas amid torrential downpours.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge revealed their competitive side during a boat race as they took park in 'a very special regatta' in the Bahamas ahead of their final day in the Caribbean. Pictured: Kate gets stuck in despite the rainy weather

William set sail in an iconic Bahamian sloop named the Susan Chase, whilst Kate boarded a vessel named the Ants Nest II

William and Kate wave to excited crowds as they attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their way to attend The Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay

Safety first: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge don life jackets during the regatta in the Bahamas yesterday afternoon

Kate sported a white cap once she was on board with her crew mates that had the boat's name on in red writing

Kate Middleton was in hysterics with crew members, as they all wore hats of the vessel's name Ants Nest II

The royal couple greeted crowds who gathered in Parliament Square before attending the colourful Junkanoo Carnival in Nassau to celebrate the monarch's Platinum Jubilee alongside the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, and his wife Ann-Marie.

Kate was pictured speaking to a mother in the crowd and cradling her baby's head before the iconic street parade, which featured locals wearing colourful costumes and dancing to music.

It comes as Prince William signalled that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas to break away from the British monarchy and become republics will be supported with 'pride and respect' in a landmark speech alongside his wife Kate at a glittering state reception.

On the sixth day of their tour of the Caribbean yesterday, the future king said the Royal Family 'respect the decisions' of countries like The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize when it comes to their future in a nod to the critical 'colonialism' commentary and protests that accompanied welcoming crowds.

Since beginning their tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the Cambridges were greeted like rock stars by the public - but politicians, including the prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, used meetings to make clear in public they will push for the island to be a republic with a referendum this year.

Critical royal observers led by by Meghans cheerleader-in-chief Omid Scobie and BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond made claims of a series of tone deaf PR moments that smacked of colonialism - leading to more social media criticism despite the couple's warm welcome on the ground.

The royal couple have attended a reception hosted by the Governor-General during which they will have the opportunity to meet community leaders and notable people from across The Bahamas' many islands

Speaking at the black-tie reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith, William said: 'Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence - your Golden Anniversary.

'And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this: We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

'Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.'

At the evening reception, the Duchess of Cambridge stepped out in a stunning Grace-Kelly style gown that looked worlds away from this afternoon's wet yachting regatta.

They received one of the warmest welcomes of their tour as they mingled with eminent Bahamians from the fields of culture, law, religion, business, medicine and politics.

Before they left William and Kate were presented with a model of a sloop sailing boat similar to the one they sailed on earlier in the day.

The roses on the dress of guest Mildred Murphy caught Kates eye and she complimented her. 'She said I looked amazing and I said the roses were for the flower of England. She said she loved visiting the school today and said how well the children behaved and how nice it was for her to have that experience.'
In a speech last night Prince William recalled holidaying in the Bahamas with his late mother in 1993.

He remembered snorkelling in the vivid blue waters around the 'James Bond wrecks' off Nassau with Princess Diana, describing it as 'the best holiday ever'.

And it seems as if their all too brief, three-day trip to the picturesque nation of 700 islands has had such an effect on William and Kate that they have vowed to bring their own children back one day, Mail Online understands.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have spent the last two nights at the The Cove luxury resort, situated on the rather aptly named Paradise Island.

They have been ensconced in its three bedroom Penthouse Suite, a 4830ft hideaway with floor to ceiling windows, wrap-around ocean views, a large living area, office space and a separate ten-set dining area with a full-service kitchen.

Each morning they have awoken to stunning views of the crystal-clear Atlantic Ocean and glittering white sandy private beach.

William and Kate have vowed to bring their children to the Bahamas, MailOnline understands (Pictured: Royal couple during a visit to the Daystar Evangelical Church to hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point Hurricane Dorian hit)

Kate rocks a pink dress and sunglasses as she walks with Will, donning a dark blue suit and light blue shirt, during tour of the Bahamas

The Caribbean was a favourite holiday destination of Prince Diana, particularly after her separation from the Prince of Wales. (Pictured: Diana, far left, with William in the island of St Kitts in 1993)

Should William and Kate decide to bring their three children - Prince George , eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and three-year-old Prince Louis - it features five different hotel experiences with 21 restaurants, five miles of white sand beaches, 11 swimming pools and Aquaventure  a 141-acre waterscape of thrilling slides and river rides. (Family pictured at a pantomime performance at the London Palladium in December 2020)

Relaxed and chatty, the couple were overheard thanking staff for everything they had done for them, telling them the hotel was 'wonderful', the food 'amazing' and that they 'couldn't wait to come back with their children'.

'They said they have FaceTimed their children to show them the views, which blew them away, and that they can't wait to come back with them,' a source said.

'Hopefully William will be able to created the same happy memories with his family, that his own mother did with him'.

The Caribbean was a favourite holiday destination of Prince Diana, particularly after her separation from the Prince of Wales.

She would often take William there with his brother, Harry, and almost 30 years ago she whisked them to the five-bedroom Casuarina Beach in the Bahamas.

Situated in Lyford Cay, a gated community on the western tip of New Providence Island, they stayed as guests of Kate Menzies of the newsagent millionaire Menzies family, and accompanied by Andrew Charlton, a lifelong friend of Prince William, and Catherine and Harry Soames, the family of politician Nicholas Soames.

The group flew to the Bahamas from Florida, where they had spent two days at Walt Disney World and visited the set location for 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.'

Lyford Cay is one of the Bahamas' most exclusive communities, with neighbours including Sean Connery and the Bacardi family.

Kate and Will meet Stephen Gardiner, a Bahamian 400m Olympic champion

They moved on to stalls by the beach where vendors were selling handbags and homemade honey

Kate crouched down and spoke to a local girl who was dressed to the nines in a stunning princess outfit

William engaged with several locals including a little girl whose hand he held as she stood next to a seated elderly lady

The Duke and Duchess shook hands with well wishers and spoke to people about the effects of the hurricane. William turned own the chance to hold a baby but agreed to pose next to it

Kate beamed as she posed up a storm smiling with countless locals for photos, including a number of small children

William then made an impromptu stop at a bar. He slapped the bar top and said: This is my stop!

In his speech, given at the Governor General's reception, a visibly relaxed William said: 'Seen from space, astronaut Chris Hadfield once said that 'the beauty of The Bahamas is surreal' and you could see 'every blue that exists'.

'That natural beauty is only surpassed by the warmth and generosity of the Bahamian people.

'Catherine and I have witnessed this everywhere we've been today on our first official visit to your wonderful islands.

'The welcome you gave us in Parliament Square today with the Junkanoo, and Rake 'n' Scrape was unforgettable.

'But this is not my first time in The Bahamas. I came here with my mother as a child.

'Snorkelling around the James Bond wrecks off Nassau left me with the most vivid memory of your beautiful blue waters.

'For a young boy, obsessed with 007, it was the best holiday ever.'

The Duke and Duchess hear how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time following Hurricane Dorian, (pictured at the Daystar Evangelical Church)

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (pictured) have spent the last two nights at the The Cove luxury resort, situated on the rather aptly named Paradise Island

The Duke and Duchess during their visit to the Daystar Evangelical Church in the Bahamas

The Cove, where William and Kate have stayed, is an all-suite property, nestled between two private beaches on the Atlantis Paradise Island, one of the Bahama's premiere oceanside resorts.

Should William and Kate decide to bring their three children - Prince George , eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and three-year-old Prince Louis - it features five different hotel experiences with 21 restaurants, five miles of white sand beaches, 11 swimming pools and Aquaventure  a 141-acre waterscape of thrilling slides and river rides.

The resort is also single-use plastic free and supports extensive rescue, rehabilitation, research, and conservation efforts in The Bahamas through the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation.

As they left yesterday the couple stopped to thank Russell Miller, Executive Vice President, and Kapil Sharma, General Manager for 'being their home' while in The Bahamas.

William and Kate fly home tonight on board the government's official RAF Voyager aircraft, arriving home just in time for a Mother's Day brunch with their children on Sunday.
The Biden administration is reportedly planning to giving elderly Americans the option to get a fourth COVID-19 jab this spring.

The White House will soon be offering Americans 50 years and over a second booster shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, sources told The New York Times.

The second booster is reportedly meant to protect and save lives from the predicted upcoming Covid surge fueled by the Omicron 'stealth' variant.

But the Biden administration has faced complications because it has not been able to accurately predict when the next COVID-19 wave will hit.

Officials reportedly settled on offering everyone 50 and over the option of an additional booster in the event the surge occurs before fall.

Then in the fall, Americans of all ages can get the second booster, even the elderly who already got theirs this spring - meaning they could get a fifth jab, The Times reported.

Officials will be offering everyone 50 and over the option of an additional booster in the event the surge occurs before fall

The White House will soon be offering Americans 50 years and over a second booster shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines

The Biden administration is struggling with pitching the second booster to Americans who are already dealing with vaccine fatigue.

If the second boosters are handed out too early before the next wave, the jab might be ineffective, The Times reported.

The administration is also struggling with pitching the second booster to Americans who are already dealing with vaccine fatigue.

Earlier this week, Moderna submitted data to the FDA in a bid to have a fourth dose approved for all U.S. adults. This comes after Pfizer submitted data for a fourth shot for all Americans 65 and older.

The FDA is expected to grant authorization for both companies to add an additional shot to their Covid regimen.

News of plans for a fourth jab comes as cases and deaths caused by the virus are continuing to fall, and the 'stealth' variant that took over much of Europe in recent months has failed to make much ground in the U.S. so far.

The U.S. is averaging 29,490 Covid cases every day as of Friday, a 10 percent drop over the last seven days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The nation is averaging 892 daily deaths, a 25 percent fall over the past seven days.

The 'stealth' variant, which earned the moniker from its ability to avoid detection through some sequencing methods, is believed to be the most infectious version of Covid yet - but is just as mild as the BA.1 version of Omicron that took over the world last last year.

According to the most recent data revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week, BA.2 makes up 35 percent of active Covid cases in the U.S., with BA.1 still being dominant.

BA.2's share of Covid infections in America is growing, though, with the variant only accounting for 23 percent of cases in the week previous.

Experts at Harvard University said that the BA.2 stealth variant, which is believed to be the reason for the recent uptick of cases, would have likely already started the beginning of a surge in America if it was going to do so anytime soon.

'There's really no indication of an increase in cases or deaths in the region that corresponds to this increase in BA.2 infections that we're seeing,' Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen genomic surveillance at Harvard's Broad Institute, told the Harvard Gazette this week.

But despite the predicted Covid wave, some experts doubt second booster shots are necessary.

Dr. Anna Durbin is an international public health expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, has been a critic of Pfizer, Moderna and the White House's insistence to rollout COVID-19 booster shots before they are needed. This week, she told ABC that she does not believe many Americans will benefit from additional shots.

'There are very few, if any, people who, in my opinion require a fourth dose,' she said.

In August, when the White House was laying out plans to roll out the first batch COVID-19 booster shots, Durbin was also a critic, telling DailyMail.com that there was little science backing up the decision.

A very small number of Americans are already eligible for fourth COVID-19 shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises people who are immunocompromised to receive the additional shot now, despite the lack of authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Only around one in every 30 Americans is immunocompromised and is eligible for that fourth shot right now, though.

'In general, it's too early to recommend a fourth dose, except for those who are immune compromised,' Dr. Paul Goepfert, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC.

Americans' interest in receiving additional Covid shots has stagnated as well, with the nation's booster rollout reaching a low point this week.
Ukraine has claimed that the commander of a Russian tank regiment killed himself because the vehicles the unit had in reserve were un-serviceable.

Kyiv's Ministry of Defence said the commander of the '13th tank regiment' within the '4th tank division of the Russian Federation' shot himself due to the dire situation after learning the condition of the unit's reserve tanks.

The update also said that in general, Moscow's forces were struggling with poorly maintained military vehicles and is facing 'the problem of the impossibility of restoring equipment after "deconservation" from warehouses.'

Ukraine has claimed that the commander of a Russian tank regiment killed himself because the vehicles the unit had in reserve were un-serviceable. Pictured: The wreckage of a destroyed Russian tank is seen on a road near Kyiv on March 25

It said that in many cases, electronic equipment that contained precious metals had been stripped for parts from many Russian combat vehicles held in storage.

In its update posted to the ministry's Telegram channel, it claimed that Russia was building storage and repair facilities in the Klimove, Bryansk region to fix the equipment that had been disabled on the battlefield.

'Currently, the enemy RVB is trying to 'put into operation' a significant amount of equipment coming from long-term storage facilities,' the update claimed.

'The condition of this equipment is mostly extremely unsatisfactory, which makes its full use impossible.' It added: 'At present, plans to transfer equipment taken from storage to the front have actually been thwarted.'

Kyiv said the commander of the 4th Panzer Division killed himself once he learned that just one out of 10 of the tanks in storage were 'more or less' operational - suggesting nine out of 10 were unusuable.

Those that weren't operational had been almost completely dismantled, Kyiv said, with some even missing engines.

It was not possible to immediately verify the report. If correct, the commander's death would be the latest in a string of high-ranking Russian officers and generals who have been killed in Ukraine.

Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, vowing to destroy the country's military and topple pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Destroyed Russian tank is seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region, Ukraine March 25, 2022

People walks past a tank destroyed in fighting during Ukraine-Russia conflict, in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, Ukraine March 23, 2022

But his armies have made little progress in capturing key cities, and have suffered heavy losses at the hands of Ukrainian forces that have fought intelligently against their much larger foe.

According to Oryx, a military blog that is tracking Russian vehicle losses based on visual confirmation, as of March 26 the Kremlin has lost 1,891 in total.

Of those, 939 have been destroyed, 35 have been damage, 229 have been abandoned and 688 have been captured by Ukrainian troops.

Given that these figures are based on visual confirmations from pictures and footage coming out of Ukraine, the true figure is expected to be much higher.

Reports of the commander's suicide came after Western officials on Friday named seven Russian generals they said had so far been killed, and another who had been sacked, during the war in Ukraine.

The latest to die, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, was a commander of Russia's 49th Combined Arms Army in its southern military district, an official disclosed.

Rezantsev, who bragged on just the fourth day of the war that it would be over in a matter of hours, was apparently killed after the Ukrainian army destroyed the commanding post of the 49th Russian Army in southern Ukraine.

The sixth Russian commander killed since the invasion began was said to have been Colonel Yuri Medvedev, who was brutally taken out by mutinous soldiers after their 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses. The ran him down with a tank.

Meanwhile, Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, was identified as the general sacked earlier this week by the Kremlin.

Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, was identified as the general sacked earlier this week by the Kremlin

Pictured: A still grab from a video allegedly showing Russian Colonel Yuri Medvedev being stretchered into a hospital after suffering severe injuries to his legs. A Ukrainian journalist has claimed that Medvedev was run over by a tank driven by his own soldier

It has been reported his abrupt dismissal was due to the heavy losses and strategic failures seen during the Russian military's month-long invasion of its neighbour.

Among the others said to have been killed is General Magomed Tushaev, of the Chechen Special Forces deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol while Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Meanwhile Major-General Andrey Kolesnikov, Commander of the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Division, was also killed in fighting on March 11.

Major-General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3.

The number of both rank-and-file Russian troops and senior officers allegedly killed in the month-long war has shocked Western military and security officials.

Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, commander of the army's 49th combined arms division, was killed in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces, sources in Kyiv said

Major-General Andrey Kolesnikov (left), Commander of the Guards Tank Kantemirovskaya Division, was also killed in fighting on March 11 and Major-General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, (right) was killed during a special operation by a sniper on March 3

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, (left) commander of the army's 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol while Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (right) was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv

It has been blamed in part on communications and logistics issues, leading senior officers to use unencrypted channels which has exposed them to Ukrainian forces.

The Kremlin claimed Friday that just over 1,300 military personnel have died in the war, but estimates of four or five times that number are seen as credible in Western capitals.

Officials there believe around 20 of the 115-120 battalion tactical groups deployed by Moscow in Ukraine are 'no longer combat effective' due to the losses sustained.

'After a month of operations to have somewhere in the region of perhaps a sixth... of the forces being no longer combat effective - that's a pretty remarkable set of statistics,' the Western official said.

He also claimed the commander of Russia's 37th Motor Rifle Brigade had been killed by his own troops, 'as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade'.

'We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,' the official said, noting he was 'run over'.

He added it was a further sign of 'morale challenges that Russian forces are having'.

'They really have found themselves in a hornet's nest and they're suffering really badly,' the official said.

The number of both rank-and-file Russian troops and senior officers allegedly killed in the month-long war has shocked Western military and security officials.

Pictures from Lviv today show a huge fireball and thick black smoke rising over the rooftops of a residential area in the northeast of the city, in what appeared to be the first major attack on the famous cultural city since Russia's invasion began on February 24

Firefighters battle a blaze at an industrial facility after a Russian military attack in the area on March 26, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine

It has been blamed in part on communications and logistics issues, leading senior officers to use unencrypted channels which has exposed them to Ukrainian forces.

Putin is thought to have planned for a short and sharp invasion lasting only a few days, aimed at decapitating the government and installing a puppet regime. Instead he has found himself sucked into a hugely demanding war of attrition.

The Kremlin claimed Friday that just over 1,300 military personnel have died in the war, but estimates of four or five times that number are seen as credible in Western capitals.

Officials there believe around 20 of the 115-120 battalion tactical groups deployed by Moscow in Ukraine are 'no longer combat effective' due to the losses sustained.

'After a month of operations to have somewhere in the region of perhaps a sixth... of the forces being no longer combat effective - that's a pretty remarkable set of statistics,' the Western official said.

A Russian battalion typically consists of approximately 600 to 800 officers and soldiers, 200 of which are infantrymen equipped with around 10 tanks and 40 infantry fighting vehicles - such as armoured troop carriers.

Despite mobilising a force of between 150,000 and 200,000 Russian troops, Moscow has failed to anticipate anything other than weak resistance by the Ukrainian forces - likely owing to Russian intelligence failures.

A senior NATO military officer said the alliance estimates that Russia has suffered between 30,000 and 40,000 battlefield casualties in Ukraine through the first month of the war, including between 7,000 and 15,000 killed.

Blunders early on in the campaign including poor planning and logistics that saw vehicles stall due to breakdowns, run out of fuel and get bogged down in mud are thought to be behind the eye-watering officer death toll - as commanders were forced to the front to fix the problems before being picked off by Ukrainians.

In a potentially significant shift, the Russian army said the first phase of its campaign was over and its troops would now focus on the 'liberation' of the Russian-speaking Donbas region in Ukraine's east.

Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of Russia's armed forces, said the shift was possible because 'the combat potential of Ukraine's armed forces has been significantly reduced'.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, however, indicated no let-up in his country's refusal to accede to Russian demands after what he termed 'very difficult' talks with Moscow.

'We insist, first of all, on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine,' he said.
The mayor of a Ukrainian town occupied by Russian forces near Chernobyl has been released from captivity after hundreds of residents, and families, staged a mass protest - despite stun grenades being thrown into the crowd.

Yuri Fomichev, mayor of Slavutych, was briefly detained by Russian soldiers after they took control of the town, which is home to staff who work at the Chernobyl nuclear site.

'I have been released. Everything is fine, as far as it is possible under occupation,' he said, after officials in the Ukraine capital Kyiv earlier announced he had been detained.

An agreement was reached that the Russians would leave if those with arms handed them over to the mayor with a dispensation for those with hunting rifles, according to the Guardian.

Kyiv earlier stated that Vladimir Putin's troops had entered Slavutych and occupied the municipal hospital.

The mayor of a Ukrainian town occupied by Russian forces near Chernobyl has been released from captivity after hundreds of residents, and families, staged a mass protest - despite stun grenades being thrown into the crowd

Hundreds of residents took to the streets, carrying a large blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and heading towards the hospital, the administration said

Yuri Fomichev, mayor of Slavutych, was briefly detained by Russian soldiers after they took control of the town, which is home to staff who work at the Chernobyl nuclear site. Above, demonstrators at the scene

Fomichev (file image, above) said: 'I have been released. Everything is fine, as far as it is possible under occupation'

Some 25,000 people live in the town 160 kilometres (99 miles) north of the capital, built after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

Hundreds of residents took to the streets, carrying a large blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and heading towards the hospital, the administration said.

It added that Russian forces fired into the air and threw stun grenades into the crowd.

The administration also shared on its Telegram account images in which dozens of people gathered around the Ukrainian flag and chanted: 'Glory to Ukraine'.

Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said on Saturday that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.

The administration also shared on its Telegram account images in which dozens of people gathered around the Ukrainian flag and chanted: 'Glory to Ukraine'

The Chernobyl plant (above) was taken by the Russian army on February 24 on the same day that Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine

'The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd.

'But the residents did not disperse - on the contrary, more of them showed up,' Pavlyuk said.

The Chernobyl plant was taken by the Russian army on February 24 on the same day that Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed 'concern' on Thursday after Ukraine informed the organisation of Russia's bombardment of Slavutych.

The town's capture comes after the first staff rotation at the Chernobyl plant last weekend since Russia took control.

About 100 Ukrainian technicians continued to run the daily operations at the radioactive site for nearly four weeks without being rotated.
To many, its a fun fairytale to lure tourists; to others, its a genuine mystery  or just a silly hoax.

But to woke education chiefs, the Loch Ness Monster is a potent symbol of Englands domination of Scotland  a theory which will now be taught in schools.

Pupils north of the border are to be told how the mythical beast reinforces negative stereotypes and ingrains bias about the Scots.

Schoolchildren will be taught how the class structure had a role in the creation of the legend, and how stories surrounding the creature relate to debate on Scottish Independence and even the Cold War.

But campaigners last night criticised the classes as nationalist, anti-British propaganda aimed at brainwashing pupils.

Said to be a picture of the the head and neck of Nessie. This famous photo was taken in 1934 by a vacationing London surgeon, Robert K. Wilson, in Loch Ness, Scotland.

The remarkable claims about Nessie come in a 17-page social studies lesson plan to help secondary school teachers teach what the monsters portrayal in films says about Scotlands image and how it affects wider contemporary topics, such as the Independence Referendum.

The material aims to help 11-to-14- year-olds recognise persuasion and bias and asserts that the monster was designed as a tourist attraction to appeal to the motoring middle classes during the Depression.

Though the earliest reports date from the 6th Century, the Nessie phenomenon exploded in the 1930s with a flurry of alleged sightings and photographs.

And the first film about Nessie was 1934s low-budget horror romp The Secret Of The Loch.

The lesson plan says the movie monster shows the somewhat ambivalent position that Scotland holds in the Union the very idea of a prehistoric monster in a loch affirms the stereotypical idea that Scotland  by contrast to England  is a rural wilderness, perhaps one bypassed by progress.

The monsters depiction suggests that although there was a primitive wilderness in Scotland before the state of Britain, the modern state has the ability to control it using advanced knowledge and technologies.

The document goes on to describe how the Nessie legend was indicative of the development of the modern state of Britain, and that the creatures depiction reveals a lot about Scotlands position within the Union the supposedly unified national community to which people could imagine a sense of belonging.

It adds that cinematic depictions of Nessie enabled Britain to imagine itself as a modern and unified state.

Also placed under scrutiny are the 1996 family drama Loch Ness, starring Ted Danson and Joely Richardson, and the 1983 short The Loch Ness Monster Movie, in which a cheaply animated claymation Nessie rampages through Edinburgh.

Footage shot by Richard Mavor in September 2021 shows a mysterious black shape on the banks of the lake in Scotland, thought to be Nessie

The teaching aid says: This monstrous destruction of the nations capital questions whether Scotland may be dragged into the dangerous arena of the Cold War due to its relationship with England and indeed, Britains special relationship with the USA.

In this movie, Nessie is a Scottish monster, questioning whether, in the circumstances it finds itself in, it should reconsider its position in Britain in order to find a different place in the world.

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, slammed the material, saying: There is no question about it presenting anti-British bias. It seeks to brainwash pupils into believing that Scotland is the victim of a wicked conspiracy to subvert and infantilise its identity.

The nationalist cause must be in desperate trouble if it has to resort to such propaganda tactics with young people. My advice to teachers is to use the Nessie Plan itself as an example of how bias is used by educators.

Education Scotland said last night: Through the study of films, the resource encourages students to debate, to analyse bias and understand the role film has played in shaping the global view of Scotland.

It also seeks to support pupils in learning about the importance of respecting the heritage and identity of others.
A University has slapped a trigger warning on some of Britains greatest Romantic poets because their work contains representations of sexism and misogyny.

Bath Spa University has told students that poems by William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Alexander Pope have the potential to disturb or distress.

Details of the warnings issued on the universitys Romance and Revolution course were obtained under Freedom of Information rules.

Without identifying specific works, they state that some verses by Pope contain representations of sexual assault, violence, sexism and misogyny, while works by Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley feature violence, sexism and misogyny, death, mental illness, self-harm and suicide.

Bath Spa University, pictured, has told students that poems by William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats and Alexander Pope have the potential to disturb or distress

Without identifying specific works, they state that some verses by Pope contain representations of sexual assault, violence, sexism and misogyny, while works by Wordsworth, pictured, Keats and Shelley feature violence, sexism and misogyny, death, mental illness, self-harm and suicide

Criticising the move, Jeremy Black, emeritus professor of history at the University of Exeter, said: This university plays with words and ideas like a fool drunk on their folly. These four poets are key authors in the human aspiration to self expression. Far from hating others, they found meaning for us all.

Bath Spa University argues that the warnings ensure a safe and inclusive environment.

A spokesman added that their use is considered on a case-by-case basis by tutors in the context of their knowledge and understanding' of a particular group of students.
A police inquiry into claims of sexual assault at one of Britains leading public schools has been dropped due to a lack of evidence, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

More than 100 allegations of revenge porn, sexual assault and abusive behaviour were levelled against pupils of Dulwich College in south-east London just over a year ago.

The all-boys school, which charges 45,234 a year for boarders, reported two allegations of sexual assault to police as reports surged nationwide of sex abuse by pupils at some of the countrys top private schools.

The all-boys school, which charges 45,234 a year for boarders, reported two allegations of sexual assault to police as reports surged nationwide of sex abuse by pupils

More than 11,000 anonymous testimonies of abuse at schools across the UK, state and private  largely of girls by boys  were posted on the Everyones Invited

More than 11,000 anonymous testimonies of abuse at schools across the UK, state and private  largely of girls by boys  were posted on the Everyones Invited website in less than a month. It now has 50,000.

Former Norfolk chief constable Simon Bailey, at the time the countrys senior officer in charge of child sexual abuse in institutions, described the claims as the tip of the iceberg and the MeToo movement for schools.

But the Metropolitan Police has quietly dropped its investigation into allegations against Dulwich College pupils following an assessment of the evidence available.

Dulwich master Dr Joseph Spence wrote to parents a year ago to inform them that a number of pupils had been disciplined for minor cases of abuse and others were referred to the police.

The college  which is near an all-girls school, and counts Nigel Farage, Ernest Shackleton and PG Wodehouse among its alumni  became a lightning rod for public anger after thousands of young women posted online their experiences of alleged abuse. In response, the Department for Education funded a helpline, managed by the NSPCC. By the start of this year it had received 979 reports nationally, of which 95 were passed to police.

Operation Hydrant, set up to co-ordinate the polices response to claims of sexual abuse by school pupils, last night said it could not provide the number of charges, if any, brought as a result of the reports. It also issued a bizarre warning to forces that there was a risk of victims being identified if anonymised data was provided to this newspaper. Despite that, four forces disclosed that of a total of 11 referrals, none have resulted in charges although several allegations are still under investigation.

Dulwich master Dr Joseph Spence wrote to parents a year ago to inform them that a number of pupils had been disciplined for minor cases of abuse and others were referred to the police

Last year, education regulator Ofsted was ordered by ministers to conduct an emergency review. After inspectors visited 32 schools and colleges and spoke to 900 children, it said a culture change was needed to tackle the normalised behaviour of sexual harassment in education.

A Met Police spokeswoman said of the Dulwich allegations: Police received two separate allegations of non-recent sexual assault on 25 March 2021. Following an assessment of the evidence available, no further action was taken.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley, National Police Chiefs Council Lead for Child Abuse and Investigation, said: Our Operation Hydrant team works hard to support those who have come forward. If victims do wish to report criminal offences to the police, they can be confident their account will be recorded.

A Department for Education spokesman said: Young people should always report abuse.

Dulwich College was contacted for comment.
YouTube has removed video clips of Cabinet Ministers being fooled by Russian pranksters after the British security services obtained evidence that the Kremlin had directly ordered the sting.

The hoax calls that began to emerge on Monday were finally removed by the social-media platform on Friday following angry representations from the Government.

They included a one-minute clip of Home Secretary Priti Patel in which the Russian caller impersonated Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and asked her if British citizens will welcome neo-Nazi refugees into this country.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, pictured, was tricked by Russian pranksters who heavily edited the footage to suit Kremlin propaganda

Priti Patel, pictured, right, was also targeted by the YouTube propagandists

There was also footage of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace being asked by the same faked Mr Shmyhal if he supported Ukraines nuclear aims. Both clips on the Vovan222prank channel were doctored to suit Putins anti-Western political agenda.

It is understood that British intelligence has established that the two pranksters, known as Vovan and Lexus, are part of Russias state disinformation campaigns.

A Government source said: There was growing frustration over YouTubes handling of the prank calls, which stayed up for days after we had proved they were linked to the Kremlin.

The Home Office wrote formally to them to make this clear, with classified intelligence assessments even shared to make clear that the calls were facilitated and co-ordinated by a Russian information warfare team. Until Friday evening, YouTube were still claiming that the videos didnt breach their terms and conditions.

The source added: The hoaxers have consistently targeted figures or organisations that are opposed to the Russian state.

It is a known tactic for the Russian state to use hoax calls as part of information campaigns to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine. The blizzard of lies is part of Russias playbook.

A UK Government spokesman said they welcomed YouTubes decision to remove Russian state disinformation.

A YouTube spokesman said: We have terminated the YouTube channel Vovan222prank as part of our ongoing investigation into co-ordinated influence operations linked to Russia.
A fox-clubbing Left-wing barrister was last night blasted for comparing the Deputy Prime Minister to war-mongering Vladimir Putin.

Jolyon Maugham QC  once dubbed an infamous fox murderer after clubbing one of the animals to death while wearing his wifes satin kimono  said Dominic Raab was following in Putins footsteps over his new plans to crack down on wokery.

Mr Raab, also the Justice Secretary, told the Daily Mail yesterday he hoped to replace Labours Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights.

Jolyon Maugham QC (above) said Dominic Raab was following in Putins footsteps over his new plans to crack down on wokery

Mr Maugham wrote on Twitter that the UK was on its way to becoming a totalitarian state after Mr Raab unveiled plans which would see free speech given legal supremacy over other rights in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sundays sister newspaper.

But launching an extraordinary ad hominem attack in response, Mr Maugham said: Can anyone identify a difference between Putins attack on cancel culture and Raabs attack on wokery?

He continued: Russia has just quit the Council of Europe  the body that administers the European Convention on Human Rights.

And Raabs plans for our Human Rights Act are inconsistent with the UKs continued membership of the Council of Europe. Raab is following in Putins footsteps.

Mr Raab (pictured), also the Justice Secretary, told the Daily Mail yesterday he hoped to replace Labours Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights

The QC then added: Totalitarianism doesnt goose-step to your front door in jackboots. It shuts down protest, removes legal safeguards like the EU and Human Rights Act, attacks its political opponents, weakens dissenting media, and attacks minorities like travellers, immigrants, trans people.

Mr Maugham later decided to caveat his outburst with: No, I dont say we are as far down that road as Putin. But I have no doubt we are travelling on it.

Last night, Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP said Mr Maugham was being utterly ridiculous on almost every count and added: I think the bloke needs to lie down in a darkened room because hes clearly lost the plot.

Mr Maugham later decided to caveat his outburst with: No, I dont say we are as far down that road as Putin. But I have no doubt we are travelling on it (Pictured: Vladimir Putin)

Mr Maugham has undertaken a series of highly political cases over the Governments response to the pandemic, both in its awarding of PPE contracts and appointments of people to key strategic posts.

A Whitehall source said: Its ludicrous attention-seeking to compare the propagandist tirade of a murderous despot to Western leaders standing up for right to freedom.

Mr Maugham said: The irrefutable fact is that in 50 years no political leader has ditched the principles of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms other than Putin, and now Raab.

'There is no suggestion that the UK plans to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
Twitter has been accused of censorship after putting a fake news warning on a Mail on Sunday article about an Oxford University study that found Britains coronavirus death toll may be lower than thought.

Despite allowing accounts which spout dangerous anti-vax claims, the social-media giant banned distinguished academic Carl Heneghan from its platform after he shared last weekends story.

It flashed up alerts to those sharing the Mail Online link to the article, saying: Warning: this link may be unsafe. The link you are trying to access has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe.

The social-media giant banned distinguished academic Carl Heneghan (above) from its platform after he shared last weekends story

Last weekends article  by Deputy Health Editor Eve Simmons  reported the findings of a new analysis suggesting Britains 164,000 Covid-19 death toll may have been overestimated.

Researchers reached the conclusions after combing through 800 responses to Freedom of Information requests to care homes and hospitals to find flaws in the way fatalities were recorded.

The row comes as tech giants may find themselves being handed sweeping powers in the new Online Safety Bill, which campaigners fear may have the effect of curbing freedom of speech by allowing social-media networks to remove legitimate material because they disagree with it.

Twitter sent an email to Professor Heneghan, an award-winning epidemiologist, saying his account  which has 110,000 followers  had been locked because it was violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19.

Last weekends article (pictured)  by Deputy Health Editor Eve Simmons  reported the findings of a new analysis suggesting Britains 164,000 Covid-19 death toll may have been overestimated

It added: We require the removal of content that may pose a risk to peoples health, including content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information. Please note that repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension of your account.

Prof Heneghan, who is director of Oxfords Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and was involved in the study, last night described the episode as an attack on the free press.

He added: This was good journalism based on trying to get to the truth, but what seems to be happening here is people are saying that when you do that and we dont like your conclusions, we are going to take you down.

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said the treatment of Prof Heneghan was particularly preposterous given the huge quantity of anti-vax propaganda on Twitter.

Twitter sent an email to Professor Heneghan, an award-winning epidemiologist, saying his account  which has 110,000 followers  had been locked (above)

Some 6.3 million people are following Twitter accounts that pump out anti-vaccine misinformation, according to his organisations estimates.

Like all the big tech platforms, Twitter has a shameful track record of allowing snake oil salesmen to distribute misinformation about vaccines, Mr Ahmed said.

Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: Twitter once stood for free speech but those days are long gone. It is now an enforcer of a progressive orthodoxy, whether about transwomen in sport or the pandemic.

Anyone who challenges that orthodoxy is punished, even if they know more about the subject than Twitters fact-checkers, which Professor Heneghan plainly does.

The row comes as tech giants may find themselves being handed sweeping powers in the new Online Safety Bill (stock image)

The suppression of dissenting voices will only get worse once the Online Safety Bill becomes law. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will treat it as a green light to increase their censorship of anyone who doesnt fall in with the woke agenda.

News media publishers are currently battling for exemption from the Online Safety Bill.

Three hours after Prof Heneghan tweeted the link, Twitter told him his account had been locked. It was reinstated the following day.

Twitter said the article had been labelled as fake news in error but declined to elaborate.

A spokesman said: The article URL (link) and account referenced were mistakenly actioned under our Covid-19 misleading information policy. This action was swiftly reversed.
British -made anti-aircraft missiles are about to be deployed by Ukraine in the conflict for the first time, threatening to heap further humiliation on Vladimir Putin over his disastrous invasion.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told The Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system  a shoulder-mounted missile that travels at more than three times the speed of sound to take down low-flying enemy jets  was ready to be used imminently.

The news came as Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Putin was scaling back the invasion because he was reeling from powerful blows and had lost more than 16,000 troops.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told The Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system  a shoulder-mounted missile that travels at more than three times the speed of sound to take down low-flying enemy jets  was ready to be used imminently

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, pictured, has urged the West to supply his forces with tanks and fast jets to fight the Russians

Mr Wallace said the first Ukrainian troops had been trained and were now deployed with Starstreak, adding that the UK was doing more than pretty much anyone else to help the war-torn country.

However, the Defence Secretary is wary about Mr Zelenskys call at last weeks Nato summit for the supply of tanks.

Mr Wallace said: One of the biggest challenges is that the more you go up in sophistication of weapons systems, the more training you require to use them, which is why the real focus of effort has to be helping the Ukrainians either refurbish or locate Russian or Soviet equipment that is already in their inventory. Just providing British tanks wouldnt really work.

He also warned that Putins generals face a Nuremberg-style reckoning for war crimes in Ukraine, with Mikhail Mizintsev, the so-called Butcher of Mariupol, at the head of the list for his bombardment of civilians in the city.

Mr Wallace said: The systematic destruction of over 1,000 properties in Mariupol is against the Geneva Conventions. The type of weapons used and how they are delivered indicates deliberate targeting.

Alluding to talk about prosecutions similar to the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after the Second World War, Mr Wallace said: In the end, justice catches up with most people, and I have no doubt that eventually it will. At the moment the reckoning seems to be happening on the ground with a significant number of Russian [military] leaders being killed.

After Putin last week bizarrely compared himself to Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling  claiming the West was trying to cancel Russia in the same way that trans activists were protesting against the writer for her views on womens rights  Mr Wallace compared Gen Mizintsev to the Death Eaters in the fantasy series.

He looks straight out of central casting, he said.

Asked about US President Joe Bidens warning that the West would respond in kind to chemical weapons attacks in Ukraine by Russia, Mr Wallace said: Its in the interest of the West to not be specific about responses, but I think the very clear message is  dont test the West. Escalation will elicit a response.

As anxiety grows inside the Kremlin over the war, Mr Wallace warned that an increasingly paranoid Putin could launch a Stalin-style purge of perceived opponents. This is a regime where people seem to fall out of windows, he said.

Responding to reports that Putin is unwell, Mr Wallace said: I dont think hes in any way insane. I think he is following his belief in his legacy he has signposted for about ten years, if not longer, about what he really believes about Ukraine and Russia. But he has chosen some irrational path to get there.

He added: Putin has already lost. Putin is no longer a force in the world. Whatever he may think hes won today, he is lost in the long run. His legacy is now one of loss.

He will be remembered as a man who demonstrated that his armed forces were not invincible and were, in fact, badly equipped.

He will be remembered by Russian mothers as a man who sent needlessly to their death thousands of young Russian men, he will be remembered as a man who instead of furthering Russia in the world has made it more isolated.

And he will probably live out his days being invited to the North Korean annual celebration.

I think, on one level, the world wont have to fear Putin any more. Hes not a force of power.
Obestiy makes you old decades before your time, with seriously overweight 55-year-olds likely to contend with the same health problems experienced by 75-yearolds who are not fat.

A study by researchers in the UK and Finland examined how likely people are to suffer from more than one health problem at once  so-called multiple morbidity  depending on age and weight.

While it is recognised that the obese are more likely than their thinner peers to suffer from problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, the research is the first to quantify how obesity brings forward the age at which people develop health problems.

The proportion of participants of healthy weight with complex multi-morbidity by age 75 was observed by age 55 in participants with obesity, according to the study.

Complex multi-morbidity means four or more health conditions.

A study by researchers in the UK and Finland examined how likely people are to suffer from more than one health problem at once  so-called multiple morbidity  depending on age and weight (Stock image)

The team looked at a group of 115,000 Finns and found just under 20 per cent of healthy-weight individuals had two identified health problems  termed simple multimorbidity  by the age of 75.

Among those who were obese, that same proportion was reached by 55. Similar trends were seen in a separate study of 500,000 Britons.

The team added: Compared with participants with healthy weight, people [of the same age] with obesity were at a five times increased risk of simple multi-morbidity and more than 12 times increased risk of complex multi-morbidity.

But the study also found that the effect of obesity on mortality is not as pronounced, meaning the severely overweight are likely to struggle on in poor health for years rather than die decades early.

In the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, two Israeli medics warned of the costs of increasing numbers of older obese people, resulting in more drug side effects and interactions, adverse events, complications, hospital admissions and disabilities. Unemployment and welfare dependency might also increase.

While it is recognised that the obese are more likely than their thinner peers to suffer from problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, the research is the first to quantify how obesity brings forward the age at which people develop health problems (Stock image)

According to the 2019 Health Survey For England, 28 per cent of adults in the country are classed as obese on the basis of having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more.

A further 36 per cent are overweight, though not obese.

But NHS bosses have started softening their language about obesity.

Official documents no longer refer to obese people but instead to people living with obesity.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the findings were proof that NHS chiefs need to think again about using softer language.

He said: Obesity is a medical term, describing when a person has arrived at a position whereby their weight is in danger of triggering diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease, and they might die earlier as a result.
Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom last night hailed Mail on Sunday readers after witnessing first-hand how your extraordinary generosity is helping terrified refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

The Lord Of The Rings star visited a centre in Moldova run by Unicef, the UNs childrens charity which has received 500,000 from the record-breaking Mail Force appeal.

At the centre, women and children receive aid and can rest after they cross the border from Ukraine. An estimated 1.8 million children have fled the war-ravaged nation in the past month, with tens of thousands crossing into Moldova.

Orlando Bloom, Unicef's goodwill ambassador visited Ukrainian refugees at a centre in Moldova. More than 1.8 million children have been forced to flee the war zone

The 45-year-old actor said: I met children, mothers and grandmothers fleeing the horrors and fear of war in Ukraine. Some had seen their neighbourhoods bombed and many had left loved ones behind'

Bloom, 45, a Unicef ambassador, said: I met children, mothers and grandmothers fleeing the horrors and fear of war in Ukraine. Some had seen their neighbourhoods bombed and many had left loved ones behind.

Seeing children and their mothers have moments of respite at Unicefs Blue Dot spaces in Moldova makes a world of difference to them. Ive seen the support they provide to families in devastating circumstances. Thank you Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday readers and Mail Force for your generous donation to support Unicefs work in the Ukraine crisis.

Since the Mail Force appeal was launched a month ago, readers have inundated it with more than 67,500 cheques, as well as a flood of online donations. The total raised now stands at more than 9.1 million, with funds provided to charities including the Refugee Council, the UNHCR and The Halo Trust, whose volunteers are preparing to clear landmines.

During his two-day visit, Bloom also visited Moldexpo, an exhibition centre in Chisinau, Moldovas capital, which has been converted into a refugee centre.

There he met a family of five who had fled with only the clothes they were wearing. Many families and children I spoke with have not only left their homes but also their school, friends, family members and almost everything they own, said Bloom, who has a 19-month-old daughter with pop star wife Katy Perry and an 11-year-old son from his first marriage. As a father, I cant imagine the upset and confusion they must feel.

Unicef is also helping about 450 children who are sheltering in underground stations in Kharkiv, a city in north-east Ukraine that has been blitzed by Russian forces for weeks. Aid workers are providing art therapy, toys, books and emotional support.

During his two-day visit, Bloom also visited Moldexpo, an exhibition centre in Chisinau, Moldovas capital, which has been converted into a refugee centre.

The Mail Force appeal began with a 500,000 donation from The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail parent company, DMGT, at the personal request of chairman Lord Rothermere and his wife Lady Rothermere. A team is working round the clock to assess how the money donated can be best spent

The Mail Force appeal began with a 500,000 donation from The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail parent company, DMGT, at the personal request of chairman Lord Rothermere and his wife Lady Rothermere. A team is working round the clock to assess how the money donated can be best spent.

Among the latest donations is 500 from the historian and author Lady Antonia Fraser Pinter, 89, who accompanied her donation with a handwritten good luck note, and 5,000 from a 78-year-old woman whose Jewish relatives in the Netherlands died in the Holocaust and whose 97-year-old husband fled Nazi Germany as a boy.
Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry resigned on Saturday afternoon having faced growing pressure from congressional leaders and Nebraskas GOP governor to step down after a California jury found him guilty of lying to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 campaign donation from a Nigerian billionaire.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both urged the nine-term congressman to leave office, as did Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has endorsed Fortenberry's top Republican primary challenger.

'The people of Nebraska deserve active, certain representation,' Ricketts said. 'I hope Jeff Fortenberry will do the right thing and resign so his constituents have that certainty while he focuses on his family and other affairs.'

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., center, has resigned after being found guilty of lying to the FBI about illegal campaign donations totaling $30,000 from a Nigerian billionaire

Fortenberry resigned with a poem written on the wall of an Indian children's home

The charges stemmed from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from billionaire Gilbert Chagoury, pictured at a benefit in Beverly Hills in 2008

McCarthy said he texted Fortenberry about the conviction. 'I think when someone's convicted, it's time to resign,' McCarthy told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida.

Pelosi said Fortenberrys conviction 'represents a breach of the public trust and confidence in his ability to serve. No one is above the law.'

On Saturday, Fortenberry resigned with a one page letter.

'Dear Colleagues, When things are difficult, I sometimes read a poem written on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta,' he began.

The poem includes the lines:' People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

'If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

'If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.

'If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.

Fortenberry signed off: 'It has been, my honor to serve with you in the United States House of Representatives. Due to the difficulties of my current circumstances, I can no longer effectively serve. I will resign from Congress effective March 31, 2022.'

A federal jury in Los Angeles deliberated for about two hours on Thursday before finding Fortenberry guilty of concealing information and two counts of making false statements to authorities.

Fortenberry was charged after denying to the FBI that he was aware he had received illicit funds from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent who lives in Paris.

The three men who funneled money to Fortenberry from Chagoury were all of Lebanese descent and had ties to In Defense of Christians, a nonprofit Fortenberry supported that was devoted to fighting religious persecution in the Middle East.

Outside the courthouse, Fortenberry said the process had been unfair and that he would appeal immediately and said he was going to spend time with his family.

'Im getting so many beautiful messages from people literally all around the world, who've been praying for us and pulling for us,' he said.

Fortenberry, 61, argued at trial that the congressman wasn't aware of the contribution, but agents directed an informant to feed him the information in a 10-minute call to trap him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins said prosecutors haven't yet considered what penalty they will seek when Fortenberry is sentenced June 28. Each count carries a potential five-year prison sentence and fines.

Vince Powers, a veteran trial lawyer in Lincoln, Nebraska, who has followed Fortenberry's case, said the judge will likely rely on federal guidelines when deciding what sentence to impose.

Powers said that, based on his reading of the guidelines, Fortenberry could be looking at 15-21 months in prison.

Given Fortenberry's location, Powers said it's likely he would get sent to the FPC Yankton, a minimum-security federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota, about 180 miles north of Lincoln.

The judge could also deviate from the guidelines with a higher or lower sentence. But Powers said it's unlikely Fortenberry would only get probation.

'I don't see how he stays out of prison,' said Powers, a former Nebraska Democratic Party chairman.

Felons are eligible to run for and serve in Congress, but the vast majority choose to resign under threat of expulsion. Congressional rules also bar members from voting on legislation after a felony conviction unless their constituents reelect them.

It was the first trial of a sitting congressman since Rep. Jim Traficant, a Democrat from Ohio, was convicted of bribery and other felony charges in 2002.

Fortenberry's indictment in October drew a serious Republican primary challenge from state Sen. Mike Flood, a former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature who has since won the endorsements of Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman.

The winner of the GOP primary is likely to face state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, a Democrat from Lincoln, but Nebraska's 1st Congressional District is heavily Republican and hasn't been competitive in decades.

On Friday, Pansing Brooks said Fortenberry's conviction was a 'wake-up call' that the district needs a change and called for an overhaul of campaign finance laws to increase transparency.

'We cannot allow a return to business as usual as this dust settles,' Pansing Brooks said, adding that Nebraska is likely 'to be the brunt of some jokes' because of Fortenberry's conviction.

Fortenberry, 61, did not testify at trial but his lawyers argued that he wasn't aware of the contribution and that agents directed an informant to feed him the information in a 10-minute call to set him up.

Jenkins, the federal prosecutor, said there was ample recorded evidence in the case and the jury's swift verdict vindicated the prosecution's efforts.

'Our view is that it was a simple story,' Jenkins said. 'A politician caught up in the cycle of money and power. And like I said, he lost his way.'

Jenkins said the verdict should serve as a reminder to lawmakers that foreign influence and violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act are taken seriously.

'I did not lie to them. I told them what I knew,' said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who announced in a YouTube video last October how he expected to be indicted. He has now resigned

'Lawmakers should follow the law,' Jenkins said. 'If we want to expect anyone to follow the law ultimately it starts with the lawmakers, and I think that's even more paramount when the investigation itself goes to election integrity.'

Jenkins said the probe known as Operation Titan's Grip was still ongoing.

Jenkins was asked if Fortenberry would have ended up being prosecuted if he had disclosed and returned the money sooner, as other politicians did when they learned of the donations.

He said that was hard to say but that Fortenberrys 'inaction' was evidence of a 'scheme to conceal.'

Other lawmakers who had received money from the group included Republican Senator Mitt Romney, of Utah; Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, of California; and former Republican Rep. Terry Lee, who served in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District.
As Russias barrage of bombs, missiles and shells lays waste to Mariupol, fearful families cowering in the citys cellars try to work out when a momentary lull might allow them to dash to any flats still standing to grab food or fresh clothes.

But when the mother of a nine-year-old boy called Vlad returned briefly to her home, she lost this highest-stakes gamble  and was killed instantly as their apartment was hit by a shell.

Her body was found by her own distraught mother who was with grandson Vlad and the terrified pair became trapped under the Kremlins bombardment in the southern Ukraine city that has symbolised the horrors of this cruel war.

Kristina Khoroshilova, a 30-year-old mother of two, had assisted more than 100 people out of the basements and into safety following Russian bombardment. We just helped as many people as we could, she said. I wanted to show that people should not be afraid

Vladimir Putin's forces have deliberately targeted civilian buildings as part of their invasion of Ukraine prompting remarkable acts bravery from civilians

Their situation seemed hopeless. A boy, his granny and her small dog stuck in an apocalyptic urban wasteland. But they did not know Vlads aunt, a prominent beauty blogger and model, was using social media to beg for help to rescue them.

And their plight had been noticed by a woman who escaped the horrors herself and was running a remarkable rescue operation to save others.

Kristina Khoroshilova, a 30-year-old mother of two, had assisted more than 100 people out of the basements and into safety. We just helped as many people as we could, she said. I wanted to show that people should not be afraid.

She worked with her husband Alexander, 36, and another couple  although the man went missing on a rescue mission last week, leaving his pregnant wife scared that he has been detained by Russians or killed.

After driving out of the city, these four friends vowed to help others flee.

This followed the nightmare of seeing their city pulverised for 20 days, sheltering in a basement with 100 others, cooking food outside on open fires and melting snow for drinking.

It has been reported that 300 people may have been slaughtered when the ports theatre where they were sheltering was targeted, even though the word children had been written in Russian on the ground outside.

It was horrible watching so many lives being shattered, watching everything we cherished being destroyed. It was devastating to see children hurt and losing their parents, said Kristina.

So, based in a holiday house in Yurievka, a village 15 miles from Mariupol under Russian occupation, they co-ordinated a small team of men to go back into the city, dodge the explosions and pull people from the battered basements.

Typical was Yuriy, 50, a former taxi-driver who made up to four trips a day despite enduring three days in Russian detention. Please, dont portray me as a sort of hero or something, he said. Im just doing what I can.

But it is hard not to see such efforts as heroic when he tells of Vlads rescue. He says he drove through street-fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, passing tanks and troops along roads filled with bomb holes, shrapnel and shattered glass.

Mariuopol has been destroyed by the constant bombardment from Russian troops

Having finally found the boy and his grandmother after a five-day search by the team, Yuriy had just put them in his car when he ploughed into an armoured personal carrier blazing away at a building.

I drove back really quickly, ducked into a yard and we all ran into the basement where we spent the night as the fighting continued.

The next morning, Yuriy attached a white flag to his car and drove out, cramming everyone into his car, including the Chihuahua dog,.

The roads are covered with glass and pieces of shrapnel and I was afraid I would get a puncture. The whole city is destroyed. There are dead bodies on the side of the road. And there is fighting everywhere.

His bravery and skills succeeded.

Ive never seen people so emotional, said Yuriy. When I brought the boy and his granny out, they were all crying and hugging. Yet this was just one couple saved among many by the mercy missions run by Kristina, who fled her birthplace of Donetsk in 2014 with her husband after Russia stirred up the separatist insurgencies that led to conflict in the Donbas.

Thousands of people have fled the city which is being surrounded by Russian troops

We lost our jobs, our apartment and started life from scratch again. Now we must experience this again, she said.

Before the war, she developed restaurants in shopping malls.

Initially, she assumed the invasion might be on a similar scale to 2014  until the shelling shifted rapidly to the centre of Mariupol and she was suddenly unable to leave.

Her familys sturdy Soviet-era block had big basements, which soon filled with families  including 25 children. We tried to protect them from the horrors outside, as what we were going through was hard to comprehend even for adults, said Kristina.

After other families left the city, the couple decided to risk joining a convoy of cars driving out.

Kristina says they wanted to get the message back to Mariupol that it was possible to escape the city. So the men decided to head back to spread the message while Kristina used social media to tell stories of those helped out. She was soon flooded with thousands of messages from people who wanted help to find friends and relatives.

Two days after their departure, the parking area at their residential block in Mariupol was destroyed by shelling, a missile struck the home above their own, a nearby nine-storey block of flats was in flames and the yard where they had been cooking food was repeatedly targeted. It feels like we escaped on the last train out, said Kristina.

For a week they stayed at the holiday home in Russian-occupied terrain to help others escape. At first, it was just her husband and the other man who joined them, then three others teamed up.

They dodged Russian troops, sent spare drivers to help those who could not drive and towed cars without fuel through burning and shattered streets. We helped as many people as we could  we were able to take out more than 100 people.

Last Tuesday, their friend was detained in his ancient Zhiguli car, which they were using in Mariupol. We still dont know what has happened with him. It is a sad story that car helped many people to escape.

Meanwhile, Kristina was getting many messages about the plight of the boy who had lost his mother.

The rescue team tried repeatedly to find Vlad before Kristina was able to call his aunt with the happy news that the child was safe.

It was such an emotional moment  everyone was crying.

The next day, Kristina and her family escaped again from Russian-held terrain, back into land under Ukrainian control where they are staying with friends in Dnipro.

We do not plan to go back to Mariupol, she said firmly.

Additional reporting: Kate Baklitskaya
Every day brings new despair in Severodonetsk, a town close to the Russian border in a distant pocket of eastern Ukraine. Beyond the reach of international media, its daily horrors go largely unrecorded.

Little remains untouched: apartment blocks, schools, churches and warehouses  all reduced to rubble. When the towns orphanage for babies and under-fives was shelled, its supporters  who had followed its progress in happier times on social media  posted anxious messages: What happened to the children?

They were reassured by staff that all 40 had escaped unharmed and, after travelling hundreds of miles, were being cared for at another orphanage in Lviv in western Ukraine by a guardian angel  Dr Halyna Kachanovska.

Dr Halyna Kachanovska, pictured, has begun caring for 40 orphans who managed to escape from Severodonetsk, a town close to the Russian border

The Mail on Sunday found Dr Kachanovska last week supervising the arrival of donated goods. She projects a mixture of benevolence and calm authority and doesnt suffer fools. No, not down there, put them over here in the corner, she says as we help carry towers of disposable nappies into the main entrance.

Commanding and cajoling, she soon has half a dozen men organised into a streamlined unloading and packing team. Thats better, she says. See, more efficient. But keep the noise down, some of the children are sleeping.

Half an hour later she leads us down a long corridor. On one side runs a wall painted with cartoons, above wooden cots and high chairs and bags of toys; on the other, rows of sandbags protect high windows. Lviv has been markedly more tense of late and Dr Kachanovska isnt taking any chances, not with her precious charges.

Outside one room stands a straight line of toddler-size boots, all facing the wall. If it wasnt obvious before, it is now. Dr Kachanovska is a stickler for discipline. As she glides around her domain, arms clasped behind her back, she appears out of step with modern times, like a character  a hospital matron perhaps  from a black and white 1950s British film.

The arrival of the tots from Severodonetsk doubled the number of children under her care. Almost all need specialist attention for long-term medical conditions. She is devoted to her work and wishes there were more hours in the day. Leaving her home outside the city at first light each day, she arrives at her desk two buses and 90 minutes later. Some nights she wants to work late but must be home before the 10pm curfew.

We are directed to a kitchen area. All the children are divided into groups. Here you will find the ones aged between one year and 18 months, she says.

Dr Kachanovska, is the director of the orphanage in Lviv which has been caring from children who have fled from the war to the relative safety of eastern Ukraine

It is lunchtime and the younger children sit in high chairs, while others are grouped around a wooden table. In all there are eight children and four nurses. In any similar-aged group of children this gathering would be a noisy affair, but what is striking  and unutterably sad  is the silence, broken only by one or two whimpering staccato cries over a period of nearly five minutes.

Some of the children were born with different forms of brain damage, explains Dr Kachanovska.

In another room, its walls decorated with pandas and bears, a toddler in a fawn polo-neck jumper stands as if guarding the doorway. He is tearful and puts his fingers in his mouth. Dr Kachanovska bends down to console and kiss him. Another boy, wearing a top proclaiming Dont Let the Bed Bugs Bite, is slumped against a cot, his hand clinging to one of the bars.

Walking back to her office, Dr Kachanovska says the new arrivals have generally adapted well despite their abrupt displacement. The hardest thing for all the children is being woken by nurses when the air-raid siren sounds and being taken to the basement in the middle of the night. It is distressing for everyone. The children do not understand.

To her staff, among them doctors, psychologists, nurses and babysitters, Dr Kachanovska is known as The Boss. She scoffs at the idea that she is some kind of heroine. We are a team, she says. Everyone here plays their part.

Nevertheless, she is held in awed reverence. In comical fashion, one porter removes his cap and bows his head every time she passes.

Scrolling through her iPhone, she shows us hundreds of photos taken before the war: children playing outside; visits from local dignitaries; a boy, now grown up, returning to the orphanage in 2019; children opening their presents from Father Christmas last year. Look, we hide the presents under their pillows, she says, beaming, oblivious to the pictures throat-catching impact.

Finally we say our goodbyes and The Boss resumes her rounds, striding down a corridor and saying over her shoulder: Dont worry about us, we will be fine!
A new row erupted between Home Secretary Priti Patel and London Mayor Sadiq Khan last night after she commissioned a formal inquiry into his handling of the resignation of Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick.

Dame Cressida stood down in controversial circumstances in February after the mayor told her he had lost faith in her in the wake of a report that found evidence of bullying, racism, misogyny and homophobia among her officers.

Ms Patel said she had been 'blindsided' by Mr Khan's intervention.

Although she also had reservations about Dame Cressida's performance, the Home Secretary was furious at being excluded from the discussions about her future.

Last night, a Whitehall source told The Mail on Sunday the review into the mayor's 'shambolic sacking' would be headed by Sir Tom Winsor, the outgoing chief inspector of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services whose term ends this week.

The source said: 'No matter what you think of Cressida, Sadiq failed to act with an ounce of professionalism in her removal, so it's right that we look at what happened  if the proper process was followed and how we can strengthen accountability of chief constables and police and crime commissioners in the future'.

Priti Patel (pictured) has bemoaned the dearth of quality candidates to lead the country's biggest police force, which she partly attributes to a toxic 'Line of Duty' culture

But City Hall hit back, with a source telling this newspaper: 'It's absolutely bizarre that the Home Secretary has decided to waste taxpayers' money on a politically motivated inquiry to defend the Met Commissioner.

'This is a cynical and childish move from a Home Secretary that is more interested in petty politics than in doing her job of keeping the public safe and fixing her refugee scheme for families fleeing Ukraine.'

The source insisted there was not a process for Sir Tim to investigate because Dame Cressida had chosen to resign rather than attend a meeting with the mayor to discuss a plan to address police failings.

With no obvious candidate to succeed her at Scotland Yard, Dame Cressida has remained in her post until a replacement can be found.

Ms Patel has bemoaned the dearth of quality candidates to lead the country's biggest police force, which she partly attributes to a toxic 'Line of Duty' culture in which senior officers 'all seem to have known each other for about 30 years since they were at training college together'.

Mr Khan has insisted that he and the Home Secretary are in 'very close contact' to make sure they appoint 'the right person for the job', because it is 'really important' that the next commissioner 'understands the need for an urgent plan to address the deep cultural issues that have led to a situation where a number of police officers are engaged in language that is overtly racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic and the like'.

Mr Khan has denied that he had issued Dame Cressida with an ultimatum to fire the officers identified  or face the sack herself.

In the immediate aftermath of the row, an ally of Ms Patel said there had been discussion about whether Mr Khan could be shut out of selecting the next commissioner, adding: 'It could be done. Discussions have taken place about that because he is so useless.

Sadiq Khan (pictured) has insisted that he and the Home Secretary are in 'very close contact' to make sure they appoint 'the right person for the job'

'We could just leave him there as a functionary. There are already blurred lines in there.

'Technically Priti recommends to the Queen who will be the next commissioner.

'She will discuss that with Sadiq but the question that has been a bone of contention is who does the interviewing and decision-making.

'Priti will say someone has got to come in from outside because of the culture of the organisation'.

The ally added that while, under the rules, Ms Patel must have 'due regard' for the views of the mayor, she would make the final decision on who will replace Dame Cressida.

Ms Patel and Mr Khan are also going head to head with their own media drives to target perpetrators of misogynistic violence, after last year's abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer as she walked home in south London.

Sir Tom, who has served as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary since 2012, spent five years as the Rail Regulator from 1999, when he oversaw the collapse of Railtrack.
The National Crime Agency's director of investigations has been suspended from duty over allegations of misconduct.

Nikki Holland is one of the UK's most senior crime fighters  leading high-profile investigations, armed operations and liaising with the international Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

She and a more junior officer have been suspended pending an investigation over claims of bullying, misuse of public funds and data breaches.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said that following a referral by the NCA, the ICPO is investigating 'allegations relating to the conduct of a senior NCA officer and another officer with the Agency'.

The Mail on Sunday understands the senior officer is Nikki Holland.

Nikki Holland (pictured) is one of the UK's most senior crime fighters  leading high-profile investigations, armed operations and liaising with the international Five Eyes intelligence alliance

She joined Merseyside Police as a constable in 1988 and rose to become assistant chief constable of the force.

She moved to the NCA as director of investigations in 2017, under its then director general, Dame Lynne Owens, who is a leading candidate to be the next Metropolitan Police commissioner.

In 2019, Ms Holland was awarded the Queen's Police Medal.
Imagine if we were in the old Second World War airfield called Silverstone two days before the British Grand Prix was due to take place, and a few miles down the road the latest in a series of explosions had gone off.

How close, one wonders, would a series of missiles have needed to reach before serious consideration was given to cancel the whole thing? Not least if there was a suspicion the event itself was part of a plan to heighten awareness of the bombers' cause?

To Milton Keynes' Centre:mk shopping mall? Or the Bull Inn at Stony Stratford? Or the service station on the A43? Especially if the pounding had turned the area into a war zone twice in a week?

In Jeddah on Friday, it was announced a giant billow of smoke was hanging as a real and figurative cloud over Formula One's second visit to this controversial kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Yemeni rebels launched a missile attack on an Aramco oil depot 12 miles from the F1 circuit

Red Bull's Max Verstappen (second right) thought his car was on fire due to the acrid smoke

What if there were no guarantees that those inside Silverstone would be safe from attack?

Well, at 5.45pm in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Friday, a journalist came into the press room to report that a giant, and as it transpired long-lived, billow of smoke was hanging as a real and figurative cloud over F1's second visit to this controversial kingdom.

The blaze was 12 miles away but close enough for Max Verstappen to radio his Red Bull team and ask if his car was on fire. It was not. It was the strike on one of Saudi's Aramco facilities, with the Houthi rebel group, which controls a significant part of northern Yemeni territory, accepting responsibility.

This is regular around here: a cruise missile strike was perpetrated against the same fuel depot, the North Jeddah Bulk Plant, on Sunday.

No wonder the UK Government issues this advice to Her Majesty's subjects: 'Terrorists are very likely to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia. Attacks can be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners... You should be vigilant and follow the advice of local authorities. See Terrorism.'

Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton has previously said the sport should not be in Saudi Arabia

It should be pointed out that Stefano Domenicali, Formula One's chief executive, is a decent man, and we do not know the exact briefings he is receiving from the local authorities. We have to believe he is reassured enough by the intelligence he hears to let 20 young men race as part of a 1500-strong F1 contingent tomorrow.

But it was hardly reassuring that he, at first, trotted across the paddock with barely a word of explanation to journalists last night.

As he ran, he shrugged his shoulders and said: 'We feel safe.' A few words in Italian to a Danish TV crew and that was it. It was a lack of judgment that hardly rose to the summit of the occasion.

But, worry not, there was still time to talk sidepods at a team press conference along the paddock. All the while the acrid smoke hung in the windy air.

Domenicali was later nudged into speaking at more length but was still vague over the level of guarantee he had received that the Jeddah Corniche, where the tainted action will take place, will remain inviolate.

Of course, there is no Houthi squabble with F1 itself, and the attacks are aimed at destabilising oil prices and inconveniencing Aramco  worth $2trillion  and making them pay for repairs.

But why is F1 coming here? I believe that sport can shine a light on unreformed regimes, opening them up to scrutiny that spurs them towards reform. It takes time in complex situations and sport can never be a panacea.

But it is not too cynical to say that the principal reason the travelling circus is in Jeddah, and is due to be in the capital Riyadh for a decade or more once a purpose-built circuit is built there, is the lure of the 50million a year the Saudis pay F1 to stage the race, one of the biggest deals in the motor racing history.

That is why the show must go on. It is perhaps why Domenicali is a little guarded, a little unwilling to be as forthcoming with his explanations as he might be.

Nor, in this instance, can he point to the sport really helping liberalise the country. On Friday, human rights group Reprieve claimed a further 16 people have been killed in the country since the mass execution of 81 men on March 12 and projected that up to 500 may suffer the same fate this year.

These concerns are felt in the paddock by several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton. Last year, he said: 'Do I feel comfortable here? I wouldn't say I do.'

On Friday, before all the post-practice media sessions were mysteriously cancelled, he added: 'My position is still the same as last year. I have heard there is a letter that has been sent to me from a 14-year-old who is on death row here. At 14, you don't know what the hell you are doing in life.

'We drivers don't decide where we go to race, but we are duty bound to try and do what we can. But ultimately, it is the responsibility of those who are in power to really make the changes and we are not seeing enough.'

We should not be naive. One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. It is just that it felt last night that F1 was being too glib, too complacent, too blind, too deaf.

Or as Hamilton observed when the Australian Grand Prix of 2020 was in the balance through the onset of Covid: 'Cash is King.'
Booking a holiday can become something of a routine. But as travel has changed so much in the past couple of years, perhaps its time to make some alterations of our own.

Looking beyond the usual airlines, such as EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2 and TUI, can open up a world of new destinations  and at low prices, too.

Wizz Air is leading the charge, but there are plenty of other options. So here is our guide to trying something new, and perhaps making a saving at the same time...

Looking beyond the usual airlines can open up a world of new destinations  and at low prices, too

WIZZ AIR

This Hungarian airline was founded in 2003 and is looking to topple Ryanair as our biggest budget airline. It launched Wizz Air UK in 2017. It flies to 140 destinations and is famed for its low fares (Athens to Abu Dhabi for 33 one-way is a recent example). From London, Vienna is 18 one-way; Krakow 14; and Malaga 21.

Other interesting routes from London include Tel Aviv, Mykonos, Antalya, Bari, Kutaisi in Georgia, Eilat in Israel and Dalaman in Turkey. Theres a loyalty scheme as well: for 25 a year you save 8 per ticket, with 4 off luggage.

EXTRAS: Wizz Go and Wizz Flex tickets add baggage and seat choice, but can be more than double the original price. Wizz Air says time of year plays a large part in how it calculates these costs. Food and drinks cost from 3 to 5.

VERDICT: The low fares are enticing, but the extra charges are steep.

VUELING

Vueling, named the best low-cost airline in Europe last year, is worth checking for trips to Spain

Based in Barcelona, Vueling is owned by the same group as BA and flies from Gatwick, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

For conventional destinations the prices arent cheap, but its good for less popular flights to Spain, such as La Coruna (24) or Santiago de Compostela (25).

There are regular sales. Recently the airline was offering tickets from 17 each way.

EXTRAS: Around 22 each way for a 20 kg bag and 9 to pre-select a seat. Hot meals from 4 to 6, soft drinks 3, alcohol 4 to 6. Hire cars from 8 a day and rooms from 16 per night.

VERDICT: Named best low-cost airline in Europe last year and worth checking for trips to Spain. There are cheap options for flights to Madrid and Barcelona.

NORWEGIAN

Norwegian offers 69 destinations from Gatwick, including flights to Copenhagen and Helsinki

AND WHAT ABOUT LONG HAUL? FINNAIR Its not technically a budget airline, but it operates flights at reasonable prices  the trade-off can be having to go via Helsinki. It offers unlimited free travel-date changes until May 31. Prices for long-haul routes are from 342 return for New York. For Bangkok its 360, Phuket 431, Hong Kong 361, Seoul from 468, Singapore 413, LA from 329, Osaka 648, Seattle 426, Cancun 447 and Chicago 369. The airline often makes a splash by launching a new business-class seat or similar. Flights can be operated by other airlines, but fares remain low. JETBLUE Flights from Heathrow and Gatwick to JFK cost from 348 return  these are the only routes in operation now. Everything goes through New York and the airline services only the U.S. and Puerto Rico. But its one to watch. It offers a 20 per cent discount on Heathrow Express tickets, and often runs other deals. It also has a loyalty plan, which is unusual for a budget airline. Advertisement

For a time, Norwegian looked set to change the world of travel by offering extensive long-haul budget options. However, in 2021 the airline was forced to reduce its fleet and close long-haul operations.

Theres a helpful low-fares calendar to find the cheapest flights. It offers 69 destinations from Gatwick  reasonably priced options include Bergen (40), Copenhagen (31), Helsinki (31) and Oslo (31), all one-way.

EXTRAS: LowFare+ (rates vary from 25 to 45) includes checked luggage of up to 23 kg and a seat reservation. Meal deals 10 to 14, alcohol 5 to 7, sandwiches 6.

VERDICT: Norwegian is not the force it was, but the extras packages seem reasonable (although food is expensive) and there are plenty of options on Scandinavian routes.

PLAY AIR

Founded in 2019, this is the newest airline on the list.

It will be based out of Prague, Ireland, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Barcelona, Gothenburg, Majorca, Malaga, Alicante, Lisbon, Salzburg, Bologna, Brussels, Boston, New York and Washington DC.

Flights to DC will start on April 20, Dublin April 28, Boston May 11, Gothenburg May 20, Brussels May 24 and Bologna June 7.

Current bookable destinations from Stansted are Baltimore, Washington DC, Boston, New York, Orlando and Reykjavik.

EXTRAS: Checked baggage from 23 for 20 kg and seats from 3 to 29.

Meal deals 11, alcohol 7, sandwiches 8, snacks 3 to 5.

VERDICT: One to watch, but fares seem promising (Stansted to New York from 320 return).

EUROWINGS

Eurowings flies from plenty of UK airports, including Heathrow, Bristol and Edinburgh

This German airline flies from Heathrow, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Liverpool, London City, Manchester, Newcastle and Newquay. It has partnered with booking.com to offer accommodation. Until April 7, you can request that the middle seat remains unoccupied for free.

A one-way journey to Hamburg is from 30, Prague from 33, Amsterdam 25, Munich 33 and Dresden 33. Northern European routes seem to be cheapest.

EXTRAS: Cabin bag included, but for a 23 kg checked bag it costs 14 each way, plus 4 to 11 for extra legroom. Meal deals are 6 to 7, sandwiches 5, alcohol 6 to 7.

VERDICT: Convenient owing to the range of airports.
She loves to show off her incredible assets when given any opportunity.

And Demi Rose certainly didn't disappoint as she sizzled in her latest Instagram post on Friday during her trip to St. Lucia.

The influencer, 26, flaunted her very peachy posterior in a sun-face printed thong bikini as she sipped on a drink from a coconut tiki mug.

Wow! Demi Rose, 26, flaunted her peachy posterior in her latest Instagram post on Friday in a sun-face printed thong bikini as she sipped on a drink from a coconut tiki mug in St. Lucia

The model looked incredible as she displayed her derriere in the sizzling snap whilst posing against a colourful wall on the stunning Island.

The Instagram sensation, who has been enjoying all the benefits of the beach, looked stunning as her long mane of curly hair tumbled down her back as her blonde face-framing highlights added to her glam look.

Demi looked radiant as she accentuated her striking features with a light dusting of makeup as she quenched her thirst.

Delighted: While her fans flocked to her post to share their adoration for the beauty, Demi also uploaded a sweet video of a bird drinking from her unique mug

Upload: Captioning her post for her 19.2 million followers she wrote: 'Cute right?'

Captioning her post for her 19.2 million followers she wrote: 'Cute right?'

While her fans flocked to her post to share their adoration for the beauty, Demi also uploaded a sweet video of a bird drinking from her unique mug.

The bombshell appeared to be loving the company as she smiled coyly at her new feathered friend.

Cute: The bombshell appeared to be loving the company as she smiled coyly at her new feathered friend

Demi's lovable clips come as she sent her fans into a frenzy once again on Thursday in her latest Instagram video.

The social media star left little to the imagination as she squeezed her eye-popping assets into a barely there copper string bikini.

She looked the picture of confidence as she modelled the skimpy ensemble with the famous operatic song Flower Duet playing in the background.

Wow: Demi sent her fans into a frenzy on her Instagram account on Thursday as she squeezed her eye-popping assets into a barely-there copper string bikini

Sensational: The model is no stranger to putting her famous curves on display

She captioned the sultry upload: 'Trying to do more videos'

Within seconds, fans flocked to share their adoration for the star with one saying: 'Such a vision.'

Another added: 'What a beauty' while a fan echoed: 'Beautiful.'

A devoted follower posted:' Te amo' - which translates to 'I love you' in Spanish.

The influencer sizzled as she posed up a storm in the revealing ensemble with matching robe and platform sandals.

Approval: Within seconds, fans flocked to share their adoration for the star with one saying: 'Such a vision'

Demi looked incredible while showcasing her jaw-dropping figure while putting her fingers through her sleek tresses.

Looking radiant as ever, the blonde beauty wore lashings of makeup while making the most of her time at the lavish resort.

Her video comes after she sent temperatures soaring in another Instagram post which she shared on Wednesday during her sun-soaked Caribbean getaway.

Pose: Demi looked incredible while showcasing her jaw-dropping figure while putting her fingers through her sleek tresses

Stunner: Looking radiant as ever, the blonde beauty wore lashings of makeup while making the most of her time at the lavish resort

The businesswoman left very little to the imagination as she went completely naked while soaking up the St. Lucia rays on a sun-lounger.

Laying on her front to protect her modesty, she displayed her pert posterior and ample cleavage, while accessorising with a wide-brimmed black hat.

In her caption, the brunette beauty teased: 'I'll send you a postcard.'

Eye-popping: Demi bared all as she went completely NAKED while soaking up the sun during her lavish St. Lucia getaway, in a Wednesday Instagram post

Yes please: In her caption, the brunette beauty teased: 'I'll send you a postcard'

Behind her, an idyllic mountain-lined backdrop filled her followers with envy, and had flawlessly applied a full face of make-up to highlight her natural beauty.

Demi certainly turned up the heat on Tuesday as she stripped down to nothing but her thong for a very risque Instagram video.

She flaunted her peachy derriere and highlighted her jaw-dropping curves as she seductively waded into a swimming pool in front of the stunning scenery.

Demi ensured she set pulses racing as she teased a glimpse of her ample assets which were just about hidden in silhouette.

Hot stuff: Demi certainly doesn't shy away from leaving little to the imagination

The Birmingham native was seen sipping on champagne before sensually bending over into the pool, giving her followers an eye-full of her peachy posterior.

She then swam forwards in the water to look at the gorgeous mountains and sea ahead, before she pulled herself out of the water and once again flaunting her figure.

The model was in her element as she played with her wet brunette locks and teased the outline of her eye-popping physique which was hidden in shadow.

Demi captured the video 'It was all a dream' with the post garnering several positive comments from her appreciative fans.
Jenelle Evans was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after suffering from chest pain.

The reality television star, 30, revealed the shocking news to her fans via her Instagram Story early Friday morning, in which she also shared that she might be suffering from an autoimmune disorder.

'Was in the hospital all day yesterday for chest pain [crying emoji],' the star wrote over a blurry picture of pink flowers.

Emergency: Jenelle Evans was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after suffering from chest pain (pictured 2019)

'Please just send prayers,' she added. 'Thanks! I'll explain later, too much to type.'

The Teen Mom 2 star expanded on her condition in another Instagram post, according to Page Six.

'New blood test results are in for me...I have 2 of the anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies: blocking and binding in my system. Usually found in myasthenia gravis,' Evans revealed.

Myasthenia gravis is 'a chronic autoimmune disorder in which antibodies destroy the communication between nerves and muscle, resulting in weakness of the skeletal muscles,' according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Announcement: The reality television star, 30, revealed the shocking news to her fans via her Instagram Story early Friday morning

More bad news? The Teen Mom 2 star (pictured with David Eason in 2019) expanded on her condition in another post where she said she may have myasthenia gravis

The disease is commonly found in women in their 20s and 30s and men after they turn 50. There is no known cure for the disorder.

While it's unclear if medical professionals are certain about the North Carolina native's diagnosis, Evans' trip to the hospital is just the latest in a string of medical issues she's had to deal with.

The mother of three was diagnosed with the chronic illness fibromyalgia, a condition that causes full-body pain, earlier this month.

At the time Evans told fans that she has been in pain ever since she 'can remember.'

Big family: Evans is the mother to 12-year-old Jace (top right), 7-year-old Kaiser (bottom right) and 5-year-old Ensley (bottom left) and is the stepmother to Eason's daughter Maryssa (top left)

Reality star: Evans gave birth to Jace just months before her 18th birthday, then began a starring role on Teen Mom 2

'My entire body gets in so much pain and sometimes I lay in bed and cry,' she said.[For] a long time, no one believed my symptoms until I got a second opinion from a new neurologist recently.'

She also said she wanted her 'kids to know that some days are good and some days are bad with fibromyalgia.'

Evans shares three children with three different partners: 7-year-old Kaiser with Nathan Griffith, 5-year-old Ensley with her current husband David Eason and 12-year-old Jace with Andrew Lewis. She's also the stepmother to Eason's daughter Maryssa.

She gave birth to Jace just months before her 18th birthday, and then began a starring role on Teen Mom 2 from which she was fired in 2019.
Teresa Giudice has been released from the hospital and is now resting in her New Jersey home following an 'emergency medical procedure,' according to Page Six.

While the Real Housewives Of New Jersey star didn't publicly comment on her condition, she did take to her Instagram Stories on Friday and post a video that was shot in her house.

The social media posting comes two days after she was admitted to a local hospital.

Scroll down to video

Health scare: Teresa Giudice, 49, is back home resting on Friday after being discharged from the hospital following an 'emergency medical procedure'; she is seen in January 2022

In the short clip, Teresa is nestled underneath a blue blanket while relaxing on the family's white couch.

She first points the camera at her oldest daughter Gia, who was laying down dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, to her left, on the spacious couch.

After a few seconds, Teresa then pans the camera phone to the right to show her 16-year-old daughter Milania, who was also laying down, adoringly using her mother's legs as a pillow.

Dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, Milania looked up for a brief second and flashed a big smile for the camera.

Family alone-time: While the Real Housewives Of New Jersey didn't publicly comment on her condition, she did take to her Instagram Stories on Friday and post a video which she shot in her house that begins with daughter Gia, 21, laying on a couch

Teresa was laying underneath a blue blanket when she panned her camera over to daughter Milania, 16, who was laying at her mother's feet

Teresa was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night and underwent the surgical procedure the following morning.

'She is in recovery, currently resting, and she thanks everyone for their prayers and well-wishes,' the reality star's representative told the publication on Thursday.

The rep went on to confirm that the surgery was 'non-cosmetic' and that she was going to be released from the hospital within 24 hours, which is exactly what happened.

Happy her mom's home: At one point, Milania looked up for a brief second and flashed a big smile for the camera

Before being discharged, Gia snapped a photo of her mother wearing a face mask while laying in a hospital bed.

'Such a trooper. I love you,' Gia captioned the image that she posted on her own Instagram Stories, before adding, 'Pray for a speedy recovery,' along with a prayer-hands emoji. 'I love you @teresagiudice.'

Despite her condition, the reality star looked like her typical self, with a fresh, makeup-free face underneath the disposable blue face mask.

Teresa - whose nickname is Tre - was covered in a white hospital blanket and a white wristband with black writing was visible in the corner of the photo frame.

'Trooper': Before being discharged, Gia snapped a photo of her mother wearing a face mask while laying in a hospital bed on Thursday

In addition to Gia and Milania, Teresa is also the proud mother of daughters Gabriella, 17, and Audriana, 12, whom she shares with her ex-husband Joe Giudice.

The former couple were married for more than 20 years when she announced they had separated in December 2019, following rumors of infidelity and their respective prison convictions.

After finalizing their divorce in 2020, Teresa started dating Luis Ruelas, and the new couple have since gotten engaged this past October.

Resting up: The reality star thanks everyone for their prayers and well-wishes,' a representative for the personality told Page Six

Her girls: The RHONJ shares four daughters - Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana with her ex-husband Joe Giudice, whom she divorced in 2020

While appearing on Andy Cohen's late night talk show Watch What Happens Live last week, Teresa revealed that she did not ask her sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga, to stand by her side when she says 'I do' later this summer during a big wedding celebration.

When asked 'How many bridesmaids will you have?' the longtime Bravo star replied, 'Eight bridesmaids.'

'Any of the housewives and your castmates?' was a follow-up question, which she sternly responded 'No.'

Upon hearing that she wouldn't be a bridesmaid Melissa later said she wishes her sister-in-law 'nothing but happiness.'
Channing Tatum and his Magic Mike 3 co-star Thandie Newton were pictured embracing one another on set in London on Friday.

The actors, who are starring in the third instalment of the Hollywood blockbuster which has been titled Magic Mike's Last Dance took a break after a busy day of filming.

The movie stars were surrounded by masked crew members while fans also flocked to get a close up glimpse of the screen icons.

Pals: Channing Tatum and his Magic Mike 3 co-star Thandie Newton were pictured embracing one another on set in London on Friday

Channing, 41, sported a shaved head and looked dapper while in a black suit while taking some time out from filming scenes for the final chapter of the male stripper trilogy.

The Alabama-born star placed his hands in his pockets while he looked deep in conversation with his co-star Thandie, 49, who wrapped up in a padded longline fur hood coat.

The British actress, styled her brunette tresses in a large high plait as she looked in great sprits as she took a breather from filming.

Movie stars: The Alabama-born star placed his hands in his pockets while he looked deep in conversation with his co-star Thandie, 49, who wrapped up in a padded longline fur hood coat

Channing was also all smiles as he chatted to his colleague and crew and even masked up especially to sign an autograph for an adoring fan of his.

The comedy-drama feature has brought in nearly $300million worldwide with the first two films.

The original Magic Mike movie premiered in 2012 and was directed by Steven Soderbergh - who is also the director of the latest installment - and was loosely based on the experiences of Tatum, who was an 18-year-old stripper in Tampa, Florida.

Co-stars: Channing and Thandie were seen for the second day in a row on set together in the English capital

Big hair: The British actress, styled her brunette tresses in a large high plait as she looked in great sprits as she took a breather from filming

Cool guy: Channing was also all smiles as he chatted to his colleague and crew and even masked up especially to sign an autograph for an adoring fan of his

Humble: Channing went out of his way to greet and meet awaiting fans

The film starred Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey, and revolved around Adam, a 19-year-old who was suddenly immersed in the world of male stripping.

Magic Mike's sequel, by the title of Magic Mike XXL, was directed by Gregory Jacobs, and released in 2015.

Channing recently revealed that he almost passed on the opportunity to participate in the third movie due to the rigorous physical requirements involved.

Big budget film: The movie stars were surrounded by masked crew members while fans also flocked to get a close up glimpse of the screen icons

While appearing on the Kelly Clarkson Show the father of one explained that he didnt want to do a third film because he felt that his body wasnt in the right shape.

'That might be the reason why I didn't want to do a third one,' he told Clarkson as she showed a shirtless photo of him from the second film. 'Because I have to look like that.'

'It's hard to look like that. Even if you do work out, to be that kind of in shape is not natural,' he said.

Break: Channing and Tatum chat on set during some down time

'You have to starve yourself,' he went on. 'I dont think when youre that lean, its actually healthy for you,' he admitted.

He also praised those with regular jobs who are able to commit to staying that fit.

'I don't know how people who work a 9 to 5 actually stay in shape because it's my full-time job, and I can barely do it,' he said.

The actor revealed that he worked out twice a day and ate 'completely right' in order to prepare for the role.

Suave: Channing, 41, sported a shaved head and looked dapper while in a black suit while taking some time out from filming scenes for the final chapter of the male stripper trilogy

He was also dismayed by the fact that his fitness results take long to attain but can disappear in just days.

'Why  when it takes like, I don't know, two months to get really lean  in three days, you can lose it? It's gone. I was like, "What happened?"' he said.

Tatum confirmed that he would reprise his role for Magic Mike's Last Dance in November on 2021.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE he expressed that he wants the film to be like ' the Super Bowl of stripping.'

'I want dancing like we've never been able to do in the other two movies, because we had to be honest to what the reality of that world is, which isn't great dancing.'

He also spoke about the importance on the movie having a lead female character.

'I want to have an equal, if not even more centralized female character for Mike to really play off of and almost to... I don't want to say, [to have her] take the baton, but really let the movie be about a female's experience and not Mike's experience, because it has been so much about Mike and the guys' experiences. These movies are very, very female-forward. At least that is our intention.

The film is set to premiere exclusively on HBO Max. The release date has not yet been announced.
A handful of stars flocked down to the harbour on Thursday to attend a lavish seaplane event for Prime Video's Luxe Listings Sydney.

Held at Sydney's Empire Lounge in Rose Bay, the likes of Kate Waterhouse, Nadia Fairfax, Jules Robinson and Bachelor stars Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston stepped out to celebrate the upcoming second season of the hit show.

The guests enjoyed an intimate lunch, before heading off on a Luxe Listings Sydney Highlights flight in conjunction with Sydney Seaplanes.

High-flyers! Kate Waterhouse cut a stylish figure on Thursday in a blue coat as she joined the likes of Nadia Fairfax, Jules Robinson, Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston at the Luxe Listings Sydney seaplane event

The stars took a tour of Sydney's most exclusive properties from the air, which is also available for customers and fans of the show to enjoy over coming weeks.

Racing royalty Kate, 38, looked stylish in a light blue trench coat, which she teamed with white trousers and a singlet and heels.

Her good friend Nadia Fairfax rocked a beige suit and black sandals.

Dressed up: Racing royalty Kate, 38, looked stylish in a light blue trench coat, which she teamed with white trousers and a singlet and heels. Her good friend Nadia Fairfax rocked a beige suit and black sandals

Date day: Also in attendance was Jules Robinson and her husband Cameron Merchant

Lady in red! Jules stunning in a flowing red and blue floral dress

Also in attendance was Jules Robinson and her husband Cameron Merchant, with Jules stunning in a flowing red and blue floral dress.

Bachelor stars Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston also stepped out at the event, with Holly turning heads in a white trouser suit.

Love Island Australia star Amelia Marni showed off her incredible figure in a skintight grey minidress, which she teamed with knee-high black boots.

Stepping out: Bachelor stars Jimmy Nicholson and Holly Kingston also stepped out at the event

Chic: Holly turned heads in a white trouser suit and a pink bag with tottering heels

Hot to trot: Love Island Australia star Amelia Marni showed off her incredible figure in a skintight grey minidress, which she teamed with knee-high black boots

Also paying a visit to guests on the day were Luxe Listings Sydney stars and real estate agents D'Leanne Lewis, Gavin Rubinstein, Simon Cohen and newcomer Monika Tu.

She is the founder and director of the Black Diamondz Group - helping getting global buyers into the Australian property market.

In December last year, Simon, D'Leanne and Gavin told Daily Mail Australia that their busy schedules made filming the second season of the real estate show challenging.

Cast: Also paying a visit to guests on the day were Luxe Listings Sydney stars and real estate agents D'Leanne Lewis, Gavin Rubinstein, Simon Cohen and newcomer Monika Tu

'It's been a challenge because we've obviously all got very busy careers, so just the balance of it has been interesting,' Gavin, 32, revealed.

'I think we've all learned a lot from it. It's been overall a phenomenal experience, and exciting.'

D'Leanne, 36, admitted that the trio were blown away by the unexpected success of the series.

'I think people love to see Sydney in all her glory,' added the statuesque brunette.

When asked what fans can expect from the new season, buying agent Simon teased: 'There will be a lot of twists, turns, beautiful houses and there is not much more I can say except stay tuned and tell us what you think'.

The new season of Luxe Listings Sydney will premiere on Prime Video on April 1.
Carl Woods has appeared to remove photos of fiance Katie Price from his Instagram account after returning from a sun-soaked trip to Thailand together.

According to the Sun, Carl, 33, has been taking down photos with the model, 43, with fans suggesting that he has removed up to 10 images of the model.

It comes after Carl appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour'.

Deleted? Carl Woods has appeared to remove photos of fiance Katie Price from his Instagram account after returning from a sun-soaked trip to Thailand together

A fan told the publication: 'I was confused - earlier this week he had around 13 pics of Katie on his feed, from holiday photos to fun ones where he was joking around with her. Now there are just three.'

The most recent picture which features Katie on Carl's Instagram was posted on January 19 following a trip to London resturant Amazonico.

MailOnline have reached out to representatives for Katie and Carl for comment.

Despite seemingly deleting traces of Katie from his social media, the male model was seen arriving at court hand-in-hand with Katie after the pair recently returned from their holiday.

Former glamour model Katie, wearing a sun visor, and Carl, dressed in a black T-shirt and sunglasses, were seen chatting to two police officers before heading inside.

Jokey: According to the Sun , Carl, 33, has been taking down photos with the model, 43, with fans suggesting that he has removed up to 10 images of the mode

Support: The male model was seen arriving at court hand-in-hand with Katie after the pair recently returned from a holiday to Thailand

Carl appeared in court on Wednesday to deny using 'threatening words and behaviour' following a row at his Essex home.

He had been charged under Section 4 of the Public Order Act following an incident at his home in Little Canfield, Essex last year.

Colchester Magistrates' Court was told the charge followed a row that spilled over into the street, disturbing neighbours.

Charges: The court case is expected to bring to an end long-running and denied claims of Woods' 'threatening and abusive behaviour' Pictured: Katie wearing a visor shield

Romance: Carl, who is engaged to the reality star, was arrested after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021

At one stage Carl was seen trying to force open a door, the court heard.

Carl, who is engaged to the reality star, was arrested after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021.

She sat in the public gallery and watched her fiancee during the short session, with Carl smiling towards her from behind the re-enforced glass of courtroom four.

He spoke just to confirm his date of birth and address before answering 'not guilty' when asked to enter a plea to the public order charge.
A trial judge in New York dismissed a defamation case against Cardi B and her sister Hennessy, in connection with a heated altercation near the beach in The Hamptons in 2020.

The chart-topping rapper and her sister were sued for defamation and assault and battery by three fellow beachgoers, one of which was wearing a MAGA hat, who claimed Hennessy called them 'racist, MAGA supporters,' according to TMZ.

According to the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs believed the term 'racist' was defamatory.

Win-win! A New York trial judge just dismissed the defamation case against Cardi B, 29, and her younger sister Hennessy, 26, which was in connection to a confrontation at the beach in The Hamptons in September 2020

And while Cardi (born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar Cephus), 29, was not with her sister that afternoon, she did tweet out a video of the altercation, and claimed Hennessy and her friends were being targeted because they're Afro-Hispanic and gay.

The clip showed two men and a woman arguing with Hennessy and her gal pals over her parked vehicle at Smith Point Beach.

'Nooooo that big pink man was harassing my sister girlfriend to move her car for no reason and then my sister came there had a back and forth and they stood quit when she Wip that phone out,' Cardi, 29, wrote in a tweet from September 6, 2020.

'They was harassing 2 Women ! Ya going to catch the right f**kin one !'

Going to court: Three beachgoers accused Hennessy and her friends were ued for defamation and assault and battery by three fellow beachgoers, one of which was wearing a MAGA hat, who claimed Hennessy called them 'racist, MAGA supporters,' according to TMZ

'They was harassing two women': Cardi defended her sister and claimed she was being harassed by two men in a tweet posted on September 6, 2020

There were plenty of expletive insults exchanged during the loud confrontation.

Along with their claim of defamation, the three other beachgoers maintained Hennessy (born Hennessy Carolina Almanzar), 26, spit on one of them and engaged in insulting and threatening habits.

But, in the end, the judge in the case ruled that these were all just general insults that did not rise to the level of defamation.

As for the spitting accusation, which was their reasoning for the assault and battery claim, the judge said there was no proof that Hennessy intended to target the plaintiffs.
Binge has announced the full cast for their new series Colin From Accounts.

Among the list of stars who will grace screens in the Australian comedy, include Offspring's Patrick Brammall, who plays Gordan.

Love Child's Harriet Dyer, will also appear on the series as Ashley.

Stellar cast: Earlier this week, Binge has announced the cast for their new series Colin From Accounts. Among the list of stars who will grace screens in the Australian comedy, include Patrick Brammall, Harriet Dyer and Tai Hara

Meanwhile, former Home and Away heartthrob Tai Hara also joins the stellar cast.

Other notable castmates include Helen Thomson, Emma Harvie, Genevieve Hegney, and Michael Logo.

Colin From Accounts will run over eight episodes and the plot is expected to showcase the lives of Ashley and Gordon, two complex individuals who are brought together following a fateful car accident and an injured dog.

Storyline: Colin From Accounts will run over eight episodes and the plot is expected to showcase the lives of Ashley and Gordon, two complex individuals who are brought together following a fateful car accident and an injured dog

'Colin From Accounts is about flawed, funny people choosing each other and being brave enough to show their true self, scars and all, as they navigate life together,' an official synopsis of the series reads.

While the cast is sure to bring the acting talent on-screen, behind the camera, Brammall and Dyer will double up as executive producers alongside Trent O'Donnell.

According to the show's official Instagram account, filming in Sydney commenced earlier this month.

'The team has assembled a stellar mix of local talent led by Patrick and Harriet, that will bring this story, packed with humour and plenty of heart, to life,' Binge Executive Director, Alison Hurbert-Burns, said in a statement.

Show time! According to the show's official Instagram account, filming in Sydney commenced earlier this month. Colin From Accounts will be available to stream on Binge later this year

'We have had so much fun shooting this new original, Colin from Accounts, across Sydney suburbs including Marrickville, Leichhardt and Redfern and can't wait to bring it to Binge viewers later this year.'

Off-screen, Dyer and Brammall have been married since April 2021 and welcomed their daughter baby via adoption in September.

Colin From Accounts will be available to stream on Binge later this year.
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS) revealed its decision to ban all Russian programs from its competition on Friday.

A month after Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the International Academy announced any TV series 'produced by and/or co-produced with Russia-based companies' will not be considered.

'In support of Ukraine, the executive committee of the International Academy has decided to bar all programs from Russia from this year's International Emmy Awards competition,' the International Academy said in a statement, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

In support of Ukraine: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS) revealed its decision to ban all Russian programs from its competition on Friday

Ultimately 'all programs originally made for a Russian-owned channel, network, or streaming platform' that have already been submitted will be withdrawn.

Earlier this month, the National Academy of Television Arts and Science also announced that all Kremlin-backed series were disqualified due to Putin's lawless invasion of Ukraine and stated they will not do 'business with any Russian entities,' according to THR.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), which hosts the annual award show, said it had been 'appalled' by the war in the former Soviet republic and could not 'in good conscience' do business with those funded by the Russian state.

Out of the question: A month after Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the International Academy announced they've any film or TV series 'produced by and/or co-produced with Russia-based companies' will not be considered

No government connection: Earlier this month, the National Academy of Television Arts and Science also announced that all Kremlin-backed disqualified due to Putin's lawless invasion of Ukraine

In a statement, chairman Terry O'Reilly declared: 'Like countless individuals and organizations worldwide, NATAS has been appalled by Russia's unprecedented and unprovoked attack on the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

'As creators who depend on robust freedoms to shed light on stories which elucidate and impact the world around us, our members feel a deep kinship with and concern for the Ukrainian people whose liberties are at risk of being overtaken by these hostile actions.

'In light of this globally-condemned military campaign and the appropriate economic sanctions subsequently enacted in response, NATAS has determined that we cannot in good conscience do business with any entity associated with or funded by the government of Russia, including RT and RT America.

Taking a stand: In a statement, chairman Terry O'Reilly declared: 'Like countless individuals and organizations worldwide, NATAS has been appalled by Russia's unprecedented and unprovoked attack on the sovereign territory of Ukraine'; seen in 2019 in Pasadena

'Any entries currently submitted to the 2022 Emmy Award competitions administered by NATAS which fall under this determination have been disqualified.

'We join millions of voices around the globe in calling for a peaceful resolution to these hostile actions.'

The decision follows similar action by other major Hollywood production companies and organizations, who have paused the release of films and other business in Russia as the Kremlin faces increasing global isolation over its war in Ukraine.
Ulrika Jonsson, 54, has hit out to at TOWIE's Chloe Sims for not being honest with her daughter about her plastic surgery.

Chloe, who daughter Madison, 16, she shares with an ex-partner, has reportedly gone under the knife for boobs jobs, butt lifts as well as 'facial tweaks'.

However the 40-year-old star revealed that she tells her daughter the bruises are 'from falling down'.

Shock: Ulrika Jonsson, 54, has hit out to at TOWIE's Chloe Sims for not being honest with her daughter about her plastic surgery

Writing in The Sun Ulrika said: 'It's rejecting the principles of parenting that require us to be frank, sincere and trustworthy'.

The Swedish star admitted Chloe's lack of honesty worried her as a parent and how important it is for children to realise there isn't always a happy ending.

Mother-of-four Ulrika said that while she did not wish to come down too strongly on Madison, who has been diagnosed with ADHD (attending deficit disorder) - she does have her concerns.

'I feel deeply troubled by parents who think nothing of not telling the truth to their children'.

Under the knife: Chloe, who daughter Madison, 16, she shares with an ex-partner, has reportedly gone under the knife for boobs jobs, butt lifts as well as 'facial tweaks'. However the 40-year-old star revealed that she tells her daughter the bruises are 'from falling down'.

She continued: 'By not discussing alterations to her body, Chloe is pretending all women are blessed with near-perfect bodies. And we all know that ain't true'.

Ulrika said that she is happily open and honest with her children to the point that they sometimes storm out of the room. But says that that is their problem and not her's.

The blonde star wrote that she is prepared for her children to know how unfair the world can be and about her own flaws and weaknesses.

Honesty: Ulrika said that she is happily open and honest with her children to the point that they sometimes storm out of the room. But says that that is their problem and not her own

The former Shooting Stars team captain said she was shocked to believe that Madison hadn't learnt more about the realities of life at her age - with a mother in the public eye.

Writing that she wanted her own children to live in the real world and not a false one that she herself had created.

Ulrika went on to say that she believes a lack of honest conversation between parent and child is dangerous and sows seeds of doubt and mistrust.

When contacted by MailOnline a representative for Chloe said: 'Chloe is deeply disappointed by Ulrika's uneducated comments and misinformation on twisting fact from its original source interview in celebrating motherhood and the remarkable bond Chloe has with her daughter into a piece that bears little accuracy but bitterness in it's reflection from its author.

'For a woman that professes to support and empower other woman this is somewhat contary to the values she professes to champion.'
Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was rushed to hospital on Saturday after being struck down by pneumonia.

The Big Brother star, 43, took to Instagram to update her fans on her health woes as she moaned that she was 'so tired of getting ill' following a series of health issues.

During a posting which she announced she's signed up to Celeb MMA, the star also told fans of her illness as she wrote the post from her hospital bed.

Poorly: Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace was rushed to hospital on Saturday after being struck down by pneumonia (pictured in November)

She penned: 'I write this from hospital btw, I have mild pneumonia... not cool, I've been suffering with my health a lot lately, another reason I really want to get my physical health back up to scratch.'

She added: 'I've been running around, opening my salon, whilst going through the process of moving home & purchasing another property, I haven't stopped to take time for my health.'

The TV personality also shared a snap of her stories of her chest hooked up to monitors.

Hospital: The Big Brother star, 43, took to Instagram to update her fans on her health woes as she moaned that she was 'so tired of getting ill' following a series of health issues

She went on to further detail her illness as she then penned: 'The past 36 hours have been a blur...

'So tired of getting ill but nothing will defeat me... I will bounce back, stronger. That's a fact.

Aisleyne later revealed she'd been discharged as she shared a snap of her feet with monitor leads attached, writing: 'so happy to be home.'

Update: During a posting which she announced she's signed up to Celeb MMA, the star also told fans of her illness as she wrote the post from her hospital bed

Tough time: She went on to further detail her illness as she then penned: 'The past 36 hours have been a blur... So tired of getting ill but nothing will defeat me... I will bounce back, stronger. That's a fact'

Home: Aisleyne later revealed she'd been discharged as she shared a snap of her feet with monitor leads attached, writing: 'so happy to be home'

WHAT IS PNEUMONIA? Pneumonia is a type of chest infection that affects the tiny air sacs in the lungs. The condition causes these sacs to be become inflammed and fill with fluid, making it harder to breathe. Pneumonia is caused by bacteria or viruses, with the most common being Streptococcus pneumoniae. It affects between five and 11 out of every 1,000 adults every year in the UK. Symptoms include Coughing up mucus

Fever

Chest pain

Loss of appetite

Fatigue In severe cases, sufferers may cough up blood, vomit or have a rapid heart rate. Treatment is usually antibiotics, which may need to be given intravenously in hospital in severe cases. Source: British Lung Foundation Advertisement

Pneumonia is a type of chest infection that affects the tiny air sacs in the lungs.

It's been a difficult time for Aisleyne in terms of her health recently as just three weeks ago she found herself in A&E after getting tonsillitis.

She initially shared her concern on social media after waking up unable to talk as she shared: 'I've woken up with tonsillitis and that dangley thing at the back of throat is so swollen I can hardly swallow or talk.'

She continued: "This is the 3rd tonsillitis in 3 months. Doctors said they will call me this afternoon but I think I should go A&E???? Any advice please I'm scared.'

After getting nowhere with 111, she later fumed: 'I have NO FAITH that my doctors will call back, it was only three weeks ago I had tonsillitis and they didn't call so I ended up in A&E.

'Our health services are stretched to the steams and as a result we are all suffering.

'I should have had a proper check up the first time I got it... now we on round three as a result.'

Sharing a snap of herself at the hospital, she wrote: 'Back at A&E for the 2nd time in 3 weeks for a problem that should be fixed by my GP.

'The waiting room is full to the brim. I really feel for the NHS. But our GPs need to see us to stop the pressure on hospitals'.

Just a month previously she was once again in hospital with tonsillitis after her GP didn't call her back, with the reality star fearful she would miss her step-mother's funeral.
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Rita Wilson cut an elegant figure in a flowing silk dress as she walked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' 2022 Governors Awards red carpet in Hollywood on Friday.

The actress, 65, sported a long red gown with sleeves that draped neatly down her sides and revealed her long arms.

It extended upwards in a turtleneck that provided quite a bit of coverage. Several thin necklaces hung loosely down to the middle of her chest.

Fitting with the theme: Rita Wilson cut an elegant figure in a flowing silk dress as she walked the 2022 Governors Awards' red carpet in Hollywood on Friday

The Sleepless in Seattle star parted her blonde hair down the middle and her silky straight locks fell down past her shoulders.

While she was without her husband Tom Hanks for the ceremony, Wilson was still surrounded by a number of famous faces.

Samuel L. Jackson, who was set to receive an honorary Oscar at the event, cut a dapper figure in a black suit jacket and matching trousers over a purplish-gray button down shirt.

The Django Unchained actor wore a black bowtie and a large black medical boot as he draped his arm over his wife of more than 40 years, LaTanya Richardson.

Richardson wore a black dress to the event with sleeves that ended at her elbows and a hemline that stopped just above her ankles. She put her hair up into a tall beehive for the grand affair.

Letting her arms breathe: The actress, 65, sported a long red dress with sleeves that draped neatly down her sides and revealed her long arms

Covered up: Wilson's dress extended upward in a turtleneck, providing quite a bit of coverage

One of the night's honorees: Samuel L. Jackson, who was set to receive an honorary Oscar at the event, cut a dapper figure in a black suit jacket and matching trousers

Loving couple: Jackson draped his arm over his wife of more than 40 years LaTanya Richardson

Making her way down: Alfre Woodard of 12 Years a Slave fame glided effortlessly in a short sleeve black dress that collected in a pool down by her feet

The acclaimed actress Alfre Woodard glided effortlessly in a short sleeve black dress that collected in a pool down by her feet.

The Golden Globe winner, 69, had a plunging neckline that fell to the middle of her chest, and her hair was cut short into a bob with bangs that stopped high above her eyebrows.

She was joined on the red carpet by her husband of nearly 40 years Roderick Spencer, who wore a black suit and a gray and silver striped tie.

Everyone seemed to want to get a picture with Woodard including Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover, who received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the event.

The 75-year-old wore a traditional black suit with a white button-down shirt though he added a splash of color to the ensemble with multi-colored patchwork bowtie.

The two friends stared up into each other eyes and laughed at a private joke as they posed together.

A night of spouses: She was joined on the red carpet by her husband of nearly 40 years Roderick Spencer who wore a black suit and a gray and silver striped tie

Grabbing a picture: Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard posed for several snaps together

Happy newlyweds: Molina and his wife Jennifer Lee posed together for several snaps. The two married last year

A few snickers: The two friends stared up into each other eyes and laughed at a private joke as they stood together

Alfred Molina took to the event in a dark blue suit with a skinny black tie and a white button-down shirt.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home actor, 68, added a pair of square spectacles to his ensemble, and his salt-and-pepper facial hair was trimmed down into a thin goatee.

He was joined by his wife Jennifer Lee, whom he married last year. She wore a black dress with a plunging neckline.

Her blonde hair was parted in the middle and her curly tresses touched the top of her chest.

Just a bit of color: Glover wore a traditional black suit with a white button-down shirt while Norwegian actress Liv Ullman wore a skinny black dress

Making a statement: Her skirt fell all the way to the floor, and she had attached a small blue and yellow ribbon on her lapel in support of Ukrainian forces

Family ties: Ullman's ex-husband, and partner, Donald Saunders (left) and her grandson Halfdan Ullmann Tndel (right) each wore tuxedos to the classy event and posed with Liv

Norwegian actress Liv Ullman, who also received an honorary award at the event, wore a skinny black dress that hugged her figure tightly and had a V-shaped neckline.

The art film star, who is best known for her leading roles in several masterpieces directed by Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman, wore a that skirt fell all the way to the floor, and she had attached a small blue and yellow ribbon on her lapel in support of Ukrainian forces.

Her ex-husband  and partner  Donald Saunders and her grandson Halfdan Ullmann Tndel each wore tuxedos to the classy event and posed with Liv.

Ullman's ex-fling John Lithgow looked relaxed in a black tuxedo with a bowtie that sat slightly askew on his chest.

A bit askew: Ullman's ex-fling John Lithgow looked relaxed in a black tuxedo with a bowtie that sat slightly askew on his chest while Anna Maria Horsford wore an intricate ensemble

Getting cozy: Ed Begley Jr. cuddled up close to his wife Rachelle Carson on the red carpet in a black suit and white button-down shirt

Anna Maria Horsford wore an intricate ensemble to the annual affair.

The Bold and the Beautiful star wore a purple off-the-shoulder shawl that cascaded down the sides of her body and a gray dress over darker gray pants.

She wore what seemed to be a rather large necklace shaped like a vest that fell all the way to the middle of her stomach and matched her silver shoes perfectly.

Her short black hair was combed over into a classic Hollywood style.

David and the technicolor blazer: David Oyelowo wore a multi-colored blazer with small black, purple, peach and red circles dotting it while Ruth E. Carter wore all-black

Another happy couple: Producer William Packer and his wife Heather Packer put on their biggest smiles for The Governor's Ball

Ed Begley Jr. cuddled up close to his wife Rachelle Carson on the red carpet in a black suit and white button-down shirt.

Begley's better half looked fiery in a low-cut red dress that hugged her body tightly. Her blonde hair fell in waves, and her vibrant red lipstick matched her dress nicely.

David Oyelowo wore a multi-colored blazer with small black, purple, peach and red circles dotting it. Underneath that he wore a light purple shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck and a pair of matching pants.

Oscars producer William Packer and his wife Heather Packer put on their biggest smiles for The Governor's Ball.

William wore a purple suit jacket, black fedora and black pants while Heather looked angelic in strapless white gown, slit down the side, and a pair of white heels.

With her blonde hair tied back behind her head, Heather was able to show off her huge diamond earrings and matching diamond necklace.

A Magic-al evening: Former Lakers superstar Magic Johnson wore a black tuxedo to the event, and his wife of more than 30 years, Cookie, showed up in a low-cut, sleeveless beige top and a matching skirt

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter is no stranger to picking out the perfect outfit, and she didn't fail to do so on Friday night either.

Carter wore a frilly black blouse with puffy sleeves and a matching velvety skirt. She added a pair of black glasses and a small necklace as well.

Former Lakers superstar Magic Johnson wore a black tuxedo to the event, and his wife of more than 30 years, Cookie, showed up in a low-cut, sleeveless beige top and a matching skirt.

Her black hair was parted in the middle and fell in waves down to her chest.

Who you gonna call? Bill Murray presented an award to fellow comedian Elaine May, while Denzel Washington gave Samuel L. Jackson his honorary award

A comedian of the highest order: May accepted the honorary Oscar in a black blazer, and her brown hair fell down to the tops of her shoulder

Big hug: The longtime friends embraced onstage with Denzel grinning from ear to ear

One of three: Jackson, May and Liv Ullman all received honorary awards at the event

Once inside the event, the star's got to watch legendary comic actor Bill Murray, in a tuxedo and a black beret, present an award to fellow comedian and filmmaker Elaine May.

May accepted the honorary Oscar in a black blazer, and her brown hair fell down to the tops of her shoulders.

Academy Award winner Denzel Washington donned an all black suit and embraced Samuel L. Jackson while handing him his honorary Oscar as the two Glory co-stars grinned from ear to ear.

While they may be exes, it seems Lithgow and Ullman are still very close as John awarded Liv with her award.

Ullman seemed to give a very impassioned speech as she gesticulated forcefully with her arms.

On good terms: While they may be exes, it seems Lithgow and Ullman are still very close as John awarded Liv with her award

Speaking passionately: Ullman seemed to give a very impassioned speech as she gesticulated forcefully with her arms

Doing the most for others: Danny Glover received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the event

Woodard couldn't keep the smile off her face as she presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Glover who stood proudly with his statuette.

The Governors Awards are an annual award ceremony held before the Oscars to give out three major awards: the Academy Honorary Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

The first is given to a star for achievements not covered by the ordinary ceremony. The second is awarded for outstanding humanitarian work and the third honors a creative producer whose work is consistently of high quality.

No one received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award this year.

The Oscars are this Sunday, March 27 at 5 p.m. PDT.
She wowed at the Vanity Fair The Future of Hollywood party while rocking a David Koma sheer gown on Thursday night.

And one day later, Jenna Dewan was seen rocking a casual look while running errands in Burbank, California.

The 41-year-old actress donned a black knitted crop top with matching hued jeans on Friday afternoon.

Looking good: She wowed at the Vanity Fair The Future of Hollywood while rocking a Dovid Koma sheer gown. And one day later, Jenna Dewan was seen rocking a casual look while running errands in Burbank, California

Jenna sported black denim with a cropped knitted number, flashing a hint of her midriff.

The actress donned nineties style platform slides, opting to go without a purse and carry my phone and wallet.

Jenna donned a face mask with her long brunette locks, opting to go makeup free.

One day prior, the star wowed in a sheer David Koma gown for the Vanity Fair's The Future of Hollywood at Mother Wolf in Los Angeles with fiance Steve Kazee, 46.

Star: The 41-year-old actress donned a black knitted crop top with matching hued jeans

Stunner: Jenna sported black denim with a cropped knitted number, flashing a hint of her midriff

Jenna wowed in the black and sparkling gown, which featured a sheer paneling along her stomach.

The star showcased her flat midsection as well as her ample cleavage; she also showed off her toned legs.

Jenna paired the spaghetti strap number with diamond earrings and deeply parted tresses.

Steve rocked a black and white tuxedo, sporting goatee.

Fantastic figure: One day prior, the star wowed in a sheer David Koma gown for the Vanity Fair's The Future of Hollywood at Mother Wolf in Los Angeles with fiance Steve Kazee, 46; the duo at the event March 24, 2022

Jenna and Steve welcomed their son Callum Michael Rebel Kazee, two, born March 6, 2020.

Jenna and Steve announced their engagement in February 2020; they began dating in October 2018.

She was previously married to Channing Tatum; they tied the knot in 2009 and announced their separation in April 2018, finalizing their divorce in November 2019.

They have one daughter together, Everly Tatum, eight.

Looking good: Jenna wowed in the black and sparkling gown, which featured a sheer paneling along her stomach
Sydney Sweeney showed off her stylish yet modest taste in an all-black ensemble while out running errands in Los Angeles on Friday.

The 24-year-old beauty put her famously fit curves on display while out on casual stroll after taking care of some errands.

The outing comes after the star received widespread acclaim for her roles on HBO's Euphoria and The White Lotus, as well as her breakout role on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale.

Sweet: Sydney Sweeney, 24, showcased her famous curves in a black shorts jumpsuit while out and about in Los Angeles on Friday

Sydney appeared to be feeling leggy, as she was spotted making her way through a park in a simple but stylish black shorts jumpsuit by Frankies Bikinis.

The outfit helped showcase all her enviable assets with its five-button front portion, which she left unbuttoned at the top, and overall figure-hugging design.

She also donned a pair of pink and white platform slides as she made her way along the park pavement, in and out of the glaring sunshine peaking its way through the trees.

After a weeks-long stint sporting auburn hair, Sweeney has since gone back to her signature blonde hair, which she styled with some soft waves and a center part.

Lovely: The Euphoria star highlighted her enviable assets in the simple but stylish outfit

The outfit was a perfect answer to the rising temperature, which topped 80 degrees Fahrenheit more inland in the afternoon.

After chatting on the phone and taking a brief timeout in the park, the in-demand actress continued her walk until she arrived at her parked vehicle.

With Euphoria having just wrapped its successful second season at the end of February, the Washington State native has since moved to shoot the film National Anthem in New Mexico.

Busy: Sweeney has been shooting the film National Anthem in New Mexico, and it was revealed this week that she had been cast in the Marvel film Madame Web, alongside Dakota Johnson

It also stars Halsey, Paul Walter Hauser, Simon Rex, Toby Huss, Gavin Maddox Bergman, Harriet Sansom Harris and newcomer Derek Hinkey.

Then, just this past week, Deadline dropped the news that she's now ready to jump into Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters by being cast in Madame Web, although there's no word just yet on who she will be playing.

Now HBO's second most watched show in its history, behind only Game Of Thrones, Euphoria got the greenlight in February and was renewed for a third season.

Watch the Iconic Series, The Handmaid's Tale only on Stan in Australia.
Amanda Bynes had her nine-year conservatorship officially terminated by a California judge this week.

And having already done the leg work to find a new home for herself and fiance Paul Michael to move into, the couple are gearing up for their new life together, which will be the first time they have ever lived under the same roof.

'She's doing very well and looking forward to moving into her new property with Paul. They're actively searching for furniture and she's excited about all of it,' Bynes' lawyer, David Esquibias, told People on Friday.

Looking to the future: Amanda Bynes, 36, is 'doing well' and looking forward to moving into her new home with fiance Paul Michael, following the termination of her nine-year conservatorship, her attorney, David Esquibias, told People on Friday

The former child and teen star has had the support of her parents through her effort to gain more personal freedom, agreeing that she's made 'significant progress' in managing her bipolar disorder, according to Esquibias.

'She's ecstatic to receive her parents' full love and support behind her decision to terminate the conservatorship,' he added.

Bynes requested to terminate the conservatorship of both her person and estate on February 23, along with a capacity declaration stating that she was mentally fit to look after herself, according to Us Weekly.

And then, this past Tuesday, a Ventura County judge ruled to terminate the conservatorship, writing, 'The court determines that the conservatorship is no longer required and that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist.'

New life together: Bynes and Michael, who announced their engagement in 2020, are currently furniture shopping in preparation to their move into their first home together

Bynes' mother had been in control of the conservatorship since its inception in 2013. The legal move came in the wake of a series of personal troubles, while seemingly struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.

Moments after her legal victory, and her plans to move in with her fiance now a reality, Bynes took time out to 'thank my fans for their love and well wishes during this time.'

In a statement to People, via Esquibias, the She's The Man star went on to thank her lawyer and parents 'for their support over the last nine years.'

Knowing the long road it took to get to this moment, the actress-turned-fashion student seems to have her priorities in order, as she moves forward with her life.

It takes a village: In a statement to People, via Esquibias, the She's The Man star went on to thank her lawyer and parents 'for their support over the last nine years'

'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,' she said in a statement through her attorney, adding, 'I am excited about my upcoming endeavors  including my fragrance line  and look forward to sharing more when I can.'

Just days before the ruling, Esquibias told TMZ his client had planned to move into a new and modern rental, described as being in a very private neighborhood close from the ocean.

The Southern California native began her career as a 10-year-old working on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That (19962000), and had her breakthrough starring in its spin-off series The Amanda Show (19992002).

By 2002 she starred in The WB sitcom What I Like About You and made her film debut in the comedy Big Fat Liar.

While she went on to star in several successful films, her last credited role was way back in 2010 in the teen comedy film Easy A.
Her And Just Like That... costars celebrated her 57th birthday earlier in the day on social media.

And Sarah Jessica Parker enjoyed a night out later with her husband Matthew Broderick, 60, to celebrate her big day.

The Sex And The City star opted for casual comfort in a low-key dark ensemble as the could dined at New York City's Cafe Un Deux Trois.

Birthday girl: Sarah Jessica Parker celebrated her 57th birthday on Friday with dinner at New York City's Cafe Un Deux Trois with her husband Matthew Broderick, 60

Sarah looked cozy in a long black quilted down jacket that reached down to her thighs.

She paired it with a charcoal sweater and baggy gray sweatpants, which she tucked into her black boots.

The actress had on a simple black handbag and carried out a coffee to complement her swanky French meal.

She kept her blond tresses relaxed and tied them back in a low-slung ponytail.

Back in black: Sarah looked cozy in a long black quilted down jacket that reached down to her thighs. Matthew complemented his wife with a black down coat and his own charcoal sweater

Sociable: The couple stopped to chat with a customer before exiting the restaurant

Matthew complemented his wife with a black down coat and his own charcoal sweater.

He had on simple black pants with gray-and-black trainers.

Both stars covered up with black masks to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has lately been surging in Europe.

The lovebirds stopped to chat with a person at the restaurant before climbing into a black SUV waiting at the curb.

Toasty: Sarah paired her coat with a charcoal sweater and baggy gray sweatpants, which she tucked into her black boots

Late-night pep: The actress had on a simple black handbag and carried out a coffee to complement her swanky French meal

No fuss: She kept her blond tresses relaxed and tied them back in a low-slung ponytail

On the go: She and Matthew climbed into a waiting SUV at the curb after leaving the restaurant

Earlier on Friday, several of Sarah's castmates from And Just Like That... sent their well wishes to the actress for her birthday.

The performer's costars, Cynthia Nixon and Mario Cantone, shared images of the Sex And The City star to their respective Instagram accounts on her special day.

Her friends also penned short messages to express their happiness for the Divorce star and to speak about their admiration for the actress.

Special occasion: Several of Sarah's friends and castmates sent their well wishes to the actress on her 57th birthday, which occurred on Friday; still from Sex And The City

Nixon shared a shot of herself spending time with the performer on-screen, in which they were seen embracing each other closely.

The And Just Like That... cast member also wrote a short statement that was directed at her pal and shared in her post's caption.

'Old friend, I cherish you and admire the hell out of the woman you are. I always have. And I always will. Happy, happy birthday and many more to come,' she remarked,

Cantone also shared a shot of himself spending time with Parker, in which they were seen messing around while one of their friends took the photo.

Having fun: Cantone also shared a shot of himself spending time with Parker, in which they were seen messing around while one of their friends took their photo

The star also penned a statement to show his happiness for his friend on her birthday.

He wrote: 'What a lucky boy I am to know you, to work with you and to be part of your magnificence. I adore you. All my love my dear..in theater and in life.'

The official SJP Collection Instagram account posted a picture of Parker trying on one of the brand's offerings.

A message was also written to celebrate the birthday of 'our boss and friend, the woman who inspires us every day.'

Having fun: The official SJP Collection Instagram account posted a picture of Parker trying on one of the brand's offerings

Parker is also preparing to continue the story of Carrie Bradshaw in the next second season of And Just Like That.

The announcement about the show's future was made earlier this month, when it was revealed that it would return for a second run of episodes.

Although the program was originally planned as a miniseries, studio executives decided to bring the series back for another season.

Gearing up: Parker is also preparing to continue the story of Carrie Bradshaw in the forthcoming second season of And Just Like That; she is seen working on the series in 2021

And Just Like That's executive producer, Michael Patrick King, gave a statement to Deadline to express his excitement about continuing the program's narrative in the future.

'I am delighted and excited to tell more stories about these vibrant, bold characters  played by these powerful, amazing actors. The fact is, we're all thrilled,' he said.

HBO Max's Head of Original Content, Sarah Aubrey, also spoke to the media outlet and remarked that the program had showcased several topics that spoke to the changing face of popular culture.

Opening up: And Just Like That's executive producer, Michael Patrick King, gave a statement to Deadline to express his excitement about continuing the program's narrative in the future; she is seen in 2021

'We have been delighted by the cultural conversation generated by these characters and their stories, set in a world we already know and love so much,' she said.

Aubrey added: 'We are proud of the work Michael Patrick King and our wonderful writers, producers, cast and crew have done to bring these stories to the screen. We can't wait for fans to see what's in store for season 2!And Just Like That's second run of episodes currently does not have a scheduled release date.
She's recently dyed her locks an eye-catching platinum blonde.

And Gigi Hadid showed off her bold new look as she stepped out for dinner in Malibu on Friday.

The 26-year-old supermodel kept it casual for the Nobu outing, flashing her abs and chest in an unzipped cream hoodie, cardigan and black bralet.

Blonde bombshell: Gigi Hadid showed off her platinum blonde locks whilst flashing her midriff in a bare-faced casual ensemble for dinner in Malibu on Friday

Gigi paired her casual look with white, wide leg trousers and navy Ugg boots.

The star added a beachy blue necklace to her look, tying her bright blonde locks into a sleek bun.

Gigi was seemingly bare faced for the outing to the swanky Japanese eatery, keeping a low profile as she hopped into a black jeep afterwards.

Low-key: The 26-year-old supermodel kept it casual for the Nobu outing, flashing her abs and chest in an unzipped cream hoodie, cardigan and black bralet

Home time: Gigi was seemingly bare faced for the outing to the swanky Japanese eatery, keeping a low profile as she hopped into a black jeep afterwards

The half-Jordanian, half-Dutch American seemed to be flying solo in the snaps, as she had a night off from her 18-month-old daughter Khai.

Gigi welcomed Khai in 2020, who she shares with her ex-partner, 1D star Zayn Malik, with whom she had a on/off six-year romance with.

The pairs relationship ultimately ended after his September 29 altercation with her mother Yolanda Hadid.

Doting mum: The half-Jordanian, half-Dutch American seemed to be flying solo in the snaps, as she had a night off from her 18-month-old daughter Khai

Over: Gigi shares her daughter with ex Zayn Malik, with the pairs relationship ultimately ending after his September 29 altercation with her mother Yolanda Hadid

The 29-year-old half-Pakistani Englishman plead no contest to four counts of harassment and received 360-day probation, according to TMZ, and has to undergo anger management.

However, many fans have criticised Yolanda and claimed she lied about the assault in an effort to get Zayn away from her daughter.

It's not the only thing Yolanda, who rose to fame as a Real Housewife Of Beverly Hills, has come under fire for this month - as Gigi's sister, Bella Hadid opened up about the nose job she had at the age of 14.

Family matters: Gigi's appearance comes after her younger sister Bella Hadid appeared on the cover of Vogue, where she revealed she underwent a nose job at the age of 14; pictured 2014

Whilst talking to Vogue, Bella admitted that she had the procedure so young and had regrets: 'I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors. I think I would have grown into it.'

Yolanda came under a wrath of disapprovement from fans for allowing her daughter to go under the knife so young.

Additionally, Bella revealed in the interview that she suffered from anorexia in high school after being prescribed an extended-release Adderall for her inattention, which she believes kickstarted her eating disorder.

Famous family: Gigi and Bella rose to fame as their mum, Yolanda, was appearing on the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, before becoming models in their own right
Katie Price's engagement ring was nowhere to be seen as she took to Instagram to post a series of videos on Friday.

Just hours before, Carl Woods, 33, appeared to have removed photos of his fiance from his Instagram after they returned from a sun-soaked trip to Thailand together.

In the video Katie, 43, could be seen as she showed off some sweets to her followers, without the glitzy ring on her left hand.

Unusual: Katie Price, 43,ditched her engagement ring in a clip she shared on Instagram on Saturday - hours after her fiance Carl Woods deleted a slew of loved-up snaps with her

In a later post to her Story, her engagement ring returned, but the video appeared to be a pre-recorded adversitisment, though it is unclear when this was filmed.

Earlier in the day, confused fans noticed that her fiance had deleted images of the loved-up couple from his account.

According to The Sun, Carl, has been taking down photos with the model with fans suggesting that he has removed up to 10 images of the model.

Where's it gone? In the video Katie could be seen as she showed off some sweets to her followers, without the glitzy ring on her left hand

Removed: Earlier in the day, confused fans noticed that her fiance Carl Woods had deleted images of the loved-up couple from his account

It comes after Carl appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour'.

A fan told the publication: 'I was confused - earlier this week he had around 13 pics of Katie on his feed, from holiday photos to fun ones where he was joking around with her. Now there are just three.'

Charges: It comes after Carl appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour'

The most recent picture which features Katie on Carl's Instagram was posted on January 19 following a trip to London resturant Amazonico.

MailOnline have reached out to representatives for Katie and Carl for comment.

Despite seemingly deleting traces of Katie from his social media, the male model was seen arriving at court hand-in-hand with Katie after the pair recently returned from their holiday.

Former glamour model Katie, wearing a sun visor, and Carl, dressed in a black T-shirt and sunglasses, were seen chatting to two police officers before heading inside.

Romance: Carl, who is engaged to the reality star, was arrested after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021

Carl appeared in court on Wednesday to deny using 'threatening words and behaviour' following a row at his Essex home.

He had been charged under Section 4 of the Public Order Act following an incident at his home in Little Canfield, Essex last year.

Colchester Magistrates' Court was told the charge followed a row that spilled over into the street, disturbing neighbours.

At one stage Carl was seen trying to force open a door, the court heard.

Carl, who is engaged to the reality star, was arrested after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021.

She sat in the public gallery and watched her fiancee during the short session, with Carl smiling towards her from behind the reinforced glass of courtroom four.

He spoke just to confirm his date of birth and address before answering 'not guilty' when asked to enter a plea to the public order charge.
Kate Ritchie is expected to return to Nova FM's Kate, Tim and Joel Show on Monday after two weeks off the air, a new report has claimed.

According to the Sunday Herald Sun, Kate, 43, will reunite with her co-hosts Joel Creasey and Tim Blackwell, with Ricki-Lee Coulter having acted as a fill-in co-host.

On March 12, the former Home and Away star revealed on Instagram that she was unable to take part in the TV special Australia Unites Flood Appeal as she was 'tucked up in bed with Covid'.

Set to return? Kate Ritchie (pictured), 43, 'is expected to return' to Nova's FM Drive shift next week after 'being tucked up in bed with Covid', according to a report by the Sunday Herald Sun

'I was meant to be helping to take all your calls and donations tonight but we are tucked up in bed with COVID. So instead I'll be tuning in and doing my bit from home come 7.30pm,' Kate wrote in her Instagram post.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to representatives for Nova for comment.

Kate has now forged a successful radio career, having pressed pause on acting.

Co-hosts: Kate will reportedly reunite with her co-hosts Joel Creasey (right) and Tim Blackwell (left)

At home resting: On March 12, the former Home and Away star revealed on Instagram that she was unable to take part in the TV special Australia Unites Flood Appeal as she was 'tucked up in bed with Covid'

The brunette began her acting career as a child, scoring the role of Sally Fletcher on long-running soap Home and Away at the age of eight.

She left the show in 2008, before briefly reprising her role in 2013 for the series' 25th anniversary special.

In an interview with WHO Magazine, Kate reflected on her time on the popular Channel Seven show, and said she will always be attached to Sally.

Replacement: Ricki-Lee Coulter (pictured), who is a contestant on Dancing With The Stars: All Stars, has been filling in for Kate while she's off the air

'I will always feel attached to Home and Away,' she told the publication.

'How could I not? It trained and nurtured me. It offered me some of the most wonderful years of my life and, for a long time, defined who I was.'

Kate added that she is often nostalgic about the memories she experienced on-set.

The hay days: Kate starred as Sally Fletcher on popular Aussie soap opera Home and Away alongside the late Heath Ledger (right). She was on the show between 1988 and 2013

'Even now, with some distance from those days and having had the chance to develop into my own person without the security blanket of Sally, I still miss it desperately,' she said.

Kate now hosts Nova FM Drive shift alongside Joel and Tim, and has written two children's books.

She also shares seven-year-old daughter, Mae, with ex-husband Stuart Webb.
Chinese FM calls for long-term vision, win-win cooperation in ties with India

Xinhua) 11:18, March 26, 2022

NEW DELHI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Friday that China and India should stick to their own development paths and join hands to safeguard peace and stability both in the region and in the world.

Wang made the remarks at a meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

He proposed a three-point approach to achieving that end.

First, both sides should view the bilateral relations from a long-term vision. China and India, as two major developing countries and emerging economies, have a history of more than 1,000 years of civilization exchanges, and friendly cooperation remains the mainstream between the two countries, Wang said.

The respective efforts by China and India to realize national rejuvenation will have a far-reaching impact on Asia and the world at large, he said.

The Chinese minister noted that both sides should adhere to their two leaders' strategic judgement that China and India should not be a threat to each other, but an opportunity for each other's development.

The two countries should put their differences at a proper position in their bilateral relations and stick to the right direction of the China-India ties, Wang said.

Second, China and India should view each other's development with a win-win mentality.

China welcomes India's development and revitalization, and supports India in playing a more important role in international affairs, Wang said, adding that China does not pursue the so-called "unipolar Asia" and respects India's traditional role in the region.

China is ready to explore the "China-India Plus" cooperation in South Asia to forge a cooperation model with a healthy interaction, so as to achieve mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation at a higher level and in a wider range, he said.

Third, both countries should take part in the multilateral process with a cooperative posture.

Noting that this year and next will witness "Asia Moment" in global governance, Wang said China and India will host the BRICS Summit and the summits of G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization respectively.

He said that when China and India speak with one voice, the whole world will listen, and if the two countries join hands, the whole world will pay attention.

The two sides should step up communication, coordination and mutual support to send more positive signals for upholding multilateralism and inject more positive energy into improving global governance, he added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Staff members work at a laboratory that is collaborating to develop and build WHO's global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in Cape Town, South Africa, on Feb. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Xabiso Mkhabela)

With new COVID-19 cases significantly dropping, 22 African countries are no longer carrying out any kind of contact tracing, as only 13 countries are conducting comprehensive surveillance, the World Health Organization found, based on an analysis of open-source data.

BRAZZAVILLE, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A World Health Organization (WHO) regional office on Thursday called for caution and consideration of the risks involved, with multiple African countries lifting their COVID-19 health restrictions.

With new COVID-19 cases significantly dropping, many African countries are increasingly curtailing COVID-19 surveillance and quarantine measures. While the need to reopen economies and resume social life is important, countries need to be cautious and take into consideration the possible risks, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, at an online press conference.

With the evolution of the pandemic, countries in the region have moved toward prioritized contact tracing, where only contacts at high risk of infection or falling severely ill are followed.

Travelers wait to receive COVID-19 tests at Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Str)

Based on an analysis of open-source data, WHO finds that by March 15, 22 African countries are no longer carrying out any kind of contact tracing, as only 13 countries are conducting comprehensive surveillance.

"It is a matter of concern that nearly half of all countries in Africa have stopped tracing the contacts of cases," said Moeti.

According to WHO, the continent is seeing a decline of COVID-19 testing rates. In the first quarter of 2022, only 27 percent of countries were achieving the weekly target of tests per 10,000 people, a concerning decrease in testing rates compared with 2021, when 40 percent of countries reached the same benchmark.

"This (the tracing), along with robust testing, is the backbone of any pandemic response. Without this critical information, it is difficult to track the spread of the virus and identify new COVID-19 hotspots that may be caused by known or emerging variants," noted Moeti.

While COVID-19 cases have declined across the continent since the peak of the Omicron-driven fourth wave in early January 2022, vaccination coverage remains far behind the rest of the world, with only 15.6 percent of the population fully vaccinated.

"The pandemic isn't over yet and the preventive measures should be eased cautiously with health authorities weighing the risks against the anticipated benefits. Lifting the public health measures does not mean lifting the foot off the pedal of pandemic vigilance," said Moeti. 
Sam Frost has broken her silence after facing mass backlash in October over her hesitancy to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

The actress, who quit Home and Away in December but is now believed to be fully vaccinated, addressed the 'disgusting bullying' that the unvaccinated have been subjected to in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph's Stellar magazine.

The 32-year-old reflected on being 'torn to f***ing pieces' when she compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to 'segregation' in her tearful Instagram video in October, and stated that she's 'in no way an anti-vaxxer'.

'The bullying of unvaccinated people was disgusting': Former Home and Away star Sam Frost (pictured), 32, has broken her silence after facing mass backlash over her hesitancy to get the Covid-19 vaccine, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph's Stellar magazine

'The bullying of unvaccinated people was disgusting. Friends I'd had for years stopped talking to me,' Sam told Stellar.

'I never said I didn't want to get it. I'm not an anti-vaxxer  are you kidding me? But I feel it's quite unreasonable to assume that everyone's going to think exactly the same way and that people are going to come to the exact same conclusion in the same time frame.'

The former Bachelorette also revealed she's only had 'good intentions'.

Setting the record straight: The actress faced criticism when she compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to 'segregation' in a tearful Instagram video in October. In her interview with Stellar, she stated that she's 'in no way an anti-vaxxer'

'I got torn to f***ing pieces. That was someone in a very vulnerable position talking about their struggles with mental health,' she said.

Sam, who joined Home and Away as Jasmine Delaney in 2017, quit the Channel Seven soap in December, two months after revealing she hadn't had the vaccine.

Seven Productions has a policy requiring all cast and crew be vaccinated against Covid; however, sources said last year Sam's exit was unrelated to the mandate.

Speaking out: The former Bachelorette also revealed she's only had 'good intentions'. 'I got torn to f***ing pieces. That was someone in a very vulnerable position talking about their struggles with mental health,' she said

Sam filmed her last scenes for the soap in December at Sydney's Eveleigh Studios.

The actress sparked backlash in October when she revealed she hadn't had the Covid jab, and also compared restrictions on the unvaccinated to 'segregation'.

She said in a tearful Instagram video: 'I was really hesitant about doing a video or even speaking up about this sort of thing, but I feel like it's getting to a point now in the world where there's a lot of segregation.

'There's a lot of harsh judgement and opinions being thrown around a lot and it's taking its toll on my mental health for sure, and I know people around me are struggling - particularly if they're on the side of they don't want to get vaccinated, for whatever reason.

Exit: Sam, who played nurse Jasmine Delaney on Home and Away since 2017, quit the Channel Seven soap in December, two months after revealing she she hadn't had the vaccine

'There are lots of different reasons why people are not getting vaccinated and it might be because of their medical history, their concerns, they might have family history, it could be religious reasons.'

Sam then said she hadn't been vaccinated, but claimed she had spoken to her medical doctor as well as a psychologist about her decision.

She added tearfully: 'It's a really hard time to be in society right now and you feel like you are less of a human and you feel like people judge you.

The door is open: Her former co-star Lynne McGranger (right) told Nova's Fitzy & Wippa in January that Sam was now fully vaccinated, meaning she could potentially return to the show

'And you're too scared to talk about your opinion or your feelings and part of you wants to go, "Well it's none of your damn business why I'm not! And there's good reasons why I'm not and I don't want you to judge me."'

After facing criticism for her video, Sam deactivated her main Instagram account and blocked all comments on the account for her mental health charity Believe. She has since reactivated her accounts.

Channel Seven later announced Sam's exit from Home and Away in December.

While a vaccine mandate is in place for Home and Away cast and crew, a network source said her departure was not related to this policy.
Taylor Hawkins met child drumming sensation Emma Sofia just days before his shock death aged 50.

The late rock star granted the nine-year-old Paraguayan prodigy's wish of meeting her idol, after she set up outside the Foo Fighters' hotel in Retiro, Buenos Aires on Tuesday night to play the drums for him and the hoards of fans who'd gathered.

During the early hours of Wednesday morning, after hearing about the little girl drumming outside the band's hotel - the Sheraton Asuncion - Taylor went in search of the child, and had his photograph taken with her.

Granting her wish: Taylor Hawkins met child drumming sensation Emma Sofia, nine, during the early hours of Wednesday morning, just days before his shock death aged 50

Emma's proud father, Julius, later explained how she'd decided to set up her drum kit on the sidewalk and started playing it for the Foo Fighters, surrounded by other fans.

The rocker came out to find the talented youngster, and enthusiastically had his photograph taken with her.

Emma's father, Julius, then took to Twitter where he shared the snap and videos of his daughter playing as well as the moment she met Taylor.

He tweeted: 'My daughter, since she found out that the Foo Fighters were coming, started a campaign to meet them. Today we took her drums to play in front of the Sheraton and look who came out of it at her call.'

Incredible: The little girl set up outside the Foo Fighters' hotel in Retiro, Buenos Aires on Tuesday night to play the drums in the hope of meeting Taylor Hawkins

Where is she? During the early hours of Wednesday morning, after hearing about the little girl drumming outside the band's hotel, Taylor went in search of the child

The viral moment came just days before Taylor was found dead in a hotel room in the north of Bogota, Colombia where the Foo Fighters were due to play at a festival on Friday night. Colombian police have said his death may be drug-related.

The Metropolitan Police of Bogota, in a statement carried by several Colombian newspapers, said: 'The cause of death has yet to be established. According to those close to him, the death could be related to the consumption of drugs.'

Local reports said hotel staff called the emergency services after Taylor suffered chest pains but he was already dead by the time medical responders arrived.

The drummer had openly discussed his drug and overdose struggles years before. He overdosed on heroin and ended up in a coma in 2001 four years after joining the band.

Stunned: Emma was stunned and delighted when her idol came outside to meet her

Legend! The rocker came out to find the talented youngster, and enthusiastically had his photograph taken with her

Shortly after Taylor's death was announced, dozens of fans together with journalists and videographers began to gather outside the hotel where the band had been staying. Many appeared to be in complete shock at the news with some lighting candles.

Ambulances and police cars could be seen stationed outside of the property. Later on Friday night, Hawkins' body was finally brought out of the hotel, placed into a coroner's van and driven away.

The group had been scheduled to play at the Festival Estereo Picnic in the Colombian capital where an announcement told concert-goers that the band would not be playing due to a 'serious medical condition'.

Taylor, who was married to his wife Alison, and a father to two teenage children, Oliver and Annabelle, had just completed a host of tour dates in South America with the band last playing in San Isidro, Argentina, last Sunday.

Proud dad: Emma's father, Julius, then took to Twitter where he shared the snap and videos of his daughter playing as well as the moment she met Taylor

Incredible! Emma's father, Julius, tweeted: 'My daughter, since she found out that the Foo Fighters were coming, started a campaign to meet them. Today we took her drums to play in front of the Sheraton and look who came out of it at her call'

Gone too soon: The viral moment came just days before Taylor was found dead in a hotel room in the north of Bogota, Colombia (Pictured in October)

The drummer joined the band in 1997 after the group completed their second album, The Colour and the Shape.

Prior to being Foo Fighters, Taylor played drums for Alanis Morissette from whom he was recruited by frontman Dave Grohl - Nirvana's own legendary drummer.

Dave Grohl formed his second band Foo Fighters in 1994 in the wake of an earlier tragedy, just months after Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's frontman, took his own life.

After Cobain's suicide in April, Grohl retreated and was unsure if he wanted to stay in the music industry but created Foo Fighters in October that year after penning a 15-track demo and signing with Capitol records.

When Taylor came aboard in 1997, the Foo Fighters' moved from the alternative rock scene to achieve mainstream success, regularly packing out arenas and stadiums.
Steve Price has gone to bat for The Project, after the show, on which he is a panellist, was accused of being 'too woke'.

Speaking to this week's issue of Stellar Magazine, the conservative shock jock insisted that the show offers a more balanced view than often believed.

'There is a wokeness to it, but we like to bust that wokeness open on Monday nights when I'm there. The people on the show aren't really woke,' the 67-year-old said.

On their side: Steve Price has gone to bat for The Project, after the show, on which he is a panellist, was accused of being 'too woke'. Pictured in Stellar Magazine

'But I just say as much, and they're happy for me to do that. I've been there for 12 years now; that's a miracle. How many old white blokes last that long?'

Steve went on to say that he gets along well with his very liberal co-star, Waleed Aly, 43.

'Even though we have completely different politics, we have huge respect for each other,' he said.

Woke? 'There is a wokeness to it, but we like to bust that wokeness open on Monday nights when I'm there. The people on the show aren't really woke,' the 67-year-old said. Pictured with co-stars Peter Helliar, Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore

'And the longer I've been there, the more he and I are happy to have sensible, intelligent debates about our views even if we do disagree. I don't know why people want to write that show off.'

The Project has come under fire in recent months for becoming too 'woke' and going 'broke' as a result.

Channel Ten's flagship current affairs show has lost almost a third of its audience since 2011, OzTAM ratings revealed in November.

Hard time? 'I don't know why people want to write that show off' Steve questioned

The program saw its metro ratings plummet to an all-time low of just 367,000 in 2021.

That's a 30 per cent decline from its five-city audience of 538,000 a decade ago.

The national audience, which includes regional viewers, has also seen a similar percentage drop from 725,000 in 2011 to 490,000 in 2021.

Lasting? The program saw its metro ratings plummet to an all-time low of just 367,000 in 2021. Pictured: Tommy little, Peter Helliar, Carrie Bickmore, Hamish Macdonald, Waleed Aly, Lisa Wilkinson and Gorgi Coghlan

A leading TV commentator claimed Channel 10 was losing viewers because of The Project's left-wing agenda.

Rob McKnight, a former 10 executive who now runs industry website TV Blackbox, said the views expressed on The Project don't resonate with everyday Aussies.

He told Daily Mail Australia that despite its slick production and top-tier talent, The Project is 'very woke and that doesn't connect with mainstream Australia'.
Steve Price has recalled his memorable run-in with Tziporah Malkah during their time starring on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia in 2017.

The conservative shock jock, 67, tells this week's issue of Stellar magazine that the former model, previously known as Kate Fischer, 48, stripped off in a shower in an effort to seduce him.

'My daughter showed me a magazine story when I got out of the jungle where Tziporah said she was going to seduce me while she was in there, which surprised me when I read it,' he said.

Memories: Steve Price (pictured) has recalled his memorable run-in with Tziporah Malkah during their time starring on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! Australia in 2017

In 2017, Steve conceded during an episode of The Project that the magazine story was 'made up' - however, he now believes there may have been some truth to it.

'But then it made sense because on the second night she was in there, I was having a shower  and only the person showering is supposed to go down there at a time because it's all out in the open  and she turned up and started taking her clothes off. It unnerved me a bit, I'll tell you' he said.

The TV star has repeatedly made the claim that the buxom beauty stripped off in front of him while they were in the jungle together - and Tziporah admits she did, however she claims he was the one doing all the looking.

Claims: The shock jock tells this week's issue of Stellar magazine that the former model, previously known as Kate Fischer (left) stripped off in a shower in an effort to seduce him

'I was having a shower and she turned up and started taking her clothes off. It unnerved me a bit, I'll tell you' he said

Steve's story contradicts the account Tziporah gave to the Kyle And Jackie O Show after being evicted from I'm a Celebrity.

'I did shower nude with Steve Price watching,' she claimed.

'Did ya? You didn't! With Steve Price watching! You're lying,' host Kyle Sandilands said disbelievingly.

The ex-fiancee of James Packer explained: 'Well, I didn't know until Tom Arnold told me'.

Tziporah also claimed that she noticed the radio host was staring at her chest during her interview on his jungle radio show.

Contradiction: The TV star has repeatedly made the claim that the buxom beauty stripped off in front of him while they were in the jungle together - and Tziporah admits she did, however she claims he was the one doing all the looking

'Because he's at about the height of my breasts, I did notice that Steve was looking at my nipples because I was wearing a wet T-shirt, because everything was wet because the rain was going on. I thought 'wow he is looking at my t*ts'' she said

'Because he's at about the height of my breasts, I did notice that Steve was looking at my nipples because I was wearing a wet T-shirt, because everything was wet because the rain was going on. I thought 'wow he is looking at my t*ts'' she said.

While the pair had a few run-ins on the show, with Tziporah famously saying she 'can understand why he's been married four times', the pair later made amends.

'Towards the end [of my time on the show], Pricey and I kind of grew to have a mutual respect for each other and he was very kind to me,' she conceded.
Jessika Power has shared a gushing tribute to her boyfriend, Connor Thompson.

In an Instagram post on Saturday, the former Married At First Sight star shared a sweet image of the pair cuddled together alongside a long caption.

'If someone told me a year ago id be this happy I would honestly laugh in their face but you. YOU make me the happiest and best version of myself' she wrote.

Loved up: Jessika Power has shared a gushing tribute to her boyfriend, Connor Thompson. In an Instagram post on Saturday, the former Married At First Sight star shared a sweet image of the pair cuddled together alongside a long caption. Both picture

'You are honestly the fantasy love I always read of. I want nothing more than to spend our lives laughing and being silly. thank you for being YOU because there is no one better,' the 30-year-old added.

It comes after Jessika sparked speculation that she faked being single in order to appear on series 10 of Celebs Go Dating, after she recently moved in with her boyfriend Connor.

The Australian reality star, 30 - who reportedly signed a 40,000 ($70,227 AUD) deal to be on the E4 dating series - has reportedly engaged bosses for 'wasting everyone's time.'

'If someone told me a year ago id be this happy I would honestly laugh in their face but you. YOU make me the happiest and best version of myself' she wrote

A source told The Sun: 'Everyone thinks Jessika has been with Connor the whole time. She has now moved him into her apartment and they are no longer hiding their romance.

'The whole 'split' was very convenient so she could cash her cheque but not surprisingly she didn't meet anyone on the show. It's wasted everyone's time really and bosses aren't happy.'

Stars who sign up for the show have contracts which stipulate they must be single throughout the process.

Ready to mingle? It comes after Jessika sparked speculation that she faked being single in order to appear on series 10 of Celebs Go Dating (pictured), after she recently moved in with her boyfriend Connor

It was previously claimed that Jessika moved to the UK for Conner back in October, but split after just eight days when she signed up to do the reality show.

Just last month, Jessika was claiming to be single while going on dates with numerous men while being filmed for the E4 show.

The former Married At First Sight Australia star even took one potential love match away on the mini-break, before heading straight back to podcaster Connor.

A source told The Sun: 'Everyone thinks Jessika has been with Connor the whole time. She has now moved him into her apartment and they are no longer hiding their romance'

Despite claiming they were no longer together, Jessica reportedly angered show bosses by travelling back and forth from London to Manchester to see him.

They were spotted kissing in the street at one point, and the pair continued to post loved-up photographs to social media despite their split.

Jessica first found fame on season six of Married At First Sight Australia after cheating on her husband Mick Gould with their co-star Dan Webb.

But now the star lives in Manchester, and has applied for residency in the UK, where she has been living on a work visa for the past few months.
She's only just returned from her busy business trip to Mexico.

But Molly-May Hague, 22, jetted off again on Thursday, as she headed to Paris, France for a top secret work trip.

The PrettyLittleThing creative director shared her few days in the French capital to Instagram, keeping her 6.3million followers updated as she saw the sights.

Couture: Molly-Mae Hague, 22, nailed Parisian chic in a cropped shirt and blazer whilst on a work trip away to the French capital on Friday

On Friday, Molly-Mae posed for a snap standing just steps away from the Eiffel Tower, donning a chic spring look.

The influencer sported a pair of straight leg white jeans whilst flashing her toned torso with a cropped blue shirt and Balmain navy crop blazer.

She held onto a miniature Louis Vuitton handbag as she beamed for the shots, with her signature blonde locks in a brushed out slight wave and sunglasses perched on her head.

Parisian landscapes: She posed for a snap standing just steps away from the Eiffel Tower, donning a chic spring look with a pair of white jeans

Traditional: She took to Instagram Stories to share the last day of her trip on Friday too, as she enjoyed French pastries and hot chocolate

Gorgeous: Molly-Mae seemed to be a big fan of the city, dubbing the Eiffel tower 'just beautiful'

The star posted the photographs to Instagram on Saturday, captioning the post: 'Spring Chicky'

She took to Instagram Stories to share the last day of her trip on Friday too, as she enjoyed French pastries and hot chocolate.

Molly-Mae stayed at the luxurious Bulgari hotel in Paris, sharing a snap of her bedroom, which had a Bulgari throw on the bed, and her club sandwich lunch at the hotel.

Luxe; Molly-Mae stayed at the luxurious Bulgari hotel in Paris, sharing a snap of her bedroom, which had a Bulgari throw on the bed

Yum! She also shared a snap of her club sandwich lunch at her 5-star hotel

Whilst in Paris, Molly-Mae also visited the Louvre, jesting that she couldn't quite get the perfect shot outside the famous museum, writing 'A for Effort' on a Story of her beaming outside the landmark.

The blonde beauty described her time away as 'the best couple of days' on Instagram Stories, before returning home on Friday night.

Upon returning home, Molly-Mae posted a sweet selfie with her and beau Tommy Fury's cat, writing: 'Home to my sweet boys'.

Good attempt: Whilst in Paris, she also visited the Louvre, jesting that she couldn't quite get the perfect shot outside the famous museum

Tourist: Molly-Mae made sure to indulge in some of the city's delicacies with a croissant and a cappuccino

High spirits: She rounded off her trip by saying she had the 'best couple of days' whilst away

The trip comes just days after Molly-Mae announced on Instagram this week she had purchased a 4million six-bedroom home in affluent Cheshire following a three-year search with her boxer beau.

The reality TV star and her athlete partner, also 22, were forced to move into a high-security rented apartment last year after an 800,000 burglary at her former flat in Manchester in October.

Alongside several elated snaps of herself in a white crop top and jeans, Molly-Mae penned: 'It finally happened...Our NEW CHAPTER!!! @mollymaison_'

Home sweet home: Upon returning home, Molly-Mae posted a sweet selfie with her and beau Tommy Fury's cat, writing: 'Home to my sweet boys'

'It finally happened': Molly-Mae recently revealed that she and her boyfriend Tommy Fury have moved into their first home after a three-year search

Caption: Alongside several elated snaps of herself in a white crop top and jeans, Molly-Mae penned: 'It finally happened...Our NEW CHAPTER!!! @mollymaison_'

She has made a new Instagram account for her lavish home, posting to it and writing: 'I can't believe we have actually gotten to this point. A three year search for our first home, which some of you have followed, has finally come to an end.

'I know a lot of you won't have been expecting me to do a home account as I have become a lot more private about what I post of our home life. However having a home account is something that I have always dreamed of doing.'

She continued: 'I've decided that I don't want the past to control my future, the way I live my life, and the things I share with you guys.

'Dream' mansion: The former Love Island winner took to Instagram on Monday to share a glimpse of her 'dream' mansion, even tagging a new account for the property

Property account: On the new account for her lavish home, the blonde bombshell wrote: 'I can't believe we have actually gotten to this point. A three year search for our first home, which some of you have followed, has finally come to an end'

'This account will show snippets of our home, this crazy new journey we are embarking on and day to day life within our house (and maybe appearances from two fluffy cats as well). I hope you all enjoy!'

Molly-Mae also posted a mirror selfie taken when she first visited the property, captioning the image: 'OUR NEW CHAPTER - (swipe to see when I first viewed this house and knew it was the one).'

After her traumatic break in, Molly Mae has hired 24/7 security for the new property and vowed that she would not share as much of the new pad on social media.

Love at first sight: Molly Mae also posted a mirror selfie taken when she first visited the property, captioning the image: 'OUR NEW CHAPTER - (swipe to see when I first viewed this house and knew it was the one)

At around 10pm on Thursday October 21, while the influencer and boxer were in London at her Beauty Works Christmas launch, an 'experienced gang' targeted their flat and stole the vast quantity of goods.

The burglars 'took everything' including jewellery and designer goods last year, with the couple losing goods worth up to 800,000.

A source told MailOnline at the time of the burglary: 'Molly's taking no chances - she's hired 24/7 Confidentiality Protection as well as her other security. She has completely moved out of her apartment now and will never return.'
Britain's Got Talent is set to return to TV screens in April, with ITV releasing the first trailer ahead of the new series.

In an official promo released on Saturday, bosses revealed that the much loved variety talent show will be back next month, after two years off air, offering fans a look-back at some of the show's best moments.

Fans of the talent show will no doubt rejoice at the news that the programme will be returning to ITV following last years cancellation due to Covid-19.

Coming soon: Britain's Got Talent is set to return to TV screens in April, with ITV releasing the first trailer ahead of the new series

The brand-new promo clip, featuring presenters Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, takes a look at all of the best and hilarious moments from the shows past 15 series.

Iconic auditions from the likes of Susan Boyle, dance group Diversity, Ashleigh and her dog Pudsey and Stavros Flatley, could be seen.

Whilst Simon Cowell and his fellow judges, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams will all return to the panel.

Exciting: Fans of the talent show will no doubt rejoice at the news that the programme will be returning to ITV following last year's cancellation due to Covid-19

Ready to go: Simon Cowell and his fellow judges, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams will all return to the panel

Legend: Iconic auditions from the likes of Susan Boyle (pictured), dance group Diversity, Ashleigh and her dog Pudsey and Stavros Flatley could be seen

With the first auditions taking place earlier this year, hopeful contestants will all battle it out for their place to perform in front of Her Majesty at the Royal Variety.

The clip was captioned: 'The show that brings you non-stop talent is BACK! But who will be next?'

The hit ITV talent show was previously postponed due to safety concerns and the restrictions brought about by tier systems and lockdowns.

Interesting: The clip also showcased some of the shows worst auditions

Wow! George Sampson incredible dance routine featured in the montage

Bosses of the show said that despite the efforts of the teams at ITV, Thames and head judge Simon's Syco, they were forced to call plans off.

At the time they said: 'With our absolute priority of safeguarding the well-being and health of every person involved in the programme from judges, hosts and contestants to all of the crew and audience, the decision has been made to  unfortunately  move the record and broadcast of the 15th series of Britains Got Talent to 2022.

BGT is known for its diversity of talent with big dance groups, wonderful choirs and lavish orchestras at its heart, and it has become clear that not only is it not possible to film auditions with these types of acts in a secure way but also that they are not able to adequately rehearse and prepare safely.

Welcome back: With the first auditions taking place earlier this year, hopeful contestants will all battle it out for their place to perform in front of Her Majesty at the Royal Variety

Good news! The clip was captioned: 'The show that brings you non-stop talent is BACK! But who will be next?'

Return: The hit ITV talent show was previously postponed due to safety concerns and the restrictions brought about by tier systems and lockdowns

They finished: Safety has to come first and, as a result, the recording of the show cant currently go ahead as planned.

Earlier this month, Amanda revealed that Simon is planning a permanent move back to the UK  and insisted that he isn't quitting TV.

The Heart Breakfast presenter, 51, says music mogul Simon, 62, who resides between California and London, is 'aiming to spend more time at home' now fiancee Lauren Silverman's son Adam is 'growing up' and she's become an 'adopted Brit.'

In an exclusive interview, Amanda, who sits on the Britain's Got Talent judging panel alongside close pal Simon, says he's still 'hungry' for success but is keen to enjoy family life as he plans his upcoming wedding to Lauren.

On UK soil: Earlier this month, Amanda revealed that Simon is planning a permanent move back to the UK  and insisted that he isn't quitting TV

Family time: The Heart Breakfast presenter, 51, says music mogul Simon, 62, who resides between California and London, is 'aiming to spend more time at home'

Amanda told MailOnline: 'He is amazing and him and Lauren are in the best space.

'We had a lovely family lunch together on Sunday and he's very, very chilled and knows exactly what he wants from life now  he's not retiring by any means.

'He is full of ideas and has some amazing ideas on the back-burner. It is in Simon's blood, it is terminal, the hunger, the creativity, maybe in the end Simon won't be on camera but he's always going to be involved. He just wants to reap some of the things that he's sown and enjoy life a bit better.

'They're going to be aiming to spend some more time in the UK, which is really nice for me.'

Britains Got Talent returns to ITV this spring.
Katie Price and her fiance Carl Woods have reportedly split.

The couple - who got engaged 11 months ago - are said to have gone their separate ways, for now, amid their ongoing court cases.

Reality star Carl, 33, is due to go on trial on June 16 after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour' against glamour model Katie, 43.

Meanwhile, Katie was recently charged with harassing her ex-husband Kieran Hayler's fiancee Michelle Penticost.

The reported split comes just a day after Katie, 43, ditched the engagement ring which Carl, 33, gave her, for an Instagram video, while he has now deleted all trace of their romance from his social media account.

OVER! Katie Price, 43, and her fiance Carl Woods, 33, have reportedly split (Pictured together on Monday in Thailand)

Sources told The Sun: 'Katie and Carl have decided to split up. It's been a difficult couple of months and their ongoing court cases have just added even more stress to the situation.

'It really seems to be over for now and they are both very sad about it. But of course no one would be surprised if they got back together.'

MailOnline has contacted Katie Price and Carl Woods' representatives for comment.

While Carl deleted all photographs of the pair from his Instagram account, he and Katie still follow each other on the social media platform.

Charges: It comes after Carl appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour'

Charges: Meanwhile, Katie was recently charged with harassing her ex-husband Kieran Hayler's fiancee Michelle Penticost (pictured)

It comes after Carl appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being charged with 'abusive and threatening behaviour'.

The court case was referenced in the comments section of one of Carl's posts, as one follower questioned: 'Thought you said you didn't hit her? But up in court today.'

While Carl, who was charged with threatening behaviour, replied: 'Why don't you read what the charge is ACTUALLY for.'

Reaction: The court case was referenced in the comments section of one of Carl's posts, as one follower questioned: 'Thought you said you didn't hit her? But up in court today'

One fan who was heavily defensive of Carl, wrote: 'He's in court for being threatening, not violence. Price admitted she lied about the bruise and getting punched. She should be charged for lying and wasting police time.

'It's disgusting to falsely accuse a man (or woman) of domestic violence, makes a mockery of the whole system and genuine victims.

They added: 'I feel sorry for Carl Woods he has been tangled into such a horrible mess. If he leaves her, we all know how vindictive she is and she could lie again to the police.

Support: Appearing to appreciate the supportive comments, Carl tagged the user and posted a couple of praising hands emojis

'If he stays, it's a permenant reminder of being with the person who falsely accued you and dragged your name through the mud.

'People are even questioning his dog owning skills because of HER track record with animals, even though it's clear he looks after Sid very well.

'Guilt by association and all that. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes, I tell you.

Appearing to appreciate the supportive comments, Carl tagged the user and posted a couple of praising hands emojis.

The male model was seen arriving at court hand-in-hand with Katie after the pair recently returned from their recently holiday in Thailand.

Carl was arrested last year after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021.

He was subsequently charged under Section 4 of the Public Order Act following an incident at his home in Little Canfield, Essex last year.

The maximum sentence he faces is up to six months.

Colchester Magistrates' Court was told the charge followed a row that spilled over into the street, disturbing neighbours. At one stage Carl was seen trying to force open a door, the court heard.

Romance: Carl was arrested after Katie was allegedly punched in the face on August 22, 2021

Carl denied using 'threatening words and behaviour' following a row at his Essex home, with Mark Davies, defending, saying that Carl's argument would be that the incident was 'nothing more than a squabble'.

He spoke just to confirm his date of birth and address before answering 'not guilty' when asked to enter a plea to the public order charge.

Katie sat in the public gallery and watched her fiancee during the short session, while he smiled towards her from behind the reinforced glass of courtroom four.

Carl was granted unconditional bail and the case was adjourned for trial on June 16 at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

The car mechanic earlier accused others of creating a 'storyline' - insisting he and Katie only had an argument in public.

Carl claim he 'didn't lay a finger' on the glamour model and said he had 'black and white proof' to clear his name after he was charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour towards her in an incident at their house in Essex.

Where's it gone? A day before their split was reported, Katie 's engagement ring was nowhere to be seen as she took to Instagram to post a series of videos

A day before their split was reported, Katie's engagement ring was nowhere to be seen as she took to Instagram to post a series of videos.

The mother-of-five could be seen as she showed off some sweets to her followers, without the glitzy ring on her left hand.

In a later post to her Story, her engagement ring returned, but the video appeared to be a pre-recorded adversitisment, though it is unclear when this was filmed.

It follows reports that her ex-husband Kieran Hayler has warned their two children that she is facing jail for harassment.

Katie was recently charged with harassing Kieran's fiancee Michelle Penticost and will appear in court when she returns home from Thailand.

According to The Sun, friends of Kieran believe he may want to see Katie locked up if she is convicted.

Claims: It follows reports that her ex-husband Kieran Hayler has warned their two children that she is facing jail for harassment

An insider said: 'Kieran and Michelle have kept a dignified silence throughout this and, after learning Katie was charged, they hope justice will be served.

'Kieran thinks that if Katie has done something wrong, she needs to learn that actions have consequences.

'He has told their two children that if Katie has done something bad, she could go to prison. Kieran has always been honest with the children as he wants them to understand right and wrong.'

The source added that it has been a 'stressful' time for everyone involved and now the couple just want a resolution.

Oh dear: She was charged with harassing Kieran's fiancee Michelle Penticost and will appear in court when she returns home from Thailand

Katie and Kieran are parents to Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven, while he and Michelle are parents to seven-month-old son Apollo.

Katie is also mother to son Harvey, 19, with her ex Dwight Yorke along with Junior, 16, and Princess, 14, with her ex-husband Peter Andre.

Katie was arrested in January on suspicion of breaching her restraining order after she allegedly texted Michelle.

The star is banned from contacting Kieran's partner under the terms of a five-year restraining order imposed after she verbally abused her in a school playground.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Katie Price and Kieran Hayler for comment.

Family; Katie and Kieran are parents to Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven

It comes after Katie was 'suspected of sending an anonymous poison pen' letter to a family member of Kieran's in which his fiancee Michelle is described as a 'w**re'.

It is claimed the note had a Heathrow Airport postmark on the envelope and Kieran believes it was sent just a few hours before Katie jetted to Thailand earlier this month.

A source told the Daily Mirror: 'Michelle has passed the letter to the police. Its been a very upsetting time. They just want to move on.'

Letter: It comes after Katie was 'suspected of sending an anonymous poison pen' letter to a family member of Kieran's in which his fiancee Michelle is described as a 'w**re'

Clues? It is claimed the note had a Heathrow Airport postmark on the envelope and Kieran believes it was sent just a few hours before Katie jetted to Thailand earlier this month

MailOnline learned Katie will appear before magistrates in Crawley on April 12 for allegedly breaching a restraining order against Michelle.

The troubled reality star was arrested on January 21 over claims she sent an abusive text to Michelle.

She spent the night in a cell after being quizzed by officers at Worthing Police station who had earlier picked Katie up from her home in Horsham after a report was made.

Vacation: Separately, Katie was charged with harassing Michelle and will appear in court when she returns home from Thailand (pictured in Thailand last week with fiance Carl Woods)

Katie allegedly branded flight attendant Michelle a 'c***ing w***e piece of s***' and a 'gutter s**g.

MailOnline understands that Katie may have breached the order a second time when she sent an anonymous letter attacking Michelle to a relative just before flying out to Thailand.

Happy: The couple were pictured holding hands in personalised shorts during the Thailand trip recently

A police source told MailOnline: 'Katie Price was arrested a few weeks ago for breaching a restraining order placed against her following an argument with the fiancee of her former partner, Kieran Hayler.

'Now she is believed to have written an anonymous note attacking Michelle Penticost via one of her family members.

'As such Katie has been charged with harassment and will appear before Crawley magistrates next month.'

Loved-up: Katie has escaped the ongoing claims by flying to Thailand on holiday with Carl

Mother of five Katie was banned from contacting Michelle, 39, 'directly or indirectly' after swearing at her in a school playground in 2019.

Breaking the terms of the restraining order carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Katie also risks jail time for being arrested while still on licence for her drink-drive shame.

Michelle, who also has a ten-year old son Valentino from a previous relationship, has grown close to Katie's two children she shares with Kieran.

Relationship: Karl and Michelle met in 2018 and got engaged the following year

The couple met in 2018 and got engaged the following year.

Former Loose Women host Katie travelled to the Far East with Carl for her latest bout of cosmetic surgery - a boob job and full body liposuction procedure - and has remained there for over two weeks.

The couple, who got engaged last April, have experienced a tumultuous 12 months.

Katie avoided jail in December when she was handed a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, as well as a two-year driving ban after admitting drink-driving while disqualified in December.

She also tested positive for cocaine after she rolled her BMW near her home in Horsham.

Last month, fiance Carl issued a public denial on Instagram over abuse claims, saying he 'didn't lay a finger' on Katie and said he had 'black and white proof' to clear his name after he was charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour towards her in an incident at their house in Essex.

Carl is Katie's first serious major relationship since her split from Kieran in 2019.

They were together for seven years, marrying in 2013 in the Bahamas, but their romance was marred by Kieran's two flings with two of Katie's close pals.

She was previously married to Peter Andre for four years, before her ill-fated marriage to Alex Reid, which lasted just 11 months.

Blended family: Katie and Kieran are parents to Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven, while she is also mother to son Harvey, 19, with her ex Dwight Yorke along with Junior, 16, and Princess, 14, with her ex-husband Peter Andre
Chloe Sims has hit back at Ulrika Jonsson after the TV presenter criticised the TOWIE cast member for not being honest with her daughter about her plastic surgery.

Reality star Chloe, 40, told her daughter Madison, 16, she sustained bruises 'from falling down' rather than going under the knife, prompting Ulrika, 54, to accuse Chloe of 'rejecting the principles of parenting that require us to be frank'.

However, a representative for Chloe spoke up on her behalf on Saturday, saying: 'Chloe is deeply disappointed by Ulrika's uneducated comments and misinformation on twisting fact from its original source interview in celebrating motherhood...

Comeback: Chloe Sims, 40, has hit back at Ulrika Jonsson, 54, after the TV presenter criticised the TOWIE cast member for not being honest with her daughter about her plastic surgery

'And the remarkable bond Chloe has with her daughter into a piece that bears little accuracy, but bitterness in its reflection from its author.

'For a woman that professes to support and empower other woman, this is somewhat contrary to the values she professes to champion.'

MailOnline has contacted Ulrika for further comment.

Chloe, who shares daughter Madison with her ex Matthew, is said to have had boob jobs, butt lifts and 'facial tweaks'.

Blunt: Ulrika accused Chloe of 'rejecting the principles of parenting that require us to be frank, sincere and trustworthy'

However, she recently revealed she has previously told her daughter the bruises are 'from falling down'.

Ulrika wrote in response in The Sun: 'It's rejecting the principles of parenting that require us to be frank, sincere and trustworthy.'

The Swedish star admitted Chloe's lack of honesty worried her as a parent and how it was important for young people not to have a false perception of the perfect body.

She added: 'I feel deeply troubled by parents who think nothing of not telling the truth to their children.

Honesty: Ulrika said she is happily open and honest with her children to the point that they sometimes storm out of the room

'By not discussing alterations to her body, Chloe is pretending all women are blessed with near-perfect bodies. And we all know that ain't true.'

Ulrika said that she is happily open and honest with her children to the point that they sometimes storm out of the room.

The blonde star wrote that she is prepared for her children to know how unfair the world can be and about her own flaws and weaknesses.

Mother and daughter: Chloe said: 'Chloe is deeply disappointed by Ulrika's uneducated comments and misinformation'

The former Shooting Stars team captain said she was shocked to believe that Madison hadn't learnt more about the realities of life at her age with a mother in the public eye.

Writing that she wanted her own children to live in the real world and not a false one that she herself had created.

She went on to say that she believes a lack of honest conversation between parent and child is dangerous and sows seeds of doubt and mistrust.

Ulrika is mother to children Cameron, 27, Bo, 21, Martha, 17 and Malcolm, 13.

The father of her son Cameron is John Turnbull, who she was married to between 1990-1995.

She shares daughter Bo with Markus Kempen, who she split from shortly after Bo was born in 2000.

Martha's father is Lance Gerrard-Wright, Ulrika's husband from 2003-2005.

She then wed Brian Monet in 2008 and they share son Malcolm. In 2014, Brian also adopted her daughter Bo from the presenter's relationship with German hotel boss Markus Kempen.
John Travolta took to Instagram on Saturday to pay tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away on Friday.

The iconic actor, 68, posted a video of him sitting backstage with the American rock band, after a 2018 show at Jones Beach Theater in New York.

'Taylor Hawkins was truly gifted, appreciative, generous and fun. The world will miss him,' the Saturday Night Fever star wrote on the clip.

Tribute: John Travolta took to Instagram on Saturday to pay tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who passed away on Friday

Travolta could be seen right next to the charismatic blonde drummer, 50, while band leader Dave Grohl, 53, appeared to be working up the crowd via a camera.

On the other side of the actor was Chad Smith, 60, the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and longtime friend of Grohl.

The Grease star sported a roc n' roll concert appropriate black leather jacket on top of a black T-shirt.

A moment in time: The actor, 68, posted a video of him backstage with Hawkins, 50, band leader Dave Grohl, 53, and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, after a 2018 show at Jones Beach Theater in New York

Touching: 'Taylor Hawkins was truly gifted, appreciative, generous and fun. The world will miss him,' the Saturday Night Fever star wrote on the clip

The actor, who's currently sporting a close-shaved look, rocked longer hair at the time along with a short beard.

Meanwhile Hawkins was seen in a sleeveless grey tank top, red shorts, and a white towel wrapped around his shoulders.

The charismatic drummer rocked his shaggy blonde hair and a mustache, and was seen smiling throughout the video.

'This is the best part,' Grohl is heard telling Travolta at the start of the clip, before he playfully starts to negotiate the number of encore songs the band would play with the cheering crowd.

Having fun: 'This is the best part,' Grohl said to Travolta at the start of the clip, before he playfully started to negotiate the number of encore songs the band would play with the crowd

How many? He teased the crowd by showing one finger to suggest they'd do one song only. He then consulted Travolta, who said two would be a better number. 'No, I say one,' Grohl replied

The musician - who started his career as the drummer for the iconic Seattle grunge band Nirvana - teased the crowd by showing only one finger to suggest they'd do one song only.

He then consulted Travolta, who suggested two would be a better number. 'No, I say one,' Grohl replied.

In the end it was Hawkins who, with a smile, flashed a peace sign to suggest they'd be doing two songs instead.

Travolta then flashed three fingers to continue upping the ante, before Grohl playfully slapped his hand down.

The actor was known for his friendship with the iconic rock band, and had even joined them on stage a couple of times.

Hawkins was found dead in a hotel room in the north of Bogota, Colombia where the band were due to play at a festival on Friday night. Colombian police say his death may be drug-related.

Local reports said hotel staff called the emergency services after Hawkins suffered chest pains but he was already dead by the time medical responders arrived.
Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. (Photo by Zheng Bingzhen/Xinhua)

NANNING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The core site of the recent plane crash in south China will be excavated as all-out efforts are made to continue searching for survivors and the second black box, officials said at a news briefing on Friday.

Field exploration and shallow surface excavation have been carried out at the core crash site in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. (Photo by Zheng Bingzhen/Xinhua)

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Photo by Xu Dong/Xinhua)

Experts are working on an excavation plan for the core site, Zhu said, adding that DNA samples are being taken from relatives of the missing passengers.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft carrying 132 people crashed on the afternoon of March 21 in a mountainous area of Guangxi's Tengxian County. No survivors have been found so far. One black box has already been recovered.

Rescuers identify objects collected at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

Rescuers work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

The search and rescue scope has been expanded to nearly 200,000 square meters, and more than 2,200 people have joined the rescue efforts, said Lao Gaojin, vice mayor of Wuzhou City that administers Tengxian.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, 531 family members of 92 missing passengers had arrived in Wuzhou.

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

The engine gearbox and main landing gear remnants were found in the core crash site, said Mao Yanfeng, head of the aviation accident investigation center of CAAC.

Mao noted that it is not certain when the downloading and analyses of data from the recovered black box will be completed.

Rescuers transport pumping equipment at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at the core site of the plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

A preliminary investigation report will be submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organization within 30 days in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Mao added.
Amy Schumer thanked her fans for their support after she opened up about her battle with trichotillomania.

The 40-year-old performer posted a set of images from the set of her comedy-drama series Life & Beth on Saturday, in which she currently stars.

The actress also wrote a short message that was shared in her post's caption to express her gratitude towards all of her fans who have sent her well wishes after she openly spoke about her medical condition.

Appreciative: Amy Schumer thanked her fans for their support after she opened up about her battle with trichotillomania in the caption of a post that was shared to her Instagram account on Saturday

Schumer wrote: 'Thanks for all the love and for everyone's kind word and support on my trichotillomania. Big vulnerable vibes and tears of joy for the weight that's been lifted.

The performer added: 'Thanks to the community for embracing me when I needed it.'

The actress revealed that she had been battling trichotillomania during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that was shared on Friday.

During the sit-down, Schumer noted that her mental health had been negatively affected by her condition.

Opening up: The actress revealed that she had been battling trichotillomania during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that was shared on Friday

'I think everybody has a big secret and that's mine. And I'm proud that my big secret only hurts me but it's been what I've carried so much shame about for so long,' she said.

The Trainwreck star then noted that she still actively suffered from the condition, stating: 'It's not that I used to have this problem and now I don't. it's still something that I struggle with.'

Schumer also expressed that she was concerned about her son Gene, aged two, whom she fears may also have trichotillomania.

The comedian pointed out that 'every time he touches his head I'm having a heart attack.'

Still affected: The Trainwreck star then noted that she still actively suffered from the condition, stating: 'It's not that I used to have this problem and now I don't. it's still something that I struggle with'

The actress remarked that she wanted to be open about her condition in the hopes of providing comfort to those who also suffer from trichotillomania.

'I really don't want to have a big secret anymore. And I thought putting it in there would be good for me to alleviate some of my shame and maybe, hopefully, help others alleviate some of theirs, too,' she said.

The media outlet also reported that The TLC Foundation has praised Schumer and Hulu 'for their accurate and respectful portrayal of a person experiencing trichotillomania.'

The comedian has addressed her condition on her show, which originally premiered earlier this month.

Being honest: The actress remarked that she wanted to be open about her condition in the hopes of providing comfort to those who also suffer from trichotillomania

Life & Beth is centered on a woman who reevaluates her life after experiencing numerous flashbacks to her teenage years.

The series' cast includes performers such as Michael Cera, Michael Rapaport and Laura Benanti.

The comedian serves as the program's star, and she also both directs and executive produces its episodes.

Life & Beth has received widespread critical acclaim ever since its debut, with much praise going towards Schumer for her performance.
Amanda Holden showed off her flexibility as she stretched her leg straight up in the air with ease while relaxing in her bedroom for an Instagram snap on Saturday.

The Britain's Got Talent host, 51, channelled her inner Victoria Beckham - who is famous for striking the same pose - while wearing a pair of hot pink pyjamas by clothing brand Nadine Merabi.

TV and radio personality Amanda glanced up at her perfectly pointed foot while wearing a pair of matching fuschia heels for the fun photo shoot.

Talented: Amanda Holden, 51, showed off her flexibility as she stretched her leg straight up in the air with ease while wearing a pair of hot pink satin pyjamas

The star's 150 nightwear featured a feather trim to the cuff on the trouser and the shirt and diamante buttons which glistened in the light.

She wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty facial features and struck a casual pose as she sat with her chin on her hand and her legs crossed in another picture.

Amanda captioned her post: 'Never knowingly underdressed! Thank you @nadinemerabi for this gorgeous piece in time for #MothersDay.'

In style: The star's 150 nightwear featured a feather trim to the cuff on the trouser and the shirt and diamante buttons which glistened in the light

The television personality's pose with her leg in the air was reminiscent of that of Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, who often puts her pin in the air on social media.

It comes as Britain's Got Talent bosses released the first trailer for the new series on Saturday, with the show set to return in April after a break last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Amanda and her fellow judges Alesha Dixon, 43, Simon Cowell, 62, and David Walliams, 50, are all due to take part and have been filming auditions in recent weeks.

Supple: Victoria Beckham is known for posing with her leg in the air just like Amanda did this weekend

Coming soon: Britain's Got Talent is set to return to TV screens in April, with ITV releasing the first trailer ahead of the new series on Saturday

The promo clip, which featuring presenters Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, both 46, takes a look the best moments from the show's past 15 series.

Iconic auditions from the likes of Susan Boyle, dance group Diversity, Ashleigh and her dog Pudsey, and Stavros Flatley, are seen.

With the first auditions taking place earlier this year, hopeful contestants will all battle it out for their place to perform in front of Her Majesty at the Royal Variety.

Exciting: Fans of the talent show will no doubt rejoice at the news that the programme will be returning to ITV following last year's cancellation due to Covid-19

Ready to go: Simon Cowell and his fellow judges, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams will all return to the panel

Legend: Iconic auditions from the likes of Susan Boyle (pictured), dance group Diversity, Ashleigh and her dog Pudsey and Stavros Flatley could be seen

The clip was captioned: 'The show that brings you non-stop talent is BACK! But who will be next?'

The hit ITV talent programme was previously postponed due to safety concerns and the restrictions brought about by tier systems and lockdowns.

Bosses said despite the efforts of the teams at ITV, Thames and head judge Simon's Syco, they were forced to call plans off.

Interesting: The clip also showcased some of the shows worst auditions

Wow! George Sampson incredible dance routine featured in the montage

At the time they said: 'With our absolute priority of safeguarding the well-being and health of every person involved in the programme from judges, hosts and contestants to all of the crew and audience, the decision has been made to  unfortunately  move the record and broadcast of the 15th series of Britains Got Talent to 2022.

BGT is known for its diversity of talent with big dance groups, wonderful choirs and lavish orchestras at its heart, and it has become clear that not only is it not possible to film auditions with these types of acts in a secure way but also that they are not able to adequately rehearse and prepare safely.

'Safety has to come first and, as a result, the recording of the show cant currently go ahead as planned.

Welcome back: With the first auditions taking place earlier this year, hopeful contestants will all battle it out for their place to perform in front of Her Majesty at the Royal Variety

Good news! The clip was captioned: 'The show that brings you non-stop talent is BACK! But who will be next?'

Return: The hit ITV talent show was previously postponed due to safety concerns and the restrictions brought about by tier systems and lockdowns

Earlier this month, Amanda revealed that Simon is planning a permanent move back to the UK  and insisted that he isn't quitting TV.

The Heart Breakfast presenter, 51, says music mogul Simon, 62, who resides between California and London, is 'aiming to spend more time at home' now fiancee Lauren Silverman's son Adam is 'growing up' and she's become an 'adopted Brit.'

In an exclusive interview, Amanda, who sits on the Britain's Got Talent judging panel alongside close pal Simon, says he's still 'hungry' for success but is keen to enjoy family life as he plans his upcoming wedding to Lauren.

On UK soil: Earlier this month, Amanda revealed that Simon is planning a permanent move back to the UK  and insisted that he isn't quitting TV

Family time: The Heart Breakfast presenter, 51, says music mogul Simon, 62, who resides between California and London, is 'aiming to spend more time at home'

Amanda told MailOnline: 'He is amazing and him and Lauren are in the best space.

'We had a lovely family lunch together on Sunday and he's very, very chilled and knows exactly what he wants from life now  he's not retiring by any means.

'He is full of ideas and has some amazing ideas on the back-burner. It is in Simon's blood, it is terminal, the hunger, the creativity, maybe in the end Simon won't be on camera but he's always going to be involved. He just wants to reap some of the things that he's sown and enjoy life a bit better.

'They're going to be aiming to spend some more time in the UK, which is really nice for me.'

Britains Got Talent returns to ITV this spring.
Sam Thompson gushed over his sister Louise in a heartfelt Instagram post as they celebrated her 32nd birthday on Saturday.

The Made In Chelsea star, 29, highlighted that his former co-star nearly died following the birth of her first child Leo-Hunter with fiance Ryan Libbey in December.

He kept things casual in a green T-shirt while sharing a warm embrace with his sibling, who cut a chic figure in a yellow checkered frilly dress.

'There was a chance this day wouldn't happen': Sam Thompson shared a warm embrace with his sister Louise as he took to Instagram on her 32nd birthday on Saturday... after she nearly died while giving birth to her son Leo-Hunter

Adorable: In his caption, the reality star wrote: 'There was a chance not too long ago this day wouldnt happen. And now here we are'

In his caption, the reality star wrote: 'There was a chance not too long ago this day wouldnt happen. And now here we are.

Grateful for every minute I get to annoy you on this earth Happy birthday to my sister and my best friend. Heres to many more love you so much .

He hilariously added of his next door neighbour: 'Ps. Take down the fence (starting a petition).'

Louise previously told how she spent five weeks in hospital after nearly dying following the birth of her first child.

Wow! Louise previously told how she spent five weeks in hospital after nearly dying following the birth of her first child

The influencer announced she had welcomed a son named Leo-Hunter in a December Instagram post, but revealed she 'suffered serious complications' that left her in intensive care.

Louise shared the first picture of her adorable son on her page and admitted 'it wasn't easy' to explain what has happened to her in recent weeks.

The reality star announced that she was taking a break from social media on November 14, ahead of the birth, but had remained silent on the social media platform up until then.

Baby joy: Mama: The influencer announced she had welcomed a son named Leo-Hunter in a December Instagram post

The reality personality, wrote: 'Hello everyone, this post isn't an easy one for me to write. I have so many things that I want to say but at the same time I'm struggling to find the words to explain what has happened to me and my family so for now I will keep it quite simple.

'The reason I have been absent for weeks is because I have been very unwell.

'5 weeks ago I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy Leo-Hunter Libbey weighing in at 7lbs. Unfortunately it wasn't the easiest start for either of us. One ended up in NICU and the other ended up in ICU.

Reassuring her followers that Leo was not unwell for long, Louise said: 'Whilst Leo made a fairly quick recovery. I have been recovering in hospital for a month with various serious complications.'

Mama: She went on to reveal she 'suffered serious complications' that left her in intensive care

Speaking out: Louise shared a lengthy explanation for her absence as she thanked her fans for all their support and well wishes

Louise, who was recently involved in a house fire at her mother's house which meant she had nowhere to live while heavily pregnant, said that the two incidents have meant she how has a new outlook on life.

'In all honesty I never imagined that so many bad things could happen to me, but to dance with death twice brings a whole new view of the world - a stark reminder of how short and sacred life really is.

'We need to start living, we need to start loving, we need to start enjoying every minute detail in life (certainly easier said than done when you're stuck in mental and/or physical purgatory or dealing with serious illness, depression or the fear of the unknown), but if you DO have the capacity, then try and cling onto any nuggets of good... and please please please be grateful for good health. The hard truth is that you don't know how lucky you are to have it until it's too late.'

Causing concern: Fans of Louise and Ryan had been expressing their concern after the normally social media savvy pair took a break from posting

Going on to reveal she is seeking psychological support following the trauma, Louise said: 'The reality is that I am in a bit of a strange place mentally and physically and I might be for a while, but that's just part of the me now and part of my recovery.

'It's not going to be easy or linear but thankfully I am being offered some very valuable psychological help and the good news is that I'm starting to experience some good hours as well as bad ones. (Sometimes living hour by hour is your only option).'

Concluding by saying that things are on the up, Louise said: 'I want to finish with some happy news 'I have been given the green light and been discharged from hospital which means that i'm able to recover from the comfort of my own home for Christmas. For the first time in a month I actually see a future where I get to live peacefully on this earth with my son.

'I can't wait to start our new journey together as a family of 3 and to start bonding little baby Leo.'

Reaction: Louise and Ryan received an influx of support from their friends and followers in the comments section of the post after sharing the news

She concluded: 'A massive thank you to everyone who has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. It is working. More thank yous to follow. Im too overwhelmed and a bit scared right now.

'But I did want to send a prayer out to anyone who is also suffering and who might need love too. Life can be cruel and Christmas can be hard. It's a good time to remember those less fortunate...there are a lot of them. Ive seen it.'

Louise and Ryan received an influx of support from their friends and followers in the comments section of the post after sharing the news.

Pictured: Louise announced that she was taking a break from social media ahead of the birth on November 14, but had since been silent on Instagram up until now

Influencer Hattie Bourn, wrote: 'He is perfect. Sending you so much love and strength. You've got this mama.'

TOWIE star Georgia Kousoulou, said: 'Sending you so much love. And congratulations he is beautiful.'

Jessica Wright said: 'Congratulations Louise & sending so much love & strength to you right now. Leo looks amazing.'

While, Pete Wicks penned: 'Sending love to you, Ryan and the baby.'

Ferne McCann said: 'Sending so much love and strength my darling. Praying by for you. Congratulations on Leo. He looks so perfect.'

After seeing some of the messages, Louise wrote: 'A massive thank you to everyone who has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. It is working.

'More thank yous to follow. I am a bit overwhelemed and scared right now.

'But I did want to send a prayer out to anyone who is also suffering and might need love too. Life can be cruel and Christmas can be hard.

'It's a good time to remember those less fortunate, there are a lot of them. I've seen it.'

It hasn't been an easy few months for the media personality, who revealed she had 'basically lived out of a car' since being involved in the devastating house fire.

Journey: Louise had been sharing regular updates about her pregnancy on Instagram

In October, Louise admitted she had been experiencing 'a bit of social anxiety', and detailed how tough things have been since the crisis, which also concerned her mum, her fiance and their dogs.

Arms around her beloved pooches Koji and Toto, the Made In Chelsea star began her update by listing those she is thankful for.

'fire officers, nhs staff, neighbours, family members, old friends, new friends, instagram friends who I hardly know, my wonderful agency, brands I work with, the lady working behind the counter in the shop, my business partners, work colleagues, fitness clients, the lady in the park this morning, strangers on the street...

'Thank you for your incredible support,' she wrote.

Ordeal: In October, Louise admitted she had been experiencing 'a bit of social anxiety', and detailed how tough things have been since the crisis, which also concerned her mum, her fiance and their dogs

She continued: 'I have to say I am totally overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity that people offer up when trying to help someone get through a crisis.

'I have had messages from people that Ive met ONCE offer up their best friends, cousins, dogs, ex girlfriends, dads house in order to try to help. It means a lot - I feel incredibly lucky and I wish everyone could be this lucky.'

Louise was staying with her mother Karen at the time of the fire, while renovations were done on her South West London home.

Grateful: The Made In Chelsea star began her update by listing those she is thankful for

Update: 'I have to say I am totally overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity that people offer up when trying to help someone get through a crisis' Louise wrote

Of her current living situation, she said: 'Weve moved in and out of 4 different hotel/hostels over the past week and basically lived out of a car and the truth is that its been really tough - one of the hardest things to deal with has been the total lack of security and privacy.

'Im experiencing a bit of social anxiety atm and sometimes I just want to hide away and not have to come into contact with other humans. You cant do that when youre nomadic.'

Louise is no stranger to showcasing her love for her furry friends and also gave fans an update on how they're doing.

Scary: Louise is no stranger to showcasing her love for her furry friends and also gave fans an update on how they're doing

'The other thing (which was arguably even harder) was having to spend 5 days/nights without the dogs, who are basically my children. Sadly they arent welcome everywhere and they just take so much looking after which we couldnt do from the car.

'I was so paranoid that they would be heavily traumatised by the incident because they got lost in the smoke before being rescued by ryan but thankfully they seem to be ok and they have been impeccably looked after by scott, sam and zara. A million thank yous,' she remarked.

Remaining optimistic, Louise said: 'I had no idea how hard it was to find somewhere to stay on a short term basis (sadly my mums house will take YONKS to restore), so now were just keeping our fingers and toes crossed for our own project.

'Thankfully we have found a temporary solution which means that me, ryan, bump, koji and toto can camp out under one roof [sic] hopefully until the baby is born if needs be.'

She gave a special mention to Ryan, who she is expecting her first child with: 'Thanks for minimising all stress @ryan.libbey u da man! Id be screwed without you.'

Earlier on in the day, the mum-to-be put on a brave face as she told fans she was preparing for the chance of an early arrival.

'Off to go and scoop up our pram from my agents office. It was delivered there last week during the chaos.

'Trying to make sure we have everything lined up incase we have an early arrival. With our current run of luck anything is possible,' she said.
Kourtney Kardashian started off her day with a sexy lingerie snap that she shared with her 165 million fans on Instagram.

On Saturday, the 42-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star posted a photo in which she modeled a semi-sheer bustier while posing in a bathroom.

'mornin' ', Kourtney wrote in the caption of her slideshow.

Good morning! Kourtney Kardashian started off her day with a sexy lingerie snap that she shared with her 165 million fans on Instagram

The television personality's ample cleavage was on full display in the ivory Chantilly lace bustier which featured a floral pattern.

The brunette beauty wore the ends of her sleek bob slightly curled under, with a few strands covering her left eye.

She sported a glossy pink lipstick with brown lipliner and nude eyeshadow.

She accessorized with a delicate gold necklace that had a small heart pendant as she gave the camera a sultry stare.

Mood music: The Poosh founder was clearly in the mood for jazz as she included a screenshot of the song she was listening to this morning

The Poosh founder was clearly in the mood for jazz as she included a screenshot of the song she was listening to this morning.

The song was Julie London's cover of the Dean Martin classic hit Sway.

To conclude her slideshow, Kourtney posted a video in which she panned the camera over a scenic beach as people strolled by.

Beautiful view: To conclude her slideshow, Kourtney posted a video in which she panned the camera over a scenic beach as people strolled by

On her Instagram Story, the reality star also shared a screenshot of her fiance Travis Barker's tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and added a broken heart emoji.

On Friday, the Foo Fighters confirmed that Taylor had passed away at the age of 50.

Travis shared a black and white photo of the late drummer with a heartfelt caption.

Sad: On her Instagram Story, the reality star also shared a screenshot of her fiance Travis Barker's tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and added a broken heart emoji

He wrote, 'I dont have the words. Sad to write this or to never see you again.

'Ill never forget Laguna Beach days when I was a trash man playing in a punk rock band and you were playing with Alanis.

'Youd come watch me play in dive bars and be like, kid youre a star. And I thought you were crazy but you gave me so much hope and determination.

'Years later we toured together with Blink and Foos in Australia and I have the best memories of smoking cigarettes in the restroom of flights we were on together and watching your set every night. To say Ill miss you my friend isnt enough. Till the next time we talk drums and smoke in the boys room  Rest In Peace.'

Trio: Earlier, Kourtney shared a photo in which she was seen posing with the Blink-182 drummer, 46, and her sister Khloe Kardashian, 37

Earlier, Kourtney shared a photo in which she was seen posing with the Blink-182 drummer, 46, and her sister Khloe Kardashian, 37.

The snap was taken on Wednesday night as the two attended a party for Khloe's fashion brand Good American at Nobu in Malibu.

The couple donned matching black leather outfits with Kourtney rocking a moto jacket with alligator print pants while Travis was clad in a Enfants Riches Deprimes leather jumpsuit.

Khloe wore an all-denim ensemble comprised of a mini dress and long trench coat.

In the photo, Travis was seen giving Kourtney a tender kiss on the forehead.

The pair, who got engaged in October after less than a year of dating, also packed on the PDA before heading into the party.

Loved up: The pair, who got engaged in October after less than a year of dating, also packed on the PDA before heading into the party. Seen in February 2022

As fans have noticed, the duo have never shied away from expressing their affection for one another in public.

And the couple's love story will continue to play out on small screens in the upcoming Hulu series, The Kardashians.

A new trailer for the series showed Kourtney revealing plans for her fourth child as she visited a fertility doctor with Travis.

Kourtney is already mother to three children that she shares with her ex Scott Disick: son Mason, 12; daughter Penelope, nine; and son Reign, seven.

Travis also has three children with his ex-wife Shanna Moakler: daughter Alabama, 16; and son Landon, 18; and stepdaughter Atiana De La Hoya, 22.
She always turns heads on an outing.

And Shelby Tribble pulled out all the stops on Saturday as she put on a busty display a plunging black mini dress at the Strictly Dancing Ball held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The ex-TOWIE star, 29, looked sensational as she posed for snaps in the satin ensemble with statement bow detail showing off her ample cleavage.

Wow: Shelby Tribble pulled out all the stops on Saturday as she put on a busty display a plunging black mini dress at the Strictly Dancing Ball held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London

She teamed the look with a pair of transparent clear heel sandals while accessorising with a pair of statement gold earrings.

The TV personality upped the glam with a rich palette of make-up on her face, while her raven locks were left to loosely cascade over her shoulders.

Shelby looked radiant on the red carpet as she beamed from ear to ear at the star-studded event.

Stunner: The ex-TOWIE star, 29, looked sensational as she posed for snaps in the satin ensemble with statement bow detail showing off her ample cleavage

Earlier on in the day, the social media star took to Instagram to document her journey to the bash as she was chauffer driven by her boyfriend Sam Mucklow.

The couple looked all loved-up as she placed an endearing hand on her beau's face as he drove along the motorway.

The pair welcomed their son Abel in November 2020 and have been going from strength to strength ever since.

Glam: Earlier on in the day, the social media star took to Instagram to document her journey to the event as she was chauffer driven by her boyfriend Sam Mucklow

Cute: The couple looked all loved-up as she placed an endearing hand on her beau's face as he drove along the motorway

The duo first began to document their romance on screen on TOWIE.

However, they bowed out of the show in 2019 to take the pressure off their romance, before later welcoming their first born.

Mother-of-one Shelby has previously been outspoken about the 'fake show', as she claimed she is far happier after walking away from the drama of the ITVBe show.

Happy family: Shelby and Sam bowed out of TOWIE in 2019 to take the pressure off their romance, before later welcoming baby, Abel, ten months

She joined the cast for the 22nd series in 2018.

However in July last year she appeared to have weighed in following the rumoured axe of 10 of her co-stars in a bid to 'freshen up' the reality show.

At the time, she took to Twittter and wrote: 'Karma really is a wonderful thing', followed by a laughing face emoji, according to the Mirror.
Robert Irwin and Chandler Powell are known to be close, becoming even firmer friends after Chandler wed Robert's sister Bindi Irwin.

And on Wednesday, the pair carved out space in their schedules to enjoy some quality time together on the Sunshine Coast.

Robert, 18, and his brother-in-law, 25, grabbed their boards and hit the waves with Chandler's dad Chris, who is currently visiting from Florida.

Board brothers! Robert Irwin showed off his surfing skills as he hit the beach with his brother-in-law Chandler Powell and his father Chris on the Sunshine Coast

Fun in the sun! Robert, 18, and his brother-in-law grabbed their boards and hit the waves with Chandler's dad

During the beach trip, Robert slipped into a rash vest and board shorts as he showed off his skills in the water.

Chandler also wore a black rash vet and navy shorts as he joined Robert.

He then showed off his impressive skills as he effortlessly rode the crashing waves.

After a fun day at the beach, Chandler, Robert and Chris were seen putting their surf boards into the car before heading home.

Surf's up! During the beach trip, Robert slipped into a rash vest and board shorts as he showed off his skills in the water

Impressive: Chandler also wore a black rash vet and navy shorts as he joined Robert in the water

On holiday: Chandler's dad Chris is currently visiting from Florida

The pair are great pals, and Robert even helped Chandler practice his proposal to Bindi.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2019 Robert explained: 'So, before we did it, Chandler came up to me... and said "I want to make sure it's perfect where I'm doing this proposal"'.

He added: 'So I stood in for Bindi and mocked up where he was going to propose.'

Hitting the waves! Chandler showed off his impressive skills as he effortlessly rode the crashing waves

Back home: After a fun day at the beach, Chandler, Robert and Chris were seen putting their surf boards into the car before heading home

Good friends: The pair are great pals, and Robert even helped Chandler practice his proposal to Bindi

Robert also walked Bindi down the aisle when she married American wakeboarder Chandler at Australia Zoo in March 2020.

Bindi met Chandler in 2013 while giving him a tour of Australia Zoo.

The Florida-born athlete now works with Bindi, her mother Terri, and brother Robert at Australia Zoo.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2019 Robert explained: 'So, before we did it, Chandler came up to me... and said "I want to make sure it's perfect where I'm doing this proposal"'

He added: 'So I stood in for Bindi and mocked up where he was going to propose'

Bindi and Chandler welcomed their daughter Grace Warrior on March 26 last year, just one day after she was born on their first wedding anniversary.

Bindi and Robert are the children of Australian icon Steve Irwin, who was filming in shallow waters in the Great Barrier Reef when a stingray fatally stung the wildlife identity in 2006.

Steve left behind his widow Terri as well as children Bindi and Robert.

Family: Bindi and Robert are the children of Australian icon Steve Irwin, who was filming in shallow waters in the Great Barrier Reef when a stingray fatally stung the wildlife identity in 2006

Growing family: Bindi and Chandler welcomed their daughter Grace Warrior on March 26 last year, just one day after she was born on their first wedding anniversary
Jamie Dornan showed off his Irish sense of humour on Thursday at the Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles as he made a cheeky remark about playing Christian Grey in the raunchy Fifty Shades of Grey films.

The 39-year-old actor was honoured for his role in Belfast, a 2021 semi-autobiographical film from Kenneth Branagh about an Irish working-class family during the 1960s, at The Ebell Club.

The movie star noticed that previous honorees received a highlight reel featuring key moments from their acting career, however with none in store for Jamie - he showed he was 'up for the craic' and whipped out a set of handcuffs on stage.

Funny: Jamie Dornan whipped out a set of handcuffs on stage at the Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday as he made a cheeky quip about playing Christian Grey in the raunchy Fifty Shades of Grey films

He said: 'In the absence of a reel, I'm just going to act out my entire career.

'Only the things you know best. 'I'm going to need a participant from the audience.'

Jamie brought his wife Amelia Warner to the star-studded event on the night.

The Fall actor put on a dapper display in a navy suit and an unbuttoned white shirt which he combined with a pair of polished black leather shoes.

Couple: Jamie and his wife Amelia Warner attended the US-Ireland Alliance's 16th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards at The Ebell Club of Los Angeles on Thursday

He gazed lovingly at the musician who cut a chic figure in a yellow kitted vest sweater featuring diamond patterns in grey and black.

She continued her trendy ensemble with a plaid grey maxi skirt while adding inches to her frame in a pair of black heels.

Painting her pout an eye-popping shade of red, she wore her light brown locks over her shoulder and linked arms with her partner while posing for onlookers.

It comes after Australian streaming giant Stan renewed his hit thriller series, The Tourist, for a second season.

Doting husband: He gazed lovingly at the musician, also 39, who cut a chic figure in a yellow kitted vest sweater featuring diamond patterns in grey and black

Suave: The Irish actor, 39, put on a dapper display in a navy suit and an unbuttoned white shirt which he combined with a pair of polished black leather shoes

Starring Jamie, the show centres around a British man who gets stuck in the outback after a car tries to run him off the road. He wakes up in hospital with no idea what happened.

Jamie previously told EW that he'd happily sign up for season two, but the show was only meant to be one series in total.

'That wasn't the plan, to be honest,' he said.

'We all signed up for one... So we'll see what we get to, but I would love to.'

Jamie's father Jim tragically died while he was stuck in isolation in Adelaide ahead of filming The Tourist's first season.

Last month, he said he felt helpless and was left a 'wreck' at the time.

Out of this world: Painting her pout an eye-popping shade of red, she wore her light brown locks over her shoulder and linked arms with her partner while posing for onlookers

Gang: The couple appeared to be in deep conversation with Emma Freud (right)

'Getting that news no matter where you are geographically is sh**e, you know,' Jamie told News Corp Australia at the time.

'I was stuck out there, denied seeing my sisters, denied seeing my stepmother  not ideal, but you're a wreck no matter where you are when something like that happens to you.'

Despite being in immeasurable pain, Jamie carried on with filming and said the work was a good distraction from his grief.

Heartfelt: The Fifty Shades star gave a personal speech as he accepted the Oscar Wilde Award

Looking good: He appeared to be delighted with his latest gong

'There might be lasting damage, who knows, but at the time it felt like a good distraction,' he said.

Jamie recently described last year as the 'worst year of his life' after losing his father.

Speaking to The Telegraph, he said he struggled to cope with all the praise he received for his latest projects Belfast and The Tourist because of the toll the last year has taken on him.

'It's a strange thing to end the year with all this positivity... because on many levels it's been the worst year of my life, and the hardest,' the Irish leading man explained.

Jamie - who had not seen his father for 18 months before his death due to the lockdown and his filming schedule - also revealed that the family still hasn't held a funeral 10 months on from Jim's death, but did not explain the reason for the delay.

Jim died in March aged 73 after contracting coronavirus.

He was a renowned obstetrician and gynaecologist and aside from his medical career, he also took a guest role in his son Jamie's gripping BBC One series The Fall, where he played police board member John Porter, in a 2016 episode.

The first season of The Tourist is available now on Stan in Australia.
Bridgerton belle Simone Ashley says the Regency romp's colour-blind casting helped to convince her that she could star in a period drama.

The British-Indian actress, who plays headstrong leading lady Kate Sharma in the second series of the hit show, revealed that she no longer considers the colour of her skin when seeking new roles.

'I didn't watch period dramas because I felt like I couldn't relate to them, maybe because I couldn't see myself in one,' says Simone.

'Then Bridgerton came along.'

As millions tuned in to the first episode of the new series last week on streaming channel Netflix, fans welcomed the casting of two South Asian characters  Kate and her sister Edwina, played by Charithra Chandran.

In an interview with Glamour magazine, which is online now, Simone says she felt typecast earlier in her career because of her skin colour, but says nowadays her appearance is not a factor.

'I always saw myself for my personality and not for the colour of my skin,' she says.

'Representation matters, and there is a minority that needs to be represented more, and I'm very aware of that.'

Simone Ashley (pictured), who plays leading lady Kate Sharma in the second series of the hit show, revealed that she no longer considers the colour of her skin when seeking new roles

Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma and Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in an episode of the hit Netflix series

But she adds she wants 'to be seen as an actress who has talent and has a brain, and it just doesn't matter what I look like.'

In the second series of Bridgerton, Simone, 26, from Camberley in Surrey, stars alongside Jonathan Bailey, who plays the show's heartthrob, Anthony Bridgerton.

Simone takes over the leading lady role from Phoebe Dynevor, who as Daphne Bridgerton has only a small part in this series.

The role meant Simone having to grapple with the discomfort of wearing a corset.

She says: 'That was interesting because when you're in a corset you can't put your shoes on.

'On my first day, I thought, 'OK, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energised.'

'So I had this massive portion of salmon and that's when I needed to be sick, because I was wearing the corset. I realised, when you wear a corset, you just don't eat.

'It changes your body. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then the minute you stop wearing it, you're just back to how your body is. I had a lot of pain with it, too. I think I tore my shoulder.'

Simone (far left) takes over the leading lady role from Phoebe Dynevor, who as Daphne Bridgerton has only a small part in this series

Simone, whose parents are immigrants from India, said she would have struggled to cope during the Regency period because of her feminist principles.

But she hailed her Bridgerton character for inspiring her to be more headstrong.

She says: 'Don't be afraid to be difficult. It's a word that we hear a lot these days. 'Oh, she's being difficult or tricky', when maybe someone's just following their instincts and speaking out for themselves, and I think, why not? It's not a bad thing. You're just taking care of you.'

Simone added that playing no-nonsense Kate had been an education. 'I'm learning to be more headstrong. Kate's really mature and I've learnt a lot from her in that sense.'

Read the full interview in the GLAMOUR UK March Digital Issue online now.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues on Saturday as relevant parties are working to broker a peaceful solution.

The Russian military said Friday that the main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been completed in general.

Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine will continue until all tasks set by President Vladimir Putin are fulfilled.

The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported Friday that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country's negotiation process with Russia is very difficult.

He stressed that the Ukrainian side insists on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine at the talks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency, the two leaders discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's central bank said on Friday that Russia has imposed restrictions on the movement of funds that could be transferred to "unfriendly" countries and regions.

The central bank said on Telegram that the measure was taken in response to the freezing of part of Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves in some countries.

"A comparable amount" of funds are affected, it said, without specifying the exact sum.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service








Vijayawada: Terming the Andhra Pradesh Budget 2022-23 as a People's Budget, Chief Minister Jagan Reddy said on Friday that his governments performance in the past three years was reflected in the positive mandate the YSRC got in local bodies polls. We did transparent governance, he said.

Speaking in the state assembly, the Chief Minister said a budget of Rs 2.56 lakh crore has been introduced for the year 2022-23. In tune with the promises in the YSRC election manifesto, the budget for the coming fiscal fulfills the aspirations of the people in both welfare and development, he said.

Jagan said his government has fulfilled 95 per cent of the poll promises in three years, despite a fall in revenue due to Covid19. This government stood by the people at all times.

He noted that the government released the welfare calendar and is following the same. This is in essence a welfare calendar for the poor and a worries calendar for the Leader of Opposition Chandrababu Naidu, the CM said.

Jagan Reddy predicted that this will prove to be a Farewell Calendar to Naidu. Our government is implementing the welfare calendar in a transparent manner by Direct Beneficiary Transfer (DBT), putting money directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, without giving scope for exploitation by intermediaries.

The chief minister said those who had voted for the TD in the past were now backing the YSRC government as they have witnessed a corruption-free welfare governance. Hence, they gave us a huge mandate in the local body polls.

Going into the budget details, the CM said Rs 55,000 crore was credited to welfare scheme beneficiaries through DBT and another Rs 17305 crore spent on Non-DBT schemes.

The chief minister released the welfare calendar for the 2022-2023 fiscal, stressing that the government is implementing various schemes and programmes for the welfare and development of all sections of the society.

April 2022

First phase of Jagananna Vasathi Deevena, YSR Zero Interest loans to Women

May -2022

First phase of Vidya Deevena, YSR Free Crop Insurance, Matsyakara Bharosa

June 2022

Jagananna Amma Vodi

July 2022

Jagananna Vidya Kanuka, YSR Vahana Mitra, Kapu Nestam, Jagananna Thodu, Pending releases to the left over beneficiaries.

August 2022

Second phase Vidya Deevena, Industrial Incentives to MSME, YSR Nethanna Nestham.

September 2022

YSR Cheyuta

October 2022

Second Phase of YSR Rytu Bharosa, second phase of Vasathi Deevena

November 2022

Third phase of Vidya Deevena and YSR Zero Interest Loans for farmers

December 2022

EBC Nestham, YSR Law Nestham and Pending releases to the left-over beneficiaries.

January 2023

Third Phase of YSR Rythu Bharosa, YSR Aasara, Increase of YSR Pension amount.

February 2023

Fourth phase of Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Jagananna Chedhodu

March 2023

Third phase of Vasathi Deevena.
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- China's people-centered philosophy has its roots in traditional Chinese culture, as is reflected in the idiom "Min Wei Bang Ben," which means people are the foundation of the state.

The saying first appeared in the "Old Text" version of The Book of History, an ancient classic in China. "Our ancestor Yu the Great warned: (a ruler) must maintain a close relationship with the people; he must not regard them as insignificant. They are the foundation of a state, and a state can enjoy peace only when its foundation is firm."

In the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.), the people-oriented thought was further developed by renowned Chinese philosophers like Mencius and Xunzi. This gave rise to the "people first" thought advocated by Confucianism.

Mencius once stated: "The essence of a state is the people, next come the god of land and the god of grain (which stand for state power), and last the ruler."

Xunzi likened people to water, and as one of his famous sayings goes: "Just as water can float a boat, so can water overturn it."

The people-centered philosophy has run through China's history for thousands of years. In modern times, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has upheld its time-honored philosophy of putting the people first, which is the key to both its success and its future.

Under the leadership of the CPC, China seeks a people-centered modernization. This is best illustrated by China's massive poverty-alleviation campaign and its handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, where such concepts and practices as "No one should be left behind" and "People first, life first" have been demonstrated. 
The scrapping of the GO will lead to mushrooming of concrete structures in the catchment areas of Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, the twin reservoirs which were the lifelines of twin cities until not long ago. (Representational Image/ DC)

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos proposal to scrap GO 111, if implemented, will eventually result in urban flooding and disturb ecological balance, say experts.

The scrapping of the GO will lead to mushrooming of concrete structures in the catchment areas of Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, the twin reservoirs which were the lifelines of twin cities until not long ago. This would cause the city to lose nine per cent of existing groundwater, which is present in the deep (confined) aquifer of the reservoirs.

A groundwater department official said due to rapid urbanisation, 40 per cent of water from different sources enter nalas and flows eventually into the Musi. Another 41 per cent of water evaporates due to the alarming rise in temperatures. A mere 10 per cent of water enters the soil.

According to groundwater department officials, once the twin reservoirs are polluted due to rapid urbanisation, it would be near impossible to revive the lakes. Industrial waste flowing into the lakes will make matters worse, resulting in polluting the groundwater. Authorities said a new scenario would arise where the area would face water crisis and urban flooding at the same time.

These two reservoirs are old and historic ones that catered to the water needs of the city, especially drinking water. Urbanisation already has adverse effects on groundwater. Construction of roads, buildings, industries and other amenities to city residents will make matters worse. The development would prevent surface water from infiltrating into the ground," the official said. He said if infiltrated, the industrial pollutants would contaminate groundwater and even construction of rainwater harvesting pits would not help.

"Twin reservoirs are the main source of groundwater in the area. Once the development takes place in the catchment areas, the structures would restrict free flow of water through the feeder channels and natural flow would be eventually disturbed, said Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi, an independent environment policy expert. This apart, he said, the humidity would also increase due to loss of water space, green space and open space.

Kalpana Ramesh, environmentalist and water conservationist, said that if GO 111 was revoked and development encouraged, then there was a threat to the lakes as they would become a pool of sewage. "There must be a development process in place that is connected to the water storage. The development must be like that of an eco-sensitive zone where rainwater harvesting is of utmost importance.

The development in villages must be defined and should not become another concrete jungle like Madhapur and Kukatpally. There is nothing to cry about now as the violation of GO 111 has been done over years already, she said.
New Delhi: Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will be in New Delhi from April 1-3 for bilateral talks with PM Narendra Modi. This will be his first bilateral visit abroad after becoming PM in July 2021. Apart from meeting PM Modi on April 2, Mr Deuba will also travel to Varanasi to pray at Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

This visit is in the tradition of periodic high level exchanges between the two countries. It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in health sector, power, connectivity, people to people links and other issues of mutual interest, sources said.

Mr Deuba has visited India in each of his four earlier stints as PM and his most recent visit in his capacity as PM was in 2017, though he had met PM Modi on the sidelines of COP26 Glasgow summit.

Mr Deubas visit is expected to improve ties between the two nations that remained largely turbulent during his predecessor K.P. Sharma Olis tenure since 2015. In recent times it became more bitter, particularly after Oli mocked Indian emblem and redrew Nepal map to include the Kalapani area that is in Indian territory amid his growing closeness to China.
New Delhi: In his first meeting after the BJPs sweeping victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, as the party returned to power with an absolute majority, chief minister-designate Yogi Adityanath on Sunday met the BJP top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief J.P. Nadda and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh. Yogi Adityanath also met vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu. During his meeting with Mr Shah at the latters residence, the BJP president was also present.

The UP CMs meeting with Mr Modi at the latters official residence lasted for nearly two hours. Mr Modi, who was personally invited by Yogi Adityanath for the oath-taking ceremony of the new government in UP that is likely to take place on March 19, expressed confidence that he will take the state to new heights of development in the coming years.

Had a meeting with Yogi Adityanath today and congratulated him over the historic win in the Uttar Pradesh polls. He has worked tirelessly to fulfil the peoples aspirations in the last five years. I have full confidence that he will take the states development to new heights in the coming years, the PM later tweeted. Yogi Adityanath is the first Uttar Pradesh CM to be re-elected to office after 37 years.

Earlier, Yogi Adityanath also met BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

The UP CM is in the national capital to discuss the composition of his new ministerial team, which is expected to have many new faces and also the representation of BJP allies Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party in the new government. Speculation is rife in Lucknow that the new Cabinet could make take important decisions, including on stray cattle and free electricity to farmers, after its first meeting. The fate of two deputy CMs in the previous government -- Keshav Prasad Maurya, who lost the election, and Dinesh Sharma -- is also to be decided by the partys central leadership.

In Uttarakhand, meanwhile, another state where the BJP has retained power, the new government is likely to take the oath on March 20. The senior BJP leaders from the hill state are likely to meet the partys top brass on Monday over the formation of the government.
Hyderabad: The Centre has made it categorical that it was not possible to procure the entire paddy stock from Telangana in rabi as was being demanded by the state government.

The Telangana ministers' delegation, which met Union minister for food and public distribution, Piyush Goyal, in Delhi, along with TRS MPs, on Thursday was dealt a big jolt when the minister made this decision clear.

Official sources said Goyal took the delegation to task for making 'meaningless and unjust' demands since last November on the paddy procurement issue despite the Centre clarifying on umpteen occasions that it was not possible to procure entire paddy or boiled rice from Telangana or any other state.

Following the snub, the TRS is to launch agitation programmes in all districts from Friday.

Goyal reminded them about the agreement signed by the state government with Food Corporation of India (FCI) in 2021 stating that it will not supply boiled rice from rabi 2022.

He wondered how they could make such meaningless demands on procuring entire paddy from Telangana in rabi.

After the meeting, Goyal addressed a press conference in which he slammed the state government for misleading farmers on paddy procurement and trying to provoke them against the BJP government at the Centre after distorting facts.

He lashed out at the state government for failing to intimate the Centre about the quantity of raw rice it would supply to FCI in rabi despite repeated reminders.

"We called for a meeting in February with all states on the procurement issue. All states except Telangana intimated us about the quantity of raw rice they wanted to supply to FCI."

Goyal alleged there is an 'anti-farmer government' in Telangana, which miserably failed in handing over rice stocks to FCI but was trying to cover up its failures by blaming the Centre in order to gain political mileage.

Goyal denied any 'discrimination' towards Telangana and said they are procuring paddy from states duly following stipulated norms and procedures. He said that for them Telangana and Punjab were the same.

Addressing a press conference later in Delhi, agriculture minister S. Niranjan Reddy condemned Goyal's criticism of Telangana government.

"The minister's comments are unfortunate and display his arrogance. The BJP government is treating paddy procurement as a political issue and not as an issue concerning the welfare of farmers."

The delegation, comprising Niranjan Reddy, Gangula Kamalakar, Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Puvvada Ajay returned empty-handed, according to official sources.
Chief Minister M K Stalin inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Theater at the Indian Arena at the World's Fair in Dubai. (Twitter/@CMOTamilNadu)

Chennai: The visit to United Arab Emirates would enable Tamil Nadu become the Number One State in the country as the meeting with the Minister of Economics Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri and the External Commerce Minister Thani Bin ahmed Al Zeyoudi was highly reassuring, Chief Minister M K Stalin said.

The meeting was as strong as the relationship between Tamil Nadu and the Emirate, Stalin tweeted after calling on the two top ministers at the Dubai International Financial Centre on Friday and discussing investment possibilities with them.

Stalin extended an invitation to the two ministers to visit Tamil Nadu and also explained to them how conducive the atmosphere was in the State for starting new business ventures. He also requested the ministers to send a delegation of investors to the State.

The discussions revolved around strengthening commercial ties with the State and the UAE through joint ventures and new investments in sectors like agriculture, food processing, textiles and dresses, jewelry, precious stones, electric vehicles, motor vehicles and spare parts, engineering and renewable energy.

The meeting also dwelled on improving the commercial ties between Tamil Nadu and the medium, small, micro and middle level industries in the UAE through innovations and entrepreneurship, an official press release said.

Stalin, who was accorded a grand welcome by the Tamil people living in UAE, also inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Week at the Indian pavilion in the Dubai expo, which he went around as part of his five-day visit to the middle-east till March 28.

Speaking at the occasion he congratulated the Dubai government for the organization of the expo in such a grand manner and said that it was proof of the countrys capability to achieve quality and excellence in whatever they do.

Talking about Tamil Nadu, he said the expo gave an opportunity to showcase its products and display its production skills. Those who visited the stall would familiarize themselves with Tamil Nadus growth in various fronts, he said.

He also witnessed the cultural programme at the expo in which artistes from Tamil Nadu showcased their talents in various events that were expositional of Tamil artistic and cultural traditions.

Stalin left Chennai for Dubai by a special flight on Thursday evening with a view to bringing in business investments, raising the hopes of the members of the State legislature, who bid him bon voyage in the House, and others in developing the States industrial and business capabilities.
The Pakistani officials further accused India of endangering both international and domestic air craft that ostensibly were in close vicinity of the missile. (Representational Image/ PTI)

On March 10, 2022, the director-general of Pakistans Inter Service Public Relations (DGISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar and Air Vice Marshall Tariq Zia held a rather unusual Press conference. In that briefing they said that on March 9 at 1843 hrs a high speed flying object originating from somewhere around Sirsa in India and travelling at a height of close to 40,000 feet and at an estimated speed of 2.5-3.0 Mach (thrice the speed of sound) crossed the international border between India and Pakistan landing 124 kilometres inside Pakistani territory at a place called Mian Channu.

The object in all probability a supersonic missile was in Pakistani airspace for three minutes and forty-four seconds before fading away, i.e., hitting the ground.

The total travel time of the missile was six minutes and forty six seconds out of which it spent approximately three minutes and two seconds in Indian airspace.

The Pakistani officials further accused India of endangering both international and domestic air craft that ostensibly were in close vicinity of the missile.

Almost a week later on March 15, 2022, defence minister Rajnath Singh acknowledged in Parliament, Id like to tell this House about an incident that occurred on March 9, 2022. Its related to an accidental missile release during the inspection. During routine maintenance and inspection of the missile unit, around 7 pm, one missile got accidentally released. While this incident is regretted, we are relieved that nobody was hurt due to the accident.

He further went on to add and reassure the house that [I can assure the House that] the missile system is very reliable and safe. Moreover, our safety procedures and protocols are of the highest order and are reviewed from time to time. Our Armed Forces are well-trained and disciplined and are well-experienced in handling such systems.

Earlier, on March 11, 2022, the ministry of defence in a statement had stated that in a statement, the MoD said, On March 9, 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile. The Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered a high-level court of inquiry. It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident.

Writing on the online platform, The Wire, Rahul Bedi picked up the discrepancy in the two statements and opined that They said that while Singhs account essentially duplicated what his ministry said two days after the March 9 incident, it revealingly differed in one respect which could provide a clue to what led to the projectiles chance launch into Pakistan. In his statement, the defence minister omitted any reference to the technical malfunction of the missile in the course of routine maintenance, which his ministry claimed had led to the missiles inadvertent liftoff.

Instead, Singh specifically told the Lok Sabha on March 15 that the Indian militarys standard operating procedures (SOPs) with regard to missile handling, though unmatched and of high calibre, would be revised  if needed  following the ensuing court of inquiry (CoI) into the incident. Senior service officers and defence analysts interpreted this to indicate that the government is suggesting human error  and not some technical inefficiency or shortcoming in the missile system  may well have precipitated the mishap, the first ever of its kind between two nuclear weapon states (NWS).

He further added industry officials also pointed out that the authorities were 'commercially conscious of the fact that any hint of a technical malfunction in the BrahMos triggering its chance flight could adversely impact the $375 million deal which Delhi signed with the Philippines in January for three of its land-attack batteries.

Bloomberg News in two separate stories reported as follows, An accidental missile fired by India last week prompted Pakistan to prepare a retaliatory strike, people familiar with the matter said, showing how close the nuclear-armed neighbors came to blows over a potentially disastrous mistake.

Several planes passed through the direct trajectory of the missile that day, which flew from the Indian garrison town of Ambala and ended up in Mian Channu in Eastern Pakistan. They included a Fly Dubai jet heading to Dubai from Sialkot, an Indigo plane from Srinagar to Mumbai and an Air Blue Ltd. flight from Lahore to Riyadh. All crossed the missiles trajectory within an hour of its accidental launch, data from flight-tracking application Flight radar24 show. Other international flights in the vicinity of the missiles trajectory  and within its range  included a Kuwait Airways Co. jet heading to Guangzhou from Kuwait City, a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Riyadh from New Delhi, and a Qatar Airways service from Kathmandu to Doha, the data show. No advisory to pilots operating in the vicinity  known as a notice to airmen or NOTAM  was issued. A time-lapse video of the airspace  prepared by Flight radar24 on request from Bloomberg News  showed busy activity in the skies within an hour-and-half of both sides of pm local time on March 9, which India said was the approximate time of the accidental launch.

Thirty years ago, on September 26, 1983, the world was saved from probable nuclear misadventure. At the threshold of morning Soviet Union's early-warning systems identified an incoming missile strike from the United States. Computer readouts indicated several missiles had been launched. Standard Operating Procedure for the Soviet military would have been to respond with a nuclear attack of its own. The officer on duty Stanislav Petrov  whose job it was to catalog ostensible enemy missile launches took a considered call not to report them to his superiors dismissing the flashing screens as a false alarm. Petrovs judgement probably averted a third world war that day.

Had the Pakistanis reacted to the missile launch with a retaliatory strike of their own it would have been game and match over in three to seven minutes  that is the missile flying time between India and Pakistan. Both countries could have been nuclear toast.

Given the various ominous implications of this missile launch whether due to a technical malfunction or during routine maintenance and inspection it presents a very strong case for an institutionalised dialogue between India-Pakistan on nuclear issues and a regular exchange of strategic force commanders.
American President Joe Biden paid a visit to Poland, which borders Ukraine, to take stock of the refugee crisis. Meanwhile, Russia slightly altered its stance on its 'military operation' by claiming that it does not intend to bomb major Ukrainian cities but only take control of the eastern part of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he is ready for peace talks, amid the barrage of deaths and suffering his fellow nationals are facing.
Ukrainian forces have launched a counter-offensive in Kherson, the country's only major city seized by Russian troops, and it is once again "contested," a senior US defense official said Friday.

"The Ukrainians are trying to take Kherson back, and we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again," the Pentagon official told reporters.

"We can't corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson but the point is, it doesn't appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

If the Ukrainian forces manage to regain control of the strategic city located at the mouth of the Dnieper, Russian troops around Mikolaiv would be "sandwiched" between Ukrainian forces defending Mikolaiv and those in Kherson, the official said.

"That would that would make it very, very difficult for them to make any kind of ground movement on Odessa," the main seaport still held by the Ukrainians.

"That would be a significant development, no question about that, in terms of the southern part of the war," he said.

The Pentagon said there was also "very heavy fighting" to the northwest of the capital Kyiv where "the Ukrainians are trying hard to dislodge the Russians from Bucha and Irpin."

Russia is meanwhile mobilising forces from separatist territories of Georgia to deploy in Ukraine, the official said.

"We've seen our first indications that they are trying to send in some reinforcements from Georgia," the senior official told reporters.

Following a flashpoint conflict with Georgia in 2008, Russia recognised the independence of two pro-Russian Georgian separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia and establishing military bases there.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar embarked on a five-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka on Saturday to explore the possibilities of further expansion of bilateral engagement with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

Jaishankar's first destination will be the Maldives, where he will inaugurate a number of India-supported projects and firm up several agreements to further bolster bilateral cooperation.

His visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 to March 30 comes over a week after India announced a $1 billion line of credit to the island nation to help it deal with the ongoing economic crisis.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said during his visit to the Maldivian city of Addu from March 26 to March 27, Jaishankar will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulla Shahid.

"The external affairs minister's visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security," the MEA said in a statement.

The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

Jaishankar will visit Sri Lanka from March 28 to March 30. The trip follows the visits to India by Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Foreign Minister GL Peiris in February.

"The bilateral meetings and interactions which the external affairs minister will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA said.

Jaishankar will also participate in the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) ministerial meeting on March 29 in Colombo.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in the prime minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First," the MEA said.

"The external affairs minister's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," it said.

SAGAR or "Security and Growth for all in the Region" is aimed at cooperative measures for sustainable use of the oceans in the region.

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India is renewing its focus on strengthening ties with its southern and northern neighbours, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually attending the BIMSTEC summit hosted by Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on March 30 next and playing host to his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba from April 1 to 3.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reached Male on Saturday for a two-day visit to the Maldives. He will also reach Colombo on Monday for a three-day visit to Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister is likely to nudge the other BIMSTEC leaders to move fast on regional connectivity initiatives  beginning with easing coastal shipping and trans-border movement of vehicles. The summit will see a master plan for transport connectivity being adopted. The BIMSTEC leaders will also discuss the long-pending Coastal Shipping Agreement and the Motor Vehicle Agreement.

Also Read | PM Modi to attend BIMSTEC summit on March 30

The BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a bloc comprising seven littoral and landlocked countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal  Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

The Motor Vehicle Agreement will pave the way for hassle-free movement of cargo and passenger vehicles across borders in the BIMSTEC region that comprises seven nations, including five of the eight SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) members. The Coastal Shipping Agreement will apply to ship within 20 nautical miles off the coastlines of the BIMSTEC nations and will hence require smaller vessels and involve lesser cost and time.

The challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainties within the international system that all the BIMSTEC members are facing imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, said in New Delhi. This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by the leaders at the summit.

He said that the BIMSTEC leaders would also discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group.

New Delhi is keen to breathe fresh life into the BIMSTEC as Pakistan has been blocking several connectivity initiatives pushed by India within the SAARC framework.

Modi will have a meeting with Deuba in New Delhi on April 2. This is going to be the Nepalese Prime Ministers first bilateral visit abroad after becoming Prime Minister in July 2021. He visited India in each of his four earlier stints as the Prime Minister.

The visit is significant as it is happening just days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis visit to Kathmandu.

This visit is in the tradition of periodic high-level exchanges between the two countries, said Bagchi, adding: It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in the health sector, power, connectivity, people to people links and other issues of mutual interest.

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KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Connecting Kampong Speu and Kandal provinces in southwest Cambodia, the Chinese-built National Road No. 51 is playing an important role in facilitating travel flow and transport of goods.

Built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation under a concessional loan from the Chinese government, the 37.9-km-long and 12-meter-wide asphalt road was a strategic route linking National Road No. 5 in Kampong Speu and National Road No. 4 in Kandal.

Locals said in the past, the road was bumpy and very difficult to travel due to large potholes and it was very dusty in the dry season and slippery and inundated during the rainy season.

"Previously, it took almost the whole morning or afternoon to travel at this distance, but now, it takes 30 to 40 minutes only thanks to the good-conditioned road," Muth Sokleang, a vegetable vendor along the road, told Xinhua on Friday.

"This Chinese-built road is really important to help facilitate travel and transport of goods and agricultural products such as rice, bananas, mangoes and vegetables from farms to markets," the 39-year-old woman said, adding "It also helps save both time and money."

Chhem Thath Thay, a 21-year-old resident along the road, said since the road has been constructed, land prices in the surrounding area have skyrocketed.

"Thank you, China, for constructing this road that has brought us new hope," he told Xinhua. "The road will not only help improve the livelihoods of local people, but also contribute to deepening the bond of friendship between the people of the two countries."

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony on Friday, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his profound gratitude to China for financing the project, saying that transport infrastructure was the key element to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.

"This road will play an important role in facilitating travel and transport of goods because it hosts many factories and large scale enterprises as well as residential projects," he said. "Although COVID-19 has disrupted us, it cannot prevent our development, particularly the development projects undertaken by China."

Meanwhile, the prime minister stressed the importance of the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, saying that both pacts are a new booster for Cambodia's trade growth.

Wu Guoquan, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, said pragmatic cooperation between China and Cambodia has continuously borne new fruits, highlighting that in recent months, some China-aided projects such as roads, bridges, stadium, and hospitals have been put into use.

"Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our pragmatic cooperation has produced more fruitful results which truly reflect the ironclad friendship between China and Cambodia," he said at the event.

Wu said the China-Cambodia community with a shared future during the pandemic has set a model for building a new type of international relations.

"We will continue to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and make good use of the CCFTA and RCEP to push our bilateral trade volume to a new high," he said.

Cambodian Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said the road has improved both transport infrastructure and livelihoods of the people in both provinces.

"It is another new achievement and a valuable gift from the governments of Cambodia and China to the people in Kampong Speu and Kandal in particular and to the people across the country in general," he said.




Photo taken on March 7, 2022 shows a view of the third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations at the Belovezhskaya Pushcha. (Belta News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- As the crisis in Ukraine drags on, so does the need for negotiations, Project Syndicate has said in a report.

Despite the failure to make progress in talks between Ukraine and Russia, a negotiated settlement is the only way forward, said the report published on Wednesday.

"Even in seemingly intractable situations with intransigent actors, the power of reason can prevail. Dialogue can make the impossible possible," it said.

"The possibility of arriving at an agreement that assures peace and security for both Russia and Ukraine" has not been eliminated, it added. 
Dundalk councillor, John Reilly, raised his concerns at the Louth County Council March meeting, regarding the lack of a footpath on the Armagh Road coming from the Carnbeg Hotel into Dundalk. Cllr Reilly had brought the issue up at previous meetings, including the February meeting, where he explained that that the hotel is currently rented to the Department of Justice, who are accommodating 100 asylum seekers at the venue.

Cllr Reilly said that with the current crisis in Ukraine, he would imagine the hotel would soon be filled to capacity, maybe within the next fortnight. He told the meeting that he thinks the road is very very dangerous. He added that he had tried to contact the management of the hotel but is unable to because it is some sort of financial institution in Dublin and they are not engaging with me. He added that he has written to the Department of Justice in the meantime, voicing his concerns, as they are paying the rent on the hotel at the moment.

He stressed that health and safety are his main concerns at the road at the minute, and the whole road realignment needs to be looked at again. The first immediate thing is the safety of the pedestrians he said, adding that he has asked the local authority to make a site visit on a few occassions but did not seem to be making any progress.

In response Chief Executive Joan Martin said that he was correct to write to the Department of Justice. She said that the Department would have assessed the location and thought it suitable for the asylum seekers.
St Louis Secondary School in Dundalk in County Louth is one of 9 schools nationwide who were chosen to participate in a Department of Education initiative called Step Up in 2018.

A report on the results of the work of St Louis Secondary School to develop their practice in relation to the implementation of the new Junior Cycle curriculum to a highly effective level, was launched on Wednesday, 9th March, at an online event that was attended by members of the wider education community nationally, with closing comments by the Chief Inspector of the Department of Education, Harold Hislop.

A number of teachers along with Principal, Michelle Dolan and Deputy Principal and Co-ordinator of the project Mary Gilmore, they described in the report the results of the efforts in their school to promote the use of digital skills in the classroom to support teaching, learning and assessment.

This was especially topical given the closures to schools in 2020, when digital skills were of huge importance for online learning which took place.

The teachers in St Louis reported that participating in the project was of immense value to both the students and staff in moving from effective to highly effective teaching, learning and assessment using digital technologies and that both staff and students had grown in confidence and skills in the area of digital technology with a lasting impact on the school going forward.

A School Excellence fund project called Step Up was launched by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) in 2018.

The goals identified for the Step Up project were to achieve higher quality learning experiences and outcomes for students through more effective implementation of aspects of the Framework for Junior Cycle (2015).

St Louis was supported to develop highly effective practices of teacher collaboration and reflection, guided by the School Self-Evaluation process and standards, while simultaneously developing student-centred innovation in relation to aspects of the new curriculum.

Cross-subject groups of teachers whose subjects (English, Business Studies and Science) had been the first three to undergo specification change under the Framework for Junior Cycle (2015) were invited to participate in Step Up, creating the opportunity for their learning to influence the practice of other subject areas within their schools.

Deputy principal Mary Gilmore commented:

"It was wonderful to be chosen as one of only 9 schools to benefit from the expertise on offer from the Dept.

"With Covid hitting in March 2020 we were in a very good position to ensure that the highest quality teaching and learning happened during the lockdowns when school went online.

"Our students found the project enhanced their digital skills and confidence which made online learning far more successful as a result."
Last week, when I wrote about the Loakers area on the approach to Blackrock, I mentioned that Charlie McCarthy had given me much valuable information about that area of Dundalk Bay between the Castletown and Fane Rivers.

When writing I was conscious that area near the Bar where the fresh water of the Castletown enters the Bay, known to some as Salt Marshes, must have been very important to the development of Dundalk Port in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries!

A survey of this area of foreshore had been made in the first decade of the present century and I am sure much valuable information about it has been gathered, which will prove very valuable to future generations living in the area.

However, I wonder how many living near this shore are aware that it must have been very different before the Sea Rampart in front of the South Marsh was constructed over 250 years ago?

A clue as to how this came about is contained in Padraic Ua Dubhthaighs Book of Dundalk- published in 1846.

In this book Paddy Duffy (as the author was known to my father) states:

In 1543 a report to Parliament (the old Irish Parliament in Dublin) on the conditions of the Irish harbours, described Carlingford as a good haven, Dundalk as a creek and Drogheda as a bad haven. Dundalk harbour was naturally shallow and, as a result, largely left to its own devices; it was of little consequences."

All this was to change when  In 1767 the Irish Parliament voted 2,000 for the improvement of the Harbour and 400 a year thereafter. The expenditure was entrusted to Lord Limerick (James Hamilton) and it is alleged that he utilized a portion of it in constructing a Rampart from Soldiers Point towards which improved his land holdings without adding to the efficiency of the Harbour. The yearly grant was paid for eight years.

Now Duffy was an ardent nationalist and no great lover of the Roden family, and it is understandable that he believed that the money was misspent but it must be admitted that the construction of this Sea Rampart was an important development for the future of Dundalk in modern times.

Duffy does not say how much was actually spent on the construction of the Rampart, if he knew?

But the total of 5,200 was an enormous amount in the 1760s  perhaps as much as 15 million euros in todays money - and maybe, it was a pity that the Rampart was not continued on as far as McGuigans Rock. Then again, perhaps, the crossing of the Loackers might have proved a more costly engineering feat in those far-off days?

The Book of Dundalk goes on to state that:

In 1837 the affairs of the Harbour were regularised by the passing of an Act providing for the election of Harbour Commissioners with certain shipping or property qualifications.

Following this reform, an extensive scheme of improvement was entered upon by the designer Sir John McNeill (the great railway engineer who lived at Mountpleasent). This included the building the building of the embankment from the Soldiers Point to the Steampacket Quay - which occupied about eight years from 1840 to 1848.

It can truly be said that the construction of this embankment, which came to be known as The Navvy Bank, along with the coming of the railways, marked the beginning of the growth of Dundalk as an important industrial centre!

In my youth Dundalk was a coal importing town which depended on that fossil fuel to keep its industries, such as the railways, the Gas Works and many factories, going and very much depended on its importation through the local Port.
Motorbike taxi drivers ride e-scooters in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, Feb. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Martina Fuchs)

Rwanda has launched a nationwide campaign that aimed to reduce vehicle carbon emissions as part of the country's broader efforts to promote a carbon-neutral economy.

KIGALI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) has launched a nationwide campaign that aimed to reduce vehicle carbon emissions as part of the country's broader efforts to promote a carbon-neutral economy.

Rwandan car and motorbike drivers, as well as machinery owners, are called on to be part of the solution to air pollution by servicing their vehicles, avoiding unnecessary trips, turning off their engines when stationary and buying electric and hybrid vehicles, according to a REMA statement issued earlier this week.

"Rwanda has built a nationwide monitoring system that provides real-time data on the quality of the air at 23 sites across the country. The system highlights the dominant air pollutants responsible for air quality degradation, and most of those pollutants are related to vehicular emissions and machines using fossil fuels like gas and diesel," said Juliet Kabera, the director-general of REMA.

She called on owners of fossil fuel vehicles to regularly service their vehicles, use fuel complying with national standards, and shift from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles to electric vehicles where possible to ensure clean air for all.

Kabera said the number of vehicles on Rwanda's roads is expected to double by 2030 which will lead to increased air pollution.

A worker changes a battery for a motorbike driver in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, Feb. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Martina Fuchs)

The campaign, dubbed "Healthy Vehicle, Clearer Skies," encourages owners to regularly service their vehicles and machinery and only purchase high-quality fuel.

During the campaign, mobile emissions testing will be conducted in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, and in the district towns of Huye, Rwamagana, Musanze and Rubavu, said the statement.

The public will also be engaged through radio and TV talk shows, and encouraged to share their personal efforts to hashtag #BeatAirPollution on social media.

"The contribution of vehicles to the city's ambient air pollution cannot be ignored. All motor vehicles in Rwanda are required to undergo emissions inspection and testing at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Center," said John Bosco Kabera, the spokesperson of the Rwanda National Police, in the statement, adding vehicles that do not meet applicable emissions standards are not authorized to operate in the country.

The campaign is a joint initiative of the Rwandan Ministry of Environment, REMA, Rwanda Standards Board, Rwanda Space Agency and Rwanda National Police.

Rwanda's First Biennial Update Report under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2021, as well as the Third National Communication in 2018 both indicate that the country's greenhouse gas emissions from road transport were dominated by cars and motorcycles.

According to a 2017 report by REMA, vehicle emissions are the biggest contributor to poor air quality in Rwanda's cities.

In Rwanda, more than 2,200 deaths were attributed to ambient air pollution in 2012 and the number of hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections in health centers across the country increased to 3,331,300 in 2015, up from 1,682,321 in 2012, according to REMA. 
Aerial photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows the Chinese-built National Road No. 51 in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

The Chinese-built National Road No. 51 is playing an important role in facilitating travel flow and transport of goods in southwest Cambodia. "The road will not only help improve the livelihoods of local people, but also contribute to deepening the bond of friendship between the peoples of the two countries," a local resident said.

KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Connecting Kampong Speu and Kandal provinces in southwest Cambodia, the Chinese-built National Road No. 51 is playing an important role in facilitating travel flow and transport of goods.

Built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation under a concessional loan from the Chinese government, the 37.9-km-long and 12-meter-wide asphalt road was a strategic route linking National Road No. 5 in Kampong Speu and National Road No. 4 in Kandal.

Locals said in the past, the road was bumpy and very difficult to travel due to large potholes and it was very dusty in the dry season and slippery and inundated during the rainy season.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen cuts the ribbon at the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese-built National Road No. 51 in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia, on March 25, 2022. (Photo by Ly Lay/Xinhua)

"Previously, it took almost the whole morning or afternoon to travel at this distance, but now, it takes 30 to 40 minutes only thanks to the good-conditioned road," Muth Sokleang, a vegetable vendor along the road, told Xinhua on Friday.

"This Chinese-built road is really important to help facilitate travel and transport of goods and agricultural products such as rice, bananas, mangoes and vegetables from farms to markets," the 39-year-old woman said, adding "It also helps save both time and money."

Chhem Thath Thay, a 21-year-old resident along the road, said since the road has been constructed, land prices in the surrounding area have skyrocketed.

"Thank you, China, for constructing this road that has brought us new hope," he told Xinhua. "The road will not only help improve the livelihoods of local people, but also contribute to deepening the bond of friendship between the people of the two countries."

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony on Friday, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his profound gratitude to China for financing the project, saying that transport infrastructure was the key element to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.

"This road will play an important role in facilitating travel and transport of goods because it hosts many factories and large scale enterprises as well as residential projects," he said. "Although COVID-19 has disrupted us, it cannot prevent our development, particularly the development projects undertaken by China."

Meanwhile, the prime minister stressed the importance of the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, saying that both pacts are a new booster for Cambodia's trade growth.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen speaks at the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese-built National Road No. 51 in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia, on March 25, 2022. (Photo by Ly Lay/Xinhua)

Wu Guoquan, the economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, said pragmatic cooperation between China and Cambodia has continuously borne new fruits, highlighting that in recent months, some China-aided projects such as roads, bridges, stadium, and hospitals have been put into use.

"Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our pragmatic cooperation has produced more fruitful results which truly reflect the ironclad friendship between China and Cambodia," he said at the event.

Wu said the China-Cambodia community with a shared future during the pandemic has set a model for building a new type of international relations.

"We will continue to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and make good use of the CCFTA and RCEP to push our bilateral trade volume to a new high," he said.

Cambodian Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said the road has improved both transport infrastructure and livelihoods of the people in both provinces.

"It is another new achievement and a valuable gift from the governments of Cambodia and China to the people in Kampong Speu and Kandal in particular and to the people across the country in general," he said.
The UVF is suspected to be behind a security alert that led to Simon Coveney, the foreign affairs minister, being evacuated from a peace and reconciliation event in north Belfast.

Mr Coveney had been addressing the event, organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation, when he was ushered from the room. The Houben Centre on the Crumlin Road was evacuated and a funeral service at nearby Holy Cross church was also disrupted.

PSNI assistant chief constable Mark McEwan said a van driver was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive a device, which he believed to be a live bomb, to Holy Cross church.

He condemned the disgraceful actions which caused more than 25 homes to be evacuated and disrupted local schools and a funeral.

Addressing media at police headquarters yesterday evening, he said detectives believe loyalist paramilitaries were responsible, and the UVF was the primary line of inquiry.

This morning a van was hijacked in Sydney St West, off the Shankill Rd, Belfast, he said. The van driver was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive his white Vauxhall van a short distance to another street and a device was then placed in the van.

The victim was then forced to drive the van to Holy Cross chapel. The victim believed at this point he was driving a van containing a live bomb and that his family were being threatened.

The local community were also impacted. Over 25 homes were evacuated, local schools were affected, and vulnerable residents in a local nursing home had to be moved to another part of their home. Most shamefully, a funeral taking place in the chapel was also disrupted, causing further grief to that family, he said. This evening, upon further examination, the device has been declared a hoax. It was clearly designed to cause maximum disruption to the local community.

At this early stage of the investigation, our assessment is that these crimes were carried out by loyalist paramilitary groups. Were keeping an open mind but one of the primary lines of investigation is the UVF.

Mr Coveney has previously been targeted in sinister graffiti in a loyalist area of Belfast. Asked whether Mr Coveney was the target of the incident, Mr McEwan said he would not speculate on motivation at a very early stage of the investigation.

The incident was condemned by politicians. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed the widespread condemnation, saying most people want to get on with their lives and have no truck with those who cling to violence.

Sinn Feins Stormont leader Michelle ONeill said: Those determined to cause instability and disruption will not succeed. Those of us committed to peace will not be deterred.

Mr Coveney had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in the North and told the event: The patient work of reconciliation and deepening of relationships does need to continue on our own island.

In a tweet afterwards he praised the efforts of the PSNI. In Belfast with the Hume Foundation to honour John & Pats legacy of peace for all communities.

Saddened & frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him & his family.

The foundations Tim Attwood told PA news agency that the security alert was a reminder to everyone that there is no role in our society for violence. He said: A suspect device will not stop the work of the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

Earlier this week, the level of terrorism threat from dissident republicans in the North was lowered from severe to substantial for the first time in 12 years.

The assessment, announced by Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis but made independently by security service MI5, was praised by Mr Coveney when he appeared alongside Mr Lewis after a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in Dublin.
IRELANDS first purpose-built, fully inclusive remote working hub for people with disabilities has opened in Cork  despite the absence of a self-isolating Tanaiste.

Leo Varadkar had been due to perform the official opening of the Impact Hub@Crann in the Crann Centre in Ballincollig, but a positive antigen test meant a last-minute change of plans and the show went on without him.

The Crann Centre provides a range of life-changing services and supports for people living with neuro-physical disabilities such as spina bifida, hydrocephalus, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spinal injuries, and childhood stroke.

Sponsored by AIB, Cork City Council, and the Open Doors Initiative, the new working hub will enable people living with disabilities to better participate in the world of work.

Deputising for the Tanaiste, East Cork TD David Stanton apologised on behalf of Mr Varadkar and said the Tanaiste had been very disappointed not to be able to attend.

Mr Stanton said the new hub would remove many of the barriers preventing local people with disabilities from working, and he praised the Open Doors Initiative for providing pathways to work for people often marginalised in society.

This centre is amazing, its jaw-dropping, and its forward-seeing, and its linking in with the issue of remote working, something the pandemic has brought forward so much.

People that have been disabled by various barriers can come here and work, and set up businesses, and we want more and more people to do that, Mr Stanton said.

Sarah Dullea, who was MC for the launch, spoke of how in 2019 the Crann Centre had given her the opportunity to locate her beauty therapy business in its facility.

It really was a dream come true as the venue is completely accessible and has all the services that I as a wheelchair user might need.

A hugely important part of my locating my business here is that I truly do feel part of a team and the sense of the community, fun, and inclusivity offered here has helped me to continue in business since 2019, Ms Dullea said.

Lord Mayor of Cork Colm Kelleher commended the work of the Crann Centre.

The city council is very pleased to financially support the Impact Hub project and help create a co-working space for Ballincollig and the surrounding areas, Mr Kelleher said.

Deputising for the mayor of Co Cork, Fianna Fail councillor Michael Looney also praised the Impact Hub.

The hub will provide a foundation for new opportunities and a vibrant support network to encourage all those who use the space to realise their ambitions, Mr Looney said.

Crann Centre founder and chairwoman Kate Jarvey said that only 36.5% of people aged 15-64 with a disability are at work, compared to 72% of people without a disability in the same age category.

Here at Crann, with the generous support and commitment of our partners, we have developed our Impact Hub with the aim of ensuring that people with disabilities in this region have the opportunity to participate in the new world of work, which is about co-working, collaboration, and remote working, Ms Jarvey said.

AIB chief executive Colin Hunt said that backing people with disabilities to realise their potential was part of AIBs wider strategy to support inclusion and diversity in communities across Ireland.

We are delighted to help An Crann and its partners create a purpose-built facility which is accessible to people with disabilities and supports them in realising their career ambitions, Mr Hunt said.

Open Doors Initiative chief executive Jeanne McDonagh said the Impact Hub created an equitable space for everyone in employment.

Developed in partnership with the Ballincollig Business Association and the Rubicon Centre at Munster Technological University, the Impact Hub@Crann features a 17-desk facility with high-speed broadband, a fully accessible working environment, and ample free parking.
California condors are a critically endangered species, with only a little more than 500 left alive.

However, a new study reveals that these vulnerable birds are capable of a rare ability: virgin births, or parthenogenesis.

This is truly an amazing discovery, study co-author and Kleberg Endowed Director of Conservation Genetics at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Oliver Ryder, Ph.D. said in an alliance statement.

https://twitter.com/sandiegozoo/statuses/1453799768602251289

Parthenogenesis occurs when a cell in a female of a species acts like a male sperm and connects with an egg, BBC News explained. It is slightly more common among fish or lizards, The New York Times pointed out, but unusual for birds. In fact, it has only been documented in turkeys, finches and domestic pigeons.

Parthenogenesis is considered to be a rare phenomenon in birds, Ryder told The New York Times.

However, the study published in the Journal of Heredity Thursday documented two cases in which male condors in the captive breeding program hatched from unfertilized eggs.

The researchers were able to make this discovery partly because the endangered species is so well monitored. There were only 22 California condors left in the 1980s after their population was devastated by habitat loss and lead poisoning from bullets left in carion. However, a successful captive breeding program has boosted their numbers, and is the reason for the new discovery. During a routine analysis of biological samples from the two condors, the researchers determined that their genetic material matched their mothers, but not any males in the program.

We were not exactly looking for evidence of parthenogenesis, it just hit us in the face, Ryder said in the statement. We only confirmed it because of the normal genetic studies we do to prove parentage. Our results showed that both eggs possessed the expected male ZZ sex chromosomes, but all markers were only inherited from their dams, verifying our findings.

Unfortunately, the two chicks are no longer alive. One died in 2003 at age two and the other in 2017 at age eight. California condors can live up to 60 years in the wild.

However, the discovery is notable not only for condors, but potentially for other bird species. Parthenogenesis is thought to occur as a last-ditch survival mechanism, when there are not enough males around to keep a population going. But that was not the case for the births in the study. Both of the mothers, or dams, in question were housed with a fertile male at the time and had given birth to 11 and 23 chicks each.

We believe that our findings represent the first instance of facultative avian parthenogenesis in a wild bird species, where both a male and a female are housed together, study co-author and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance associate director for the conservation research division Cynthia Steiner said in the statement. Still, unlike other examples of avian parthenogenesis, these two occurrences are not explained by the absence of a suitable male.

This leads the researchers to wonder if the phenomenon occurs more often in the wild than previously believed.

For other species it seems to be sort of a last-ditch effort to save themselves, University of Florida conservation geneticist Samantha Wisely told The New York Times. It will be really interesting to know the context in which its happening in the wild for birds.
After long debate, officials in Florida have decided to test feeding wild manatees near Cape Canaveral. The move is unprecedented, as feeding wildlife is considered illegal.

But with hundreds of manatees dying of starvation in 2021, wildlife conservationists are desperate to save these creatures.

For weeks, state officials have been considering whether or not to create a pilot program to feed the animals. An official pilot program is set to be revealed this week, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given approval for a limited feeding trial.

The pilot program will launch near the Florida Power & Light plant in Cape Canaveral. In the winter, manatees tend to swim in the Indian River Lagoon to keep warm, as warm water is discharged from the plant into these nearby waters. Officials will feed the manatees a variety of greens, including cabbage and lettuce. The plan is to use a controlled method for feeding, such as a conveyor belt, to limit human interactions. Officials stress that this trial is not a green light for people to start tossing food into the water for manatees, an act that remains illegal.

In 2021 alone, over 1,000 manatees have died, many of whom died of starvation caused by pollution. This number is more than double that of 2020, when 498 manatees died. Over the past 11 years, seagrasses in the Indian River Lagoon have decreased by about 58%, leaving manatees with less to eat.

Its the entire ecosystem that is affected by this and will be affected for a decade to come, said Patrick Rose, executive director of Save The Manatee Club. This is a necessary stopgap measure. It is a problem created by man and man is going to have to solve it.

Seagrasses provide essential food for manatees, and they are a known carbon sink. Seagrass is responsible for up to 10% of the oceans carbon storage capacity and can capture carbon about 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. But human pollution, like agricultural runoff and sewage, creates breeding grounds for harmful blue-green algae in waters. This algae then blocks sunlight from reaching the seagrasses, leaving manatees without food and killing off an important carbon sink.

Literally, saving manatees is part of saving the ecosystem. If we can get this taken care of, manatees will flourish. If we dont, they wont, Rose said. We are in the most critical position.

Manatees are currently considered threatened after being downgraded from endangered status in 2017. Several officials and environmental advocates continue to campaign for these animals to be relisted as endangered, especially as the death count continues to increase.
NANNING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- No components of either common inorganic or organic explosives were present at the crash site of a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane, an official told a press briefing Saturday.

A physics and chemistry laboratory of the public security authorities has tested 41 samples out of 66 from the crash site and found no major ion components of common inorganic explosives, said Zheng Xi, head of the fire brigade of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The testing also found no regular organic explosive components, he said. 
When you think of endangered species, elephants, tigers, and rhinos might come to mind. While there are hundreds of species around the world that are threatened with extinction and deserve our attention, there are many animals in our own backyard with dwindling populations. Learning about these creatures is important to aiding in their conservation efforts, whether that means donating to organizations focused on endangered species in the U.S. or telling your representatives to pass laws to help protect vulnerable species.

There are more than 1,300 threatened and endangered species in the country today, but here are some of the most endangered animals in the U.S.

1. Florida Panther

Endangered Florida Panther in the brush. Stuart Westmorland / Getty Images

The Florida panther has been listed as an endangered species since 1967 and now lives in just 5% of its former range. This panther used to roam much of the southeastern U.S. but is now only found in southern Florida. There are only about 100 to 200 panthers left. They were heavily hunted and perceived as pests before being listed as endangered; today, their main threats are habitat loss and collisions with vehicles.

Several organizations are working toward Florida panther conservation, including Defenders of Wildlife, The Florida Panther Protection Program, and The Conservation Fund, by preserving existing panther habitat, extending public outreach, educating people on coexisting with the panthers, and establishing funds for continuing conservation efforts in the future.

2. Florida Manatee

A baby Florida Manatee at Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River in Florida. Ai Angel Gentel / Moment / Getty Images

Another Florida-based species, the Florida manatee is found off the coasts of Florida and has been listed as endangered since 1973. Boat strikes are a top threat to manatees, but climate change has caused caused problems for these gentle sea cows. Water temperature fluctuations put stress on the species, and increasing rates of deadly algal blooms are also to blame. In recent years, sea grass scarcity has led to starvation for these animals.

Currently, Florida is piloting an unprecedented feeding program, as over 1,000 manatees died of starvation in 2021 alone. In the 2021-22 winter season, manatee deaths were labeled as an Unusual Mortality Event due to the high number of deaths. The Marine Mammal Commission has been in talks with government officials at every level to protect the manatees, from establishing slower boat speeds to stopping the harassment, such as touching or swimming near, of manatees.

3. Red Wolf

Red wolf crossing a field. USFWS

There are only about 15 to 17 red wolves left in the wild in the U.S. In 1987, they were considered extinct, but a captive breeding program revived the species. Conservation efforts brought the population to over 100 animals around 2012, but by 2018, it dropped to 40 and now sits at less than two dozen.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been increasing the size of its Species Survival Plan (SSP) for red wolves, and the final Recovery Plan is expected to be finalized in 2023.

4. California Condor

A Condor flies above Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge. USFWS



California condors are the largest bird in North America. In the 1980s, California condors nearly went extinct due to poisoning from lead and consuming DDT, a pesticide that was banned in 1972. A successful captive breeding recovery program increased numbers from six to 223 in the early 2000s. Today, there are over 400 California condors, but they still are threatened by human-related deaths, such as collisions with power lines.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has partnered with several organizations and entities, including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, the Yurok Tribe, several zoos, multiple state wildlife departments, the federal government of Mexico, and multiple conservation organizations to establish The California Condor Recovery Program. The program is working to establish self-sustaining populations of wild California condors.

5. Black-Footed Ferret

Black-footed ferret. Dean Biggins / USGS

The only ferret species native to North America, there are only about 370 wild black-footed ferrets left in the wild. These creatures use prairie dog burrows across grasslands for their shelter, but increasing habitat loss due to agriculture has hurt the population. They eat prairie dogs, too, and prairie-dog eradication efforts have depleted their food source. They are also susceptible to diseases.

Indigenous tribes, federal agencies, zoos, and conservation organizations have worked toward conserving this species numbers. The Nature Conservancy works with private landowners to protect prairie dogs, and therefore black-footed ferrets, and The Center for Biological Diversity works to protect the species against further agricultural and oil developments and pesticide use.

6. Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Loggerhead turtle. NOAA Fisheries

Loggerhead sea turtles in the U.S. mostly call Floridas coasts home, but rapid development has been their downfall. Their nests, laid on beaches, are often destroyed, or they may be harrassed by humans while trying to nest. They are also often caught as bycatch by commercial fishers. These turtles are essential to healthy marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs and seagrasses.

NOAA Fisheries works to protect loggerhead sea turtles by creating critical habitat areas, implementing changes to fishing gear to minimize risk of bycatch, monitoring populations, and establishing international treaties to protect the species. Loggerhead Marinelife Center rehabilitates stranded loggerheads, which happens frequently during nesting season.

7. San Joaquin Kit Fox

San Joaquin kit fox. USFWS

Like black-footed ferrets, San Joaquin kit foxes have suffered from habitat loss as land is turned into farms. Rodenticides, too, have led to population decline for these mammals. These kit foxes get much of their water from prey, but the smaller mammals they feed on have declined from pesticide use. The San Joaquin kit fox is the smallest fox in North America.

The Center for Biological Diversity has been petitioning for critical habitat designation in San Joaquin Valley for the kit fox since 2010 and has sued against developments that would disrupt the animals habitat. The organization also works against harmful pesticide use that harms kit foxes.

8. Mississippi Gopher Frog

A Mississippi gopher frog. John A. Tupy / Western Carolina University

This amphibian has been enlisted as endangered since 2001, and there are only about 100 to 250 members of the population left in the wild. Habitat loss, disease, and invasive species have led to this frogs decline. Their range has come to just three little ponds in Mississippi, but a new, proposed town could lead to their demise.

The Nature Conservancy is transferring some tadpoles to its Old Fort Bayou Preserve to protect the species, and The Gulf Restoration Network has established designated Mississippi gopher frog habitat. The Gulf Restoration Network is also working with other conservation organizations to come to an agreement with the land developer to protect one of the frogs last breeding ponds. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated about 7,000 acres of land in Mississippi and Louisiana to boost the population.

9. Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

NOAA

Bluefin tuna is one of the priciest catches of fish out there and is often sought after for sushi. They are huge, weighing up to 2,000 pounds and spanning nearly 15 feet long. The more their population decreases, the higher prices they fetch. But these massive fish are critical for marine systems as one of the top points in the food chain.

Currently, there are regulations that prevent fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico, where they spawn. Fishers may require permits to catch these fish, and NOAA has established quotas, size limits, gear restrictions, and area closures related to fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna. Because these fish are migratory, more international collaboration is needed to protect their population.

10. Woodland Caribou

Woodland caribou in the Southern Selkirk Mountains of Idaho. Steve Forrest / USFWS

The woodland caribou population, particularly the southern Selkirk subpopulation, has been listed as endangered since 1984. Deforestation for timber and fossil fuel mining and climate change has caused the population to decline.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 30,010 acres in Washington and Idaho for woodland caribou. Conservation Northwest is also working with Indigenous tribes and conservation organizations in Canada to establish a recovery plan for the species.

Based in Los Angeles, Paige is a writer who is passionate about sustainability. Aside from writing for EcoWatch, Paige also writes for Insider, HomeAdvisor, Thrillist, EuroCheapo, Eat This, Not That!, and more. She earned her Bachelors degree in Journalism from Ohio University and holds a certificate in Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She also specialized in sustainable agriculture while pursuing her undergraduate degree. When shes not writing, Paige enjoys decorating her apartment, enjoying a cup of coffee and experimenting in the kitchen (with local, seasonal ingredients, of course!).








MOSCOW, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues on Saturday as relevant parties are working to broker a peaceful solution.

The Russian military said Friday that the main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been completed in general.

Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine will continue until all tasks set by President Vladimir Putin are fulfilled.

The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported Friday that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country's negotiation process with Russia is very difficult.

He stressed that the Ukrainian side insists on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine at the talks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

According to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency, the two leaders discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's central bank said on Friday that Russia has imposed restrictions on the movement of funds that could be transferred to "unfriendly" countries and regions.

The central bank said on Telegram that the measure was taken in response to the freezing of part of Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves in some countries.

"A comparable amount" of funds are affected, it said, without specifying the exact sum.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service








On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission added Russias Kaspersky Lab to its  Covered List , labeling the cybersecurity firm an unacceptable national security risk to the US. The move marks the first time the agency has blacklisted a Russian company.

With the decision, US companies cant use subsidies from the FCCs $8 billion Universal Service Fund for supporting telecom deployments in rural and underserved communities to purchase products and services from Kaspersky. All seven other organizations on the list hail from China, with among the most notable being Huawei and ZTE .

FCC Commissioner Brendan Car said the designation would help the US secure its networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state-backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm Americas interests." The two other companies the FCC added to the list on Friday were China Telecom and China Mobile , both of which were already subject to previous restrictions.

This decision is not based on any technical assessment of Kaspersky products  that the company continuously advocates for  but instead is being made on political grounds, Kaspersky said following the announcement. The company noted it was ready to work with the FCC and other US government agencies to address any regulatory concerns.
In an essay published Friday on the whistleblower platform Lioness, former Microsoft manager Yasser Elabd alleged that Microsoft fired him after he alerted leadership to a workplace where employees, subcontractors and government operators regularly engaged in bribery. He further alleges that attempts to escalate his concerns resulted in retaliation within Microsoft by managers, and eventual termination from his role.

Elabd claims in his essay that he worked for Microsoft between 1998 and 2018, and had oversight into a "business investment fund "  essentially a slush fund to "cement longer-term deals" in the Mid-East and Africa. But he grew suspicious of unusual payments to seemingly unqualified partners. After examining several independent audits, he discovered what he believes is a common practice: After setting up a large sale to entities in the region, a "discount" would be baked in, only for the difference between the full-freight cost and discounted fee to be skimmed off and divided between the deal-makers.

This decision maker on the customer side would send an email to Microsoft requesting a discount, which would be granted, but the end customer would pay the full fee anyway. The amount of the discount would then be distributed among the parties in cahoots: the Microsoft employee(s) involved in the scheme, the partner, and the decision maker at the purchasing entityoften a government official, Elabd alleged.

The former Microsoft manager gave several examples of suspicious transactions and red flags he witnessed over his two decades working for the company abroad. In one audit, Microsoft gave the Saudi Ministry of the Interior a $13.6 million discount which never reached the agencys doors. In 2015, a Nigerian official complained that the government paid $5.5 million for licenses "for hardware they did not possess."

In another example, Qatars Ministry of Education paid $9.5 million, over a period of seven years, for Microsoft Office and Windows licenses that went unused. Auditors later discovered that employees at that agency didnt even have access to computers.

We are committed to doing business in a responsible way and always encourage anyone to report anything they see that may violate the law, our policies, or our ethical standards, Becky Lenaburg, a VP at Microsoft and deputy general counsel for compliance and ethics, wrote in a statement to The Verge. We believe weve previously investigated these allegations, which are many years old, and addressed them. We cooperated with government agencies to resolve any concerns.

Elabd claims his attempts to alert managers resulted in his being shouted at by one manager, iced out of certain deals and told by an executive that he had effectively set himself up to be let go after attempting to involve CEO Satya Nadella. After being terminated, Elabd wrote that he brought his documentation before the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice. He claims the DoJ refused to take up his case. According to Protocol, the SEC dropped the case earlier this month due to a lack of resources.

As I alleged in my complaint to the SEC, Microsoft is violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and continues to do so brazenly. And why wouldnt they?" wrote Elabd. "By declining to investigate these allegations and the evidence Ive given them, the SEC and DOJ have given Microsoft the green light.
.

Arguably, moral conviction does have a definite bearing on the need to learn the use of political means that are crucial in approaching, both intellectually as well as practically, the question of emancipation. The evocation of conviction has often been found in the political rhetoric overused by the leaders claiming that they invest conviction in the politics of Dalit emancipation. Their conviction that we are the party determined to follow the teaching of Bahujan thinkers, and that our politics can be found compatible with the emancipation of Dalit and Bahujan, however, seems to be seriously misleading. It is misleading because the consequence or the outcome of their political activism does not show any concrete movement towards the confirmation of such convictions. The claim to politics with a moral conviction seems to be derailed, particularly in the context of their failure to be part of the larger politics that seeks to provide a challenge to right-wing parties undermining the constitutional values.

At a more substantive level, their firm conviction does not carry any moral weight as these leaders do not see the widening internal inequality with the spectacular rise of millionaires, even within Bahujan and Dalit families. A reference to internal inequality might be problematic, particularly to the votaries of neo-liberalism. Put differently, the common demand for equality in material status, along with the rising DalitBahujan millionaires, would look anarchic to those who share the ideology that inequality in a market society is natural, and that Dalits and Bahujan are no exception to this neo-liberal dynamic. The huge difference in terms of possession of positional goods makes it imperative to question their claims to a politics with conviction.
.

On 15 March 2022, the Karnataka High Court released its verdict on the hijab issue. The ban on wearing hijabs in schools was upheld as a reasonable restriction on the fundamental rights of the petitioners. Simply put, the idea of a reasonable restriction arises from the understanding that a harm to a fundamental right can be reasonably excused if it prevents a bigger harm. Without going into legal technicality, I argue that the greater harms contended are simply not present and thus such an attack on fundamental rights is unwarranted.

One of the primary contentions against wearing hijabs was the contravention of the institution and the states uniform policy. However, to check whether this practice of wearing a hijab contravenes with such a policy, it is important to note its rationale. It is probably to remove the signs of class inequality or avoid additional financial pressures. The object behind a uniform might also be to create a sense of belongingness and association with the school, but association with school as an organisation and a group does not mean the relinquishment of ones other associations. If the school as a group has the right to choose how people associate with it should dress, it is difficult to imagine why a religious group is any different. And if both groups have this right, it is unclear why they cannot coexist. The school policy can achieve its purpose by mandating its uniform, without excluding the clothes one chooses to wear as a part of their right to association, as long as it does not disrupt uniformity in colours or is not an expression of class inequality, etc. In India, this practice is already followed in the case of other religious clothing like Sikh turbans, which are often brought within the ambit of the school uniform by prescribing a colour.
Lost control of plane could have led to crash: experts

Global Times) 11:44, March 26, 2022

Rescuers conduct search and rescue work at a plane crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022.Photo:Xinhua

A sudden nosedive of the China Eastern Airlines jet has triggered wide discussions on the accident's cause, and Chinese aviation experts said the pilot losing control of the airplane could be one of the reasons behind the disaster.

One of the reasons for the sudden fall could be a sudden failure of the flight control system, resulting in a nosedive, Huang Jun, a professor of School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering with Beihang University, told the Global Times on Friday.

Huang also said the aircraft's body would be damaged immediately, resulting in a loss of lift or control, that such move is commonly referred to as air disintegration. But air disintegration does not mean breaking into pieces.

There may be other mechanical failures in the aircraft, he added.

Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge, earlier shared a similar prediction.

Judging from the flight data, there is no reason to indicate that the pilot made any contact with ground control. It is likely that the aircraft lost power at a cruising altitude, resulting in the pilot losing control of the aircraft, Wang told the Global Times.

It could be a very serious technical failure, in which the plane inevitably enters a high-speed descent, Wang noted.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Tuesday that the plane took off from Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province at 1:16 pm on Monday, and entered the Guangzhou air traffic control area at a cruising altitude of 8,900 meters at 2:17 pm.

At 2:20 pm, the controller noticed that the aircraft's altitude had dropped sharply, and immediately called the crew several times, but did not receive a reply. At 2:23 pm, the radar signal disappeared.

Bloomberg reported that the plane was knifing through the air at more than 640 miles (966 kilometers) per hour, and at times may have exceeded 700 mph, and the preliminary data indicates it was near the speed of sound.

On-site search and rescue found that most of the wreckage of the aircraft was concentrated in an area of about 30 meters in radius around the main impact point, and the depth extended to about 20 meters.

Communication was normal until the plane went missing, and the crew members did not send any distress signal, Liu Xiaodong, spokesperson of China Eastern Airlines, said at the press conference on Friday in Wuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The specific cause of the accident can only be determined when the black boxes are recovered and analyzed, and the first black box, the cockpit voice recorder has been sent to a laboratory in Beijing for analysis.

Mao Yanfeng, director of the CAAC's accident investigation unit, said on Friday that there is still "no definite time" when the process will be completed.

The search team is searching for the second one.

The two black boxes are key to determining the cause of the accident, Huang said.

As for the accident investigation, Gao Yuanyang, dean of the general aviation industry research center at Beihang University, told the Global Times on Friday that it is a very rigorous process, for it includes the collection and screening of data, the deduction of the accident, and the confirmation of the cause of the accident.

The process is often very complex, especially if we do not have enough data or information, which will take a long time, Gao added.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told the Global Times on Thursday that it is working with the US and Chinese governments to solve visa and COVID quarantine issues before participating in crash investigation efforts in China.

The NTSB was notified of the accident on Monday by CAAC, and the accredited representative and technical advisors have been appointed, and they are in contact with the CAAC investigator-in-charge, NTSB said.

Accredited representatives are entitled to appoint technical advisors to assist them in the investigation, NTSB noted.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Photo taken on March 24, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

LHASA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades.

Compared to statistics released by the regional wildlife conservation society in the 1990s, the population of Tibetan wild donkey has risen to around 90,000 from 50,000 previously.

The population of Tibetan antelope has surged from 50,000 to more than 300,000 over the past decades.

Last year, China downgraded the status of Tibetan antelope from "endangered" to "near threatened," owing to proactive anti-poaching and biodiversity protection efforts.

So far, Tibet has built 47 nature reserves covering a total area of about 412,200 square km, which accounts for more than one-third of the region's total area.

Aerial photo taken on March 24, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows a Tibetan wild donkey in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan antelope in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Photo taken on March 25, 2022 shows Tibetan antelope in Nagqu, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Kelsang Namgyai) 
Right-wing extremism is based on White supremacist nationalism. White nationalism is that belief in national identity built around White ethnicity. The far-right populism has disrupted the politics of many Western societies. It racialises a lot of problems even when race is not the answer. White supremacy is a far more dispersed and deeply ingrained ideology in Western society, which over time, may appear harder to defeat.

The White supremacists think of forming a White ethnostate. The White ethnostate will only be of Caucasoid people of Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Nordic and Aryan roots. To preserve their White, European, and Christian cultural identities, they argue that they deserve to be segregated, preferentially treated, and specially protected. These White-supremacist far-right groups are motivated by White nationalism, Caucasian ethnicity, and their Christian identity. White supremacy also refers to a social system in which White people enjoy structural advantages (privileges) over other ethnic groups, on both collective and individual levels, despite formal legal equality. White Nationalism
The pattern of living arrangements of older adults in North East India is explored. The study is conducted on the basis of the 60th round (200405) of the National Sample Survey Office. We observe extreme dissimilarity in the pattern of the elderly living arrangements for the north-eastern states. The demographic variables like age, sex, marital status and number of surviving children become important determinants of the elderly living arrangements.

The world has experienced an increase in human life expectancy due to a decline in both fertility and mortality, and India is no exception to it (Chanana and Talwar 1987; Visaria 2001). In India, at the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy was about 25 years, which increased to 66 years at the present time (Bhagat 2015). As a result, the number of older adults increased to 8% in 2011 and is expected to increase by another 12.6% in 2026 (Census of India 2011). The alarming rate of increase in the number of older people is a matter of concern for policymakers, especially with regard to the pattern of living arrangements of the elderly (Rajan and Kumar 2003; Golandaj et al 2013). It is worth mentioning here that the elderly or old age is in line with the National Policy on Older Persons adopted by Government of India in January 1999. The policy defines and identifies a person whose age is 60 years or above as senior citizen or elderly.

The changes in the age structure and the switch from joint family to nuclear family are a source of concern for the support and care of older adults in India (Gupta and Sankar 2002). This is because, with the increase in the older population, there is a simultaneous decline in the number of younger family members to take care of the older adults (Ugargol et al 2016). Moreover, in India, home-based care from family members as primary caregivers is first and often the only option for a majority of older adults (Prakash 1999). In fact, most elderly parents prefer to live with their children or family than to live alone and also expect some material assistance and social support (Alavi et al 2011). In the absence of familial support, the older adults often prefer to stay in old-age homes, provided they are economically affordable. However, in India, there are very few old-age homes for the deprived and the poor elderly run by the state and central governments. In India, the institutionalisation of the aged is not popular and these facilities are not accessible, especially to the rural areas (Dandekar 1993, 1996). In such a situation, the living arrangements of older adults are of great concern. It refers to a type of family in which the elderly live, the headship they enjoy, the place they stay in and the people they stay with, the kind of relationship they maintain with their kith and kin and, on the whole, the extent to which they adjust to the changing environment (Rajan et al 1995).
As it confronts the most serious armed conflict in Europe since the end of the second world war, the European Union should avoid two traps: framing the war in civilizational terms and weaponizing multilateral economic institutions. The result of these would be to build another Fortress Europe which was not the initial project of those who started the process of integration of the continent when they created the Coal and Steel Community and decades later turned it into the European Union.

The EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared that Ukraine is one of us. She is not alone in framing this conflict in civilizational terms. Many commentators have, since the start of Russias brutal invasion of Ukraine, expressed surprise that such a conflict could have happened in civilized Europe as opposed to the world beyond. The same people seem to feel sympathy for the Ukrainians because they look like us. On the BBC, a senior western official said that what made the situation so emotional for him was that those being killed were European people with blue eyes and blond hair. The EU has been generous in its approach to refugees from Ukraine as it should be. Poland has led the way, influenced no doubt by a sense of ethnic solidarity and a communality of destiny: this is the country led by the same government which very strongly opposed accepting asylum seekers from Syria in 2015 and, since last summer, has condemned migrants at the Poland-Belarus frontier, threatening human rights defenders trying to help asylum seekers.

The civilizational way the war in Ukraine is being framed helps to explain why much of the world simply has no dog in this fight. Most African and Middle Eastern countries abstained during the vote at the UN General Assembly as did India. They see it as a fight between Russia on the one hand, the US and the EU on the other in which they have no stake. They note that the US and their European allies have done little to protect the Palestinians from Israelis grabbing their land for decades; that Iraq is a wreck and that Yemen is bombed with weapons bought by Saudi Arabia in France, the UK and the US.

As Russian troops massed in ever greater numbers on the borders of Ukraine last January, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declared that the inviolability of frontiers was among the guiding principles for international behavior. After Russias parliament recognized the independence of the two self-declared republics Moscow had cleaved from eastern Ukraine, Blinken said that that infringement on Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity was a gross violation of international law. The EU is on the same wavelength but has failed to commit political capital to finding solutions to other long-standing abuses of another countrys sovereignty: the Israeli land grab of Palestinian property is only the most obvious, and long- standing example. People in southern Mediterranean countries and many in Europe take note of what they see as western hypocrisy. Double standards raise awkward questions about the EUs self-proclaimed respect for and guardianship of democracy and the rule of law, key factors of its soft power.

Hans Kundnani, the director of the European program at Chatham House raises an issue that has been haunting Europe for decades. Is the EU a civilizational project? Does being European mean being white?. In a conference at Oxford University, Kundnani explained how historically, being European meant being white (and predominantly Christian I would add). After World War II, a new European identity emerged around the European Union, but it too had a civilizing mission and was based on forgetting the history of European colonialism and its relationship with European integration. This throws us back to Europes promise to accept Turkey into the EU which it then reneged on. It would be unwise for EU leaders to rekindle the fires of the Clash of Civilizations debate which were initially fueled by American conservative groups and successfully promoted by George W. Bush with his speech on the Axis of Evil. Those EU leaders who genuinely care about Europe and her societies should focus on extinguishing these fires, and working for the common destiny based on reconciliation, not profits for the arms industry.

Kundnani points to another danger in the current situation. First, we did too little to oppose Russia. Now do we risk going too far the other way? The economic sanctions against Russia agreed by the EU and its G7 partners are unprecedented since 1945. The risk here, the second trap if you prefer, is that weaponizing multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organization risks doing serious damage to Europes standing in the world. The predicament of Germany is real and brutally described by Constanze Stelzenmuller of The Brookings Institution in The Economist. The country has outsourced its security needs to the United States, its energy needs to Russia and its export-led growth to China. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the EU deliberately excluded energy from its sanctions against Moscow. The following year, Germany chose to increase its dependence on Russia by agreeing to build the Nordstream gas pipeline in 2015. Europes Faustian pact with Putin has unraveled spectacularly was how Jonathan Guthrie of the Financial Times summed up the situation.

The EU totally failed to deter the Russian presidents next move. Kundnani writes: if Russia is surprised at how tough and united we have been in our response to the invasion, that is not a success but a failure. It means deterrence didnt work because we failed to convince Russia that we would be that tough and united  and this should be our starting point in thinking about what to do next. The frantic scramble to do something smacks of overcompensation. Europe must avoid falling into the trap set by neoconservatism in the UK and the US which seeks to frame international politics as a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. History is not a morality tale. The speed at which the EU has changed tack and the fact that nobody knows which economies are going to be hit worst, and when, is terrifying. The mutual dependence between Russia and the EU economies is greater than many people imagined.

The ripple effect of sanctions will prevent the export of Russian and Ukrainian wheat to the Middle East and North Africa. Do EU leaders need reminding that food insecurity and rising prices helped trigger the revolts across Arab lands in 2011? What happens if Egypt grows hungry and the only democracy in the Arab world, Tunisia faces huge wheat and corn shortages and price rises? By its very harsh economic sanctions the EU risks fanning the flames of unrest along its entire south Mediterranean borders. It risks reinforcing the idea that multilateral economic institutions and rules are now entirely at the service of its and Americas, foreign and strategic policy. If it runs its course, in the mid/long term this policy risks discrediting and marginalizing Europe and weakening its role in world trade. This would inflict huge damage on Europes international standing and the prospects of future generations of Europeans.

Europe Should Avoid Two Traps As It Confronts War in Ukraine  Opinion by Francis Ghiles  Barcelona Centre for International Affairs / CIDOB.

The Opinion can be downloaded here
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe against Google for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the online news market following a complaint by the Indian Newspapers Society (INS). The CCI has passed an order to club the information submitted by the INS with the submissions made by the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) on similar contentions.

In January, the CCI had ordered an inquiry against Google for alleged abuse of dominant position in the digital advertising market on a complaint filed by the DNPA. The association has Dainik Bhaskar, India Today, NDTV, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Times of India, Amar Ujala, Jagran New Media, Eenadu and Malayalam Manorama as its members.

The CCI after examining the contentions of INS, the representative organisation of newspapers in the country, found that prima facie these allegations of abuse of dominant position are under the purview of the Competition Act 2002 and that it requires a detailed investigation by the director-general, the INS said in a statement.



The INS has been working towards obtaining proper compensation for contentfor its members and other news publishersfrom Google. The INS looks forward to the implementation of a just payment system at the earliest, it said.



In the statement, the INS alleged that Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google India Private Limited, Google Ireland Limited, and Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd are allegedly abusing their dominant position related to news referral services and Google Ad Tech services in the Indian online news media market, which violates Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002.



It also maintained that the producers/publishers of news that are made available in digital format are not being paid a fair value for their content despite them having invested heavily in creating appropriate content for the customers, who search for news items using the Google platform.



The INS also noted that the news media houses are completely kept in the dark on the total advertising revenue collected by Google and what actual percentage of the advertising revenue is being transferred to media organisations.



The apex body of newspaper publishers said several countries, including Australia, France, and Spain, have passed legislation requiring tech companies, including Google, to adequately compensate content producers for using their content and search results.



It added that the European Publishers Council had also filed a competition complaint against Google alleging that Google has achieved an end-to-end control of the ad-tech value chain, thus abusing its dominant position.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Bestselling Author of the Award- Winning Book "Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies " (Nicholas Brealey)

In a crisis, words matter. And so do pictures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used words and pictures to full advantage in a moving, powerful and impactful recent 16-minute virtual speech to a joint session of Congress.

Call For Action

He emphasized and repeated his country's immediate need for more military assistance. Zelensky said that if the U.S. would not implement and enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, they should send fighter jets, missiles and other weapons so that Ukrainians could more effectively defend themselves against Russia.

"Ukraine is grateful to the United States for its overwhelming support," he said. "I call on you to do more." He asked for additional sanctions against Russia and urged all U.S. companies to leave that country immediately.

Zelensky issued a direct appeal and challenge to President Joe Biden, saying that, "You are the leader of your great nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace."

References To U.S. History

One way speakers can connect with their audiences and effectively make their points is by referring events and people that their audiences know or can identify identify with.

Zelensky did that to great affect with when he referred to Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech, Zelensky said, "I have a need. I have a need to protect our skies."

He also mentioned December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2011comparing the death and destruction of those days in American history to the daily death and destruction that is being caused by Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

Visuals

And knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, Zelensky showed an emotional video collage of news clips and other disturbing pictures of the death and destruction that the Russians have inflicted on his country.

The video ended with this call for action in white lowercase letters against a black background: "close the sky over Ukraine."

Strong Closing

For added emphasis and dramatic effect, Zelensky, whose remarks were being translated into English by an interpreterended his speech by speaking in English.

Advice For Business Leaders

Based on Zelensky's speech to Congress, keep the following crisis communication best practices in mind when you update stakeholders and the public about a crisis at your company or organization.

Audience

Never forget who your audience isand who else may be listening, reading or watching what you have to say.

Connecting

To help connect with audiences and make your points, refer to people or events that they know and understand.

Visuals

When communicating about a crisis, it is just as important to use pictures to help tell your story as it is to use the most effective words and information.

Length

Keep updates about your company's crisis short and to the point.

Anecdotes

In addition to reciting relevant facts and pictures, it can be appropriate to tell short stories or anecdotes to help make your points memorable for your audiences.

Emotion

Depending on the nature of your organization's crisis situation, touching on the emotions of people could be very effective. But this should be done very sparinglyif at all.

Delivery

When speaking, do not deliver your remarks in a monotone. Use a conversation approach and vary the pitch, tone and speed of your remarks to help emphasize key points.

Translations

Remember that all members of your audience may not fully understand English, and that it may be prudent to translate into different languages information and updates about your company's crisis.

Call For Action

When appropriate, include a call for action in your updates. What do you want people to do and when how do you want them to do it?

More Help Coming From The U.S.

Hours after Zelensky's emotional speech to Congress, President Joe Biden spoke to the nation about the unfolding crisis in Europe and America's response to it. He said that the U.S. will provide Ukraine with a $800 million assistance package. According to a White House fact sheet, the assistance includes:

800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;

2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems;

100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems;

100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, and 400 shotguns;

Over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds;

25,000 sets of body armor; and

25,000 helmets.

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St. Marys University has raised $165 million in its largest-ever fundraising campaign  $35 million more than the original goal.

School officials joined community members Friday evening to celebrate the announcement, which University President Thomas Mengler called a historic moment for St. Marys.

So it is a defining moment, he added. For generations of alumni, their time at St. Marys has been a defining moment, its been transformative.  The campaign and its success is really a reflection of our graduates gratitude to the Marianists and to the faculty and staff.

The Defining Moment Comprehensive Campaign was launched in 2017, aiming to raise $130 million. The focus, officials said, was to promote a culture of excellence in teaching, research and service; deepen the universitys Catholic and Marianist identity and prepare students for success and a lifelong vocational journey.

By 2019, the university announced it had reached $139 million and raised its goal to $150 million. That was months before the coronavirus pandemic forced a switch in techniques  the dropping of in-person events and campus visits and a new reliance on phone calls and virtual meetings.

In all, 11,494 donors responded and 39 of them gave $1 million or more, officials said. About 2,200 made gifts of $1,000 or more, and 4,900 gave in amounts less than $100.

There was never any doubt that with the right amount of relationships and reaching out, that we would be able to attain this goal, said Leti Contreras, a 1989 graduate who chairs the universitys board of trustees, herself a donor.

The St. Marys mission is there to provide access to an excellent education for everyone  not just one student, but all, said Lynda Ellis, a campaign donor who graduated in 1981 and is now on the board.

On ExpressNews.com: St. Marys University wins national cybersecurity designation

As of last fall, the university had 3,432 students, only 26 fewer than the fall of 2020. But the pandemic hit its undergraduate enrollment harder, decreasing it by nearly 20 percent.

The universitys undergrads are 41 percent first-generation students, 41 percent Pell grant-eligible, and 51 percent Bexar County natives. About 92 percent of them  and 72 percent of all students  have been eligible for scholarships, and the fundraising campaign has increased the availability of scholarship funds by 90 percent, to reach $58.8 million.

The campaign also created 94 endowed scholarships that will meet future needs of students.

On ExpressNews.com: Live: Talking SA with Gilbert Garcia and Dr. Charles Cotrell

I think that contribution in particular will address a higher education gap that I know (we are) all familiar with, Mengler said. The most recent data indicates that in the San Antonio area, only 17 percent of Hispanics in our community have bachelors degrees, in contrast with much more than double that for Caucasians and Asian-Americans.

The campaign was vital for the future of St. Marys  the oldest university in the region, tracing its roots to a downtown school established in 1852 by the Society of Mary, the religious order of priests and brothers known as Marianists.

Historically, it has drawn first-generation college students from modest backgrounds in San Antonio and South Texas, Mengler said.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios UT and A&M freshmen break records; Texas college enrollment trends vary

With more area universities offering free tuition and other financial aid opportunities, scholarship funding is key to keeping that core demographic, he said.

For us to continue to succeed in the future, we need to continue to raise scholarships, Mengler said. And to provide a value-added education as well.  We provide small classrooms, liberal arts curriculum, pre-professional programs.

The university also will add 14 new endowed teaching positions and is setting aside $13.2 million for classroom and lab renovations and $5.2 million to fund the Center for Catholic Studies.

While some of the gifts were made under specific agreements to create endowed positions or fund certain programs, Mengler said there was a good amount that offered the flexibility to address changing, pandemic-related needs, particularly the growing need for student financial support.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

We really targeted our students in need, who with their families experienced great financial suffering, he said. And there was health and tragedy issues there as well. So we directed as much funding as we could.

The university is in the planning stages for the next fundraising campaign. Aside from scholarship funds, a strong focus will remain on funding academic student support and academic excellence, all grounded in the universitys Catholic faith.

(The campaign) positions us really well for greater fundraising in the future, Contreras said. Weve spent the last four years reaching out to graduates from St. Marys, to friends of the university, and its given us a platform to share our story, to share our success, (what) weve been able to accomplish as a university and really show to people we talked to that we are good stewards of our money.

danya.perez@express-news.net | @DanyaP
Both my grandfather and great-uncle, Pablo Cortez and Taylor Cortez, worked for the Winerich Auto Sales company in San Antonio during the 1920s and 30s. They both painted cars. I figure that you may find more information about this company, which was located at the corner of Broadway and Third streets across the street from the current Herwecks Art Supply store. The art store told me that their building originally housed a motor sales company as well. Attached are two files: one of a list of employees and their obligation to Overland Owners and one photo of my grandfather and great-uncle.

- Richard Cortez Arredondo

San Antonio was an early adopter of automotive technology and became a regional hub for dealerships and auto-repair shops. According to a timeline on the website of the Texas Transportation Museum, the citys first battery-powered horseless carriage was delivered in 1899 to a livery service on Commerce Street, followed two years later by San Antonios first vehicle with a gasoline engine, a Haynes Apperson.

(To view the timeline, go to txtransportationmuseum.org/history and click on the Transportation History tab, then on S.A. Transportation Timeline and finally on San Antonio Automotive History, under Related Links on the righthand rail.)

On ExpressNews.com: Goodwills first start in San Antonio came to mysterious end; second attempt took root

Typically, the newfangled machines arrived in crates, assembly required. The idea of buying a car off the showroom floor or lot came later. The earliest manufacturers agencies allowed customers to order the model they wanted, and independent shops provided replacement parts and repair services.

Both of the buildings you mention - the current Herwecks at 300 Broadway and the former Winerich Motor Sales, across the street at 301 Broadway (with some address changes due to expansions and renumbering) - were anchors of San Antonios first automotive district.

Your relatives worked at a business formerly known as the Woodward Carriage Co., chartered on Nov. 29, 1905, by D.J. Woodward and Frank Winerich. Located on St. Marys Street, the company hedged its bets on the new technology by selling both buggies and automobiles, as well as harnesses made from the very best leathers and a handsome line of lap robes, as advertised in the San Antonio Light, Dec. 28, 1905.

With Winerich as president, the company moved into Rambler sales. It changed its name in 1918 to Winerich Motor Sales Co., dealing in new and used cars. The old stock of horse-drawn carriages was sold off at a discount while a new Winerich Building was constructed at Avenue C (later Broadway) and Third Street, purpose-built with space for new and used cars as well as a repair shop.

Courtesy UTSA Special Collections

As advertised in the Light on March 7, 1915, the area where your relatives Pablo and Taylor Cortez worked was singled out for special notice: Our painting and trimming departments are in charge of thorough experts. City directories list both brothers as painters from the mid-to-late 1920s, which would fit with their signing a pledge (or obligation) to owners of Overland automobiles. Overland was one of the early makes Winerich sold, and it was a standalone company for only five years, said Hugh Hemphill, author of San Antonio on Wheels: The Alamo City Learns to Drive. Acquired by Willys in 1908, The Overland was the premium brand but was deleted in 1926.

Beginning in 1922, Winerich sold Studebakers and became one of the Indiana carmakers leading Texas dealers through the 1950s. The founder, who died on Oct. 15, 1940, was succeeded as president by his son, William H. Winerich. In 1956, the company moved to a larger new building at 1822 Broadway, a location described in advertisements as the heart of Automobile Row.

At this location, Winerich sold the first Edsel in San Antonio through an unusual arrangement with the Ford Motor Co., which introduced its much-hyped midsize model through its own network of 1,200 dealers nationwide. A volume dealer for the time, Winerich had the space at its new premises to take delivery and keep the ill-fated Edsels - manufactured for only two years - shrouded in secrecy until Sept. 4, 1957, the national rollout date.

The citys first Edsel buyer was insurance broker Pete Heilbron, who took delivery of a four-door Edsel Pacer, sold soon after the new cars went on display, as reported in an undated, unidentified newspaper clipping from Hemphills collection. By the following summer, Winerich was advertising a very unusual sale of unclaimed Edsels at dealer invoice prices, the exact amount we have paid the Ford Motor Co.

On ExpressNews.com: Giveaway tokens tied Alamo Downs racetrack to Texas Centennial

Did Weinrichs gamble on the Edsel - plagued by mechanical failures and an unpopular design - bring down a family business that had lasted for most of the time San Antonio had cars? Maybe the rejected brand played a role, since by early 1959, Turbiville Lincoln Salon had replaced Winerich at its spacious modern showroom.

The building at 300 Broadway, across the street from the original Winerichs location, saw some changes, too. It housed a Buick agency and a Packard distributor before welcoming Western Auto Parts Store No. 1 (out of three in downtown San Antonio) in 1929. The retailer was still there to remodel the building nearly a decade later, enlarging the display space for many new lines of merchandise and adding an entrance for drive-in service, reported the San Antonio Express of June 5, 1938. With other tenants on the buildings second floor, Western Auto lasted through the 1950s and gave way to Herwecks in the early 60s, after many other automotive businesses had moved beyond downtown.

City directories show that Pablo Cortez moved on, too, becoming a machine operator in the 30s and working at Lackland AFB by 1951, while Taylor Cortez was listed as a painter or foreman for Weinrich for much longer.

Courtesy of Hugh Hemphill

A photograph of the many veteran employees in (Winerichs) large staff, published in the Light, May 27, 1928, includes Taylor Cortez but not Pablo (sometimes known as Paul) among 51 employees recognized when the staff was awarded a Studebaker certificate of merit. Under the direction of Taylor Cortez, says the story, the paint shop is one of the most efficient operated by any automobile firm. Taylor was an authority on ultracellulose finishes (lacquer) and never (let) a car leave the shop without a durable, mirrorlike finish.

history column @yahoo.com | Twitter: @sahistorycolumn | Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumnhistory column @yahoo.com | Twitter: @sahistorycolumn | Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- People around the world are expected to turn off lights at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday to mark Earth Hour 2022, an environmental movement calling for global solidarity in protecting Mother Nature.

With the theme of "Shape Our Future," this year's event aims to inspire people to take concrete actions for a brighter future of the planet.

Over the past decade, China has been advancing the green transition of its economy under the guidance of President Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization, which derives from the Chinese perception, or reflection, of the relationship between man and nature.

On various occasions, Xi has expounded on his philosophy which also stresses promoting international cooperation for an environmentally friendly world.

The following are some highlights in his remarks.

Oct. 30, 2021

While addressing the 16th G20 Leaders' Summit via video link, Xi urged developed countries to lead by example on emission reduction.

Developed countries should fully accommodate the special difficulties and concerns of developing countries, deliver on their commitments of climate financing, and provide technology, capacity-building and other support for developing countries, Xi said.

Oct. 12, 2021

In his keynote speech at the leaders' summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, Xi stressed the importance of international coordination in promoting ecological civilization.

"We need to strengthen solidarity to overcome difficulties and let people across countries benefit more and in a fairer way from development outcomes and a sound environment, so as to build a homeland of common development of all countries," said Xi.

"If we, humanity, do not fail Nature, Nature will not fail us," he said. "Ecological civilization represents the development trend of human civilization."

Sept. 21, 2021

In his speech at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Xi reiterated the need to achieve harmonious coexistence between the human race and nature.

"We need to improve global environmental governance, actively respond to climate change and create a community of life for man and nature. We need to accelerate transition to a green and low-carbon economy and achieve green recovery and development," he said.

China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad, the Chinese president said.

April 20, 2021

When addressing the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021, Xi called for efforts to strengthen cooperation on green infrastructure, green energy and green finance.

Xi also called for improving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) International Green Development Coalition and the Green Investment Principles for the BRI Development and other multilateral cooperation platforms "to make green a defining feature of Belt and Road cooperation."

Dec. 30, 2020

During a video meeting with European Union leaders, Xi urged China and Europe to "give full play to their high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate, and give mutual support to each other in hosting international conferences on biodiversity, climate change and conservation of nature."

Sept. 30, 2020

When delivering a speech at the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, Xi called on all parties to adhere to ecological civilization and increase the drive for building a beautiful world, saying biodiversity affects the well-being of humanity and provides the very basis for the human race to survive and thrive.

China is willing to share with all parties its experience in biodiversity governance and ecological progress, he added. 
A man accused of assaulting a family member and injuring an elderly person committed suicide in his cell at the Bexar County Jail, the sheriffs office said.

Ryan Legg, 36, was booked into the jail on Monday on charges of family assault-second offense and causing bodily injury to an elderly person.

On Thursday night, a sheriffs deputy conducting routine checks around 10:36 p.m. found Legg unresponsive in his cell, the sheriffs office said.

Deputies attempted life-saving measures until EMS personnel arrived, the office said. Legg was pronounced dead at 11:06 p.m.

On ExpressNews.com: San Marcos teen charged with arson in Austin synagogue fire

The sheriffs office did not disclose how Legg killed himself.

Preliminarily, it appears that all BCSO policy and procedures were followed while the unit officer conducted cell checks, a sheriffs office spokeswoman, Adelina Simpson, said in a news release.

Simpson added that in keeping with standard procedure, the sheriffs criminal investigations, internal affairs and public integrity units are investigating.

The Karnes County sheriffs office will conduct a separate investigation. The Sandra Bland Act, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2017, requires that an independent law enforcement agency investigate any jail death.

Bland, 28, an African American woman from Illinois, was found dead in the Waller County jail in 2015.

On ExpressNews.com: Texas couple sent to prison after destroying customers homes in renovation fraud scheme

A state trooper had pulled her over in Prairie View for failing to signal a lane change. When Blands conversation with trooper Brian Encinia grew heated, Encinia arrested her on a charge of assaulting a public servant. She was found dead in her jail cell three days later. The death was ruled a suicide.

Encinia was later fired by the Department of Public Safety. He agreed to surrender his police certification and to never again seek work in law enforcement in any capacity.

caroline.tien@hearst.com
The Bexar County District Attorneys Office has dropped a manslaughter charge against a sheriffs deputy in the fatal shooting of an Elmendorf man two years ago.

A grand jury last week indicted the deputy, Brandin Moran, in the killing of Jesus Benito Garcia on March 9, 2020. Moran was dispatched to Garcias trailer home after reports that Garcia was in a dispute with his wife, was pleading with her not to leave him and was holding a screwdriver.

District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales announced Friday that after reviewing the incident, he and a team of veteran prosecutors had decided the manslaughter charge against Moran would not stand up in court.

This office is committed to holding police accountable when they commit a wrongdoing, Gonzales said in a statement. We also, however, do not prosecute cases we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and we take this responsibility just as seriously.

A lawyer for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, which is representing Garcias widow and other family members in a civil lawsuit against the county and Moran, called the DAs decision perplexing and disappointing.

The family has been waiting for two years for some form of justice and are deeply upset by this about-face, said lawyer Matthew Garcia (no relation to Jesus Garcia).

Moran was sent to Jesus Garcias home to assist Elmendorf police in dealing with a report of a domestic violence incident. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at the time of the shooting that Garcia, 47, had approached Moran and an Elmendorf officer in a threatening manner while holding a knife or a boxcutter.

In his announcement Friday, Gonzales provided more detail about the encounter and said that under Texas law, police can use lethal force to prevent or stop an aggravated kidnapping.

In this case, Deputy Moran discovered Jesus Garcia in possession of a potentially lethal weapon while also pinning his wife on the ground and refusing to let her go, the DA said. He did not say what kind of weapon it was.

Gonzales added that in order to obtain a conviction against the deputy, prosecutors would have to show that Moran had not acted in order to protect the life of Garcias wife. Given that Mr. Garcia held a potentially lethal weapon and had his wife essentially held hostage, we do not believe we could make this showing beyond a reasonable doubt, Gonzales said.

This case was heartbreaking, as is every case where a life is lost, the DA said. Our hearts go out to Mr. Garcias family, and our victims services division will work to offer the family any support that it needs in this difficult time.

The sheriffs office said that Moran, who had been on administrative leave, would return to full duty, effective immediately.

Had Moran been convicted of manslaughter, he could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

In their lawsuit against the county and Moran, filed in federal court early this month, Garcias family members contend that the deputy violated Garcias civil rights and used excessive force.

According to the suit, Moran shot Garcia moments after arriving on the scene while Garcia was on his knees. It states that Moran did not issue a warning before firing and did not identify himself or confer with the Elmendorf officer.

The family contends that Garcia was holding a screwdriver to his own neck and posed no threat to anyone.

The suit names as plaintiffs Garcias three daughters and three sons and his widow, Lisa Garcia.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863
A former San Antonio police officer appealing her firing told an arbitrator on Friday that she used compliance strikes in self-defense when she punched a pregnant woman in the head. And she would do it again.

Elizabeth Montoya  who was indefinitely suspended, tantamount to being fired, by Police Chief William McManus in January 2019  testified on the third day and final of a hearing on her appeal. She is is seeking reinstatement with back pay and benefits.

Montoyas attorney, Robert Leonard, replayed video footage of the July 5, 2018, encounter that led to her dismissal, which was captured by body-worn and police vehicle cameras, questioning her about the incident.

Montoya, who had been with the department since May 2011, was on night patrol downtown and in surrounding areas when she responded to reports of a burglary involving a knife. Police had found a male suspect and the pregnant woman asleep in a vehicle, with evidence of the burglary outside.

Montoya was tasked with searching the woman, who began to complain when Montoya told her to spread her legs.

You could tell she was upset or agitated with the situation, Montoya said.

Montoya said she held onto the woman, who was trying to walk away. Montoya said her partner, Officer Joshua Vega, pressed the womans shoulder against the side of a police SUV and used his foot to keep the womans legs spread for Montoya to conduct her search.

On ExpressNews.com: I would indefinitely suspend her again: McManus, former Leon Valley police chief offer opposite views of officer who punched pregnant woman

The cross-examination of Montoya by City Attorney Michael Urbis was tense, with Montoya pushing back against basic questions regarding abusive language toward prisoners.

Urbis also pressed Montoya about a statement captured on body camera footage in which she said she slammed the woman against the SUV.

Montoya said she was changing her account of that detail because the video showed it was Vega who pressed the womans shoulder against the SUV.

But Vega, who testified as a rebuttal witness, said he did not do so.

Video was shown of the woman lying on the ground after she was struck. The woman cried, asking why Montoya had to hit her in the head.

Vega said that at that point in the encounter, he got Montoya away from her as he tried to calm the woman down.

He called EMS to examine the woman when she said her stomach hurt. He said he left the woman in the rain for 26 minutes because he was worried that moving her might cause more harm.

An allegation of prisoner mistreatment against Vega was dismissed by the chief, but he was suspended for two days for turning off his body-worn camera during the incident.

On ExpressNews.com: Officer suspended for punching pregnant woman begins fight for reinstatement

During Leornards examination of Montoya, the attorney played a part of the video in which the woman kicked Montoyas knee, which Montoya said caused her knee to buckle.

It was noted that Montoya tore her ACL during training, an injury that was misdiagnosed. She never had surgery and has to wear a brace.

Montoya said at one point, she could feel the woman grabbing her stun gun.

Montoya said that after she and Vega took the woman down to stop her kicking, she lifted the womans arms  still handcuffed  behind her back. She said the move, which inflicts pain, is a compliance technique taught at the police academy.

Nine out of 10 times, people stop, Montoya said.

As Montoya and two other officers ordered the woman into the back seat of a police SUV, they were unfamiliar with a new seat belts at the time, which allowed them to strap a person in so they would not have to reach over them.

Montoya said she has been spat on and head-butted on at least two occasions when reaching across prisoners to strap them in. When she was spat on, she contracted Hepatitis C.

As Montoya was attempting to buckle her in, the woman tried to hook her feet under the SUVs door. Another officer pushed her foot out from under the door.

The woman then kicked Montoya a second time, and Montoya responded by punching the side of her head seven times.

Montoya called the blows compliance strikes, which she described as rabbit punches that were less powerful than her usual punch.

She said she stopped hitting the woman when she stopped kicking. She said no officer stopped her from punching the woman, contrary to another officers report.

On ExpressNews.com: Officials: Bexar Countys insurer responsible for potential payout of $10.35 million verdict

Vegas testimony also contradicted Montoya on that detail. He said he heard the punches and reached in, placing his hand on Montoyas shoulder  a signal to stop.

During Fridays testimony, Montoya said she had filed a complaint against her sergeant, who had told McManus, during the chiefs review of the case, that Montoya was a problem officer with a bad attitude.

When asked whether she could have walked away, as Chief McManus suggested during his testimony on Thursday, Montoya said that wasnt an option.

We dont walk away, she said. We dont have that luxury. If someones hitting us, I cant just stop in the middle of it.

Asked whether fellow officers could have taken over, she said thats not an accepted practice among officers on the street.

I would still do that again, Montoya said. I have every right to defend myself, and thats all I did.

jbeltran@express-news.net
LVIV, Ukraine  A blue glow rises from the welding torch in Sergiy Petrovs hand as he works to fuse together a pair of 6-foot metal beams to form an X. He stands at one end of a police checkpoint on the outskirts of this city in western Ukraine, devoting his morning to building anti-tank obstacles known as Czech hedgehogs.

He steps back after a minute and flips up his welding helmet. He explains that he discarded his old weekend routine  walking with his dog to a favorite cafe for coffee and pastries  for a simple, sincere reason. Because I am Ukrainian, he says.

Within hours after Russian troops invaded last month, police set up several checkpoints on Lvivs perimeter, including one near a roundabout on the citys northern edge. Since then, Petrov and dozens of fellow volunteers have fortified this site and others, rotating in shifts to dig trenches, fill sandbags, and install barricades laced with concertina wire.

The effort represents one of the myriad ways that residents in the city of 720,000 people have rallied to aid the countrys war response. Dubbed the soul of Ukraine, and located 50 miles from Poland, Lviv has served as an indispensable rear echelon, providing support for troops headed to combat zones and civilians forced to flee the destruction Russia has unleashed.

A growing network of volunteers has sought to assist and comfort hundreds of thousands of refugees passing through the city on their way to Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Donation centers collect food, water, and medicine to send to troops at the front and villages in the region. Thousands of residents have joined the territorial defense force to bolster the countrys military.

Their dual readiness to console and to fight has gained added urgency as Russian forces, after sparing Lviv the devastation endured by other cities across Ukraine, have targeted the area in recent days. A missile attack Saturday sent black clouds of smoke drifting over the city a week after rockets hit near the closed airport. Air-raid sirens supply unsettling background music as crews cover stained-glass windows in cathedrals, wrap public statues in protective plastic, and load trucks with crated museum artwork destined for safekeeping outside the country.

In a city sometimes likened to Vienna for its architectural style, cultural sensibility, and air of refinement, the war has elicited a collective compassion and reinforced a desire for independence. Centuries of aggression against Lviv  the list of occupiers includes the Cossacks, Poland, Germany, and the Soviet Union  have sown a deep-rooted sense of Ukrainian identity and resistance to Russian influence.

Petrov embodies that ethos as the region confronts the threat of another invading army. Lending his machinist skills to the cause, he offers a smile and a promise before flipping down his helmet to resume welding.

This is Ukraine, he says. We will not surrender.

These are our people

Joe Raedle /Getty Images

Lvivs pre-war population has swelled by about 30 percent as the city provides a haven for some 200,000 refugees day-to-day. Most arrive by train and bus from cities in the east and south that Russian forces have turned to rubble and ash.

The main railway station has evolved into an ad hoc welcome center where volunteers dispense provisions  sandwiches, bottled water, blankets  and words of instruction and reassurance to their war-weary compatriots. Renata Kukul and her husband, Ivan Slotylo, work at an aid station here almost every day as much to assist refugees as to alleviate their own frustration.

You dont have the power as one person to change the war, says Kukul, a graphic artist, who with Slotylo organized a recent online campaign that raised $6,000 in donations for the Red Cross. She blames the dark rings under her eyes on the war robbing her of sleep. Coming to the station and helping people for 10 or 12 hours  it gives you the feeling you can do something.

The city has opened refugee centers in churches, schools, and other public spaces to absorb the influx of evacuees. They sleep on cots and floor mats alongside the one or two suitcases they brought from home carrying fragments of their abandoned lives.

Mykola Verkholiuk serves as deputy coordinator of a shelter that houses 300 people on the campus of Lvivs national university of veterinary medicine. A professor of microbiology at the school, he volunteered his time at the center when the war erupted, and he meets with refugees to weigh their options for staying in Ukraine or immigrating to another country.

These are our people. They would do the same for us if Lviv was getting bombed every day, he says. Women and children make up the majority of refugees, with men between the ages of 18 and 60 required under an order of martial law to stay to defend the country. His voice catches when he talks about the plight of families torn apart. He holds up his hand as his eyes glaze with tears.

What is being done to our children, he says, will not be forgiven.

Grief and fury

Joe Raedle /Getty Images

A maze of stacked cardboard boxes fills the basement of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on Lvivs west side. They contain donated pasta, coffee, and other store-bought items, along with assorted homemade goods: a jar of canned meat, a Ziploc bag of cookies, a container with chunks of a traditional food called salo, or pork fat. The array suggests the eagerness of residents to support the war effort in whatever way they can afford.

Dania Titko and Lesya Kryvonis sort and separate the contents to prepare care packages for troops en route to or already on the front lines. One of those soldiers is Titkos nephew, whose unit has deployed to southern Donetsk, a region of eastern Ukraine that Russian-backed separatists seized in 2014. His service in the trenches and her quiet work beneath Ascension of the Lord unites them across 750 miles in the struggle to preserve a sovereign Ukraine.

For too many years in our history, Russia has tried to control us and take our freedom, Titko says. She refers to Russian President Vladimir Putin without mentioning his name. Each of us must do our part to prevent this madman from destroying us.

Volunteers organized dozens of donation sites throughout Lviv after Russian tanks rolled over the border Feb. 24. The largest occupies a vacant arts complex in the city center, where a group of residents gathered that night to sweep the floors and set up folding tables. By morning, a stream of people began dropping off food, clothing, and other necessities, and the flow of donations has remained steady in the ensuing weeks.

Workers swirl through the space as they pack items to ship by truck to troops and to villages that the war has cut off from the supply chain. Yuri Popovych, a coordinator at the site and the owner of a software development firm, describes his role as a patriotic calling born of grief and fury.

I am here because I am heartbroken for Ukraine and outraged at Russia, he says. I cant believe what they have done to us. He pauses when he notices an associate across the room waving him over, and then he excuses himself. Another truck needs loading.

We are all ready

/Martin Kuz /Contributor

The video playing on Andriy Konovarts phone shows him in a past incarnation. He appears on-screen with other bare-chested members of the national water polo team as they promote their sport outside Lvivs town hall on a sun-kissed day a decade ago.

The video ends a minute later and he returns to the present moment. He wears a hooded jacket as he stands in a muddy trench near the citys closed airport on a cold, ash-gray morning, and instead of a water polo ball tucked under his arm, an automatic rifle hangs from his shoulder.

I represented Ukraine in sport. Now I represent it in war, says Konovart, a Lviv native who joined the areas territorial defense force when Russia invaded. The retired athlete and the fellow citizen soldiers in his unit patrol in 12-hour shifts around the airport, where last week four Russian cruise missiles struck, destroying an aircraft repair plant.

The war has acted as an accelerant on national unity, with Ukrainian defense officials estimating that 100,000 men and women have signed up for the civilian defense corps, receiving training in basic military skills and tactics. I didnt ever think I would see Ukrainians coming together so much, Konovart says. But Putin has made us one.

The sentiment cuts across generations. Volodymyr Havryliv, part of the same civilian unit as Konovart and a rental car manager in Lviv, recalls his teenage son telling him that he planned to join the volunteer force. Havryliv burst into tears out of profound sorrow and paternal pride.

I dont want to be in a war and I dont want my son to be in a war, he says. But I am ready. He is ready. We are all ready.

Martin Kuz is an independent journalist who reported from Ukraine for five weeks. He wrote this article for the Express-News, where he once was an investigative reporter. Kuz has extensive experience reporting from combat zones.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 25, 2022) - Biocure Technology Inc. (CSE: CURE) (OTCQB: BICTF) ("Biocure" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following operational and investment update to the market and its stakeholders.

BPK is currently under way to develop ROR1 CAR-T for a chronic leukemia treatment and Innovative CAR-T which can treat lung and ovarian cancer. All new CAR-T products under development are a bi-specific (dual antibody binding) CAR-T and made in a combination that can resolve the recurrent issues and side effects of the existing CAR-T.

In order to obtain patents for those new CAR-T technologies, BPK has completed to develop a new structural gene for CAR T and is under the evaluation of its efficacy by In-vitro tests for patent application. The new structural gene shall consist of bi-specific CAR T and play a critical roll to enhance performance of T Cell to attack and kill cancer cells. This new gene can be applied to different kind of cancers, being a part of a bi-specific CAR T.

With thorough understanding about the characteristics of cancer cells obtained from our accumulated expertise of CD-19 CAR T project, our new bi-specific CAR-T technologies are being developed to become activated only when CAR-T is bound to the cancer cells. Thus, our new CAR-T technologies could dramatically contribute to the improvement of therapeutic performance and reduction of side effects.

As the very first step of the Company's patent strategies, BPK plan to apply its patent for the new structural gene, covering a broad range of solid tumors, as the structural gene can work in CAR T for more than one specific cancer. BPK will apply for more patents in 2022 for bi-specific CAR T targeting CLL and other solid tumors, using the patented structural gene

In addition, BPK is one step way from the completion of development for another Innovative CAR-T model that destroys the PD-1/PDL-1 system which is the most important self-defence mechanism of cancer cells. This technology could disarm the tumor microenvironment (TME) that cancer cells run for self-defence and equip CAR-T with a new mechanism that supports CAR-T to work more effectively on cancer cells to treat lung and ovarian cancer.

BPK is in close discussion for a partnership with a Korean company who is interested to set up Contract Development & Manufacturing Company ("CDMO") business. It will make the Company more focused on the research and development of technologies, where manufacturing could be done at the GMP facility of such a CDMO partnership.

The Company also announced that the land purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with Korea Land & Housing Corporation ("KLHC") announced on December 18, 2017 was terminated on Mar. 25, 2022. The installment funds have been paid by BPK are expected to be refunded to BPK after deduction of interests, where the down payment shall be forfeited.

About Biocure

Biocure is a leading biotech company developing its CAR-T cell therapy for leukemia, lung, breast and pancreatic cancer. Biocure, headquartered in Korea, has joint venture partners in Asia and Europe with planned clinical trials commencing in 2021. Biocure is in the process of pre-clinical trials of five major biosimilar products in South Korea, including Interferon Beta 1b, PEG- Filgrastim as well as Ranibizumab. Interferon Beta 1b is used for treating relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis ("MS")

Filgrastim is used to treat neutropenia, a lack of certain white blood cells caused by bone marrow transplants, chemotherapy, and other conditions. Ranibizumab is used for treating mascular degeneration. It is also used to treat a type of eye problem known as macular edema, as well as certain eye problems caused by diabetes.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/S/ "SANG MOK LEE"

CEO and Director

For further information, please contact:

Biocure Technology Inc. Telephone: 604-609-7146, or info@biocuretech.com

Certain statements in this news release, which are not historical in nature, constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning the Company's proposed activities under the Agreement and the expectations of the Company regarding funding payments due pursuant to the Agreement. These statements reflect management's current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Except as required pursuant to applicable securities laws, the Company will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by the Company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) 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/118256
Tortola, British Virgin Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - March 26, 2022) - Recently, in response to the US Department of Justice's statement that it will prosecute banks and cryptocurrency exchanges for helping Russians hide their assets, BitWell, the world's leading growth asset trading platform, said that no personal data of users will be provided to the US Department of Justice.

Previously, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Department of Justice have made several announcements to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies by wealthy Russians to evade economic sanctions, and have set up relevant investigation units. Not only targeting Russian tycoons, on March 12, the DOJ also said it would prosecute banks and cryptocurrency exchanges that help Russians hide their assets.

"The Department of Justice will use all of its powers to seize the assets of individuals and businesses that violate sanctions," said Attorney General Merrick Garland, "We will spare no effort to investigate, arrest and prosecute these crimes, and will use all tools to freeze and confiscate the proceeds of crime."

OFAC and the US Department of Justice said that cryptocurrency exchanges need to take measures to ensure that Russians cannot make transactions. Any U.S. person, cryptocurrency exchange, cryptocurrency wallet, or other service provider are prohibited from providing services, including digital and traditional assets, to the Russian authorities, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Finance, or the Russian National Wealth Fund. And companies or individuals determined to be complicit for directly or indirectly attempting to assist Russia in circumventing US sanctions will also be sanctioned.

In this regard, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, noted that all US companies must comply with the law. It does not matter whether it involves US dollars, cryptocurrencies, gold, real estate or even non-financial assets, the sanctions law applies to all US individuals and businesses. Coinbase has currently blocked over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities.

In response to the US Department of Justice's lawsuit, BitWell said, "BitWell upholds the principle of privacy and inviolability of private assets and will not allow the legitimate rights of ordinary Russian users to be unjustifiably plundered. Also, the platform will continue to uphold the principles of privacy, fairness and freedom and will not freeze the assets of any Russian user or provide any personal data to the US Department of Justice."

With the recent influx of ordinary Russian users under sanctions coming to BitWell to register and trade, BitWell has announced that it will waive transaction fees for all users in Russia during the war, and a Russian language version will be available as soon as possible with exclusive customer support services.

Contact:

BitWell Technology Limited

Luke, Media Director

Operation(at)bitwellex.com

+65 8942 5952

3rd Floor, J&C Building, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands,VG1110

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118272
Lebrikizumab rapidly improved skin and itch symptoms in four weeks

BARCELONA, Spain, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 percent of patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) experienced at least 75 percent reduction in disease severity (EASI-75*) at 16 weeks when receiving lebrikizumab monotherapy in the ADvocate program, Almirall S.A. (BME: ALM) announced today at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting. Lebrikizumab, an investigational IL-13 inhibitor, also led to clinically meaningful improvements in itch and other important patient-reported outcomes compared to placebo.

"Atopic dermatitis symptoms such as itch, dry skin, severe pain and inflammation take a heavy burden on patients' lives as well as on their wellbeing. Patients seek medicines that provide effective and well tolerated treatment options that can address those symptoms and improve their quality of life. Lebrikizumab is an innovative treatment with specific inhibition of IL-13, the central pathogenic mediator in AD. The observed efficacy of lebrikizumab in these studies confirms the potential of this novel treatment, which would be a well-received addition to the atopic dermatitis armamentarium," said Prof. Dr. med. Diamant Thaci, Director at the Comprehensive Centre for Inflammation Medicine at the University of Lubeck in Germany, and principal investigator of the ADvocate 2 trial.

Lebrikizumab is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that binds to the interleukin 13 (IL-13) protein with high affinity to specifically prevent the formation of IL-13Ra1/IL-4Ra (Type 2 receptor) which blocks downstream signaling through the IL-13 pathway. 1-5 IL-13 plays the central role in Type 2 inflammation.6 In AD, IL-13 underlies the signs and symptoms including skin barrier dysfunction, itch, infection and hard, thickened areas of skin.7

In ADvocate 1, 43 percent of patients receiving lebrikizumab achieved clear or almost clear skin (IGA) at 16 weeks compared to 13 percent of patients taking placebo. Among those receiving lebrikizumab, 59 percent achieved an EASI-75 response, compared to 16 percent with placebo.

In ADvocate 2, 33 percent of patients taking lebrikizumab achieved clear or almost clear skin (IGA) at 16 weeks, compared to 11 percent of patients on placebo. Among those receiving lebrikizumab, 51 percent achieved an EASI-75 response, compared to 18 percent taking placebo.

Within four weeks, patients receiving lebrikizumab experienced statistically significant improvements in skin clearance and itching, as well as improvements in interference of itch on sleep, and quality of life, as measured by key secondary endpoints.

The safety profile of the 16-week period was consistent with prior lebrikizumab studies in AD. Patients taking lebrikizumab, compared to placebo, reported a lower frequency of adverse events in ADvocate 1 (lebrikizumab: 45%, placebo: 52%) and ADvocate 2 (lebrikizumab: 53%, placebo: 66%). Most adverse events across the two studies were mild or moderate in severity and nonserious and did not lead to treatment discontinuation. The most common adverse events in ADvocate 1 and 2 for those on lebrikizumab were conjunctivitis (7% and 8%, respectively), common cold (nasopharyngitis) (4% and 5%, respectively) and headache (3% and 5%, respectively).

"New positive data from the Phase 3 monotherapy studies ADvocate 1 and ADvocate 2 presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting demonstrate that lebrikizumab has the potential to be a leading treatment for a new generation of biologics. Patients need new treatment options that provide high efficacy and better tolerability. This milestone further drives us to continue to focus our efforts on one of the key products in our late-stage pipeline and to progress our commitment to improving the quality of patients' lives through innovative treatments," said Karl Ziegelbauer, Ph.D., Almirall S.A.'s Chief Scientific Officer.

Detailed 52-week results from ADvocate 1 and 2, as well as 16-week data from ADhere, the Phase 3 AD study of lebrikizumab with topical steroids, will be disclosed in coming months. Almirall and Eli Lilly and Company plan to submit filings to regulatory authorities around the world by the end of 2022 following completion of the ADvocate studies.

"We look forward to sharing longer term results from ADvocate 1 and 2 this year, which we believe will further highlight that lebrikizumab can provide much needed relief for people who struggle from this chronic, and many times, life-long disease," said Lotus Mallbris, M.D., Ph.D., vice president of global immunology development and medical affairs at Lilly.

Almirall has licensed the rights to develop and commercialize lebrikizumab for the treatment of dermatology indications, including AD, in Europe. Lilly has exclusive rights for development and commercialization of lebrikizumab in the United States and the rest of the world outside Europe.

*EASI=Eczema Area and Severity Index, EASI75=75 percent reduction in EASI from baseline to Week 16

About ADvocate 1 and ADvocate 2 and the Phase 3 Program

ADvocate 1 and ADvocate 2 are ongoing 52-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, global Phase 3 studies designed to evaluate lebrikizumab as monotherapy in adult and adolescent patients (aged 12 to less than 18 years of age and weighing at least 40 kg) with moderate-to-severe AD. During the 16-week treatment period, patients received lebrikizumab 500-mg initially and at two weeks, followed by lebrikizumab 250-mg or placebo every two weeks. The primary endpoints were measured by an Investigator Global Assessment (IGA) score of clear (0) or almost clear (1) skin with a reduction of at least two points from baseline and at least 75 percent change in baseline in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI-75) score at 16 weeks. EASI measures extent and severity of the disease. Key secondary endpoints were measured by IGA, EASI, the Pruritus Numeric Rating Scale, Sleep-Loss due to Pruritus and the Dermatology Life Quality Index.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted lebrikizumab Fast Track designation in AD in December 2019. The lebrikizumab Phase 3 program consists of five key global studies including two monotherapy studies, a combination study (ADhere), as well as long-term extension (ADjoin) and adolescent open label (ADore) studies.

About Atopic Dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD), or atopic eczema, is a chronic, relapsing skin disease characterized by intense itching, dry skin and inflammation that can be present on any part of the body.8 AD is a heterogeneous disease both biologically and clinically and may be characterized by a highly variable appearance in which flares occur in an unpredictable manner.9

Moderate-to-severe AD is characterized by intense itching, which leads to an itch-scratch cycle that further damages the skin.10 Like other chronic inflammatory diseases, AD is immune-mediated and involves a complex interplay of immune cells and inflammatory cytokines.8 People living with AD often report symptoms of intense, persistent itch which can be so uncomfortable that it can affect sleep, daily activities and social relationships.

About Lebrikizumab

Lebrikizumab is a novel, investigational, monoclonal antibody designed to bind IL-13 with high affinity to specifically prevent the formation of the IL-13Ra1/IL-4Ra heterodimer complex and subsequent signaling, thereby inhibiting the biological effects of IL-13 in a targeted and efficient fashion. IL-13 is the central pathogenic mediator of AD, promoting type 2 inflammation that drives skin barrier dysfunction, itch, skin thickening and infection.6,7

About Almirall

Almirall is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on skin health. We collaborate with scientists and healthcare professionals to address patient's needs through science to improve their lives. Our Noble Purpose is at the core of our work: "Transform the patients' world by helping them realize their hopes and dreams for a healthy life". We invest in differentiated and ground-breaking medical dermatology products to bring our innovative solutions to patients in need.

The company, founded in 1943 and headquartered in Barcelona, is publicly traded on the Spanish Stock Exchange and is a member of the IBEX35 (ticker: ALM). Throughout its 79-year history, Almirall has retained a strong focus on the needs of patients. Currently, Almirall has a direct presence in 21 countries and strategic agreements in over 70, with about 1,800 employees. Total revenues in 2021 were 836.5 million euros.

For more information, please visit almirall.com

1 Moyle M, et al. Exp Dermatol. 2019;28(7):756-768.

2 Ultsch M, et al. J Mol Biol. 2013;425(8):1330-1339.

3 Zhu R, et al. Pulm Pharmacol Ther. 2017;46:88-98.

4 Simpson EL, et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2018;78(5):863-871.e11.

5 Okragly A, et al. Comparison of the Affinity and in vitro Activity of Lebrikizumab, Tralokinumab, and Cendakimab. Presented at the Inflammatory Skin Disease Summit, New York, November 3-6, 2021.

6 Tsoi L, et al. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 2019;139(7):1480-1489.

7 Bieber T. Allergy. 2020;75(1):54-62.

8 Weidinger S, Novak N. Lancet. 2016;387:1109-1122.

9 Langan SM, et al. Arch Dermatol. 2008;142:1109.

10 Yosipovitch G, et al. Curr Allergy Rep. 2008;8:306-311.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1217694/Almirall_Logo.jpg
People buy lanterns ahead of the holy month of Ramadan at a market in Cairo, Egypt, on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

The fair will continue until the end of the month, with the purpose of easing the consequences of rising prices for citizens, especially in light of the global influence of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

by Mahmoud Fouly

CAIRO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Crowds of Egyptians thronged to an exhibition center in Cairo to buy food commodities with discounts offered at a huge expo sponsored by the government to ease price hikes a few days ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Signs reading "Welcome Ramadan" in Arabic and posters showing traditional Ramadan lanterns are seen at the entrance of the food commodity fair with dozens of booths selling cooking oil, rice, pasta, meat, chicken, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other commodities that Egyptians usually consume in large amounts during Ramadan.

A boy poses for a photo at a lantern market in Cairo, Egypt, April 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

The fair was inaugurated by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly on March 24 and will continue until the end of the month, with the purpose of easing the consequences of rising prices for citizens, especially in the light of the global influence of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

People of all ages, especially housewives, are seen everywhere in the one-week expo, shopping for what they need in their kitchens and refrigerators during the holy month that begins in early April.

"The fair combines all necessary food products of all manufacturers in one place with very nice prices compared to those elsewhere. It's really a very important expo," said Egyptian housewife Salwa Fekry, as she held a shopping cart filled with packs of butter, margarine, pasta and rice, and bottles of cooking oil.

With eye-catchy price tags, flyers, and posters to appeal to the shoppers, the fair looked like a competition between the booths of well-known foodstuff manufacturers in Egypt offering a large variety of their products with luring discounts.

A man prepares iftar during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, on May 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Salespeople said the turnout of visitors on the first day of the fair was very high, expecting larger turnouts in the coming few days with the countdown ticking for Ramadan.

"The turnout is very good and the sales are much better compared to previous years. It helps ease price hikes because the products are sold at lower prices, so it's a good opportunity to bring some joy to the people ahead of the holy month of Ramadan," Hesham Anas, a marketing assistant manager at one of the booths, told Xinhua.

Mohamed El-Sheikh, who had got his shopping cart stacked with boxes and packs of different food commodities in a little while, said shopping for Ramadan necessities itself brings joy to his heart.

"The prices are luring, so everyone is buying a lot of things here. But it's not just about prices. These kinds of expos gather Egyptian people and make them happy amid the atmosphere and spirit of the advent of Ramadan," the 72-year-old man told Xinhua.

A man takes photos of lanterns ahead of the holy month of Ramadan at a market in Cairo, Egypt, on March 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

The Welcome Ramadan fair, which is held annually in Cairo over the past few years, is supervised by the government in cooperation with the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.

"The fair is held on an area of 12,000 square meters with more than 165 companies offering their commodities at affordable prices," Madbouly said in remarks following his inauguration of the fair.

"I reviewed the prices myself and made sure there're very large discounts," the Egyptian prime minister added.

Although the fair lasts only one week in Cairo, there will be about 8,000 stalls nationwide selling the same low-price food commodities during Ramadan and even for a while after the holy month to help the citizens facing increasing prices, according to the Egyptian prime minister.

There are also similar initiatives held by the Egyptian army and the Egyptian interior ministry that sell low-price food commodities to citizens in street mobile and fixed kiosks across the country to help reduce the burdens of price hikes. 
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - March 26, 2022) - DKYC (Don't Know Your Customer) has launched its revolutionary NFT series on March 22, 2022. Dubbed "DKYC Legends," this series of 2222 NFTs, hosted on the Binance Smart Chain, celebrates leaders in the quest for financial freedom and privacy.





DKYC Legends

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8568/118240_3f34d04f14893869_001full.jpg

Utility and financial benefits are the backbones of the DKYC Legends series. The series takes initiatives from its Fintech relative.

Every NFT can be staked to earn $DKYC in one of several staking pools - users can select the pool that suits them the best.

in one of several staking pools - users can select the pool that suits them the best. Each DLegend is an access key for the DKYC ecosystem providing additional features and exclusive access to future releases such as DPay, an upcoming DKYC payment gateway.

Each NFT combines six different attributes with unique scales of rarity that mean over 18 Trillion mint combinations are possible via provably fair random generation. These attributes provide additional future utility (over 20 possibilities) to holders.

The DKYC Legends series is now live on the Binance Smart Chain

The sale will commence with a two-hour presale where holders of at least 1 million $DKYC tokens will have the opportunity to purchase up to 8 NFTs per wallet at a discounted price of 0.7 BNB per token.

After that, the public sale will start. Anyone will then be able to purchase up to 12 tokens per wallet at a mint price of 0.8 BNB each.

Disclaimer: There is no offer to sell, no solicitation of an offer to buy, and no recommendation of any security or any other product or service in this article. Moreover, nothing contained in this PR should be construed as any recommendation. Readers are encouraged to do their own research.

Find out more about the series:

nft.dontkyc.com

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dont-kyc/

Media Contact Details:

Company: DKYC

Contact Name: Marg van der Wilk

Website: https://dontkyc.com

E-mail: press@dontkyc.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118240
BEIJING, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 8th China EV 100 was held in Beijing from March 25th to 27th, with the theme of "Embracing a New Stage of NEV's Market-Driven Growth". In-depth discussions were made on policy adjustment in the NEV market development, international cooperation and policy synergy under the carbon neutrality goal, and industrialization, investment and innovation of next-generation power batteries. In addition, the new CEO and President of Volvo Cars, Mr. Jim Rowan, was invited to deliver a speech via video. It was the first public appearance of Mr. Jim Rowan since he took up his new position at Volvo Cars.

Mr. Jim Rowan joined Volvo Cars on March 21st as CEO & President. Jim was previously CEO and Board member of Ember Technologies and formerly Group CEO of the Dyson Group. He has over three decades of global experience in the consumer and technology sectors, delivering strong growth and profitability through transformation strategies and consumer engagement. He has also worked extensively with digitalization, disruption, innovation, engineering and supply chains.

In his speech, Mr. Jim Rowan looked at how today's forward-thinking technologies are a massive boost to the industry and the future of mobility. He said, "when it comes to the future of mobility, I think of a future shaped by connectivity, sustainability, safety, and one that feels personal. Just as your phone gives you a seamless experience, from shopping to messaging, listening to music, and answering your emails, a car will be the new platform. This new device will connect to the other elements of your daily life."

When talking about Volvo Cars' vision for the future, Mr. Jim Rowan mentioned, "Volvo Cars has always been a pioneer in mobility that not just protects you, your loved ones and the environment, but also gives you enjoyment and convenience in mobility." Volvo Cars' strategy combines the century-long strength of product quality with cutting-edge investments in technology to deliver a new experience for everyone built on Volvo Cars' fundamental values.

Mr. Jim Rowan also explained the five clear goals of Volvo Cars' future strategy. First, Volvo Cars will introduce new sustainable materials, accelerating the shift towards electrification and integrating enhanced safety. Second, Volvo Cars will become fully electric by 2030, with more to come. Third, Volvo Cars will continue to strengthen its technology leadership, especially the core computer. Fourth, Volvo Cars will focus on direct consumer relations to quickly respond to consumer changes. Fifth, Volvo Cars will be the fastest transformer with a unique structure, open tech partnerships, and collaborative culture, solidifying Volvo Cars as the employer of choice.

Lastly, Mr. Jim Rowan stated that China was a core market for Volvo Cars' business growth on multiple levels, including consumers, product development, electrification, and intelligent supply chain integration. The fantastic team in China assures him of delivering this plan. In the future, Volvo Cars will continue to implement the electrification strategy deeply, make explorations in brand evolution, and provide everyone with the freedom to move in a personal, sustainable and safe way.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1774290/Volvo_Cars__New_CEO_Jim_Rowan.jpg
Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan antelopes are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Tibetan wild donkeys are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan wild donkeys are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Kelsang Namgyai)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan antelopes are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Kelsang Namgyai)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

A Tibetan wild donkey is seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)
Photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows young cave dwellers in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahmad Safi/Xinhua)

Prolonged war, civil strife and the extreme poverty have left cave dwellers in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province living in dire straits, without any sufficient food or fuel to stay in the caves.

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan, March 26 (Xinhua) -- For the whole of history, people have lived in caves in Afghanistan. Many people had no choice but to take up residence in one, and in central Bamiyan province many families find themselves forgotten and starving.

"I have been living here in this cave for years. Lately, we have lived day and night without fuel or food," said 50-year-old Zarifa Gull Ahmad. Ahmad's husband is disabled and she claims that her family is the most deprived in a region of many poor households.

"We have no food to eat and no money to buy any. There are nine of us, and our only food is dry naan," said Ahmad.

Photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows cave dwellers in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahmad Safi/Xinhua)

After the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of presence in the country, more than 22 million out of some 35 million Afghans are facing acute food shortages, according to aid agency reports.

"My 13-year-old son works on the streets and earns 30 to 40 afghanis (about 0.5 U.S. dollars) a day to buy naan. I will not let him go to school because he has to work and support our family," Ahmad said.

U.S. President Joe Biden has reportedly split 7 billion dollars of frozen Afghan assets equally between the families of victims of 9/11 and humanitarian assistance for Afghans, a decision that has been almost universally condemned.

"I am the only breadwinner of my family. My husband is a drug addict who left home long ago. My children and I have to work every day to survive," another cave dweller Noria, 30, told Xinhua. Noria gets money by cleaning houses, and washing clothes and carpets.

Photo taken on March 19, 2022 shows cave dwellers in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahmad Safi/Xinhua)

"I do laundry and carpet cleaning and sometimes people help me with food. I am working to earn a bit more than 100 afghanis each day.

"Once I got a bag of flour, 14 kg of beans and peas, and a bottle of cooking oil from a non-governmental organization."

In Bamiyan province, once home to the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan which were destroyed in 2001, there are thousands of caves that accommodated monks centuries ago, and are currently serving as shelters for thousands.

"I work as a laborer. I used to earn 400 afghanis each day but nowadays it's more like 200 afghanis," said 37-year-old Hassan, head of an eight-member family.

Hassan, who looks older than his real age, said, "It is winter season and I have not worked for three months. Often my family's only meal is pieces of naan, sometimes rice, but never meat or fruit." (1 U.S. dollar equals about 88.4 afghanis) 
An Albany woman wanted in connection to a February homicide was arrested by the Oceanside Police Department in California.

Officers with Oceanside PD arrested Elizabeth Nicole Tyler Jimenez, 42, on March 16, according to the department's public information officer, Jennifer Atenza.

Albany police had asked for the publics help in locating Jimenez around a month ago after her roommate, Elvin Al Pierce, 75, was found dead in his house in the 500 block of 26th Avenue Southeast.

According to an Albany Police Department news release, Pierce died from "homicidal violence."

At the time, Albany police also asked the public to be on the lookout for Pierces tan/beige 2004 Buick Park Avenue four-door sedan which was missing from the residence.

The car seems to have been the key to finding the suspect.

According to Atenza, Oceanside police was alerted on March 3 to the missing vehicle thanks to a camera system inside a police vehicle that automatically reads license plates.

The vehicle looked abandoned, but officers suspected Jimenez was still in the area. After a thorough search of the downtown area, Jimenez wasnt located. Working with Albany officers, Oceanside police started looking for any evidence of transactions made by Jimenez at local businesses.

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After reviewing surveillance videos in the areas, officers were able to pinpoint Jimenez's likely location.

She made a lot of effort to conceal her appearance, Atenza said. But officers did really good, thorough police work to identify her.

Officers located Jimenez near that town's city hall, according to Atenza. Jimenez was held at a local jail before being extradited back to Albany.

APD Lt. Buck Pearce said Jimenez is a suspect in the homicide, and at this time, there is no information on any other suspects. The investigation is ongoing.

Oceanside police were fantastic to work with, Pearce said. Without their help, we wouldnt have located Jimenez.

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Lebanons medical school could have the financial means to grow significantly after officials learned Friday, March 25 that a $22.5 million legal settlement  in a case to which it was not a party  is coming its way.

The announcement came about a month ahead of a planned trial in a case a Medicaid provider brought against the state, alleging that the Oregon Health Authority put it out of business.

FamilyCare Inc., which as a "coordinated care organization" acted like an insurer for Oregon Health Plan patients in the metropolitan Portland area, agreed to drop its claims that OHA pressured the nonprofit to drop its rates to the point of insolvency.

In exchange, the state will pay FamilyCare $22.5 million over the next four years.

In turn, CEO Jeff Heatherington said in an interview Friday, the company's board agreed to donate that money to Western University of Health Sciences' College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Northwest.

Heatherington is a longtime booster and donor at the university, and helped bring COMP Northwest to Lebanon where it serves as a satellite campus for California-based Western University.

It's the school's largest donation, said college dean Paula Crone, and could lead to an expanded campus in Lebanon.

"This is huge," Crone said. "I couldn't be more excited about this."

Heatherington said he envisions the donation helping fund behavioral health training for medical students who are granted a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree when they graduate.

"We'll have a bevy of professionals with behavioral training who will be able to treat those cases," he said.

A Portland-based nonprofit that lists Heatherington as its principal officer purchased a former Weyerhaeuser mill site in Lebanon for $3.85 million in 2018 where he said he hopes the school will expand its campus. The about 145-acre property at the end of Milton Street sold to Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Healthcare.

Heatherington previously sat on the Board of Trustees at Western University as well as the university's advancement board that raised funds ahead of the Lebanon campus' opening in 2011.

COMP Northwest graduated its first class in 2015.

The allegations

In its lawsuit, FamilyCare sought at least $125 million, alleging the Oregon Health Authority used inadequate, biased and erroneous data to push the nonprofit's monthly per-member rates lower than other Oregon Health Plan benefits providers in the region.

FamilyCare argued in lawsuits starting in 2015 that the state demanded an inequitable drop in its rates, based on faulty assumptions, when it asked the nonprofit to accept 10.9% less in monthly per-member Medicaid funding.

The organization alleges it tried to call attention to the errors, but in response, OHA launched a smear campaign aimed at undermining FamilyCare in the eyes of the public, its providers, its patients, and the Oregon legislature, according to court filings.

The first cases were settled, with FamilyCare accepting lower rates and the state promising to turn over the data it used in calculating payments. Attorneys for the nonprofit said the state never did.

When tensions rose again after the state demanded even lower rates, officials on both sides agreed to avoid going to court via a process called alternative dispute resolution.

But its what happened during negotiations that FamilyCare alleges proves OHAs lack of good faith. The health authority used the dispute resolution process as a delay tactic, all the while smearing FamilyCares reputation, the plaintiff's lawyers allege.

The attorneys describe a negotiation session in which state lawyers side-huddled only to talk about a communications plan for the media and strategize how to appropriate a PowerPoint presentation FamilyCare had created as part of the plan.

Ultimately, the lawsuit alleges in the states own words, that plan would:

Use media to hurt [FamilyCares] credibility in the news.

Highlight FamilyCare as an outlier and only worried about profit margins.

Promote HealthShare, the other coordinated care organization that operates in FamilyCares service area.

Use vulnerable Medicaid enrollees as pawns by getting a few discrete examples of OHP members with high cost medical issues (i.e. HIV) who chose Health Share b/c FamilyCare couldnt provide them with the care they need.

The plan was to be carried out furtively, so that OHA officials could remain seemingly neutral, the lawsuit alleges. When FamilyCare caught wind of the plan, then-director at OHA, Lynne Saxton  also named in the lawsuit  apologized and said the plan was never enacted, according to the filing.

But shortly thereafter, even though Saxton had resigned, the plan did play out over OHA press releases that maligned FamilyCare for trying to pad its profits, the lawsuit alleges.

The suit was lodged in federal court, with a series of appeals refining FamilyCares arguments into a very technical case that was scheduled for trial on April 25, Art Suchorzewski, FamilyCare director of government affairs, said.

Several claims and our legal arguments have evolved over the years, he said.

Editor Penny Rosenberg contributed to this report.

Alex Powers covers business, environment and healthcare for Mid-Valley Media. Contact him at 541-812-6116 or alex.powers@lee.net.

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In times of war, ordinary people are often called upon for extraordinary deeds.

This week we introduced readers to Hannah and Misha, Corvallis residents with ties to Ukraine, which is fighting against a Russian invasion. Theyve taken up a dangerous mission: transporting medical supplies and other equipment into the embattled Eastern European country. (Mid-Valley Media is withholding the couple's last name to protect their safety.)

Around a decade ago, Hannah traveled to Ukraine with her family and students from Santiam Christian Schools on service trips, and she returned to work in a facility for the disabled and teach English. She met Misha while teaching English in 2014 in Uzhhorod. They were married in 2015 and moved to Corvallis nearly five years ago.

The school I went to, back when I was a kid, was a main hub for our sister-city, Corvallis, Misha said. Corvallis was always in my eyes.

Strapped with bags and suitcases full of supplies destined for frontline soldiers, clinics and hospitals, Misha left Corvallis for Ukraine two weeks ago. Hannah joined him shortly afterwards, having finished her graduate degree early just days before flying out. The couple has delivered several loads of supplies worth around $30,000.

On the first day of the war we were in shock, Hannah said. Less than 24 hours passed, and we were like, OK, we have to do something. This is our home, this is where we got married. Mishas family is still all here.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Concerned about the friends and relatives facing the Russian onslaught, they began checking with people in Ukraine and asking how they could help. They learned its not that easy in a war zone, and realized it would be even more challenging for people who lacked the direct connection to Ukraine to help.

So, we tried to become the middleman between their help and the people who need it, Misha said. He added his employer supported him taking leave to travel to the war zone and also helped out financially.

Facing the uncertainty of war, the couple hasnt decided how long theyll keep the supply runs going. Theyre not so much worried about themselves being in danger, but theyre deeply concerned about the outcome for those directly in harms way. Their emotions range from grief and sadness to anger, but they say theyre staying safe.

Planning is on a day-to-day basis. Over the weekend, Misha is set for another trip to a military surplus store outside of Ukraine to stuff his minivan with medical supplies, gloves, boots, knee and elbow pads, fleece jackets, uniforms, backpacks and more. The operation is completely driven by donations.

Most of what were getting is coming from abroad, Hannah said. Theres not much we can do with the donation money within the borders of Ukraine because supplies are super depleted.

The couples American passports allow them to cross borders with little difficulty. Misha became a U.S. citizen nine months ago. Hannah said Ukrainian men of fighting age (between 18 and 60 years old) are required to stay in the country. Its even possible Misha could be pressed into service without his U.S. citizenship.

With his sisters husband at the front, Misha is personally invested in getting supplies into hands that need them. When the supply car for his brother-in-laws unit was bombed they lost everything. He was desperate for gear.

He said having just one uniform is not enough, Misha said. Sometimes you go months in one uniform. Its pretty cold, and if it gets wet, youre wet too.

The experience has been moving for the couple, Hannah said. She noted while mostly they dont see where it goes, they know the equipment is making a difference in the battle against Russia. A few times theyve seen photos of the people who received supplies, and that warms their hearts.

If you want to donate to Hannah and Mishas efforts to help Ukrainian troops, use @steviethevagabond on Venmo.

If you want to help them provide humanitarian relief and medical supplies, use Help Us Help Ukraine! on GoFundMe.

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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* Three intensive summits in two days -- U.S. President Joe Biden squeezed his schedule for Thursday and Friday when he rushed to Brussels to shake hands, pose for pictures and tried to coax a display of unity with European partners, but he nonetheless failed to talk them into more sanctions against Russia.

*Despite a seemingly unanimous tone against Russia across such transatlantic partnerships, geopolitical concerns and different interests are at play, making it difficult to balance the demands of various parties.

* Statistics show that currently, over 40 percent of the EU's natural gas and 25 percent of its oil consumption come from Russia -- a reality that makes the EU's following the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports unrealistic, despite mounting pressure from Washington.

BRUSSELS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Three intensive summits in two days -- U.S. President Joe Biden squeezed his schedule for Thursday and Friday when he rushed to Brussels to shake hands, pose for pictures and tried to coax a display of unity with European partners, but he nonetheless failed to talk them into more sanctions against Russia.



U.S. President Joe Biden attends a press conference at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit and G7 gathering, the summit of the European Council came last on Thursday and continued on Friday, during which the Ukraine crisis was the major focus.

Despite a seemingly unanimous tone against Russia across such transatlantic partnerships, geopolitical concerns and different interests are at play, making it difficult to balance the demands of various parties.

NO NEW SANCTIONS COMING

The European Council summit on Thursday failed to agree on additional sanctions against Russia, despite Biden's presence -- a reflection of different positions among members of the European Union (EU) as they become increasingly wary of consequences of such actions given existing challenges they face due to the Ukraine crisis.

Leaders attend the European Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. (European Union/Handout via Xinhua)

While Biden was busy "showcasing unity" at Thursday's summit, the White House announced new sanctions against the Russian State Duma and a number of what it called "oligarchs" as well as several financial institutions and their leaders.

By contrast, EU leaders, after an exchange of views with the U.S. president on transatlantic cooperation in the context of the Ukraine crisis, concluded that the bloc would not impose more sanctions against Russia.

"The European Union has so far adopted significant sanctions that are having a massive impact on Russia and Belarus, and remains ready to close loopholes and target actual and possible circumvention as well as to move quickly with further coordinated robust sanctions," the bloc said in a press release.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the EU summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he did not expect EU leaders to agree on additional sanctions on Thursday, while stressing that the Netherlands would support such extra sanctions.

Acknowledging the massive fallout of existing EU sanctions on Russia, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cautioned that the EU may also bear the brunt of these sanctions.

"We should be very careful to ensure that any measures we implement do not end up being more painful for European citizens than for Russia," he said ahead of the EU summit.

A staff member hangs a U.S. national flag before U.S. President Joe Biden arrives for the European Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)

Greece's stance is echoed by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who told the press that any possible new sanctions should hit Russia harder than the EU.

"The basic rule is that sanctions must have a much greater impact on the Russian side than on the European side. We don't wage war on ourselves," De Croo noted.

Mitsotakis also pointed out the focus should instead be shifted on the implementation. "We should now focus on making sure that there are no 'leaks' in terms of the implementation of sanctions, that all the countries that are part of this alliance are participating in the sanctions," Mitsotakis said.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel also ruled out new sanctions until Russia "crosses another line." "If we want to have new sanctions, we need to have them as a reaction to something," he said.

UNREALISTIC PATH

Although the United States and the EU announced a task force on Friday to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels, several European countries, including Germany, remain reluctant to announce drastic measures against Russia's energy for fear of aggravating supply disturbances.

Various politicians and experts have said the expectation that Europe could cut itself off Russian energy entirely looks too sanguine.

Rutte said that time is needed to diversify European energy imports before a Russian energy import ban could happen.

"It takes weeks or months before you can switch countries like Germany or certain Eastern European countries from Russian oil to different oil supplies. In the case of gas, it takes even longer. Coal could go faster," Rutte said.

Photo taken on Feb. 25, 2022 shows diesel and gasoline prices displayed on a screen at a gas station in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo by Armando Babani/Xinhua)

Statistics show that currently, over 40 percent of the EU's natural gas and 25 percent of its oil consumption come from Russia -- a reality that makes the EU's following the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports unrealistic, despite mounting pressure from Washington.

"But Biden will have to be wary of making promises his administration can't keep," said U.S. news portal Politico on Monday in an article. "The sheer scale of Europe's gas needs in a market that is already running tight on supply will create a huge hurdle, as will the U.S. government's relatively small influence on short-term issues in the energy markets."

The EU has no realistic path to replace all of the Russian natural gas it needs even if the U.S. boosts exports or other states divert shipments, former Texas industry regulator Ryan Sitton told Sputnik.

Photo taken on March 10, 2022 shows the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

"There's no way to just completely remove Russian gas from the European market -- it makes up far too large of a portion of the amount of gas that they use," Sitton said.

"Western countries could decide to direct their gas to Europe and that will supplant some of the Russian gas but, practically speaking, there's not a realistic way to replace all of it," said Sitton. 
Dallas, Texas, March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC Pink: ALYI) today announced the company has made initial inroads into expanding its current electric motorcycle production for ride-hailing services into Latin America. Next week, on Thursday, March 31, ALYI plans to publish more details its Latin American expansion.

ALY is building an EV Ecosystem that includes organic and partner solutions for all aspects of the growing EV transportation system.

ALYI has established the nucleus of its EV Ecosystem in East Africa where it has already begun to rollout a comprehensive electric motorcycle enterprise. ALYI is deploying electric motorcycles into the robust motorcycle taxi market.

In Latin America, ride-hailing apps such as Uber have already deployed solutions for motorcycle ride sharing.

See - Uber expands ride-hailing services with motorbikes in Brazil

Now, ALYI plans to make electric motorcycles available to ride-hailing app drivers.

Last week, ALYI elevated its visibility as an EV market contender when it participated in the SXSW Transportation Track in Austin, Texas featuring Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg .

ALYI participation focused on representing the Companys EV initiative in Africa in addition to learning about the latest in global transportation initiatives.

ALYIs SXSW participation was centered around ALYIs interest in Formula E. ALYI has worked closely with a Kenyan race event business named East African Grand Prix (EAGP). EAGP has a provisional license with Formula E intended to bring an annual Formula E race event to Kenya. Formula E is participated in a panel discussion at SXSW titled No Turning Back: Formula E and the Electric Future.

ALYI has developed a cryptocurrency financing strategy for its EV ecosystem. Participation in ALYIs EV Ecosystem is facilitated through the sale of Revolt Tokens (RVLT)  learn more about RVLT at https://rvlttoken.com/ .

To learn more about ALYI, visit www.alternetsystemsinc.com .

Disclaimer/Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Among others, these risks include the expectation that any of the companies mentioned herein will achieve significant sales, the failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of the companies' contracts, the companies' liquidity position, the companies' ability to obtain new contracts, the emergence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive pricing. In the light of these uncertainties, the forward-looking events referred to in this release might not occur.
Tallinn, Estonia, March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dogeone is all set to take the crypto space by storm. They welcome their investors to say hello, get involved, and join the pack as it exclusively launches its Presale on PinkSale on March 28th 2022.





DOGEONE relies on Binance Smart Chain with Light Speed transactions and cheap gas fees. The Project is inspired from ELON and his mission, DOGE-1. They believe art is affluence, but still, many cannot hold one. Thanks to the handshake between artwork and blockchain, the team will bring out the NFTs, making artwork reach everyone. They bring MEMEs and DOGEs together through their NFT platform. So, anyone with an artistic heart can showcase their NFTs and get rewarded on their platform.

Dogeone will take the crypto space by storm, unlike any other current coin. They welcome their clients to say hello, get involved, and join the pack. In a recent update, DogeOne has come up with their PreSale, taking place on PinkSale on March 2022. Determined crypto enthusiasts can avail their presale from their website .

Additionally, the makers will be benefitted from the Launch of DOGE-1 in a couple of months. The team is fond of Outer Space, so they welcome other enthusiasts to join them in contributing to the real-world cause - WORLDS FIRST DEBRIS REMOVAL donation. We proudly can say DOGEONE will be the first in the crypto world to contribute for a huge cause.

Moreover, the company also chose to follow paths with their DOGE Masters by contributing to the welfare of DOGS. They believe in We are ONE, so one of their future endeavors would be to unite with all the Doge cryptocurrencies and become one.

Dogeone is a cryptocurrency combining MEMEs & NFTs to bring creative art to the masses of the internet, selling worldwide. Their vision is to become the one-stop platform for all Doge NFT enthusiasts and investors on the blockchain. Also, TechRate was commissioned by DOGEONE to perform an audit of their smart contracts to ensure that the smart contract functions as intended and identify potential security issues with the smart contracts.
Montreal, Canada, March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSXV: GMN) GobiMin Inc. (the Company or GobiMin) announces that Mr. Hubert Marleau has tendered his resignation as Director of the Company effective on March 25, 2022.



Concurrent with Mr. Hubert Marleaus resignation, the Company is pleased to announce that Mr. Philippe Marleau has been appointed as Director of the Company with effect from March 25, 2022. Mr. Philippe Marleau is the son of Mr. Hubert Marleau. He is currently the chief executive officer of Palos Capital Corporation (Palos), a boutique financial services firm focused on wealth management and merchant banking activities. Previously, Philippe was the chief executive officer of IOU Financial Inc. (IOU), a tech-enabled lender to small businesses that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. He currently serves on the boards of Palos and IOU. He previously served on the boards of MAG Energy Solutions (a leader in electricity trading in North America) and Fountain Asset Corp. (a merchant bank that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange). Philippe holds a Bachelor of Engineering with a Minor in Economics from McGill University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Mr. Felipe Tan, president and Chief Executive Officer of GobiMin, said We all welcome Philippe on board and are happy and excited about his inputs and contribution to our Company. We also extend my sincere thanks to Hubert for his services and contribution during his tenure.



For further information, please contact:

Felipe Tan, Chief Executive Officer Tel: (852) 3586-6500 Email: felipe.tan@gobimin.com

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.

To receive GobiMin press releases by email, send a message to info@gobimin.com and

specify GobiMin press releases on the subject line
AURORA, Ontario, March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magna International Inc. (TSX: MG; NYSE: MGA) today announced that its 2021 Annual Report, including Managements Discussion and Analysis and Audited Consolidated Financial Statements, Annual Information Form (AIF) and Form 40-F, are now available on the companys website, www.magna.com. Magna has also filed these documents with the Canadian Securities Administrators (accessible through its website at www.sedar.com) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (accessible through its website at www.sec.gov/edgar).



Our 2022 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders will be held on Tuesday May 3, 2022, commencing at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time). The meeting is being conducted as a virtual-only meeting accessible at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/mga2022.

Magna will provide a hard copy of its audited financial statements as contained in our 2021 Annual Report to Shareholders, free of charge, on request through our website or in writing to Magna International Inc., Attn: Corporate Secretary, 337 Magna Drive, Aurora, ON, Canada L4G 7K1.

INVESTOR CONTACT

Louis Tonelli, Vice-President, Investor Relations

louis.tonelli@magna.com, 905.726.7035

MEDIA CONTACT

Tracy Fuerst, Vice-President, Corporate Communications & PR

tracy.fuerst@magna.com, 248.761.7004

OUR BUSINESS (1)

Magna is more than one of the worlds largest suppliers in the automotive space. We are a mobility technology company with a global, entrepreneurial-minded team of 158,000 employees and an organizational structure designed to innovate like a startup. With 60+ years of expertise, and a systems approach to design, engineering and manufacturing that touches nearly every aspect of the vehicle, we are positioned to support advancing mobility in a transforming industry. Our global network includes 343 manufacturing operations and 91 product development, engineering and sales centres spanning 28 countries. Our common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (MG) and the New York Stock Exchange (MGA). For further information about Magna, visit www.magna.com.
SHANGHAI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Eva Serrano, a Spaniard living in China's economic hub Shanghai, decided to do her bit by becoming an epidemic prevention volunteer for her community as the city is facing a new round of COVID-19 flare-ups.

"I think China's prevention and control measures are effective, so I chose to volunteer," said Serrano, president of Inditex Greater China.

Located in Jing'an District in central Shanghai, Serrano's community recently launched a one-day free nucleic acid testing campaign covering over 50,000 residents.

Working along with eight of her Chinese colleagues, she was responsible for helping residents sign up for the testing on mobile phones.

"Epidemic prevention and control is the responsibility of the whole society, and I want to make my own contribution to containing the spread of the virus," noted Serrano.

Serrano is just one of the many expats living in Shanghai who gave a helping hand in fighting the latest resurgence.

Amid the new spike in COVID-19 cases, several Chinese cities with infections have adhered to the dynamic zero-COVID approach through a raft of measures, including mass testing and closed-loop management.

Park Changjoo from the Republic of Korea has also played a role in the epidemic prevention and control work of a Shanghai community where over 30 percent of the residents are his compatriots.

During a recent screening of new COVID-19 infections, residents of the community located in Minhang District were asked not to leave their homes for 48 hours.

Having lived in Shanghai for 20 years, Park volunteered to provide the Korean residents with translation services and guidance for nucleic acid testing.

He also translated Shanghai's epidemic prevention and control measures into Korean and shared it in his social media group with over 1,100 Shanghai-based Koreans.

"Epidemic prevention and control involves everyone here. Regardless of nationality, we are working together to stop the spread of the virus in the community," said Park. 
KATHMANDU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday that China will stick to its friendly policy toward Nepal and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the South Asian country.

At a meeting with Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, Wang said no matter how the international scene and domestic situation of the two countries change, China will strive to promote the building of a China-Nepal community with shared future along the direction set by the leaders of the two countries.

Wang elaborated China's support for Nepal in three aspects.

First, China will support Nepal in finding a development path suited to its national conditions. China's friendly policy is open to all parties and party factions, and the people of Nepal, Wang said.

China encourages all parties and party factions in Nepal to engage in inclusive consultation and cooperate with each other for the sake of the fundamental and long-term interests of the people, and jointly explore a governance model that is conducive to promoting political stability, economic growth and people's livelihood, Wang said.

He added that China is ready to enhance exchanges of governance experience with Nepal with full respect to the will of the Nepali side.

Second, China supports Nepal in pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies. China always believes that all countries are equal regardless of size, and respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, he said.

China believes that the affairs of Nepal should be decided by its people, he said, noting that China opposes any attempt to undermine Nepal's sovereignty and independence, interfere in its internal affairs and engage in geopolitical games in Nepal.

Nepal should become a promising land for cooperation between China and South Asia, and China is glad to see Nepal co-exist friendly with other countries and play a bigger role in regional and international affairs, Wang said.

Third, China supports Nepal in furthering participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.

China and Nepal have made encouraging progress in jointly building the Belt and Road, which has significantly boosted Nepal's national construction, Wang said.

The Chinese side is willing to push forward the key cooperation projects between the two sides, ensure the smooth running of land ports between the two countries, explore cross-border cooperation in electricity, expand economic and people-to-people exchange channels, and build the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network to make the Himalayas a bond of friendly cooperation between the two countries, Wang said.

China is ready to assist Nepal in taking advantage of its own human resources, geographical location and national ecosystem as well as the opportunities brought by China's development to speed up its development and revitalization. 
WASHINGTON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- As a highlight of China-U.S. pragmatic cooperation, agricultural cooperation is well-grounded and highly-complementary between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has said.

"Since the (China-U.S.) phase-one trade deal was signed in 2020, China has been faithfully fulfilling the agricultural procurement commitment," Qin said as he delivered remarks to the opening of the China-U.S. Agricultural Roundtable on Tuesday. He was referring to a trade agreement signed between the two countries during the Donald Trump administration.

"As a result, our agricultural trade registered a quick comeback from the pandemic and trade frictions, and rose to 46.54 billion (U.S.) dollars in 2021, with China's imports reaching 39.02 billion dollars, up by 64.2 percent year-on-year," said the ambassador.

Noting that the United States now sells more agricultural goods to China than to any other country or region in the world, Qin said the sound trade relationship has enabled each U.S. farmers to export "more than 11,000 dollars of agricultural products to China on average" last year, a record-breaking achievement for the U.S. agricultural industry.

"Agriculture is an important part of the friendly cooperation between China and the United States. As our agricultural production increasingly face the restraints from population, resources and the environment, and COVID-19 and climate change poses new challenges to global food security, deeper agricultural cooperation will not only benefit both countries' agriculture and people, but also carry strong significance to global food security and agricultural development," the ambassador said.

Qin called on the participants of the roundtable to "take today's opportunity to share ideas on the innovative development and win-win cooperation of agriculture, so as to find new opportunities and inject new impetus to the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations."

Co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the U.S. Heartland China Association (USHCA), the event features three virtual dialogues convened for enterprises, educational institutions and think tanks, respectively.

Founded in 2003, the USHCA is committed to building stronger ties between China and 20 U.S. states that stretch from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. 
bp plans to invest 1 billion (US$1.3 billion) in electric vehicle charging in the UK, supercharging the roll-out of fast, convenient charging across the country. bp pulse, bps EV charging business, intends to make the investment over the next 10 years helping to meet the UKs fast-growing demand for EV charging and support the countrys transition to low carbon transportation for both consumers and fleet vehicles. The company also expects this to support hundreds of new jobs in the UK.

The investment will allow bp pulse to deliver more rapid and ultra-fast chargers in key locations, expand fleet products and services, and launch new home charge digital products and services to enhance the customer experience.

The investment will see bp pulse:

Approximately triple the number of public charging points in its UK network.

Accelerate the roll out of state-of-the-art 300kW and 150kW ultra-fast charging points that are able to provide EV drivers up to 100 miles of range in around 10 minutes of charging, depending on the model of electric vehicle.

Upgrade its current EV charging technology across its public charging network to improve reliabilitySupport hundreds of new jobs in the UK.

This 1-billion investment is vital to provide the charging infrastructure the UK needs. Were investing to build a world-class network. This investment allows us to deliver more. More high-speed charging in dedicated hubs and on existing fuel and convenience sites. More home charging services. And crucial enhancements to our digital technology that will make charging fast, easy and reliable. Richard Bartlett, senior vice president, bp pulse

bp plans that for every 1 it makes in the UK this decade it will spend 2including investments to help the UK towards net zero. bp pulse is part of bps integrated UK business portfolio, which includes plans to develop up to 5.9GW gross of offshore wind capacity across the Irish Sea and North Sea and plans to produce 1.5GW of low carbon hydrogen in Teesside, 30% of the UKs 2030 target, from its H2Teesside and HyGreen Teesside projects.

Already the most used public charging network in the UK, bp pulses investment will help serve the record number of new EVs joining UK roads with innovative, reliable and high-speed charging options.

bp pulse also aims to play a significant role in helping to electrify the UKs fleet vehicles and intends to help accelerate the roll-out of EV charging solutions to the UKs businesses. It is already working with the UKs largest fleet Royal Mail, Uber and emergency services in both London and Scotland.

50% of bp pulses network worldwide and 30% of its UK network is now made up of rapid or ultra-fast charging. The amount of energy bp pulse sold globally through EV charging has increased 10 times since 2019.
The Nafasi Art Space has been a creative harbor for arts and art lovers in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania.



The Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is striving to create a center of excellence that promotes the creativity and professionalism of Tanzanian artists.

DAR ES SALAAM, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A glance at a sprawling compound on a rough industrial plot filled with shipping containers in the Dar es Salaam commercial capital's Mikocheni area does not raise any feelings to a passer-by.

But a walk into this unassuming compound leaves the passer-by agape. It is home to Nafasi Art Space in which the art platform has turned the shipping containers into artistic studios and a warehouse exhibition gallery.

Studio spaces, residencies, workshops, film screenings, festivals, performances, exhibitions, children's art activities, and much more have filled the compound of Nafasi with unbridled artistic experimentation and expression.

After slightly over a decade of its operations, Nafasi Art Space is now home to some 20 studios, many converted from old shipping containers that are used to paint, produce music, weave, weld, sculpt and more.

"Nafasi trains in many different areas. We started with a focus on visual arts and we expanded into hosting trainings on workshops and all different disciplines including film, music, dance, photography and much more," Rebecca Mzengi Corey, executive director of Nafasi Art Space, told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday.

Rebecca Mzengi Corey, executive director of Nafasi Art Space, speaks with Xinhua in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on March 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Herman Emmanuel)

"Hundreds of thousands of people have come to Nafasi for training since it began in 2008," Corey said, explaining that Nafasi is the Kiswahili word for "space" as well as possibility, opportunity and chance.

Corey said Nafasi Art Space is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts space in Tanzania that encourages artistic growth, experimentation, conceptual engagement, collaboration and art as a vital community practice.

"Nafasi has been a creative harbor for arts and art lovers in Dar es Salaam, becoming one of the East African region's leading art institutions," she said.

Corey said Nafasi is striving to create a center of excellence that promotes the creativity and professionalism of Tanzanian artists through training, exposure, cross cultural dialogue and collaborative artistic endeavors.

"All people have the creative potential to be artists, but it must be nurtured in order to enable them to become professionals," said Corey.

However, she said, in Tanzania, there is limited formal arts education at the primary, secondary and tertiary level, with arts training primarily taking place at the informal level.

"Many young people with creative ideas and a thirst for outlets for their expressions are too often denied the chance to make meaningful contributions to the social discourse due to limited access to opportunities for artistic learning," said Corey, adding these artists are also struggling to make a living from their craft.

She said the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted Nafasi activities and some of the activities were done online but it was limited.

"For a period of time, we had to shut down. It was a very tough time. But we managed to get through it and we decided to use that time to reflect and think about what impact our work has had and also where we wanted to go in the future," she said.

"I see the future of Nafasi as growing and having an impact all across Tanzania. Our big goal in the next five years is to help spread the idea, the vision and even the blueprint for Nafasi so that other people in the regions can establish their Nafasi Art Spaces," she said.

Ahmed Batenga, 28, a freelance photographer and graphic designer is among the beneficiaries of Nafasi Art Space.

He is currently learning about filmmaking at Nafasi.

"I have been doing films but I decided to train here on film making so that I can get to know much about the industry. I am learning how to develop the story structure," said Batenga.

He said Nafasi has helped him to improve his scriptwriting and to create a story that is more character-based.

Nafasi is training filmmakers, including actors, sound engineers and writers, said Batenga, adding: "Film making in Tanzania has a bright future. Give it five, ten years you will find great films made by Tanzanians, especially the youth that are attending Nafasi training."

Looking forward, Nafasi's major goals by 2026 include establishing an arts reference library with a wide range of art journals, books, catalogues and other publications for artists' use and establishing a digital laboratory and film hub for artists interested in digital art.

According to Nafasi Art Space's 2021-2026 strategic plan, the center is also planning to develop an 'artistic track' that helps artists measure progress toward professionalization based on conceptual development, technical skill, self-management and entrepreneurship ability.

Corey said Nafasi's strategic approach to artistic development is to continually provide opportunities and resources that respond to these inter-related needs, and explore pathways to ensure that artists across Tanzania have the opportunity to develop their diverse artistic practices. 
WARSAW - As a presidential caFndidate, Joe Biden cited Poland as a country at risk of succumbing to the "the rise of totalitarian regimes."

As president, Biden and his team were blindsided - and frustrated - earlier this month when Poland announced it was ready to route MiG-29 fighter jets through a U.S. air base to Ukraine.

But on Friday, President Biden arrived in Poland and referred to Andrzej Duda, the country's president, as a "brother" - praising him for "living up" to his obligations as a leader in responding to the humanitarian crisis resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Biden's two-day visit to Poland - which included stops in Rzeszow, in the southeast of the country, and Warsaw - underscores the rapidly changing nature of the U.S.-Poland relationship, which has transformed into a close partnership in the face of Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Arriving at Poland's Presidential Palace for a meeting with Duda on Saturday afternoon, Biden embraced the Polish leader and the two men beamed at the cameras as they shook hands and Biden placed his other hand on Duda's shoulder.

At the start of an expanded bilateral meeting, Duda said that the relationship between the United States and Poland is "flourishing" and that the bond was "strengthened immensely" by Biden's visit.

In his remarks, Biden emphasized United States' enduring commitment to defending NATO member states, seeking to reassure the Polish people, who Duda said feel a "great sense of threat" because of Russia's aggression.

"We take Article 5 as a sacred commitment," Biden said, referring to the alliance's collective defense pact. "Not a throwaway, a sacred commitment that relates to every member of NATO."

Biden's visit comes at a remarkable moment for Poland. In the lead-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country made international headlines for its hardline stance on refugees, its anti-LGBTQ policies and its fraught relationship with both the United States and Europe.

Biden seemingly made reference to some of the leaders' ideological differences on Saturday.

"The most important thing that binds us together are our values: freedom, freedom of the press ... that government is transparent, making sure people have the right to vote," he said.

But in recent weeks, Polish leaders have pivoted from attacking some of the core institutions of liberal democracy to touting their role as defenders of European unity and values.

"Your presence here, Mr. President, first of all, sends a very big sign of unity," Duda said Friday before he and Biden received a briefing in Rzeszow on humanitarian efforts. "This is a huge sign of support and Euro-Atlantic unity - unity with my country, with Poland. It demonstrates great friendship between Poland and the United States, and a very profound alliance."

The fortified bond between Poland and the United States could be temporary, however. The two countries have already clashed briefly over the MiG fighter jet issue, and fissures are emerging over how many refugees Poland has already welcomed. Experts say they hope that Biden will not ignore human rights concerns with Poland simply because of the Ukraine crisis.

But for now, Warsaw finds itself at the very center of the transatlantic response. It is a front-line NATO state hosting a growing number of troops and weapons, as well as serving as a hub for supplies bound for Ukraine and the site of a historic humanitarian emergency. Poland currently hosts 2.2 million of the 3.7 million Ukrainians who have fled the war, according to United Nations' estimates.

"We do not call them 'refugees,'" Duda said Friday. "They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine who today are in a very difficult situation."

On Saturday, Biden visited refugees at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, meeting with the city's mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski.

The president, without a tie and wearing a Beau Biden Foundation hat, traversed a crowd of refugees. At one point, he picked up a little girl in a pink coat and pigtails and took a selfie with her. At another, he embraced a woman in what appeared to be an emotional conversation.

As he was exiting, the president told reporters he had met some refugees from Mariupol, a Ukrainian city that has been under siege from Russian forces, and said he is always surprised by "the depth and the strength of the human spirit." When asked about what the stop made him think about President Vladimir Putin, he called the Russian leader "a butcher."

But tensions over refugees have started to surface publicly.

Trzaskowski, Warsaw's mayor, warned in an interview with The Washington Post that the city's services were at risk of being overwhelmed.

"In 2015, we had 300,000 to 400,000 people coming into Europe every month. We just had 300,000 people come into Warsaw in three weeks," he said. "We want to take everyone who needs help, but how many kids can we take into schools? How can we do everything we can so the health system doesn't break down in our city?"

And even as Poland shoulders the heaviest migratory burden stemming from the war, its leaders appear reluctant to embrace a Europe-wide quota system for resettling refugees because it could be applied to future emergencies, preferring an ad hoc approach, according to European diplomats familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

Poland's Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about its position on a refugee quota.

Poland is also turning back migrants from the Middle East at its border with Belarus, part of a geopolitical standoff with that country.

Some view Russia's unprovoked assault on Ukraine as an "I told you so" moment for Poland, which, like the Baltics and other countries in Eastern and Central Europe, has long been wary of Russia.

"There is a realization in the West that successive Polish and central European governments have warned about Putin for 20 years," said Radosaw Sikorski, a Polish member of European Parliament and a former foreign minister. "There is a willingness to listen now to what we are saying - and this moment should be grasped."

Poland's political makeover comes after years of acrimony between the ruling Law and Justice party, or PiS, and Washington and Brussels. Though Poland's populist leadership cultivated close ties with President Donald Trump's Washington, Biden has been cooler.

As a candidate he condemned the creation of so-called "LGBT-free zones" in Poland, tweeting that they have "no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world." In 2020, he cited Poland alongside Hungary and Belarus as countries where democracy was under threat.

The ruling party also angered Washington last year with plans for a media law that appeared targeted at Poland's largest broadcaster, TVN, which is owned by Discovery, a U.S. firm. Duda ultimately vetoed the legislation, allowing Discovery to keep its majority share.

Ties with the E.U. have been even rockier. For years now, Poland has been caught in a bitter dispute with the bloc over democratic backsliding, particularly when it comes to the rule of law.

Since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice party has asserted sweeping executive authority over the judiciary - remaking the process of appointing, promoting and disciplining judges. In 2017, a commission of the Council of Europe warned that the reorganization of the judiciary bore a "striking resemblance with the institutions which existed in the Soviet Union and its satellites."

It has also sought to turn public media into an organ of the party, prompting a rebuke from Reporters Without Borders, which stated that the country's public media outlets "have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces."

Poland's leaders are now pressing Brussels to unfreeze billions of dollars in pandemic recovery funds withheld over questions about the politicization of Poland's judiciary, arguing that the money is needed to address the refugee crisis.

Human rights groups and others question how pandemic recovery money - which is earmarked for specific purposes over longer periods of time - would help refugees now, particularly since much of the cost so far has been borne by ordinary Polish citizens, not the government.

Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels office of the Centre for European Reform, worried the Ukraine crisis would effectively grant Poland a "get out of jail free pass."

She believes the European Commission will unfreeze the money "not because Poland needs it, but because it does not want to risk the unity of the block at this moment."

Still, Biden's hastily-planned stop here comes at a crucial time for Poland, and his presence is both substantively and symbolically important.

Biden's visit "gives hope and security to people in Poland, and probably also relief to many Ukrainians," said Ryszard Schnepf, a former Polish ambassador to the United States.

The exigencies of Russia's war, Schnepf added, have caused the government in Warsaw to bind itself more closely to its Western partners - a display of unity at odds with deepening tensions over Poland's attacks on the rule of law, the independence of the media and the rights of LGBT people.

Schnepf said that in supporting Poland in this moment, Biden "is not forgetting about the past," but simply shoring up a crucial ally in the ongoing crisis with Ukraine.

"It is significant to host the leader of the most important ally of Poland, as far as security is concerned," Schnepf said. "It shows us that this is a very personal involvement from President Biden."

- - -

Rauhala reported from Brussels and Stanley-Becker reported from Berlin. The Washington Post's Quentin Aries in Brussels contributed to this report.
GREENWICH  To much of the world, Greenwich is an enclave of the rich and powerful, the standard for Connecticuts gold coast. To satirists, it is a target for their humor.

That was the case at Reductress, which posted All Are Welcome Here, Says Sign in Neighborhood Where Average Home Costs $2 million, on its satire website last week, poking fun at progressive Greenwich residents who do nothing to affect change.

We wanted to be 100% clear that everyone belongs in our neighborhood, says one fictitious Greenwichite in the article. As long as you have the type of down payment that only comes from inherited wealth, of course. But thats a technicality.

Another made-up town resident, according to the piece, has two signs in front of her Greenwich home that read In this house, Black Lives Matter, no human is illegal, and love is love and This neighborhood is closely monitored by Connecticut Police.

Sarah Pappalardo, an editor and co-founder at Reductress, said the article was meant to point out the hypocrisy that exists not just in Greenwich but in communities all over the country.

There are lots of well-meaning liberals in all kinds of suburbs who preach inclusivity, when the very structures they benefit from are inherently exclusive, Pappalardo said. I think thats what contributor Sarah Cassell, who pitched this headline, was ultimately going for and executed very well. Obviously we respect anyone who at least tries, but hope we can poke fun at the folks who may not always practice what they preach when it comes to NIMBYism or supporting restrictive building codes and practices.

Reductress is based out of New York City and Pappalardo said Greenwich is just one of the most iconic wealthy suburbs that comes to mind in the area.

But, she added, lots of other towns in the tri-state area and across the country definitely fit this criteria just as well. Dont worry, its not just Greenwich.

The article was shared on social media by Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who grew up in town and graduated from Greenwich High School. She told Greenwich Time that she laughed pretty hard when she read it.

I feel extremely privileged to have grown up in Old Greenwich, but you cant deny the entire town is full of blaring contradictions, Lorenz said. Greenwich is sort of like your old, rich, out-of-touch uncle who wants change, but doesnt really want to sacrifice anything or jeopardize their spot at the top to get it.

In her experience growing up in town, Greenwich is full of a lot of extremely rich people who are happy to engage in performative activism, but when rubber meets the road they wont support the actual policies needed to enact change, she said. As someone who cares a lot about social progress, I did not find Greenwich to be a very open-minded or inclusive place growing up. There was a ton of racism, classism and general elitism.

Lorenz said she is a regular reader of Reductress and said a friend from Greenwich sent her the article. It was the heavy topic of discussion the next day in a group chat with friends from the area, she said.

We were all just laughing a lot because we all knew people like that growing up, and I think the piece speaks to a deeper rift in society right now, Lorenz said.

But Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo said the jokes about Greenwich appear over and over and over again and he said they dont take into account the number of Greenwich students who are on the free and reduced lunch program or the residents who are classified as asset-limited and income-constrained but employed, a designation known as ALICE, who could be one missed paycheck away from financial disaster.

And he also pointed to all the residents who live in affordable housing in town, something members of his own family have done, and its diverse, working-class neighborhoods.

People throw these things out there all the time because its something that resonates with other jurisdictions who look upon the town as being super wealthy and uncaring, Camillo said. Yes, we have very wealthy people here, but a significant part of that population is very civic-minded and helps the town with donations and civic involvement and sweat equity. Its a very giving town and a very, very diverse one. You can go pick at the houses depicted in that article, and we have expensive properties, but I could take that person around Greenwich with me and Im sure they would be very surprised.

Camillo said it is not a matter of not having a sense of humor, but letting people see what Greenwich is truly like.

You never want to complain or whine and say youre being the victim, Camillo said. Im not suggesting that here. What Im saying is, Ive seen articles like this and Ive heard what other people say about Greenwich over and over again and it gets old. It really gets old. Having grown up here, yeah, Im a bit more protective of the town because Ive seen how diverse it is and how giving it is. Ive seen how we look out for one another

You can laugh at yourself. Its a healthy person that can laugh at themselves  my dad always told me  and I think people here do have a sense of humor. But these articles are not totally innocuous. Theyre meant to sting. Theyre meant to hurt and theyre wrong, he said.

Camillo cited the work of Greenwich Communities, the town Department of Human Services, nonprofits such as Jewish Family Services and Neighbor to Neighbor and town organizations like the Knights of Columbus that are always doing things for the less fortunate.

Lorenz agreed that Greenwich is in many ways a more diverse town than people realize. Its certainly not all the type of people who think a banana costs $10, she said, referring to a popular meme based on a clip from the Emmy-winning comedy Arrested Development. But I think the Reductress article made everyone laugh because the contradictions it speaks to are alive and well.

Camillo and the towns bipartisan state delegation have all expressed strong support for Greenwich Communities, which builds and manages affordable and senior housing, and for the newly created housing trust fund, which was created to raise private money for incentives to developers who create or renovate affordable units.

The state legislators joined with Camillo in calling for reform in the states 8-30g law, which mandates state municipalities have at least 10 percent of their housing stock be designated as affordable. Camillo, along with other town officials, have said this is an issue best handled locally and not through mandates from Hartford.

But for Nick Abbott, a town resident and member of the advocacy group Desegregate CT, which is pushing for municipalities to offer more affordable housing close to transit, the article cuts to the core.

The Republicans and Democrats I have come across in Greenwich have expressed a desire to be welcoming of people from all races and backgrounds and welcoming to refugees, Abbott said. I think that is made in good faith. I dont think theyre being dishonest and people in Greenwich are that welcoming. But where I do think there is a mismatch is between that stated profession of welcome with Greenwichs policies as it relates to housing that make it practically impossible for a lot of communities, particularly those with low or even moderate incomes, to be able to afford to live in town.

Camillo added that he felt criticisms coming from Abbott were hypocritical.

They grew up in wealth in this town and they turn around say were a bigoted town, Camillo said. (Abbott) lives in a part of town thats not being threatened by overdevelopment. Thats hypocritical, dont you think? He doesnt know what hes talking about and I take offense to that portrayal of our town.

But Abbott said there was an application with 8-30g development planned for King Street near where he lives and said he strongly supported it.

As someone who grew up in and is now looking for my own place in Greenwich, I would love to be able to live near downtown Greenwich, either in one of these new developments being proposed or right by them, Abbott said. I think they make the town a lot better.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
The Public Utilities Commission will decide whether Guam residents should pay as much as 10% more for water service, including a 5% rate hike, or propose to give customers less water at the lower lifeline rate.

The Guam Waterworks Authority, as part of a rate proposal being considered by the PUC, plans to give residential customers less lifeline-priced water each month  3,000 gallons instead of 5,000 gallons.

Its part of a strategy to get more money from water customers without increasing rates.

GWA sells the first 5,000 gallons used by customers each month at a rate of $3.01 per thousand gallons. Any additional water used each month costs $11.83 per thousand gallons, which GWA said is closer to the actual cost of service.

Based on current rates, under GWAs proposal the first 5,000 gallons of water used by residential customers would increase in price from $15.05 per month to $32.69 per month.

Assistance

The result would be more revenue for the water agency to pay for a proposed $5.2 million assistance program for low-income customers, according to GWA General Manager Miguel Bordallo.

The customer assistance program would help low-income customers pay their water bills and detect and fix costly leaks in their plumbing on private property.

Bordallo last week told lawmakers the current 5,000-gallon cap for the lifeline rate was arbitrarily picked and a lifeline cap of 3,000 gallons is more in line in what is recognized in ... national organizations as a minimum amount necessary for health and sanitation.

Effects

By reducing that (lifeline amount) without doing anything else, that provides additional revenue without increasing any of the rates, Bordallo told senators during a hearing for Bill 266, which would require GWA to implement a customer assistance program and authorize it to make repairs on private property.

Although GWA already plans to start a customer assistance program, Bill 266 would require it by law.

Water rates must increase so GWA can afford to pay millions of dollars in required water and wastewater improvements. GWA recently told the Superior Court of Guam it collects about $110 million per year in revenue.

Justify

GWA in 2020 asked to increase rates by 37.5% over five years, but the PUC that year authorized only two increases a 5% increase in February 2020 and another 5% increase in October 2020.

The PUC required GWA to complete several studies by March 2021 to justify additional rate increases. The studies include: demand forecasting; labor expenses; staffing; a cost-of-service analysis; an affordability program; a plan to reduce the number of customers who use septic tanks instead of the sewer system; financing alternatives for capital improvements; and a water loss control plan.

GWA submitted another rate request in May 2021. The PUC hasnt yet acted on it.

Under review

This docket is nearing completion and as of March 20, 2022, awaits a final commission decision, PUC consultant Georgetown Consulting Group stated in written testimony to lawmakers last week. The extensive record ... is under review by a PUC administrative law judge and the decision is expected shortly.

According to Georgetown, GWA has asked for a 5% rate increase and the additional revenue required for the customer assistance program would mean a total increase of 10%.

The rate plan submitted by GWA last year calls for another rate increase of 10% next fiscal year and a 7% increase in fiscal 2024.
Core site of China plane crash to be excavated

Xinhua) 11:51, March 26, 2022

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft carrying 132 people crashed on the afternoon of March 21 in a mountainous area of Guangxi's Tengxian County. No survivors have been found so far. One black box has already been recovered. (Photo by Xu Dong/Xinhua)

NANNING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The core site of the recent plane crash in south China will be excavated as all-out efforts are made to continue searching for survivors and the second black box, officials said at a news briefing on Friday.

Field exploration and shallow surface excavation have been carried out at the core crash site in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

Experts are working on an excavation plan for the core site, Zhu said, adding that DNA samples are being taken from relatives of the missing passengers.

The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft carrying 132 people crashed on the afternoon of March 21 in a mountainous area of Guangxi's Tengxian County. No survivors have been found so far. One black box has already been recovered.

The search and rescue scope has been expanded to nearly 200,000 square meters, and more than 2,200 people have joined the rescue efforts, said Lao Gaojin, vice mayor of Wuzhou City that administers Tengxian.

As of 10 a.m. Friday, 531 family members of 92 missing passengers had arrived in Wuzhou.

The engine gearbox and main landing gear remnants were found in the core crash site, said Mao Yanfeng, head of the aviation accident investigation center of CAAC.

Mao noted that it is not certain when the downloading and analyses of data from the recovered black box will be completed.

A preliminary investigation report will be submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organization within 30 days in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Mao added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
By sportswriters Gao Meng, Ji Ye

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- For students in Malan Primary School in Fuping County in north China's Hebei Province, the past 18 years went by along with music, which was quite a novelty to them before Deng Xiaolan became their music teacher.

They have got a chance of singing on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games on what could be the biggest stage in their life.

The changes were attributed to Deng, the founder of the Malan village choir, who passed away at age 78 on Tuesday.

Children's folk rhymes once again resounded in Fuping. This time, it was sung to pay tribute to a beloved granny who has inspired children through the power of music.

BACK TO SECOND HOME

For Deng Xiaolan, life comes in a full circle.

Xiaolan's father Deng Tuo, a famous journalist and intellectual, used to run the Jinchaji Daily during the 1940s in Malan, a revolutionary base where Xiaolan was born. Amid heavy blockade of the Japanese enemy, Deng Tuo and his colleagues worked to spread the Communist Party of China's key policies.

Due to the chaos brought about by the war, Deng's parents could not stay with her and left their little daughter to an old couple in Malan until three years later when they settled down. That was why Xiaolan always regarded Malan as her second home.

In 2003, Malan village welcomed back the special guest. Deng Xiaolan returned for the tomb sweeping day to pay tribute to 19 courageous villagers who were killed by the Japanese army after refusing to reveal the whereabouts of Jinchaji Daily staff and printing facilities 60 years ago.

This was when changes in Malan children's life took place.

A group of local students also did tomb sweeping there. Deng suggested them to sing a song for their deceased grandpas and grandmas, but they could not sing anything.

Feeling sad, Deng came up with an idea of teaching these kids to sing, determined to do something for her second home.

After retiring in 2004, Deng went back to Malan and volunteered as a music teacher in a local primary school.

She thought that songs were poetry, and the most beautiful and wonderful thing in human culture, and students would benefit from learning music both emotionally and personally.

In order to fulfill her promise, Deng spent a great deal of time and effort in Malan, teaching students how to sing. Because of her, children in Malan got chances to learn some Chinese traditional songs as well as international classical songs such as "Ode to Joy."

Once the band went to Shanghai to attend an international youth music summer camp, there were many international student bands. The attendees all sang Auld Lang Syne together at the end of the concert.

Deng once said that she wanted her children to never be afraid wherever they were.

In 2006, Deng set up the first band to teach her students how to play instruments, which were too expensive for rural families at that time. Deng went around to raise the fund for her children, even giving away part of her pension to buy instruments like flutes and trumpets for them.

Deng had a standard of member selection, with key thing being that kids love the music.

The band had six members at first. Some of them have now graduated from universities. Year by year, even though the members changed, Deng was always there.

Deng came up with an idea in 2013 as she thought that a forest music festival would be a good way for people to enjoy it.

Deng and her students found a place on the mountainside and built a temporary stage. They called it the "pigeon stage."

The first "Malan Music Festival" was held that year, and the festival has been held annually since then.

The success of music festival offered Deng huge confidence and served as a catalyst for her to pursue a bigger dream.

She began to search a better place for her students to perform. Last year, when a permanent stage with a "moon" shape was nearly completed, a piece of breaking news came to Deng and her students.

LEADING CHILDREN TO OLYMPIC STAGE

The Beijing 2022 opening and closing ceremonies team heard about Malan children's story, and invited the chorus bearing the "fragrance of the earth" to sing the Olympic Anthem at the opening ceremony.

Some professional teachers gathered in Malan last November to instruct the students' training.

44 students were finally selected to sing on the opening ceremony in the National Stadium on February 4. Deng always accompanied her students, whether in their training, waiting for rehearsals or resting in hotel.

As Deng expected, her students displayed their confidence on the Olympic stage. At both opening and closing ceremonies, their pure voices touched the world.

After the Winter Olympics, Deng went back to Malan to prepare for the yearly music festival, but the accident took place.

She fell near the "moon" stage and was rushed to hospital. After a few days in the ICU, she passed away less than seven weeks after her Malan choir performed at the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony.

"When I heard about the accident that teacher Deng had, I was shocked. I can't believe that she has left us," said Gao Yue, a teacher of the chorus.

"Our mother spent most of her last 18 years in Malan. Being a volunteer music teacher brought her happiness and satisfaction," Deng's children said in her obituary.

"The chorus performed well at the Olympics and was praised by the world. That made her very happy. She left the world on a high note. This is the biggest comfort for our family." 
A sign photographed Aug. 12, 2021, serves as a warning to those planning a visit to Marbo Cave in Mangilao.




Haiti - NOTICE : Literary story contest for women, applications open





Mus'Elles is launching a literary storytelling contest for women. Participation in the competition is free and open to all women of Haitian nationality between the ages of 18 and 40.



Candidates must write a text of 5 pages maximum (in French or in Creole) in the form of a literary narrative (for an adult readership) around the theme "the current situation of the Republic of Haiti" (humor and suspense are welcome)



It must be an original work, not published or in the process of being published.



Deadline for submission : April 30, 2022 at midnight (Haitian time)



Send the story by email to : info@muselles.org



The jury will meet at the beginning of May 2022 to select the texts



Literary story contest rules and criteria : https://muselles.org/reglements-du-concours-de-recits-litteraires-de-muselles/



Contact and other information : infomuselles@gmail.org



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Aerial photo taken on Aug. 23, 2021 shows a view of the Saihanba forest farm in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

by Xinhua writer Wang Xinyi

From practicing the new concept of green development at home to promoting overseas low-carbon energy transformation and technological innovation among its Belt and Road partners, from technology exchanges to joint project management, China has been honoring its commitments to boosting common development and global climate governance.



BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Global villagers are celebrating the annual Earth Hour Saturday evening with a united voluntary blackout gesture as the climax of an eco-week.

No sooner have they heeded the International Day of Forests on Monday, World Water Day on Tuesday and World Meteorological Day on Wednesday than this one of the world's largest global grassroots movements for the environment trend on social media is in the wings.

These green-promoting events, along with a few others of the kind throughout the year, have been reminding people of an inconvenient truth marked by frequent natural catastrophes, not least extreme weathers, and thus of an urgent joint response.

Earlier this month, wildfires raging across the southeasternmost U.S. state of Florida consumed more than tens of thousands of acres and forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 households, authorities said, attributing the tinder to vast areas of dead trees left behind by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded 20 climate disasters across the country in 2021 that each resulted in losses of at least 1 billion U.S. dollars.

In Europe, many people still have fresh memories of a devastating summer in 2021 under the dual impacts of floods and wildfires, with unprecedented temperature rises and heatwaves in Greece, large areas of scorched forests, pastures and fruit trees in Albania, and torrential rains and inundation in Germany so calamitous that then German Chancellor Angela Merkel said "the German language hardly has words for the devastation that has been wrought."

These overlapping havocs have exposed the vulnerable globe increasingly to a harsh climate reality with even more extreme climate events ahead unless the whole global village stands in solidarity, ditching lip service and delivering concrete action.

Sadly, however, some wealthy countries, who have built their wealth by burning fossil fuels and therefore accounted most for the climate crisis, constantly failed to honor their commitment to leadership as well as technical and financial assistance.

Aerial photo taken on March 3, 2021 shows a solar thermal power project in Gonghe County, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Hongxiang)

The world's progress in the transition to sustainable energy has also been stalled amid a botched and piecemeal COVID-19 response, baffling policy flip-flops, a bumpy ride to recovery and uncertainties over the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, both key suppliers for crucial metals used in green manufacturing technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries.

Concerns over energy security are also boosting fossil fuel imports, triggering crude oil price hikes and calls within Australia to delay emissions reduction efforts.

"Scientists are certain that emissions from human activity have caused dangerous and permanent damage to the planet. Our window to reduce emissions and limit temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible, but it's closing rapidly," said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist of World Wildlife Fund.

"We must act decisively to protect our planet from both the coronavirus and the existential threat of climate disruption," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed.

In honoring its pledge to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, China, as a responsible developing country, has been advancing the green transition of its economy and the development of ecological civilization on a robust scale with a slew of practical and people-centered measures.

From practicing the new concept of green development at home to promoting overseas low-carbon energy transformation and technological innovation among its Belt and Road partners, from technology exchanges to joint project management, China has been honoring its commitments to boosting common development and global climate governance.

The clock is ticking away till a world under the siege of climate change makes a real concerted action. As countries navigate into the choppy waters of uncertainties, the global community must not allow its joint climate action to falter under the illusion of a rain check, nor can it afford to see high-profile green events and declarations reduced to a mere act of symbolism. 




Haiti - USA : More than 2,000 children born abroad to Haitian parents were deported to Haiti





A report published on March 24 by the NGO "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) reveals that the United States expelled or deported from January 1st, 2021 to February 26, 2022, 25,765 people to Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36035-haiti-usa-biden-expelled-in-1-year-almost-as-many-haitians-as-all-the-other-presidents-in-20-years.html



The International Organization for Migration (IOM) points out from September 19, 2021 to February 14, 2022, the United States returned to Haiti approximately 2,300 children born abroad to Haitian parents https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35062-haiti-migration-500-foreign-children-deported-to-haiti.html . Out of these, about 1,600 were born in Chile; 580 in Brazil and around 140 in other countries, including the Bahamas, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela. the IOM finds that there were irregular situations in the expulsions, since the children born in Brazil or Chile had the nationality of the country of their birth (jus soli) and some even held a Brazilian or chilili passport https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34794-haiti-flash-45-to-60-flights-of-expulsion-of-haitians-expected-in-port-au-prince.html



The HRW report states "[...] Most of the American returnees had left Haiti years earlier, fleeing an already difficult economic and security situation, and lived in Chile or Brazil before going to the United States. Some have suffered violence, including sexual abuse, en route to the United States [...]"



Due to the irregularities of the United States Government "[...] The United States must immediately end the inappropriate use of title 42, a section of the United States health care law, to deport people to Haiti and elsewhere" believes Human Rights Watch.



Furthermore "[...] Haitians detained in US border prisons [awaiting deportation] reported difficult living conditions, including insufficient food, lack of access to showers or hygiene products for weeks and a lack of medical care [...]"



HRW further confirms that several testimonies from Haitians report that border agents took clothes, phones, money and their personal documents, and that they had not recovered all of their personal effects upon arrival in Haiti [...]"



Also read:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34794-haiti-flash-45-to-60-flights-of-expulsion-of-haitians-expected-in-port-au-prince.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36035-haiti-usa-biden-expelled-in-1-year-almost-as-many-haitians-as-all-the-other-presidents-in-20-years.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35062-haiti-migration-500-foreign-children-deported-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34626-haiti-politic-more-expulsions-of-haitians-under-joe-biden.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Diaspora Covid-19 : Daily Bulletin #736





GLOBAL SITUATION 2019-2022:

Epidemiological situation:



Saturday March 26, 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 480,082,835 cases (+1,805,717 in 24 hours ), the day before (+1,685,737)



Number of infected countries: 224



*Healings: 414,493,135 people have been cured of Covid-19 worldwide (+1,382,4121), the day before (+1,170,306)

*Deaths: 6,143,626 people have died of Covid-19 worldwide since the start of the pandemic (+9,649 in 24 hours), the day before (+5,045)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries) in the world is currently 59,446,074 cases (+413,647 in 24 hours), the day before (+510,386)



Average cure rate in the world: 86.33% (-)



Average mortality rate in the world: 1.27% (-)



World: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 11.22 billion doses of vaccine injected (+20 million doses injected in 24 hours. Updated March 25, 2022 (latest data available).



HAITI:

According to the Ministry of Public Health, +13 new cases of Covid-19 and its variants have been confirmed in Haiti as of March 22, 2022 (latest partial data available ) for a total of 30,522 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 (+15 cases as of March 18, 2022).



Healings: 27,960 (+468)



Cure rate: 91.60% (+)



Deaths: 833 deaths (+6) (West +2, Center +1, South-East+1, Artibonite +2)



Death rate: 2.72% (+)



5th Wave (Omicron Dominant):

Total of the 5th wave (starting December 27, 2021) 4,528 confirmed cases and 67 deaths



Haiti: Active Cases Trend: (less recoveries and deaths)







Screening since the start of the pandemic: 186,638 tests (+1,350 in 4 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: 739 (+1); Petion-ville 620 (+2); Port-au-Prince 406 (+0); Tabarre 287 (+0); Cross-Bouquets 238 (+1)



Confirmed cases by department (2022 / 2021 / 2020):

West: 2022: 2,546 cases; (2021: 9.890); (2020: 6,945 cases)

North: 2022: 267 cases; (2021: 664); (2020: 677 cases)

Center: 2022: 226 cases; (2021: 1.001); (2020: 508 cases)

Artibonitis: 2022: 181 cases; (2021: 855); (2020: 593 cases)

Northeast: 2022: 148 cases; (2021: 404); (2020: 314 cases)

Southeast: 2022: 254 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: 173 cases; (2021: 861); (2020: 176 cases)

Nippes: 2022: 39 cases; (2021: 249) (2020: 149 cases)



Cumulative deaths by department (2022-2021):

West: 295 deaths (2020: 104 deaths)

North: 54 deaths (2020: 34 deaths)

Center: 79 deaths (2020: 13 deaths)

Artibonite: 42 deaths (2020: 39 deaths)

North East: 7 deaths (2020: 6 deaths)

South: 51 deaths (2020: 6 deaths)

Southeast: 15 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: 56 deaths (+2)

40-49 years: 80 deaths (+2)

50-59 years: 134 deaths (+1)

60-69 years: 187 deaths (+1)

70-79 years: 183 deaths

80 years and over: 137 deaths



Vaccination:

163,369 Haitians (1.4% of the population) +2,205 in 6 days received a 1st dose of vaccine since July 16, 2021, date of the first injection through 149 open vaccination centers and 111,914 Haitians are fully vaccinated (2 doses, 0.96% of the population) +1.585 in 6 days. Update March 22, 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 first case (29 February 2020): 81,600,890 cases (+34,933 in 24 hours), the day before (+38,628)

*Healings: 64,070,163 healings (+245,769), the day before (+201,228)

National Cure Rate: 78.51% (+)

*Deaths: 1,003,198 deaths (+939), the day before (+1,084)

National death rate: 1.22% (=)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries): 16,527,529 (-211,775), yesterday (-163,684)



USA: Trend active cases: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 559.53 million doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, the date of the first injection in the United States (+320,000 doses in 24 hours). Updated March 25, 2022 (latest data available).



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

Confirmed cases since March 1, 2020: 577,673 cases (+92 in 24 hours) the day before (+105 in 24 hours). First case (March 1, 2020)

Healings: 572,853 healings (+89 in 24 hours), the day before (+90)

National Cure Rate: 99.16% (=)

Deaths: 4,375 deaths (+0), previous (+0)

Death rate: 0.75% (=)

Positivity rate over 4 epidemiological weeks: 1.12% (+)

Active cases: (excluding deaths and recoveries) 445 cases (+3 in 24 hours) the day before (+15)



Dominican Republic: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(Day-1)



TOP 5 Provinces with the most new cases in the last 24 hours:

Santo Domingo: +19 new cases in 24 hours (+)

La Altagracia: +16 new cases in 24 hours (+)

National District: +13 new cases (-)

Barahona: +10 new cases in 24 hours ()

San Pedro de Macoris: +9 new cases in 2 p.m. ()



Vaccination: 15.48 million doses of vaccine injected since February 16, 2021, date of the first injection in the Dominican Republic (+30,000 doses injected in 24 hours). Updated March 25, 2022 (latest data available).



QUEBEC:

Confirmed cases since the first case (February 27, 2020): 953,498 (+2.203 in 24 hours), previous (+2.295)

Healings: 922,398 people (+1,458 in 24 hours) previous (+948)

Cure rate: 96.73% (-)

Deaths: 14,300 (+12 in 24h) previous (+14)

Death rate: 1.49% (-)

Active cases: (excluding death and recovery) 16,800 cases (+733 in 24 hours), previous (+1,333)



Quebec: Trend of daily confirmed cases:





(average weekly trend)



Vaccination: 18,592,149 doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection (+8,064 doses in 24 hours), latest data available - MSSS as of March 25, 2022)



FRANCE:

*Confirmed cases since the first case (January 24, 2020): 24,779,882 cases (+143,571 cases in 24 hours), previous (+148,635)

*Healings: 22,870,434 healings (+53,557), previous (-124 Public Health France correction)

National Cure Rate: 92.29% (-)

Deaths: 141,564 (+121 in 24 hours), previous (+124)

Death rate: 0.57% (=)

Active Cases: 1,767,884 (+89,893), previous (+148,635)



France: Trend of active cases: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(day 1)



Vaccination: 141.55 million doses of vaccine injected since December 27, 2020, date of the first injection in France (+30,000 doses injected in 24 hours. Updated March 25, 2022 (latest data available)



Previous bulletin : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36265-haiti-diaspora-covid-19-daily-bulletin-735.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...





DR : 300 Haitian minors, unaccompanied, repatriated

During the first three months of 2022, the Dominican authorities repatriated to Haiti no less than 300 minors, including 266 boys and 34 girls, reports the "Zanmi Timoun" Foundation, in a press note dated March 23. These children were reportedly dropped off unaccompanied at the Belladere border post. The Foundation calls on the Haitian authorities to intervene with the Dominican government in order to put an end to the deportations of unaccompanied minor children.



Mirlande Manigat for a new Constitution but...

Constitutionalist Mirlande Manigat, Honorary President of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP) is in favor of a new Constitution. However, she believes that the conditions are not met because the country is in a situation of "impossible formalities".



UEH : Classroom-dormitories

Due to insecurity, Unable to return to their homes, several students from the State University of Haiti (UEH) are transforming the classrooms into dormitories. They ask for help from the rectorate, which is slow to respond to their requests.



200 farmers sell directly to businesses...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID-Haiti), helped create a network of more than 200 farmers in Kenscoff. Now local farmers can sell their produce directly to supermarkets, restaurants and wholesalers in and around Port-au-Prince, and even to the US Embassy.



The National Library of Haiti celebrates its 82nd anniversary

Friday, March 25, the National Library of Haiti (BNH) inaugurated on March 26, 1940 under the presidency of Stenio Vincent, celebrated its 82 years of existence. Thanks to the efforts of Emmelie Prophet-Milce, the Minister of Culture, the BNH now has a new generator. In addition, a batch of 20,000 works will be given to the BNH by the National Library of Quebec as well as computer equipment donated from Taiwan (Republic of China).



World Theater Day

As a prelude to World Theater Day, this Sunday, March 27, 2022, Yves Penel, the Director General of the National Theater of Haiti launched a series of activities at the Occide Jeanty kiosk (Champ-de-Mars), to introduce young people to artistic and cultural education.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2022/03/25

Also known as "Kinship", Kim Soo-yong's implements, once more, a rather melodramatic approach to explore the generational gap between the pre and post war generations, in an effort, though, that netted him the Best Film Award both at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

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The story takes place in a shanty town on a mountain slope at the outskirts of a large city, which is mostly inhabited by North Korean defectors. Widower Kim Deok-sam bugs his son Geo-book to join the American army, as he sees this option as the best one for his future. Hwang Jung-soon, who lives next door, teaches her daughter Bok-soon traditional Korean folksongs and bugs her to become a gisaeng, to work in the local bar, while her father, who despises Deok-sam, is making arrangements for her with another man. Another neighbor, Shin Young-kyun seems to have the worse fate of all, as his wife is sick and bedridden, and he has to provide for both her, his elderly mother, his daughter, and his younger brother, Choi Moo-ryong, who is a Japanese university graduate and wants to become novelist, turning down any other kind of work. Young-kyun tries to get money by collecting cigarette butts but they are not enough even to take his wife to a hospital, with his circumstances making him rather aggravated, to the point that he throws frequent violent fits. In the meantime, Moo-ryong and Bok-soon feel close to each other, but the latter's parents do not want even to hear about this relationship, eventually forcing them to take matters in their hands. Lastly, Deok-sam finds a wife suggested by a local patron, but things do not proceed as he thought they would.

Kim Soo-yong implements an episodic approach in order to highlight how difficult life was for those outside the system, in a Korea that was experiencing a rapid export-led economic growth at the time but still had a long way to go regarding social issues. The melodramatic approach, even if a bit extreme on occasion, particularly in the case of Young-kyun, who does not seem to get a break no matter what he does, is a bit excessive in its presentation, but actually serves well to present the circumstances of these people.

At the same time, the focus on the generational gap is also intense, with the parents here presented in rather bleak colors, essentially wishing to exploit their children in order to support themselves, in a fashion that actually mirrors the patriarchal thinking of the then previous generation. The suffering their children experience adds even more to this aspect, although Kim actually presents a solution, by showing that things can change when the children take the fate in their own hands, essentially ignoring their parents. On a last comment, the impact US soldiers had in the everyday life of a number of people also becomes a focal point, even if a secondary one.

Apart from context and melodrama, however, Kim has also included some moments of humor, mostly revolving around the excellent Kim Seung-ho-I's Deok-sam and the "troubles" he gets in, with the pissing episode being one of the funniest moments in the whole film. His fight with Hwang Jung-soon, who plays Bok-soon's mother, is also rather memorable, and in general it is easy to say that the acting is on a very high level, with Kang-Shin Sung-il, Um Aing-ran, and particularly Shin Young-kyun, giving great performances.

Technically, and despite the mediocre quality of the film material, the movie is also on a very high level, with Yu Jae-won's editing in particular being of the highest level, with the succession of scenes being ideal, as is the case with the overall rather fast pace. Chun Jo-myong's cinematography captures the poorness, and the subsequent drama and despair that dominate the story's setting realistically, without any particular exaltations.

Also due to its sensible 94 minutes, "Bloodline" is a very easy to watch movie, which manages to present its comments eloquently, through an effort with very few faults.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"Bloodline" is directed by Kim Soo-yong, and features Kim Seung-ho-I, Hwang Jung-soon, Kang-Shin Sung-il, Um Aing-ran, Kim Ji-mee, Choi Nam-hyun. Release date in Korea: 1963/10/03.
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Vanuatu's counterpart, Tallis Obed Moses, on Saturday exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relations.

In his message, Xi said that since China and Vanuatu established diplomatic ties 40 years ago, bilateral relations have been tested by the changing international situation, political mutual trust between the two countries has been ever deepening, and bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields have yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to people of the two countries.

The two countries have helped each other and fought side by side against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has deepened their friendship, Xi said, adding that China-Vanuatu relations have become an example of mutual respect, solidarity and coordination between developing countries.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Vanuatu relations, saying that he is ready to work with Moses to take the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations as a new starting point to deepen and expand bilateral dialogue, exchanges and cooperation in various fields so as to push the China-Vanuatu comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level for the benefits of the two countries and their people. 
SOHR reported that Russian jets have executed nearly 10 airstrikes on ISIS hideouts, caves and bankers in Al-Rusafah desert, Al-Raqqah province. No casualties have been reported.

The Russian aerial bombardment comes after Russian fighter jets had halted their airstrikes in the desert for nearly 40 hours.

SOHR added that military reinforcements of Intelligence Branch of Damascus forces, setting off from Palmyra city towards Al-Sukhna city in Homs desert. The reinforcements comprised 11 SUVs, with heavy machine guns mounted on them, in addition to soldiers and ammunition.

This comes after failure of Damascus troops and its affiliated groups in combing of ISIS mercenary cells.

A.K

ANHA




We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here
Ecusta supporters dismayed that Cawthorn calls trail organization 'super communist'

U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn posed with Brevard City Manager Jim Fatland, Mayor Jimmy Harris and Councilman Mac Morrow in a photo taken by state Sen. Chuck Edwards after the congressman expressed support for the Ecusta Trail last July.

Supporters of the Ecusta Trail, which has broad bipartisan support in Henderson and Transylvania counties and has been touted as a transformational economic development engine, were dismayed to hear that U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn is calling a national trail advocacy organization "super communist."



The setting for Cawthorns remark was a Buncombe County Republican Mens Club meeting Tuesday night that included Cawthorn, state Sen. Chuck Edwards and two other challengers running for the 11th Congressional District seat.

Chad Nesbitt, a Republican activist from Asheville who broadcasts a conspiracy-oriented podcast, provoked the exchange.

Nesbitt asked, Why are you supporting a communist organization, the Ecusta rails to trails, and I refuted that it was a communist organization, Edwards said in an interview. I was looking at (Cawthorn) in the eye when he said, It is, it is. Its super communist. I was looking at him in the eye as he said those words.

I think it shows a misunderstanding of what is important to the people in his very own district. Maybe he doesnt spend enough time in his district to know.

After the Lightning published the story about the remark, Cawthorn's office said the congressman "criticized the organization 'Rails to Trails,' not the Ecusta Trail project."

"He is concerned at how private land has reportedly been confiscated from private citizens by this organization that is funded in part by the U.S. government," spokesman Luke Ball said in a statement referring to the nonprofit Rails to Trails Conservancy. "Congressman Cawthorn supports the construction of trails, parks, and bike paths. He does not, however, support the confiscation of private property for those projects."

Cawthorns remark shocked Edwards and three city of Brevard officials who traveled to Washington, D.C., last summer seeking support in Congress for a federal RAISE grant (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) to fund trail construction.

Mac Morrow, a Brevard City Council member who visited the Capitol along with Edwards, Brevard Mayor Jimmy Harris and City Manager Jim Fatland, recalled the meeting last July that included aides of Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr and Cawthorn himself.

He was extremely excited about supporting the Ecusta Trail at that point, Morrow said. He pledged support for political endorsement and even for financial  if he were to get earmarks in the fall, he would send it on our way.

Both Morrow and Edwards recalled that Cawthorn, who is confined to a wheelchair, said he looked forward to using the trail to train for a paraplegic competition.

He actually said make sure that we let him know when there would be the ribbon cutting so he could be there and celebrate it, Morrow said. He was just animated about it, you know, the way he is.

How can you trust somebody that tells you hes all in, that Brevard and Hendersonville are his two favorite places and connecting them with a trail was fantastic? he said. For him its just political theater. Its performance politics against a project thats going to be transformational for the region, so I dont know where hes going to go with that.

What gets me is hes got to know and realize this is a federal transportation system project and its funded by federal dollars and supported by state government. It has nothing to do with the communist party. But I really admire serious politicians like Sen. Edwards, whose being there with us strengthened the application by showing that it had state support. And just recently getting that $7 million (in a state appropriation) just confirms that we need that kind of support. Sen. Edwards is my hero these days.

Chris Burns, a founding leader of the Friends of Ecusta Trail and current board member, defended the federal rails to trails program.

Id find it interesting that Madison Cawthorn just called Ronald Reagan a communist, he said. Its a Ronald Reagan piece of legislation. As a matter of fact, if youre calling Ronald Reagan a communist I guess youre also calling the Henderson County commissioners, the Hendersonville City Council, the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, the city of Brevard, town of Laurel Park, the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority (communist). Weve got a list of over 30 businesses that support it because they understand its business development.

Burns said as word got around this week, Ecusta Trail supporters expressed outrage at the remarks.

To me this should absolutely enrage middle-of-the road Republicans, he said. This should enrage all voters. This rail-to-trail project has been one of the most bipartisan projects that Ive seen across these two counties in the last 15 years. It has been massively supported on both sides of the aisle.

Morrow, a Democrat serving in a non-partisan council seat, said he could not comprehend the political calculation in Cawthorn's remarks about a project that enjoys broad and passionate support across two counties.

The congressman's statement "certainly disrespects the many folks (who support the trail) and is a discourtesy to supporters like Sen. Edwards and it really dishonors all the many people who are working on this exciting project," he said.
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The net asset value of China's public offering funds amounted to 26.34 trillion yuan (4.13 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of February, data from the Asset Management Association of China showed.

As of the end of last month, a total of 9,491 public offering funds were operated by 138 fund management companies, according to the association, an industry body supervised by China's securities regulator.

In breakdown, the scale of closed-ended funds surpassed 3.09 trillion yuan, while that of open-ended funds stood at over 23.24 trillion yuan, the data showed. 
A volunteer rider helps carry relief supplies to the site of a recent plane crash in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

NANNING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- No components of either common inorganic or organic explosives were present at the crash site of a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane, an official told a press briefing Saturday.

A physics and chemistry laboratory of the public security authorities has tested 41 samples out of 66 from the crash site and found no major ion components of common inorganic explosives, said Zheng Xi, head of the fire brigade of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The testing also found no regular organic explosive components, he said.

Identities of 120 people on board were confirmed, including 114 passengers and six crew members, according to the press briefing.

Rescuers from the fire service have searched a combined area of over 240,000 sq meters since March 21, said Zheng.

In addition, four peripheral search groups, with the core crash site as the starting point, have searched an area of some 750 mu (50 hectares) along the flight route, Zheng added.

An emergency locator transmitter installed close to the second black box has been recovered, said Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

As of Saturday noon, no survivors nor the second black box had been found, Zhu added.

The plane carrying 132 people crashed on March 21 in Guangxi's Tengxian County. 
Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 25, 2022 shows the test launch of a new type intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17 of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) strategic forces. (Korean Central News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

A Chinese envoy said the direct parties to the peninsula issue, namely the United States and the DPRK, should re-engage in direct talks without delay.

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday called for restraint on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue after the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile was conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) the previous day.

"Under the current circumstances, we call on the parties concerned to stay calm, exercise restraint, stay on the right track of dialogue and consultation, and avoid taking any action that may exacerbate the tensions and lead to miscalculations," China's permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun told the Security Council meeting on the situation of the Korean Peninsula.

"As the peninsula's next door neighbor, China has been consistent in advocating and promoting the peninsula's peace and stability, its de-nuclearization, and the approach of seeking a solution through dialogue and consultation," Zhang said, adding that "we hope the United States and the DPRK will actively pursue dialogue and engagement in search of an effective solution to settle their differences."

Zhang said the direct parties to the peninsula issue, namely the United States and the DPRK, should re-engage in direct talks without delay.

"It is right and proper for the U.S. side to show its goodwill, take actions that have practical relevance, and work harder to stabilize the situation, build mutual trust, and relaunch dialogue," the envoy noted.

He underscored that given the evolving situation, the international community should stick to prudence and reason on the peninsula issue, and play a positive, constructive role in bringing about a political settlement of the peninsula issue.

Zhang Jun (C, front), China's permanent representative to the United Nations, makes his explanatory remarks after the vote on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie E)

"No parties should take any action that would lead to greater tensions, and the Peninsula cannot afford the risk of any dramatic change, much less a reversal of the situation with dire consequences," said Zhang, noting that "what needs to happen now, as a matter of urgency, is for the parties concerned to actively seek a political way out of the impasse on the basis of existing understandings in light of the latest developments."

"China calls on the parties to put the greater good of peace and stability on the peninsula first, speak and act with caution, pursue dialogue and consultation, take the dual-track approach guided by the principle of moving forward in phases with synchronized steps, and work tirelessly to denuclearize the Peninsula and to build a peace mechanism thereon," said the ambassador.

He pointed out that the DPRK's legitimate concerns must be addressed and both the United States and the DPRK must resume direct talks as soon as possible.

"It is imperative to interpret and implement the Security Council resolutions concerning the DPRK in a comprehensive manner. These resolutions should be implemented comprehensively, completely and accurately," the envoy said.

The photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Feb. 13, 2022 shows the groundbreaking ceremony of a new project of building 10,000 flats in Pyongyang, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). (KCNA via Xinhua)

"The fact that the peninsula issue is deadlocked is to some degree attributable to the absence of effective implementation of certain provisions therein. The parties concerned should take this issue seriously, and take practical actions rather than put one-sided emphasis on the sanctions provisions therein," he stressed.

Zhang underlined that the council should play a constructive role when it comes to the peninsula issue, adding that it should not stress the need for sanctions and pressurization to the exclusion of other considerations.

"It is in the common interest of all countries to safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. At this important juncture for the persistent and intractable nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, certain countries ignore the concerns of the international community and went ahead with their nuclear submarine cooperation, which poses a serious risk of nuclear proliferation," he said. 
An elderly man with a face mask, protective glasses and gloves walks on a street in Sofia, Bulgaria, Jan. 14, 2021. (Hristo Kasabov/BTA via Xinhua)

The emergency epidemic situation was initially declared in Bulgaria on May 14, 2020, for a period of one month, replacing the state of emergency announced on March 13. It has already been extended several times, most recently until the end of this March.



SOFIA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Bulgarian government on Saturday said it would not extend the COVID-19 emergency epidemic situation in the country beyond March 31.

The decision was made after the cabinet members discussed the topic in detail several times over the past month, the government said in a statement.

Bulgaria has been in an emergency epidemic situation for nearly two years, and at present the situation was being monitored and managed in a predictable manner, the statement said.

Therefore, a new extension of the restrictions for citizens and businesses was not necessary, it said.

A woman waits to cast her ballot in Sofia, Bulgaria, July 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

As of April 1, the temporary anti-epidemic measures in the country would be abolished, such as wearing a face mask and observance of physical distance, the statement said.

Next week, lawmakers would consider relevant solutions related to the adequate treatment of patients with COVID-19, and the ways for introduction of situational and regional measures in case of necessity, the statement added.

To date, 1,132,398 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,425 deaths have been registered in Bulgaria. Of these, 1,333 cases and 29 fatalities were reported by the health authorities in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients stood at 2,020 with 235 in intensive care units.

The emergency epidemic situation was initially declared in Bulgaria on May 14, 2020, for a period of one month, replacing the state of emergency announced on March 13. It has already been extended several times, most recently until the end of this March.

A doctor (L) receives an injection with a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec. 27, 2020. (Vladimir Shokov/BTA via Xinhua)
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With the worst of the pandemic fading from view and many businesses returning to normal, Houston business leaders are refocusing on efforts to attract new companies to the area and tout the city as a low-tax, business-friendly place.

On Thursday, the Greater Houston Partnership held the first in a four-part series called Why Houston, outlining their four-pronged plan to bring new and innovative businesses to southeast Texas.

The plan leans heavily on the Partnerships existing relationships with local business leaders, who theyve leaned on to pitch the city to companies who may be considering new headquarters or markets.

The plan also seeks to grow strong clusters across all sectors, with particular mind paid to renewable energy, life sciences, aerospace and digital technology, among others.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Startup coming to Houston's East End turns kombucha into fake leather

Ultimately, the partnership hopes to change perceptions of Houston that it says have deterred some businesses from establishing a local footprint, despite Texas being a low-tax, business-friendly state.

In Houston, we have a great story to tell, said Jim Fish, President and CEO of WM, the Houston-based trash-hauling company formerly known as Waste Management. But I think we need to be better storytellers.

Among the strengths of the local economy, Fish said, is its population growth, an advantage that continues to grow for the area as thousands of people and businesses leave states such as New York and California for Texas and Florida. A growing population not only provides workers for employers, but also creates other economic activity as people buy homes and cars, and all the goods and services that go with those major purchases.

This week brought some more good news on the population front.

On Thursday, the Census Bureau reported that Houstons population grew by nearly 10 percent over the last decade, hitting more than 2.3 million as of April 1, 2020.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston's average household income lags behind many other Texas cities, new census data reveals

Thats the second-fastest growth among all major metro regions, and put Houston ever-closer to eclipsing Chicago for the nations third-largest city. California and New York both continued to lose residents over the same period, and Fish said bringing those people to Houston should continue to be a focal point.

Houston has long been in competition with New York and California. Since 2020, four major companies moved headquarters from California to the Houston region. They include personal protective equipment manufacturer Maddox Defense, outdoor furniture maker SunHaven, Axiom Space, a private space exploration company, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the technology company.

Leaning on expertise

Meanwhile, local business leaders continue to push the region as tech-friendly, hoping to peel off some new companies in the way that Austin has been doing over the last decade. Theyve also made the transition to renewable energy a key part of Houstons long-term economic success by leaning on the expertise that already exists in southeast Texas energy sector.

Last month, Pittsburgh-based Archaea Energy, a renewable natural gas producer, announced they would move their headquarters to Houston.

Archaea describes itself as one of the largest renewable natural gas producers in the U.S, with 28 U.S. operating sites where it converts waste into renewal natural gas.

New York-based Bucha Bio, a materials company, also announced they would move to Houston, where theyll be the latest tenant of the East End Maker Hub, a consortium of small tech and manufacturing businesses on the citys east side.

robert.downen@chron.com
A 19-year-old Houston woman is facing a capital murder charge in connection to the deaths of two men who were fatally shot last year in northwest Houston, police say.

Authorities took Izabella Fatna Houida into custody Wednesday in relation to the June 17, 2021 incident that left 33-year-old Elia Penaloza and 37-year-old Buenaventura Miguel Tapia dead, according to a Houston police release.


ZANU-PFs Wednesday St Marys rally was a turning point in several ways. Of course, the most obvious marker were the numbers that attended, something even the blind could see and feel.

I cannot dwell on what is available to all; its no matter for the political inner eye.

Enter Mugabe Junior

Robert Mugabe (Jnr) made a dramatic appearance at that rally, to very warm reception from the Party of his late father and his family. He did not disappoint, reminding all who cared to listen that politically, Zanu-PF is all he has known from birth. Ordinarily, this is a banal remark to make, given whose son he is. But read against November 2017, and of course the aftermath, this was a profound statement of position, of endorsement. And our snappers did not disappoint; they showed Robert hugging the President, now his political father. They showed young Emmerson and young Robert, both true chips off the old ruling blokes, together. The message was clear: an alliance that transcends generations, adversity even. Those of us who see things from the inside are not surprised. So much has happened and, like water, has slipped under the bridge since the passing on of our founder President. Like I keep reminding all who care to listen, kune hushamwari hweropa, bonds sealed in blood.

Hukama hweropa

Robert is the late President Robert Gabriel Mugabes first living son, the elder one. He carries his fathers name and, God knows what else politically. Alongside Bona, he is the sober one, quite suave and of thoughtful temperament. Alongside the mother, former First Lady of Zimbabwe, Amai Grace Mugabe, he tended to his fathers inexorably failing health, right to the very end. He lived true to his mission as the elder son, and would have got his fathers last words. Amidst a turbulent relationship between the former First Lady and the new Zanu-PF, Robert retained his cool. As did Bona and his hubby who often frequented Munhumutapa long after the demise of our first President. Both called for calmness and reconnection, often forcing it through foreboding silence in a season of loud, intemperate acrimony. Not many knew or know of this subterranean knot that binds the two iconic families in Zimbabweans Struggle and turbulent post-independence politics. As if to solidify this inter-generationally, Robert (Jnr) and Emmerson (Jnr) are friends, have been for a long time.

A web of relations

It is inconceivable Robert (Jnr) would have made this unexpected and unprecedented journey to St Marys without the familys say-so, the widow of the late President especially. Whatever happened behind the scenes, the symbolism was loaded, both for the Mugabes and for Zanu-PF. Not to mention the Mnangagwas. Or, as I even daresay, for the Chiwengas who share the same totem with Amai Grace Mugabe. The ruling Partys Political Commissar is brother to Amai Mugabe. You couldnt have missed the significance.

A plebiscite which is foreign policy

Last week I said the by-elections we have today are both superfluous and yet significant. Superfluous by their spurious origins; significant by augury in relation to the watershed 2023 harmonised elections by which the quality of the Zanu-PF win will determine the fate of illegal sanctions that have been an albatross since 1998. I vehemently maintain that the 2023 elections, while playing out domestically, bear down heavily on ZANU-PF and Zimbabwes desire to engage and re-engage the world. That plebiscite is a foreign policy; should and will be fought and won as such.

So many haggard, shattered faces

Robert (Jnr) chose his moment carefully, and the intended message rammed home like Putins hypersonic missile. The resultant rabble still reveals many haggard and shattered faces, foremost that of Nelson Chamisa who now stands denied of any opportunities for pilfering liberation wartime human symbolism for use in todays by-elections, and again for use later in the 2023 Harmonised Elections. Jesu akati, Zvapera! Its finished and Chamisa has to look elsewhere for electoral symbolic capital. I hope he reads, listens, and that if he does both, he comprehends and has a creative team to evolve new strategies that redeem him, now and in future. His record so far makes this a forlorn hope though. He is surrounded by sharp lawyers who are politically daft, and by parasitic academics who know no ABC of basic politics, their loudness notwithstanding. And he knows it, which is why he has chosen to outsource advice, and to pursue the path of schizophrenia: appearing to battle Zanu-PF electorally, while courting the same through a multitude of emissaries, in the hope of post by-electoral and pre-2023 election accommodation that would suspend harmonised elections. Both cant. Some day names of his go-betweens will be revealed, to great shock of several Western embassies here. About that, let little be said for now.

The she-goat with a dry udder

Saviour Kasukuwere, too, has his haggard face in shards. Wedded to, and milking the late Presidents dunzvi (she-goat)  one Patrick Zhuwawo  and milking it to dryness, he cannot do that anymore. Patrick is only a nephew, a bad one too; Robert is the son, the cool one at that. Patricks udder is shrunk, its teats broken and dry. And much stress already shows in Kasukuweres camp, which was already in disarray anyway. South Africa no longer provides succour, beyond remaining a place of refuge. Tellingly, both Professor Jonathan Moyo and Walter Mzembi have turned elsewhere towards Chamisa, the former, paring down his association with Kasukuwere to perfunctory contacts.

Reckless Walter

Walter Mzembi remains connected to Kasukuwere, principally at human and financial levels. Politically he has gone elsewhere, even with astounding, impolitic recklessness inspired by panic. Ahead of todays by-election, he cheered and mobilised for Chamisas Masvingo rally, and did so overtly, but impotently. Alongside Dzikamai Mavhaire, another in his league. But the net never forgets, or even forgive. Whatever he saw from afar, those of us in situ do not see it. Let the by-election result chastise him suitably, hopefully teaching him to walk the political terrain more gingerly, and with a dignified step.

Harnessing the Mugabe legacy

The Second Republics attitude and handling of the Mugabes was always bound to levy fairly significant political repercussions for Zanu-PF. Right down to communities, should a perception have been allowed suggesting the Mugabes were being handled vindictively, vengefully. There is no denying the late Robert Mugabe was a deep, grassroots politician and a long-time leader. His legacy cannot be evanescent; it lingers on, well beyond his grave. President Mnangagwa has handled this legacy issue with utmost sensitivity, and largeness of heart, which is why Robert (Jnr) materialised in St Marys which the rumbustious Job Sikhala pretended was a no-go constituency for Zanu-PF.

Taking the war to the enemy

In St Marys it was that Sikhala met his American embassy friends, a few years back, boosting Zanu-PFs propaganda chest. In St Marys, President ED chose to make a forthright statement about his capacity and determination to break the jinx of low urban support for him and Zanu-PF. The message hit home. Today Sikhala, alongside his American Embassy wardens, watch in horror as President ED and ZANU-PF collected mammoth multitudes so close to the by-election. The multitudes mobilised by CCC for Zanu-PF, thanks to CCCs abysmal and rotten show as governor of municipal councils. President ED chose to use St Marys as the best setting for his urban electoral comeback, and for the Mugabes message of support to him and Zanu-PF, ahead of the impending by-election and, in fullness of time towards his bid for re-election. St Marys is thus a microcosm of things to come electorally.

The future is urban

St Marys was significant in more profound, concrete ways. Going forward, the present century and all centuries to come, are inexorably urban centuries. The world, Zimbabwe included, hurtles headlong towards its urban futures. The pastoral, the rustic, is dead. The noble savage, that personality of pristine countryside innocence, is long dead. His vote wont count for much, going forward. Rural Chiredzi makes way for urban Chitungwiza; Harava for Harare, both demographically and politically. There is no third way to this overbearing drift towards global urbanisation. What may vary is the pace and degree of verticalisation and densification of towns and cities in their inexorable swell to mega-ness. As they do, they continue to attract and agglomerate huge mass of humans, much like moths to a naked flame.

Go the City, my dear Zanu-PF

Which means what? Simply that ZANU-PF must learn to politically minister to a totally new persona electorally. The future of politics, here as elsewhere in the wider world, is the city, and with it, the young urban man/woman. I tried to get this point appreciated by ZANU-PF leaders during the First Republic. I wasnt very successful as the leadership then clung to a false 60/40 rural-urban spatial settlement statistic. That amounted to wilful denialism. Even then as MDC rose and grew tremendously in urban areas, grabbing the urban, but with no plan thankfully. As Zanu-PFs urban support shrank, MDCs protest support swelled exceedingly, but helpfully without growing its politics.

Repurposing Zanu-PF

Soon after November 2017, I picked up the same sermon, advising the new leadership the late Robert Mugabe had wrung dry the aura of Liberation Struggle, rendering it virtually negatory as a galvanising theme or governing myth, post-November 2017. The new leaders, I opined, have to reinvent Zanu-PF, principally its message, its vision, its demographic focus. The ruling party badly needed repurposing, lest like Zambias UNIP, it would soon wither and die. Happily that happened, which is why the Second Republic now has a message second to none comparatively. And why Chamisa is in such a mess politically. But the message still needs refining, targeting, before the urban voter is won once more and returns to Zanu-PF, his original political home.

Forcing house of history

ZANU-PF must learn to govern from cities, with the youths and in a digital age. As we say in development studies, towns and cities are humankinds laboratories, the forcing houses of history, to quote from Ben Wilsons Metropolis: A history of the City, Humankinds Greatest Invention. Rural Zimbabwe and its loyal denizens, is quickly dying, vanishing physically and electorally. Whether in Nzvimbo or at Murambinda, rural Zimbabwe is retreating before emerging, virile nodes of nascent metropolises. And with that is emerging new political sensibilities, attitudes and outlooks. Alongside digital technologies, towns and cities connect diverse, teeming humanity through a countless myriad of networks. The young dominate, themselves a very volatile constituency.

Fickle urban voter is the future

Cities know no taboos, no static moralities, no permanent, staying loyalties that governed the noble savage in his pastoral idyllic. Cities are havens of change and iconoclasm, of strong anti-establishment feelings and sentiments. The human type inhabiting them is fickle and capricious, so wont to changing thinking, sides, friends and allies, as behoves chances, opportunities and sheer expediency. The age of set principles and of set outlooks is dead and gone; the time of expediency, opportunism is come, meaning there are no permanent friends or bedmates. No loyal, stable constituencies. Only shifting alliances. As with urban sexual mores, political fornication thrives in the urban man/woman. Dalliances are forged on dimly lit dance floors; the dance style is all quick step. As darkness gathers, heads lose sobriety, and judgments get blurred, fornication in pursuit of chance, economic gain and sheer survival abide. This is the new normal, more far-reaching than nappies pasted across our faces by Covid-19.

Harnessing DIY towns and cities

And to the name, to the place, to the country, to the continent, to our whole globe, towns and cities are runaway formations. In their rise and growth, they outpace law and order, plan and purpose. Most towns and cities have their beginnings in DIYs, do-it-yourself we fondly call informal settlements. These are overpopulated by lumpens, who are the new voter. Think of Epworth and Harare South as metaphors of the city as a DIY! How you engage or repurpose the DIY town and/or city could very well deliver or deny, add or abridge political tenure. The noble savage hunts for the stomach; the DIY town and city fabricates, cuts corners and feeds from shelves with price tags. The noble savage thinks about the catch, the crop; the lumpens worry about the job, the title deed, efficient amenities.

Changing Milieu for Political Organisation

There are many social texts which help one read this new age, with its vertiginous shifts for humankind and political organisations. One negative way is to look at latest generation in human weaponry, in human destructive power. Warfare is fought through missiles delivered from extra-territorial platforms, to raze tall buildings to the ground. We see it today in Ukraine. Human weaponry responds to human settlement patterns; its that simple. A more positive way is to look at how man avails and stores daily food supplies. Zimbabwe is going through an unprecedented expansion phase of marts, wholesales and mega shopping centres, all of them decentralising to small towns and even villages. As I write, Chivhu, previously Enkeldoorn, is now a town. As you approach it from the capital, a new mart has just sprouted in the middle of nowhere. You never put up such huge structures to service small human settlements. Or to the pastoral man who hunts and grows what he eats. You do so in anticipation of a waged society, a human mass divorced from the pastoral, from land and agriculture. Enter the urban man, and Zanu-PF beware!

When winners are unfit to rule

Let me leave the academia and get back to easy-to-grasp political matter, simplified even for the reading of fools. And contentious too, forthright enough to raise your bile! Who cares? Columnists dont write to please; to be agreeable. Only to ventilate truth, however painful, odious. Zanu-PF is very lucky, maybe because it carries the will and mission of our ancestors. Its gift has always been some foolish, unthinking opposition, one after another in seeming, endless succession. When Tsvangirais MDC grabbed all towns and cities, the MDC showed its incapacity to bear the burden of governing. That damned it, which is why I said while its urban support swelled, its politics dwindled. Protest urban vote favoured the opposition; realities of municipal governance severely questioned its fitness to rule. That is the story from all our opposition-controlled municipalities.

Zanu-PF finds idiom for CCC-created favelas

As I write, today the loser from the old protest urban vote could very well emerge the winner. Zanu-PF is beginning to re-invent and repurpose itself as a party for the metropolis, but retaining its deep rural roots. The transformation continues, the pace gathers. CCC proves an alliance of the proletariat and impulsive students ironically benefits Zanu-PF against whom it is intended. The alliance forces the ruling Zanu-PF to introspect and reform, often with a little bit of assistance from the very alliance meant to rival and wrestle power from it. That is why MDC  now CCC  supported November 17, creating something that now bites them well away from State House they aspire to occupy. St Marys strongly suggests ZANU-PF now has an idiom for the urban voter. It now can speak and address him in his milieu, in his harsh social conditions created by failing CCC-municipalities. The boreholes which President ED launched in St Marys; the massive roads repaired and rehabilitated under an emergency urban renewal programme, while small and symbolic, gave a peek into Zanu-PFs politics repurposed for denizens of favelas, barrios or townships which the opposition spawned in its twenty-year long reign. And St Marys loved it. Sunday Mail
Scott Engle

Police arrested a teenager in Montgomery County early Saturday after she crashed a car that she and her friends were joy riding in and one of the passengers was killed, authorities said.

Montgomery County Justice of Peace Wayne Mack said the 17-year-old driver and two friends were in a Toyota Corolla "doing doughnuts" and racing in the parking lot of a food mart on FM 1097 and South Woodson Street in Willis around 4:45 a.m. The car struck a wire supporting a utility pole and flipped.
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Federal authorities brought a Galveston County man into custody Thursday in connection to his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to FBI Houston in a tweet on Friday.

The FBI started to investigate a tip on Jan. 13, 2021 related to John Lammons stating in a WhatsApp chat group that he was in the Capital building in D.C. on January 6, 2021, according to a criminal complaint document.

Lammons is the latest Texan to be be taken into custody in connection with the insurrection. As of January of this year, over 60 Texans had been charged in connection to the U.S. Capitol riot, the Chronicle reported.

There were screenshots included with the tip, which showed messages and video files  one of which showed the floor and legs of unidentified subjects, and another that showed his face and an American flag in the background  sent by a user with the contact name of John Lammons, per the criminal complaint.

We honestly wanted to just get inside and see what they were saying after we left some idiots came in and did some stupid things but the first group was totally professional, one of the messages from Lammons said, per the criminal complaint.

When asked in the chat whether hed gotten arrested, the Lammons account responded No bro talked my way out, followed by a peace sign emoji and another message that said, Kept others from getting beat up and going to, according to a screenshot in the complaint.

An FBI task force officer searched for his phone number on Google and found the webpage of a Galveston business  Anaconda Jiu-Jitsu  that included a photo of Lammons and indicated he started the martial arts training center, per the complaint.

In an interview with FBI authorities at the business in January 2021, Lammons described what he experienced going to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and entering the building, according to the criminal complaint.

He also showed authorities videos, including one that showed him approaching the building and another that shows him holding up two fingers giving the peace sign by a statue inside of the building.

One of the videos captured Lammons at the front of a crowd at an interior Capitol door that was being blocked by Capitol police officers, where he told a shouting crowd [h]old your ground, per the criminal complaint.

U.S. Capitol security camera footage also showed Lammons inside the building, according to the complaint.

Lammons lawyer, Amr Ahmed, didnt have any comment regarding the case or the allegations against Lammons Friday when reached by email.
Metro Video Services

A man at an upscale Galleria-area hotel was hospitalized early Saturday after he accidentally shot himself in the testicles, police said.

Police and paramedics responded to the shooting at the St. Regis Houston hotel around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Police said the man was either unpacking a gun or pulling it from his pants when it went off.
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IN a suspected case of a vengeful spirit, two sisters from the same family are being tormented by the spirit of a boyfriend, who died 24 yea...
Update: Knife-Wielding Man Shot by Pittsfield Police Identified

Update at 5:16 p.m. with more information and the victim's identity.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Police officers say they shot and killed a knife wielding man who charged at officers after nonlethal attempts were made to incapacitate him.

The victim has been identified as 22-year-old Miguel Estrella. The Berkshire State Police Detective Unit is conducting a criminal investigation into Estrella's death pursuant to standard protocols in officer-involved shootings.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy on Sunday. The State Police Detective Unit is conducting a comprehensive and ongoing investigation with the support of Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services and Massachusetts State Police Firearms Identification Section.

On Friday, March 25, 2022, at approximately 9:46 p.m., Pittsfield Police Department officers were dispatched to the 279 Onota St. for an initial report that a man had cut himself and was outside of his residence.

According to information from the District Attorney's Office, there had been multiple 911 calls requesting assistance. Callers alerted dispatch that Estrella had a history of mental illness, was cutting himself and was currently located outside of the apartment building. County Ambulance was also dispatched and responded to the scene and offered emergency medical services and transport to the hospital which Estrella declined.

Initial responding officers located Estrella with an apparent self-inflicted laceration to his face and had requested County Ambulance. At approximately 10:06 p.m., he refused medical attention and was left in the care of his girlfriend, who agreed to remain with him for the night.

Shortly after officers and emergency medical personnel departed, a third 911 call came in requesting that officers return due to Estrella "acting crazy again," according to the caller who also stated that "he needs to be taken to the hospital." Pittsfield Police and County Ambulance were again dispatched to 279 Onota at approximately 10:10 p.m. Two Pittsfield Police officers arrived ahead of County Ambulance and encountered Estrella near the entrance of the apartment building at 279 Onota. According to the DA's Office, an eyewitness account confirmed that Estrella had a knife in his hands when police were there.

The initial responding units requested additional units and equipment. When the armed subject advanced on the officers, officers attempted two TASER deployments on the armed subject. When neither TASER deployment was successful in incapacitating the man, one officer fired their duty sidearm, striking the subject twice and stopping his advance, according to police.

The name of the officer who fired the fatal shots has not yet been released. The Pittsfield Police Department placed both of the responding officers on administrative leave pending the preliminary report of the department's internal Force Investigation Team pursuant to the order of Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn and Pittsfield Police Department policies.

The initial responding officers immediately attempted to render lifesaving aid and County Ambulance took Estrella to Berkshire Medical Center where he subsequently died. Additional Pittsfield Police Department Patrol Units and Investigative Units, as well as Massachusetts State Police Units responded to contain the scene.

While taking control of the scene, the Pittsfield Police Department requested assistance from the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Berkshire District Attorneys Office. At approximately 11:20 p.m., the Pittsfield Police Department was notified by Berkshire Medical Center that the man had succumbed to his injuries and was deceased.

"I send my deep condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Estrella for their loss. The State Police Detective Unit is conducting a thorough investigation to determine exactly what happened that led to this tragic death," District Attorney Andrea Harrington said.

The Berkshire District Attorney's Office has taken over jurisdiction the case. It is under investigation by the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit, the Pittsfield Police Department, Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, and Massachusetts State Police Ballistics Section, with assistance by the Berkshire Law Enforcement Task Force.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the State Police Detective Unit at 413-499-1112.
Chinese ambassador calls for deeper U.S.-China cooperation in agriculture

Xinhua) 13:53, March 26, 2022

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- As a highlight of China-U.S. pragmatic cooperation, agricultural cooperation is well-grounded and highly-complementary between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has said.

"Since the (China-U.S.) phase-one trade deal was signed in 2020, China has been faithfully fulfilling the agricultural procurement commitment," Qin said as he delivered remarks to the opening of the China-U.S. Agricultural Roundtable on Tuesday. He was referring to a trade agreement signed between the two countries during the Donald Trump administration.

"As a result, our agricultural trade registered a quick comeback from the pandemic and trade frictions, and rose to 46.54 billion (U.S.) dollars in 2021, with China's imports reaching 39.02 billion dollars, up by 64.2 percent year-on-year," said the ambassador.

Noting that the United States now sells more agricultural goods to China than to any other country or region in the world, Qin said the sound trade relationship has enabled each U.S. farmers to export "more than 11,000 dollars of agricultural products to China on average" last year, a record-breaking achievement for the U.S. agricultural industry.

"Agriculture is an important part of the friendly cooperation between China and the United States. As our agricultural production increasingly face the restraints from population, resources and the environment, and COVID-19 and climate change poses new challenges to global food security, deeper agricultural cooperation will not only benefit both countries' agriculture and people, but also carry strong significance to global food security and agricultural development," the ambassador said.

Qin called on the participants of the roundtable to "take today's opportunity to share ideas on the innovative development and win-win cooperation of agriculture, so as to find new opportunities and inject new impetus to the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations."

Co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the U.S. Heartland China Association (USHCA), the event features three virtual dialogues convened for enterprises, educational institutions and think tanks, respectively.

Founded in 2003, the USHCA is committed to building stronger ties between China and 20 U.S. states that stretch from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
There's no doubt about it: Americans hate turning their clocks forward in spring and backward in fall. In fact, the U.S. Senate, usually a very contentious body, voted unanimously to keep our clocks set to daylight saving time forever. Even so, I'm pretty certain that "spring forward, fall back" will be with us for many years to come, and we should all learn to make the best of it.

In a YouGov poll of 1,500 Americans, 63 percent of respondents said they wanted to stop changing the clock twice a year. Only 16 percent wanted to keep doing it, with 21 percent undecided. Those numbers are right in line with my own informal poll of the more than 500 Inc.com readers who get a daily text from me with a motivational micro-challenge or self-care tip. Most said they hated changing the time back and forth. A few who had moved to Arizona (where there is no daylight saving time) said they loved no longer having the time change. Several quoted studies show that the time changes at the start and end of daylight saving time seem to cause an increase in both car accidents and strokes.

But when it came to the question of which time should be permanent--standard time or daylight saving--the answer wasn't so clear. A little more than half wanted permanent daylight saving, saying how important it was for themselves and others to have some daylight time after work, and that it would likely benefit the economy as well.

Many others, especially those with children, didn't like daylight saving time at all. Parents of school-aged children told me that daylight saving time was tough on their kids. It was difficult to get the kids up for school in the morning when it was dark, and equally difficult to get them into bed at a reasonable hour when it stayed light so late. One noted that in some parts of the country, permanent daylight saving time would put sunrise after 9 a.m. during the shortest days of winter. That would mean children heading to school in the dark, which could create a safety issue.

Some also noted that, if you follow the science, you should prefer making standard time permanent because it more closely matches our own circadian rhythms, which is generally healthier. That may be especially important for teenagers, who already struggle with getting up in the morning for biological reasons, and who are already facing a nationwide sleep deprivation crisis.

We tried this once before

So that's the conundrum. A permanent change to standard time would be healthier for everyone, especially children and teens, but most people prefer a switch to permanent daylight saving time. Or at least, they think they prefer it. They may be mistaken, though, because it was tried once before. In 1973, Congress passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, and President Richard Nixon signed it. At the time, 79 percent of Americans supported the change. That support faded as children started going to school in the dark, some of them carrying flashlights. A 6-year-old girl in Alexandria, Virginia, was hit by a car in the predawn darkness, breaking her leg. By the time the law was repealed 10 months later, only 42 percent of the public still wanted it.

Many members of Congress are old enough to remember these events, and most know that doing away with the twice-a-year time change is more complicated than it first appears. That may be why House leaders both voiced their support for the popular idea of permanent daylight saving time and declined to say when or whether they would actually vote on it. My guess is that permanent daylight saving time will either fade away for lack of a vote or, if it does pass, will be repealed sometime later just as it was in the 1970s.

If I'm right that we'll be stuck springing forward and falling back for the foreseeable future, it's probably smart to plan for the twice-a-year change so you can lessen its effects.

1. Make sure you get plenty of sleep.

Lack of sleep and disorientation is what drives the negative effects of changing the time. So while it's always important to try to get eight hours of sleep at least every night, it's especially important in the days leading up to the time change. Make sleep a priority for those few days even if you can't do it the rest of the year.

2. Use routines to reset your internal clock.

At Inc.com, we write a lot about how regular daily routines can benefit your mood, productivity, and even brain function. Here's one more reason to love a well-crafted routine: It can help you adapt to daylight saving time and also get over jet lag faster. That's because if, say, you drink a cup of tea and spend five minutes meditating at precisely 7 a.m. every day, whenever you drink that tea and sit down for that meditation, you are telling your unconscious mind that it is now 7 a.m.

3. Create a humane schedule for yourself and your employees.
Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu danced with Border Police families in Noida while attending a programme organised by Himveer Wives Welfare Association.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel in Noida hosted Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu for a special programme on women empowerment on Thursday. Sandhu returned to India earlier this week for the first time since winning the crown, and attended the special programme organised by Himveer Wives Welfare Association (HWWA) under the aegis of ITBP's 39th Battalion in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Instagram

During the programme, Sandhu praised ITBP personnel for their hard work and dedicated service to the country, and joined police families and children in a group dance performance.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police shared a video of Sandhu breaking a leg with their family members on Instagram with the caption, "Miss Universe 2021 Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu joining Himveer families and children in a group performance during a special programme organized on Women Empowerment & HWWA Raising Day at 39th Battalion ITBP Greater Noida."

According to ANI, Sandhu spoke about the challenging conditions under which ITBP guards the snowy border of India. She also shared her views on the progress and efforts being made towards women empowerment in the country.

Sandhu is only the third Indian to win the Miss Universe title, after Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000. The 22-year-old winner is from Chandigarh, and began her beauty pageant journey when she won Times Fresh Face in 2017.



Instagram

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Property builders are known to offer obscene amounts of money to people for selling their homes in order to build commercial or residential places. However, this Australian family refused to give in to the demands of the builders and did not give up their beloved property.

According to reports, the two-hectare stretch of land at the Ponds sticks out like a sore thumb after rows of hundreds of houses sitting side-by-side sprang up around the block in recent years.

7News

A local real estate agent has offered praises to the Zammit family for sticking to their decision for refusing the big cheque.

"The fact that most people sold out years and years ago, these guys have held on. All credit to them," Ray White Quakers Hill agent Taylor Bredin told 7News. He added that up to 50 houses could probably be built on the land.

"Depending on how far you push the development plan, you'd be able to push anywhere from 40 to 50 properties on something like this, and when subdivided, a 300 square metre block would get a million dollars," he said.

7News

The property has a lawn and a huge 200-metre driveway leading up to the brick home with a triple garage. The property also has a huge shed and is about a 40-minute drive from Sydney's CBD with views of the scenic Blue Mountains.

The neighbours reportedly don't want the owners to sell as they like living in a cul-de-sac.



7News

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As a wise cloud architect once said, Ive got 99 problems and the cloud aint one (props to Jay-Z). The cloud made running applications and services on a massive scale much easier. Yet cloud computing brings its own problems.

For one, back in the on-prem days, some runaway code would cause merely performance degradation or an outage. Now AWS will turn out your pockets, pick you up, flip you upside down, and shake you until every last dime is gonethe bill for your bug.

Meanwhile, it is all too easy to use Amazon Kinesis or Azure Cosmos DB or Google Cloud Bigtable, but any one of them is a Hotel California where you can check out any time but you can never leave. While the pricing of raw infrastructure services has decreased over time, cloud provider pricing in general has been more stable (and incomprehensible).

And, good gosh, among all that complexity and a bunch of instances you are supposed to keep things stable and secure? And why is my Kubernetes config so dang long?

I could go on. Instead, I asked the people responsible for running some of the Internets most critical cloud-based services what problems they have faced, and how they solve or mitigate them.

Cost management

Remember when people thought AWS was cheap? When you actually have hardware that sits on-premises, you use it. Its yours. You paid for it. You pay for electricity, but then you use it as much as you want, Marc Sanfacon, senior vice president of technology and co-founder of Coveo, told me.

But when you have a company like ours with more than 200 developers, Sanfacon continued, there are some policies in the company where they have to ask for authorization to buy a new phone, or a desk, or a chair. But they can actually turn around and go into our AWS console and spin up a new machine that will cost the company 25 bucks an hour, and they leave that running for a month. At the end of the month, youre like, oh my god, thats a lot of money.

Now Coveo turns off clusters or instances when no one is working, for example, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and on the weekends. However, they have to make allowances for that developer who wakes up with inspiration at 2 a.m. and starts working on it.

Coveo already has someone working 75% of their day on cloud cost optimization. However, Sanfacon notes a fledgling field of FinOps companies whose products help manage and optimize costs. Sanfacon mentioned Cloudability and CloudHealth as examples of tools you can use to control cloud spending.

Maintaining independence from cloud-specific services

Sanfacon shared another cloud problem that Coveo has grappled with: Keeping Coveos services functioning when Amazons services fail.

Just before black Friday, AWS had two major incidents with Kinesis, which is one of the services that [Coveo is] using, but also one of the services that is the backbone of a lot of other services within AWS, Sanfacon noted. This outage didnt affect Coveos main services but did affect their ability to onboard new organizations and record some types of events. Coveo is a search company, and the weeks around Black Friday are go time for many e-commerce customers.

Sanfacon considered hosting Coveos own streaming service, but as troubling as the Amazon Kinesis outage was, he questioned whether Coveo could cost-effectively run a better messaging service with more uptime than AWS. Even if Coveo could, would that be an effective use of resources?

Another consideration: While there are many benefits to just consuming a service from a cloud service provider, it means they cannot just move to another provider like Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure, Sanfacon noted.

A possible solution that cuts the difference is to use the managed Kafka from AWS. Then Coveo could just move over to Azures managed Kafka or Confluents managed Kafka on Google Cloud if there is a problem.

There is indeed a cost to cloud independence, as running Amazon Kinesis is cheaper than running Amazons managed Kafka. Still, there are also benefitsespecially when something goes down before Black Friday, during a pandemic, and you are the search backbone for many e-commerce sites.

Saravana Krishnamurthy, the vice president of SkySQL product management at MariaDB, likewise recommended against relying on anything cloud-specific. If you have a REST API built into your solution or any other API, ensure all communication is through those APIs that are cloud-independent, Krishnamurthy said. So that way, when you move from Amazon to Google or Azure, you actually have a better way of moving your applications and data.

Cloud provider differences for multicloud

Jim Walker, vice president of product marketing at Cockroach Labs, noted the challenges posed by the cloud providers all doing things a little differently. Cockroach Labs built out its CockroachCloud database service on both AWS and Google Cloud and learned a lot about those differences.

They are basically completely different and create significant work for us to get the experience right in each, Walker said. Containers and Kubernetes have definitely helped us simplify some of the complexity, but we still needed to think about the two platforms very differently. He offered some details:

For instance, the Kubernetes managed service is very different in each cloud, and networking complexities are totally different. The way we work with load balancers across each is not the same. Further, one allows us to customize and set IOPS and the other doesnt. When we deliver a feature like VPC [Virtual Private Cloud] peering for our customers, the approach within each (AWS PrivateLink vs. vanilla) is also completely different. The cloud providers are of huge value, but we do have a lot to do with each.

Cloud security

MariaDBs Krishnamurthy also underscored the importance of network security in the cloud. We dont want one customers traffic to interfere with another customer, Krishnamurthy said. So when a customer requires a Virtual Private Cloud, where they want to isolate the traffic from the public network and from other customers, we provide the VPC as a way to isolate them.

However, this can be complicated when someone has standardized on, say, Active Directory and authenticates between VPCs. That can require some arduous configuration and mapping policies to roles between systems.

Complexity, configuration, and compliance

Configuring even a few servers and keeping them consistent is a challenge. Devops promised to simplify our operations and deployment issues, but configurations drift. Further, it is hard to see who changed the configuration when it exists in a series of scripts and applies to potentially hundreds of servers. For some industries, especially financial services, this lack of an audit trail is a real problem for compliance purposes.

A new set of technologies and methodology called GitOps provides a solution. As the name implies, GitOps combines the versioning tool Git with devops. However, GitOps is more than that. It also makes configuration declarative while measuring drift. Moreover, Git maintains an audit trail. So who turned security off? You can answer that question by looking at the repo.

To quote a notorious cloud architect, Mo servers mo problems. Still, you can stay cost-effective with FinOps, fight complexity with GitOps, prevent your software from succumbing to a single-vendor outage by keeping it multicloud, and maintain your systems security and privacy by isolating your services in your own VPC.

Gone are the days of feeling special because you use CVS to check in your Unix config filesand every Unix administrator who did that felt special. In this cloudy world, we have mo servers mo problems but also better tools.
More than 200 young people from across Ireland will debate the theme of equality at the 20th Dail na nOg this Saturday.

Comhairle na nOg youth council delegates, aged 12-18, will explore equality for young people through debates on issues such as mental health, climate change, body image, drugs and alcohol, youth facilities and LGBTIQ+.

Comhairle na nOg are child and youth councils in the 31 local authority areas of the country, which give children and young people a voice in the development of local services and policies.

The young delegates will vote on three areas of equality on the day, with the aim of influencing policy at Government level to advance the areas of equality they see as important.

In 2019, a Dail na nOg debate and vote on sustainable transport solutions saw reduced fares for young people successfully introduced by Government in Budget 2021 as well as the Governments Climate Action Plan.

Panel discussion

This years event will also include a panel discussion on equality with Cllr Yemi Adenuga, Irelands first black female elected representative, RTE Radio DJ and LGBTQI+ advocate Stephen Byrne, Childrens Rights Alliance CEO Tanya Ward, and Aoife Price, disability advocate with Disability Women Ireland.

Speaking ahead of the event, Taoiseach Michael Martin commended the young people taking part.

I commend the young people taking part in Dail na nOg and indeed for their participation throughout the year in Comhairle na nOg meetings. Their opinion matters and we as a Government will continue to listen to their thoughts and concerns as we strive for a diverse and inclusive society for all, he said.

Dail na nOg was first established in 2001 as an initiative of the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Minister for the Department, Roderic OGorman said that Dail na nOg has been a platform for change for over 20 years.

This years theme of equality reflects the values I see across our younger people every day, and I look forward to hearing from their perspective the ways in which we can all play a part in ensuring equality of opportunity is available to everyone.

Prachi Agrawal, a participant from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Comhairle na nOg said she is excited for people and the Government to hear what young people have to say about equality in Ireland.

My fellow Comhairle na nOg members and I have been working hard in recent months to better understand what the challenge is for equality and today gives us a chance to show what weve learned to people like the Minister and to the Government. I want to make sure the voices of young people are heard so that equality is a reality for everyone across the country, she said.
An Irish man who served with the Ukrainian military has stressed the importance of taking in refugees, having seen first-hand the devastation caused by Russia.

Ivan Farina, 51, said he was wrongly declared dead by the Russians after a series of missiles struck the Ukrainian base where he was located.

Now back home in Kildare, after travelling to Ukraine at the start of March, Mr Farina said that young recruits wept as they passed by the endless lines of refugees fleeing the country.

There were women and children as far as you could see, lines that were miles long, he said.

Just a mural of misery, with people carrying whatever they could fit into a bag, on their backs. It really is a catastrophe.

I would invite anyone to take a look around them, at all they own, and all theyve built in their lives. Then imagine it all gone.

"That is what these people are facing. So they would appreciate the Irish welcoming them, giving them a hand, a roof over their heads.

Following the Russian attack on the Ukrainian base, Mr Farina said his daughter believed him to be dead.

This was due in part to a communications blackout on the base and Russian propaganda that wrongly claimed that the foreign legion unit had been wiped out.

The Russians had already said that foreigners would not be given the rights of the Geneva Convention, so we knew they were out to get us, Mr Farina said.

But they specifically targeted us that night and they believed they killed us all.

Mr Farina, who injured his leg in the aftermath of the attack, made the decision to travel back to Ireland.

I had to talk to my family but I couldnt do that without getting off base and I couldnt do that without revoking my contract. So I did, he explained.

The Ukrainians were very understanding. They were very decent.

Mr Farina said he met around 20 Irish men who were also serving in the foreign legion unit.

He warned those considering going over, who do not have experience, that they would not be taken in as the foreign legion was only recruiting those with previous military training.
Gardai have resumed questioning a 42-year-old man arrested in connection with the murder of a 27-year-old man in Carrigaline, Co Cork over the weekend.

The victim, named locally as Shane Murphy, 27, died at the scene of the attack at his family home in Carrigaline. His father, Patrick, 75, known locally as Weeshie, suffered serious stab wounds and remains in hospital.

It is believed the suspect, who is in his 40s, and who is being quizzed by detectives, was known to both men, who are both very well-known and highly respected in pitch and putt circles across the country.

Shane was ranked in the top 10 of Irelands pitch and putt players, having won several local, regional and national titles at various levels over the years. He recently won two senior titles in match play and stroke play. His father had also won numerous titles over the years and was also involved in the administration of the game in Cork.

Noel Collins, chairman of the Cork County Board of Pitch and Putt Ireland, knew both men well.

Pitch and putt was their life, he said.

I was in charge of the juvenile teams when Shane won an under 16 title. He was a super guy and a super player.

We saw his talent at juvenile level but he carried that right through to senior level and whats happened is just unbelievable. Were all just totally shocked.

The victim, named locally as Shane Murphy, 27, died at the scene of the attack at his family home in Carrigaline. His father, Patrick, 75, known locally as Weeshie, suffered serious stab wounds and remains in hospital

All Cork County Board pitch and putt events which were scheduled this weekend, including all Cork league semi finals, have been cancelled as their wide circle of friends tried to come to terms with the shocking double stabbing.

The alarm was raised at around 3.30am on Saturday when gardai were called to the scene of a serious assault in the established housing estate where they found a 27-year-old man with serious apparent stab wounds.

Gardai and emergency services both tried to help the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene, which was immediately sealed off and the services of the office of the state pathologist were requested.

Gardai said they were also advised that the dead mans 75-year-old father attended Cork University Hospital (CUH) with serious stab wounds, where he remains in a serious condition.

A person of interest was identified and a major garda investigation was launched.

That person of interest was spotted a few hours later by gardai in the nearby harbour town of Passage West where he was arrested.

Gardai remain at the scene of a fatal stabbing in the Sea View estate in Carrigaline, Co Cork. Picture: Richard Coleman

He was taken to Gurranabraher Garda Station where he is being detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984, for questioning. He can be detained for up to 24-hours.

The body of the young man is due to be removed to CUH where a post mortem examination will take place to establish the exact cause of death.

Gardai interviews with the father of the victim are expected to take place once he is deemed medically fit to talk to detectives.

In the meantime, gardai have appealing to anyone who was in or around the Carrigaline and Passage West areas in the early hours of this morning, and who may have noticed any activity which caught their attention or who can assist gardai involved in this investigation to contact them at Togher Garda station on 021 4947120.

Gardai said their investigation is ongoing.

Crime scene investigators were at the scene on Saturday morning. Gardai cordon at a house where a man was stabbed at Seaview Avenue, Carrigaline, Co. Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

Local Fianna Fail Cllr Seamus McGrath said he, like everyone else in the harbour town, was shocked to wake up to the tragic news this morning.

Sea View is a quiet, settled area, its one of the older estates in Carrigaline with many families who have lived in the area for years and this is the last thing youd expect to hear. My thoughts are with the older man and his family and I wish him well in his recovery, he said.

Mr Murphys wife, Marie, died following illness in 2012. He has two other children, Tanya, and Bryan.

Suspicious death in Buttevant

Meanwhile, gardai in north Cork are continuing their investigation into all the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of a man in his 60s who was found dead in a house in Buttevant on Thursday night.

They are trying to establish who the man was with and interacted with, and his last-known movements in the hours before he was found unconscious by his partner on the floor of a downstairs room at their house at OBrien Terrace at around 9.30pm on Thursday.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics, the man could not be revived and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The alarm was raised at around 3.30am on Saturday when gardai were called to the scene of a serious assault in the established housing estate. Picture: Larry Cummins

The man had apparent injuries which gave rise to concern and which led to the sealing off the house for a forensic examination, and the requesting of a state post mortem to establish the exact cause of death.

The post mortem examination has been conducted and the results of certain toxicology tests are awaited.

Gardai have not released the results of the post mortem for operational reasons and said their enquiries are ongoing today.

The house remains sealed off today while the investigation continues.

They have appealed to anyone with information about the man's last-known movements to contact them.
Editorial Cracks Appear in the Myanmar Military

Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attends an Armed Forces Day in 2018 in Naypyitaw. / The Irrawaddy

Evil exists in Myanmar. The countrys generals have committed war crimes against their own citizens and are now preparing to hold an elaborate parade on Sunday for Armed Forces Day.

Thousands of soldiers will march in the parade in the capital Naypyitaw, and the military regime has spent the past weeks repeatedly asking the people of Myanmar to join in the celebration.

But most Myanmar citizens will watch the parade and curse the military for the atrocities it continues to commit across the country and the scorched earth tactics it employs, including indiscriminate killings, burning down villages and looting property.

If General Aung San, who founded the Myanmar military in the 1940s, was still alive what would he say about the institution he envisioned as an organization which would steer away from self-interest and politics?

He asked his young officers to be respectful and disciplined to gain support from the people. He told his officers once that they should ask permission if they wished to enter a home. So people loved the military and gave soldiers food. That was 77 years ago.

Today, the military enjoys the lowest-ever level of support from the people. And now it is increasingly suffering from internal splits and cracks are beginning to appear in what was once a rock-solid wall of green uniforms.

The irony is that as some soldiers prepare to march in Naypyitaw on Armed Forces Day, other officers and men have decided to march away and defect from the frontline in Karen State.

Since last years coup, thousands of officers and soldiers have left the military for various reasons. The recent defection of Lieutenant Colonel Myo Min Tun, a battalion commander, was a huge blow for the junta, as he is the highest-ranking officer to defect since the military takeover.

Lt-Col. Myo Min Tun left his troops on the frontline in Karen State in February. Other battalion commanders have also defected. Many more will follow if the opposition can offer incentives and sanctuary or asylum in other countries.

The number of military defectors continues to grow. Myanmars parallel civilian National Unity Government (NUG) says almost 3,000 officers and men have defected since the coup.

They call themselves watermelon soldiers, because they wear green army uniforms but their attachment to democracy and the red flag of the ousted National League for Democracy government means that they are red on the inside.

Now they are becoming peoples soldiers. There are an increasing number of watermelon soldiers who want to leave the once glorified armed forces. They are the ones who can provide an insight into the military and the business cronies who are the allies of the generals.

Faced with public anger and hatred, morale in the army is low. The soldiers also see the unfair treatment some of their comrades receive and are shocked by the corruption and scandals of the generals and their families. They also face social punishment and pressure from their families to leave.

Many defectors say they feel insecure staying in the military and are no longer proud to walk in public in uniform. They know that the military is at war with its own people.

Therefore, they decide to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in protest at the regime. At the same time, several watermelon officers and soldiers have set up online organizations to appeal to their comrades to join the CDM.

The news that Australias government is granting protection to military defectors has elicited interest even among senior officers, especially those who oppose military rule. In response, the junta has tightened its control over troops as it struggles to hold onto its men.

The NUG is also in the process of trying to persuade other governments to offer asylum to defectors. If there are suitable incentives such as guaranteeing security and lifelong insurance for defectors and their families, several more mid-ranking officers will leave the military.

But the NUG, as well as ethnic armed organizations, international aid organizations and western governments committed to assisting Myanmar to return to democracy, should consider more innovative policies to encourage soldiers to leave the armed forces.

Myanmar needs a military to safeguard the nation and protect the people, but it needs to be a different army to the one the country currently has.

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Junta Watch Junta Watch: What Defections? Says Regime No. 2; ASEAN Envoy Throws His Hands Up, and More

Deputy Vice Senior General Soe Win meets military officers, other ranks and families at Mongmaw Station on March 20, 2022. / Cncds

Soe Win dismisses military desertions as fake news

Deputy junta leader Soe Win tried to downplay the impact of desertions on Myanmars military as he met officers, other ranks and their families at a local battalion in Shan States Kalaw on March 18.

As many as 8,000 soldiers including battalion commanders and police had deserted the regime by December last year after witnessing the violence the regime used on its people, according to Peoples Soldiers and Peoples Embrace, groups formed by striking military officers. More soldiers are waiting for opportunities to desert.

But Soe Win said the deserters fled the army for fear of possible punishment after breaking laws. Certain countries and local terrorist groups have however described them as democracy heroes in their attempt to incite mutiny through a media campaign of misinformation, he said. In February, he traveled to restive Kayah State and urged striking government employees to return to their offices. Meanwhile, Australia is issuing protection visas to Myanmar military defectors.

ASEAN special envoy admits complexity of Myanmar issue

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)s special envoy to Myanmar, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, met junta leader Min Aung Hlaing during his March 21-23 visit.

In his first Myanmar visit, he urged the regime to release political prisoners including Australian economist Sean Turnell. He also called on concerned parties to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force.

Min Aung Hlaing repeated his narrative that he was forced to take over because of electoral fraud in the 2020 general elections, and insisted he is doing what it takes to protect the lives and property of Myanmar people against resistance groups, which he called terrorists.

Daw Su Su Lwin, the wife of former president U Htin Kyaw and a lawmaker of the National League for Democracy, canceled a meeting with the ASEAN special envoy, citing health problems.

However, U Ko Ko Gyi, one of the prominent 88 Generation student leaders and Peoples Party chairman who has recently come under fire for growing close to the regime since the coup, held talks with the special envoy.

The envoy said at a press conference at Phnom Penh Airport on March 23 after concluding his three-day official visit that the Myanmar issue is complicated and will take time to settle. He said it is unlikely that the issue will be settled during Cambodias one-year ASEAN chairmanship.

Military mouthpiece accuses NLD of manipulating social media for electoral victory

In its latest attempt to smear the National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar military has accused the NLD government of adopting the tactic of dominating social media to secure its electoral victories.

An editorial published in the March 19 issue of the military mouthpiece Myawady Daily alleged that before the 2015 general election, the NLD, with the support of certain countries, mobilized activists, journalists and social influencers to spread propaganda on social media to make it appear that the whole country supported the NLD.

Because of the NLDs control of social media, people were unaware that only 12 million out of 26 million voters in 2015 supported the NLD and 12 million others did not support it, argued the editorial, without providing any evidence for its claim. In fact the NLD won 78.96 percent of votes in 2015.

The editorial continued to argue that the NLD, after it took office, acted on the advice of its foreign advisers and controlled social media like Facebook by spending more than 6 billion kyats (US$3.4 million). The manipulation it referred to was in fact the social media monitoring team formed with presidential funds in 2018 to monitor hate speech, misinformation and fake news aimed at inciting hatred and violence. The military mouthpiece has been busy slandering Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party since the coup.

Military admits killing Rohingya, denies genocide

Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun has denied the Myanmar military committed genocide against stateless Rohingya people in Rakhine State.

At the regimes press conference on Thursday, the spokesman said the Tatmadaw (Myanmars military) as an institution did not commit genocide against the Rohingya, but individual soldiers or individual groups of soldiers might have killed some Rohingya people, he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 21 that Myanmars military committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its violence against the Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine State. Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide has been committed eight times, most recently by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya, said Blinken at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

The following day, the juntas Foreign Ministry released a statement strongly objecting [to] and categorically rejecting Blinkens remarks.

Myanmars army launched a military operation in 2017 that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya from their homes and into neighboring Bangladesh. In 2021, Myanmars military seized power in a coup. Bangladesh welcomed Blinkens remark, saying that it would expedite Rohingya repatriation.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Junta Troops Kill Villagers; Hold Schoolkids Hostage

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Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Mostly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Thriller Movie "The Witch: Part 2" starring Lee Jong Suk to have a change of schedule release. Continue reading to know why!

'The Witch: Part 2' Possibly Premieres in the Second Half of 2022

A K-media outlet reported on March 24 that the upcoming movie "The Witch: Part 2" starring Lee Jong Suk, will reportedly cancel its release in the first half of 2022. This is because of the growing numbers of COVID-19 positive in South Korea.

Originally, the scheduled premiere of the film was between April to June. However, since Korea has an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the movie's production team decided to delay its release to the second half of this year.

An official member from the production said, "'The Witch: Part 2' release got pushed back to the second half of 2022. But even that is uncertain at this moment."

In addition, after the news appeared in various online portals, NEW, the company in charge of investment and distribution for the movie, gave their statement regarding the change of plan. They said that nothing is set in stone yet regarding the exact release. The company also said that they are still reviewing various possibilities and monitoring the situation.

"The Witch: Part 2" was the first project that Lee Jong Suk chose to appear following his discharge from the military. Meanwhile, viewers are curious whether Kim Da Mi, who appeared in "The Witch; Part 1. The Subversion" will have a special participation in the sequel. Meanwhile, rising star Cynthia is one of the lead cast chosen among the 1408 candidates who auditioned for the role.

Lee Jong Suk Meets Viewers With New Legal Drama 'Big Mouse'

Lee Jong Suk will still meet his fans with the forthcoming legal-romance series "Big Mouse," also known as "Big Mouth." Since it is Jong Suk's first small-screen comeback after almost two years, many are excited to finally see his acting again.

The "Pinocchio" star is expected to team up with SNSD member and actress YoonA in the drama. Lee Jong Suk takes the role of Park Chang Ho. He is a determined lawyer who will solve a big murder case that will open many doors for his career.

The K-hottie also has another new movie titled "Decibel." The star-studded action-adventure film is scheduled to release this year. Kim Rae Won, ASTRO's Cha Eun Woo, Jung Sang Hoon, Park Byung Eun, Lee Sang Hee, and more are part of the cast members.

Lee Jong Suk will play the role of a navy captain.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: YoonA Reveals Story Behind Her Sweet Moment With Lee Jong Suk in 2016

What can you say about the postponed release of Lee Jong Suk's 'The Witch: Part 2"? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written by Shai Collins.
The forthcoming spy movie "Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" starring GOT7 Jinyoung, Park Hae Soo, Sol Kyung Gu and more keeps the fans amped as it shares a new thrilling teaser ahead of its release!

GOT7 Jinyoung, Park Hae Soo, Other Members of Black Ops Dive Into War in 'Yaksha: Ruthless Operations'

The newest movie secret operations film "Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" unveiled an intense, action-packed teaser!

GOT7 Jinyoung, Park Hae Soo, Sol Kyung Gu, Yang Dong Geun, Lee El and Song Jae Rim make up the secret operations team called Black Ops.

It is led by the "Yaksha" in Shenyang, China. It is also under the National Intelligence Service and known as the biggest war zone for spies.

"Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" depicts the epic, spine-chilling battle between the Black Ops, the special inspector prosecutor, and top spies from various countries.

The drama stars Sol Kyung Gu as Ji Kang In, known as the "Yaksha," who leads the Black Ops through a secret intelligence operation. The stakes are high.

READ MORE: GOT7 Jinyoung Shares New Teaser for New Action Film With Park Hae Soo

Yang Dong Geun takes on the role of Black Ops team member Chief Hong and Lee El becomes senior Black Ops member Hee Won.

Meanwhile, Song Jae Rim transforms into Jae Gyu, a member in charge of firearms and tactical operations. GOT7 Jinyoung portrays the youngest Black Ops member Jung Dae, who is in charge of various explosives and equipment.

On the other hand, "Squid Game" star Park Hae Soo plays the role of Han Ji Hoon, a demoted prosecutor who is sent to tail the team's every move.

The newly released teaser begins as Han Ji Hoon takes on the new task to monitor the operations team that has been sending fake reports.

Ji Kang In and Han Ji Hoon, who started off on the wrong foot, send knowing yet intimidating gazes to one another.

Amid the tension, "D7" Ozawa, played by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, a Japanese spy who pretends to be a member of the concierge appears.

Ozara is the best spy in the whole Asia, however, he and Ji Kang In are in a complicated relationship. Due to a bad history, they are on twisted terms.

Ji Kang In threatens Ozawa, saying, "This time, I'm going to kill you with my own hands alive."

As the battle of spies begins, "Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" takes viewers for a roller coaster ride filled with gunfights, car chases, and betrayals.

Furthermore, the spy film "Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 8 on Netflix. Watch the teaser here:

Park Hae Soo Recent Works, Dramas, More

Before the megahit series "Squid Game," the actor solidified his name in the industry for more than a decade.

He appeared in popular television dramas like "Prison Playbook," "Time to Hunt," and "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture."

Park Hae Soo gained massive worldwide acclaim after he appeared in the award-winning survival drama "Squid Game" with Lee Jung Jae, Wi Ha Joon and Jung Ho Yeon.

Due to its international success, the drama was celebrated at prestigious awards ceremonies inside and outside the country.

The television series received recognitions at the Gotham Awards (Breakthrough Series), Golden Globe Awards (Best Television Series) and Producers Guild of America Awards (Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television), to name a few.

Currently, Park Hae Soo starred in an action thriller drama "Chimera" after. Currently, the actor is gearing up for his much anticipated drama "Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area."

It's a South Korean drama based on the original Spanish series "La Casa de Papel," which depicts the hostage crisis set in the Korean Peninsula, involving talented strategists who will make history through a heist.

Yoo Ji Tae, Jeong Jong Seo, Lee Won Jong, Kim Ji Hoon, Yang Yoon Ju, Lee Hyun Woo and more will participate in the new heist series, guaranteeing a fun-filled drama experience.

"Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area" is slated to air on Netflix sometime in 2022.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
A photograph hangs on a wall inside a house destroyed by fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022. With stunning speed, Russia's war in Ukraine is driving Western Europe into the outstretched arms of the United States again, and the embrace was especially apparent when President Joe Biden offered a major expansion of natural gas shipments to his European Union counterpart Friday. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
With the spring election approaching, the Kenosha County Republican Party hosted a gathering Saturday supporting local women conservatives at Masons Eatery and Pub in Kenosha.

Volunteers and supporters gathered to show their support and prepared to brave a chilly Wisconsin day as they went door to door, asking for people to vote. The event was also in honor of Womens History Month, which ends next week.

Maria Lazar, who is running for the District 2 judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, said this round of elections is critical for conservative values in the community.

This race is such a low voter turnout, Lazar said. Each vote matters so much.

County executive candidate Samantha Kerkman said public safety has been the major issue shes heard from constituents so far.

This election is so important, Kerkman said. People are energized. They give you their most honest feedback when you get out there.

Speaking to the group, Amanda Nedweski, running for County District 16 supervisor, thanked her fellow female candidates for their help throughout her run.

Im new at this and Ive learned so much, she said

County Board District 13 candidate Jenn Bittner expressed her gratitude to the volunteers who have helped knock on doors and work events.

As far as the candidates running, theres no way we could get this done without the volunteers, Bittner said. Theyve been incredible and selfless to take time out of their busy days.

Among several other attending conservatives including Erin Decker, chair of the Kenosha County Republican Party and a County Board supervisor, was County Board Supervisor Gabe Nudo, who said he was there to support the candidates.

Theyre all great candidates, I really give them credit for running, Nudo said.

The spring election will be April 5. Information on where residents can vote can be found at Kenoshacounty.org.

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They are the foundation of the CDCs 2016 opioid guidelines, resulting in legislation limiting opioid prescribing in 36 states. Morphine milligram equivalents, or MMEs, are used to set arbitrary prescribing limits for opioids by physicians since many state legislators fail to understand  and translate into policy and law  the 16 guidelines. If we had all known the history of MMEs, perhaps we would not have been so eager to embrace them.

What exactly is a Morphine Milligram Equivalent (MME)? The CDC defines it as: The amount of milligrams of morphine an opioid dose is equal to when prescribed. Calculating MME accounts for differences in opioid drug type and strength.

MMEs are used in pain management. Clinically, to help transition patients from an ineffective treatment choice to a more effective dosage, form or medication. Researchers have also used MMEs to standardize data on medications and prescribing habits when using varying datasets.

The source of MMEs: Its not at all what youd think

The origin of MMEs seems to be shrouded in the mists of history. The earliest reference to comparing one opioid to another was in a 1974 JAMA article treating the acute pain of myocardial infarction, Meperidine hydrochloride in parenterally administered doses of 75 mg provides effective analgesia of the same duration as does 10 mg of morphine sulfate.

Two months later, that view of equivalence was rebutted as:

 counter to that of standard texts and journals of pharmacology and is not consistent with our own experience. While it is accepted that the meperidine dose equivalent to 10 mg of morphine is 75 to 100 mg, duration of analgesia by meperidine may be as little as 50% that of morphine  in chronic or sustained pain, such as occurs in malignant invasion of bones or in sickle cell crisis, the difference is readily apparent to the alert physician and nurse. It has been suggested that physicians are undertreating patients in pain.

All the hallmarks of todays concerns were there:

Clinical experience

Equianalgesic dosage (the amount to provide the same level and duration of pain relief)

The distinction between acute and chronic pain

Undertreatment of patients in pain

The next reference I found was published in 1984, coming from a study of 38 patients receiving opioids for chronic, non-malignant pain at Memorial Sloan Ketterings pain clinic.

A 25-year-old man developed severe left calf pain associated with swelling and tenderness. He was admitted to hospital in June 1975, taking approximately 28 morphine equivalent mg/24 h for pain.

There was no citation. The authors relied on their expertise or some unreferenced work to draw that equivalence.

A paper in the journal Pain from 1996 begins to unravel the underlying scientific studies performed in 1936.

The morphine dose equivalents for hydromorphone and other opioids derive from single-dose studies, all of which involved intramuscular or oral administration and measured pain reduction as the therapeutic endpoint.

But the authors settle for an even more unsettling definition, based on a 1975 paper in the journal Anaesthesiology. The use of this paper to define MMEs is nothing short of astounding:

Subjective responses to nurse-observer questions were used to quantitate analgesia for postoperative pain. Hydromorphone is more potent than commonly believed: approximately 0.9 to 1.2 mg is equianalgesic with 10 mg of morphine, with a similar incidence of side effects.

It is scientifically illiterate to use this subjective casual observation to form the basis of policy. Yet, this paper is used as a reference by the CDC in its 2016 Opioid Prescribing Guide.

The CDCs MMEs: lost in translation

The CDC explanation of their MME conversions references this paper, Defacto Long-term Opioid Therapy for Non-Cancer Pain, so lets take a brief look at this study.

It looked at opioid use of adults in two health care plans, between 1997 to 2005, reflective of their regional demographics. There is exactly one sentence in the paper that you need to pay attention to:

The conversion factors were based on information from multiple sources. After reviewing published conversion factors, consensus was reached among two physicians with clinical experience in pain management and a pharmacist pharmacoepidemiologist.

The basis of the CDC recommendations comes down to two physicians and a pharmacoepidemiologist. Not overwhelmingly established science. Lets leave those subjective MME conversions to the side for a moment and consider the researchers quest to identify a threshold to long-term opioid therapy.

In their study, the overwhelming majority of patients took them for less than a month; 80% used opioids for less than a week, 14% took opioids, on average, for only a month. Only 5.5% of the patients receiving opioids took them for longer than a year; they became the focus. In searching for even longer-term use, a possible marker of addiction, the researchers found that half of those patients continued therapy into the next year  they were those most likely to continue frequent use of opioids in future years. [1] They identified a boundary or signal that an individuals opioid use might be problematic.

By setting a clear boundary between acute and episodic use on the one hand, and long-term use on the other, it may be possible for physicians and health plans to establish a checkpoint 

There is no mention of MMEs. The variation in the amount of MMEs prescribed or taken among that 6% was too variable to be a threshold  not surprising, given the subjective nature of their calculation. The researchers boundary line was the duration of prescribing  a year, the point that would identify that half of the 5.5% they felt to be at risk. Most importantly, their boundary was a call to reconsider therapy, not a limit on MME.

Other researchers with similar studies sought their bright line defining those at risk. But quietly, the risk changed from a concern over addiction, as a threshold based on length of treatment would suggest, to a concern over the risk of overdose. See the difference in the focus of a 2016 review which concluded:

A clear cut-point in opioid dosage to distinguish between overdose cases and controls was not found. However, lowering the recommended dosage threshold below the 100 MME used in many recent guidelines would affect proportionately few patients not at risk for overdose while potentially benefiting many of those at risk for overdose.

Somewhere along the way, lost in translation, the concern of addiction morphed to concern over overdose. Despite a lack of a clear cut-point in opioid dosage, MMEs replaced fuzziness with pseudo-certainty.

If the ambiguity of what a threshold MME means is insufficient, MME suffers from two additional problems: its calculation and what is being measured. Topics we will address another day.

Charles Dinerstein is a surgeon.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Their 2021 intercounty seasons may have ended in disappointment, but there was a silver lining for the Kilkenny senior and intermediate camogie teams after they each picked up four All-Stars.

The awards, which were presented in The Osprey Hotel, had four Cats in both the Senior and Soaring Stars categories.

The Soaring Stars awards saw Kilkennys strength in defence recognised. Roisin Phelan won the full-back award, while Niamh Leahy was named at left corner-back. The half-back line had two more Kilkenny players, with Sarah Crowley at right half-back and Leann Fennelly selected at centre-back.

The Senior All-Stars team also had four Kilkenny players in its ranks.

Davina Tobin was the first to be honoured and was selected at left corner-back. Former captain Meighan Farrell was named as All-Star at right half-back.

The Kilkenny attack also got a mention, with two awards in the half-forward line. Katie Nolan was selected at centre-forward while former Player of the Year Denise Gaule was named as the winner of the left half-forward award.

Intermediate All-Ireland winners Antrim won six Soaring Stars awards, with three going to Wexford and one apiece to Galway and Armagh.

In the Senior category champions Galway won eight awards, with Cork taking three. The Tribeswomen also saw Cathal Murray win the Manager of the Year award, while Aoife Donohue was named Senior Player of the Year.
Xiplomacy: Xi's remarks on boosting global ecological civilization cooperation

Xinhua) 13:54, March 26, 2022

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- People around the world are expected to turn off lights at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday to mark Earth Hour 2022, an environmental movement calling for global solidarity in protecting Mother Nature.

With the theme of "Shape Our Future," this year's event aims to inspire people to take concrete actions for a brighter future of the planet.

Over the past decade, China has been advancing the green transition of its economy under the guidance of President Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization, which derives from the Chinese perception, or reflection, of the relationship between man and nature.

On various occasions, Xi has expounded on his philosophy which also stresses promoting international cooperation for an environmentally friendly world.

The following are some highlights in his remarks.

Oct. 30, 2021

While addressing the 16th G20 Leaders' Summit via video link, Xi urged developed countries to lead by example on emission reduction.

Developed countries should fully accommodate the special difficulties and concerns of developing countries, deliver on their commitments of climate financing, and provide technology, capacity-building and other support for developing countries, Xi said.

Oct. 12, 2021

In his keynote speech at the leaders' summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, Xi stressed the importance of international coordination in promoting ecological civilization.

"We need to strengthen solidarity to overcome difficulties and let people across countries benefit more and in a fairer way from development outcomes and a sound environment, so as to build a homeland of common development of all countries," said Xi.

"If we, humanity, do not fail Nature, Nature will not fail us," he said. "Ecological civilization represents the development trend of human civilization."

Sept. 21, 2021

In his speech at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Xi reiterated the need to achieve harmonious coexistence between the human race and nature.

"We need to improve global environmental governance, actively respond to climate change and create a community of life for man and nature. We need to accelerate transition to a green and low-carbon economy and achieve green recovery and development," he said.

China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad, the Chinese president said.

April 20, 2021

When addressing the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021, Xi called for efforts to strengthen cooperation on green infrastructure, green energy and green finance.

Xi also called for improving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) International Green Development Coalition and the Green Investment Principles for the BRI Development and other multilateral cooperation platforms "to make green a defining feature of Belt and Road cooperation."

Dec. 30, 2020

During a video meeting with European Union leaders, Xi urged China and Europe to "give full play to their high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate, and give mutual support to each other in hosting international conferences on biodiversity, climate change and conservation of nature."

Sept. 30, 2020

When delivering a speech at the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, Xi called on all parties to adhere to ecological civilization and increase the drive for building a beautiful world, saying biodiversity affects the well-being of humanity and provides the very basis for the human race to survive and thrive.

China is willing to share with all parties its experience in biodiversity governance and ecological progress, he added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
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Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola at the White Picket Gardens where you can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, teacher, writer, actress and a collector of front porch stories. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com.
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Partly cloudy early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain this afternoon. High 58F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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The more than 1,800 clerks tasked with running Wisconsins elections are between a rock and a hard place, and all of them are at risk of violating the law when it comes to someone delivering an absentee ballot on behalf of another.

For years, it has been an accepted practice that it is legal to deliver absentee ballots on behalf of another person. In essence, it has been allowed that one person can drop off someone elses ballot (or many other peoples ballots) as part of absentee voting.

Some have said this allows the practice of derisively referred to as ballot harvesting, which is when one person collects ballots for several other people and delivers them en masse. That practice is banned in some states, specifically allowed in others; in Wisconsin, it is neither explicitly outlawed nor explicitly allowed.

That ambiguity in the law has led to the current conundrum.

Previously, the Wisconsin Elections Commission offered guidance to the states clerks that stated this practice was allowed.

The conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty sued, charging that this practice was illegal.

On Jan. 20, a Waukesha County judge issued an injunction in favor of WILL, ordering WEC to withdraw its guidance. WEC complied. That injunction came packaged with a declaration, in which the court asserted that ballot harvesting, delivering ballots on behalf of another or whatever you want to call it, is illegal in Wisconsin.

However, the injunction has no direct impact on what individual clerks do. Court injunctions can only be binding to those named in the case, and WILL only sued WEC. Clerks are not bound by it.

Ultimately, each clerk will need to decide what to do, taking into consideration both state and federal law, the different ways the absentee ballot statute can be interpreted, and the risks of choosing one option over another, states a letter from attorneys from the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, a nonprofit nonpartisan association of cities and villages.

Unfortunately, any decision brings with it the potential for dispute and litigation. The nature and level of risk will vary by municipality, the letter concludes.

In a phone interview Friday, Doug Poland, a liberal attorney fighting WILLs lawsuit and opposed to the Waukesha judges decision, said: For a clerk to look at this, the clerk could be saying Im seeing these two different parties arguing the statute in two different ways.

A judge cannot issue an injunction against anybody who is not named in the lawsuit, Poland said. As such, the injunction doesnt actually prohibit clerks from doing anything.

The lawsuit the Waukesha judge ruled on has been appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. While the state high court is expected to rule on the case, it declined to act quickly; early voting is already underway for the April 5 election.

Even within Racine County, municipalities are employing different policies regarding ballot delivery.

Inconsistent application of the law

If you live in Caledonia or Mount Pleasant, for example, and you go to your village hall to deliver your spouses absentee ballot, the clerk (or a deputy of that clerk) has been instructed to not accept your spouses ballot.

The elector must personally drop off their ballot, Caledonia Clerk Joslyn Hoeffert said in an email.

An official Caledonia village notice states: ALL absentee ballots must either be returned by USPS mail or handed in to the Clerks office in person by the elector themselves during scheduled business hours. All ballots must be received before the polls close on the day of the election to be counted. Please plan accordingly, submit your request for an absentee ballot early and return your absentee ballot as soon as possible.

In the City of Racine, you can still deliver a ballot on behalf of another, but under certain circumstances.

A ballot can be returned by someone who is not the voter, City Clerk Tara Coolidge said in an email, before clarifying in a later email: A(n) agent or an authorized representative may deliver a ballot on behalf of the voter. If you arrive in person to deliver a ballot that is not yours you will be asked if you are an agent or authorized representative. If your response is Yes, the ballot will be accepted. If your response is No, the ballot will not be accepted.

An argument has been made that by not allowing voters to have their ballot delivered by someone else, then those with disabilities may be faced with an illegal hurdle. Under federal voting laws, any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voters choice, other than the voters employer or an agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voters union.

The City of Racines policy of asking those delivering ballots if they are an authorized representative aims to fulfill both the intention of the Waukesha judges order and federal law.

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Union Min Pralhad Joshi inaugurates resumption of mining operations along with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 26 (ANI): Coal mining operations at North Eastern Coalfields (NEC), a unit of Coal India Limited (CIL), resumed on Saturday soon after Union Minister Pralhad Joshi along with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the unit at Tikak Colliery of NEC at Margherita in Tinsukia district.

The mining operations at NEC were halted in 2020 owing to certain environental issues.

Also Read | Namaz Offered by Muslim Girl in Classroom at Madhya Pradesh College, Probe Ordered.

NEC presently operates in Tikak Colliery in Margherita with two opencast projects (OCPs) namely Tikak OCP and Tikak Extension OCP with a combined coal production capacity of 4 lakh tonne per annum.

NEC will also start producing coal from its Tirap OCP from the upcoming fiscal 22-23 with a target to produce 10 lakh tonnes of coal per annum.

Also Read | Maharashtra Records 138 New COVID-19 Cases, No Death in Past 24 Hours.

Speaking on the occasion, State Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked Union Minister for Coal and Mines for his pro-active initiatives while resuming mining operations at Tikak Colliery.

The Chief Minister lauded the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that his vision for the growth of the region and his guidance was instrumental in opening mining operations again at North Eastern Coalfields today.

"With the resumption of mining operations at Tikak Colliery, the state government has fulfilled yet another promise made to the people in the state assembly election," Sarma said.

The state government is committed to maintaining a balance between development and the environment. "While operationalizing Tikak Colliery, we have ensured that mining activities continue in sync with nature," he said.

"Our government has extended all co-operation to Coal India Ltd. in resolving environmental and all other issues that stalled the functioning of the North Eastern Coalfields," the Chief Minister said.

Sarma observed that the productive result of this coordinated effort will open up employment generation in this sector once again.

"This step was very important for the socio-economic development of the region, which has received a major boost today," he said.

The Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, "Today we have resumed mining operations at Tikak colliery and it is a very important step towards the development of the region. The coal quality of NEC is superior and it is in high demand by several of India's domestic industries."

"Increased production in the mines will generate more revenues for the state government, more employment for the people and also support small business activities while catering to the energy demand," Joshi said.

Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of India's coal production. The company has produced 606.06 million tonnes of coal in the current fiscal till March 25, 2022.

The company's coal production is up by 5 per cent, relative to the same period of the last fiscal.

The company's coal offtake till date is 649.65 million tonnes, up by 15 per cent in comparison to the same period of the last fiscal. This is also the record coal offtake by the company in any financial year. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jaipur, Mar 27 (PTI) The son of a Congress MLA and four others have been booked for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl belonging to Dausa district in Rajasthan, police said on Saturday.

Also Read | Gurugram: 25-Year-Old Woman Jumps to Death From Rajiv Chowk Flyover.

Police identified the key accused as Deepak Meena, the son of Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena from Rajgarh assembly constituency in Alwar district.

One of the five accused, identified as Vivek Sharma, was also booked for extorting a sum of Rs Rs 15 lakh cash and jewellery items by threatening the victim to upload the video of her gangrape on social media, SHO Nathu Lal of the Mandawar police station in Dausa district said.

Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: Angered by Father Torturing His Mother For Years, Teen Bludgeons Him to Death.

"A case has been registered against three named accused, including Rajgarh MLA's son Deepak Meena. Two others have also been booked for gang rape and other sections of the IPC," he added.

He said the case was registered on Friday on the basis of a complaint lodged by the minor girl's family members.

Medical examination of the victim has been done and her statement recorded, he added.

The SHO said the incident happened in February when the accused took the girl to a hotel on Mahwa-Mandawar Road and committed the crime.

They also made an obscene video to threaten her, he added.

The matter came to the light during the probe into a complaint lodged by the girl's family members after the cash and jewellery went missing from the house.

Family members had initially lodged a complaint of theft in the matter.

A probe into the matter found the involvement of Sharma following which the victim girl mustered the courage to share her ordeal with her mother, the SHO 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 26 (ANI): An FIR was registered on Friday in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 36-year-old woman in the Ghaizpur area of the national capital.

The complaint has been filed under the charges of sections 323, 365, 376 D and 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Also Read | Delhi Budget 2022-23: 'Rozgar Budget' Will Generate Employment for Youth, Says Arvind Kejriwal.

According to Delhi Police, a 36-year-old woman was allegedly raped in the Ghazipur area of the national capital on Wednesday night.

The woman claimed that after finishing her work at office, she had hailed an autorickshaw to return home. Midway in her journey back home, the driver of the auto stopped and claimed that he could not drive further as the vehicle's petrol tank had gone empty.

Also Read | Maharashtra: Three Arrested With Gutka, Banned Tobacco Products Worth Rs 69 Lakh in Bhiwandi.

The victim further alleged that the auto driver further called one of his accomplices to the spot and both accosted her to a secluded place where they took turns to rape her.

Police said that she has been admitted in Safdarganj Hospital and that her health is stable now.

Further probe is underway. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], March 26 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against a Pakistani terrorist belonging to proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba in connection with a case related to infiltration bid in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri area.

Imdadullah alias Ali Babar has been charged by NIA under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and Foreigners Act. The chargesheet has been filed before the NIA Special Court in Jammu.

Also Read | Odisha Civic Polls: BJD Sweeps Municipal Election, Wins 95 Out of 108 Civic Bodies.

According to NIA, The case pertains to an infiltration bid foiled by the Indian Army in the Line of Control (LoC) Uri sector of Baramulla District of Jammu and Kashmir. During the infiltration bid thwarted by the Indian Army, one Pakistani terrorist namely Imdadullah alias Ali Babar was arrested and his associate namely Atiq-ur-Rehman alias Qari Anas was killed.

"A huge cache of arms/ammunition, explosives and other incriminating materials were recovered from the possession of the Pakistani terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)," reads the official statement.

Also Read | The Kashmir File Shows How Under Congress Rule, Atrocities and Terrorism Spread in Kashmir, Says Amit Shah.

The case was initially registered at Police Station Uri of District Baramulla on September 27, 2021, and NIA had re-registered the case on October 30, 2021.

Further investigation in the case is underway. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], March 26 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday refuted rumours with respect to the initiation of attachment of properties used for purpose of terrorism.

"There has been misinformation, rumours floated by certain quarters regarding the information provided by Srinagar Police with respect to the initiation of attachment of properties used for purpose of terrorism, read the press statement released by the police.

Also Read | Punjab Shocker: Elderly Man Flees to Nepal After Raping 13-Year-Old Step-Granddaughter in Ludhiana.

The police, in its note, clarified the fact that it is well aware of the difference between wilful harbouring of terrorists and one done under duress.

"The attachments being done are for properties where it has been proven beyond doubt that the house owner/member had wilfully provided shelter/ harboured terrorists, in most cases for days together and that it was not done under any duress whatsoever," it said.

Also Read | Maharashtra: 37-Year-Old Tribal Man Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murdering Widow in Palghar.

The police said that the attachment proceedings always come after the investigation proceeds towards the advanced stage.

"Out of ignorance, some persons are trying to portray it as some kind of forced enforcement but it is a fact that Sections 2(g) and 25 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 have been in vogue since decades and these are not some recent additions as claimed by some rumour mongers."

"The decision regarding enforcement of these sections of law is due to the fact that many supporters of terrorism are wilfully providing harbour and safe havens to terrorists who conduct attacks on civilians and security forces in Srinagar City," it read further.

"The house owner or any other member claiming duress should timely inform the authorities about the same, as many provisions for hiding identity of such informant are available under law," the police mentioned, in regards to the issue of 'forceful entry' of terrorists into any house or other structure.

It said that the onus always lies on the house owner/member to prove duress by informing the authorities well in time that there is/was a forceful entry of terrorists into his/her house.

The police, however, requested all its citizens to not pay any heed to the misinformation floated by some vested interests.

The police also requested the citizens to not provide shelter or harbour terrorists in their homes or immovable properties, failing which lawful procedures will take their own course in full letter and spirit.

The police assured that there is and will always be zero tolerance towards terrorism and supporters of terrorism in a civilised society. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jalaun (UP), Mar 26 (PTI) Yogesh Maurya, the son of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, sustained minor injuries when the car in which he was travelling collided with a tractor in Kalpi area of Jalaun on Saturday, police said.

Yogesh Maurya was on his way to offer prayers at Pitambara Peeth in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, they said.

Also Read | Rajasthan MLAs Son Among 5 Booked For Gang-Raping A Minor.

Jalaun Superintendent of Police Ravi Kumar said the deputy chief minister's son, along with his three companions, was travelling in an SUV and it collided with a tractor coming from the opposite direction on the highway.

Maurya suffered minor injuries and was taken to the guest house of the Public Works Department, Kumar said said, adding a team of doctors was called and first aid was given to him.

Also Read | Bihar Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Gang-Raped For Three Days in Supaul.

District Magistrate Priyanka Niranjan too reached the guest house, while the damaged SUV was removed from the road with the help of a crane, police said.

Meanwhile, Keshav Prasad Maurya, in a tweet in Hindi, said, "With the blessings of Pitambara maa and all of you, my son Yogesh Kumar Maurya is safe. After consultations with doctors, he will again leave for the darshan of Pitambara maa."

(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 26 (PTI) Militants on Saturday shot dead a special police officer (SPO) and injured his brother in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

"At about 8:35 pm, terrorists fired at and critically injured SPO Ishfaq Ahmad near his residence at Chadbugh in Budgam," one of the officials said.

Also Read | PMGKY Scheme Update: PM Narendra Modi Announces Extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for 6 Months Till September.

They said in the firing, Ahmad's brother Umar Jan also received bullet injuries.

They were taken to the SKIMS Hospital in Bemina where Ahmad died, the officials said.

Also Read | Namaz Offered by Muslim Girl in Classroom at Madhya Pradesh College, Probe Ordered.

Jan is undergoing treatment, they said, adding the area has been cordoned off and a hunt launched to nab the attackers.

(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 26 (PTI) After a Rajasthan Congress MLA's son and four others were booked for allegedly raping a minor girl in the state, the party on Saturday said stern action will be taken against the guilty irrespective of who they are.

The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan, also attacked the BJP and alleged that the party protects its own people even if they are accused of rape or crushing innocent farmers under their car.

Also Read | Namaz Offered by Muslim Girl in Classroom at Madhya Pradesh College, Probe Ordered.

Former Uttar Pradesh BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 for raping a girl while Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is one of the key accused in a case related to killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.

"I want to assure everybody, whosoever you may be, the Congress party will not protect 'Sengars' of the world. You cannot, in the Congress party, trample farmers and remain Union Minister and cohabit with Narendra Modi ji (prime minister) and (Union home minister) Amit Shah Ji," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

Also Read | Maharashtra Records 138 New COVID-19 Cases, No Death in Past 24 Hours.

"We will take stern action as per law and after an investigation irrespective of who the accused may be," he said when asked about the son of gang rape incident in Rajasthan.

Deepak Meena, the son of Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena from Rajgarh assembly constituency in Alwar district and four others have been booked by police for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl belonging to Dausa district.

One of the five accused, identified as Vivek Sharma, was also booked for extorting Rs 15 lakh in cash and jewellery items from the victim by threatening to upload the video of the incident on social media, SHO Nathu Lal of the Mandawar Police Station in Dausa said.

According to the SHO, the incident took place in February when the accused took the girl to a hotel on Mahwa-Mandawar Road and committed the crime.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Budgam (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], March 26 (ANI): One Special Police Officer (SPO) and his brother were fired upon by unidentified terrorists in the Chadbugh area of Budgam on Saturday evening.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police informed that the police officer has succumbed to injuries.

Also Read | The Kashmir File Shows How Under Congress Rule, Atrocities and Terrorism Spread in Kashmir, Says Amit Shah.

"SPO Ishfaq Ahmad and his brother Umar Jan (a student) were fired upon by terrorists at their residence in village Chadbugh area of Budgam. However, Ishfaq Ahmad succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom. Area cordoned off, search operation in progress. Further details follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

The search operation is underway. (ANI)

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: 35-Year-Old Woman Abducted, Gang-Raped; Manhunt Launched.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Ahmedabad, March 26: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday urged the people to watch "The Kashmir Files" as it shows how under the rule of Congress, atrocities and terrorism spread in Kashmir.

Shah was in Ahmedabad, Gujarat where he inaugurated and laid the foundation of various projects worth more than Rs 330 crores after which he addressed the people. He asked the people, "Have you all watched the movie on Kashmir? Those who have not watched it, do watch it and you will know how in Kashmir, under the rule of Congress, atrocities and terrorism were spread." Arvind Kejriwal Wants Money Earned From 'The Kashmir Files' to Be Used for Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.

Praising the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said, "Under PM Modi's leadership, the country has been safe, the developmental works are prominently visible and the country has become a manufacturing hub for the world."

He further added, "After PM Modi removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the people of the country got to know that if we have a strong leader like PM Narendra Modi, nothing is impossible."

Also Read | PMGKY Scheme Update: PM Narendra Modi Announces Extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for 6 Months Till September.

Slamming the Congress and leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, "Even during the pandemic, Rahul Gandhi was only tweeting and doing nothing else. The opposition was feared but PM Modi got the scientists of the country working who developed two vaccines and about 130 crore population of the country was able to get vaccinated."

Further praising PM Modi's work, Shah said, "No other party, in 75 years, had the guts to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream of making toilets in all the houses of villages across the nation. But PM Modi did it. He also took electricity to villages, provided gas cylinders and also issued Aarogya card with free treatment till 5 lakh rupees."

The Union Home Minister also handed over the keys of houses to people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) and assured the people that the development of the state and people will always be a priority.

Shah inaugurated seven big development projects worth Rs 156 crores and laid the foundation stones for nine big projects worth Rs 150 crores among other projects.

(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 26 (ANI): Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday said that the World Health Origination (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine will make India self-reliant and added that it will also be an opportunity for the people of the country to take the lead in the global arena.

The Ministry of Ayush on Friday signed the 'Host Country Agreement' with WHO for establishing the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India at Jamnagar, Gujarat, with its interim office at the Institute of Training and Research in Ayurveda in Gujarat.

Also Read | Sansad Ratna Awards 2022: Principles, People and Parliament Decide Destiny of Nation, Says CEC Sushil Chandra.

Sonowal said that the centre is an opportunity for the people for the promotion of traditional medicines in India and abroad.

"On March 25, 2022, the Ministry of Ayush and Director General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom has signed a Host Country Agreement to set up global venture Centre Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar, Gujarat," he said.

Also Read | Chhattisgarh: Shivling Uprooted, Brought to Court for Hearing Before Tehsildar in Raigarh.

The Union Minister further lauded the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that because of PM Modi's devoted effort the centre has become reality.

"It is an outstanding achievement on the part of the people of the country and it is happening because of our PM Modi's dedicated and devoted efforts. It is who has been constantly giving his untiring efforts. It is who has taken up the issue whole-heartedly to get it happened and because of his devoted effort it has become reality," said Sonowal.

"This will be the only Centre of WHO in traditional medicine in the world. This is an opportunity for the people for the promotion of traditional medicines in India and abroad. I believe this is going to make India self-reliant because through this Centre. WHO has given the opportunity to the people of the country to take the lead in the global arena," he added.

The primary objective of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology and improve the overall health of the communities the world over.

This global knowledge centre for traditional medicine, supported by an investment of USD 250 million from the Government of India, aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology to improve the health of people and the planet, the WHO said in a statement.

As per data shared by WHO, around 80 per cent of the world's population is estimated to use traditional medicine. "To date, 170 of the 194 WHO the Member States have reported the use of traditional medicine, and their governments have asked for WHO's support in creating a body of reliable evidence and data on traditional medicine practices and products," it said.

The term traditional medicine describes the total sum of the knowledge, skills and practices indigenous and different cultures have used over time to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness. Its reach encompasses ancient practices such as acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine and herbal mixtures as well as modern medicines.

The onsite launch of the new WHO global centre for traditional medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India will take place on April 21, 2022. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Berlin [Germany], March 26 (ANI): People who have had COVID-19 are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a recent study.

The study was published in the journal, 'Diabetologia'.

Also Read | Nysa Devgan Looks Uber-Cool and Sensational in Her Manish Malhotra Outfit.

Studies have shown that the human pancreas can also be a target of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 viruses).

Following a Covid-19 infection, reduced numbers of insulin secretory granules in beta cells and impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion have been observed.

Also Read | India Women vs South Africa Women Live Streaming Online of ICC Womens Cricket World Cup 2022: How To Watch IND W vs SA W CWC Match Free Live Telecast in India?.

In addition, after the COVID-19 disease, some patients developed insulin resistance and had elevated blood glucose levels although they had no previous history of diabetes.

SARS-CoV-2 infection may lead to a strong release of pro-inflammatory signalling substances (cytokines). Activation of the immune system may persist for months after a SARS-CoV-2 infection and impair insulin effectiveness (muscle, fat cells, liver).

To date, however, it was unclear whether these metabolic changes are transient or whether Covid-19 disease increases the risk of persisting diabetes. To investigate this question, researchers from the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) and IQVIA (Frankfurt) conducted a retrospective cohort study.

The cohort study included a representative panel of 1,171 physician practices across Germany (March 2020 to January 2021: 8.8 million patients). Follow-up continued until July 2021.

"The aim of our study was to investigate the incidence of diabetes after infection with SARS-CoV-2," said first author Wolfgang Rathmann, head of the Epidemiology Research Group at the DDZ.

As a control group, the researchers selected people with acute upper respiratory tract infections (AURI), which are also frequently caused by viruses.

The two cohorts were matched for sex, age, health insurance, the month of Covid-19 or AURI diagnosis, and comorbidities (obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke). Patients on corticosteroid therapy were excluded from the study.

During the study period, 35,865 people were diagnosed with Covid-19.

"Our analyses showed that patients with Covid-19 developed type 2 diabetes more frequently than people with AURI. The incidence of diabetes with Covid-19 infection was 15.8 compared to 12.3 per 1000 people per year with AURI. The statistical analysis resulted in an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 1.28. Put simply, this means that the relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 28 per cent higher in the Covid-19 group than in the AURI group," Rathmann said, summarized the results.

Although type 2 diabetes is unlikely to be a problem for the vast majority of people with mild Covid-19 disease, the authors recommend that anyone who has recovered from Covid-19 be alert to the warning signs and symptoms, such as fatigue, frequent urination and increased thirst and seek immediate treatment. (ANI)

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Dhaka [Bangladesh], March 26 (ANI): High Commission of India in Bangladesh pays solemn tribute with a blackout of the Chancery complex to honour the sacrifice of untold millions of Bangladeshi people killed and women assaulted during 'Operation Searchlight' 51 years ago, said the Mission in Dhaka in its statement.

On March 25, 1971, Pakistan Army launched 'Operation Searchlight,' wherein a planned military operation was carried out by the Pakistani Army and its military deliberately harmed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi citizens. Rights group says the horrors of 1971 are considered one of the worst mass atrocities in history.

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The damage they inflicted can be described in the following numbers. As many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 200,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter.

Moreover, highlighting the great importance and an absolute necessity to honour the victims of genocide and their descendants, speakers at an international conference in Hague have demanded international recognition of the Bangladesh genocide that took place during March-December 1971.

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The demand came during an international conference titled, 'Bangladesh: Justice after genocide' held at Leiden University in the Hague on Thursday. It was organized by Europe based Bangladeshi diaspora organization European Bangladesh Forum (EBF) in collaboration with the Leiden University UNICEF Student Team the Hague and SESA (Southeast and South Asian) Club by CIROS (Community of International Relations and Organisations Students).

A total of around 72 participants, mostly university students from different universities in the Netherlands joined the conference. They took part in the discussion during the two Q and A sessions. (ANI)

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Beijing [China], March 26 (ANI): Shortly after the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration made an announcement about the death of all 132 people in the China Eastern Airlines plane crash, the Boeing company expressed grief at it.

"Following the CAAC's announcement a short time ago, we extend our deepest condolences for the loss of those on board China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and crew, their families and all those affected by this accident," the aerospace company said.

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"Boeing will continue to support our airline customers during this difficult time. In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB and the Civil Aviation Administration of China who will lead the investigation," the company added.

All 132 people on board the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed on Monday afternoon in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have been confirmed dead, official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday, citing official sources.

Also Read | China Plane Crash Update: All 132 People on Board The Boeing 737 That Crashed in Guangxi Declared Dead.

The flight MU5735 had 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China updated on its website.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines took off from Kunming to reach the destination Guangzhou but in between, the plane 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. (ANI)

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Washington, Mar 26 (AP) A District of Columbia judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Washington Post politics reporter who said the newspaper discriminated against her as a woman and victim of sexual assault.

Felicia Sonmez sued the Post in July, saying the paper had barred her from reporting on sexual misconduct after she spoke publicly about her own experiences. The lawsuit filed in a district Superior Court named former top editor Marty Baron and five other editors for violating the district's Human Rights Act.

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The Post lifted its ban on Sonmez reporting on sexual misconduct in March 2021.

In his ruling on Thursday, Judge Anthony Epstein noted that the Post argued it took action against Sonmez because of her public statements, to avoid the appearance or perception of bias. That, he said, did not violate the law.

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A news publication has a constitutionally protected right to adopt and enforce policies intended to protect public trust in its impartiality and objectivity, he wrote.

Sonmez's lawyer, Sundeep Hora, said in an email, We are disappointed in the court's reasoning and plan to appeal the decision. Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti declined to comment.

Sonmez had said the Post barred her from writing about Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, and that she was later taken off other stories. In her complaint, she said one editor told her that it would present the appearance of a conflict of interest' for her to report on sexual misconduct.

Sonmez's lawsuit said she suffered humiliation, emotional distress, and physical pain from grinding her teeth at night because of the newspaper's actions. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Male, Mar 26 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived here on Saturday as part of his five-day two-nation visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to explore the possibilities of further expansion of bilateral engagements with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

Jaishankar was received by Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid at the Male airport.

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"Arrived in Maldives to a warm welcome by FM @abdulla_shahid. Looking forward to my talks with him this evening. #IndiaMaldives special partnership poised to deepen further," the minister tweeted.

During his stay in the Maldives, Jaishankar will inaugurate a number of India-supported projects and firm up several agreements to further bolster bilateral cooperation.

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Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said during his visit to the Maldivian city of Addu from March 26 to March 27, Jaishankar will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with Foreign Minister Shahid.

"The external affairs minister's visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security," the MEA said in a statement.

The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

Jaishankar will visit Sri Lanka from March 28 to March 30.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in the prime minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First," the MEA said. PTI

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Washington, March 26: G7 nations have condemned the continued testing of ballistic missiles by North Korea, including the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch conducted on Thursday (Local Time), said a US State Department joint statement. "We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union strongly condemn the continued testing of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch conducted on March 24, 2022," the statement read.

The Foreign Ministers urged the DPRK to fully comply with all legal obligations arising from the relevant Security Council resolutions. They called on the DPRK to accept the repeated offers of dialogue put forward by all parties concerned, including the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. North Korea Tests Long-Range Intercontinental Ballistic Missile .

The ministers while touching upon the risk of mass destruction weapons said, "We call on all States to fully and effectively implement all restrictive measures relating to the DPRK imposed by the UN Security Council and to address the risk of weapons of mass destruction proliferation from the DPRK as an urgent priority." Notably, India and South Korea also condemned the test of a long-range ballistic missile by the DPRK.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Male, Mar 26 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday commended the Maldives' government for implementing its USD-100 million 'climate adaptation' project, promising his counterpart Abdulla Shahid Indian support through credit, grants and development projects.

"I would like to take this opportunity to commend both the governments (India and Maldives) and the people of Maldives for their efforts and ambition in the area of climate change. India stands ready to share its capabilities with the Maldives. We have already engaged in the development of water and sanitation facilities in 34 islands," Jaishankar said at a joint press appearance with the Maldives Foreign Minister.

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"But apart from extending basic civic amenities to island communities, the project - which is one of the largest climate adaptive measures going on in the Maldives at a cost of USD 100 million - I think is very noteworthy," he said.

The 'climate adaptation' project aims to provide safe and secure freshwater to 105,000 people on the outer islands of the Maldives, in response to climate change-induced water shortages. Another key programme in it is the protection of 188 small, inhabited, low-lying islands of Maldives - which are highly vulnerable to severe weather events.

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Jaishankar arrived in Male earlier in the evening as part of his five-day two-nation visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to explore the possibilities of further expansion of bilateral engagements with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

(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 26 (ANI): As Bangladesh remembers the victims of 'Operation Searchlight', Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) has urged the US and the international community to recognize the 1971 genocide of Bangladeshis by Pakistan and take immediate action against it.

In a virtual press conference on Thursday, the HRCBM called for immediate steps to bring to trial the 195 current and former members of the Pakistan Army, who were recorded as being responsible for the genocide.

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The press conference was hosted by noted Journalist Adelle Nazarian and included a statement by Lemkin Institute's Elisa von Joeden-Forgey and Irene Massimino.

"We at the Lemkin Institute wish to extend our apologies that we cannot be there with you today. Despite our absence, we want to underscore our commitment to all Bangladeshis to work for the global recognition of the 1971 genocide. We believe that recognition of past genocide is critical to the cause of social justice, sustainable peace, and the prevention of future genocides," the statement read.

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The Pakistan Army turned entire Bangladesh into a killing field with its indiscriminate killing, torture of innocent people and unprecedented scale of rapes for nine months.

That was the kickoff of one of the biggest genocides in the world, led by General Yahya Khan of Pakistan, causing the biggest ever humanitarian catastrophe after World War II. They killed 30 lakh people and violated two lakh women and children. Freedom fighters and researchers claim that still, many mass graves in the district and upazila levels remain unidentified.

Speakers of the conference, which included Priya Saha Executive Director HRCBM and Dhiman Deb Chowdhury President of HRCBM, emphasized that war crimes, if left unrecognized and unpunished, only lead to more aggression and suffering.

Priya Saha urged lawmakers at Capitol Hill to formally condemn the genocide perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and their collaborators in Bangladesh (former East Pakistan), from March 1971 to December 1971. She urged elected officials to condemn statements, actions and policies that deny or question that the massacres during 'Operation Searchlight' constituted a genocide.

Quoting a 2012 case study by Jessica Lee Rehman of California University, 2012, Priya termed rape in 1971 in Bangladesh as an "instance of pure terrorism".

She highlighted the work Australian doctor Geoffrey Davis who was brought to Dhaka by the United Nations to assist with late-term abortions of raped women in May 1971.

While Dhiman Deb Chowdhury requested the White House and the State Department to recognize the death of the nearly 3 million people, mostly Hindus, killed or executed by the Pakistan Army, along with individuals who endured pain and suffering in 1971, as well as foreign nationals from other countries of the region, who risked or lost their lives.

During the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, the Pakistan military deliberately harmed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi citizens. Rights group says the horrors of 1971 are considered one of the worst mass atrocities in history.

The damage they inflicted can be described in the following numbers-- as many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 2,00,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Male, Mar 26 (PTI) Describing the "time-tested" relationship between India and the Maldives as a "force for stability" in the region, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that the shared responsibility of the two countries is to nurture and strengthen it.

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, Jaishankar also said the bilateral relationship is poised for a quantum jump to touch the lives of the people of the two countries like never before.

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"This is a partnership that tackles common challengesIt is a force for stability in the region. It is our shared responsibility to nurture and strengthen it, said Jaishankar, who arrived here earlier in the day as part of his five-day two-nation visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka to explore the possibilities of further expansion of bilateral engagements with the two key maritime neighbours of India.

The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years.

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kyiv, Mar 26 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.

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Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.

Rudskoi's statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still haven't been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city. (AP)

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Washington [US], March 26 (ANI): The United States has cancelled its planned meetings with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar and sees its refusal to allow girls to return to schools as a potential turning point in engagement with the group, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said during a press briefing on Friday (Local Time).

The planned talks with the Taliban were set to address key economic issues.

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"On cancelled meetings in Doha. That's correct. We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and around the Doha forum and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement," Porter said during a press briefing, reported Sputnik.

Notably, as the new school year begins in Afghanistan, the Taliban has announced that the boys can continue their education, however, the doors of the schools will be closed to girls beyond the sixth grade.

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Dozens of students have rallied in Kabul on Friday to protest the Taliban's decision to block girls' schools. A number of protestors chanted slogans against the Taliban. One of the slogans said, "No religion has blocked education and the ban on educating girls is blatant gender discrimination."

Condemning the Taliban's decision not to reopen secondary schools to Afghan girls, the United States and its allies have called on the group to revoke its decision. A joint statement issued by Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union has condemned the Taliban's decision on Wednesday to deny so many Afghan girls the opportunity to finally go back to school. (ANI)

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Accra, Mar 26 (AP) West African leaders on Friday said they would uphold the regional sanctions imposed on Mali in January after its military leaders said they would stay in power for four more years instead of holding an election in February.

The regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS made the decision during a summit in Ghana's capital Accra, where they also discussed the situations in other coup affected member states including Burkina Faso and Guinea.

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Sanctions imposed on Mali in January suspended most commerce and financial aid to the country and included land and air border closures with other countries belonging to ECOWAS.

The African Economic and Monetary Union Court of Justice on Thursday ordered the suspension of those sanctions after Mali's leaders filed a legal complaint against them, saying they would severely affect Malians.

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However, ECOWAS President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said after the closed-door meetings that it was the only authority that could lift such sanctions.

The sanctions, he said, were imposed and must be respected by all countries in the region. He reiterated that ECOWAS leaders wanted an 18 to 24-month timeline to return the country to civilian rule.

After overthrowing Mali's democratically elected president in August 2020, coup leader Col. Assimi Goita had promised to swiftly return the country to democratic rule.

Doubts deepened about his intentions, though, after he effectively launched a second coup nine months later, forcing out the chosen transitional civilian leaders and becoming president himself.

The junta led by Goita, which had initially agreed to hold a new election in February, said in January that new elections would instead by held in 2026, giving Goita four more years in power.

The regional leaders on Friday also called for the immediate release of Burkina Faso's former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore who has been under house arrest in the capital Ouagadougou since Burkina Faso's military seized power in a coup in January.

The junta has vowed to secure Burkina Faso from growing jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that's killed thousands and displaced more than 1.5 million people.

Brou said that the leaders called for his immediate release without condition. The West African leaders also rejected a 36-month transition proposal by the junta ruling Burkina Faso, saying it must be reviewed.

ECOWAS leaders gave Burkina Faso a one-month timeline to come up with what it called an acceptable plan for a transition.

Regarding Guinea, Brou said the situation in that country had seen some progress, but some key elements have become a source of worry to the leaders of ECOWAS.

Guinean leaders who took power in a coup in September had promised to hand over power to a democratically elected government in six months which has passed, he said.

They have since then, not come up with any timeline to hold elections and this is creating uncertainties in the country and the regio, Brou added.

Accordingly, he said the authorities have been given up to April 25, this year to come out with a timeline to hold elections or will face sanctions.

Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso are three of the 15 countries in the ECOWAS bloc are currently suspended because of military coups. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 26 (ANI): The renaming of Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office YouTube channel has triggered speculation that the beleaguered Imran Khan may step down as Prime Minister at the public rally called by him in Islamabad on Sunday.

The rally is a show of strength by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the opposition is geared up for a no-trust vote in the National Assembly to oust his government. Imran Khan faces mounting economic and social challenges as his government battles corruption allegations levelled by the opposition.

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The change in the YouTube channel's name on Saturday has raised eyebrows. The channel had a verified tick when it was named Prime Minister's Office and has now been renamed 'Imran Khan'.

Imran Khan has been hard-hitting in his counter-offensive at the opposition terming Pakistan oppositions "dacoits" and has urged people to come in large numbers to Islamabad's Parade Ground on March 27.

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"I want my people to come to Parade Ground tomorrow, tomorrow we will show a sea of people!" PTI said in a tweet referring to Imran Khan.

The political challenges have mounted for Imran Khan even as his government is negotiating with IMF on USD 6 billion rescue package and battling unemployment and price rise.

The no-confidence motion was submitted by opposition parties on March 8 after the PPP's long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan.

As the crucial no-confidence motion session inches closer and uncertainty continues to shroud political alliances, at least fifty ministers belonging to the ruling party have gone 'missing' from the political front, Express Tribune said on Friday citing sources.

More than 50 of the federal and provincial ministers have not been seen in public since the opposition began stacking up perils against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the report said.

Imran Khan had on Wednesday said he will not "resign under any circumstances" amid mounting pressure from the opposition.

"I will not resign under any circumstance. I will play till the last ball and I will surprise them a day before as they are still under pressure. My trump card is that I have not laid any of my cards yet," he had said.

Najam Sethi, a Pakistani journalist, said that Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give on Sunday and his 'mind games" are meant for the military establishment and the judiciary for "positive" results.

"Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give tomorrow. He is playing "mind games" (big jalsas, good vs evil, high moral ground, etc) of which he is a self-confessed master! These "mind games" are meant to prey on the Miltablishment and Judiciary for "positive" results!" Sethi said in a tweet.

According to Geo News, Khan had said earlier this week that he had good relations with the military. But Pakistan army seems to have lost trust in Khan over his stance leading to a stand-off over the appointment of the intelligence agency's - ISI chief.

The Pakistani National Assembly has 342 members and Imran Khan needs the support of 172 members to prove his majority.

The PTI led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members - PTI (155 members) and four major allies MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively.

Imran Khan and his party members are trying every trick under their sleeves to avert turmoil.

After the move of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan's government got deferred to March 28 in the National Assembly, his party has intensified its efforts to woo its allies.

Opposition parties have said that Khan, who had come to power on the slogan of fighting corruption, was "found hiding crucial information" from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding foreign funding case.

According to News International, The State Bank of Pakistan's documents handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the PTI foreign funding case show that information about transactions worth more than USD 2 million dollars from 14 different foreign countries and hundreds of millions rupees' local transactions into the party's bank accounts was not provided to the ECP authorities.

The report said the documents also show that Imran Khan's PTI received USD 29,800 donations in 2013 from a businesswoman and her Pakistani American husband but their donation was also concealed from the ECP. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhopal, March 26: After a video of a hijab-clad Muslim girl purportedly offering namaz inside a college classroom in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media, the university administration has ordered a probe into the matter.

As per sources, the incident occurred in Dr Harisingh Gour University (HGU), a Central varsity, in Sagar district. In the viral video, a burqa/hijab-clad girl could be seen purportedly offering namaz inside a classroom. Karnataka Hijab Row: Refusing to Let Girls Go to School in Hijabs Horrifying, Says Malala Yousafzai.

After the video surfaced on media, members of the Hindu Jagran Manch reached the university campus and staged a protest, raising 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans and reciting Hanuman Chalisa at a temple located on the campus. They later handed over a memorandum to the university administration demanding action against the girl student.

Kapil Swami, a member of Hindu Jagran Manch, claimed that namaz was deliberately offered inside the classroom on Friday.

"It was a deliberate act carried out on the behest of some faculty members of the university. We have demanded that punitive action be taken against those who helped the girl offer namaz," Swami said.

Neelima Gupta, Vice Chancellor of HGU, has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

"A five-member committee has been constituted to look into the matter. The committee will submit its report within three days, and further action will be taken based on this report. We have asked all the students to follow their religious practices outside the university campus," Gupta said.

The Karnataka High Court had recently ordered restricting the wearing of hijab in educational institutions in the state, deeming it not an "essential religious practice" in Islam. On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused urgent hearing of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 26, 2022 08:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Rhode Island, pay attention: Your favorite film is apparently Hachi: A Dogs Tale.

A map posted on Reddit earlier this week charts the most popular film set in each state, and some results are surprising, especially for the nations smallest state.

Based on a true story, Hachi debuted in 2009, starring Richard Gere and Joan Allen. It follows a college professor who adopts an abandoned dog with a penchant for waiting at train stations.

The map was compiled using ratings on the Internet Movie Database and Hachi " received an 8.2 out of 10. But it doesnt exactly have the same blockbuster status as Dumb and Dumber, which also takes place in Rhode Island.

There are results that make perfect sense. The most popular film set in Nevada, for instance, is Casino, and the top-rated film set in Nebraska is Nebraska.

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In the rankings, classic films were at no disadvantage. The most popular film in Washington, D.C., is Frank Capras Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jimmy Stewart as filibustering Sen. Jefferson Smith. It beat out several other iconic (and more contemporary) movies set in the nations capital, including All the Presidents Men. The same goes for the highest-ranked film in Connecticut, Bringing up Baby, a 1938 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant that topped newer release Revolutionary Road.

Only one film was the top-rated in two states. According to the IMDB rankings, the Coen brothers 1996 film Fargo was the most popular film set in both North Dakota and Minnesota.

Think your state deserves to be represented by a better film? Sound off below or @danielrothberg.

ALSO:

Its The Simpsons -- in Lego form

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Twitter: @danielrothberg

daniel.rothberg@latimes.com


A video that surfaced online showed the final moments of an aircraft involved in the Texas helicopter crash on Friday that killed at least two.

The video was uploaded by Intel Point Alert on Twitter, claiming that the tragedy occurred in Rowlett, Texas.

#BREAKING: Fatal helicopter crash caught on camera in Rowlett, Texas#Rowlett l #TX

Footage shows the aircraft spiraling towards the ground before erupting into flames. The pilot has been pronounced deceased.

FAA investigators are on the scene.

pic.twitter.com/OmreDTBpjz  Intel Point ALERT (@IntelPointAlert) March 25, 2022

The horrifying video showed that the helicopter suddenly spiraled into the open sky, and the rotor blades stopped its movement mid-air before it hit the ground. The aircraft landed on an area that was not visible in the video due to the house that blocked the view of the camera.

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Texas Crash: Helicopter Went Ablaze After Hitting the Ground

According to Dallas Morning News, the Texas helicopter crash happened around 11:40 a.m. at the 2200 block of Lakeview Parkway, near Grisham Drive.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that the Texas crash occurred around 11:30 a.m., according to Independent.

Rowlett Police Department claimed that the helicopter was on fire following the crash. Eyewitness Joseph Kasper told WFAA on Friday that the helicopter crashed 40 miles away from the mechanic shop where he was working.

Kasper added that the helicopter was still hovering over the Texas skies when the tail rotor appeared to break while it was still mid-air.

Meanwhile, another witness, Fabio Sanches Jelezoglo, claimed that he also saw the tail of the helicopter come off when the aircraft was heading straight into the land.

Kasper further noted that other witnesses tried to respond to the scene and put out the fire on the aircraft. According to Fox News, firefighters also reported at the scene. They were able to put out the blaze on the helicopter.

News footage also showed that the crash site and the wreckage caused by the helicopter have been surrounded by tents erected by emergency responders.

Authorities are still not able to determine the cause of the Texas helicopter crash. WFAA noted that the helicopter was owned by a North Texas-based company, Sky Helicopters, per Dallas Morning News.

Texas Helicopter Crash Death Toll

At least two people died following the Texas helicopter crash in Rowlett on Friday. Dallas Morning News mentioned that the authorities from the FAA initially confirmed to WFAA that the pilot was the only person on board and the only casualty following the incident.

Two persons died in the Rowlett Texas helicopter crash today at 11:30 a.m. The FAA and NTSB are the lead investigating agencies  Rowlett Police Department (@Rowlett_PD) March 25, 2022

However, Rowlett Police Department confirmed that another person died following the crash. The police did not mention if the second victim was also on board the helicopter.

The identities of the victims were also not disclosed by the officials.

The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the crash. Independent noted that NTSB will lead the probe.

Rowlett Police have re-opened Grisham drive after emergency personnel cleared the helicopter crash site.  Rowlett Police Department (@Rowlett_PD) March 25, 2022

The Rowlett Police Department later confirmed that they have reopened Grisham drive and that the emergency personnel have already cleared off the Texas helicopter crash site.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Helicopter Crash in Rowlett Captured on Cellphone Video - From WFAA
WWE icon Triple H has opened up about his retirement from the professional wrestling industry, saying he never plans to enter the ring again.

Triple H noted that he will be stepping out of the ring after suffering a cardiac event last year. He was interviewed by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, according to a KTLA News report.

Triple H said that there were moments where the doctors are "putting you out for stuff," and he would think if he would wake up from that.

He became emotional and said that it was tough to swallow.

Triple H, whose real name is Paul Michael Levesque, said that he first contracted viral pneumonia and started to cough up blood, which pushed him to seek medical attention.

He made his professional entry in the ring in 1992 against Flying Tony Roy, under the name Terry Ryzing. He has headlined several major WWE pay-per-view events, which included the company's flagship annual event, WrestleMania.

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Triple H Net Worth 2022

The professional wrestler and actor have a net worth of $150 million, which is a combined net worth with his wife, according to a Celebrity Net Worth site.

Levesque has also served as the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative at WWE since 2013.

He is also the founder of NXT, which is an offshoot WWE brand.

Triple H has a salary of $2.9 million, with his source of income coming from WWE, professional wrestling, acting, and other business ventures.

He has charities such as Triple H Trust, Connor's Cure, Make-A-Wish, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The majority of his net worth can be traced back to the time period from 2012 and 2016, when he earned $15 million.

His earnings make him one of the top paid Celebrities of WWE.

Triple H has a salary of $3.2 million in 2018, which is a significant improvement over his salary of $2.8 million in 2016, according to a Sportskeeda report.

He receives a basic salary of $1 million as a wrestler, with the rest of his salary can be accounted to him as the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Talents and Live Events for WWE.

Triple H has a residential mansion near Weston, Connecticut, reportedly valued at around $2.8 million.

He also owns a private jet, which is valued at around $8.9 million.

Triple H Personal Life

He got married to Stephanie McMahon, who is the heir of the WWE company and daughter of Vince McMahon.

It was done initially as part of a storyline, which later on turned to a real-life as well. The two got married in 2003, and the couple has lasted through the years.

McMahon is a chief brand officer of WWE and the on-screen commissioner of Raw. She is estimated to be worth around $77 million to $79 million, which makes her one of the richest women in the U.S.

READ MORE: Tom Brady Retirement: 4 Biggest Controversies Patriots, Buccaneers Star Faced During His Career

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Triple H tells Stephen A. about a serious health scare & his future in the WWE | Stephen A.'s World - from ESPN






A spokesperson from the White House reiterated that the federal government will not send U.S. troops to Ukraine after President Joe Biden sounded the other way in his latest gaffe during his speech in Poland.

According to The Daily Mail, Biden mentioned a statement "when you're there" while he was speaking to the paratroopers in Poland, suggesting that the soldiers will be sent to Ukraine's borders.

When asked by Fox News about Biden's latest gaffe on Friday, a White House spokesperson reiterated that the Biden administration's stance on the U.S. troops concerning Ukraine remains the same.

"The president has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position," the spokesperson underscored.

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Joe Biden's Latest Gaffe

The comments from the White House spokesperson came as Biden spoke to the U.S. troops from the 82nd airborne division in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, according to New York Post.

The outlet reported that the president claimed that the paratroopers will witness the bravery of Ukrainians fighting off Russians when they are in Ukraine.

"You're going to see when you're there, and some of you have been there, you're gonna see - you're gonna see women, young people standing in the middle in front of a damned tank just saying, 'I'm not leaving, I'm holding my ground," Biden underscored.

Biden's latest gaffe is in contrast to his previous statement regarding the sending of the U.S. in the war-torn country.

The president persistently claimed that U.S. troops would not be sent to Ukraine, under any circumstance, during Vladimir Putin's invasion, The Daily Mail noted.

As of March 17, there were at least 100,000 U.S. troops in Europe to strengthen the defenses of the countries under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The said number is higher compared to the 80,000 troops stationed in the region in January, per Fox News.

Earlier this week, a senior U.S. defense official also claimed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is also weighing on deploying additional U.S. troops in NATO's eastern part as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues.

Joe Biden's Other Gaffe During Europe Trip

It was not the first time that Joe Biden made a gaffe during his trip in Europe.

On Thursday, New York Post noted that President Joe Biden claimed that the U.S.' response to Russian troops utilizing chemical weapons would depend on how Putin's forces would use them.

The president also gathered attention when he claimed that the U.S. would respond "in-kind" if the Russian forces resorted to such kind of tactic.

Biden made his comments during his 19-minute press conference in Belgium.

On Friday, U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan explained the "in-kind" remark President Biden stated on Thursday.

Sullivan pointed out that Joe Biden's words were not a threat of using chemical weapons against Russia. He also noted that the United States will not use that method "under any circumstance."

READ NEXT: Mexico: New U.S. Border Rule on Asylum Claims Raises Fears of Quick Deportation

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Ukraine's Expectations for President Biden's Europe Trip - From CBS News
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reintroduced the bipartisan Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act to increase opportunities for families living in poverty. The bill aligns and links existing systems and funding streams to target both parents and children with support aimed at increasing economic security, educational success, social capital, and the health and wellbeing of whole families.

READ NEXT: Heinrich, Murkowski Applaud House Passage Of Bipartisan Legislation To Safeguard Tribal Items

"The economy is on the up and up again thanks to historic legislation like the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Right now is a key moment in our nation's history where we can truly open the doors for all American families - especially in New Mexico - to escape poverty and access the economic opportunities that are popping up across the country," said Heinrich. "In New Mexico, I've seen firsthand just how effective a two-generation approach can be. Just recently I met with local education leaders that are providing parents with childcare services so that parents can finish out their degrees. It's this type of approach that makes financial security accessible for both parents and children simultaneously. I'm proud that Senator Collins has been by my side in this fight and look forward to the continued bipartisan momentum of this legislation."

"Millions of American families are living below the poverty line, and the prolonged public health and economic crisis has exacerbated this problem. While federal programs have helped many of those living in poverty manage day-to-day hardships, they are falling short of breaking the cycle of poverty that has trapped too many families," said Collins. "Connecting various federal programs that target both parents and children with supports aimed at increasing economic security, educational success, social capital, and health and wellbeing has the potential to lift whole families out of poverty. I urge my colleagues to support this innovative approach to moving families out of poverty by giving them the tools they need to succeed."

The Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act is the product of a multi-year collaborative effort to balance the interests and input of a broad array of stakeholders, including Ascend at the Aspen Institute, Central New Mexico Community College, and New Mexico Voices for Children. The legislation is also supported by the Maine Community Action Partnership and the Maine Head Start Directors Association.

A previous version of Senators Heinrich and Collins' legislation included two provisions that have since been signed into law. These provisions include a request for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to issue a report exploring the potential for two-generation pilots, collaboration areas, and federal funding opportunities, and a new program administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury to implement Social Impact Partnerships to improve the effectiveness of social services.

"The well-being of families is the strongest signal of the state of our country. Senator Heinrich's and Senator Collins' bi-partisan leadership on the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act is a significant step toward making family prosperity a reality for all our families. Ascend at the Aspen Institute has been working closely with more than 450 organizations and our Ascend Fellows for a decade to spark and spread two-generation approaches in New Mexico, Maine, and communities across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. We have learned from the research and the lived experiences of families with low incomes that supporting children and their parents together simultaneously can make a tangible impact in creating a legacy of economic mobility and educational success that passes across generations." said Anne Mosle, Vice President at the Aspen Institute and Executive Director of Ascend.

"On behalf of Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), we support and appreciate the goals of the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act being proposed by Senator Martin Heinrich," said Tracy Hartzler, President of Central New Mexico Community College. "In recent years, CNM has been focused on launching education programs and services that support the success of parents and their children. We have seen the promise of these multi-generational approaches, which can be very effective in putting low-income families on a trajectory for a more prosperous and healthier future. We are encouraged by this legislation and the potential it has to improve the wellbeing of families, which also benefits communities and economies."

"We know that families do best when many needs are met at once, when we attend to the entire family and hierarchy of needs, in the order requested, and for as long as they are needed. Our Community Action programs are centered around that -family first - and we wrap and tailor our services around the family, who drives the services to meet their needs," said Donna Kelley, President of Maine Community Action Partnership and President and CEO of Waldo Community Action Partners. "We welcome the opportunity to do more impactful work with funding that is meant for this inclusive and family driven program, while also braiding other funds, as we do now, to meet community needs."

"Senator Collins has visited our agency on a number of occasions and heard directly from the families we serve about how the comprehensive services we offer, using the Two-Generation/Whole Family approach, are making a profound impact on moving families in our County and state to be more economically secure and self-sufficient," said Jason Parent, Executive Director and CEO of Aroostook County Action Program. "She has also heard from our outstanding team members how challenging this work can be in terms of making it fit with program funders and government requirements about the specific use of federal funds. The Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act will help address these challenges and allow more of this work to flourish across Maine and nationally."

"Knowing that this bill seeks to increase opportunities for families living in poverty through programs targeting both parents and children with support aimed at increasing economic security, educational success, social capital, and health and wellbeing, our association is in full support," said Cristina Salois, Chair of Maine Head Start Directors Association. "The actions within this bill promote all aspects of the Head Start mission and we welcome this bill into legislative process."

Specifically, the Two-Generation Economic Empowerment Act would:

Coordinate Federal Efforts to Assist in the Development and Implementation of Two-Generation Programs

Codify the Council on Economic Mobility at the Department of Health and Human Services to create a national focus on multigenerational poverty by facilitating coordinated efforts across multiple agencies and departments. This interagency collaboration will align and link fragmented systems and funding streams, resulting in holistic approaches that simultaneously address the needs of children and their parents or guardians. The Council brings together designees from multiple agencies and departments, including: Office of Management and Budget; Department of Agriculture; Department of Education; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of Justice; Department of Labor; Department of Transportation; Department of the Treasury; Department of Veterans; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Corporation for National and Community Service; Domestic Policy Council; National Economic Council; Council on Economic Advisors; White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership; and Social Security Administration.



Increase Flexibility for States, Local Governments and Tribes to Develop Programs That Best Meet Their Needs

Two-Generation Performance Partnerships: Federal, state, and local governments will have the ability to test innovative ways of using federal resources by allowing increased flexibility in blending discretionary funds across multiple federal programs in exchange for greater accountability in achieving two-generation outcomes.

Increase Opportunities for Families in Need by Funding Projects that Work

Successful Two-Generation Programs have the potential to lift families out of poverty by using evidence-based strategies. Examples of this approach include:

Extending the hours for career services and childhood development programs for students who have young children to better match parents' schedules.

Expanding home visiting programs to offer information on education, workforce training, and employment opportunities.

Providing access for low-income students who have young children to career services and childhood development programs through their schools.

Creating partnerships between private, state, and community colleges and universities with government and non-profit organizations to provide services for low-income students who have young children.

Allowing programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start to partner with organizations that help the parents of low-income children to further their education and receive job training.

A section-by-section of the bill is available here and a copy of the full bill text is available here.

READ MORE: Heinrich Welcomes White House Announcement on Russian Energy Imports Ban
After nearly four months as an inmate in the San Mateo County jail, convicted murderer Scott Peterson is heading back to San Quentin State Prison.

During the hearing on Friday, Peterson's camp asked that he be transferred back to San Quentin until the parties return to court in late June as they had trouble communicating with one another when he's inside the county jail, according to Modesto Bee.

Peterson's attorney Pat Harris told San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo that contacting Peterson by phone at the San Mateo County jail had been challenging.

He noted that phone calls were restricted to the 30-minute window each day that Peterson is allowed out of his cell, leaving no time for him to do other things like a shower.

Since he will be back at his Southern California office until the next hearing, Harris said he needs more frequent phone conversations and Zoom meetings with his client that are more readily available at San Quentin, Mercury News reported.

Massullo then agreed that Peterson should be transferred back to the state prison before the June 29 hearing. The judge told Harris that she knew that this was "an important time" for him to have access to his client, so "he's to be transported back to San Quentin."

Massullo also Peterson's attorneys and Stanislaus County prosecutors to submit written arguments by May 25 and reply briefs by June 9. Both parties will return to court on June 29 to provide oral arguments before the judge takes the case under submission for a later decision.

Scott Peterson was moved from San Quentin to San Mateo County jail last November for his evidentiary hearing.

READ NEXT: Scott Peterson Resentenced to Life Imprisonment Over 2002 Murder of Wife Laci Peterson

Scott Peterson Evidentiary Hearing

Scott Peterson's request to be transferred back to the state prison happened amid an evidentiary hearing, where he attempts to convince the judge to overturn his 2004 murder conviction and grant him a new trial.

Peterson's attorneys and Stanislaus County prosecutors both rested their cases Friday. In seeking to overturn his conviction, Peterson argued that one of the 12 jurors who convicted him in 2004 lied when she did not disclose that she had been involved in a pair of domestic violence episodes.

In the previous hearings, Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, maintained that she was not biased and did not lie about her past to become a juror on the case.

She testified earlier that she had never been a victim of domestic violence. She said she was the one who had been the aggressor in a fight with her ex-boyfriend a couple of years ago before she even filled out a jury questionnaire and was picked to become a juror.

Nice is accused of "prejudicial misconduct" for not disclosing that she was the victim of domestic violence and had sought a restraining order in 2000 for fears that her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend would be a threat to her unborn baby.

Peterson's lawyers claimed that Nice had kept the details of her personal life that could have been a conflict during his initial trial.

In seeking a restraining order against her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend while she was pregnant in 2000, Nice said she "really fears for her unborn child" due to threats from the woman.

But she later tried to clarify that her fears were about the potential for a fight that could result in losing her child and not a "genuine fear" that someone would actually hurt her child with any specific intent aimed toward the kid.

"She didn't threaten my baby," Nice noted, referring to her former boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.

According to Peterson's lawyers, the 2000 case is relevant to whether Nice was accurate when she filled out the juror questionnaire. They questioned Nice about stating "no" in the questionnaire whether she had "ever been involved in a lawsuit."

They reminded her that the 2000 matter, in technicality, was a lawsuit. But the former juror said she did not know her request for a protection order qualified as a lawsuit, and she "made amends" with the woman she accused and dropped her appeal.

Nice also insisted that she was truthful on the jury questionnaire despite answering improperly.

Scott Peterson Murder Case

Scott Peterson was first convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder concerning his wife, Laci Peterson, and of second-degree murder of their unborn son, Conner. He was sentenced to death in 2005.

The 49-year-old suspect remained on death row until 2020 when the California Supreme Court had overturned his death sentence after finding that Peterson's jury was improperly screened for bias against the death penalty.

In its ruling, the California Supreme Court said a judge would decide the matter in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Massullo now has the authority to overturn the suspect's conviction and grant him a retrial. After the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing, the judge has 90 days to decide if she will grant Peterson's request for a new trial.

Scott Peterson was arrested in La Jolla, California on April 18, 2003 - the same day the two decomposed bodies washed ashore in the San Francisco Bay were identified as Laci Peterson and Conner.

Investigators discovered that Peterson was having an affair with massage therapist Amber Frey at the time of his wife's disappearance.

Frey told investigators that Scott Peterson told her that he was not married, and she admitted that they had a romantic relationship. Prosecutors argued that the affair was Peterson's motive to kill his wife, allowing him to be with Frey.

READ MORE: Scott Peterson Wants a New Trial in His Murder Case

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Scott Peterson Juror Testifies in Court - From Good Morning America






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A request for information on a Laois woman who is missing for 28 years has been made on what should have been her happy 51st birthday.

Imelda Keenan from Mountmellick went missing in Waterford in 1994.

Missing Persons Helpline Ireland remembered Imelda on her birthday on March 24.

"It is Imelda Keenans birthday today, please keep her family in your thoughts Imelda went missing on 3 January 1994 after leaving her flat in William Street, Waterford. She left at 13:30hrs to go to the post office. She is 5ft 4in, of slim build with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white jumper, leopardskin ski pants, blue denim jacket and black shoes.

"If you have any information that could help the enquiry, please contact Garda at Waterford on 051 305 300 or if you prefer to remain anonymous please phone the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111.

Alternatively, please call the Missing Persons Helpline Ireland on 1800 442 552 or if you wish to remain anonymous, use their Help Bring Them Home confidential line 1800 911 999."

Her relatives and friends in Mountmellick also remembered the gentle and pretty girl who went to primary and secondary school in the town before moving to Waterford.

Mary Collins Dempsey said "Birthday prayers & blessings sent to Heaven today for Imelda," sharing this image.

Karolyne Hearne wrote:

"Where ever u are we are always thinking of u never giving up hope we will find u especially on ur birthday".
Dunamaise Arts Centre is so proud and humbled to host a beautiful exhibition of artworks by Ukrainian girl Sasha Britanova-Listratenko who has found refuge in Ireland after flee her homeland which his been invade by Russia on the orders of Vladimir Putin.

A journey of 3,000 kms from her war torn homeland to Co Laois started with a leap of faith for Sasha and her mum Iryna. The brave duo spent six nights in a bomb shelter before making their escape after getting a lift going to Ireland.

We travelled for five days to get here  it was a sudden decision. I was looking for the opportunity to go to an English-speaking country and I heard that there was a lift going to Ireland, said Iryna who arrived in Ireland just over a week ago.

They mother and daughter who is aged just seven, have left everything behind.

I left my parents, relatives, and my husband all back in the Ukraine. They cant leave their home, but it is not safe to stay in Ukraine- so I had to go with my daughter Sasha. I come from the East of Ukraine, and this is part of my country that is being bombed- the war started in my hometown of Kharkov, and it is being bombed every single day since.

"A lot of people have died already, including kids. We had to stay in a bomb shelter for six days and after that we were lucky to leave. When they started bombing houses, we left the city very early in the morning. We found some safe roads and drove to another part of the country where it was safe and where we heard about the lift to Ireland through the Red Cross. My parents worried about taking the lift, but we were assured that we would be safe, and this decision is what saved us, she said.

Iryna, who is staying with a family outside Abbeyleix, says she is still in a state of disarray since fleeing for their lives but very thankful to be here. She had heard of Ireland through her love of U2 before taking a chance to come here.

She is a fluent English speaker as well as Primary school teacher with a masters degree so the first thing she wants to do is to find a job teaching and accommodation for herself and Sasha.

"I dont feel comfortable here without a job as I don't have enough money with me so first I would like to find a job and a place to stay, she said. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Until then they have found a novel way to fundraise and give back to the Red Cross by selling prints of Sashas art. Sasha not only speaks English and plays the piano, but she is also an accomplished artist.

Sasha's paintings will go on display at Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise from Friday, March 18 until April 1 and all proceeds will go to the Red Cross to support their humanitarian efforts in war torn Ukraine.

When she was smaller, we noticed her gift for painting, said Iryna. She had a private teacher and has done some amazing pictures. This is a way for us to say thanks and to give back to those still in need in Ukraine."

Since their arrival, the local community has rallied around the pair since they arrived with a school place for Sasha at Raheen primary school as well as a free uniform and seat on the local bus.

Sasha is starting school here and I believe she will be ok as when she was only 3 years old, I took her to live in China where I worked for 5 years. She was surrounded by Chinese children at her nursery and had to learn to speak the language. She is more comfortable here in Ireland speaking English, she said.

Iryna still talks with her family every day since arriving in Ireland.

For now, they are in a safe place, and we can get in touch every day, she said. Sasha still cries every single day. She is only seven and she cries because her dad is staying in Ukraine. I tried to tell her that we will reunite again in the future, but nobody knows when, she said.

And as for Sasha, she already sees the similarities between her home country and Ireland telling her mum that both countries have 'a lot of goodness and kind-hearted people'.

Unframed prints of Sashas art will be available to buy from Tuesday 21 March, from Dunamaise Arts Centre, with all proceeds going to the Irish Red Cross. To enquire, please visit her exhibition where you can order a print directly, prices start at 10 but higher donations will be gladly accepted. To purchase a print over the phone or online, Email: info@dunamaise.ie, Tel: 057 8663355 or go to Dunamaise.ie. (Price of print may be subject to post & packaging where applicable).

Sasha's exhibition will be on display at Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise from Friday, March 18 until April 30.

Dunamaise Arts Centre wish to thank M&M Framing for kindly framing each piece in the exhibition, free of charge.
Tibet sees steady increase in endangered wildlife population

Xinhua) 15:55, March 26, 2022

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan antelopes are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Wang Zehao)

Tibetan wild donkeys are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan wild donkeys are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Kelsang Namgyai)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Tibetan antelopes are seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Kelsang Namgyai)

Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

A Tibetan wild donkey is seen in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 25, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

Aerial photo shows Tibetan wild donkeys in Nagqu of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 24, 2022. Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China has become an ideal habitat for wild animals over the years amid the region's thriving biodiversity protection endeavors.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. (Xinhua/Zhou Dixiao)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
A file prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by a garda was said to be of such poor quality that it was sent back.

That was according to Garda Sergeant Brian Jacob, during a case involving two juveniles who allegedly assaulted a man which was heard on Thursday, March 24, at Naas District Court.

He said: The DPP was displeased with the poor quality of the books of evidence in this trial, and sent them back.

However, Sgt Jacob assured Judge Desmond Zaidan that the two books would be ready for the next hearing.

Solicitor Tim Kennelly, who represented the two juveniles, sought a strike out for the case (and for it to be marked for re-entry), saying that the case has faced a number of delays since it was first brought to the courts attention last year.

He added that his clients were entirely prejudiced by this fact.

Despite this, Judge Zaidan maintained that the allegations were serious, and did not strike it out.

However, he added that he would mark it for entry against the State.

Judge Zaidan granted gardai eight more weeks to get both books of evidence ready, and added that he would use court discretion.
Leitrim people are being urged to support Cystic Fibrosis Irelands annual fundraising day, 65 Roses Day, taking place Friday, 8th April. The annual fundraising flag day  which derives its name from the way in which young children often first say the words "cystic fibrosis"  seeks to raise much-needed funds for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) services and sees the fundraising day of action return in full for the first time since 2019.

Volunteers will be out in force selling purple rose pins in towns and villages in Leitrim and the length and breadth of the country, as well as in participating Dunnes Stores, shopping centres and other outlets nationwide.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that primarily affects the lungs and the digestive system. Ireland has the highest incidence of CF in the world and some of the most severe types. There are more than 1,400 people living with CF in Ireland and the number is increasing each year as a result of improvements in treatment and care.

Speaking today ahead of 65 Roses Day, Philip Watt, Chief Executive of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, said: Cystic Fibrosis Ireland depends almost entirely on the public for the provision of its services and this 65 Roses Day is hoping to raise more than 350,000 for much-needed services for people with CF.

Funds raised on 65 Roses Day will go to provide exercise equipment, counselling sessions, and grants for people undergoing a transplant, fertility assessment or who have recently been bereaved. Funds also go to support cystic fibrosis research and the building of new CF hospital facilities and the funding of specialist CF staff.

Were calling on the people of Leitrim to show support for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland this year and to don purple to help raise much-needed funds for people in Leitrim living with CF.

65 Roses Challenge

Also supporting 65 Roses Day this year are Irish Olympians Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan OKeeffe, who are urging Leitrim people to go for purple and undertake a 65 Roses Challenge.

The husband-and-wife team are asking people to take up any 65-themed challenge  from walking 65,000 steps, to running 6.5K, or cycling 65K, the sky is the limit. Full details on the 65 Roses Challenge, or to donate, can be found at www.65Roses.ie

Leitrim people wishing to volunteer to help sell purple roses on 65 Roses Day in your workplace or local shopping centre, please contact Brendan on 01 4962433 or email fundraising@cfireland.ie
GARDAI have seized 700,000 of suspected heroin and arrested one man following a search operation on the outskirts of Limerick city.

As part of Operation Tara, planned searches were carried out on lands in the Ardnacrusha area.

The operation was let by members of the Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit who were assisted by local garda units, the Regional Dog Unit and members of the Defence Forces.

"In the course of the searches suspected heroin with an estimated value of 700k (analysis pending) was recovered," said a garda spokesperson.

A man, aged in his 60s, was arrested as part of the investigation and he is currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drugs Trafficking) Act, 1996, at Henry Street Garda station. He can be held for up to seven days.

The drugs will be forwarded to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis.

Gardai say investigations are ongoing and updates will follow.
MAYOR of Limerick, Cllr Daniel Butler has paid tribute to Dr Tony Holohan, who is stepping down from his role as chief medical officer.

He described Dr Holohan, who was born in Limerick, as one of Ireland's "true leaders", and a "figure of strength and comfort to our nation in face of one of our greatest challenges."

The doctor, who became chief medical officer in 2008, has become synonymous with Ireland's journey through the Covid-19 pandemic, making regular appearances in the media as the country fought against the coronavirus.

Educated at Monaleen National School, then Sexton Street CBS, Dr Holohan will take up a role as a professor of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity College in Dublin.

"There is no doubt the qualities he possessed are one's I see everyday among the people of Limerick. So it was of no surprise that a Limerick man stepped up to the challenge to become a figure of heroic qualities. We owe him a great debt of gratitude and we wish him every happiness as he moves on," the mayor added.

The news of Dr Holohan's departure from the Department of Health was confirmed in a statement yesterday afternoon by Minister Stephen Donnelly and Prof Linda Doyle, the provost of Trinity College Dublin.

Mr Donnelly said: "Since his appointment as chief medical officer in 2008, Dr Holohan has made a significant and lasting impact on health in Ireland. Throughout his time as CMO, Tony has used his public health leadership ability, alongside his many other skills and insights, to inform and influence decisions at the highest level in order to protect public health."

"Throughout the pandemic his invaluable advice to me, and to the Government has shaped our response to Covid-19, and I witnessed first-hand his unwavering dedication to protecting the health of the people of Ireland. He will play a critical role in applying his knowledge and skills to the development of the next generation of thinking and practice in public health, and I wish Tony all the best in this new and exciting chapter in his career," he added.

Prof Doyle added: "Trinity is here to make things better and the university has a long tradition of working with health services in this area. Dr Holohan has become a household name for his service to the country over the past two years but there is plenty that still needs to be done to protect Ireland from future pandemics. We're excited that he will be working with other academic colleagues in Trinity to learn the lessons of Covid and prepare for these future challenges."
With its ties with the U.S. shakier than in decades, Beijing is becoming wary that its alignment with Russia during the Ukraine crisis could also cost it a relationship that has sometimes functioned as a buffer in its contest with Washington: Europe.

For years, Chinese leaders have deployed a divide-and-conquer approach to Europe, enticing some nations such as Germany and those in Central and Eastern Europe with both market access to the worlds second-largest economy and greater Chinese investments in some of those countries.

The strategyalong with concerns over Beijings use of economic and other measures to punish countries running afoul of its interestshas bred growing distrust of Beijing in the European Union, but the bloc remains eager to find a middle way with China that allows it to sidestep Sino-U.S. tensions.

President Xi Jinpings decision to partner up with Russian President Vladimir Putin just weeks before Russias invasion of Ukraine could undercut the EUs willingness to work with China.

When China and the EU meet for a virtual summit April 1, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, plan to stand with the Biden administration in warning that Chinas relations with the bloc would suffer if it provides substantive assistance to Russia in its military assault in Ukraine, according to foreign-policy analysts in Europe.

At stake is one of the worlds biggest economic relationships, with bilateral trade of $828 billion in 2021and it is one that has become increasingly important to China as ties with the U.S. have deteriorated.

At the center of the business links is Chinas trade with the EUs powerhouse, Germany, which in 2021 marked Beijing as its No. 1 trade partner for the sixth consecutive year. Berlin continues to advocate for engagement with China, long after such calls vanished in Washington.

Those links have provided an outlet for Chinaone it can ill afford to lose now that the strategic rivalry with the U.S. has taken a possibly irreversible turn over its support of Russia.

To keep the relationship with Europe from falling off a cliff, Mr. Xi is expected to highlight the scope for cooperation between China and Europe during the summit, say foreign-policy experts close to the Chinese government. Much as he did with President Biden last week, Mr. Xi is also likely to seek to present China as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, the experts say, even as China sticks to its partnership with Russia to counter the U.S.-led West.

The Chinese leader is expected to advocate having Europe play a leading role in negotiations and emphasize Beijings plans to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

This could be the most political EU-China summit ever," said Noah Barkin, a Berlin-based analyst on Europe-China relations at Rhodium Group, a research firm. The idea of China as a partner to Europe would begin to crumble if China goes beyond its rhetorical support to Russia."

China was a topic in Mr. Bidens meetings with European leaders and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this week in Brussels, with NATO specifically calling out China over concerns about military assistance and disinformation supporting Russias narrative around the war.

During discussions Thursday evening, EU leaders and Mr. Biden agreed to convey to Beijing that its cooperation with Russia would come with a price, according to two European officials briefed on the talks.

Clearly the line we are going to push forward on April 1," one of the officials said.

Mr. Xi on Friday spoke with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in what Mr. Johnsons office described as an hourlong frank and candid" conversation that included Ukraine.

As with his earlier conversations with European leaders, Mr. Xi told Mr. Johnson that China is ready to play a constructive role" in facilitating a peaceful settlement to the Ukraine crisis, according to a statement from Chinas Foreign Ministry.

The last EU-China summit, in December 2020, ended with a far-reaching investment treaty between the two sides. Back then, four years of the Trump administration had soured Europes ties with Washington although Europe was already labeling Beijing a systemic rival as well as potential partner. Mr. Biden, taking office soon afterward, started a rapprochement with Brusselspart of his effort to work with allies to pressure China.

The investment treaty was thrown in a deep freeze as a result of Beijings blacklisting of European lawmakers, China experts and diplomats in response to selective EU sanctions on four Chinese officials for Beijings treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

Over the last two years, the EU gradually has been building up defensive tools to guard itself from Chinese economic pressure, including advanced efforts to prevent takeovers of EU firms by state-subsidized firms and to block subsidized foreign firms from winning EU government contracts.

It also has logged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Chinese retaliation against Lithuania, whose move last year to let Taiwan open a representative office there was followed by Beijings blocking of Lithuanian imports, including Lithuanian components of products from other EU countries.

Lithuania, which has close ties to Washington, was the first country to leave the 17+1 grouping which allowed smaller EU countries to meet directly with Chinese leaders. Others have said they may follow suit over Beijings heavy handed diplomatic pressure over Taiwan, a shift that could speed up were Beijing to side openly with Russia over Ukraine.

Ms. von der Leyen and Mr. Michel plan to tell Mr. Xi that Chinas posture toward Lithuania is an attack on the blocs single market. They might also raise concerns about a Chinese military threat to Taiwan, diplomats say.

To better coordinate their responses to China, Washington and Brussels have worked to reduce their own tensions. The last time Mr. Biden was in Brussels, in June, the two sides announced a truce in their 17-year fight over subsidies to Airbus SE and Boeing Co. and started a new forum, the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, to improve dialogue and coordination on emerging areas of concern, many prompted by China and its policies.

They have also established an EU-U.S. dialogue meant to identify and handle economic and political challenges posed by Beijing.

Such trans-Atlantic cooperation in recent months led to close coordination on possible sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, informed by the insights U.S. and European officials had gleaned about each others economic strengths and vulnerabilities.

Meanwhile, European business interests are anxious to not push China too far.

Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, said it is important for Europe not to present its message over Ukraine as a threat to China. Clearly a major concern among Chinese officials is that Europe is losing its independence and is being pushed further into the U.S. camp," Mr. Wuttke said.

In Europe, officials approach the issue differently.

Days after Moscow and Beijing signed a joint statement that criticized expansion of NATO and declared joint opposition to pro-democracy color" revolutions across the former Soviet bloc on Feb. 4, Ms. von der Leyen used a speech at the Munich Security Conference to rally against the Beijing-Moscow alliance.

We are facing a blatant attempt to rewrite the rules of our international system," Ms. von der Leyen said. They prefer the rule of the strongest to the rule of law, intimidation instead of self-determination, coercion instead of cooperation."

Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins, asked Thursday about the messaging to China on his way into the EU leaders meeting with Mr. Biden, said, Its a rather simple choice. Put in your lot with Russia, that is waging war against Ukraine, bombing women, children hospitals. Or find a way to work with Europe, with the U.S. and with Western democracies."

Beijings need to salvage its relationship with Europe potentially now provides Europe with some unique leverage.

Its approach to China over the Ukraine crisis has been fragmented, however. While the bloc has united around warning Beijing against actively aiding Russia, EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell has repeatedly said China is the only country with the clout and relations with Moscow and Kyiv to broker a peace dealan apparent endorsement of Beijings potential as a mediator that many in both Europe and the U.S. have dismissed.

EU officials and most EU member countries have still favored keeping lines open with Beijing in recent weeks, hoping to persuade China to press Moscow to approve humanitarian corridors for civilians in Ukraine and to explore a diplomatic off-ramp for the crisis.

Last week, when a senior Lithuanian official proposed canceling the EU-China summit until we see which side China is on" in Ukraine, the pushback was swift.

Its important to keep communications channels open," a senior EU diplomat said last week, noting the reports about China considering helping Ukraine.
Lars Ulrich, Axl Rose, Stevie Nicks, Ringo Starr, Queens Roger Taylor and more paid tribute to Taylor Hawkins as the music world turned to social media to remember the Foo Fighters drummer following his shocking and sudden death Friday at the age of 50.

Thank you Taylor.. Thank you for always having the biggest warmest smile on your face and for lighting up every room with your infectious energy and good vibes, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich wrote in a series of tweets.

At BottleRock recently, I had the best seat in the house right above you and once again stood in amazement watching as you effortlessly steered Foo Fighters through a two hour festival set with the perfect balance of swing, swagger, bounce and insane chops.

Ulrich continued, Your phone call a week ago touched and inspired me and I will always be appreciative for you championing our community as in your parting words. Drummers stick together! Damn right brother. Except now the community is lesser without you.

Thank you Taylor.. Thank you for always having the biggest warmest smile on your face and for lighting up every room with your infectious energy and good vibes. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/G4SGcvHAqi  Lars Ulrich (@larsulrich) March 26, 2022

Guns N Roses Axl Rose and Slash also remembered Hawkins. Shocked n saddened to hear of the passing of Taylor Hawkins, Rose tweeted. He was a really great guy, drummer n family man. Was always great to see him! Was looking forward to seeing him n everyone in Daytona. Truly saddened. My deepest condolences to his family, the Foo Fighters ntheir fans. Slash added, Devastated by the loss of our friend #TaylorHawkins Ive no words to express all the feelings I have about his passing. But my heart goes out to his family. & his band & friends.

Music legends like Ringo Starr and Brian Wilson were also among the outpouring of tributes. God bless Taylor peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love, Starr wrote, while Wilson tweeted, Im heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins. He was such a nice young man. Love & Mercy to Taylors family and friends. (In 2007, Hawkins reworked Dennis Wilsons Holy Man for the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Ocean Blue.)

Many in the drumming community also paid tribute to the universally beloved Hawkins. Stunned & heartbroken, Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg wrote. Taylor, you were one of a kind. One of the sweetest and most genuine people Ive ever met. Thank you for your kindness, and the ferocity with which you played your drums. My love and condolences to @foofighters, Taylors family and loved ones.

Former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy tweeted, In absolute shock & disbelief over the the passing of Taylor Hawkins. Ive always had so much admiration for him. Amazing drummer & a gem of a guy who was always fun to be around. Im absolutely guttedmy deepest condolences to his bandmates & family.

Questlove also remembered Hawkins, the coolest dude ever, on Instagram:

Hawkins died Friday in Bogota, Colombia, where the Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform Friday night. No cause of death was given. The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins, the band said in a statement Friday night. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.
Click here to read the full article.

The shocking news of Taylor Hawkins death is just beginning to reverberate around the world, and little is known beyond what the Foo Fighters released in their public statement. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, they wrote, and we ask that their privacy by treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.

When Hawkins died, the Foo Fighters were in Colombia preparing to play at the Estereo Picnic festival on the same bill as the Strokes, J. Balvin, and the Libertines. Their last gig with the drummer took place five days earlier, on March 20th at Lollapalooza Argentina. The 19-song show featured Hawkins singing lead on Queens Somebody to Love, a cover of Janes Addictions Been Caught Stealing with special guest Perry Farrell, and a final encore of Everlong.

Heres pro-shot video of Everlong from that night, which wound up being the last song Hawkins played with the Foos. I dont say goodbye, Dave Grohl told the crowd before kicking it off. I dont like to say goodbye. I know that well always come back. If you come back, well come back. Will you come back? If you come back, well come back, so then I wont have to say goodbye.

At the end of the song, Hawkins tossed his drum sticks to the audience, threw his arm over Grohls shoulder, and took a bow with the rest of the band. Hes beaming with joy. Its devastating to watch knowing would come just five days later.

I think Taylor really underestimates his importance in this band, Grohl said of Hawkins in a Foo Fighters cover story in Rolling Stone last year. Maybe because hes not the original drummer, but, my God, what would we be without Taylor Hawkins? Could you imagine? It would be a completely different thing.
Click here to read the full article.

From the moment it premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September, Jane Campions The Power of the Dog has been a divisive film. Yet the divisiveness has had an element of being foggy and vague, hard to get a fix on. In part, thats because those who command the media megaphone, and are loudest in the debate, have mostly showered the movie with acclaim. The Power of the Dog received countless rave reviews and, along with Drive My Car, it dominated 10 Best lists and year-end critics groups awards. It is one of the most celebrated films of the year, and that perception is reflected in the fact that it received 12 Oscar nominations  and that many prognosticators, at least until recently, thought it would win.

Yet from the moment it premiered on Netflix (and in a small number of theaters) on Nov. 17, I think its no exaggeration to say that there has been an omnipresent grumbling about The Power of the Dog. A great many of the people whove seen it do not care for it. As one of its few critical detractors (though since the days of Sweetie and The Piano, Ive been a Jane Campion believer), let me say right up front that I find The Power of the Dog to be a film of formidable mood, fascination, and skill. Its clearly the work of a master filmmaker, one who carries you along with every shot, every showdown, every tautly exacting moment of psychological frisson. Yet emotionally and thematically, I found the movie to be at once thin and overly programmatic, a kind of abstract meditation on the primal myth of cowboy masculinity. Thats why I gave it a mixed review.

At the Oscars on Sunday, if The Power of the Dog loses the best picture race to CODA, as most awards season watchers now believe will happen, it wont be the first time that a high-end movie exalted by critics loses the Academy Award to a movie thats embraced as more of a heart-in-the-throat crowd-pleaser. Thats been the story of the Oscars a number of times over the past three decades: Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction, The Kings Speech over The Social Network, Green Book over Roma. (You could argue that its been the story of the Oscars for much of its nearly 100-year history.) But even in those three relatively recent infamous Oscar duels, I dont think there has ever been this much grousing about the high-end option. Even before the late-game surge of CODA, many moviegoers have had a stone in their shoe about The Power of the Dog. The drama of that antipathy was enough to make me ask, all over again: What is it about this movie that doesnt connect for people?

Heres what we keep hearing, in media reports and on comment boards and through the Oscar gossip grapevine. People think that The Power of the Dog is slow. They think its cold. They think its dark, arty and depressing. They think its not very involving. They think its final section is confusing.

A lot of that criticism bothers me. I love many movies that are slow, that are quiet in their drama, that are considered, in some circles, to be cold or dark. Ive never been someone who finds dark movies depressing. That, to me, is the demagogic language of market testing. I dont think these sorts of complaints fully explain why a lot of people dislike The Power of the Dog  and they certainly dont explain my own mixed feelings about it.

So I went to back see the movie again, to sink once more into its world, to maybe respond a little more to what its doing  and, yes, to see how the final section of it would play differently now that I know what happens at the end. Heres my report, with a spoiler warning: If you dont want the ending of The Power of the Dog revealed in detail, stop reading.

Seeing that last 45 minutes of the film a second time proved to be quite a paradoxical eye-opener. Originally, I admit I scratched my head a bit. I was working to figure out what was going on; in a way, that process can throw you out of a movie. This time, what I saw is that its all presented, in its teasingly oblique way, with perfect coherence. But I got what threw me the first time.

When you watch The Power of the Dog, its hard not to view Benedict Cumberbatchs mean, sneering, haughty, diabolically calculated and sexually closeted rancher Phil Burbank as a predator whos going to have his (dark) day. Right after hes discovered taking one of his nude baptismal swims in the pond by Kodi Smit-McPhees spooky-eyed wallflower Peter Gordon, why does Phil suddenly decide to take Peter under his wing and befriend him? I assumed that on some level he was grooming him, looking for the same kind of eroticized version of a Western mentor/protege relationship with his young charge that Phil himself had with Bronco Henry. The first time I saw the film, I was waiting for that situation to come to a momentous climax, and to have the truth of Phils identity unfurled, with great drama, before us.

But, of course, thats not what happens. Instead, during the films last section, what were watching is a murder committed in slow motion. Phil may be a calculating dude, but Smit-McPhees Peter is even more calculating. Hes the one committing the murder, and he lures Phil in and executes his plan as sleekly as the killer in a Patricia Highsmith novel.

Here are two things that threw me the first time. The shot that reveals the rawhide being contaminated with anthrax (which is, of course, the murder weapon) shows that rawhide submerged in water. This is confusing because, not being a chemist, I assumed, naively, that water would wash rawhide clean. The other misleading scene is the one, earlier on, where we discover Peter dissecting a bunny rabbit in his bedroom. That strikes us as a bit weird, and we may think: Is he some kind of budding mad scientist?

But no. Hes simply an aspiring medical student trying to learn anatomy and doing a very ambitious job of it. As you watch the last part of The Power of the Dog, Smit-McPhees masterly performance comes to fruition, and what we see is that Peter is an ace spy and manipulator who knows just how to twist and play off Phils buried desires. When he asks Phil if he and Bronco Henry, struggling to keep each other warm, were naked under a blanket, the mock-innocence of how Peter says that word is a sly joke to the audience. A lot of viewers seem to assume that Peter is gay. In that first dinner scene, he speaks with a stereotypical lisp, which Phil, in his leering homophobia, mocks. But if we leave aside our own cliche prejudices, there is actually no evidence in The Power of the Dog that Peter is gay. He is simply a furtive and devoted young man, with the physique of a sunflower, who is attempting to rescue his mother from her pathological and abusive sicko of a brother-in-law.

This leads me to what I now believe is the underlying problem with The Power of the Dog. The movie is a Western (can people please stop grousing about the fact that it was shot in New Zealand  what an insane criticism!) and it presents itself as having a kind of 1970s revisionist Western vibe. Those movies, like The Wild Bunch and McCabe and Mrs. Miller and The Outlaw Josey Wales, were often slow and dark (darkness was their middle name), but they thrived on existing, dramatically, in a kind of suspenseful gray zone. We were watching gun-toting Western heroes, in Peckinpah films, who were grizzled anti-heroes, and we were watching good men, like Warren Beattys John McCabe, who in their very nobility were doomed to die. We were seeing the mythology of the West at once reconfigured and undercut. And the drama all pivoted around a fantastic moral ambiguity. Every scene was charged, because of how much the old simplistic morality of the age of John Wayne had fallen away.

The Power of the Dog appears to be that kind of movie. But, in fact, it is not. Its a modernist Western, with its haunting Jonny Greenwood score, that is, at heart, a movie of such cleanly delineated, black-hat/white-hat morality that when you cut to the core of it, the movie is just as simplistic as the old John Wayne world it seeks to overthrow. Yes, its questioning the primacy of those images of masculinity, which is a valid thing to do. But just look at the films drama. Phil, as superb an actor as Benedict Cumberbatch is, is a jaunty bad guy: a bully, an oppressor, a racist whod rather eat the profits from his cow skins than sell them to Native Americans, and a man who believes that his brothers marriage has brought an intruder into his stoic male oasis of dirt and brute strength and Bronco Henry memories. Phil, simply put, is a threat and an evil pest, which is why Peter cannot abide his cruelty.

And Peter? Why, hes the golden gunslinger who comes into town to face off against the villain and kill him dead, leaving the world a better place. True, he doesnt use a gun; his bullets are made of anthrax. And the something-is-happening-but-you-dont-know-what-it-is obliqueness of the final section is Campions way of palming off old-fashioned one-clean-shot morality as something murky and complex. But Peter, as the film presents it, is fully justified in his audacious act of vengeful homicide. Phil goes to his grave as a menace to society whose malevolence has now been stilled.

And yet that isnt what I want, or expect, from a great contemporary Western. You could say The Power of the Dog treats Phil with a glimmer of understanding in the scenes where hes interfacing with Bronco Henrys handkerchief. But what would have made it a more potent movie is if we could have seen Phils torment laid bare, so that he became a borderline sympathetic head case. Or if we could have seen Peters attack on him as more charged with ambivalence. The real dramatic secret of The Power of the Dog is that its as morally simple and unambiguous as a storybook fable. Phil is the walking incarnation of the mythic force of homophobia, which Peter (symbolically) destroys. Thats a happy ending. But its also why The Power of the Dog strikes so many of its viewers as not being all that rich or that interesting. What youre watching isnt a drama of wrenching moral cataclysm. Its an artfully staged stacked deck.

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Eight Longford youngsters are among over 200 young people from across Ireland that will tackle a wide range of issues under the overarching theme of equality at Dail na nOg 2022 taking place at Dublins Convention Centre today.

Ashley Kiernan, Gabrielle Rhatigan, Caoimhe Connell, Samantha Galdika, Alex Dunne, Luke Gill, Ashley Weafer and Dairusz Konefal are representing Longford Comhairle na nOg at Dail na nOg.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the biennial event which platforms the voices of young people on the issues which matter most to them. Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic OGorman will make an address and engage with young people at the event.

This years event explores the theme of equality as young people, through their local youth councils (Comhairle na nOg), have been investigating the challenges and opportunities in a variety of areas including mental health, climate change, body image, drugs and alcohol, youth facilities and LGBTIQ+. This theme was chosen by young people as the area of most importance to them and a vote will take place on three areas of equality on the day.

Previous years themes included climate action, education, and transport. In 2019, a debate and vote on sustainable transport solutions saw delegates from the Comhairle na nOg councils propose a new policy to offer reduced fares to young people in response to the recognised need to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable transport options; this was successfully introduced by Government in Budget 2021 as well as the Governments Climate Action Plan.

Participants at Dail na nOg 2022 are looking to influence policy at Government level to advance the areas of equality they see as important.

A panel discussion at this years event will see Cllr Yemi Adenuga, Irelands first black female elected representative, RTE Radio DJ and LGBTQI+ advocate Stephen Byrne, Childrens Rights Alliance CEO Tanya Ward, and Aoife Price, disability advocate with Disability Women Ireland engage in an insightful and exciting discussion on the theme of equality from a variety of different perspectives.

Speaking ahead of the event, Taoiseach Michael Martin said, I am delighted to see so many young people engage with issues that matter most to them through the Dail na nOg forum, and I am grateful that this years theme is equality, as I know there is much work to be done in this area across all parts of our society.

I commend the young people taking part in Dail na nOg and indeed for their participation throughout the year in Comhairle na nOg meetings. Their opinion matters and we as a Government will continue to listen to their thoughts and concerns as we strive for a diverse and inclusive society for all.

Dail na nOg is an initiative of the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and was first established in 2001.

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O Gorman said, The Dail na nOg event has, for over 20 years now, been a platform for change driven by the young minds of our country, and I applaud all of those who are taking part in this event for lending their voices and engaging in some of the most important issues of our day.

This years theme of equality reflects the values I see across our younger people every day, and I look forward to hearing from their perspective the ways in which we can all play a part in ensuring equality of opportunity is available to everyone.

Prachi Agrawal, a participant from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Comhairle na nOg said, Im really excited to be here so that people and the Government can hear what we have to say about equality in Ireland. My fellow Comhairle na nOg members and I have been working hard in recent months to better understand what the challenge is for equality and today gives us a chance to show what weve learned to people like the Minister and to the Government. I want to make sure the voices of young people are heard so that equality is a reality for everyone across the country.
Following the huge success of the inaugural PLATFORM 31 artist development scheme Longford Local Authority Arts Office and the Association of Local Authority Arts Offices (ALAAO), in collaboration with the Arts Council, is delighted to announce that applications are now open for the 2022 iteration.

The inaugural 2021 Longford bursary recipient was artist Emily Brennan.

Designed to support and offer career development for 31 mid-career artists (one artist in each of the 31 local authorities around Ireland), there are two elements of support for participating artists in the scheme: financial and developmental.

Participating artists will receive an 8,000 bursary to invest in themselves and their practice, combined with participation in a developmental and networking framework.

The bursary seeks to provide artists with the time and resources to think, test new ideas, research new approaches and to develop new work, said Maureen Kennelly, Arts Council Director.

The Arts Council is delighted to partner with local authorities, who are responding thoughtfully and ambitiously to the ongoing challenging environment for artists. The carefully considered support network built into Platform 31 sets this bursary scheme apart.

For over 35 years Local Authority Arts Offices have worked directly with artists to ensure the arts thrive in all communities. Working in a grass roots and foundational way has allowed Arts Officers to identify and to respond to the needs of artists, keeping the arts and cultural agenda focused and relevant in changing environments.

The award is open to artists of any discipline and practice as well as multi-disciplinary practice and design of all kinds. It is designed to support mid-career artists living in each of the 31 Local Authority regions of Ireland.

Applications are open until March 30.
THE family of the Offaly teacher fatally attacked while out running have met with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Charles and Camilla offered their condolences to the family of Ashling Murphy, who was killed after going for a jog along the Grand Canal at Cappincur, Tullamore, in January.

The royals met privately with Ms Murphys parents Kathleen and Ray, sister Amy, brother Cathal and boyfriend Ryan Casey at Bru Boru Cultural Centre in Cashel, Co Tipperary on Friday.

The 23-year-old, a talented musician, had performed at the centre.

Her death caused shockwaves and sparked vigils across Ireland and beyond in Ms Murphys memory, as calls were made for a change in attempts to tackle gender-based violence.

Camilla has long been a vocal campaigner on the issue of violence against women, and at an event in London last year she paid tribute to all the precious lives that have been brutally ended.

She also called on men to get involved in the movement, saying they need to be on board to tackle violence against women.

Jozef Puska, 31, of Lynally Grove in Co Offaly, has been accused of Ms Murphys murder.
Arts & Culture

By Ls Cohen Published: June 26 2020

The first recorded example of a windmill being built on Long Island was in 1644.

Back in the day, windmills were workhorses of industry, converting the bay and ocean wind into energy to power the machinery that milled grain for Colonial-era Long Islander farmers. The surviving windmills on Long Island are said to all be smock mills, a specific type of windmill, generally hexagonal or octagonal buildings with a rotating cap. These mills were surprisingly portable and many made the rounds of the east end of Long Island before finding their final resting spots where, sources say 11 survive from the 18th and 19th century.

According to a New York Time article, Long Island is said to be home to more historic windmills than any other part of the country. The first recorded example of a windmill being built on Long Island was in 1644 in Southold. A full list of existing windmills on Long Island can also be found here.

Below we present some historical pictures and facts about Long Island windmills.

Gardiner's Island Windmill, Built Late 1700s - This image was scanned from the files of the Springs Historical Society/Library. On the back of the image, it is noted that this windmill was built by Nathaniel Dominy V. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. According to records, of the 11 surviving 18th and early 19th century windmills on Long Island, the Gardiner's Island Windmill is one of the least altered. The mill is one of 4 extant windmills built by Nathaniel Dominy V, a prominent East Hampton craftsman. Dominy rebuilt the mill in 1815, and the work of that date is some of the most advanced millwriting technology found in a Long Island windmill.

Creator: Unknown; Location: Gardiner's Island--East Hampton--Suffolk County--New York; Date of Original: 1940?-1980? This material was lent to the Long Island Collection by the Springs Historical Society Library for digitization purposes. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Gardiner's Island Windmill - View of white windmill on Gardiner's Island.

Date:1989? For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Hurricane of 1938 - View of Windmill, after the hurricane of 1938, in Water Mill, N.Y.

Date: 1938. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Lathrop Brown House, Montauk, before 1935 - This photograph of the Lathrop Brown House was donated to the Long Island Collection sometime before 1935, based on accession registers. It is likely the photograph was taken in the 1920s or 1930s, based on the type of print produced, but there is nothing else available to date the image.

A man, in what appears to be overalls, is visible in front of the house. In 1942, the windmill was moved to the Georgica Association in Wainscott, and the cottage was moved near Gurney's Inn by D. Stewart Inglehart, and purchased in 1955 by a Miss Cousins. The garage was moved to Montauk Fishing Village by Mary Smith. Lathrop Brown died in Florida in 1959, moving there for his later years.

Additional information about the windmill from the Montauk Library: Built in 1813, the windmill was moved to Wainscott in the 1850s. Lathrop Brown purchased the windmill in 1922 and moved it to Montauk. In 1942 the windmill was moved to Georgica Association in East Hampton.

Date: 1920?-1935? For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Home Sweet Home and Mill, East Hampton, L.I. - Postcard image of the Pantigo windmill and Home Sweet Home, in East Hampton, Long Island

The Harvey Ginsberg Post Card Collection. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Old Hook Mill, East Hampton, L.I. postcard image - Postcard image of the Old Hook windmill, in East Hampton, L.I. According to documents, the Hook WIndmill was built in 1806. It was the last wind-powered gristmill constructed in the village of East Hampton. Built by Nathaniel Dominy V, who was also the millwright of the Gardiner Island Windmill and the Shelter Island Windmill, the Old Hook Windmill was operated commercially for a century, ceasing operation in 1908. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The Harvey Ginsberg Post Card Collection. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Windmill at Wainscott - View of windmill in Wainscott, New York.

For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Windmill at Wainscott on the "Mill Hill" - View of windmill on "Mill Hill" in Wainscott, New York, before its removal to Montauk, New York.

For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Beebe Windmill, Bridgehampton, Berwind Estate - View of Beebe Windmill on the Berwind Estate in Bridgehampton, New York. According to a Southampton Town pamphlet, the Beebe Windmill was built on Sleights Hill in Sag Harbor in 1820 for Lester Beebe, a retired whaling captain and shipbuilder. The mill was moved multiple times. Ultimately, in 1915, John E. Berwind, an affluent Bridgehampton summer resident, bought the mill and moved it to the grassy green next to Minden, his summer estate. It was restored by Southampton Town in the early 1980s and again in the early 2000s.

For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Beebe Windmill, Bridgehampton, Berwind Estate - Another picture of the Beebe Windmill on the Berwind Estate in Bridgehampton, New York.

For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Gardiner Windmill at Mulford Farm - Shown here is the windmill at Mulford Farm. This photograph was either taken or collected by Amagansett historian and librarian Carleton Kelsey.

Date: 1977-08. This photograph is part of the collection of the Carleton Kelsey Collection of the Amagansett Historical Association. Kelsey was a local historian and librarian who collected photographs from others to add to the many photographs he took of the community himself. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Dominy's Windmill, East Hampton, L.I. postcard image - Postcard image of Dominy's Old Hook Mill, in East Hampton, L.I.

The Harvey Ginsberg Post Card Collection. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.

Hayground Windmill, Windmill Lane, East Hampton, Suffolk County, NY - According to the New York Times, this windmill was built in 1809. It became a tearoom in 1919 after more than a hundred years of grinding grain. Artist Agnes Pelton used it as a studio in the 1920's and it was moved to the Dowling property off Further Lane in 1950.

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government. Library of Congress.

Hayground Windmill, Windmill Lane, East Hampton, Suffolk County, NY - CAP; CONICAL CAP HAS BOWED RAFTERS MORTISED INTO A BOSS; ALSO SEEN ARE THE BRAKE WHEEL, WINDSHAFT AND TOP BEARING OF THE UPRIGHT SHAFT

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government. Library of Congress.

The Windmill Cottage, East Hampton, L.I. postcard image - Postcard image of the windmill cottage, in East Hampton, Long Island. According to this article, Robert Downey Jr. is now the owner of the iconic East Hampton windmill cottage. Of note is that this was never a real working windmill but a facsimile of one that was built in East Hampton. It was built in the late 1800s.

The Harvey Ginsberg Post Card Collection. For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection.
Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd - oil and gas company focused in Australia and South Africa - On Wednesday notes sanctions against Viktor Vekselberg. Explains that Vekselberg is a beneficiary of the foundation that holds 100% of the shares in Lamesa Holding SA which holds 16% of Falcon's share capital. Says Lamesa nor Vekselberg have any influence or control over the operations of Falcon and/or its subsidiaries. Adds that for as long as the US imposes sanctions on Vekselberg, Lamesas shares in Falcon remain quarantined.

Current stock price: 9.18 pence

12-month change: up 36%

By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The Partido Popular opposition are pointing to data which suggest that Palma is now the fifth most unsafe city in Spain with 50,000 or more residents. This compares with the situation in 2016 when Palma was sixteenth.

The president of the PP in Palma, Jaime Martinez, attributes this to "the progressive loss of local police officers". According to the PP's own figures, there are currently 600 officers on the streets, whereas there were 1,000 twenty years ago, at a time when the population of the municipality was some 100,000 lower.

Martinez, a former Balearic tourism minister and likely PP candidate for mayor at the next election, says that if the number of officers doesn't increase to at least 900 by the time of the election (May 2023), the PP will increase numbers "when we come to govern". In his view, residents of Palma have had enough of high crime rates, which he blames on a lack of security on the streets, "especially at night".
Its a windy, rainy morning, and the temperature is around 44 degrees. Son Joseph got a call saying he wont have to work today because of the rain. They have no inside work as of now.

Daughters Verena, Susan and children Jennifer and Ryan came here after supper last night and spent the night here. I sat on my recliner, and Jennifer, age 4, told me she wanted to massage my feet and asked for foot lotion. It wasnt long before I was asleep and that little girl was having the time of her life with that lotion. I woke up and had probably half the jar on my feet. She was just enjoying herself so much. So sweet and innocent!

This morning, before Dustin left for work, he walked over with daughter Loretta and she is sleeping on the recliner. Joe left for work and the rest are all sleeping yet. Joseph went back to bed after finding out he doesnt have to work.

I decided to write this while all is quiet. Daughter Elizabeth and children will also come around 8:30 a.m. Our friend Jodi will bring Elizabeth and the three youngest, then Abigail will come here off the bus.

We are so happy to have Jodi back in Michigan! She runs so many errands for us, which we appreciate very much. Jodi had been in Alabama the last few months spending time with her daughter Krista and family. Im glad she could do that and enjoy the warmer Alabama weather.

Granddaughter Allison, 2, was attacked this week by their mean rooster. She has a scratched-up face. We are so fortunate he didnt get her eyes. Son-in-law Tim got rid of that mean rooster and came home with some little baby chicks for the children. Abigail, T.J., and Allison each picked one out as their own. They had the little chicks in the house in a box. Daughter Elizabeth said they couldnt find one of the chicks and finally found it. T.J. had put it in his Noahs Ark toy. He must have wanted to fill the ark with animals. Abigails chick died while she was at school. She had seen it was not too good before leaving for school and told Elizabeth to tell T.J. to take care of it until she got home. The chick didnt fare so well, and Abigail was so heartbroken. She cried so hard and told Elizabeth she couldnt catch her breath because she was crying so hard. She put the chick in a box and asked her daddy if he would help her bury it. Again, so sweet and innocent!

Allison is not too fond of the potty training. Elizabeth will tell her to go potty. She sits on there for a long time, and she told Elizabeth, Mom, it dont work. Shes such a petite little girl but ever so mighty. Baby Andrea is 5 1/2 weeks old now and made her first appearance in church on Sunday. She did very well!

Last Friday we were so happy to have Aunt Lovina from Baltic, Ohio come spend some time here and have brunch with us. Thanks to her granddaughter Leah and sons for bringing her here. Others here for brunch and visiting were sisters Verena and Emma, niece Elizabeth, niece Emma and daughter, and all my daughters and grandchildren.

I made a breakfast casserole, homemade bread, and cinnamon rolls. Everyone brought a dish and we ended up having quite a big brunch.

It was so nice to get to visit with Aunt Lovina. She is my moms sister and is three years younger. She will be 83 on July 20. I was named after her. We were together so much when I was growing up, and now I hardly ever see her. We talked of the memories we had of years ago. And perhaps we said some stories of things that her children and my siblings and I did that she was unaware of. Needless to say she laughed, and we enjoyed her visit.

Gods blessings to all!

Lovinas Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her cookbooks, Essential Amish Kitchen and Amish Family Recipes, are 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.

Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup milk, scalded

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

4 large eggs, beaten

6 cups bread flour

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Grease a jelly-roll pan or a large cookie sheet with a 1-inch rim.

In a large bowl, mix the milk, butter, salt and sugar. Set the bowl aside until the mixture cools to lukewarm. While the mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast in the warm water for about 10 minutes or until bubbles form. Then add the yeast mixture, eggs and flour gradually to the lukewarm milk mixture. Knead with your hands until an elastic dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 5 or 6 strokes, and then roll into a 12x20-inch rectangle.

In a small bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and cinnamon until well blended. Spread the mixture over the dough. Roll the dough up from the 20-inch side. Cut the 20-inch-long roll into 3/4-inch pieces and place on the prepared pan. Let the dough rise uncovered for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the rolls until golden brown, 20 minutes. Frost with basic frosting.

Basic Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

In a medium bowl, cream the butter with the vanilla and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Gradually add the milk and the remaining powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Use shortening instead of butter if a whiter frosting is desired. Makes 2 cups.
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A lot of uncertainty has now been cleared up for commercial fisheries in Michigan, thanks to a recent bill signed by the governor.

Senate Bill 251 was signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in March. The bill solidifies certain permissions and regulations for commercial fisheries in Michigan and puts an end to a story that began in 2019.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources had been trying to get a set of bills passed through the state government. However, these were unpopular with commercial fishing companies, as they would increase fees and fines, as well as drastically limit the species of fish they were allowed to catch in the Great Lakes.

The DNR reportedly asked commercial fisheries to support the bills, otherwise they claimed they wouldn't be able to continue providing new orders (permissions and regulations dictated by the DNR) for the fishing season that would keep their businesses profitable. The fisheries refused to support the legislation.

The bills died in the state senate in 2019, but it wasn't the end of commercial fisheries' difficult dealings with the DNR.

In December 2020, the commercial fisheries in Michigan all received a letter from the DNR, explaining the points of an upcoming new order. If enacted, the order would have restricted fisheries from dropping their nets farther than 80 feet, instead of the normal 150, disallow them to catch any white fish during October, which is an important time for white fishing, and disallow commercial fisheries to apply for research permits (temporary fishing licenses) from the DNR.

In response, the Michigan Fish Producers Association, an organization protecting the state's commercial fishing industry, filed a lawsuit against the DNR and members of its leadership in January 2021. The lawsuit claimed that with this order, the DNR had violated the First Amendment rights of commercial fishermen.

The lawsuit gained support from a group of Michigan politicians, Sen. Dan Lauwers, Sen. Kevin Daley, Sen. Curt VanderWall, and Rep. Phil Green, who sent a joint letter that expressed support for commercial fisheries and condemned the actions of the DNR that led to the lawsuit.

In February 2021, the DNR changed its mind, sending out an order that allowed for all the usual permissions and regulations the original order would have taken away.

However, the Fish Producers Association had already had a history of difficulty with the DNR and knew that this would probably not be the end of it.

"That's when we said, 'We've got to put this in the law so they can't do this to us,'" said legislative consultant for the Michigan Fish Producers Association Scott Everett.

To that end, they introduced Senate Bill 251 in March 2021, which would solidify the regulations for the commercial fishing season, doing away with the old system with the DNR.

Previously, the DNR had released new orders every fishing season, stipulating what the fisheries can and can't do. However, these orders defer to Legislature, meaning they can't break or contradict the law.

Now that Senate Bill 251 has been signed by the governor, the regulations are now law and therefore can't be changed or contradicted by any order from the DNR.

"As far as commercial fishing goes, it's the first signed legislation on commercial fishing in 25 years or more," Everett said.

The reason for this, he said, is partially because legislative focus is mainly on recreational fishing, and partially because commercial fishermen haven't been active in legislation in some time.

This three-years-long saga is only the most recent in a long line of cases where commercial fisheries have butted heads with the DNR. They continue to defend their occupation as a necessary commodity for people who either can't or don't want to go catch fish themselves.

"The fish are free, you're paying for somebody to go catch them," Everett said.

It's also an important industry to keep Canada from dominating the Michigan market, as most fish bought in Michigan were caught by Canadian fisheries.

However, according to Bay Port Fishing Company owner Lakon Williams, the DNR is more concerned with recreational fishing than commercial fisheries. She said that recreational fishermen don't like having to work around commercial fishing, such as dealing with nets in areas commercial fisheries are allowed to fish in.

"They don't like to share, unfortunately, is what I realized," she said.

"I don't see our political stance changing until we get someone else in there," she added, referring to the current DNR leadership.

For now, though, Michigan fisheries can breathe easy, since the bill has become law, and the long-standing lawsuit against the DNR can finally be dropped.

"I'm just grateful they can't take away my fall season anymore," Williams said.
A nine-year-old girl in Paraguay got the chance to meet her hero Taylor Hawkins, just hours before the Foo Fighters drummer sadly passed away.

Young fan Emma took her drum set to the rock star's hotel in Asuncion, Paraguay, in an attempt grab the attention of her idol.

The Death of Taylor Hawkins Matthew Cannon

The young Paraguayan played the band's song on the drums in an attempt to get Hawkins to come out of the hotel and she was successful.

The girl's father posted a photo of the pair smiling together outside the Sheraton hotel, and it's gone viral on social media.

"When my daughter found out that the Foo Fighters were coming, she started a campaign to meet them," her father wrote.

"Today we took her drums to play in front of the Sheraton and look who came out. Dreams come true."

Taylor Hawkins and a nine-year-old fan, Emma.

Fans spoke of how Hawkins came out of the hotel looking for where the sound of drums was coming from, and happily went over to greet the young girl and have a photo taken.

Tragically, Hawkins passed away almost 48 hours later ahead of a scheduled performance at the Estereo Picnic Festival in Bogota, Colombia.
Death by drug overdose tends to be a tricky subject with rockstars because they often part take in a wide variety of different substances, this was the case with Taylor Hawkins. Unfortunately, the Foo Fighters drummer was found unresponsive inside his hotel room just hours before a show in Bogota. After nearly 24 hours of forensic investigation, the toxigology report confirmed that about 10 substances were found inside Hawkins' body. They specifically mention four of them that we will explain in order to shed some light into what possibly caused this tragedy. Before we go any further, Taylor Hawkins has a long and arduous battle with different kinds of drugs that involved heroin in most cases. This also brought him a heavy use of antidepressants, which were found inside his toxicology report.

THC

Considering that Taylor Hawkins was already under medication in order to control depression, THC doesn't come of as an overly strange substance inside his body. The Colombian authorities mentioned this as the first identified substance but there is no substantial evidence this can cause death in any case. We all know it better as cannabis or marijuana.

Tricyclic Antidepressants

This is where the substances get a little tricky because Tricyclic Antidepressants areusually prescribed to people suffering from suicidal tendencies or psychotic breaks. If this was the case with Hawkins, he shouldn't have been consuming any other type of drug in the first place. But the other two substances mentioned by the authorities reveal where the cause of death might've been.

Benzodiazepines

Even though this could've been another prescription drug, there is a good chance Taylor Hawkins was taking these in order to treat depression. In America, using benzodiazepines is common amongst American citizens to are under some sort of treatment. However, commbining this with other substances can be dangerous and in this case, lethal.

Opiates

This could be the one that likely caused Taylor Hawkins' death as opiates is the substance that comes with heroin. In his long battle against this specific drug, Hawkins has a history of suffering frmo it. Back in 2001, he was in a comma for about a week after a heroin overdose. But we still don't know what the other six substances were inside the toxicology report, chances are there is at least another one that could've caused Hawkins' untimely death.
Out of all the other nations in the world, China and president Xi Jinping are the only ones who can actually represent a major danger for the entire world. If they support Russia on the genocide they are currently conducting in Ukraine, chances are that a global conflict will be impossible to avoid. With that in mind, the United States should keep keeping China closely guarded as a top priority. In recent days, there have been accusations from the Chinese State media about the United States role in Russia's invasion in Ukraine. Although they vehemently disappove of President Vladimir Putin's actions, there is no way that president Xi Jinping will turn his back on the Russians. Quite the opposite, they remain close allies regardless of what's happening.

But the United States are counting on president Xi to possibly help convince Putin to stop all the attacks and attempt to reach a peaceful resolution to all these conflicts. China already states in the past that NATO and the United States' efforts to expand are what pushed the Russians to attack. Friday afternook will be a vital day for President Joe Biden to speak to the Chinese head of state about all these issues. They will both express their concerns and Biden will shoot his shot with President Xi in order to reach to Vladimir Putin's ears. Also, the United States strongly opposes to China offering any kind of help to Russia during this war. If they do, this could represent an even bigger divide between both countries.

The White House announces the meeting.

At exactly 13:00 GMT, President Joe Biden will get into a phone call with president Xi. They will discuss these matters and we will likely get a rundown of what they talked about. But chances are we won't get any fresh information until later in the afternoon. Regardless of what happens, the entire world will be eager to learn what these two presidents talk about. Given Russia's economic situation, there is no doubt that the United States and the People's Republic of China are currently the most powerful countries on earth. What they decide is instrumental to where the fate of the world goes during these pressing times. Here's the White House's press release from earlier on Thursday: "President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will speak with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China (PRC) this Friday. This is part of our ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication between the United States and the PRC. The two Leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern."
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"We have cases practically all over our region. Our three major treatment centres are completely overpowered," Eko told Xinhua.He said hospitals do not have enough beds for patients, some of whom are staying in tents or along corridors in the facility premises.The situation is dire in the seaside resort town of Limbe, where at least 400 infections were detected on Wednesday, according to officials.On Wednesday, the region's governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, urged local officials to build toilets in the affected areas within 30 days.Source: IANS
With the evolving transition of the pandemic into the "endemic" phase and ease of back-to-normal mindset, the panel of experts at the University of Michigan warned that it might not be the case.



The devastating killer  coronavirus has killed millions worldwide with countless left with lasting physical, mental and economic scars and is continuing. Hence, the new "endemic" phase, where the virus can't be eliminated from circulation and could \b> still rise again, requires a different attitude.

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With the widespread BA2 form of the omicron variant, the new endemic phase of the pandemic mandates a rather altered approach.
In Denmark, influenza cases have increased, while coronavirus cases have substantially declined, revealed sources.



"Late in the flu season, there has been a flare-up of influenza here. The number of influenza cases detected is now higher than in previous seasons," Xinhua news agency quoted Rebecca Legarth, a doctor from the SSI, as saying.

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Another new variant of Omicron, BA. 2, is highly contagious and has maintained infection chains here in March.
A new method to identify aggressive early-stage lung cancers and target aurora kinase inhibitors was developed by Mount Sinai researchers. The findings of the study are published in Nature Communications. The Mount Sinai team used a genomics network model to measure tumor invasivenessdistinguishing aggressive tumors from so-called "indolent" ones, which often cannot be told apart via chest CT scanand identify those that will respond to aurora kinase inhibitors, molecules that can inhibit gene signature regulators.

The research team used a genetically engineered mouse model to define the role of aurora kinases in early progression of early stage lung cancer.



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The researchers encourage further validation and clinical testing in human tumors. Future studies should examine opportunities to similarly intervene in signaling by immune cells or other cells in the surrounding tumor stroma, researchers said, since cancer progression relies on the interaction between tumor cells and surrounding cells.



Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine-NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Sema4, a patient-centered health intelligence company, contributed to this study. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01CA163772, R01HL130826, and R01CA240342), the New York State Stem Cell Science Program (C34052GG), the American Thoracic Society Foundation-Unrestricted Grant (ATS-2017-24), the American Lung Association of the Northeast Lung Cancer Discovery Award (LCD-504985), and the Department of Defense (W81XWH-19-1-0613).



Source: Eurekalert They performed molecular profiling of early-stage lung cancer samples with RNA sequencing and identified signature genes associated with invasiveness of tumors. Researchers from Sema4 used novel genomic networking approaches to identify key network regulators and therapeutic drugs to demonstrate that targeting the signaling pathway reduces lung cancer spread and improves survival. They identified and tested aurora kinase inhibitors, including AMG900, as an effective treatment to intercept lung cancer progression in the models.The researchers encourage further validation and clinical testing in human tumors. Future studies should examine opportunities to similarly intervene in signaling by immune cells or other cells in the surrounding tumor stroma, researchers said, since cancer progression relies on the interaction between tumor cells and surrounding cells.Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine-NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Sema4, a patient-centered health intelligence company, contributed to this study. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01CA163772, R01HL130826, and R01CA240342), the New York State Stem Cell Science Program (C34052GG), the American Thoracic Society Foundation-Unrestricted Grant (ATS-2017-24), the American Lung Association of the Northeast Lung Cancer Discovery Award (LCD-504985), and the Department of Defense (W81XWH-19-1-0613).Source: Eurekalert

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"The approaches to diagnosing and treating early-stage lung adenocarcinoma are evolving and are based upon advances in understanding the biology and clinical activities of these tumors," said senior author Charles Powell, MD, MBA, Janice and Coleman Rabin Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Our work using novel network approaches, in collaboration with Sema4, to identify signatures of invasiveness and to identify drugs that can intercept progression of these cancers should contribute to advancing the understanding and outcomes for this cancer."
If you like Bollywood star John Abraham and the many diverse movies that he has starred in, you must like his 2006 film Kabul Express, which also starred Arshad Warsi.



As you know, John is one actor who hasn't ever been scared of trying something different, and his role in Kabul Express was something exactly like that.

Directed by Kabir Khan, Kabul Express revolved around the story of two Indian journalists (John and Arshad), an American journalist and an Afghan guide who are taken hostage by Pakistani soldiers before being forced to undertake a 48-hour journey into a war-torn country of Afghanistan.

 YRF

Now, while there are security parameters set around actors for their safety during filming, John described how the dynamics were completely different in Afghanistan.



John, who played the role of Indian journalist Suhel Khan in the film, spoke on the love he got from the Afghanistan people before revealing the threats faced by the Taliban.

"There were no social media at that time. When I was leaving Afghanistan, Afghani people told me John jaan (jaan means bhai) whatever you do, don't say anything bad about Afghanistan. And today I want to say on record that Afghani people are the most beautiful, loveliest people in the world, amazing hospitality. Really lovely people, superb people."

"It was an UN-approved hotel. I came to the terrace to have tea, and this rocket came from the front and hit the US consulate. Condoleezza Rice used to be the US foreign secretary to the state in Afghanistan at the time. It was Afghanistan's way of telling her that they are not happy with the Americans here. There was another incident where a suicide bomber had blown themselves up just six hours before we reached this location. It was quite an experience." John told Mashable India.

His account was somewhat matched by director Kabir Khan, who has made several documentaries in Afghanistan over the years and even once interviewed the Taliban.

 Instagram/Kabir Khan

During the 10th anniversary of the film in 2016, the Bollywood director had shared a tweet on the film.



Death threats,suicide bombings, fired upon,sub zero cold..we faced it all to make #Kabul Express #10YearsOfKabulExpress pic.twitter.com/WHdSFFSMO2  Kabir Khan (@kabirkhankk) December 15, 2016

"Death threats, suicide bombings, fired upon,sub zero cold..we faced it all to make #Kabul Express #10YearsOfKabulExpress" he wrote.

John will next be seen in his upcoming Attack film and in Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming Pathan film.

Source: Hindustan Times

Get more with Times Prime this cricket season with Disney+ Hotstar & Cricbuzz Plus now a part of the membership! Join here at Rs.1199/year
New York, US (PANA) - The UN chief on Friday welcomed the declaration of an indefinite humanitarian truce on the part of the Ethiopian Government, and the commitment by forces in the Tigray region to comply with the immediate ceasefire, amid deep concern for the five million people who need emergency aid there
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Four Lakes Task Force announced that $200 million in state and federal funds headed its way will significantly reduce the financial burden on property owners and aid its dam construction plans.

The state House and Senate approved a $4.8 billion infrastructure package Thursday. The legislation is the product of months of negotiations between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration over how to spend unprecedented billions of discretionary pandemic funding that was approved by Congress and President Joe Biden last year.

The $200 million to the task force is one of the largest project appropriations based on the size of the communities in recent history. The infrastructure package also includes $59.9 million in federal disaster recovery funding to to assist families affected by the flooding. That money will be distributed to communities through the existing Community Development Block Grant process in conjunction with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

While FLTF hailed the announcement as good news, many four lakes property owners are wondering how these grant dollars will impact their previously discussed assessments.

How does $200 million to FLTF in state funds impact four lakes residents' special lake assessment?

The infrastructure funding for Four Lakes is less than the estimated cost to rebuild the four dams, according to the task force. Therefore, the delegated authority has required a community match of 20% in a capital assessment.

The Four Lakes Special Assessment district is an established geographic boundary of waterfront properties along or near the four lakes and backlot properties with private easement (dedicated) access. While the assessment district boundaries are final, the assessment methodology is not final and is subject to change.

Photo Provided Four Lakes Task Force

The assessment amount paid by property owners of the four lakes is now expected to be significantly lower than the initial estimates provided throughout the recovery process. Residents should anticipate making a payment towards a task force capital assessment in 2025.

"We believe this state grant will put the overall lake community in a position where the assessment can be affordably shared among the property owners," was included in a statement by the task force on Thursday. "We will continue to seek additional ways to help those who have limited ability to pay."

Task force officials said the grant had no impact on the operations assessment, however. The group will discuss new estimates for the assessment based on updates to the methodology in future meetings.

Next steps

The task force announced Thursday it will proceed with seeking $10 million once appropriations are fully approved and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs the infrastructure deal, which she is expected to do. According to the task force, the group will work to issue anticipation notes in early April, while the arrival of state funding is established.

The overall project status, a financing plan and property owner assessments will be discussed on Wednesday, April 6 during its scheduled community information webinar.

The task force will have a clearer view of the total financing for the project after the state funding announcement. This informational session precedes its Monday, April 11 board meeting.

The financial plan will be considered with the goal of approval at this board meeting.

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Legislature deal aids almost $60 million to four lakes residents
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BRIDGEPORT  Word of the instruction happening at Cesar Batalla School is soon going to go nationwide, following a visit to the school by National Education Association executive board member Hanna Vaandering.

Vaandering, who hails from Oregon, came away impressed with the learning environment at the school that Principal Wayne Alexander said is the largest bilingual elementary/middle school in the state.

Im amazed by the diversity of the students and how they respond to their teachers, Vaandering said during a tour of the school with some local state and national education association representatives.

The group was in Bridgeport to attend a belated Black History Month celebration honoring Black teachers with 30 or more years of service in the citys schools. While in town, Vaandering said they took some time to visit some schools and see first-hand some innovative programs.

Vaandering took time to praise the teachers for their interaction with the Batalla students.

The attention they receive is invaluable, she said. Theyre receiving the gift of loving learning.

The school currently has students from dozens of countries, and draws children in need of bilingual education from across the city, Alexander said.

This place is very unique, I would say one of a kind, Alexander said. I wish we could duplicate what we have here in other districts.

The school population currently includes students who were refugees from Afghanistan, and Alexander anticipates they soon will be sitting side by side with others fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Its something were very proud of, he said.

Vilma Castanos third grade class is a microcosm of the school, with students from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Columbia, Honduras and Puerto Rico.

Its hard, she said of having so many diverse backgrounds on her class of 29 students. Despite the multinational makeup of her class, the students share a Spanish-speaking background.

Spanish has five vowel sounds, English has 20, she said.

Vaandering also came away impressed with the Hill For Literacy instruction that several teachers demonstrated in their classrooms. The system includes a comprehensive needs assessment tailored to each school, and then uses a set of metrics to keep students on a literacy plan.

The system, which requires extensive teacher training, is currently undergoing a 3-year trial using federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency, or ESSER, funds.

Thats very unusual for a city school to fund a program for three years, said Ana Batista, president of the Bridgeport Education Association. Usually theyll do one year, and the next year they drop it when funds arent available.

Without the federal help, Batista doubted the district, which has faced budget woes for years, would have been able to fund the program.

The results have been promising, she said.

Obviously, getting the students reading at grade level is a tremendous benefit, she said.

Before visiting Batalla, the group of educators toured the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science & Technology Education Center, a regional program that accepts students from Bridgeport, Fairfield, Milford, Monroe, Shelton, Stratford and Trumbull, providing a marine-based curriculum that complements the traditional high school education.

This is a unique opportunity for our kids, Director David Henry said.

In the schools design and manufacturing lab, teacher Tom McGann supervised a group of students reverse-engineering a paddleboard.

If it works, then theyll move on and develop CNC coding for it, he said.

Joe Rainis, a sophomore from Fairfield, was analyzing the results.

Once were done testing, well make it out of wood, he said.

In one of the schools other wings, Rebecca Gladych supervised a group of students inspecting seaweed grown in the schools hatchery lab for the presence of diatom algae.

We grow it here, and people actually buy and eat it as seaweed salad, Gladych said. High-end restaurants will buy it by the kilogram, at a cost of about $100.

The school also grows koi, which Henry said they grow to ornamental size and then sell.

Sometimes, Henry himself is surprised at how much students learn about the life cycle of the fish they grow at the school.

We had a dead fish in one of the tanks, and a student picked it up, looked at it, and told me what it died of, he said. I asked where he learned about that, and he said, Upstairs.

Fish are also for sale in the schools weekly fish market, dubbed Angies at Aqua. Teacher Elizabeth Kranyik, who has been with the school since it opened in 1992, said the students in the seafood science program prepare and sell the food like a typical market.

There is a student manager, and they all have their ServSafe certification, which you need to work in the industry, she said.

Angies is open from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and is open to the public offering a variety of fish and shellfish, both fresh and prepared.

This is a shameless plug, but you have to try the $1 stuffed clams, Henry said. Bake them 40 minutes at 350, add a little bit of butter  perfect. Thats the secret.

Being from Oregon, Vaandering said she is familiar with marine-focused education programs, but the level of hands-on learning in Bridgeport was impressive, she said.

Being able to get that kind of experience and learn about something theyre passionate about, its a great opportunity, she said.

After leaving Connecticut, Vaandering said she is headed for a conference in New Orleans, and will then brief the NEA executive committee on the innovations she observed.

Im here learning about the things theyre doing in the district, she said. Then Ill be sharing with the executive committee the things that Ive learned and the stories that Ive heard .
BANGKOK, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy seeks to extend strategic influence in the region through ganging-up to suit the U.S. own interests, which will undermine the region's stability and development, an expert specializing in ASEAN studies has said.

From a geopolitical perspective, the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy will dampen the momentum of safeguarding regional security and development through cooperation, as the U.S. engagement will force some countries to "take sides," causing division and confrontation among countries in the region, Yang Baoyun, a professor at Thailand's Thammasat University, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The U.S. strategy will also cast a shadow on the region's thriving economic cooperation, and the U.S. practice of drawing an ideological line between countries will create division and even conflicts, Yang said.

Through the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, which in essence targets China, the United States is playing a zero-sum game, seeking to hold back China's rejuvenation while holding on to its hegemony, he said, adding that it will surely undermine the region's stability and development as well as the fundamental interests of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which will inevitably impact the Asia-Pacific region, Yang said the United States could not shirk its responsibility for the current situation, judging from the root cause and development of the conflict.

"There are various potential risks in the Asia-Pacific region that may lead to conflicts," and with the disruption by external forces, these risks might lead to serious conflicts if not properly handled, he said.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific should maintain strategic resolve, foster the awareness of a closer community with a shared future, jointly uphold regional peace and security, and resolve the region's disputes through negotiation and in accordance with the UN Charter and the norms of international law, Yang said.

As most countries in the Asia-Pacific are developing countries, he said, development is their common aspiration.

Against a backdrop of a prolonged pandemic, sluggish economic recovery and a complex international landscape, countries in the Asia-Pacific should maintain the sound momentum of promoting development via cooperation and make good use of existing regional cooperation platforms to push forward peaceful development, and settle disputes and safeguard common interests in a timely manner, Yang said.
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SHELTON  Emilia Moe is proof you are never too young to make a difference in peoples lives.

The second grader at Elizabeth Shelton School recently wrote a letter to Principal Jamie Weber, asking if the school could hold a benefit to aid the people of Ukraine. That simple request set in motion the events that resulted in the city-wide school pajama day fundraiser Friday at all the elementary schools.

Emilias class raised $180 on Friday. All money raised will go to UNICEF, which is directly supporting Ukraines students and families.

Wow, I never thought this would happen, Emilia said. All I wanted was for the kids to see what I did and maybe they could do something for others, too.

She said she wanted to demonstrate that age neednt be an impediment to doing good works.

I really wanted was for kids in school to know youre not too small to change the world and make a difference and show the kids what youre made of, she said.

Emilias mother, Mollie, said none of this comes as a surprise. Her daughter has always been one to consider others feelings and help out whenever possible.

(Emilia) told me she wanted to do something at school but wasnt sure what, Mollie said. When she came home and told us she wrote a letter to Mrs. Weber and delivered it to the office, we were so happy she was confident enough to find her voice and felt empowered to write and deliver the letter.

She described Emilia as a compassionate, soulful, and kind kid and said the family was proud but not surprised she had this idea.

Weber said Emilias letter touched her heart, and she then held a meeting with the youngster to talk about what could be done. That is when the idea for a pajama day was born.

The fact that she did it on her own is incredible and speaks to her heart as well as her upbringing, Weber said. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to act. We immediately sat down and created the fundraiser.

Emilia said she knows everyone loves to come school in pj's so that's what we decided, Weber added. I took the note she wrote and used it in the flyer. I then tweeted at the other elementary principals to see if they were interested and they were.

The grade level that raises the most money will get extra recess, Weber said.

I am so proud of all our Rising Stars and what they try to do for others each and every day, Weber added.

Weber then reached out to the principals of the citys other elementary schools, all of whom jumped on board and held similar events at their schools Friday.

Mollie said Emilia was beyond excited when she learned the school had embraced her idea.

I dont think she expected that opportunity to come to fruition because it was the first time she had done something like that, Mollie said.

Mollie, whose uncles family comes from Ukraine, said Emilia overheard she and her husband, Alex, talking about Russias invasion of the Eastern European nation when it first happened late last month.

Shes an inquisitive kid, Mollie said, so she asked what is happening in Ukraine. We were hesitant as to how much to disclose so we explained it as Russia being a big bully who attacked Ukraine because they wanted something Ukraine has.

She said addressing global issues on a developmentally appropriate level was a find line to walk, But we want our children to be aware.

Mollie said she and her husband could not be prouder of Emilias push for the benefit event.

She genuinely loves to help others, Mollie said. We try to raise our children to develop agency for themselves and impact in their community. She will help out around the house without asking. This winter she helped shovel out our elderly neighbors driveway, and she is the oldest child among our friend group, so she often takes the role of mother hen making sure the younger ones are taken care of.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
Middletown does not tolerate any signs of hate, intimidation, harassment or attempts at the same wrong. Let me clarify my statement wrong, even though I shouldnt have to. There are those in the community that will take my statement of truth, and say he is saying that all white people are racist. No! I know a number of white people and there are those I dont know. That are not racist. This I do know. I knew that what happened to Dr. Michael Conner was wrong. I also know that those whites within the community who do not tolerate this kind of behavior are in the minority of whites in Middletown.

Where were the many strong leaders and partners working through collaboration to keep the Middletown school system, as well as Middletown, a better place, when racism, biases, allegations of harassment, intimidation and retaliation made by the school union representatives wouldnt happen, which now include threats to him and his family?
Nearly 200 migrants were returned to Haiti on Tuesday after being picked up near the Caribbean nations coastline, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The repatriation is one of the latest interventions U.S. border authorities in South Florida have carried out as thousands of Haitians and Cubans take to the sea to escape their home countries in turmoil.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard announced on Twitter that two cutters had rescued the large group of Haitians on an overloaded boat in a flurry of bad weather. The group, which included 126 men, 45 women and 17 children, was found about 20 miles from Cap Du Mole, on Haitis northern coast.

Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, from the Coast Guard office in Miami that patrols Florida, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, emphasized that the illegal voyages were always dangerous and often deadly.

We have increased our air and sea patrols across the region in close coordination with our interagency and international partners, he said in a statement.

Since Oct. 1, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted 2,284 Haitian migrants, an increase of almost 50 percent compared to the entire 2021 fiscal year, which runs from October through September. In that same period, it has interdicted 1,053 Cuban migrants, up from the 838 in fiscal 2021.

In recent months, the Florida Keys have been a principal landing spot for Cuban and Haitian migrants, many smuggled by human traffickers. On March 14, more than 100 Haitian migrants arrived in a residential area in Summerland Key, near Key West. The landing followed another a week before that brought 356 Haitian migrants to Key Largo. On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it had apprehended about two dozen other migrants, made up of two groups of Cuban migrants that landed in the Marquesas Keys and Big Pine Key.

Third group of migrants in a week lands in the Keys near Islamorada

The surge of migrants has also affected Puerto Rico, which is seeing more and more Haitian migrants landing on its shores. As of mid-March, the U.S. Coast Guard, Border Patrol, and the Puerto Rican Police Department had apprehended 571 undocumented Haitian migrants in Puerto Rico  the top nationality to be intercepted in the American territory by authorities this fiscal year and surpassing migrant arrivals from the Dominican Republic.

The majority have landed on Mona Island, a Puerto Rican nature reserve between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, the landmass shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti; 188 Haitians have made landfall on mainland Puerto Rico, in the western towns of Aguada, Anasco, Rincon, and Cabo Rojo.

Marleine Bastien, a Haitian advocate and founder of Family Action Network Movement in Miami, said the Biden administration should end deportations to Haiti, as the nation faces gang violence, political instability and destruction from earthquakes.

It is human nature to try to find security, she told the Miami Herald. Haiti is a country at war right now.

If you are in the United States and believe a family member has been interdicted at sea, contact your local U.S. representatives. If you are based outside the United States, reach out to the nearest U.S. embassy.

2022 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Airmen began posting an image of an F-22 Raptor with its nose cone buried in the ground at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon, after the aircraft had an apparent landing gear mishap earlier that morning.

Although the image was unverified, a statement from the 96th Test Wing at Eglin confirmed that the incident happened during landing around 10 a.m. and that emergency crews rushed to the scene immediately.

"The pilot was transported to flight medicine for an evaluation," the statement from Eglin said. "An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mishap is underway."

Read Next: F-22 Has In-Flight Emergency, Ends Up Nose Down at Florida Base

Tuesday's incident highlights some long-standing issues with the F-22's landing gear and also follows a report released earlier this month that shows faulty landing gear springs were to blame for a high-profile mishap with a B-2 Spirit bomber in Missouri last year.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in military readiness, said mechanical issues such as the ones faced by the F-22 at Eglin this week and the B-2 bomber last year cause serious problems for the force.

"There is a link between the age of aircraft requiring more maintenance, which leads to reduced flying hours," Eaglen said. "This is the smallest, oldest Air Force in history."

During last year's budget request, the Air Force wanted to slash flight time by roughly 87,500 hours because of the heavy costs associated with maintenance of many aging aircraft.

The pilot in Tuesday's incident at Eglin was medically cleared and released the same day, according to the base. The pilot was conducting a routine training mission, but no other details were provided.

An almost identical incident happened with an F-22 at Eglin last year, when a pilot experienced an in-flight emergency and the front landing gear didn't operate properly, causing the nose cone to dip into the ground on the runway.

After that mishap, the F-22 Raptors at Eglin -- and 10% of the fleet at other bases -- were inspected. Air Combat Command found that one in five of those jets had incorrectly rigged landing gear. Nearly 40 of those had to be fixed.

"Thirty-seven aircraft were re-rigged in accordance with the one-time inspection," Air Combat Command said in a statement last year. "The Program Office continues to explore potential root causes."

Additionally, Air Force Safety Center data shows that five Raptors had accidents in 2021, costing taxpayers upward of $600,000 each.

The F-22 mishaps come after the Air Force was forced to move the fleet from Tyndall in Florida following Hurricane Michael in 2018, spreading the planes out between Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

In addition to the F-22 incident this week, more details emerged in a report from Air Force Global Strike Command showcasing what went wrong when a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber rolled off the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri last year.

The plane, assigned to the 393rd Bomb Squadron of the 509th Bomb Wing, was also known as The Spirit of Georgia, and a photo of the mishap at Whiteman on Sept. 14 last year was widely shared on social media because of the jarring image of the massive aircraft slumped into the ground.

Both pilots in the incident were unharmed.

The report, released March 17, revealed that the damage estimate to the plane was around $10 million, but further review is still needed. Each bomber costs upward of $1 billion.

Air Force Col. Robert Cocke, the investigation board president, detailed in the report that the crash likely happened because lock springs on the landing gear failed to provide "sufficient pressure" to maintain a locked position.

No error was attributed to the pilot or the crew. But the report said that "there is no requirement for routine replacement of the lock link" springs. The last time the bomber went through in-depth maintence was 2014, according to investigators.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: B-2 Rolled Off Runway at Whiteman in Emergency Landing
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Eric Duncan is an associate in Tully Rinckey PLLC's Buffalo office, where he focuses his practice around military law. Prior to joining Tully Rinckey, Duncan served in the United States Marine Corps' infantry.

You have spent countless years of your life serving your country with honor and distinction, only to find yourself facing a discharge classified as less than fully honorable due to misconduct.

Your retirement could be lost, the education benefits you earned are now gone, and your entitlement to other Department of Veterans Affairs benefits has been stripped away as well.

The various discharge review boards provide a mechanism to restore your access to those veterans benefits through a discharge upgrade. While the name of the board seems self-explanatory and the process appears straightforward, it can be very complicated for some.

The discharge review boards exist for all branches of the military and have the power to correct inequities or improprieties in military service records. This can mean upgrading a discharge from other-than-honorable to general under honorable conditions and can result in the restoration of some veterans' benefits administered by the VA. An upgrade from general to honorable would restore a service member's access to Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits, one of the most popular and valuable benefits offered to veterans.

Besides upgrading a military discharge classification, the boards have the power to change a service member's reentry code, correct the narrative reason for separation, and even change the separation authority. This could result in a service member becoming eligible to reenlist in the military or avoiding having to explain why their DD-214 lists things like "drug abuse" or "serious misconduct" under the narrative for separation.

A service member has the right to submit a request to the discharge review board if they apply within 15 years of their separation from service. They are required to complete a DD Form 293, and I highly recommend that a comprehensive petition be submitted along with the completed form in order to increase the chances of the board granting relief.

The petition should be drafted in an organized and well-labeled manner to allow the board to find the information it wants quickly. The person who writes the petition must know what information the board will want and how to persuasively present that information in the light most favorable to the applicant. Often, service members attempt to write their own petitions and are denied because they fail to provide supporting documents or adequately explain why the board should act.

In 2014, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued policy guidance to the various review boards instructing them to consider post-traumatic stress disorder as a potential mitigating factor in instances of military misconduct. The memorandum instructs the boards to give "liberal consideration" to any petition in which PTSD could be considered to have been an underlying cause or factor in the misconduct. The memorandum and its policies have provided relief for countless service members who were discharged at a time when PTSD and its effects were largely misunderstood by society.

In 2017, A.M. Kurta, who was performing the duties of the under secretary of defense, issued guidance to the boards that expanded upon Secretary Hagel's, instructing them to consider any underlying mental health condition as a mitigating factor in military misconduct. The Kurta memo acknowledged that mental health conditions are often undiagnosed or diagnosed years after the veteran has left service, and it directed the boards to give liberal consideration when doing so is supported by evidence indicating the condition existed during a veteran's military service. This includes instances where a traumatic brain injury, one of the most common injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is present, as well as instances of sexual assault or harassment.

The following year, Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie issued guidance to the boards directing them to consider numerous factors when a petition for relief is sought on the basis of equity, injustice or clemency grounds. The Wilkie memorandum says that an honorable discharge characterization does not require flawless military service and requires the boards to consider whether the discharge characterization received by the service member is disproportionate to the alleged offense and whether the service member received disparate treatment compared to other troops who have committed the same or similar offenses. Similarly, the boards have received guidance directing them to correct a service member's military records when the veteran was discharged under the archaic policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

A discharge characterization of anything less than fully honorable does not have to deprive you of access to veterans' benefits indefinitely, and the stigma that may be associated with a certain type of discharge doesn't have to, either. The review boards have the power to upgrade a discharge characterization and routinely do for service members who submit a compelling petition and the proper supporting documents. In some cases, this can result in the restoration of entitlement to all veteran benefits, including access to health care for service-connected disabilities and hundreds of thousands of dollars in disability compensation.
Etilaat-e-Rooz (Translated by RAWA), March 23, 2022

A number of students have rallied in Kabul to protest the Taliban's decision to block girls' schools.

Those who gathered in a house today (Thursday, 23 March) chanted slogans such as "No religion restricts education and the ban on educating girls is blatant gender discrimination."

The students urged the Taliban not to be hypocritical about male and female students. They say closing schools is persecution for a generation.

Protesting students also chanted slogans calling on Pakistan to call on the Taliban to open the school to girls in the sixth grade.

Girls' schools were scheduled to reopen across the country after months of closure yesterday (Wednesday, June 3); But the Taliban Ministry of Education announced that girls' secondary and high schools would remain closed until further notice.

A statement from the Taliban Ministry of Education said that if the school uniform was designed in accordance with Afghan law, customs and culture, then girls' schools would be reopened in accordance with the Taliban leadership.

The decision has provoked widespread national and international backlash.
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Tyler Clippard has returned to the Nationals organization, as The Washington Posts Barry Svrluga reported that the Nats had a locker waiting for the veteran right-hander. The Posts Jesse Dougherty confirmed that Clippard was indeed a non-roster invite to the clubs big league spring camp.

Clippard first pitched for Washington from 2008-14, a stint that solidified Clippard as a solid and sometimes elite bullpen arm. The righty posted a 2.68 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, and 9.8% walk rate over his 464 previous innings in a Nats uniform, twice reaching the NL All-Star team and operating as either a workhorse setup man or (in 2012) as a closer. The two sides parted ways in January 2015, when the Nationals traded Clippard to the As for Yunel Escobar.

That swap kicked off a nomadic stretch for Clippard, as he saw action with nine different teams from 2015-21. Despite the lack of stability, Clippard was still posting effective numbers, with a 3.47 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, and 9.0% walk rate in 376 1/3 frames in those seven seasons. There was a bit of a bump in home run rate (8.2% with Washington and 10.0% elsewhere), which isnt a huge surprise given Clippards extreme fly-ball tendencies.

Never a high-velocity arm even in his prime years, Clippard has relied on soft contact and an excellent changeup as the keys to his success. Clippards strikeout totals have declined over the last four years, however, and his fastball averaged only 88.9 mph over 25 1/3 innings with the Diamondbacks in 2021.

Clippard got a late start late season, as a shoulder injury kept him from any big league action until July 21. Arizona declined their side of a $3.5MM mutual option for the 2022 season, thus sending Clippard into free agency entering his age-37 campaign.

Between the additions of Steve Cishek, Sean Doolittle, and now Clippard, the Nationals have bolstered their young relief corps with plenty of veteran experience. Given the amount of uncertainty in the D.C. bullpen, Clippard probably stands a pretty good chance of breaking camp with the team and even getting a crack at some high-leverage innings. It remains to be seen exactly how the Nats will line up their relievers in late-game situations, or whether or not manager Davey Martinez will go purely situational rather than have a set order for the seventh, eighth, or even ninth innings.
The family of the late veteran actor King Aboagye Brenya has announced dates for his final funeral rites.

According to Kumasi-based movie director and producer James Aboagye, the funeral of the veteran actor will be held on March 26 and 27 this year.

He added that the funeral will take place at his hometown in Abira near Bonwire and Antoa.

King Aboagye Brenya died in September last year after being ill for a while.

In a career that spun beyond a decade, the veteran actor starred in several movies in both Twi speaking (Kumawood) and English speaking industries (Ghallywood).
The youth of Buabula, a suburb of Bawku in the Upper East Region are demanding justice.

According to the youth, those military men who perpetrated the heinous crime by allegedly killing and destroying properties in the area must be brought to book.

In a speech read at a meeting with the six Kusaug MPs who were on a fact-finding mission, the youth demanded compensation for those whose lives and properties were lost.

The youth leader and Assemblymember of the area, Hon. Paul Musah also demanded the release of the 11 people arrested in their various houses by the military.

The youth further demanded the current commander of the military in Bawku investigated and appropriate actions taken against them.

According to the youth, about 5:00am dawn on the 16th March 2022 when the military including police personnel invaded the community and allegedly attacked some houses, shot and killed some people.

Addressing the youth, Mahama Ayariga, MP for the area, called on the residents to remain calm as he and his colleague MPs from the Kusaug area find lasting solution to the conflict.

Mahama Ayariga assured the residents of Buabula and Sabongari that the security who shot and killed the three persons in their houses will not be spared.

Mahama Ayariga however, called on the residents to provide information on the extent of the damage for them to take the matter up to the President.

The six MPs later toured the affected areas and ended at Aisha Yahaya's grave where a Muslim prayer was said.

The head of the delegation, Hon Cletus Apul Avoka, commended and appreciate the security for their sacrifices.

Speaking at the military camp at Tensungo, a suburb of Bawku, he urged the military to be more professional in the discharge of their duties to restore peace in Bawku.
Army officers have seized power in the West African states of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso since 2020, in a sharp setback for democracy in the region.

The ruling juntas in all three countries have announced transition periods during which they aim to complete reforms before staging democratic elections.

However, there are doubts about their true willingness to cede power.

The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc -- of which Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso are members -- has responded to the coups with a light touch in some cases, and severe sanctions in others.

Four coups

The first of the four military coups in the ECOWAS bloc occurred in August 2020, when army officers led by Colonel Assimi Goita deposed elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, after months of growing popular discontent with his rule.

Goita installed an interim government led by civilians. But in May 2021, he deposed those civilian leaders -- in a second coup. He was later sworn in as interim president himself.

The next coup came in neighbouring Guinea in September 2021, when Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted elected president Alpha Conde, who had provoked mass protests by seeking a controversial third term in office.

Then in January 2022, Burkina Faso's Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba seized power after two days of army mutinies amid frustration with the jihadist conflict, deposing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore. Damiba was sworn in as interim president on February 16.

Ceding power

The new military leaders of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all promised to hand power back to civilians.

In a script common to all three countries, their militaries have also drawn up a "transition charter" intended as a founding act for the period before elections are held.

Ruling army officers in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have also installed prime ministers and unelected parliaments -- which remain tightly controlled.

In Mali and Guinea, the juntas have both promised to hand control over to civilians after staging elections.

Under pressure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mali pledged to hold a vote in February 2022. But it reneged on that promise, suggesting a transition period of up to five years.

In Guinea, Doumbouya has so far refused to commit to an election timetable. He says the National Council -- the unelected interim legislature -- will set the date.

Burkina Faso's Damiba has established a transition period of three years before pledging to restore the "constitutional order".

ECOWAS response

The response from ECOWAS to the wave of coups has varied, influenced by the interests of its members and the international context, among other factors.

The United States and European Union have backed ECOWAS in its moves. As has France, the former colonial power in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

With Mali, ECOWAS first slapped sanctions on leading junta members. Then in January, it shut its borders with the country, froze its assets at the Central Bank of West African States and imposed a trade embargo.

The tough sanctions came in response to the Malian junta's broken promise on holding swift elections.

Guinea has been suspended from ECOWAS, leading junta members have been sanctioned and are subject to a travel ban within the bloc.

So far, Burkina Faso has just been suspended from ECOWAS, without further punishment.
The Board of Management of Ethiopian Airlines Group has appointed Mr Mesfin Tasew Bekele, as Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines Group, effective March 23.

Mr Mesfin takes over from Tewolde GebreMariam whose early retirement request due to health issues has been approved by the Board.

Mr Mesfin has 38 years of experience in airline management and operations in the areas of aircraft maintenance and engineering and procurement.

Other areas of experience are information technology, flight operations, capability development, capacity building, development of corporate strategies, airline operation management, and corporate leadership.

He earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University in the UK, an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering specializing in Communications Engineering from Addis Ababa University, and a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Addis Ababa University.

Mr Girma Wake, the Board Chairman of the airline said, I will like to congratulate Mr Mesfin on his new appointment and I am fully confident about his capabilities."

"We believe that Mr Mesfin will lead the airline to an even greater success, keeping it on the right track that will see it grow through many generations to come," he said.

He urged the 17,000 employees of Ethiopian and the board members to stand with the new Group CEO to keep the airline fly high.

He also commended the remarkable contributions of the former Group CEO.

Mr Mesfin said, I am honoured and humbled to be appointed as the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group which I have been serving for nearly four decades in various positions.

"My new role gives me the opportunity to carry on with the fast and profitable growth of our beloved airline and take it to the next level," he added.

He called on all his colleagues at Ethiopian to join hands and forge ahead for further success.

In the different capacities, he served during his 38 years of service, Mr Mesfin has been a key player responsible for planning and execution of strategies that led the airline to shine in the African skies and beyond.

He assumed responsibilities including but not limited to the overall maintenance of the Ethiopian fleet, capability, and capacity development, leading the automation project of the Maintenance and Engineering Division, and managing projects related to aircraft acquisition.

Mr Mesfin has been serving as a Chief Executive Officer of ASKY Airlines since 2021 and has led the airline with a profitable growth strategy until the time of his new appointment.

He also served as a Chief Operating Officer of Ethiopian Airlines from 2010 2021 and successfully led the operation of the airline in an efficient and cost-effective way by optimizing processes and developing internal resources to cope with the airline's growth strategy.

Besides, he was Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering from 2006 2010; Chief Information Officer from 1998  2006; Manager of Planning and Automation, Maintenance and Engineering Division from 1995  1997; and Avionics Engineer and Supervisor Avionics Engineering Group from 1984  1994.

He took part in numerous local and international seminars in the aviation industry and general leadership.

The new CEO received training in leadership and airlines operations management, aviation regulations and aircraft maintenance among others.

In 1984, Mr Mesfin was a gold medal award winner of Addis Ababa University Faculty of Technology as an Outstanding Graduate of the Year.

GNA
Tigrayan rebels fighting in northern Ethiopia have agreed to respect a ceasefire proposed by the government, marking a turning point in the nearly 17-month war that has killed thousands of people and displaced many more.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government declared a surprise truce on Thursday, saying it hoped the move would ease humanitarian access to Tigray and "pave the way for the resolution of the conflict" in northern Ethiopia.

It called on the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to "desist from all acts of further aggression and withdraw from areas they have occupied in neighbouring regions".

The rebels issued a statement early Friday saying that they were "committed to implementing a cessation of hostilities effective immediately".

They urged Ethiopian authorities to "go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilitate unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray," where hundreds of thousands face starvation.

Nearly 40 percent of the people in Tigray, a region of six million people, face "an extreme lack of food", the UN said in January, with fuel shortages forcing aid workers to deliver medicines and other crucial supplies by foot.

Time to build

The US, UN, European Union, UK and Canada have all welcomed the truce, which follows a visit to Ethiopia by US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, earlier this week.

"The EU welcomes the declaration of a humanitarian truce by the Gov of Ethiopia and the statement on cessation of hostilities by the Tigrayan Authorities", the EU delegation to Ethiopia said on Twitter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States "urges all parties to build on this announcement to advance a negotiated and sustainable ceasefire, including necessary security arrangements".

Millions need food aid

The conflict erupted in November 2020 when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region's former ruling party, in response to alleged rebel attacks on army camps.

The UN says thousands have died, and around 400,000 have been forced to flee their homes as the conflict expanded from Tigray to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.

More than nine million people need food aid across these three regions, according to the UN's World Food Programme.

Accounts have emerged of mass rapes and massacres, with both sides accused of human rights violations.

The region has also been subject to what the UN says is a de facto blockade.

The United States has also accused Abiy's government of preventing aid from reaching those in need, while the authorities have blamed the rebels for the obstruction.

Washington angered Ethiopia's government by removing trading privileges for the country over rights concerns during the war, but has stopped short of imposing sanctions in the hope of encouraging a ceasefire.

(with wires)

Also read:
President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged new healthcare professionals across the country to accept postings to deprived communities.

The President was speaking on Friday, 25 March 2022 at the 60th celebration of the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra.

The President also bemoaned the inadequate number of health professionals in the newly-created regions.

He said: We currently do not have the right number of doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals with the right mix of skills and expertise in our regions, districts and deprived communities, especially for the new-created regions and districts.

President Akufo-Addo also described the refusal of medical doctors to accept postings to deprived communities as worrying.

The news of doctors refusing postings to these areas is particularly distressing. I encourage all medical practitioners to follow the warning example of your great forebears who readily accepted postings in their early years at a time when the national infrastructure was even more harrowing than it is today.

They did so because they believed the oath they took imposed a duty on them to offer their services, especially to the neediest. It was their work that helped build the nationwide health system for which we are all benefiting, President Akufo-Addo stated.

The Savanna Regional Health Director, Dr Chrysantus Kubio, had earlier bemoaned the refusal of medical officers to accept postings to the region.

According to him, 85 per cent of medical doctors posted to the region in 2021 failed to show up at their various duty posts.

Speaking at the annual Regional Health Sector Performance Review Conference held in Damongo on Thursday, 10 March 2022, Dr Kubio said: In the year under review, the region received 1,133 new staff, out of which 225 failed to report, representing a 20 per cent posting rejection rate.

Going into specific professions, medical officers rejection rate was 85 per cent, he said.

Dr Kubio noted that the Municipal and District Assemblies in the region must devise means to curb the phenomenon.

This calls for stakeholder deliberation at the various Municipal and District Assembly levels to devise means and attract these critical staff to accept postings to our region, Dr Kubio stated.

Source: classfmonline.com
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
IF THE consensus arrangement and unity list scales the ruling APC is proposing for tomorrows convention scales through, then Tinubu"s political fate hangs on the balance. The same consensus will be used to shove him off.

Let him tight his last battle now or lose out. Buhari and the Fulani's have proven they are not the fools some confused people have taken them to be.

Senator Abdullahi Adamu is someone I know. I followed his antecedents closely from the time he was Governor at Naarrawa State till now, he has no respect for dissenting opinion, and will certainly turn these governors into errand boys. He will just treat these APC Governors as small boys, no wonder they don't want him. He will not tolerate any nonsense from them. The APC convention will be a do or die affair if Buhari fails to intervene

I know Adamu more than most of these governors, they cannot change the tide against him, and he will use them as servants, which they have made themselves by initially jettisoning every plan for a free convention because of selfish purposes.

Adams Oshiomhole has more democratic. credentials than Adamu. The APC Governors will have battles to fight after the convention

By the time it starts, these men will respect our views; It is the APC Governors lack of democratic. credentials that. brought them to these quagmires

(Obinna Akukwe , Columnist, Activist, [email protected] , facebook, twitter @oinnaakukwe)
Buhari's consensus option have finally put paid to the scheming of Tinubu to support either Ex Governor Al- l Makurs, Akume or Sheriff as APC National. Chairman. The same manner a. Consensus option will. be used to kill his presidential bid.

I warmed in a piece in 2020 on "Why Tinubu Should not be Dumped by Buhari and counseled that Jagaban be given a fair treatment, allowing him to either win or lose fairly during primaries, devoid of manipulations and scheming. This consensus option is manipulative.

The next phase will play out after the convention. I have tried to alert Jagaban that there is fire on the mountain. but he is too busy to come down from high horses to listen to common sense advice. Now water has passed garri

The only option Jagaban has is too tight and start the fight earlier. Senator Adamu will not support his presidential ambitions; except he is arm twisted. The new NWC will. Be glorified Commissioners under his Chairmanship, Period!

Tinubu lost Oshiomhole, lost Obaseki, lost Osinbajo, lost Aregbesola, failed to. Consult deeply. Ignored our warning, and about to end up in Buhari s Soup pot. Those who ignore seasoned political activists end up in shame..

I don't hate Tinubu Presidential ambition and does not mind his being president because viable options within this turbulent nation-state is very narrow, but I don't fancy people who cannot speak out when it is necessary.

Fulani's have outsmarted Jagaban , let him start the fight before the new Jonathan bride emerges.

Meanwhile, I am not averse to Adamu Chairmanship because at least he will not tolerate any nonsenses from anybody. And may likely instill some party disciplines. Adamu and Bode George have same antecedents.

Igbo's of the South East are nowhere in the equation. Okorocha and Uzwciodimma feud rubbished Igbo chances. Let Igbos continue to lap IPOB while other regions are scheming, strategizing and permutating.

(Obinna Akukwe, Columnist, Activist, [email protected] , facebook, twitter @oinnaakukwe)
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister has addressed this years World Water Day in Tamale emphasising the need for all stakeholders to work together with government to ensure availability of safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.

He said, "We must collectively work together to protect and restore water-related ecosystems from deforestation and general environmental degradation."

He added that "In furtherance to this, we in Tamale must consciously protect the White Volta basin at Nawuni as it poses security threat to the supply of water to Tamale and its surrounding environs."

The event was organised by the Catholic Relief Services, an international non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with partners including the Northern Regional Coordinating Council on the theme: "Groundwater - Making the Invisible Visible".

Key stakeholders from various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region amongst other agencies took part in the event to deliberate on the need to improve the quality of water provision in the region.

The World Water Day, commemorated in March every year, has been instituted by United Nations to celebrate gains in water service delivery, raise awareness on the global water crises and to stimulate discussions and collective action to provide the needed solutions.

Alhaji Saibu urged all stakeholders in the water sector to be interested in water security issues including water scarcity and flooding within various communities as it was a shared responsibility.

He said, "It is our hope that more advocacy and continuous awareness creation of the general public on safeguarding our water bodies continues."

Mrs Caroline Raes, Head of Programmes at Catholic Relief Services called on stakeholders in the water sector to adopt strategic measures that would ensure the safety and security of water bodies in the country.

Mrs Raes also expressed the need for stakeholders to take the needed steps to harness the prospects of groundwater to minimise the incidence of water scarcity in the country.

She noted that an estimated 41 per cent of the countrys population depended on groundwater sources for their domestic and industrial use hence the need to prioritise its safety for consumption.

She lamented that the hydrogeological formation of Tamale and its environs was not favourable for groundwater exploration and abstraction compelling residents to depend largely on the White Volta River.

She said, "Considering the socioeconomic importance of the White Volta River, which is the only fresh water source for Tamale and its environs, there is the urgent need to address the environmental issues along the river basin, especially at Nawuni, where abstraction and treatment take place."

Mr Nicholas Hene Ampong Okyere, Northern Regional Production Manager of Ghana Water Company Limited lamented the deficit in water supply in the region saying "The water demand for Tamale is about 90,000m3. However, the Dalun Headworks currently has installed capacity of 45,000m3 per day but can only produce a daily average of 32, 000m3 of water to Tamale Metropolis and its environs."

He called for the permanent relocation of the sand miners away from the water treatment plant to ensure the sustainability of the Dalun Water Treatment Plant.

Mr Osman Mumuni, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist at the Tamale Field Office of the United Nations Childrens Fund called on government and other stakeholders to invest in groundwater to enhance water safety and security in the region.
26.03.2022 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament for Damongo constituency of the Savannah Region, Lawyer Abu Jinapor has donated ten (10) Apsonic motorbikes to the West Gonja Health Directorate to help enhance the delivery of health care services in the area.

The donation was done at a short ceremony in Damongo at the forecourt of the health directorate on Friday, March 25, 2022.

Presenting the motorbikes, Abu Jinapor said, health professionals will be able to reach the hinterlands of the Municipality for timely and quality delivery of health care services.

He noted that health and education are part of his development agenda for the constituency, adding that, he will go every length to bring quality and improved healthcare services to his people.

He observed that one of the key challenges facing the health directorate is the lack of logistics but was convinced that with proper collaboration, some of the major challenges facing the health directorate will be tackled once and for all.

He said the donation of the motorbikes is one of the strategies undertaken by him to help mitigate the challenges the Municipal health directorate is facing.

According to him, a lot of health projects are ongoing and when completed will be of immense boost to the health sector in the area.

The health director for West Gonja, Gertrude Yentumi conveyed words of gratitude to the lawmaker for his kind gesture, adding that, one of the major challenges facing the health directorate has been the lack of motorbikes.

According to her, the motorbikes will help health workers to reach remote areas to deliver quality health care.

She assured the MP who is also the sector Minister for Lands and Natural Resources of playing a supervisory role to ensure that the motorbikes are regularly maintained and kept in good shape to serve the purpose for which they were procured.
On 3 April, Hungary goes to the ballot box to elect 199 members of the National Assembly. The choice is between the Fidesz party of incumbent Prime Minister Victor Orban, whose populist policies have estranged him from Brussels, and a coalition of opposition parties led by Peter Marki-zay. Despite Orban's pro-Russian sentiments, he's leading in the polls  for now.

"Orban is betraying Europe, Orban is betraying NATO, Orban is betraying the United States," Marki-zay said in a recent interview.

The Hungarian leader's sympathies towards Russia, and his visit to the Kremlin  the last one less than a month before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine  has given fodder to the opposition while leaving him with few friends outside of Hungary.

His standing abroad sank even lower after he rejected, on 25 March, an emotional appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to support sanctions on Russia's energy sector  saying that they were "against Hungary's interests".

Sanctions, he added, "would mean the Hungarian economy would slow down and then stop within moments".

Orban argued that 85 percent of Hungary's gas and more than 60 percent of its oil came from Russia, adding that blocking Russian energy exports would force Hungarians to "pay the price of the war".

Unlike other EU countries bordering Ukraine, Hungary has declined to supply its neighbour with weapons and has refused to allow weapons shipments to cross its border into Ukraine.

Candidate for 'peace and security'

When the Russian-Ukraine war started on February 24, the opposition started gunning for Orban's traditional support of Moscow. Orban paid some lip-service to EU commitments to sanctions, but didn't go all the way.

But within a week, it was clear his rating wasn't affected at all.

Opinion polls published by Politico on 24 February, the day that the Russian invasion started, show Fidesz leading with 49-44 percent against the United Opposition. A month later, Orban's party had increased the gap by 7 percent.

How did he manage it?

During a campaign rally on 15 March, Orban appeared to turn the war in his favour by saying that if he were to be elected, he would not allow the left to "drag Hungary into war".

Presenting himself as the candidate for "peace and security", he accused the United Opposition of having "lost their common sense" by supporting Ukraine, with a risk to "sleep-walk into a cruel, lengthy and bloody war".

But while Orban's message is universally printed and broadcast by the national press, the opposition has little chance to present its own program.

'Would be' information police state

"Right now (media) have to give five minutes to all the parties," says Helene Bienvenu, co-author of La Hongrie sous Orban, a book with a series of observations and analyses on Hungary's politics.

"The rest of the time, the floor is given to pro-Orban journalists," who write positively about Orban or attack the opposition, "portraying them as the ones who want to go to war over Ukraine".

Hungary ranks no. 92 in the World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

After the Covid-92 outbreak, Orban imposed strict rules giving the government "almost unlimited powers to handle the crisis and threaten journalists with prosecution on charges of disseminating fake news" RSF said as it branded Hungary a "would-be information police state at the heart of Europe".

Fine line

Still, Orban is trying to walk a fine line in balancing Hungary's sympathies.

Budapest is one of the few EU countries that signed up to China's multibillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative  to the dismay of Brussels, which branded China a "systemic rival" in a recent policy paper.

Included in the initiative is a Belgrade-to-Budapest high speed railroad, and a 1.3 billion Budapest campus of Shanghai's Fudan University  China's largest investment in education abroad.

By far the largest foreign investment is the multi-billion Paks nuclear power plant, which is made with Russian technology and supported by a Moscow-backed loan of 10 billion.

Even within Orban's political circles, there's been no call for a "Hexit" or Hungary leaving the EU, Brexit-style.

"There's never been any question of leaving the EU, because Orban knows he has a lot to win," says Bienvenu, adding that Hungary "is one of the largest recipient of EU funds" which "reshaped Hungarian towns and cities".

Meanwhile Sergei Guriev, a Russian exile who co-authored the book Spin Dictators, told RFI the economic performance of Orban's government, a growth of 2 or 3 percent per year, equalled the 3 percent GDP equivalent in subsidies that Hungary was receiving from the EU.

"Orban has been a very skillful user of the European system, and it took years for the European Commission to wake up to this fact and to start to impose rule-of-law conditionalities into funding coming from Brussels," Guriev said.

"Some political scientists see Hungary as an 'electoral autocracy' or 'spin dictatorship'."

The methods of Orban are very similar to those used by (Hugo) Chavez of Venezuela or the early Vladimir Putin, Guriev added.

"He is bribing the elite, he's purchased the media, he uses (electoral) redistricting, and these are methods the EU commission is very unhappy about."
In a communique on March 24, 2022 the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission had directed the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) to reconnect power to Koblimahgu in Tamale in the Northern Region alongside the installation of new meters in the community.

However, a day after the communique, residents in Koblimahgu were still in darkness despite attempts by NEDCo to connect new meters.

The Commission said, the planned deployment of the split meters in the community will be carried out after the reconnection of power to ensure energy accountability and to reduce the regular presence of NEDCo officials in the community concerning meter related activities.

The commission also said the representatives of Koblimahgu were to also ensure the safety of NEDCo officials during the installation of the split meters and subsequent visits to carry out their official assignments in the community.

Koblimahgu community members had rejected the installation of meters in the community because they still did not have power.

They also called for the removal of the head of corporate affairs of the NEDCo, Maxwell Kotoka, for disobeying the orders of the traditional authority to restore power to the community.

There was tension between Koblimahagu and the electricity distribution company over allegations of power theft.

A NEDCo staff sustained cutlass wounds by a resident after power theft claims.

citinewsroom
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has taken a swipe at Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Minority side over plans to picket at the Kotoka International Airport over the continued mandatory COVID-19 testing for arriving passengers.

The Minority in Parliament has set Wednesday March 30, 2022 to embark on such an exercise.

They have consequently informed the Ghana Police Service about the planned protest.

In a letter signed by three of its members, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Kwame Agbodza and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the opposition legislators say they intend to consistently hold the protest until the government cancels the mandatory testing contract with the service providers; Frontiers Healthcare Services Ltd.

It is our firm determination to sustain these mass picketing actions until such a time that the Akufo-Addo-led government curtails the illegal, unconscionable and extortionist COVID-19 antigen testing conducted by the iffy Frontiers Healthcare Services Ltd, part of the letter addressed to the police said.

However, in a press statement issued by Yaw Boaben Asamoah, Communications Director of NPP accused the NDC of reducing his COVID-19 Taskforce to picketing.

He wondered why the NDC instead of appreciating government for the measures put in place to mitigate the issues around the stabilisation of the economy.

Unfortunately, the NDC instead of appreciating where we are as a nation, the NDC COVID-19 Taskforce has been reduced to picketing. We are completely surprised at the self-serving intent to picket at the Kotoka International Airport against COVID-19 Protocols when pandemic is not clearly over.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic two years ago, COVID-19 protocols, guidelines and mandate have been regularly monitored, evaluated and reviewed to ensure effective management. This is how the people of Ghana have been kept largely safe to the point where there are only 90 active cases and 9 new cases today. It is ironic that the so- called NDC Advisery Team who had barely uttered a word over a year and it idle MPs have suddenly find their voices. After initially questioning the key COVID-19 measures taken by government, including reopening of schools, every fair minded Ghanaian realised how vacuous John Mahama advisory team were. Now picketing is now their next card. How pathetic, the Director of Communications of NPP noted.

He strongly believes that NDC intends to picket is a move to divert attention on the measures taken by government to revive the economy.

The party therefore commended government on the measures put out by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The measures include expenditure cuts, revenue boosting, fuel prices and cedi management as the party is asking all Ghanaians to get on board and support to secure some relief.

DGN online
President Emmanuel Macron said Friday France was working with Turkey and Greece on a "humanitarian operation" to evacuate people from the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol under attack by Russian forces.

"We are going to work with Turkey and Greece to launch a humanitarian operation to evacuate all those who wish to leave Mariupol," Macron said after an EU summit in Brussels.

"I will have a new discussion with (Russian) President Vladimir Putin within the next 48 to 72 hours to work out the details and secure the modalities," he said.

The French president said he hoped to "be able to involve the maximum number of stakeholders in this operation".

He said that he wanted to be "in a position" to conduct the evacuation "in the next few days".

Macron said that French officials had spoken Friday to the mayor of Mariupol and that the 150,000 remaining residents were left trapped in "dramatic conditions".

Authorities in the city have put the death toll in the city at over 2,000, and said Friday that a single strike last week on a theatre where civilians were sheltering was feared to have killed 300 people.

Russia has made the port city a major focus of its onslaught on Ukraine as it tries to link up the annexed Crimea peninsula with Moscow-controlled areas in the east.

(with AFP)
Lusaka, March 25, 2022  Zimbabwean political parties participating in the March 26 by-election must ensure journalists can cover the events freely and prevent their supporters and officials from harassing or assaulting the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

Around 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 20, in Masvingo, about 182 miles (290 kilometers) south of the capital Harare, Courage Dutiro, a journalist for the privately owned newspaper TellZim, was covering an opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) election rally when Thokozile Muchuchuti, one of the partys candidates, reportedly collapsed, according to Dutiro, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, a tweet by TellZim, and a statement from the Zimbabwe chapter of the regional press freedom body Media Institute of Southern Africa.

When Dutiro began taking photos, a member of the security detail of CCC leader Nelson Chamisa slapped the journalist and physically manhandled him to try and prevent him from shooting pictures, according to those same sources. Chamisa was rescued by CCC deputy spokesperson Ositalosi Siziba, who witnessed the assault and intervened, Dutiro said.

We urge the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change and other political parties participating in this weekends election and beyond to champion press freedom and ensure that members of the press are not harmed, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, from New York. A free flow of information and unfettered access is key to holding credible elections and any attempt to interfere with or stop journalists from doing their jobs must be condemned and action taken to ensure it does not happen again.

The assault on Dutiro comes just six days before the long-awaited March 26 by-election, which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and will fill 133 National Assembly and several local authority seats across Zimbabwe that were declared vacant after a recall of members of Parliament and councilors by the opposition MDC-T party, according to media reports.

Its not the CCC way, CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere told CPJ via messaging app, adding that she and her team were not aware of the assault on Dutiro and that the rally went on peacefully. Mahere also said, We will get to the bottom of this to ensure the safety and freedom of journalists is never compromised at their rallies, adding that, We value the work of journalists, as theyre key partners in sharing our message.

Before the journalist left the rally, the bodyguard offered what Dutiro described as a half-hearted apology, saying it was up to the journalist to accept or not.

Later that day, Dutiro reported the assault to police at Rujeko station in Masvingo, Sergeant Joseph Poterai told CPJ by phone. Poterai referred CPJ to police spokesperson Paul Nyathi for further questions; Nyathi did not immediately respond to repeated phone calls.

The next day, Dutiro was treated at Masvingo General Hospital for a swollen right lower eyelid and other slight injuries consistent with being hit with a blunt object, according to medical records CPJ reviewed.

CPJ called Siziba and sent a request for comment via messaging app but did not immediately receive a response.
26.03.2022 LISTEN

On January 26, an advocate sent a message to the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) urging it to investigate a case of an alleged witch murder in Awgu in Enugu in Southern Nigeria. The message states: "Please investigate the allegation that a woman was killed as a suspected witch because her husband who lives abroad accused her of being the reason why he dares(sic) not return home anymore, suspected that she killed their son, and her daughter, suspected that she was the reason she could not attract a spouse. The proof of witchcraft was that she had a list of people who died in the village, a fact that is found in every home because people always kept a list of those they gave gifts to during funerals. The town is Awgu in Awgu Local Government of Enugu State, Nigeria. Your investigation may help to reeducate the villagers against witch-hunting".

AfAW is not a police agency but liaises with the police and other institutions to bring justice to the accused. Through its network, AfAW found out that this middle-aged woman, Agatha Mgboebuba Nwankwo, was accused of witchcraft and subsequently killed by a local mob. On January 5, one Silas Okolie made a Facebook post on the incident: "Sad: Villagers disgrace woman caught with 'voodoo' item. The worst happened in Awgu in early 2022 as Woman alleged to be perpetrating evil in the community was caught after an alarm was raised due to her ill actions. Stories have it that a paper was picked in her room that contained names of people she has allegedly dealt with and those she will still do including her daughters and new husband's name. Lots of incriminating Items was(sic) found in her abode during a thorough search by the villagers. She was beaten mercilessly and sent to her creator. Parading someone (evil Doer) in the market or roadside is the worst disgrace anybody will ever receive in Awgu, Enugu State. The evil man does must surely live with them".

Unfortunately, some of the people who commented on the post supported the murder of this innocent woman. One said: "Thank you Lord for exposing her"; while another noted: "They said it was even her daughter that saw the snake inside a bowl of water with some juju under her bed, and some names she wrote in a sheet of paper including her daughter name and her new husband to be, that she is going to kill them next week, whenever she killed them she will mark it, there was a man from Awgu that was found dead on a palm tree last month, they said his name was also among the list...that was how she was exposed to the world by her daughter, but thank God she has been killed and thrown away to the bush. May God always protect his children"

When contacted, Okolie confirmed that he made the post the same day that Agatha was murdered. But one of those who commented stated: "yes they killed her the day before yesterday". Thus Agatha might have been murdered on January 3. Whether on January 3 or 5. This innocent woman is no more. The state police command and office of the National Human Rights Commission in Enugu have been contacted to look into the matter. Nobody has come forward to report the case. According to an informant the following persons need to be interrogated: Mr. Remijus Nwankwo - the husband in London can be interviewed by the investigators. His daughter, Chikwado Nwankwo was said to have found the alleged list. She was said to have been to a church that allegedly told her that her mother was responsible for her misfortunes and that she and the father of her four children were the ones who helped the villagers to discover that the mother and grandmother were the witches causing problems. Mark Chukwuino was alleged by the husband to be his uncle who sent him similar lists. Emmanuel Nwankwo Mba is the uncle of the woman alleged to have suspected that she also killed his wife with witchcraft and must have seen her attackers because she was allegedly killed near his home.

As an informant explained: I have just spoken to a relative who told me that he suspected his uncle, Mr. Mark Chukwuino, as the instigator because he had been threatening his wife. According to him, the uncle recently sent him a list of dead enemies allegedly compiled by his wife but it was typewritten and so no way to prove that his wife compiled such a list. The uncle then sent another handwritten list but it was not in his wife's handwriting. He asked the wife to leave the family home and go and stay in a hotel for a while but she told him that no one runs away from his father's compound. The uncle then phoned and threatened to send 'ndu ogba ozi' or messengers to force her out if she did not leave. He said that someone later sent him a video of how some people broke into his house and dragged his wife out and beat her to death. He promised to forward the video to me and I will forward it to you as soon as I receive it. I asked him if he has reported the murder to the police and he said that I must know how the police work in Naija. I do not know what he means by that but I know that it is believed to be an abomination for a family member to invite the police in matters that involve other family members. He said that he had been ill since he returned from a visit home last year but that he is better now and is working to save for his airfare back home to see what he can do".

Both the police and the NHRC offices in Enugu have asked anyone who knew about the case to come forward and lodge a complaint. Almost three months after this horrific murder, nobody has come to report the case. If nothing is done to investigate the case, this grievous crime will fizzle out. Nobody will be punished. But all advocates should not allow this to happen. According to an informant, no one has come forward to lodge a complaint because most people in the community thought the woman was a witch and the punishment was in order. Others are afraid of the lives an safety. A member of the community who was contacted regarding the case said: "Mgboebuba lili amosu laegbuishi ndu ibe ayi. Ive ogbulu egbu kalikwalu. Shite la eka ada e nwayi ('Chikwado' la di e) o kelu igbuko ka eshilu chofuta ive o la eme. Ndu Awgu lo daide juwe ive oji egbushi ndu eka va du ucha, ya shi lo ndu ino e ive ya legbu. Eva ndu o kalaeke igbukwe kaligbukwelu. O gbuagakwalu madu, kalegbukwe tufu adaide. Eva mpam la mmam, okeke kele la nwae nwoke, onyebuchi adae nwayi la nwae dukota la ekwukwo ndu o gbugolu egbu. Oo ndu Awgu jikolu eka kpufute la orie Awgu, megbuo akaje, kpuluihia bia la uhumbele ezi nnae lo tigbuo ye, palu ozue ga gbavuo la ejo ovia du la nduegu ululor. ("Mgboebuba ate witchcraft and was killing our people. The number she killed was a lot. Through the efforts of her daughter ('Chikwado' and her husband) whom she was preparing to kill too, that was how it was discovered what she was doing. Awgu people caught her and questioned why she was killing innocent people who have clean hands, she said that her enemies were the ones that she killed. The names of the people she was preparing to kill were numerous. She had killed too many people and was going to kill more before she was caught. My father and mother, Okeke Kele and his son, Onyebuchi, his daughter, and his grandchild were among the names found in the book of the people she had killed. The people of Awgu joined hands to drag her to Orie Awgu marketplace, mocked her, dragged her to her father's compound in Obugo village, and beat her to death, then they carried her corpse and threw it away in the evil forest at the farm settlement of her husband's village, Ululor").

The informant said that the deceased refused to reveal the names of others who were suspected to be in her 'witch' group. Hence they killed her. The state police command in Enugu should rise to the occasion and take all necessary measures to investigate the murder of Agatha Mgboebuba Nwankwo from Awgu and bring to justice all those who carried out this horrific crime.
Dr. Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo, Head of the Department of Optometry and Visual Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has advised Ghanaians to strive to seek regular eye care.

According to him, visual impairment was a significant health problem in the country, therefore, regular examination was critical to help detect the possible presence of disorders at an early stage when treatment was more likely to be effective.

It gives the eye care professional the chance to correct vision changes and provide one with tips on caring for his or her eyes, Dr. Owusu Akuffo told the media in an interview in Kumasi

This was on the side-lines of the launch of two books - The Eye Book and The Singing Tree designed to raise awareness of visual impairment and its easy identification and treatment.

The two books are the work of the Departments of Optometry and Visual Science, Language and Communication Sciences, and Publishing Studies of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), as well as Orbis International, Ghana.

The Eye Book is intended for use by physicians, nurses and healthcare professionals who work in the area of ophthalmology, as a tool to facilitate their discussions with patients, parents, family members or caregivers.

The Singing Tree is also a document serving as an educational tool to educate children, their parents and their teachers that poor vision is a problem that can be corrected.

Dr. Owusu Akuffo pointed out that globally the leading causes of vision impairment included uncorrected refractive errors, cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, corneal opacity and trachoma.

These ailments, he said, could be devastating if not identified earlier for prompt treatment, noting that it was advisable for those with visual impairment to avoid self-medication in their own interest.

Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, the KNUST Pro-Vice-Chancellor, commended the Departments for the good work done, saying in an era where misinformation was rife the two books would help people with visual challenges to make informed decisions.

Prof. Charles Marfo, Provost of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, hinted that it took the University and its partners about three years to complete the project.
The UN has rated Nepal the happiest country in South Asia and labelled India the saddest  but experts say the global survey failed to take into account disruption caused by unrest and the pandemic in the Himalayan nation of 30 million merry people.

The 2022 World Happiness Report ranked Nepal 84th in an index of 146 nations, putting it head and shoulders above its South Asian neighbours.

This is despite Covid-19 prompting thousands of Nepalese to scramble for permits to seek work abroad after countries in the Middle East relaxed Covid restrictions last autumn.

"I wonder how happiness is evaluated. Often we find those in the countryside more content than people in mansions," Sarthak Sengupta, vice president of Indian Anthropological Society, told RFI.

Baffled

The UN South Asia happiness crown has left a section of Nepal's media as well as experts baffled.

"The Nepalese people may not be very aware of what is happening outside their lives, or they may not be having a comparative study from the world," Delhi-based political scientist Rajendra Dayal told RFI.

"So, I wonder what parameters have been used."

Anthropologist Dambar Chemjong, who teaches at Nepal's Tribhuvan University, said Nepalese stoicism may have played a part in the survey.

"Nepalis don't generally show their pain to strangers and often tend to portray that everything is hunky dory," the Kathmandu Post quoted Chemjong as saying.

"A survey should give the real picture to have its reliability enhanced."

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network says many parameters were used in the survey's 10th edition, with an eye on the pandemic and how nations dealt with the virus that has killed 6.1 million people worldwide.

Forgotten utopia

The survey skipped Bhutan, which embraced "Gross National Happiness" in 1972 as a better tool than gross domestic product to measure the wellbeing of its 770,000 people.

But it paid tribute to Bhutan, the only country in the world without a single traffic light.

"During the pandemic, Bhutan once again provided an inspiring example for the world about how to combine health and happiness."

"They made explicit use of the principles of Gross National Happiness in mobilising the whole population in collaborative efforts to avoid even a single Covid-19 death in 2020, despite having strong international travel links."

Analysts say the world's only standing Buddhist kingdom could have defeated Nordic nations in the race for the crown of mirth.

The UN survey ranked Finland the happiest place on earth for the fifth straight year and Denmark held its second spot.

India saddest

The UN index, helped by Gallup World Poll, ranked India 136, making it the world's 11th least happy nation and South Asia's saddest as worries over the pandemic's impact stole peace of mind in the world's second most populous country.

The ranking also marked a downwards slide for India, which began in 2012 when it was 111th in the world ranking.

"India is unhappy because it has a large young section of people fully exposed to the world which has very high aspirations," said Dayal.

"When they can't achieve that they become nationalistic, willing to sacrifice their lives for the nation. That's their subterfuge."

Opposition politicians took pot shots at the Hindu nationalist government in Delhi as social media was flooded with jokes and jibes.

Dystopian land

Afghanistan was ranked the world's most melancholic state. On Tuesday the Taliban regime shut secondary schools an hour after allowing girls into classrooms, leading to chaos and heartbreak.

A UN report in January painted a dismal picture of desperate conditions for Afghanistan's 39 million people.

Internet searches do not fully disclose the reports of abductions, gang rapes and killings that come with Afghan refugees from the unhappy nation.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has asked the transitional government in Mali to return the country to constitutional rule within 12 to 16 months.

This is a part of talks to restore democratic governance in the West-African country reeling under political instability.

Leaders of ECOWAS made the decision during an Extraordinary Summit in Accra on Friday, to review recent political developments in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean Claude Kassi Brou, said in view of the global political and security situation, there is an urgent need to reach an agreement in order to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Mali.

The discussions were extensively on the situation and taking into account that the sanctions are impacting on the country. There has been substantial work that was done by the Technical Local Committee Meeting and after examining the recommendations of the mediator, the Head of State disclosed that, they are willing to provide an extension of the transition in Mali for 12 to 16 months in addition to the three months that have already passed. So agreements will be reached so that the sanctions are gradually lifted.

A military coup in Mali ousted former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita over what the coup makers described as economic hardship.

Mali eventually witnessed a series of protests which led to the removal of its President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18, 2020, by a military junta.

The former President faced allegations of corruption and poor management of the economy.

ECOWAS leaders have been finding a lasting solution to the political crisis in Mali.

Mali's Constitutional Court has named the leader of the country's military coup , Colonel Assimi Goita, as its transitional president.

Col Goita had already declared himself interim president on Wednesday, two days after seizing power in Mali's second coup in nine months.

He led the first coup last August, which saw the elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita forced out of office.

The court said Friday's decision was due to the vacancy in the presidency.

He defended the removal of President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane as necessary because they had failed in their duties and were seeking to sabotage the country's transition.

Soldiers arrested and detained the two men after a cabinet reshuffle that Col. Goita said he was not consulted about.

Col. Goita has now promised that a new prime minister would be appointed within days, and that election would still go ahead next year as planned.

---citinewsroom
The UK- Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), on Wednesday 23rd March 2022, hosted a webinar on Current Import Tax Tariff and Port-Handling Charges in Ghana.

The webinar, the 4th in the Chambers Quarterly Tax Dialogue Series, was moderated by PwC Ghanas Abeku Gyan-Quansah and featured a distinguished panel comprising Ena Kwaku Blege, Head of Classification, Ghana Customs Technical Services Bureau, Esther Gyebi Donkor, General Manager of Marketing and Corporate Affairs of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), and Samuel Ntow-Kummi, General Manager of Corporate Planning, also of GPHA.

During the webinar, which tackled the issue of perceived high import tariffs and port handling charges, Mr. Blege intimated that his outfit is not responsible for import duty rates in Ghana, neither has the government independently controlled the creation of import duties since 2015.

The rates, according to him, have been set by ECOWAS since 2012.

"The Heads of States within the sub-region came together and signed a protocol for the creation of a customs union that would have the mandate of administering a common import duty regime, to be otherwise know as the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET)".

The CET was to serve as the principal instrument for harmonising ECOWAS member states and strengthening their common markets. The same import duties, quotas and preferences are applicable to all goods entering the West Africa regionall import duty rates are subsequently imposed from Abuja, the seat of the ECOWAS Commission.

The Ghana government implemented the CET in 2015, and has been able to create, amend and adjust tariff rates by up to 3% as and when it deems it necessary, due to a special dispensation known as the Import Adjustment Tax (IAT).

Through the IAT (which is still in force even though it was scheduled to end in 2017), government has been able to review downwards, about 130 tariff rates. While other rates have been reviewed upwards, Mr. Blege maintained that the review as implemented by government under the IAT has mostly been on the lower side.

GPHA & Port Efficiency/Charges

Mrs. Esther Gyebi- Donkor shared that the GPHA has, over the years, done a lot to improve clearance processes, in a bid to make the ports more efficient as well as reduce cost of doing business at the ports.

Their efforts include the introduction of terminal operating systems, vehicle appointment systems, E-gate systems, E-payment systems, mobile apps to facilitate payment for traders, and a TV programme, The Eye on Ports, to sensitise and educate the public on port activities and policies.

Regarding port-handling fees, Mrs. Gyebi-Donkor indicated that the fees charged consist of shipping line, terminal operator, freight forwarding, Ghana Shippers Authority, Ghana Standards Authority, and Food and Drugs Authority charges, among a number of others.

These, altogether, contribute to the perceived high charges. These other charges are not directly controlled by the GPHA.

The GPHA controls only the port tariff, as mandated by GPHA Law 1986 (PNDC Law 160), and is set in consultation with key stakeholders.

Mrs. Gyebi-Donkor admitted that there is some congestion at the ports, which lead to delays.

However, the congestion is caused by shippers/importers who struggle with permits/exemptions and financial challenges. The prolonged delays further result in the accrual of additional charges that are avoidable.

Mr. Ntow-Kummi concurred with Mrs. Gyebi-Donkor and added that port costs affect a countrys competitiveness for trade and even in attracting foreign direct investment. To control port costs, he urged importers to ensure they clear their cargo within the 7-day rent-free window so as to avoid paying additional charges.

The panel discussed a number of related issues, such as the payment of import duties on goods emerging from free zone enclaves in the country, determination of tax tariffs, customs penalties, and goods classification. Mr. Blege also urged traders to comply with the required documentation/honest description of goods to ease challenges associated with import duties.
In this edition, the focus is placed on some of the topical aviation industry stories between March 21 and 26, 2022, which may be of interest to travellers and general aviation enthusiasts in Ghana. Below are the highlights:

PassionAir Suspends Operations to Ho Airport

PassionAir has suspended its flight operations to the Ho Airport effective March 25, 2022. The suspension has been occasioned mainly by the recent fuel price hikes and lower market demand.

RwandAir Offering Discounted Fares Ahead of Easter

Ahead of Easter this year, RwandAir is offering its customers up to a 15% discount on all flights across its routes network. This offer is available for booking until April 20, 2022, and must be for travels before December 10, 2022. The promo code is EASTER15.

CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group Resigns

Tewolde Gebremariam resigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines Group this week on the grounds of ill-health. After his over 10 years in the office contributing to the stellar performance of Ethiopian, he has been replaced by Mesfin Tasew who also has over three decades of experience with the airline.

Kenya Airways Announces Flight Resumption to Mumbai

Kenya Airways has announced a resumption of flight services to Mumbai, India. Effective March 28, 2022, it will fly daily from Nairobi, Kenya to the Indian city and later up its frequency to 10 flights weekly from April 17, 2022.

EgyptAir Offering 30% Discount

EgyptAir is offering its passengers a 30% discount for all tickets booked for flights from any of its routes network to Bangkok, Thailand. The offer is available until April 15, 2022, and valid for travel until June 15, 2022.

Air France Offering Special Menu Options

Air France will be serving its passengers flying to and from Paris special menu options from March to June 2022.

The airline has teamed up with three of the best chefs in France to offer the best of French cuisines which are being showcased globally.

KLM Operating Directly to 167 Destinations this Summer

With the easing of travel restrictions globally, KLM says it is ready to meet up with the increasing travel demand. The airline will be increasing its European and Intercontinental route network by 10% and 17% respectively this summer.

Qatar Airways Rewards 3 Lucky Winners in the Fly and Win Campaign

Three lucky members of Qatar Airways Loyalty Program, Privilege Club have been rewarded under the airline Fly and Win Campaign.

A UK-based nurse was rewarded with 1 million dollars while two other customers from Kenya and Belgium were rewarded with Porsche Panamera and a free trip to a 5-star hotel in the Maldives on a private jet respectively.

Nigeria Removes Pre-Departure PCR Test for Arriving Vaccinated Travellers

Effective April 4, 2022, Nigeria will be allowing all travellers who are vaccinated against COVID-19 to visit the country without having to undergo the 48-hour PCR test before departure to Nigeria. However, travellers will still undergo a free antigen test on arrival.

The writer, Mark Ofosu (Twitter: @M__ofosu) is an avid aviation writer who shares his thought regularly on Ghanas aviation industry.
Seventeen-year-old Form Two student of Ajumako Bisease Senior High School in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region has attempted to end her life after her taxi driver boyfriend threatened to dump her.

Information gathered by EIB Network Central Regional Correspondent, Yaw Boagyan indicates that the student, (name withheld) whos said to have been in a relationship with the taxi driver since her Junior High School days on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, decided to drink a detergent to kill herself after her lover told her hes walking out of the relationship because hes found another woman he wants to settle down with.

Residents near a hostel where the student lives are said to have heard her screaming and calling for help following which they rushed to her room only to find her writhing in pain and foaming at the mouth with the substance lying beside her.

She was then rushed to the Ajumako Government hospital where she was attended to and her condition stabilized.

Upon interrogation, she revealed that she attempted suicide due to the crises in her relationship.

She is receiving counselling from the Bisease Senior High School Counseling Department while an official report has been made by her School Authorities to the Ajumako District Police.

Source: Kasapafmonline.com
Almost all the worlds great religions admonished: You reap what you sow.

The Collective West has wrecked so much untold hardships and visited unmitigated violence on the world, that those of us in the Global South can only watch with glee as V. Putin took on the West and rub its face in the mud. We can only applaud as we see the normally haughty and arrogant west reduced to whimpering like a pathetic chihuahua!

Putins unmatched Kinzhal, Zircon and Iskander missiles and S-400 ADS make sure that the West can only cowered in awe!

Thank you very much, Vladmir Putin!

Just consider this: On 1 March 2011, the UNSC adopted Resolution 1973 that established a No-Fly Zone over Libya. NATO, buoyed by an insane triumphalists arrogance, wasted no time in abusing the resolution, which was designed to protect civilians from aerial bombing, to devastate the State of Libya and bombed it into Stone Age.

Three years after the carnage, I wrote an article for the New African magazine in which I reflected on NATOs unprovoked carnage in the North African country.

Here are excerpts:

On July 28, 2014, the mouthpiece of British imperialism, the BBC, assembled some Talkheads to discuss the tragic situation in Libya.

According to these experts, Western intervention has not worked. They agreed that the country is now a FAILED State.

Like, seriously, guys!

Was the naked colonial project designed to work in the first place? Was Vietnam invaded to build stability? Or were Afghanistan and Iraq bombed to establish functioning democracies?

Do we really need experts to tell us that the war rackets, the West continue to pursue around the world, was designed for any other purpose than to boost the interests of the Western Military-Industrial Complex?

Former US Marine General, Butler Smedley, wrote War is a Racket, which is guaranteed to cure anyone that still harbor illusions about the real reasons the West keep aggression the world with wars.

Do the hacks at the BBC really needed so-called experts to know that assassinating the head of state in the mish-mash of tribes cobbled together to form Libya will never guarantee peace?

It was the Great Africanist and Historian, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, who said that the desire of every European, whatever his pretension, is world domination, and that whatever Europeans design or develop is to aid their domination.

Until Western vultures descend and bombed the country back into the Stone Age (their favourite parlance), Libya was a relatively stable country with standards of living many Europeans will die to have.

Gadhafi had his bad spots, but he guaranteed his people the best living standard in Africa. The evidence is in the large number of Africans that trooped to Gadhafi-ruled Libya.

The story why Sarkozy decided to kill Colonel Muammar Gadhafi will one day be told, but let no one pull wool over our eyes, and pretend that it had anything to do with the promotion of Human Rights or Democracy. A claim that becomes hollow when one see the deafening silence of the West, in the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians by Israeli forces, using Western-supplied weapons.

.

Listening to the BBC and other Western media, one will not see any context at the ongoing tragedy in Libya.

No mention is ever made of the type of society the country was before NATO abused a UN resolution to launch its aggression and destroyed the country.

There is no mention is made of the fact that a US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, flew to Tripoli on October 19, 2011, and, effectively, gave the order for the killing of Gadhafi. Speaking to students at the University of Tripoli, Clinton said: The most important thing to do right now is to make sure that Gaddafi and his regime are finally prevented from disrupting the new Libya But we hope he can be captured or killed soon, so you dont have to fear him any longer.

Secretary Clinton was speaking about a sitting head of an African state. No one questioned the source of her legitimacy to so callously, and so flippantly give the order to execute a de jureand de facto ruler of a sovereign African state.

A day after Clintons order, Ghadafi was captured and killed at his hideout near his hometown of Sirte.

Mevrouw Clinton gloated like a demented hyena: We came, we saw, he died.

British media told us that French intelligence killed him to stop from spilling the nasties on then French President Sarkozy.

All of these facts are being glossed over by the BBC and other Western media as they attempt to rewrite history.

Today, a nabob of Islamic partisans have sundered Libya into partisan fiefdoms, where the center has become a huge joke.

In Todays Libya, life is short and brutish, with citizens now fleeing as refugees  an unheard for during the rule of the man the West morphed into an Ogre.

.

African culture enjoins us not to rejoice at other peoples calamity, but it galls greatly that Libyans refused to be guided by the lessons of history. They allowed duplicitous Westerners to lure them into destroying their own country. They believed war-mongering, blood-thirsty people like Senator McCain who foolishly led them into perdition.

.

I have no access to the huge resources available to the BBC, but I more or less predicted the mayhem that will follow the NATO invasion of the country.

I was thoroughly peeved by the NATO invasion that I fired letters to some leaders in the West.

For example, I sent a letter with a list of questions to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, to ask why a racist country like the Netherlands, deemed it necessary to go and join a war to promote Human Rights in Libya

You can read the entire article here: http://alaye.biz/libya-three-long-years-later/

Femi Akomolafe

Femi Akomolafe is a writer and a published author.

March 26, 2022
A herdsman has reportedly been shot in the leg in Buabula, a suburb of Bawku, in the Upper East Region by gunmen.

The attack happened on Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Per information gathered, the victim who is said to be in his early 40s was approached by some yet-to-be-identified men who ordered him to lie down.

The herdsman who had stepped out with his animals to graze refused to lie down and after some exchanges decided to run.

The unknown gunmen fired at him injuring his leg.

Nearby military petrol who heard of the gunshots rushed to the scene to provide assistance to the victim.

He was subsequently rushed to the Presbyterian Hospital in Bawku where he his receiving treatment.

The security in Bawku has taken over the matter and investigation is underway to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

Bawku and its surrounding communities remain heavily guarded by military following the renewed chieftaincy and tribal conflict.

There have been multiple shooting incidents in the last few weeks leaving many dead and others injured.
An Economist, Professor Lord Mensah says governments latest expenditure-cutting measures will amount to zilch because Ghana lacks self-discipline to yield the anticipated results in reversing the economic downturn.

He simply puts it as that, the country will be better off returning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rather than pushing through what he feels are the unmeasurable steps taken by the government.

Government earlier in the week outlined various interventions to salvage the country's ailing economy.

These new measures will be in addition to the ongoing 20 percent expenditure cut as part of fiscal stabilization and debt sustainability measures, with the aim of ensuring the 7.4% deficit target set in the 2022 budget is met.

But contributing to discussions on The Big Issue, Professor Lord Mensah argued that the governments expectation will be difficult to meet as it will even have little bearing on savings.

Clearly, I will not tow that line of the expenditure cutting measures as announced by the Finance Minister; introducing our own measures and self-discipline towards expenditure. I will also not go in that line of expenditure self-discipline, because how are we going to measure them in terms of benchmarks to determine whether we are following it or not. I cannot guarantee that, so effectively, I am not for the self-discipline. Even the savings we are going to make as a result of these measures are peanuts; they are not enough.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, highlighted twelve points for cutting down public expenditure including a moratorium on the purchase of imported vehicles and foreign travels by public officials.

He also indicated plans to generate more revenue including impressing on parliament to pass the E-levy adding that there are also plans to inject $2 billion into the economy in the next 2 to 6 weeks.

Government says it has strengthened its Expenditure Monitoring systems to achieve success.

Professor Lord Mensah is however pessimistic. He believes Ghanas history with the management of the economy is proof the government is on the wrong path in ensuring effective implementation of these measures.

With these self-discipline measures that we are trying to put across, we have done it before, so we don't go to the IMF again, but we never followed through, so what shows that this time around, we are going to follow them? I don't think things will work. If we were to go IMF, I will say the benefits would have been better compared to disciplining ourselves. With the IMF, we would have had that discipline being enforced by the IMF itself.

citinewsroom
Labor markets across Texas continue their recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, and Midland-Odessa are no exception.

The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday unemployment in its Midland metropolitan statistical area (MSA)  which includes Midland and Martin counties  fell to 4.3 percent in February from 4.4 percent in January and is well below the 7.3 percent reported last February.

Likewise, Odessa saw its unemployment rate drop to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent in January and from 10.7 percent the previous February.

The region is trending in the right direction, Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the commissions Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview. He marveled at the improvements seen in the labor market over the last year, not just in Midland and Odessa but across Texas.

Taylor said he anticipates continued improvement, though he does wonder about the impact on the labor market should gasoline prices remain high for an extended period.

In talking with the members of his board of directors, he said it is clear the region is a very strong job-seekers market.

All industry sectors need workers, he said, from education and health care to the energy industry. Of course, he added, there is a lack of skilled workers across the nation.

I dont think anyone has gotten their hands around what has happened to the workforce from the pandemic, he said.

Taylor expressed hope that, with graduation season soon arriving, high school, community college and university graduates will be enticed to join the areas workforce.

He urged those wanting to work to not be held back by childcare concerns because his office has dollars to help fund childcare costs as well as dollars to help fund training for those wanting to upgrade their skills or obtain new skills.

The Midland MSA reported a civilian labor force of 104,689, up about 1,400 from 103,288 in January and roughly 4,500 more than the 100,206 counted last February. Of those, 100,190 are employed, up about 1,400 from January and up 7,300 from the 92,908 at work a year earlier. The number of unemployed dipped to 4,499 from 4,585 in January but the number of unemployed has fallen by 2,800 over the past year.

Midland added 1,600 total nonfarm jobs from January to February for a job count of 105,600  well below the peak 115,000 recorded in July 2019. The MSAs dominant Mining, Logging and Construction sector dominated with 700 new jobs, followed by the Leisure and Hospitality and the Government sectors with 300 new jobs each. The Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector, the Professional and Business Services sector and Education and Health Services sector each added 100 jobs

For the 12 months from February 2021 to February 2022, Midland has added 9,100 jobs for a growth rate of 9.4 percent. Mining, Logging and Construction again led the way by creating 4,000 new jobs. Trade, Transportation and Utilities followed with 1,900 jobs and Leisure and Hospitality with 1,500 new jobs. Professional and Business Services grew by 700 jobs. The Manufacturing sector and Financial Activities sector each added 400 jobs and the Other Services sector grew by 300 jobs.

The Government sector was the only one to lose jobs over the year, shedding 200 jobs.

Statewide, Texas unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent in January. During the month, the state added 77,800 total nonagricultural jobs, making for increases in 21 of the last 22 months. The state also broke its record for employment levels set in January, reporting 13,184,100 jobs in February. Texas has added 832,200 jobs since February 2021.

Austin-Round Rock reported the lowest unemployment at 3.3 percent, followed by Amarillo with 3.4 percent and College Station-Bryan with 3.5 percent. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission continues to report the highest unemployment statewide at 8.4 percent.

Midland Unemployment

January 2022 4.4 percent

January 2021 7.8 percent

February 2022 4.3 percent

February 2021 7.3 percent

Statewide numbers

Preliminary numbers for February with January numbers in parentheses:

Austin-Round Rock 3.3 (2.9)

Amarillo 3.4 (3.3)

College Station-Bryan 3.5 (3.7)

Lubbock 3.7 (3.7)

Abilene 3.8 (3.9)

Dallas-Plano-Irving 4.0 (4.1)

Sherman-Denison 4.0 (4.0)

San Angelo 4.1 (4.1)

Waco 4.1 (4.2)

Fort Worth-Arlington 4.2 (4.2)

San Antonio-New Braunfels 4.2 (4.3)

Midland 4.3 (4.4)

Tyler 4.3 (4.4)

Wichita Falls 4.4 (4.5)

Killeen-Temple 4.9 (5.0)

Texarkana 4.9 (5.0)

El Paso 5.3 (5.4)

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land 5.3 (4.8)

Laredo 5.3 (5.4)

Longview 5.3 (5.5)

Victoria 5.4 (5.6)

Odessa 6.2 (6.4)

Corpus Christi 6.3 (6.6)

Brownsville-Harlingen 7.3 (7.6)

Beaumont-Port Arthur 8.0 (8.5)

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 8.4 (9.0)
Midland is one of two larger Texas communities with an average gas price still at or above $4.00.

AAA Texas reported this week only El Paso ($4.04) and Midland ($4.01) showed prices eclipsing $4.00 a gallon. The organization surveys the largest 27 metropolitan areas of the state each week.

AAA Texas did report all 27 metropolitan areas showed that the weekly gas price average dropped (compared to last week). In Midland, the decrease was 6 cents, which was less than the state average (7 cents) and less than in Abilene (9 cents) and in Amarillo, Lubbock and Odessa (7 cents in each area).

The average price this week in Odessa was 4 cents less than Midland.

AAA Texas reported that the statewide gas price average has fallen 12 cents since March 11 when AAA reported the Lone Star States highest-ever record average for a gallon of regular unleaded.

While prices decreased over the last week, the statewide average is nearly 70 cents higher per gallon than a month ago, said AAA Texas spokesperson Daniel Armbruster in the weekly report. It remains to be seen if lowering prices will be a trend as global supply concerns persist due to Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Drivers in Texas are paying the eighth lowest gas price average in the country, according to gasprices.aaa.com. Meanwhile drivers in California are paying the most at $5.88 on average for a gallon of regular unleaded.

AAA Texas reported the following averages across the region -- $3.98 in San Angelo, $3.97 in Odessa, $3.76 in Lubbock and $3.60 in Amarillo, which is home to the cheapest gas in the state.

One year ago, drivers in Midland were paying $2.87 a gallon for gas. The state average one year ago was $2.63.

Highest gas prices

This week

El Paso $4.04

Midland $4.01

San Angelo $3.98

Odessa $3.97

College Station-Bryan $3.94

Texas $3.89

National $4.24

Last week

El Paso $4.16

Midland $4.07

Odessa $4.04

Texarkana $4.00

San Angelo $3.99

State $3.96

National $4.29
An intelligence gold mine! Ukraine captures a unit of Russia's prized electronic warfare system

The International Business Times (IBTimes) report that Ukraine may have managed to get its hands on one of Russia's most prized weapons, a module of Kremlin's advanced 1RL257 Krasukha-4 mobile electronic warfare system.

The defending troops Tuesday seized a "curious container" near Kyiv, which is said to hold the command post of the system, according to UK-based military analysts group Ukraine Weapons Tracker.

According to military sources, Krasukha-4 can cause damage to the enemy's electronic warfare systems and communications and neutralize Low-Earth Orbit spy satellites, ground-based radars, and Airborne Warning And Control System radars at ranges between 150 to 300 kilometers.

A complete Krasukha-4 consists of two vehicles, both based on the 8x8 KAMAZ-6350 truck, one with the electronic warfare (EW) system and the other carrying the command post module. A Krasukha-4 unit consists of two KAMAZ-6350 trucks, one carrying the radar jamming equipment and the other acting as a command post. It is reportedly the second truck that is now with the Ukrainians.

You can read more on the International Business Times website at:

https://www.ibtimes.com/intelligence-gold-mine-ukraine-captures-unit-russias-prized-electronic-warfare-system-3447680
Kameleon007/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Central Christian Church again is offering $1,000 student scholarships as part of its Choral Scholars program, according to choir director Adam Power.

College-age applicants for the 2022-23 school year should be actively enrolled in a degree program at an area or online college, university or trade school. High school applicants must maintain satisfactory grades, be considering post-secondary education, and participate in their schools choral program.
The Illinois Conservation Fund has kicked off the Working Farms Fund program to enable new and young farmers to secure farmland for local food production.

Because land is expensive and scarce, too many farmers are leaving the profession and small and medium farms are being converted to other uses, said Emy Brawley, state director for the Illinois Conservation Fund.

Inability to access farmland is the number one reason that people are leaving agriculture, Brawley told Illinois Radio Network.

The goal of the Working Farms Fund is to help young farmers find affordable land, while at the same time protecting threatened farmland, she said.

Illinois continues to lose high-quality farmland in metro-influenced counties to urban and rural development, Brawley said.

In the past 20 years, half the farmland in metro Chicago that had been growing food was converted to other uses.

That land close to the metropolitan market is the land that grows food and its the land that young farmers want, Brawley said.

The majority of new and young farmers in Illinois today are not legacy farmers. Seventy-five percent of them come from non-farming families.

The people who are looking for land are not inheriting a farm. They are starting from scratch, she said.

This new generation of farmers is interested in being close to metro markets where they can work value-add, higher margin farms, Brawley said.

Demand for local food is growing every year. In the past 10 years, local food sales have increased from $5 billion to $20 billion nationwide.

The Illinois Conservation Funds Working Farms Fund is designed to be an innovative solution. The Fund acquires small and mid-sized local farms (20 to 500 acres) that are threatened by development and matches the land with farmers. The farmer gets a patient pathway to eventual ownership, while a conservation easement protects the land. A revolving loan fund then rolls the purchase dollars forward to the next farm.

The goal is to protect 10,000 acres of farmland in the next 20 years and support 150 farm businesses as they become successful and independent.

We are very excited about this model, Brawley said. It has the potential to protect farmland near metro areas from conversion to non-farming uses. It will also help ambitious and diverse farmers scale up their operations and meet the demand for food in our population centers.

Even though Illinois has some of the best farmland in the world, only 4% of food consumed in the state is grown there. The pandemic has reinforced the importance of local food for national security, Brawley said.

A more local food system, anchored to the city, is much safer in times of shock,
Shahid Al-Hafed, 26 March 2022 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, has expressed his appreciation for the solidarity movement in Spain and its rally to reject the recent position of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Expressing the confidence of the Sahrawi side and its satisfaction with the level of solidarity in all the spectrum of the Spanish arena and all the political parties.



This came in a speech by the President of the Republic during his supervision of the opening of the work of the sixth session of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, in which he touched on the various aspects of the Sahrawi national struggle at various levels.



President Ghali expressed his appreciation to the solidarity movement in Spain for "the expressions of firm solidarity it showed, manifested in its categorical rejection of the recent position of the Spanish Prime Minister," confirming by saying "we are confident and satisfied with the level of solidarity throughout the Spanish arena and all political parties, including the Spanish Socialist Labour Party, despite some treacherous actions from well-known leaders of this party."



"In any case, we must remove all ambiguity and fallacy in this regard, because declaring support for Morocco's plot for autonomy in Western Sahara clearly means supporting morocco's illegal military occupation, thereby encouraging injustice, aggression and expansion, at the expense of legitimacy and the people's first fundamental right to self-determination and independence," he said.



President Ghali stressed that "the historical, political, legal and moral responsibility of the Spanish state towards the Sahrawi people will remain and will not cease until the decolonization of Western Sahara is completed," recalling the contract between the two parties to the conflict, the United Nations and the African Union, which was ratified by the UN Security Council and signed by the two parties, the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco, which is the UN-AU settlement plan of 1991.



Once again, the Sahrawi president called on both the United Nations and the African Union to "take decisive action to implement their commitment and pledge to give the Sahrawi people the opportunity of free, democratic and transparent expression to choose their future."



Finally, President Ghali affirmed, "Nothing will deter our people from continuing their liberation war, by all legitimate means, in order to snatch its inalienable rights, first and foremost of which is the completion of the sovereignty of the Sahrawi Republic, the state of all Sahrawi women and men, wherever they are, on its entire national territory.



062/T
Although some groups have resumed meetings, others schedules may have changed because of pandemic restrictions. It is recommended you contact the group in advance to verify details. Any changes in meeting schedules can be emailed to JJCsocial@myjournalcourier.com.



ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

217-370-4002

Jacksonville locations:

 First Baptist Church, 1701 Mound Ave. Wheelchair-accessible.

 Club HOW, 638 S. Church St.

Monday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at First Baptist Church. Bowen Group.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Tuesday

 Open discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Womens open meeting, 5:30 p.m., First Christian Churchs Fireside Room.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Main and Washington streets.

 ROODHOUSE: Closed discussion, 12-step/12 traditions, 8 p.m. at Grace Center, 114 W. Palm St.

Wednesday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Thursday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Newcomers Group.

Friday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. TGIF Group.

 Closed discussion, 5:15 p.m., Big Book Study at Club HOW.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 401 E. Broadway Ave.

Saturday

 Open speaker, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

 Open meeting, noon at Club HOW.

Sunday

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. 12 & 12 Group.

 Closed discussion, 10 a.m. at Club HOW. (Second Sunday is open)

 SPRINGFIELD: AA for Women, 10 a.m. at Discovery Club, 313 W. Cook St.



AL-ANON

Meetings are nonsmoking and open to anyone. The only requirement is that there be a problem of alcohol with a loved one or friend.

217-248-6434.

Wednesday

 Al-Anon, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 331 E. State St. (use Morgan Street entrance).



NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS

All meetings are nonsmoking. Not affiliated with any religious organization.

Jacksonville locations:

 First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. (enter through far southeast door). 217-883-1975.

 Lutheran Church for the Deaf, 104 Finley St. (enter through back door). 217-883-1975.

Wednesday

 Open discussion group, 8 p.m. at Lutheran Church for the Deaf.

Friday

 Open discussion group, 7:30 p.m. at First Christian Church.



OTHER MEETINGS

Monday

 Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. at Faith Tabernacle, 571 Sandusky St. Use side entrance to church hall.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. in the basement of Subway in Pittsfield. 1-800-323-1388.



Wednesday

 Breastfeeding support group, 6 p.m., Passavant Area Hospital, Meeting Room 2.

 ROODHOUSE: Women with Hearts of Love (WWHOL), 6-7 p.m. at House of Restoration, 208 W. Franklin St. 217-602-1670.



Thursday

 Jacksonville Area Chess Club, 6-9 p.m. at Jacksonville Public Library. 217-370-0882.

 Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 WHITE HALL: Addicts Victorious, teens 5:30-6:30 p.m.; adults 7-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of New Life Church, 626 Curtis St.



Friday

 Jacksonville Rotary Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 6 p.m. at Assembly of God, 575 Piper St. 800-323-1388.



Saturday

 Jacksonville Amateur Radio Societys Net, 9 p.m. Transmitted on K9JX repeater. K9JX.com.
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Safety is protocol not only when working with farming equipment, but when working, cleaning and maintaining grain bins that store corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and grain sorghum.

"You really should have a harness; it's like quick sand." said Jon Freeman, owner of Freeman Seeds at 625 Illinois Route 967 in Murrayville. "Everything you do is a gamble."

The dangers of working inside a grain bin stem from grain being stored with an opening toward the lower portion of the grain to allow the grain to flow out. When obtaining for usage or transferring, gravity pulls the grain down and the center of the bin develops a depression that can be life threatening.

When cleaning the crust on top of the grain and circulating the grain with someone inside, the same affect can happen.

"It sucks people in and it'll crush you, there's so much pressure," Freeman said. "When you get in there alone, that's when you get in trouble."

Bins also need to maintain a temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit so it requires connection to electricity to have a fan running which circulates the air, that can also make it like quick sand with the balance of inside and outside temperatures.

"It needs to be dried down to 15%," Freeman said.

In addition to not entering the grain alone, or at least having someone on hand should an incident happen, there are other safety measure to take.

Breaking up crusted grain from the outside of the bin with a long pole is better than standing on the grain directly. When using a pole, check to see that it doesn't come into contact any of the electrical lines.



Its best to position yourself on the outer wall of the bin and keep walking if the grain should start to flow. Get to the bin ladder or safety rope as quickly as possible.

Grain fines and dust may cause difficulty in breathing so it is recommended that anyone working in a grain bin, especially for the purpose of cleaning the bin, wear an appropriate dust filter or filter respirator.

Stay out of grain bins, wagons and grain trucks when unloading equipment is running.

If it is necessary to enter the bin, be sure to shut off the power to augers and fans. It's also suggested to lock out any unloading equipment before you enter a bin to prevent someone from unintentionally starting the equipment while you inside the bin.

Keep children away from bins and it is not suggested they play in or around grain bins, wagons or truck beds.

Where possible, ladders should be installed inside grain bins to for an emergency exit. Ladders are easier to locate inside a dusty bin if there are brightly painted stripes just above or behind the ladder.

Freemen said that the South Jacksonville Fire Department is equipped with specific tools to assists anyone that is stuck in a grain bin with a tube, improvised mechanical advantage systems, high point anchors and retrieval systems.

"It's a tube-like system," Freeman said.

The Illinois Fire Institute offers a 40-hour course that teaches students about grain storage facilities, there construction and operating features.

The course also features Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, physical-environmental hazards and potential rescue resources identified to ensure the response falls within the requirements minimizing fire department civil or criminal liability.
VIRGINIA  There are potholes and then there are POTHOLES  kidney-rattling caves in the road that can make a trip to the store feel like a drive across a minefield.

Example: Illinois Route 125 between Virginia and Beardstown.

Cass County Sheriff Devron Ohrn took to social media Friday, cautioning drivers about conditions along the road.

"We have had two vehicles in two days that have become disabled from striking a pothole in the road," he said.

He added a few photos of inches-deep holes in the pavement to drive home the point, but motorists needed little convincing.

"Im pretty sure I got this one yesterday," Keith Crook commented on one of the photos. "Thought I lost a tire in it. Hopefully they get them temporarily patched at least for now. They are the worst Ive seen in a long time and Ive been driving (Illinois) 125 to Springfield to work for 25 years now. Its terrible."

Carla Simmert commented that she and her husband drove along the road Thursday and couldn't believe how bad it has become over the years.

"Very dangerous," she said.

Ohrn defended local and county road crews, saying they did everything they were allowed to do on a state-maintained road. Illinois 125 is one of the most-used roads in Cass County.

They "are in no way, shape or form to blame for the condition of the road," he said. "They work every day, patching holes, and do it while drivers are zooming passed them with little regard to their safety. They would have it repaved tomorrow if it was up to them."

Ohrn suggested people contact the state transportation department, a recommendation many seemed to take to heart.

Potholes are common in the spring, when the soil under roads starts to thaw and causes pieces of pavement to break away. There are an estimated 55 million potholes pocking the 4 million miles of roads in the nation.

When you get moisture, it seeps into the roadway, it is still cool enough where it freezes and expands, and this is kind of pothole-forming season right now, researcher Nick VinZant said.

VinZant studied potholes for the insurance comparison site QuoteWizard and determined Illinois was the seventh-worst state for potholes.

While many are little more than annoyances, a AAA study estimated 3.2 million drivers a year sustain damage to their vehicle from potholes. VinZant said pothole damage costs drivers $3 billion a year in repairs.

Potholes can be reported to the Illinois Department of Transportation through its website. There also is a form for those whose vehicles are damaged to use in filing a claim.
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ELSAH  Crocker and Springer Salt-Glazed Stoneware and Redware in Elsah seems to be the best-kept secret as far as fine crafts in west-central Illinois.

The studios owners, Jonathan Jon and Jan Wright, also live in Elsah Hills outside of the historic village of Elsah. The couple have been perfecting this craft over the last 35 years and their work is annually featured in the national Directory of Traditional American Crafts, of which its featured craftsmen are jury selected.

Weve been accepted for that every year since 1991, which is a big deal for us, Jan Wright said. Its a perfect target market for what we do. Our customers become friends over the years and come from far and wide to the studio.

The potters' studio is at 25337 Beltrees Road, where its been for 35 years. Although they do not offer classes on how to make the pottery, they do offer demonstrations for those who call or text 618-466-8624 or email jonjanwright@gmail.com.

There is an outdoor massive kiln used in the process for salt-glazed pottery and an electric kiln used for redware pottery, which is decorative only.

The business is all about cultural history and the preservation of cultural history, Jon Wright said. The salt-glaze stoneware and redware originated from the Rhine Valley of Germany in the 13th century. Early settlers who came here brought the knowledge. It was a carefully guarded secret in Europe.

He said the craft spread west during the U.S. Industrial Revolution. Glass came, and processes changed as settlers moved west where salt-glazed and redware became less popular, and less practiced.

Its not as commonly done and not as commonly known and recognized in this area and westward, Jan Wright noted. It was popular from the mid-Atlantic to New England and eastern Ohio, but not so much farther west from there.

Weve always been interested in that historic and cultural preservation, she said. Not many people do this kind of pottery and stoneware. Its quite difficult.

The Wrights frequently travel to northeastern Ohio markets, which is about the farthest west they physically extend their efforts.

Jon Wright built the studios building, kiln, warecarts, displays, equipment, mixers and spray booth.

Hes a jack-of-all trades, Jan Wright said. He has so many skills in addition to making pots, and skills to build the studio and everything on the property, just about.

Salt-glazed stoneware and redware require two completely different processes and kilns. Crocker and Springers salt kiln is located in a shed next to the building.

We dont fire it often, maybe two to three times a year, but it holds 300 pieces depending on the size, Jan Wright said. We fire the redware in a small electric kiln, which is much easier to fire.

Salt has a mind of its own, she said. Jon built a number of salt kilns over the years. He loves fire; another thing, if hes making pottery, he can use his fire skills, and knows how to control the fire.



Both are art majors graduates from of Principia College. They met at the college, married in 1986, and founded Crocker and Springer in 1987.

At Principia, it had a limited 3D program, and he took the two pottery courses offered, Jan Wright said. Jon Wright also did independent study in clay and woodworking; Jan Wright studied two-dimensional art.

We wanted to do something that would use both our skills, said Jan Wright, who uses her knowledge to spray, paint and carve the Crocker and Springer stoneware and redware. With pottery, he could throw the pots and I could paint, sculpt and carve the pieces.

She uses a carving process known as sgraffito, a technique of applying to an unfired ceramic body two successive layers of contrasting slip, or glaze, and then in either case scratching so as to reveal parts of the underlying layer.

The couple also spent time at the acclaimed Penland School of Craft in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where Jan Wright is from originally.

Penland School taught any handcrafted teaching you could think of, she said.

The Wrights have collected a huge library of books they constantly read and reference.

Weve read and tried and experimented; sometimes we failed but found victory along the way, Jan Wright said. I feel weve learned a lot in 35 years.

Jon Wright is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia, where theres a passionate love of antiques in the states eastern portion where many now-antiques were made. His mother collected antiques.

She had a beautiful collection and Jon inherited from her a beautiful salt-glazed pitcher, Jan Wright recalled. We wanted to do a craft together and saw an article in Country Home magazine in late 86, early 87. It was about Rowe Pottery in Wisconsin.

The pots were of a cold gray color with electric blue, she recalled, fired with wood instead of by a computerized kiln. They were nicely made, but looking at the antiques, those were so much more soulful. We thought we could do this, but make the pots look older.

Jon Wright built a giant wood kiln which fired their early pieces, but the pieces were unsalvageable. He tore it down and made a more manageable outdoor kiln which operates partially with propane and partially with wood.

With salt glaze the pottery is fired only once versus twice like most pottery. The kiln itself puts a glaze on the pieces, Jan Wright explained.

Salt-glaze pottery, usually stoneware, has a glaze of glossy, translucent and slightly orange-peel-like texture which is formed by throwing sodium chloride, common salt, into the kiln during the highest temperature part of the firing process. Sodium from the salt reacts with silica in the clay body to form a glassy coating, or glaze, of sodium silicate, also known as water glass or soluble glass, a compound containing sodium oxide and silica that forms a glassy solid.

The pots come out having amazing glass on the surface and I havent put a glaze on it, Wright said. The kiln itself has heated up to 2,250 to 2,300 degrees and takes about 30 hours from start to finish, a very slow 30-ish-hour period.

She gradually increases the heat or risks ruining the entire content of the kiln. When the kiln is heated, at that point its hot enough to blow salt into the kiln.

Under that high of heat, it immediately goes from solid to liquid to gas in seconds, she said. "Like snap, crackle, pop, swirling as gas in the kiln. The sodium chloride bonds with silica, which is the main ingredient of clay, and forms sodium silicate, which is the chemical name for glass.

The sodium bonds with the surface of the pots and forms glass on the surfaces. The clear glaze caused by the heat and salt being introduced to it, forms an orange peel kind of textured antique glaze. That is the mark of having been salt glazed.

The glaze may be colorless or may have shades of brown from iron oxide, blue from cobalt oxide or purple from manganese oxide.

Some might be in the cooler part of the kiln, farther from the firebox. Some may be very glossy with cobalt dripping down; wood ash can cause drips, she said. Each one tells a story about where it was in the kiln. No two ever look just alike; they might start out identical and come out totally different.

Its like Christmas every time we open up the kiln, she said. We try to help educate customers as to why its not an exact science and thats the beauty of it.

Wright said, for a while, there were several large salt-glaze potteries around the country that are not in business anymore. Rowe Pottery remains in business and makes several styles of pottery.

You have to know what youre doing to do what youre doing, Jan Wright said. Its difficult and we are happy to have visitors pick our brains. Were not shy about sharing our process.

Art classes from Principia usually visit the studio once a year when students do a clay laboratory workshop for a couple of days.

We are better known nationally than locally, Wright said. We have a small sales area but dont have walk-in traffic. We are not aggressive marketers but do spontaneous demonstrations.

The Wrights have traveled to fine craft shows in the Washington, D.C., area of Mount Vernon Square, New England and Shaker villages over the years. They also find a market from Early American Life magazine, which also provides a perfect target market.

Its like the Bible to them; people save it and refer back to it, Jan Wright said.
What's new at Jacksonville Public Library:

"Age of Ash" by Daniel Abraham: Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories endure. When Alys sets out to find who murdered her brother, she is swept up in intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar. This is the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy.

Adult Non-Fiction

"50 States 500 Campgrounds" by Joe Yogerst: Whether you are looking to pitch a tent, find the ultimate RV resort or glamp among the stars, this comprehensive guide from National Geographic offers the best campgrounds in all 50 states and Canada.

DVD

"Beans": Beans, 12, is on the edge. Torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence, she is forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising that tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in summer 1990.

Young Adult Fiction

"All My Rage" by Brandon Sabaa Tahir: Beloved young adult fantasy author Sabaa Tahir dips a toe into the contemporary genre with this story told from the perspective of Pakistani-American teenagers and their families. Noor and Sal are brought together by the ties of identity, faith and family and must lean on each other as Sals attempts to run the family motel business edge close to danger.

Juvenile Fiction

"InvestiGators" by John Patrick Green: This hilarious middle-grade graphic novel series introduces readers to Mango and Brash, two brave alligator detectives who use the sewer system to travel from place to place solving crimes. In Book 1, the partners must work together to find the renowned Chef Mustachio, who has gone missing just before he was set to reveal a brand new concoction. With a single flush, the InvestiGators are on the case!

Did you know?

Join us for adult craft class! We will be painting clay eggs and flowers and butterflies, and making spring greeting cards. Call the library at 217-243-5435 to sign up for either the 1 p.m. April 3 class or 6:30 p.m. April 4 class.

 Compiled by Angela Bauer
The Illinois wine industry, a small but growing network of boutique wineries and vineyards dotting the state, is looking for a little more shelf space at your local retailer.

Struggling during the pandemic with a business model built mostly on tours, tastings and in-person sales, Illinois wine producers are pushing for legislation to increase self-distribution to stores and restaurants, bypassing a Prohibition-era state law requiring a middleman in such transactions.

Lynfred Winery in Roselle, a 43-year-old former basement hobby that has grown into one of the state's oldest and largest family-owned wine producers, saw its sales decline sharply as visits by its 6,000 wine club members to the northwest suburban winery and satellite tasting rooms were curtailed by the pandemic.

State law prevented the winery from delivering the products to retailers without a distributor, making it difficult to compensate for the lost in-person sales, according to Andres Basso, general manager at Lynfred Winery.

"We make really good wine in the state of Illinois, and we're not allowed to self-distribute a single gallon," said Basso, 49, a Chilean-born winemaker who has been at Lynfred for more than 20 years. "It's been a very, very difficult thing for us to survive."

Roselle is a long way from Napa Valley  2,090 miles, to be exact. But the Illinois industry is more robust than many people realize, with 139 wineries, 53 vineyards and two homegrown viticultural areas: Shawnee Hills in the southernmost part of the state and the Upper Midwest Valley in northwest Illinois.

Most Illinois wineries are more mom-and-pop than Ernest and Julio Gallo, however, lacking the retail heft and distributor relationships to end up on store shelves and restaurant wine lists. The pandemic disrupted the primary in-person sales channel for the wineries, highlighting the need for more retail distribution.

"Our biggest issue is limits on self-distribution and production," said Lisa Ellis, executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance. "We're for the most part small boutique winery operations, not producing millions of gallons a year like some of the West Coast wineries that you see on the shelves and grocery stores and liquor stores all across the country."

The Springfield-based alliance is backing a proposed amendment to the state's Liquor Control Act of 1934 that would substantially increase the amount that wineries could self-distribute to restaurants, retailers and other customers without the required middleman.

Under the current law, only wineries that produce less than 25,000 gallons a year are allowed to self-distribute their wine, with a maximum of 5,000 gallons to sell themselves to outside retailers. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Sen. Rachelle Crowe, a Democrat from suburban St. Louis, seeks to raise the production threshold to 250,000 gallons and the self-distribution limits to 50,000 gallons, enabling smaller wineries to bypass distributors and grow their own local connections.

Lynfred produces about 95,000 gallons of wine per year, Basso said.

The bill also would reduce a 60% increase in licensing fees for Illinois wineries implemented last year and allow them to retain a premises license  the ability to sell alcoholic products they don't make  if wineries expand manufacturing operations to include beer or spirits.

The Illinois Liquor Control Act of 1934 created a three-tier system of producers, distributors and retailers. It requires that most alcohol produced for sale in the state go through a distributor and be sold by a licensed retailer. There are 305 licensed liquor distributors in the state, according to the Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois, a not-for-profit trade organization.

"Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois supports the efforts of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association to lower their state licensing fees," Jeremy Kruidenier, vice executive director of the trade organization, said in a statement Wednesday.

Kruidenier declined to comment on the self-distribution portion of the legislation.

When the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance formed in 1992, there were only seven wineries across the state, Ellis said. Since then, Illinois has grown into the 18th largest wine-producing state in the U.S. with nearly 1.2 million gallons vinified in 2019, according to an economic impact study commissioned by the alliance.

The Illinois wine industry generated $5.7 billion in annual economic impact and created more than 36,000 jobs, according to the study, which was conducted by liquor industry economist John Dunham.

It is still only a drop in the bucket compared with California, which led the nation with nearly 799 million gallons of wine produced in 2019, according to the study.

Illinois is a much bigger player on the drinking end of the wine business, ranking fifth among all states at nearly 38 million gallons consumed in 2020, generating $3.45 billion in sales, Dunham told the Tribune. That leaves plenty of upside for Illinois wineries, which accounted for only about 3% of total wine sales in the state, but distribution remains the biggest obstacle, he said.

"In Illinois, where the wineries tend to be small, you're totally dependent on people coming to the winery to buy wine because it doesn't go into general distribution," Dunham said. "And COVID has kind of screwed that up."

Started as a hobby by the late Fred and Lynn Koehler, Lynfred Winery opened for business in 1979 in a stately, century-old home, and is now housed in a three-level, 24,000-square-foot building added in the 1990s to the 1-acre site. The winery includes a 100,000-gallon production facility, a bed-and-breakfast and tasting rooms.

Lynfred produces more than 70 varietals and 40,000 cases of wine each year, most of which are sold on-site. But the pandemic has shifted the dynamic, with 40% of sales now coming through distribution at a handful of Chicago-area retailers. That has reduced profitability while adding a cumbersome step to a process that could be handled directly for many local customers, Basso said.

Future growth for Lynfred and other Illinois wineries, even as wine tours return in a post-pandemic landscape, could depend on the proposed legislation. Basso said it would "reshape the business," allowing distributors to keep the big accounts, while wineries focus on getting into the pizza place down the street.

"What would it mean to Lynfred Winery if this bill passes is that we could improve our service to the small consumer like restaurants and retailers and things like that, because we can control them directly from the winery," Basso said. "We can just send our delivery guys."
Walmart said it has taken a stake in agriculture startup Plenty, becoming the first large U.S. retailer to significantly invest in indoor vertical farming as a way to deliver fresher produce to its stores.

Vertical farmers tout their high-quality produce that brings higher yields while using less water and land. The method also doesn't use pesticide, and the produce can be grown year round near the point of distribution, increasing the reliability of supply.

Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, declined to comment on the size of its investment or the financial terms of the deal. But the retailer based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said that it will join Plenty's board at the close of the transaction.

The deal comes as grocery stores are under pressure to have more environmentally friendly practices. Plenty, based in San Francisco, is one of many players in the fast-growing field of indoor farming. Others include Morehead, Kentucky-based AppHarvest, and New York-based Gotham Greens.

In a recent global survey, consulting firm Agritecture  which works with urban farmers  found that at least 74 indoor farming companies were founded in 2020 alone.

Plenty, which was founded in 2014 and has a vertical farm in South San Francisco, also operates an indoor plant science research facility in Laramie, Wyoming. It is now building in Compton, California, what it says will be the world's highest output vertical indoor farm, due to open in the second half of this year.

Plenty said its vertical farming towers are designed to grow multiple crops on one platform in a building the size of a big box retail store. Its systems feature vertical plant towers, LED lighting and robots to plant, feed and harvest crops. It says its farms use 1% of the land that an outdoor farm requires while delivering anywhere from 150 to 350 times more food per acre.

Walmart said that under the deal, Plenty's Compton farm will send leafy greens to Walmart's California stores beginning later this year. It said the vertical farms will supplement, but won't replace, traditional farming practices, while helping increase the food supply in a sustainable way.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting grant applications for the American Rescue Plan Technical Assistance Investment Program to provide historically under-served farmers, ranchers and forest landowners technical support in accessing USDA programs and services.

This past year, the Biden-Harris administration has taken bold and historic actions to level the playing field to ensure all Americans benefit from the many opportunities open to them, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. As part of USDAs American Rescue Plan investments, we want to ensure that those who have been traditionally underserved by USDA have the same understanding and technical support needed to access programs and services.
Our tributes to all our Martyrs of the Great War of Liberation and all Genocide victims of Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world.

by Pradip Kumar Dutta

We have not forgotten anything....we will not forget anything.

We have been observing the Golden Jubilee of our Independence throughout a whole year and the 50th Victory Day in our Great War of Liberation of our great Motherland has just been observed last year together with the Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib,the Father of our Nation,Bangladesh The whole world has been going through an unprecedented crisis (that comes may be once in a century) for close to two years before that. Most of the countries of the world had come to virtual standstill achieving no growth or even a negative one. But prudent Leadership and Kindness of Almighty has guided Bangladesh through this traumatic period with comparatively better statistics than many countries. Though, because of stringent situations and health restrictions the Nation could not observe the Jubilee with as much grandeur as it may have desired, Bangladesh still has achieved the milestone and the world has acclaimed the feat. Interestingly and incidentally the year coincided with the Centenary Birth Anniversary of Bangabandhu,the Father of the Nation. Both the Grand Gala occasions have been observed with due solemnity keeping all health restrictions and Covid protocols in place. The collective celebrations may have been less but the significance of the Year was well underscored and all patriotic Bangladeshis are proud of their origin. Our pride has increased with the fact that the World bodies have recognised that we are coming out of the bracket of our previous group of Nations in terms of development. We are leading all the South Asian countries in many indicators of development and have surpassed our previous co-citizens of Pakistan, from whose neo colonial exploitation we got liberated in 1971, in almost all sectors of economy and development.

Father of Nation with Indian Prime Minister Mrs Gandhi

The current year's Independence Day celebrations will be very special for various reasons. It is a landmark to celebrate our Golden Jubilee plus one year and step into the 52nd year of existence in flying colours. We are setting new goals since we have been being promoted to a new level of Development from LDP to Developing Countries. Braving the pandemic situation some of the neighbouring Heads of States have participated in our Independence Day celebrations in March last year to observe the Golden Jubilee of our Independence.We have,so far,comparatively successfully contained the outbreak and damage of the pandemic Covid in our country. The most satisfying incident of the year to me has been the first ever International recognition of our ,1971 Genocide by world bodies,namely Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Genocide Watch.There is no scope of being complacent though. We have to remain vigilant in keeping Covid under control by mass vaccination and maintaining health protocols. At the same time we should keep the wheel of our economy moving. A proper balance must be struck. Our year of celebrations is over and we must proceed cautiously to achieve our targets. We should remain brave, cautious and vigilant all the time. We should not forget celebrations. At the same time we should put maximum restraints on mass gatherings and follow health restrictions as directed,for some more time. The pandemic seems to have been abetting recently but we still don't have a clean cheat from WHO or other world bodies.

Now lets get back to the opening remarks of my write up. We will have to remember the supreme sacrifice of our people for our Independence. We should never forget the Freedom Fighters(both Conventional:Bangladesh Armed Forces and Guerillas:students,labourers,peasants and common people with short training) who led the Mukti Sangram from the front. We should always remember our Martyrs numbering about 3 million, the Veeranganas who were molested by the henious Pak hayenaes and their collaborators and hundreds of thousands of our men turned disabled by Pak occupation army's inhuman torture. We should always remember that approximately 10 million of our population were turned refugees fleeing to India to save their life and chastity. Similar or more numbers were internally displaced. All these facts are recorded and are not to be forgotten. We should always give due honour to each and every individual and family who had to suffer in any way for our freedom. We have to understand and remember that none of them went to fight the War of Liberation or left their home with the hope of getting any reward or benefit. Its us who have to evaluate their sacrifice for the Motherland and give them their due. We should appreciate that we are where we are today because of their supreme sacrifice. Our supreme leader Bangabandhu's prudent leadership prepared us gradually towards our Liberation from the exploitation of the West Pakistani regime who were never just or logical to us. Democracy was never practised in Pakistan because they knew that we Bengalis being the majority population of Pakistan will win any democratic election and their evil designs of playing supremacy will come to an end.

All through the quarter century of our existence as united Pakistan we had to keep fighting for our equal rights which had always been denied by the Pak Military and Civil bureaucracy. In fact,they never treated us equals and tried to keep us suppressed . Needless to say, there had been some of our people who cooperated and collaborated with the Pakistanis to get a piece of the cake from their left overs. The same scenario continued all through. To show a few examples:we had to fight for our language (Language Movement of 1952),for culture(banning of Rabindra Sangeet), for emancipation of our rights(6point movement of Awami League/11 point movement of All Party Student Action Committee/Agartala conspiracy case). Many other examples can be put forward.After the repressive Government of Ayub fell failing to confront our people and after freeing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman(soon to be conferred on the title Bangabandhu) came another military ruler, the infamous Yahya Khan. He was compelled to declare a democratic election within a Legal Framework Order. The Assembly elected thus would have the right to frame the Constitution. All parties from both the wings of the country had to agree. Bangalees led by Awami League and Bangabandhu knew their course of action. A simple electoral poster showing the discrimination between the East and the West( Foreign currency earning of the East was higher whereas prices of commodities in the West was lower) did the trick. Developmental work in the West was much higher too and percentage of Employment in Government services was minimal for the East Pakistanis. The writer still remembers the vibes of the Election Campaign. Any sensible person could predict the outcome of the coming Elections. Meanwhile,shortly before the Elections a devastating cyclone and tidal bore swept the shores of East Pakistan claiming over a million lives and destroying constructions,agriculture and wealth in general. Pakistan's Government and bureaucracy was very slow to act with the relief and rehabilitation efforts. Their empathy was questioned. This added fuel to the fire. In the Elections Awami League under Bangabandhu's leadership emerged clear winners and were supposed to form the next Government. But this was not to happen. Palace conspiracy began. Massive troop build up in East Pakistan took place and Operation Searchlight was launched to teach the Bangalees a lesson. We were thrown into a War for which we were not prepared but we knew we had to fight and win for our Existence and Sovereignty. From the early hours of 26th of March when Bangabandhu declared our Independence,a new Nation was born. We were no more Pakistanis. Then came the nine months of glorious struggle and untold sufferings. We got all sorts of assistance from friendly India,the Socialist world led by USSR,our neighbours and peace loving people of the whole world. Pakistan had its supporters mainly amongst American and Chinese leadership. Though many people in those countries were also sympathetic to us. Many mother lost her son,many girls lost their love,many women lost their privacy,many people lost all their belongings. At the end the sun had to rise. It rose and is shining today.

We pay highest respect to all our people who had to sacrifice or suffer in one way or the other. We also pay our deepest respect to India,USSR and other countries and their citizens who came to our help. I fail to name everyone and beg to be excused for that. The respect remains anyway.

We still have to fight for the International recognition of the Genocide on our people. We should also fight for Pakistan's offering unconditional apology for 1971 massacre and Genocide. We also should press them to take back their citizens who are still on our soil and dont recognise Bangladesh. It should be mentioned here that after partition of British India many non Bengali Muslims( commonly termed Biharis,but actually from Bihar,UP and different parts of India) migrated to settle in both the wings of Pakistan. Most of them were active supporters of Pak army and took part in the massacre on Bengalis. After the war most opted for repatriation to Pakistan. It was agreed upon but few only were taken. Many still are waiting and do not consider themselves as Bangladeshi. They should be repatriated to Pakistan. Those amongst them who accepts Bangladesh with their heart and soul are welcome to stay back. We also should fight for our share of Pakistan's national Exchequer as of 1971.

Till achieving all above we will not forget anything. Its Pakistan's turn to come out of denial mode and try to put closure to 1971 as it wishes. Simply by saying we are brothers and enough time has elapsed to forget the past will bring us nowhere. The sooner they understand,the better.

In February,the Dutch Premier has apologised for War Crimes committed in Indonesia.

Just three days ago the US Administration has recognised the atrocities on Rohingya population of Myanmar by their military regime. The Barbaric pogrom on the Rohingya population is a classic example of Genocide. All elements like mass killings,rapes,arson,driving people out of their native place,etc tantamount to Genocide. The military junta's intent to wipe out the whole population from Myanmar soil by whatever means is required is a clear case of Genocide. The Myanmar authorities don't even recognise Rohingya population as minority inhabitants of the Rakhine State since centuries. They are not included in the country's schedule of a hundred odd minority population/tribe/clans. Nearly a million Rohingyas have been driven out of the country and are living in Bangladesh as refugees.

The world does not seem to remember that ten fold that number of us,Bengalis were driven out of Bangladesh soil by similarly henious and brutal Pakistani miliary regime. Three million of our people were annihilated. Rapes,arsons,looting were rampant. The then US Administration had a soft corner for Pakistan due to prevailing world politics in those days.But we find the present authorities much more logical. If they could recognise the Rohingya Genocide in Myanmar,we find no reason why they will not do the same in our case. We earnestly urge the US Administration to consider our case sympathetically.

Our Government has been raising the issue since 2017. Concerned departments of the Government should be more proactive in raising the issue in different international forums. Recently two Internationally reputed organizations working with Genocides around the world have recognised 1971 Genocide on Bengalis by Pakistan army and have echoed our demands. They are Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Genocide Watch. We will ever remain grateful to these organizations for the first and second International recognition of the Genocide. They have set the ball rolling. We have to work relentlessly to achieve our goal. It is always difficult to make the first step. Our Government and self respecting people should keep on pursuing our case with different countries. Once the first country recognises it,others will follow suit.

On this day,the 25th of March,1971 the tanks, artillary and infantry of Khadim Hossain Raza/Tikka Khan/Yahya Khan started the Genocide under code name Operation Searchlight.We as Bengali Nation were put to untold suffering for nine months. Bangabandhu declared Independence of Bangladesh in the early hours of 26th. We fought supported by India,Soviet Union,the Socialist world and sympathetic countries. Progressive people of the whole world were in our favour. We have snatched our Freedom from the claws of the occupation military hyaenas at a high price as have been discussed above. We observe this day as Genocide day and shall try and will hope the whole world including sensible,reasonable,logical Pakistani citizens will also observe this Day with us sometime.

Our tributes to all our Martyrs of the Great War of Liberation and all Genocide victims of Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world.

Joy Bangla.
San Andreas, California  A Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) project in Copperopolis is flush with federal dollars thanks to California lawmakers support.

This month, Congress passed its Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that included $1 million dollars for the districts Copper Cove Reclamation Facility Improvements Project. The wastewater treatment plant services about 1,800 sewer customers in Copperopolis.

District officials detailed that the project will ensure the facility will comply with current and future regulations while meeting local demand for reclaimed water, which offsets the use of surface water from the Stanislaus River. They added that this rehabilitation is also vital to prevent potentially harmful wastewater spills into environmentally sensitive areas.

Noting that this has been a huge multi-year effort, CCWD made it a point to mention California lawmakers whose continued support made this possible. They included Mother Lode Congressman Tom McClintock, Senators Diane Feinstein, Alex Padilla, and former Senator Kamala Harris.

This project is part of CCWDs effort to help offset the cost of infrastructure projects, and we are really grateful for the support at the congressional level, touted Director Scott Ratterman, Chair of CCWDs Legal Affairs committee. We are excited to finally start this project.

A phased approach will be used for the project. The next step will be to work with the Sacramento Army Corps of Engineers Office to begin planning for project implementation.
Sonora, CA  Oak Valley Community Bank has promoted a Sonora native to the Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer position.

Based out of the banks downtown Sonora branch, Lisa Melville has over 40 years in the banking industry, nearly 20 of those in commercial banking. Melville joined the bank in 2015 when Oak Valley acquired Mother Lode Bank. More recently, during the COVID pandemic, she has been instrumental in the banks efforts to assist businesses in the Mother Lode region with PPP loan and forgiveness applications.

I cant say enough about Lisas work ethic and professionalism, says Gary Stephens, EVP Commercial Banking Group. She is a key employee whom we greatly rely on in the Sierra region and is highly deserving of this promotion.

Melville has called Tuolumne County her home for more than 50 years. She has been a trailblazer in the community. In 1999, she became the first female member of Sonora Lions Club and remains active in the club today. She is also a Board member of Habitat for Humanity of Tuolumne County.

Oak Valley Bancorp operates Oak Valley Community Bank & their Eastern Sierra Community Bank division, through which it offers a variety of loan and deposit products to individuals and small businesses. They currently operate 17 branches.
Road closed sign View Photo

Sonora, CA  Motorists can expect delays in downtown Sonora for three days next week as construction on the new Bank of Stockton continues.

Paving work will be done by Lennen Construction crews out of Sacramento. There will be road closures and/or two-lane diverted traffic control for Washington, Lytton and Williams streets. The hours of operation are Monday, March 28 through Wednesday, March 30 from 6 a.m.4:30 p.m.

The contractor provided these details regarding the impacts on travelers:

Washington between Lytton and Williams: two-lane diverted traffic with shoulder work.

Lytton between Stewart and Washington: completely closed  traffic will be detoured

Stewart between Lytton and William: completely closed  traffic will be detoured
(Editors note: This project is a collaboration between the Plainview Herald and Saint Francis Ministries to showcase kids who are cleared for adoption.)

Ashlynn is an energetic teen girl with a sunny disposition. She is curious and loving with a soft spot for animals.

The 15-year-old enjoys making connections with others and spending one-on-one time with those she cares for. She thrives on loving, positive energy.

Ashlynn likes to spend time outside, whether shes getting dirty and exploring, or swimming and playing games. She prefers to spend her down time watching television or having her hair and nails done.

Ashlynn has a contagious smile and giggle that no one is immune to. Does your home have room for more love and laughter?

---

Ashlynn is among the children listed on the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TARE) website. Visit https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Application/TARE/Home.aspx/Default for more details.

Saint Francis Ministries is a nonprofit organization and a community-based care provider for the Texas Department of Family Protective Services Region 1. This region includes 41 counties across the Panhandle and South Plains.

To learn more about fostering or adopting, those interested are encouraged to attend one of the monthly virtual meetings hosted by Saint Francis Ministries and other child placing agencies. The meetings provide information about how to get started, the basic qualifications and more, in addition to providing opportunity for attendees to ask questions.

Those interested can visit Saint Francis Texas on Facebook @SFMtexas to register for the online meetings, which can also be found below:

The meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday of the month (Lubbock area  https://lubbock-area-foster-care-adoption.eventbrite.com) and the third Thursday of the month (Amarillo area  https://amarillo-area-foster-care-adoption.eventbrite.com).

For more information, please contact Erin Baxter at (806) 317-5631 or email texasinfo@st-francis.org. Visit Saint Francis Ministries online at https://saintfrancisministries.org.
The Texas Department of Insurance reported a security breach detected back in January.

Information affected may include names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, parts of or complete Social Security numbers and information about injuries and workers compensation claims.

The breach was discovered on Jan. 4 in a web app that manages workers compensation information, according to a news release. The application was immediately removed from the web.

TDI is: working with a forensic company to investigate the breach; reviewing and enhancing policies, procedures and security efforts; offering one year of credit monitoring and identity protection services for free to those who may have been affected; and providing a help line staffed by First Watch Technologies, Inc. to answer questions regarding the event.

Letters will be sent to people who made a new workers compensation claim between March 2019 and January 2022 who may have been affected. The letters include instructions regarding enrollment in credit monitoring services. People who do not receive a letter but who have had a claim since 2006 can still qualify for credit monitoring.

Those concerned about their workers compensation claims being affected can call (855)248-7100 any time between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. central time seven days a week.

For additional information, visit https://www.tdi.texas.gov/data-security-event/.
After taking a week off for Spring Break, the Plainview Rotary Club held its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The speaker for the day was Wayland Baptist University student Emily Franklin. Emily, who is the daughter of Rotarian Dr. Scott Franklin and is wife, Lori, is the current Miss Wayland, as well as a member of the WBU Honors program. As a high school student, she was a Student of the Month and participated in RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) camp. At Wayland, she was instrumental in re-establishing the Wayland Rotaract organization.
March 18

Theft was reported at a business off the 1000 block of I-27 on March 18.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 400 block of W. 16th St. on March 18.

Criminal mischief was reported at the 1900 block of W. 19th St. on March 18. Damage to a vehicle was reported at the location.

An assault was reported on March 18 at the 1100 block of Portland St. Officers were dispatched to the location in reference to a woman who had been assaulted. The victim said another woman accused her of stealing her fathers clothes and assaulted her. The victim received medical treatment at the scene and was not transported. The woman who allegedly assaulted her was not on scene when officers arrived.

A theft was reported at the 2400 block of Magan St. on March 18. Officers responded to the location and spoke to an individual who said a man who stayed at her residence through the month of January took a firearm without permission when he left the residence.

March 19

Criminal mischief was reported at the 100 block of Pecos Place on March 19. Officers responded to an initial callout regarding a disturbance at an apartment at the location. Upon arrival, officers learned the victims ex-boyfriend, who lived at the location, allegedly kicked in the victims 36-inch TV and kicked in her vehicle causing an estimated $600 worth of damage. The 22-year-old man was later detained in a field just east of the complex and was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and with multiple active warrants for failure to appear/bail jumping; parking/standing in front of a public/private drive; speeding; driving with no license; and with failure to maintain financial responsibility.

A hit-and-run crash resulting in public property damage was reported on March 19 at W. 6th St. and Joliet.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported on March 19 at the 1400 block of Fresno St. No injuries were reported.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on March 19 following a crash at the 400 block of W. 5th St. No injuries were reported from the crash. The driver was arrested for an unrelated criminal traffic violation. He was charged with driving with an invalid license with previous conviction/suspension without financial resolution.

March 20

A suspicious vehicle was observed in the parking lot at Kidsville, 3600 block of W. 4th St. An officer patrolling the area observed multiple juveniles and an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. The driver self-admitted to having a pipe used to smoke marijuana inside the vehicle. The pipe was confiscated and destroyed during a search of the vehicle. No other contraband was found in the vehicle. The driver was issued a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. All the juveniles were released to their guardians.

Criminal mischief was reported on March 20 at the 4100 block of W. 16th St. Vehicle damage was reported.

Theft was reported at the 1200 block of Floydada St. on March 20.

Criminal mischief was reported at the 3600 block of W. 4th St. on March 20. Damaged property was reported.

March 21

Shoplifting was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on March 21.

Another case of shoplifting was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on March 21.

A 37-year-old woman was arrested on March 21 during a traffic stop at the 600 block of W. 11th St. The individual was charged with active warrants for driving with no seatbelt and with failure to appear/bail jumping.

Fraud was reported at the 1400 block of Utica St. on March 21.

A sexual assault was reported in Plainview on March 21. According to the incident reports, the report was made to the Amarillo Police Department.

Public intoxication was reported at the 200 block of W. 5th St. on March 21.

Burglary was reported at the 1200 block of E. 5th St. on March 21.

A crash was reported at the 4400 block of Olton Road on March 21. Vehicle damage was reported.

March 22

Two individuals were arrested on March 22 for multiple active warrants. A 40-year-old man and a 50-year-old man were arrested at the 1200 block of E. 5th St. and charged with multiple active warrants including for driving without a license, violating a promise to appear and for assault, family violence causing bodily injury.

A traffic stop was reported at the 1200 block of N. Date St. on March 22. Possession of marijuana is noted on the incident report but no arrests are indicated.

A crash was reported at the 1500 block of N. Columbia St. on March 22. Vehicle damage was reported but no injuries were noted.

A 24-year-old man was arrested on March 22 at the 2600 block of W. 10th St. during a traffic stop. He was found to have 10 active warrants for the following charges: two counts of driving with no license; violating promise to appear; running a stop sign; failure to maintain financial responsibility; speeding; failure to maintain financial responsibility; driving with an invalid license; failure to appear/bail jumping; and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.

A 23-year-old man was arrested on March 22 at the 3200 block of Lexington St. The man was arrested for outstanding warrants for failure to maintain financial responsibility and failure to yield at a stop sign.

An assault was reported at the 600 block of Yonkers St. on March 22.
Feature: Serbia marks anniversary of NATO aggression

EditorWang Xinjuan Time2022-03-26 15:42:51

People attend the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

KRALJEVO, Serbia, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday.

A key event of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression was held at a square in the center of the Serbian city of Kraljevo, a city that was among the most frequent targets during the 78-day NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.

Speaking to representatives from the government, military, police, and citizens, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic described the aggression as a "brutal, horrible, criminal, inhuman attack on a small country."

He reminded the audience that NATO bombs, including cluster bombs and depleted uranium, destroyed tens of thousands of houses, along with schools, hospitals, and even kindergartens.

"We will not kneel and we will not beg, we want to keep the memory of the victims and we will never forget what you did to this country and people," he said.

In 1999, the U.S.-led NATO forces carried out continuous airstrikes for 78 days against Yugoslavia, leaving more than 8,000 civilians dead or injured and nearly 1 million displaced.

Some local residents told Xinhua that they felt strong emotions while recalling the bombing, which they all described as a horrible page in their lives.

Dragan Stanojevic, who is from Kraljevo, recalled that one of the first bombs fell here at the Ladjevci military airport.

"I felt this moment very strongly ... In this city, many people died at the hands of the NATO ... I keep only the worst memories from this time, and I wouldn't like anyone to experience war as it happened here," he said.

Ana, who was born in Pristina and now lives in Belgrade, said that her hometown was heavily bombed during the war.

"It was really painful to travel back into that past. I was just a kid and it left a huge scar on my life. The bombing left ruins everywhere in my hometown, and the invasion paralysed our nation," Ana said.
It's called "The Den," but a room at Battle of Flowers headquarters in Government Hill is more like an indoor grove, with colorful crepe paper flowers blooming out of boxes. The brightest of the flowers is Rose. For more than 50 years, Rose Garcia has handcrafted the flowers that set the scene for the San Antonio tradition. This year's installment of the Fiesta parade prep marks her final year at the helm.

Garcia's mother, Genevieve Loera, joined the original team of flower-makers under Cora Watson when she was 13 in 1928. Over the years, the parade production became a family affair and tradition as Loera brought on her sisters and their daughters or daughters-in-law. In 1970, shortly after graduating high school, Garcia joined the three-month contract work with her mom. In 1990, she became the boss of the blooms. Garcia, now 72, is only the third boss of the process after her predecessors, Watson and Francis Rabb.

Abigail Im, MySA Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com Abigail Im, MySA Rose Garcia is set to retire from flower-making this year. The 72-year-old has spent the last 50 years crafting flowers for Fiesta's biggest parades. Madalyn Mendoza/MySA

Garcia and her committee, a team she affectionately calls "her girls" fill the room with tradition, chatter, flower-making and Fiesta zeal for weeks leading up to the parade. The makers fills rows of tables that stretch across The Den's hardwood floors. Garcia's girls, who are the same age as her, toil away, cutting and rolling the paper and foil into ornate bouquets that will dress more than 20 floats in the parade. The more than 300,000 people who attend the parade see her work each year, and that's not counting the audience who watches the event on TV or online.

Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com

Garcia treats me to a demonstration of her flower-making, a time-honored process that has not changed since her mother learned it as a teen. She unfolds a portion of the crepe paper into a form that looks like a small crown, cuts away small chunks from the top, then starts folding. It's a rhythm Garcia says she could do in her sleep: three folds about half an inch wide, then turn in until the flower blossoms. She humors me by allowing me to give it a try. In the time it takes me to make one flower, she completes two. Soft-spoken and warm, she guides me and assures me in a way that feels familial, the same way my grandmas taught me to spread masa on a corn husk or cover every cana with H-E-B-bought hair dye.

Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com

"You did real good for a beginner," she says sweetly.

Garcia was giving me too much credit. My work was the kind of flower a pre-schooler takes home and parents pretend to be proud of.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Abigail Im, MySA Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Abigail Im, MySA Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com Show More Show Less 5 of 5









But after decades of teaching women to make flowers, I'm proud to have been taught by the best. Garcia doesn't know who will succeed her, but she says she's not going away just yet. She'll be around to make sure everything is running smoothly.

"I'll be coming back, they're not going to get rid of me," she jokes.

And of course, she'll be keeping a watchful eye on the end result for parades to come. She says each year, she watches the floats pass and will make sure each petal is propped perfectly for the parade. Sometimes, she'll adjust her work moments before the floats hit the downtown streets.

"It makes me happy because you see the flowers we produced and you get to see the girls that are riding on them," she says, beaming. "We don't know the girls, we only know the names, but we get to see their beautiful dresses."

Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com

The association isn't letting Garcia retire without a send-off fit for a queen. For the first time, she'll be part of the parade pomp. The association is giving Garcia her flowers by dedicating a float to her. Garcia will ride in the route with her plus one, her husband Clemente. Another first? She doesn't know what the arrangements will look like for her float, it's a surprise put together by her team.

"I'll be happy because it came out of my crew," she says. "(Riding on a float) is something that none of my family has done. I'll be the first one."

She says the recognition will be one of her greatest Fiesta memories she'll be able to share with her children, Yvette, Jeanette, and Christopher. The April 8 parade will rank high with an emotional moment.

"The best Fiesta memory that I have is when I was sitting here with all my aunts and my mom," she says through tears, looking around the hallowed Den at 306 Stafford. "They're still watching. My mom would be proud (to see me in the parade). I wish she would be here with us, and my aunts, and my dad."

While Garcia's career of crafting the beloved San Antonio event is coming to an end, the family and legacy she's built at The Den will carry on.

"It's family here making the flowers, it's family among the designers. It's family within the ladies who make the dresses," she says. "It's family all around. We take pride in what we do."

Let's hear it for a gem of San Antonio as her float passes on April 8.
(Natural News) Three officials in the city of Milwaukee were named as defendants in a complaint filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The complaint alleged that the defendants were involved in bribery during the November 2020 presidential elections.

Conservative law firm Thomas More Society (TMS) filed the complaint on behalf of a Milwaukee voter. It accused Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson, former Mayor Tom Barrett and City Clerk Jim Owczarski of accepting funds from the non-profit organization Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) in order to facilitate in-person and absentee voting and to purchase and place absentee ballot drop boxes. According to the complaint, the absentee ballot drop boxes were illegal under state law.

The TMS legal team who filed the complaint explained: Barrett and Owczarski entered into an agreement with the CTCL  a partisan, special interest organization  to accept $3.4 million  which is a violation of Wisconsin law. Under the guise of COVID-19 prevention and via the illegal dumping of private money into the municipal process, the CTCL handed control of the 2020 election in Wisconsin over to private partisan interests  in the form of its partners.'

According to the legal team, the Chicago-based CTCL is led and staffed by former activists of the Democratic Party. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and Instagrams parent company Meta, and his wife Priscilla Chan provided funding for the nonprofit. (Related: Special counsel in Wisconsin finds Mark Zuckerbergs election funding violated several state laws: Will he be charged?)

TMS special counsel Erick Kaardal described the evidence in the complaint as overwhelming and condemning. He explained that the case details a massive scheme on the part of CTCL to usurp the administration of the elections, a core traditional government function.

Even on the surface, given all benefit of doubt, there is no question that Barrett and Owczarski accepted private money from the CTCL  in violation of Wisconsin election law. We cant undo the wrongs of the 2020 election, but it is incumbent upon us to ensure that the corruption that infected Wisconsins voting process is rooted out and that the states election integrity is preserved, added Kaardal.

Election complaint confirms Zuckerbergs meddling

The Milwaukee complaint followed similar ones filed against officials in other Wisconsin cities such as Racine, Green Bay, Kenosha and Madison. These are also alleged violations of election law and bribery conducted by CTCL involving election officials.

Kardal said: This is representative of a national trend. Sixteen states have now passed legislation to ban or regulate the acceptance and use of private funds by public election officers. He added that TMS lawyers were the first to litigate the issue through filings in nine states. The litigation efforts subsequently led to new laws that banned the practice.

However, the TMS special counsel said the outcomes in each of the nine states were different. Arizona, Georgia and Texas passed legislation on the issue. Minnesota, Iowa and South Carolina passed bills on the matter and are now waiting for them to be enacted. Similar proposals were passed in the legislatures of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin  but were vetoed by their Democratic governors.

TMS revealed the extent of this meddling by Zuckerberg just a month after the November 2020 elections. A report by TMS Amistad Project released in December 2020 revealed that the Zuckerberg couple contributed a total of $419.5 million to CTCL and another non-profit. Of this amount, $350 million went to the CTCLs Safe Elections project that the three Milwaukee officials were reportedly involved in. A separate $69.5 million went to the Center for Election Innovation and Research that improperly influenced the 2020 presidential election on behalf of one particular candidate and party.

Phill Kline, the Amistad Projects director, wrote in the reports executive summary: The 2020 presidential election witnessed an unprecedented and coordinated public-private partnership. Funded by hundreds of millions of dollars from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other [Big Tech] interests, activist organizations created a two-tiered election system that treated voters differently  depending on whether they lived in Democratic or Republican strongholds.

Visit VoteFraud.news to read more stories like this.

Watch the video below explaining how the financial contributions of the Zuckerbergs impacted the 2020 presidential elections.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Facebook is interfering in 2020 election with millions in unconstitutional grants before the election and censorship of extensive fraud before and after election.

Election interference: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent $500 million to influence Democrat election officials and unlawfully change the election system.

Facebooks Zuckerberg donated hundreds of millions to help Democrats steal the election for Joe Biden.

Mark Zuckerberg bought 2020 election for Biden with staggering funding, new analysis suggests.

Democrat activists bought their way into Wisconsin ballot counting room, emails reveal.

Sources include:

WND.com

Breitbart.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Canadian government is attempting to seize all of the funds raised by the anti-Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown and vaccine mandate Freedom Convoy protesters. Unfortunately for them, they are having a hard time retrieving donations made through cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

The measures taken by Canada to suppress the Freedom Convoy protests are considered unprecedented for a supposedly democratic nation. This included the freezing of bank accounts of organizers and individual protesters and the seizing of donations made through crowdfunding websites like GoFundMe. (Related: Canadian government freezes single moms bank account after she donated $50 to the Freedom Convoy.)

This is why many organizers and supporters of the Freedom Convoy increasingly turned to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, believing that their detachment from fiat money and Big Tech platforms made them more difficult, if not impossible, to seize by authorities.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other police services in the province of Ontario, the Freedom Convoy received 20.7 bitcoins ($915,050).

Around 14.6 bitcoins are already considered irretrievable, as they have already been distributed to 101 individual wallets through an intermediary.

According to cryptocurrency transaction trackers, 101 individual wallets received 0.144 bitcoins ($6,360) each, transferred through an intermediary. The roughly 5.964 bitcoins ($263,400) that remained were seized by Canadian authorities and confiscated.

Cryptocurrencies more resilient against government seizure attempts

Back in February, a Canadian judge ordered all digital wallets that held cryptocurrency donations meant for Freedom Convoy organizers to be frozen. Only one wallet provider, Nunchuk, refused the order.

According to Nunchuk, the company designed its systems to make it impossible to freeze users or prevent their assets from being moved or accessed.

We do not hold any keys, wrote the company. Therefore, we cannot freeze our users assets. We cannot prevent them from being moved. We do not have knowledge of the existence, nature, value and location of our users assets. This is by design.

Monique Jilesen, a lawyer involved in a class-action lawsuit against the Freedom Convoy organizers, said the government is still able to trace which wallets are receiving the donations. But she lamented the fact that as the bitcoins move from wallet to wallet, it gets harder to seize the funds.

I presume, although I dont know, in part, that was done in order to distribute the wallets, she said. Theyve taken one big wallet, moved it into hundreds of smaller wallets and then they hand the passwords to that smaller wallet to the ultimate recipient.

The RCMP refused to comment on the case, but it said in a statement to CBC News that it still has the power to seize digital currency assets.

As part of its capabilities and plans to tackle crypto crime and track crime-related transactions, the RCMP generally uses a variety of police procedures, as well as collaborating with applicable law enforcement partners, read the RCMPs statement.

But Mathew Burgoyne, a Canadian digital currency law expert, claimed that it will be much more complicated for the government to freeze and confiscate bitcoin wallets belonging to unknown holders.

The limitation is that the crypto can simply be transferred to another wallet address thats not frozen, said Burgoyne. And then another address thats not frozen, and it can continue to be transferred in an effort to obscure the original source, or in an effort to remove the funds as much as possible from the wallet that was frozen.

Watch this video as Vaccine Choice Canada hosts a panel of experts who attempt to answer the question: Is cryptocurrency the answer to the Canadian governments penchant for freezing the bank accounts of COVID-19 lockdown and mandate protesters?

This video is from the Vaccine Choice Canada channel in Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Canadian banks say Freedom Convoy backers frozen accounts will be flagged for life.

Canadian monetary regulator admits donations to Freedom Convoy had nothing to do with terrorism.

Ontario government shuts down 39 trucking companies for participating in Freedom Convoy.

Trudeaus national police force blacklists 34 crypto wallets associated with Freedom Convoy.

TD Bank agrees to surrender Freedom Convoy donations as organizers of protest are increasingly turning to crypto.

Sources include:

ReclaimTheNet.org

CBC.ca

Decrypt.co

Newsweek.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) During a short squeeze on Wednesday, March 23, the price of crude oil futures shot up to a record-breaking price of $120 per barrel. Financial experts warn that this is just the beginning, and oil prices will one day stay above $120 per barrel for a long time.

Brent crude futures, one of several internationally recognized benchmarks for gauging the price of a barrel of crude oil, jumped by 4.6 percent during a short squeeze to $121.84 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the main benchmark used by the United States, also rose by 4.9 percent to $114.67 per barrel. (Related: CLIMATE LOCKDOWN: Globalists are exploiting oil price spikes to push for greater population control with 10-point plan that includes bans on travel.)

The oil prices responded to data from the Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday that showed U.S. oil inventories dropped by 2.5 million barrels in the last week. This confirmed the fears of many financial analysts that the loss of Russian oil in the market and the resurgence in people traveling and using their vehicles more is resulting in America and other countries having less oil available in storage.

By the next day, oil prices pulled back slightly as Brent crude contracted by about three percent to settle at $118.01 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate lost more than two percent of its value, but remained above $112 a barrel.

Oil could soon reach $200 a barrel if restrictions on Russian oil continues

Many of the worlds most knowledgeable oil traders are predicting that the price of crude could soon climb beyond $200 a barrel this year, especially if the sanctions, embargoes and other restrictions placed on Russian oil exports continue and global oil importers are unable to find proper alternative sources of supply.

We are not going back to normal business in a few months, warned Pierre Andurand, a French hedge fund manager and an expert on the oil market. He warned that supplies of Russian oil in Europe are dwindling and President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine is leading to lasting changes to the global energy market.

I think were losing the Russian supply on the European side forever, he added.

Other oil market analysts agree that it is unlikely Russian crude oil and refined products will be returning to the European market any time soon, even if Putins invasion of Ukraine ended tomorrow. Analysts believe the world will lose around three million barrels worth of Russian oil exports by April.

According to Doug King, head of investment firm RCMA Capitals Merchant Commodity Fund, the massive loss in oil supply would push oil prices above $200, possibly even as high as $250 per barrel. This is not transitory. This is going to be a crude supply shock, he said.

Alok Sinha, global head of oil and gas for British financial services company Standard Chartered, agreed that this is unlikely to be a temporary problem. You now have to deal with this as a long-term issue which means you need to find alternative supply growth.

Daniel House, a senior crude oil trader for Socar, the American trading division of Azerbaijans national oil company, said the U.S. is unlikely to come to the rescue of the global oil market even if it pushes for production to go up. [Even] if they wanted to speed up, its a 12-month process, said House.

He added that some American producers may take even longer  possibly 18 months  to crank up oil production enough to help bring global prices down. The cavalry is not coming as quickly as it did when we had previous incentives for them to grow.

Learn more about the state of the global oil industry at MarketCrash.news.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report podcast as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, explains how the United States is losing its control over the global oil industry, signaling the coming collapse of the petrodollar.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Los Angeles first major city in the country to reach average gas price of $6 per gallon.

Oil prices continue to surge amid fears of approaching supply crisis.

Saudis consider using yuan over dollar in oil sales; move could signal collapse of petrodollar and the American economy.

European countries mull increasing investment in fossil fuels to maintain energy security.

Russian Deputy PM: Rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for global market.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

Barrons.com

Reuters.com

Bloomberg.com



FT.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Holly Jones, a candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives, told Ohio attorney Tom Renz that every American can do something for the United States of America.

I dont have a political background, I have no degree in political science or any of these things. [But] thats not necessarily necessary; theres always a place to start and the time is now, said Jones during the March 22 edition of Lawfare on Brighteon.TV.

Im just a regular lady from Missouri, I grew up in a small town, I have no special qualifications. But at some point, you have to take a stand and say: Im tired of seeing whats going on. Im going to fight for my [children], my town, my community, my state and ultimately my country.

Jones is the business manager of Renzs law firm, Renz Law LLC, and has worked with Missouri-based chiropractor and another Brighteon.TV host Dr. Eric Nepute. She has also served as the vice president for wellness development at the Nepute Wellness Center in St. Louis. Both Renz and Nepute have expressed their support for her congressional run.

According to Jones, her platform focuses on three things  God, family and country. She supports the Second Amendment, medical freedom and fiscal responsibility. On the other hand, Jones opposes Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and mask mandates, abortion and raising taxes.

She also mentioned the need for an overhaul of government assistance, which she plans to do when elected.

I think that there needs to be checks and balances on all assistance. [Its] called assistance for a reason  assistance until you dont need it anymore. There needs to be bills passed that help people get back on their feet [and] help them with the things that they need, not just assist them in life forever. The whole reason Im getting involved in this is because I do care so much about helping people  and I think that I can make a difference in a lot of areas.

Americans need courage to stand for something they fight for

Renz said: I think one of the things that you see is [that] if youre willing to stand for something, then youre probably qualified. You dont have to be big [or] special, but you do have to stand [and] have the courage to stand for and behind what you stand for. I know Holly; [she] is not someone who is afraid to take a position. Shes courageous where she stands on things.

Jones agreed. You dont have to be anyone special [because] anyone can do anything that they want to do. She added that her run for the Missouri state legislature was a God thing.

Ive never, in my life before, thought about running for anything political. [But] God gave me an opportunity and I did it. When God leads, you follow, Jones said.

What were seeing is terrible things happening, and if you feel it in your heart to be moved to do something, theres always a place to get started. You have to take that first step. We as Americans and citizens, even in our own communities, cannot sit back on our heels anymore and wait for someone to do the work [and] take care of us. Our politicians definitely arent [doing that], so were going to have to get involved  even if its in a small way.

Interestingly, the Lawfare host also remarked that ordinary Americans can do extraordinary things when a previous guest joined his program. Back in November 2021, filmmaker Matt Thayer echoed the same sentiment when he sat down with Renz on the programs Nov. 30 episode.

Matts a unique guy because everybody always [asks] me: What can I do? Im not a lawyer, Im not a doctor. Well, Matts a filmmaker [and] an artist, and hes made an impact. Hes got these awesome films and documentaries. I think hes a great example of what you can do with art. He took his talents and treasures that God gave him, and decided to do good with them, said Renz.

Thayer also echoed Jones sentiment that Americans themselves should step up to the plate to make [the] country better. (Related: Matt Thayer talks about Hollywood and creating patriot films with Tom Renz  Brighteon.TV.)

We just cant expect our representatives or politicians to take care of us anymore without oversight. We need oversight, and we live in an extraordinary day and age where we can have that oversight, said the director of the Reawakened documentary series.

Visit Freedom.news for more stories like this.

Watch the full March 22 edition of Lawfare with Tom Renz below. Tune in to Lawfare with Tom Renz every Tuesday from 11:30-12 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Steel Truth: Americans now doing something about the countrys dire situation  Brighteon.TV.

The Health Ranger talks about humanitys awakening with Pastor Leon Benjamin  Brighteon.TV.

Ann Vandersteel tells Doug Billings: America is waking up and answering the call to humanity  Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com 1

Brighteon.com 2
(Natural News) An investigation into some of the deleted but retrievable emails on Hunter Bidens laptop has found that the presidential family has a strong connection with the biological weapons research laboratories in Ukraine.

This investigation was led by Jack Maxey, former co-host of Steve Bannons War Room. Among the emails that he and his team discovered included numerous national security violations  which are horrifying. (Related: The Ben Armstrong Show: Bidens interest in Russia-Ukraine conflict peppered with corruption and controversy.)

Maxey said he and his team found hundreds of thousands of deleted emails, photographs and other documents that were not permanently scrubbed from Hunters laptop. There are another 110,000 to 130,000 emails that no one even knew about, he said.

One of the things Maxey found is that Hunter and the rest of the presidential family have a connection with Metabiota, a biological research company involved with the Ukrainian biolabs.

I have 100 percent  clear 100 percent  in writing evidence that Metabiota  [which] is inside Ukraine, working in those labs, is a DOD [Department of Defense] contractor, in writing, said Maxey.

Further research by Maxeys team has also found that Mykola Zlochevsky, the chairman of the Ukrainian corporation Burisma, may be one of the largest shareholders of Metabiota.

Previous investigations into the contents of Hunters laptop have found that the Biden family is heavily involved with Burisma, whose main interests lie in Ukraines oil and gas industry. Hunter himself sat on the board of Burisma and was paid $50,000 a month for several years. President Joe Biden himself, during his tenure as vice president, met with at least one high-level representative of Burisma.

Russia credibly accuses Hunter Biden of funding Ukraine biolabs

The Russian government has also accused Hunter Biden of helping the DOD fund the biolabs in Ukraine.

This is according to Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, who pointed out that Hunters investment firm, Rosemont Seneca, has been caught financing the biological weapons research programs in Ukraine.

Incoming materials have allowed us to trace the scheme of interaction between U.S. government bodies and Ukraines biolabs, said Kirillov.

He added that Russia has information proving that Rosemont Seneca has a close relationship with key suppliers for the Pentagons biolabs around the world, including in Ukraine. According to Russias Ministry of Defense, Rosemont Seneca has provided the DOD with a fund worth at least $2.4 billion.

The Defense Ministry has recently released even more information tying the Ukrainian biolabs to American corporations and the federal government. On Thursday, March 24, the ministry released a diagram titled Coordination of Biological Laboratories and Scientific Research Centers of Ukraine and the United States.

The diagram shows that the Pentagon has funded at least 31 laboratories that have allegedly conducted illegal biological weapons research in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry released pictures of what it claims is a Ukrainian document with a list of laboratories that have received U.S. funding for biological weapons research.

The scale of the program is impressive, said Kirillov. He added that, along with the Pentagon and Rosemont Seneca, other American entities with known connections to the Ukrainian biolabs include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Open Society Foundations of Hungarian billionaire George Soros and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. government has denied all allegations. It has called Sputnik, the Russian state-owned media network which reported the Defense Ministrys investigation, a propaganda outlet that should not be trusted.

The Department of State has previously said that the Kremlin uses Sputnik, along with other state-owned media outlets like Russia Today, as vehicles for spreading so-called disinformation and propaganda to audiences outside of Russia to influence the public opinion and foreign policy in favor of the Kremlins political goals.

Learn more about the Ukrainian bioweapons labs funded by America at Bioterrorism.news.

Watch this episode of Faith & Reason from LifeSiteNews TV as hosts John-Henry Westen discusses in detail the connection between the Bidens, the Ukrainian biolabs and the Russian invasion.

This video is from the LSNTV channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Obama funded biolab in Ukraine that experimented on deadly pathogens like the plague, anthrax and Ebola.

Matrixxx Grooove: Company of Joe Bidens son funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine  Brighteon.TV.

The plot thickens: Hunter Biden investment firm funded Ukraine biolabs.

After denying existence of US bio labs in Ukraine, Biden regime warns that Russia could release the bioweapons they contain.

List of Ukraine biolab documents reportedly removed by US embassy.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Newsweek.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has signed into law new legislation that forces California taxpayers to foot the bill for every abortion that is performed in the Golden State.

The new law forbids insurance companies from charging co-pays, deductibles, or any other type of cost-sharing for abortion services, meaning the person getting the abortion does not have to pay one cent out of pocket.

Senate Bill 245, known as the Abortion Accessibility Act, was introduced early last year by Long Beach Sen. Lena A. Gonzalez, of course a Democrat. Newsoms office stated at the time that California is one of only six states that require health insurance providers to cover the cost of baby murder procedures.

As states attempt to move us backwards by restricting fundamental reproductive rights, California continues to protect and advance reproductive freedom for all, boasted Newsoms office on Twitter.

Not only does Newsoms law eliminate out-of-pocket fees for abortion procedures, it also increases insurance premiums for working-class people and their employers, which will now be paying for other peoples abortions.

This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or an individual or group policy or certificate of health insurance or student blanket disability insurance that is issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2023, from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on coverage for all abortion and abortion-related services, as specified, the bill states.

The bill also prohibits health care plans from imposing utilization management or utilization review on the coverage for outpatient abortion services.

The bill would require that for a contract, certificate, or policy that is a high deductible health plan, the cost-sharing prohibition would apply once the enrollees or insureds deductible has been satisfied for the benefit year, the legislation continues.

Jennifer Newsom, Gavins wife, praises free abortions for pregnant people

The Associated Press (AP) reported that Newsoms legislation appears to be a preemptive effort to get ahead of a possible Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Some 26 states across the country are expected to ban or at least restrict baby murder if that happens.

Newsoms wife Jennifer remarked on Twitter that California officials are anticipating Roe v. Wade getting overturned, which is why they eagerly pushed SB 245 to ensure that unborn human life can still get torn to shreds on the taxpayer dime in California.

In the face of nationwide attacks on reproductive rights, CA has taken action to improve access to reproductive care by removing costly barriers, Jennifer Siebel Newsom wrote in her post glorifying abortion.

Thankful to @SenGonzalez_33 & @CaWomensCaucus for working to ensure all pregnant people are able to access the healthcare they need, Jennifer added, of course calling them pregnant people instead of pregnant women because that is the politically correct way to include transgender mental cases who want to pretend that they can get pregnant, too.

This is the same Gavin Newsom, by the way, who wants to force California taxpayers to also foot the bill for reparations.

Newsom wants hard-working Californians to have to funnel their cash straight into the coffers of black people because of centuries-ago slavery that never even existed in California  unless you count the illegal migrant workers who pick all the food, work all the retail jobs, and clean all the rich peoples homes, including Newsoms own estate.

Meanwhile in Arizona, the legislature there is moving in the opposite direction, having voted in favor of banning all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That bill is now headed to Gov. Doug Duceys desk where he is expected to sign it.

More related news about Newsom and his ilk can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

ThePostMillennial.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Scientists have been doing research to create chimeric mRNA and deliver it through food. Research from the University of California Irvine and University of California, Riverside found the future of vaccines to look more like getting a salad than getting a shot in the arm.

Yes, scientists are now studying whether or not they can turn edible plants into mRNA vaccine factories. In the March 24 episode of War Room, Pfizer whistleblower Karen Kingston talked about developing vaccines through food consumption.

What [President Joe] Biden is saying is that in the New World Order, theyre gonna reduce the population, whether we are compliant with it or not, Kingston said. She added that theres evidence available that shows scientists have taken a chimera-weaponized mRNA and made it edible in lettuces, tomatoes and other forms of food.

So what youll see in the media is like Medicago, which was just approved in Canada as a plant-based vaccine. Meaning, they actually use the cytoplasm in the plant to produce the mRNA, Kingston explained.

Chimera is essentially a single organism thats made up of cells from two or more individuals. In other words, it contains two or more sets of DNA.

The researchers talked about getting a half-million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. While not much is known from the ongoing research, there was a published work from back in 2006, in collaboration with scientists from Hong Kong, for SARS vaccination and spike protein.

The study states that the generation of transgenic plants  wherein they take plants and combine them with viruses from other species and animals  has successfully produced vaccines for cholera, Norwalk virus, hepatitis B and foot and mouth disease through coastal transmission.

There are also studies and funding going back to 2011, which can be checked on the National Institutes of Health website, where the agency funded the development of tomato-based vaccines against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The study said that theyre going to make a difference and enduring impact on human health by creating an inexpensive vaccine. (Related: Food chemicals, HFCS and even measles vaccines are far more dangerous to the public than the measles virus.)

However, the word vaccine in this case translates to the inoculation of the chimeric virus, so they are just being infected with the multispecies mRNA virus. In simpler terms, Kingston explained, theyre basically putting the mRNA into the plants. Theyre just taking man-made virus and putting it into plants.

Many technical questions need to be answered

Advocates claim that vaccines produced in edible plants would be low-cost and would not require refrigeration, making them more accessible to people in developing countries.

Vaccines that use edible plants as their delivery vehicle could yield them needle-free with no requirements for adjuvants (or chemicals that stimulate an immune response). When the plant is ingested, the plant cell walls can protect the vaccine antigens from degradation by stomach acids and digestive enzymes. Edible vaccines would also stimulate both mucosal and systemic immunity that provides a higher level of protection compared to the traditional injectable ones.

However, these vaccines are yet to be approved for marketing as there are many technical questions that need to be answered before they can be a viable option. (Related: Mandatory COVID vaccines at Tyson Foods leads to walkout of some workers amid food supply crisis and rising resistance to medical tyranny.)

For instance, even though potatoes are viable options, there are not a lot of people who will eat a raw potato. If, for instance food is cooked, would the vaccines remain viable and effective? How can one ensure uniform products or determine the appropriate dose?

Other scientists also thought of producing edible vaccines in bananas or potatoes and processing them into a powder to make them more usable and consistent, but it is also unclear if this approach is commercially viable.

Follow Vaccines.news for more information about vaccines and their development.

Watch the video below to know more about the plan to use food as vaccines.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Scientists now developing mRNA vegetables so that grocery stores can sell vaccines hidden in food.

GMO Food and GMO Vaccines  Humans are becoming disease-manufacturing machines.

SECRET AGENDA: Globalists are using vaccines and pesticide-laden food to kill off humanity.

All 8 extreme childhood food allergies are also common ingredients in CDC-recommended vaccines coincidence?

Remember when Oklahoma tried to ban the use of aborted babies in food production? So why is aborted fetal tissue routinely used in vaccines?

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

BioSecurity.FAS.org
(Natural News) Dr. Scott Atlas, former medical advisor to the Trump administration, lamented the damage caused by Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns. He also denounced the globalist-backed medical tyrants responsible for these draconian measures.

Atlas gave a presentation about the disastrous effects of COVID-19 policies on March 23 to students of Michigan State University.

He referenced several studies that revealed the full extent of the damage caused by lockdowns. These include excess deaths, severe mental health issues and lasting economic damage to the lower echelons of society. Atlas also pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic drew a clear line among those brainwashed and those that remain able to think independently and rationally.

According to the former White House Coronavirus Task Force adviser, the pandemic opened peoples eyes to totalitarian government  and how many will submit to any command no matter how ridiculous they may be. This kind of stuff is shocking. There is going to be another pandemic. We always have another crisis on the horizon. People want to bring back lockdowns for global warming, for instance, said Atlas.

He also lamented the loss of humanity and loss of common decency in the U.S. and called for the need to get past the behavior that we have now normalized.

First of all, there is no quick solution. The country is in a bad place. We have a severely damaged younger generation. Theyre not just fearful; its worse. Theyre unhealthy, they have psychiatric and psychological disease. I don t know if we have seen the tip of the iceberg on that. Its very sad.

Atlas also denounced COVID-19 mask mandates as a psychological conditioning ritual. He elaborated: What theyve done here is they have turned the public into assuming that everyone else is dangerous to them. You are hurting them by not believing in the mask. The data show that widespread population masking does not work; the masks are proven to not work, including specifically in schools. It is absurd.

Despite the negative outlook, Atlas pointed to a sliver of hope, saying: We have to change the mentality of people to where they have a healthy skepticism of everything, which I finally see developing now. (Related: The unscientific attack on the science of Dr. Scott Atlas.)

Atlas has strong words for the medical tyrants

When they make freedom and individual liberty dirty, they are hurting lower-income people [and] poor people more than anyone else. Realize this: The people in charge are an elitist group [and the] lockdowns are a luxury of the rich, Atlas said.

A radiologist by training, Atlas became an adviser to former President Donald Trump in August 2020. However, former Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner warned Atlas that globalist-backed forces would destroy him if he went on board as an adviser. The expert remained unfazed despite the risks.

Theres no one that has been more livid than I have, with what I saw in the White House. The gross incompetence, the politicization of everything, these folks on the White House COVID-19 Task Force  the medical people, at least  were grossly incompetent, revealed Atlas.

He explained that entrenched public health bureaucrats in Washington, including White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have held their jobs for decades because of their sycophancy toward the current administration rather than scientific expertise. Atlas also denounced the federal scientific cartel that has a tight grip on research.

The underlying problem here is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). One group of people controls science because [it] controls the funding of science. [The NIH] controls the promotion of science because everyone is reliant on [its] grant money. [It] controls all the publications.

Atlas ultimately called for the federal bureaucracy to be defanged, saying: I was never for term limits, but Im for term limits for people who have these appointed positions.

Visit MedicalTyranny.com for more stories like this.

Watch Dr. Scott Atlas denouncing COVID-19 mask mandates below.

This video is from the Sons of Single Moms channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Dr. Scott Atlas: Science killed itself over COVID-19.

Dr. Atlas memoir blasts Birx, Redfield, Fauci for dismissing covid science.

Dr. Scott Atlas: The only way this stops is if people rise up against the unjustified lockdowns.

Dr. Scott Atlas slams supposed experts who shaped the Trump administrations COVID-19 pandemic response.

CDC director attacks Trumps COVID-19 task force advisor Dr. Scott Atlas for rejecting mass hysteria narrative.

Sources include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A U.S. senator is alleging that the Department of Homeland Security has mass-collected financial information on Americans in bulk and very likely in violation of privacy laws and the Constitution.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) unveiled the existence of DHS financial surveillance program in a March 8 letter to the agencys inspector general in which he also called for an investigation into the activity, which was not previously known.

The Oregon Democrat said he only recently learned that a law enforcement component of DHS, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), was operating an indiscriminate and bulk surveillance program that swept up millions of financial records about Americans.

After my staff contacted HSI about the program in January 2022, HSI immediately terminated the program, Wyden noted in his letter to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, adding that his office was briefed by the agency on Feb. 18, which was the first time that Congress was informed about the programs existence.

HSI told my staff that it used custom summonses to obtain approximately six million records about money transfers above $500, to or from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, Wyden wrote. HSI obtained these records using a total of eight customs summonses, which it sent to Western Union and Maxitransfers Corporation (Maxi), demanding records for a six-month period following the order.

Wyden also said the agencys financial surveillance operation was extremely problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that only eight summonses were utilized in order to obtain in excess of six million records.

The customs summonses authority only permits the government to seek records that are relevant to an investigation, he wrote.

HSI should have known that this authority could not be used to conduct bulk surveillance, particularly after the Department of Justice inspector general harshly criticized the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2019 for using subpoenas to conduct a bulk surveillance program involving records of international phone calls, he continued.

The senator noted that the HSA database also provided hundreds of law enforcement agencies unfettered access to those same financial records, and all without any court order or supervision.

Whats more, that DHS immediately halted the program after it was discovered by Wyden also proves that there wasnt any internal oversight as well.

I write to request that you thoroughly investigate the program to determine whether HSIs surveillance of Americans was consistent with DHS policy, statutory law and the United States Constitution, Wydens letter said.

In response to Wydens findings, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) declared the HSI program to be blatantly illegal.

This practice presents real-world harms to people who, for good reason, would like to keep private the transfer of money and the identifying information that goes with it, EFF, an international nonprofit digital rights group, noted in a March 10 statement.

Sharing financial and other personally identifying records of domestic violence survivors, asylum seekers, and human rights activists could expose them to danger, particularly given that TRAC allows hundreds of law enforcement agencies unfettered access to these records.

The org agreed with Wyden that there should be an investigation into who launched the program and under what authority while adding that the six million-plus records ought to immediately be purged. Also, the EFF said companies like Maxi and Western Union should reject government intrusions like that and protect the privacy of consumers.

Companies like Western Union and Maxi should stop caving to these overbroad administrative subpoenas for sensitive customer information by filing motions to quash. These administrative subpoenas are government requests  not official warrants, signed by a judge, that legally compel the company to hand over all of this data, EFF stated.

Companies should answer only when compelled by law to do so. Until then, they have an obligation to protect their customers information, and that obligation should extend to protections from overly-broad and easily rebuttable government fishing expeditions.

The problem with IG investigations is that IGs have no authority to indict, making them virtually worthless  which is why federal officials continue to flaunt existing laws and the Constitution. They can easily get away with it.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) In a stunning display of anti-white racism, New York City Department of Health first chief medical officer Michelle Morse has proclaimed that only non-white women can be mothers; white women can only be birthing persons.

Morse, who is black, gave a carefully crafted speech in which she dignified black and Puerto Rican women while denigrating fair-skinned women.

We need to support birthing people through all aspects of their birthing experience  perhaps the most beautiful and personal gift we can share with birthing people as they navigate the groundbreaking life changing experience of creating life, Morse wrote in a tweet.

The urgency of this moment is clear, she added. Mortality rates of birthing people are too high, and babies born to Black and Puerto Rican mothers in this city are three times more likely to die in their first year of life than babies born to non-Hispanic White birthing people.

This bizarre wording is clearly intended to subvert white women while propping up non-white women. And because Morse is a non-white herself, she has not yet been punished for her verbiage (and likely will never be).

If Michelle Morse was white and her tweet denigrated non-whites, she would already be fired

Morse received a litany of responses to her Twitter post from people who saw what she did and was not going to let her get away with it.

Maybe Im saying the quiet part out loud but it sounds like POC [people of color] women are mothers and white women are birthing people, one person wrote.

Why are you so transphobic against black and Puerto Rican birthing people? asked another sarcastically.

The entire woke era summarized in one tweet, said another.

As of this writing, Morse has not responded to any of this and her racist tweet is still on Twitter. This just goes to show that Twitters community standards include tweeting blatant racism against white people.

Keep in mind that anti-white racism is now being normalized, not only in academia but across the corporate spectrum.

It is suddenly becoming trendy to dump on white people any chance you get. This is considered progress in the new United States.

Morse has continued tweeting about other things, ignoring the controversy. One of her latest messages to her followers is about Get the Good Stuff, a program that doubles food stamp benefits for fruits, vegetables, and beans.

Amazingly, the New York Daily News completely ignored the portion of Morses tweet in which she called white women birthing persons. It conveniently glossed over that little tidbit in reporting on the citys announcement.

To his credit, NYC Mayor Eric Adams is not a racist like Morse, at least in terms of the words he has used to describe pregnant women. To Adams, all babies, no matter the color of their skin, live inside the mothers womb, a term that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now frowns upon because it is supposedly transphobic.

In its guide on language and abortion, ACOG recommends using the word uterus instead of womb because the womb is supposedly a non-medical term that can be used to apply an emotion value to a human organ.

This so-called doctor is an idiot and a racist, wrote someone at Just the News about Morse.

Pretty racist, wrote another. Flip the script and a Republican of white would already be out of a job.

This whole thing is a huge joke! expressed someone else about the downfall of this country. We must bring America back from the edge!

More related news can be found at NaturalNews.com.

Sources include:

JustTheNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Businesses need to look for alternate routes to transport goods between China and Europe due to rail concerns caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Logistics firms and exporters are reportedly no longer using land routes that pass through Russia and Ukraine due to alleged security risks, and because of Western sanctions.

There is also a concern, we are told, that European customers might boycott goods transported on Russian railways, which is creating quite the conundrum in terms of how to get goods from China into Europe.

More than one million containers that were scheduled to be moved between China and western Europe through Russia are now stalled because of all the chaos. There is talk of trying to move them via a sea route instead.

Kuehne + Nagel International AG, one of Europes largest freight forwarders, has already begun rejecting rail cargo coming to Europe via China, all because it had to pass through Russia in order to get there.

Customers of Scan Global Logistics are similarly turning to ocean or air freight options instead of rail due to sanctions on both Russia and its ally Belarus. These same customers are also worried about their shipments possibly getting stuck in one of these countries if they continue to transport via rail.

Rail shipments from Shanghai to Europe have dropped by 40 percent

According to reports, some nervous traders in China have halted all orders as they assess the risk of sanctions on their payment settlements and insurance. As of March 17, bookings on the weekly China-Europe train from Shanghai saw a massive 40 percent decline in transport.

We have been using the middle corridor for the past two years already, said Nils Muller, the rail manager at the Hamburg, Germany, office location of the Danish shipping company DSV Air & Sea Inc.

Some of Mullers clients have already switched to direct sea freight or sea-air freight to avoid using the rail lines out of China.

But in the end, sea freight rates are much less and the transit time to the main European ports is much faster, he added.

The middle corridor could be a good option, but they need to invest in new infrastructure and try to avoid the reloading process because they have more than seven or eight reloading processes before arrival in Europe.

One of the problems with switching to sea transport versus rail transport is that it takes twice as long to get goods to their destination via water. On the flip side, sea transport is still the cheapest way to ship goods.

With the supply chain already teetering on the brink of collapse, the delay in arrival via sea transport could spell disaster for many just-in-time industries that rely on goods arriving at their destinations sooner.

There are also continued and prolonged problems with sea transportation networks ever since the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) plandemic began. Port activity has been spotty, as has the labor supply needed to offload goods once they arrive.

Getting vessel capacity and getting shipping on time to destination has already been a challenge in the past six months, says Glenn Koepke, a general manager at FourKites Inc., a Chicago-based information provider for the logistics industry.

This is just one more thing thats being added to an already fragile network.

In 2021, railways moved about 1.46 million containers full of goods worth about $75 billion between China and Europe. This accounted for roughly 4 percent of the total trade that occurs between the two regions on an annual basis.

As the world economy collapses amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, you can keep up with the latest at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
According to recent research, fish on Australia's Great Barrier Reef are losing their color as coral reefs deteriorate and die during bleaching episodes.

Researchers in Queensland have discovered a relationship between dull-colored fish and corals that have become white due to coral bleaching.

Recent Discovery

They discovered that the abundance of yellow and green fish has decreased by around three-quarters over the last 27 years.

Experts are now unsure of the specific explanation of the connection between dull-colored fish and bleached coral or whether one affects the other.

Coral reef fish have a wide range of colors, yet the environmental elements contributing to this are unknown. Last week, the Great Barrier Reef was hit by yet another large coral bleaching event, the fourth in as many years.

Dr. Christopher Hemingson of James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, led the new research.

"We discovered that as the cover of structurally complex corals on a reef grows, so does the richness and range of colors present on fish living in and near them," stated Dr. Hemingson.

Also Read: Great Barrier Reef Experienced Another Mass Bleaching Event for the Sixth Time

Population

However, when the number of turf algae and dead coral debris grows, the color variety diminishes, giving a more generalized, homogenous look.

Even if coral cover stays high, future reef fish populations may be a duller replica of their past forms.'

Warmer ocean temperatures stress corals, leading them to discharge algae that live inside them and provide them with up to 90% of their energy.

Coral bleaching occurs when the vibrantly colored communities of coral turn white as a result of this catastrophe.

Corals that have been bleached are not dead, but they are at a higher risk of dying, and bleaching episodes are becoming more regular due to climate change.

While some coral reefs can recover over time, others are overrun by algae.

Previous studies have shown that coral can survive bleaching if it obtains nutrients quickly enough, but if not, it can die within days.

Dr. Hemingson and colleagues concentrated their new research on small,' site attached fish - those that can't or won't leave their habitats.

Color patterns in'site-attached' fish are believed to be influenced by the local environment.

The researchers utilized photos of the fish at coral on Orpheus Island, off Australia's eastern coast.

They measured and recognized colors and patterns on every fish in the images, some of which Dr. Hemingson captured personally during dives, using statistical software.

Matching

They then matched the fish colors to the state of the reefs in the various regions where they were discovered ('coral health' refers to whether or not the reefs had been bleached).

Some regions were characterized by an abundance of intricate, 'branching' coral and signified 'healthy' reefs (coral with numerous branches, usually secondary components).

Others were typified by less complicated, massive corals, which typically take over once reefs are disturbed.

Other areas, which represented severely damaged reefs and dead coral, were primarily made up of dirt, coral debris, and algae.

Dr. Hemingson added, "We discovered that the sea floor structure appears to be highly crucial in determining fish coloration."

'When these areas have a lot of live coral cover, we find a lot of fish with diverse colorations.'

'However, when vast volumes of debris and algae characterize environments, those distinctions vanish, and we find a lot of fish that appear extremely similar while being different species.'

Overall, the researchers warn that as coral decreases, vividly colored fish are becoming increasingly rare, with the problem expected to worsen.

Dr. Hemingson noted that fish community coloration fell considerably after the worldwide coral bleaching catastrophe in 1998, which he believes was caused by the loss of branching corals.

Stressors

Human-induced stresses, such as rising ocean temperatures due to global warming, have wreaked havoc on coral reefs during the last 30 years.

'Future reefs may not resemble the vibrant ecosystems we know today,' the researchers write in an article published in Global Change Biology.

'Our findings show that reefs are nearing a key transition point and that in the next years, they will become significantly less colorful.'

Related Article: Coral Reef in Ocean's 'Twilight Zone' Untouched by Climate Change Found in Tahiti

For more Environmental News, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
The asteroid 2013 BO76 will slam with Earth on Thursday at a speed of 30,000 miles per hour, according to Nasa monitors (50,000 kph).

It's about the same size as the Empire State Building, measuring up to 450 meters wide.

Fortunately, the fast-moving asteroid is projected to go by our planet safely.

Not a Problem

According to statistics from Nasa's Near-Earth Object database, it'll travel by at a safe distance of roughly 3.1 million miles.

That's 13 times the distance between Earth and the Moon, which is a close call in space terms.

Though it presents no threat to our planet, the object has been put to Nasa's list of impending "Close Approaches."

Also Read: Space Junk Heading Towards the Moon at Super Speed

NEOs

Thousands of so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs) are being monitored to offer an early warning if they move closer to our planet.

NEOs are minor things in the solar system (asteroids and short-period comets) with orbits that regularly bring them close to the Earth and are therefore capable of colliding with our planet one day. The term NEO is often used informally to refer to all comets that cross the Earth's orbit (not only short-period comets). Earth-Crossing-Objects are NEOs with orbits that intersect the Earth's orbit (ECOs).

By conservative estimates from space organizations, every space object within 4.65 million miles of us is deemed "possibly harmful."

Passing By

Asteroid 2013 BO76 will pass near to Earth around 10:55 p.m., according to Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. It will be noon in the United Kingdom (6:55 p.m. EST).

According to Nasa, it's one of seven space objects slated to make "near approaches" this week.

Fortunately, none of the asteroids tracked by NASA pose a threat to humanity.

Astronomers are presently watching 2,000 asteroids, comets, and other objects that may one day pose a threat to our pale blue dot, with new ones being detected every day.

No Danger So Far

Earth hasn't witnessed an asteroid of this magnitude since the asteroid that wiped off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Smaller things capable of leveling an entire city, on the other hand, collide with Earth regularly.

On June 30, 1908, one a few hundred meters across damaged 800 square kilometers of woodland in Tunguska, Siberia.

No Need to Worry

Fortunately, Nasa believes that none of the NEOs it monitors are on a crash course with Earth.

However, the space agency often revises the expected trajectories of objects, so this might alter in the next months or years.

"There is presently no asteroid or comet on a collision trajectory with Earth," Nasa states, "thus the likelihood of a significant impact is relatively minimal."

"In reality, no major object is expected to impact the Earth in the next few hundred years, as far as we can determine."

Even if an asteroid were to collide with our planet, most asteroids would not end life as we know it.

According to Nasa, "global disasters" are only caused when objects greater than 900 meters collide with Earth.

Related Article: NASA Plans to Deflect Asteroids to Defend the Planet from Cosmic Disaster

For more Space news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
'The move to permanently take a home game out of Memorial Stadium, even for five years, would cause a ripple effect on all Big Ten schedules. We dont really know yet if thats even possible.'
RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse criminally prosecuted for a fatal drug error in 2017, was convicted of gross neglect of an impaired adult and negligent homicide Friday after a three-day trial that gripped nurses across the country.

Vaught faces three to six years in prison for neglect and one to two years for negligent homicide as a defendant with no prior convictions, according to sentencing guidelines provided by the Nashville district attorney's office. Vaught is scheduled to be sentenced May 13, and her sentences are likely to run concurrently, said DA spokesperson Steve Hayslip.

Vaught was acquitted of reckless homicide. Criminally negligent homicide was a lesser charge included under reckless homicide.

Vaught's trial has been closely watched by nurses and medical professionals across the country, many of whom worry it could set a precedent of criminalizing medical mistakes. Medical errors are generally handled by professional licensing boards or civil courts, and criminal prosecutions like Vaught's case are exceedingly rare.

Janie Harvey Garner, the founder of Show Me Your Stethoscope, a Facebook nursing group with more than 600,000 members, worried the conviction would have a chilling effect on nurses disclosing their own errors or near-errors, which would have a detrimental effect on the quality of patient care.

"Health care just changed forever," she said after the verdict. "You can no longer trust people to tell the truth because they will be incriminating themselves."

Vaught, 38, of Bethpage, Tennessee, was arrested in 2019 and charged with reckless homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult in connection with the killing of Charlene Murphey, who died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in late December 2017. The neglect charge stemmed from allegations that Vaught did not properly monitor Murphey after she was injected with the wrong drug.

Murphey, 75, of Gallatin, Tennessee, was admitted to Vanderbilt for a brain injury. At the time of the error, her condition was improving, and she was being prepared for discharge from the hospital, according to courtroom testimony and a federal investigation report. Murphey was prescribed a sedative, Versed, to calm her before being scanned in a large, MRI-like machine.

Vaught was tasked to retrieve Versed from a computerized medication cabinet but instead grabbed a powerful paralyzer, vecuronium. According to an investigation report filed in her court case, the nurse overlooked several warning signs as she withdrew the wrong drug  including that Versed is a liquid but vecuronium is a powder  and then injected Murphey and left her to be scanned. By the time the error was discovered, Murphey was brain-dead.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Vaught as an irresponsible and uncaring nurse who ignored her training and abandoned her patient. Assistant District Attorney Chad Jackson likened Vaught to a drunken driver who killed a bystander, but said the nurse was "worse" because it was as if she was "driving with [her] eyes closed."

"The immutable fact of this case is that Charlene Murphey is dead because RaDonda Vaught could not bother to pay attention to what she was doing," Jackson said.

Vaught's attorney, Peter Strianse, argued that his client made an honest mistake that did not constitute a crime and became a "scapegoat" for systemic problems related to medication cabinets at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2017.

But Vanderbilt officials countered on the stand. Terry Bosen, Vanderbilt's pharmacy medication safety officer, testified that the hospital had some technical problems with medication cabinets in 2017 but that they were resolved weeks before Vaught pulled the wrong drug for Murphey.

In his closing statement, Strianse targeted the reckless homicide charge, arguing that his client could not have "recklessly" disregarded warning signs if she earnestly believed she had the right drug and saying that there was "considerable debate" over whether vecuronium actually killed Murphey.

During the trial, Dr. Eli Zimmerman, a Vanderbilt neurologist, testified it was "in the realm of possibility" Murphey's death was caused entirely by her brain injury. Additionally, Davidson County Chief Medical Examiner Feng Li testified that although he determined Murphey died from vecuronium, he couldn't verify how much of the drug she actually received. Li said a small dose may not have been lethal.

"I don't mean to be facetious," Strianse said of the medical examiner's testimony, "but it sort of sounded like some amateur 'CSI' episode  only without the science."

Vaught did not testify. On the second day of the trial, prosecutors played an audio recording of Vaught's interview with law enforcement officials in which she admitted to the drug error and said she "probably just killed a patient."

During a separate proceeding before the Tennessee Board of Nursing last year, Vaught testified that she allowed herself to become "complacent" and "distracted" while using the medication cabinet and did not double-check which drug she had withdrawn despite multiple opportunities.

I know the reason this patient is no longer here is because of me, Vaught told the nursing board, starting to cry. There wont ever be a day that goes by that I dont think about what I did.
How the second brain  the enteric nervous system in our gut  communicates with our first brain has been one of the most challenging questions faced by enteric neuroscientists, until now.

Image Credit: Flinders University

New research from Flinders University has discovered how specialised cells within the gut can communicate with both the brain and spinal cord, which up until now had remained a major mystery.

The gut-brain axis consists of bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut, which links emotional and cognitive centres of the brain with peripheral intestinal functions, says study author Professor Nick Spencer from the College of Medicine and Public Health.

Recent advances in research have described the importance of gut microbiota in influencing these pathways but we had yet to uncover how the communication was working.

The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, reveals a breakthrough discovery regarding how enterochromaffin cells communicate with sensory nerve endings.

Within the gut wall lie specialised cells called enterochromaffin (EC) cells that produce and release hormones and neurotransmitters in response to particular stimuli that are ingested when we eat, says Professor Spencer.

These EC cells release the vast majority of serotonin into the body, so our study has uncovered a major clue into how the food we eat stimulates the release of serotonin, which then acts on the nerves to communicated with the brain.

There is a direct connection between serotonin levels in our body and depression and how we feel. So, understanding how the gut EC cells communicate with the brain is of major importance.

The team made the discovery using a neuronal tracing technique developed in their lab, not used anywhere else in the world, allowing them to see the sensory nerve endings with clarity, for the first time, in the gut wall.

This has not been possible, until now, because there were so many other types of nerves also present in the gut  its like finding a needle in a haystack. Professor Nick Spencer, Study Author, College of Medicine and Public Health

The technique allowed the researchers to see that EC cells likely release substances by a process of diffusion, which then acts on the sensory nerves that communicate with the brain. No direct physical connection between the EC cells and sensory nerve endings were found, contrary to some suggestions.

The gut is the only organ with its own nervous system, known as the Enteric Nervous System or the second brain. We now have a better understanding of how the second brain communicates with the first brain, says Professor Spencer.

The article The gut-brain axis: spatial relationship between spinal afferent nerves and 5-HT-containing enterochromaffin cells in mucosa of mouse colon by Kelsi N. Dodds, Lee Travis, Melinda A. Kyloh, Lauren A. Jones, Damien J. Keating, and Nick J. Spencer is published in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00019.2022.

The study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.
(Newser)  First Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to his ex, in what was said to be the largest divorce settlement the UK has ever seen. Now, another victory for Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, the half sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan: She's been granted sole custody of the couple's two children, Jalila, 14, and Zayed, 10. Reuters describes Thursday's ruling by a senior British family judge as an "extraordinary, bitter, and hugely expensive three-year custody battle" in London, culminating with Andrew McFarlane accusing Mohammed of "consistently [displaying] coercive and controlling behavior" and "exorbitant" abuse against his wife.

Although he acknowledged that Mohammed does love his children, and they him, McFarlane noted that his behavior toward his ex and refusal to take responsibility for his actions overshadowed all of that. The "behaviour towards the mother ... whether by threats, poems, coordinating press reports, covertly arranging to purchase property immediately overlooking hers, phone-hacking, or in the conduct of this litigation, has been abusive to a high, indeed exorbitant, degree," McFarlane wrote in his ruling. The judge also prohibited Mohammed to have direct contact with the children. He may only correspond with them via telephone and messages.

Mohammed continues to deny the allegations against him, per a statement issued on his behalf, reports the Guardian. "He loves his children and cherishes their love for him," the statement reads. "He has always cared and provided for them, and always will." Princess Haya, meanwhile, seemed a little happier with the judge's decision. "It is my sincere hope that the judgments published today conclude these legal proceedings," she wrote in a statement posted Thursday on her website, which also included thanks to a long list of those who'd helped her, including the Jordanian king. "There are no words, no words at all, to describe the love, respect, admiration, and pride I have for the two bravest souls of all, Jalila and Zayed," she added. "They have met every hardship and challenge with dignity, faith, and a renewed resolve to be kinder and more humble people." (Read more Dubai stories.)
(Newser)  A dad of four from Livingston, Mont., never met back up with a friend after they got separated during a hike in Paradise Valley Wednesday, and now, a sad development. Local authorities say it appears 40-year-old Craig Clouatre was fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in the Six Mile Creek area, just outside Yellowstone National Park, per the Livingston Enterprise. "It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this update," Park County Sheriff Brad Bichler wrote on Facebook Friday afternoon. "After an extensive search this morning we have located Craig. It appears he had an encounter with a grizzly and unfortunately did not survive."

Bichler tells the Enterprise that Clouatre and a pal had split up Wednesday while on their hike, during which they were possibly looking for shed antlers. The friend alerted authorities when Clouatre didn't show up back at the parking lot. "We don't typically put people into the mountains in the dark on an initial look, so we started first thing Thursday morning, and went through the day Thursday," Bichler tells CNN. The search, which briefly halted Thursday night before picking back up again Friday, included air crews with a thermal imaging camera, as well as a ground team that including individuals on horseback.

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks assisted with the search, as did the US Forest Service. Clouatre's body was found Friday. Bichler noted that while bears have gone on the attack in the area previously, such attacks aren't usually deadly. The Billings Gazette notes this is the first grizzly bear mauling of 2022. There were two fatal ones in the state last year. "Please keep his family and all those involved in your thoughts and prayers," Bichler said of Clouatre in his statement. (Read more mauling stories.)
(Newser)  An American evacuee pulled from a bus by Russian forces while fleeing the Ukrainian city of Kherson has been released after being jailed for 10 days. Tyler Jacob, 28, was taken at a checkpoint in Russian-occupied Crimea, NBC News reports. His mother, Tina Hauser, said from Minnesota that after Kerson fell to the Russians, her son boarded a bus taking foreigners to Turkey, per the New York Times. Jacob has now been reunited with his wife and stepdaughter in a third country, Hauser said, in what she called "a safe area."

Jacob moved to Ukraine, where he's been teaching English, last fall to be with his girlfriend, whom he met on an online dating site. They married in January. His wife and stepdaughter, 11, stayed behind when Jacob left but have since reached another country safely. Hauser said he plans to move back to the US once he obtains visas for his wife and stepdaughter, per Minnesota Public Radio. His family doesn't know why he was kept from leaving Ukraine when other foreigners on the bus were not. Hauser said he was fed sufficiently in jail in the town of Armyansk. "He wasn't treated badly or anything like that," she said.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who worked on getting Jacob released, said he was "unjustly detained." She said the State Department and US Embassy in Moscow also worked on the case. Hauser said her son was interrogated about his marriage certificate, photos, and passport. She spoke to Jacob over FaceTime once he'd arrived in the third country but didn't have time to learn many details of his ordeal. "I heard his voice, and thats all that matters to me," she said. "It was like angels singing to me." (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  Afghanistan's Taliban rulers refused to allow dozens of women to board several flights, including some overseas, because they were traveling without a male "guardian," two Afghan airline officials said Saturday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabul's international airport on Friday to board domestic and international flights were told they couldn't do so without a male guardian, per the AP. Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes overseas, including some from Canada, according to one of the officials. Women were denied boarding on flights to Islamabad, Dubai, and Turkey on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines, said the officials. The order came from the Taliban leadership, said one official.

By Saturday, some women traveling alone were given permission to board an Ariana flight to western Herat province, the official said. However, by the time the permission was granted they'd missed their flight, he said. The airport's president and police chief, both from the Taliban movement and both Islamic clerics, were meeting Saturday with airline officials. "They are trying to solve it," the official said. It was still unclear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago requiring women traveling more than 45 miles to be accompanied by a male relative. Taliban officials contacted by the AP didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

This latest assault on women's rights in Taliban-run Afghanistan comes just days after the all-male religiously driven government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after the sixth grade. The move enraged the international community, which has been reluctant to recognize the Taliban-run government since the Taliban swept into power last August, fearing they would revert to their harsh rule of the 1990s. The Taliban's refusal to open up education to all Afghan children also infuriated large swaths of the Afghan population. On Saturday, dozens of girls demonstrated in the Afghan capital demanding the right to go to school. An Afghan charity called Pen Path, which runs dozens of "secret" schools with thousands of volunteers, is planning to stage countrywide protests to demand the Taliban reverse its order, said Pen Path founder Matiullah Wesa.

(Read more Taliban stories.)
(Newser)  The British Museum will remove the Sackler name from galleries, rooms, and endowments following global outrage over the role the family played in the opioid crisis. The museum is the latest cultural institution to cut ties with the Sacklers. The Sackler name has been removed in recent years from wings and galleries at institutions including the Louvre in Paris and the Serpentine Gallery in London. The British Museum said it had mutually agreed on the move with trustees of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation, which has supported the museum for more than 30 years, the AP reports.

"The British Museum is grateful for the Foundations past support, and the Trustees appreciate their co-operation in coming to this agreement as we now move the museum into a new era and present our incredible collections in different ways for new audiences," museum Chairman George Osborne said in a statement. The Sackler name has become synonymous with Purdue Pharma, the company that developed OxyContin, a widely prescribed and widely abused painkiller. Purdue has faced a barrage of lawsuits alleging that it helped spark an addiction and overdose crisis linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the US over the past two decades.

The museum said it is developing a new master plan, making this is a "timely opportunity" for the change. The statement said the museum has not been asked to return any of the Sackler donations, per ARTnews. In its settlement with nine US state attorney generals and the District of Columbia, the Sacklers said they would not object to their name being removed from institutions. (Read more Sackler stories.)
By Trend

The signing of new long-term contracts with other gas suppliers, such as Azerbaijan, Norway or Algeria, will lead to a decrease in world prices for blue fuel, the Head of the Austrian independent energy regulator (E-Control) Dr. Wolfgang Urbantschitsch said, Trend reports with reference to the Austrian media.

"How long can Austria hold out if Russia cuts the lines overnight? Filling levels roughly correspond to the time of year," Urbantschitsch said.

The current goal should be to fill the gas storage tanks so that there is enough fuel for next winter, the E-Control head noted.

"In Austria, gas is used to heat one million households and also to provide electricity. The main goal is to keep power sources (power plants) running, otherwise, there may be power outages," he said.

He also deplored Austria's failure to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, including Russian gas.

"Now this should be a goal both at the European and national level," he added.

According to him, energy prices have risen sharply since the military actions began in Ukraine, and there are fears that the phase-out of gas from Russia will lead to even higher prices.

"Now new long-term contracts can be signed with other gas suppliers, such as Algeria, Azerbaijan or Norway. I am sure that then the situation with prices will normalize," Urbantschitsch said.

He also considers the decision of the Austrian National Council (lower house of parliament) to create strategic gas reserves to be correct.

"This is a reserve equal to one month's consumption, which can be used in the event of a crisis," he said.

"Germany has set itself the goal of becoming completely independent of Russian gas within two years. Can this be successful in Austria as well? I think that this is unrealistic. Renewable energy sources already provide 80 percent of electricity generation and the target is to be achieved 100 percent by 2030," said the head of E-Control.
(Newser)  A shooting at a suburban Chicago shopping mall left one man dead and two other people wounded, including a teenage girl, while shoppers ran for cover, police said. A person of interest was taken into custody after the Friday night shooting at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont, a village just northwest of the city, Rosemont police said. Police did not release a motive for the shooting that happened just after 7pm near the mall's indoor food court, but they said it was an "isolated incident" and possibly a targeted attack, the AP reports.

The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the man who died as Joel Valdes, 20. A 15-year-old girl who was shot in the right wrist was hospitalized, said Sgt. Joe Balogh of the Rosemont Public Safety Department. The third person who was shot ran away or "escaped," Rosemont spokesman Gary Mack said. Balogh said that while two assailants fled in a car, authorities evacuated and searched the mall. Witnesses in the mall said they heard gunfire and saw people rushing for the exit, per WLS. "We heard four gunshots rapidly and within minutes, we just ran," said Maria Salgado, who works at the Gucci store.

Luis Elijio said he and his family, including his 5-month-old daughter, were shopping at a store in the mall when a women opened the store's doors and screamed, "Theyre shooting!" An employee locked the doors, and people inside retreated to the back of the store, Elijio said. "And right after that I heard what sounded like an automatic weapon," he said. Police said they recovered a firearm. The mall reopened after noon Saturday. (Read more mall shooting stories.)
(Newser)  President Biden denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin in his strongest terms yet on Saturday, calling him "a butcher" after meeting with Ukrainian refugees and saying he "cannot remain in power" in a forceful speech in Warsaw. Biden's declaration came at the end of an address intended to encourage unity among NATO allies against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and was the first time he'd called for Putin's removal, CNBC reports. A Kremlin spokesman answered that Putin's future isn't up to the US. "This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden," Dmitry Peskov said, per CNN. "It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation."

A White House aide immediately tried to temper the president's words"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power"by saying Biden wasn't calling for Putin's overthrow in what appeared to be a spontaneous statement. "The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," the official said, per the Washington Post. "He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia or regime change." But Biden circled back to attack Putin repeatedly during his speech, the final event of the president's three-day trip to Poland. With the invasion, he said, Putin is "using brute force and disinformation to satisfy a craving for absolute power and control."

Biden implored the world's democracies to unite in defense of Ukraine and warned, "We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead." He especially called out Putin for arguing that the goal of the invasion is "de-Nazify" Ukraine. "It's a lie," Biden said, speaking outside the Royal Castle, which was rebuilt after being destroyed by Nazi Germany's forces in World War II. He also addressed Putin's constituents directly. "This is not the future you deserve for your families and children," Biden said. "I'm telling you the truth, this war is not worthy of you, the Russian people." (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
Japan is planning to ban exports of luxury cars to Russia as early as next week as part of its expanded sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, government officials said Friday.

Japan has been stepping up pressure against Russia with the United States and European countries as the war in Ukraine drags on despite a global outcry.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a Group of Seven industrialized nations' meeting on Thursday that more Russian individuals and entities will be added to its sanctions list and that exports of luxury goods will be banned.

The planned export ban is also expected to cover jewelry and artworks, but details of the measure will be decided by considering steps taken by the United States and members of the European Union, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Japan's fresh export ban is aimed at adding pressure on oligarchs who have been supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin financially.

Cars make up a large portion of Russia-bound shipments from Japan, which totaled 627.8 billion yen ($5.2 billion) in 2020, according to government data.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy has said that two of its petroleum products distribution stations were targeted by airborne attacks yesterday (March 25) and warned that Kingdom will not be responsible for any shortage in oil supplies to the international markets if such attacks continued.

Global leaders condemned Yemens Houthi militia for the attack with the US implicating Iran for enabling the attack by supplying weapons to the group against international law. Unprovoked Houthi attacks against Saudi Aramcos oil storage facilities in Jeddah as well as attacks against civil facilities in Jizan, Najran, and Dhahran are acts of terrorism aimed to prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people, said Jake Sullivan, the US national security advisor. US will help strengthen defences Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US will work with the Kingdom to strengthen defences while also seeking to advance a durable end to the conflict, improve lives, and create the space for Yemenis to determine their own future collectively. At a time when the parties should be focused on de-escalation and bringing needed life-saving relief to the Yemeni people ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, the Houthis continue their destructive behaviour and reckless terrorist attacks striking civilian infrastructure.

The attacks targeted one stations in North Jeddah and another in Almukhtarah in Jizan. The attacks resulted in no casualties. The facility in North Jeddah and was attacked at 5:25 pm and the Almukhtarah station was attacked at 5 pm.

An earlier statement by the official spokesperson of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki, said At (1725), Saudi Aramcos bulk plant in Jeddah was targeted with an act of aggression, the early indications of which suggest that it was targeted by the terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia.

"A fire erupted in two tanks in the oil facility; the fire was controlled, and no injuries or loss of life were recorded. This hostile escalation targets oil facilities, and aims to undermine energy security and the backbone of global economy. These hostile attacks had no impact or repercussions in any way, shape or form on public life in Jeddah City.

Danger to global oil supplies

The Energy ministry spokesperson expressed the Kingdoms strong condemnation of these assaults. The repeated perpetration of these terrorist crimes against vital installations and civilian objects in the Kingdom constitutes a violation of all international laws and norms, he was quoted as saying by Saudi Press Agency.

The spokesperson repeated that the Kingdom will not be responsible for any shortage in oil supplies to the international markets, while these terrorist attacks by Iran-backed Houthi terrorist militias against its oil facilities continue.

The spokesperson said that the Kingdom warned that the international community should be aware of the danger of Irans continuous provision of ballistic missiles and advanced drones, which target the Kingdoms oil, gas and refining facilities.

The grave effects on the upstream and downstream sector could affect the Kingdoms production capacity and its ability to fulfill its obligations to the international markets, seriously threatening the security and stability of energy supplies to global markets.

The spokesperson said it has become clear that such attacks of terrorism, and those behind them, do not just target the Kingdom alone, but the security and stability of energy supply to the world, therefore targeting the global economy, especially at these times of extremely sensitive circumstances the world and international energy markets are suffering.

The kingdom calls on all nations and organisations in the world to stand together against such acts of terrorism by groups perpetrating or supporting these attacks, he said.
The Japanese entertainment industry may finally be having its #MeToo moment as a director and actor face sexual assault allegations from seven actresses, including claims they worked together in targeting young women.

The film Honeymoon (Mitsugetsu) had been due to hit screens today. But the sight of the director Hideo Sakaki, 51, promoting a film that deals with sexual abuse was apparently too much to take for women in the industry who allege they have been coerced into sex by him.

Four women came forward and spoke of their ordeals to Shukan Bunshun, a weekly magazine known for breaking a steady stream of celebrity and political stories. The magazine ran an article March 9 detailing the allegations dating back as far as 2011, and the release of Honeymoon was put on hold.

The women have yet to be named and it is unclear whether any legal action will be taken. Sakaki admitted to having sex with three of the women, claiming it was consensual, and denied having any kind of relationship with the fourth.

Since then, three more have made similar allegations against actor Houka Kinoshita, 58, a close friend of Sakakis who has appeared in seven of his films and acted with him in others. Some of the women allege the two collaborated in sexual coercion, introducing young women looking for a break in the industry to each other. Some said they were abused by both of the men.

One of the women says Kinoshita assaulted her at an acting workshop and then forced her into sex afterward. ...continue reading
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DANBURY  Community members expressed concern about the lack of diversity on Danburys school board in the weeks following the filling of a vacant seat and Wednesdays announcement of a second vacancy.

Among those calling attention to a lack of diversity on the school board during was Greater Danbury NAACP president Glenda Armstrong, who attended Wednesdays meeting to voice her disapproval.

Of the 11 board members, only one is Black  Gladys Cooper, who has served on the board for nearly three decades, twice as chairwoman. Michelle Coelho, a first-generation Cuban American, is the only other non-white board member.

They need to have a diverse population around that table, Armstrong said.

She said she wanted to bring attention to the issue and make sure board members were paying attention.

Armstrong said she was concerned that a qualified Black candidate was passed over during last months board selection process to fill the vacant seat.

Joe Britton, a former school board member, gave up his seat after being elected in November to represent the 4th Ward at Danbury City Council. One of the four candidates, and the only candidate of color, was Juanita Harris, a veteran Danbury educator who recently retired. Ultimately, Brigid Guertin, a white woman, was selected to serve in Brittons vacant seat.

We believe that the vacancy, or the filling of that vacancy, was not done in an equitable manner, Armstrong told the board during public comment. On the surface, it appears to be racial discrimination  or it could be at play in this unanimous decision.

School board chairwoman Rachel Chaleski said the board had a lot of interest in the vacant seat and many qualified candidates applied. The board unanimously chose the best candidate, she said.

I do certainly appreciate their coming out and expressing their concerns to the board, Chaleski said. We appreciate diversity of thoughts and opinion, and welcome that, as always.

Chaleski did not comment on whether the selection for the next vacancy, one created by Republican Kathryn Hodgdons resignation, would be affected by the diversity concerns raised. A news release sent Thursday morning said that interested residents can send a letter of application to Chaleski until April 7. The term would last until November 2023, the release said.

Its always wonderful that we have such a large diverse population within the community who are good advocates, so at last nights board meeting, it was great to see advocacy in action, Guertin said.

As a new board member, I would like to say I encourage anyone who has those thoughts and feelings to come and share.

Further thoughts

Although the vacant seat was filled more than a month ago, illness and inclement weather meant that Wednesdays meeting was the first time Armstrong was able to speak, she said.

Armstrong said she feels that it is important to have a diversity of life experiences represented on the board, especially in a district like Danbury. About 60 percent of students in Danbury identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to state data.

The Danbury areas diversity increased in nearly every municipality in the 2020 Census, with shares of nonwhite residents doubling in many cases, according to the data. More than half of Danburys residents are nonwhite, with the citys Hispanic population increasing in the data by more than 8 percent.

Your actions denied the children and the community of Danbury that valuable voice, Armstrong told board members.

Armstrong later said Harris has decades of experience as an educator and was more than qualified for the position.

Who else around that table has that experience? Nobody, she said in an interview. This is about strengthening our community.

Another father of a Danbury student spoke during public comment and said he was concerned about the lack of diversity represented on the board as well as in district teaching staff.

Presented with an opportunity to address it with a more than capable and qualified former educator, I believe you truly missed an opportunity, he said.

When asked whether she thought the school board should be more diverse, Chaleski said she did not wish to answer the question, but on the question of the importance of diversity, stated that our diversity in Danbury is definitely something to be celebrated and supported, and its one of the reasons I personally love Danbury and I want my kids to grow up in Danbury.

Superintendent Kevin Walston declined to comment.

Armstrong said she heard about the second vacancy at the meeting.

Thats going to be interesting, she said.
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The failure to kick off an initiative that would have allowed Danbury students to attend schools in neighboring districts has sparked questions about the programs future and the best way to ensure diverse learning environments for students.

For some, the suburban school districts rejection of the expansion of the Open Choice program is a symptom of the wider racial segregation in the state.

There seems to be this pattern right now of suburban districts not wanting to take kids and share the educational opportunities for kids from the urban areas, said Martha Stone, the attorney in the landmark Sheff v. ONeill case over school segregation that led to a settlement that should add Open Choice seats in the Hartford area.

Officials have alleged that discrimination played a role in suburban districts decisions to pass on the program.

In the Danbury area, school districts either didnt vote on or rejected plans to participate in the initiative, which would have allowed 50 Danbury students to attend their schools beginning in 2022-23. Those school districts were New Fairfield, Brookfield, Bethel, Ridgefield and Redding  the only community that reached out to Danbury in support of the program. The hope is to launch the program in 2023-24.

The program will be offered to Norwalk students in the fall, but Darien narrowly voted against allowing 16 Norwalk students to attend school there.

Still, the program is not seen as the best solution for Danburys overcrowding challenges because it would only have been open to a relatively small number of students, school officials have said. Nor does the program go far enough toward desegregating Connecticuts schools, advocates said. Students get into the program through a lottery.

In the end, it helps some children have different options for school, but its only some, said Sean Ghio, policy director for the Partnership for Strong Communities. I dont think its the solution and I dont think proponents of it would probably characterize it that way either.

One Ridgefield school board member had similar concerns when the board discussed last year whether to join the program. The board ultimately didnt vote on whether to participate.

For 55 years, theyve said theyve helped students be better, become more, but theyve only been able to achieve that through selecting students and placing them in a district thats not their own, Republican Rachel Ruggeri said at the May 2021 meeting.

She said Open Choice only puts a Bandaid on the problem and questioned if funding could be directed to Danbury and Norwalk to help the greater student population.

Latinos for Educational Advocacy and Diversity, a Danbury-based organization that has advocated for a charter school in Danbury, among other aims, does not support the Open Choice program for these reasons.

Our families moved to Danbury so their kids can have a community to call their own, Sandra Ferreira-Molina, deputy CEO of LEAD, said in an email. Having their children on a bus for an extended period of time is not something they consider a quality choice.

However, concerns like this shouldnt stop the program from happening, Stone said.

You can start small, but you have to start somewhere, she said, adding suburban districts would have room for a small number of students.

Growing up in in a predominately white community, state Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, said his experience in Westport schools didnt adequately prepare him for the socioeconomic and racial diversity in the country.

Open Choice helped to make that just a little bit better, said Haskell, noting the program has been successful there, despite challenges with transportation.

He hopes suburban school districts surrounding Danbury and Norwalk reconsider participating in the program.

We know that students learn best when theyre in classrooms that are diverse, so I think its a loss, of course, for the students in Danbury who wont get to participate, but I also think its a loss for the students and families that I represent, Haskell said.

Benefits and challenges of the program

Connecticut has sent city students to suburban districts since 1966 when Hartford students were bused to surrounding districts in a program called Project Concern. Now known as Open Choice, the program has expanded to the Bridgeport and New Haven areas, with funding allocated last year to bring it to the Danbury and Norwalk areas.

The idea is that students from city schools may attend neighboring school districts with shrinking enrollment so that students have more educational opportunities and the suburban schools become more diverse.

But progress toward creating diverse school districts has been slow because local zoning laws have made Connecticuts towns and cities segregated, said Ghio, who works for an organization that advocates for affordable housing and ending homelessness.

The Sheff case has been around for over 30 years and its really had marginal change, he said Theres been very marginal change because in the end were still residentially segregated as a state by income and by race

One of the biggest challenges of Open Choice is that there arent enough seats available, particularly at the younger grades, when families and students often prefer to enter the program, said Judy Falaro, associate teaching professor and director of special education at Quinnipiac University.

Then the kids grow up alongside each other, said Falaro, who worked in New Haven schools for 33 1/2 years, including supervising the magnet school programs, and saw the successes and challenges of the program.

Its better for students if they are part of a cohort of children coming from the city schools, she said.

LEAD and others worry that its harder for Open Choice students to participate in extra-curricular activities.

They also want their kids to participate in after-school activities which if they go to another town reduces the ability of parents and families to become more involved, Ferreira-Molina said. There is power in parent involvement and having children bused to a town will not only create inequitable access to families but also for their children.

District officials in communities surrounding Danbury also worried they wouldnt receive enough money from the state for taking in students. The grant amount starts at $3,000 and grows if districts accept more students. Sending districts provide additional funding for special education costs.

The grant amount is far lower than the average per pupil spending in school districts, but Falaro and others noted that adding a few students to a classroom often doesnt require increasing costs or services.

In fact, the program is an additional revenue stream for districts, said Amy Selib Dowell, Connecticut state director for Democrats for Education Reform.

Actually that can alleviate budgets and keep all their teachers employed and a lot of things that are positive  and diversify economically and racially their school districts, which is a really important objective, she said.

The answer to these challenges is to fix them, Stone said.

Thats used as an excuse, she said.

For example, districts can provide transportation for after-school activities. In the Hartford region, a grant is available to support participating students academically and socially.

Still, some families would rather their children stay in their home districts. Falaro saw this even when families had the option to move their children from what was considered a failing school to a higher-performing school.

There is a certain amount of pride that people have in their neighborhoods and in their schools, she said. Not everyone is trying to escape where they live.

Working as a region

The decision to expand Open Choice to Danbury and Norwalk in part grew out of the discussions in 2019 over legislative bills to create regional school districts, Dowell said.

It was not a program that got a lot of attention before, she said. I think because theres been pieces of legislation related to it over the last few years and a more robust conversation around regionalizing and diversifying districts that its become more of a hot button.

But Stone argued the state should return to those conversations about regionalization.

They could fix this easily with regional school systems, she said. Theres nothing sacrosanct about a town boundary line.

This is an issue Danbury has seen in areas outside of education, including homeless services, said state Rep. David Arconti, D-Danbury. Other communities dont want to step up, so Danbury provide services for the entire region, he said.

Connecticut being the size it is, 169 towns and cities with really no legitimate form of regionalizing and sharing services, thats at the root of the problem, he said. We all live in our silos and we need to come together a little more as a state and our region to provide services, so it all doesnt fall in on a Danbury, a Norwalk, a Stamford in their respective areas.

The well being of wealthier suburbs depends on cities like Danbury, Norwalk and Bridgeport, Haskell said.

The challenge is we forget that this isnt a zero-sum game, he said. Were actually all in this together.

Whats next

Cooperative Educational Services, the agency organizing the program in the Danbury and Bridgeport areas on behalf of the state, plans to return to local school boards once the budget season is over to renew the push for the initiative.

Those districts know that were available at any time to answer any questions, to attend board meetings, said program coordinator Eric Nyquist. We really anticipate that once budget season is over that more districts will take us up on the offer to have us come in and present more information.

Stone said the state could require participation to launch the program.

The state could mandate the number of seats that should be offered by a particular district based on enrollment and space availability, she said.

Dowell acknowledged that communities would resist being mandated to participate, but said there should be some sort of proverbial carrot or stick to get districts on board.

I do think there should be more pressure put on districts either financially or legislatively by being committed to doing this, to participating in this program, she said. Because its a good program, and its a tested program.

The state Department of Education needs to do a better job of promoting the programs successful history, Haskell said.

This isnt groundbreaking, he said. Were not asking any school board or superintendent to go out on a limb.

School districts may be more willing to participate if their concerns about issues like funding are addressed, Falaro said.

The first thing you always have to do is to take away the excuses, she said.

But overcoming adults built-in biases against students city schools may be harder, she said.

When you get to those ultra-wealthy towns, its going to be hard to break down those kinds ofprejudices really, Falaro said.
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DANBURY  Victoria Ceylan recalls her sons paraeducator purchasing him organizational supplies out of her own pocket.

Its paraeducators like that who helped her son gain the skills hes needed as a junior at UConn, where he is studying to hopefully become an audiologist, she said.

The experience led her to become a paraeducator/tutor in Danbury Public Schools, where she has worked for eight years.

I wanted to give back to the community that gave so much to my child for so many years, said Ceylan, a Bridgewater resident who works at the Early Childhood Center on Granville Avenue. I felt that the care that my son received in Danbury Public Schools was outstanding. The paraprofessionals that he had for 15 years, they were amazing. They went above and beyond the call of duty.

Now, she and her son are advocating for a bill that would provide professional development for paraeducators, better involve them in planning and placement team meetings for special education students, and create a group that would work toward developing a professional certification process for these staffers.

But most of all: this bill is an opportunity to begin to treat paraeducators with the respect and dignity that they have earned, Ceylan said in her Monday testimony in support of the bill.

The bill is before the legislatures education committee.

Theyre doing the dirt and dirty of things that have to be done and they havent been part of any of the important decision making or sitting in on any extra trainings that our regular staff that are in charge of the class are doing, said state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, one of the sponsors on the committee. Its time to make that change because we have to elevate them to a standard (to show) we understand that we appreciate the hard work they do.

The state education commissioner supports parts of the bill, but opposes some aspects, including the effort to create a path toward a professional certification for paraeducators.

The proposal takes some of the recommendations from the Connecticut School Paraeducator Advisory Council, which issued a report in 2021 surveying about 3,400 paraeducators about their working conditions, including wages, professional development and career advancement opportunities.

One of those recommendations is for the legislature to enact a provision ensuring paraeducators are paid a livable wage 12 months of the year, although thats not included in this bill.

State Rep. Steve Harding, R-Brookfield, said he supports how the bill would include paraeducators more in the education and development process of their students.

Many times the paraprofessional is the individual at school that that particular student has the closest bond with and the closest relationship with and receives the most direct instruction from, said Harding, who sits on the state Education Committee and is a former Brookfield school board member.

AJ Ceylan, the son of Victoria Ceylan, described the close bond he had with his paraeducators. Born 17 weeks early, he has cerebral palsy and, when he entered Danbury Public Schools at age 3, couldnt walk and was just learning to talk.

I needed a paraeducator or tutor with me at all times, he said in his testimony on Monday. I was medically and physically fragile and could not have navigated my early years alone. As I got older, my need for a paraeducator continued to grow and the Danbury School District did not let me down. I always had someone by my side.

Many hats

A.J. Ceylan has moderate hearing loss, so his paraeducators took notes for him. He struggles with balance, so they were careful that he didnt trip.

My paras were my eyes and ears for all those years, he wrote in his testimony. They not only protected me, they taught me how to advocate for myself and grow as a person.

In part because of the support from his paraeducators, he is doing well at UConn, where he hopes to get into an accelerated doctorate program at the university so he can become an audiologist and help others with hearing loss, his mom said.

Hes now taking those skills that he learned when he was in his younger years and hes putting them to test in life, she said.

Victoria Ceylan, who worked with kindergartners and then preschoolers at Hayestown Elementary School before moving to Granville, said paraeducators wear many hats.

Shes worked with a variety of students, one who had brain cancer and some who cannot speak, wear hearing aids or are in wheelchairs.

Shes been physically hurt on the job, needing surgery and physical therapy.

Were with kids from the time the bus pulls up from the time the bus pulls away, Victoria Ceylan said. We are their parents away from home in an educational sense.

Thats part of why enhanced professional development is so important, she said. One aspect of the bill requires paraeducators to receive at least 18 hours of professional development.

In order for us to do our best at this job, we need to be taught the latest technique or the latest development, she said.

Additional changes

The bill requires districts to establish a committee that would develop and evaluate annually a professional development plan for paraeducators beginning July 2023.

Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said she supports professional development for paraeductors, but asked that timeline be extended. She said she was concerned this would create an unfunded mandate for districts.

But Nolan said its imperative to implement these changes soon.

To delay it any longer just displays the nonchalant ways that weve been addressing this for the last numerous years, he said.

Russell-Tucker also argued paraeducators shouldnt be included as part of professional development for scientifically-based reading research and instruction  as the bill proposes  because they are not authorized to design or modify instruction.

The bill requires the education commissioner to create a working group that would create a system for paraeducators to gain professional certification  something Russell-Tucker said her department does not have the capacity to support...

It should also be noted that requiring a specific certification for paraeducators, will create additional burdens and potential barriers on a local districts ability to recruit and hire paraeducators, as all hires would now need to hold an appropriate certificate, Russell-Tucker wrote.

Nolan argued this is a standard the paraeducators deserve.

Aside from the bill, the paraeducators advisory council has recommended that paraeducators be capped at 5 percent of their salary toward health care premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.

Survey data shows that 42 percent of paraeducators pay more than 11 percent of their salary toward healthcare premiums while nearly 20 percent of Connecticut paraeducators pay more than 20 percent of their salary toward healthcare premiums

Paraeducators work really, really hard and we need to be compensated in such a way, for retirement or pension and many different things, Victoria Ceylan said. We need to be recognized that we do work really hard, that we do an amazing job and we change lives
Families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting were grateful in November after a Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled in their favor over a defamation lawsuit brought against Alex Jones.

Now, they are skeptical over how Jones will cover the damages a jury must determine they deserve. The families attorneys have asked the judge to find Jones in contempt of court.

For the second day in a row, Jones failed to comply on Thursday with a court order requiring his deposition in a successful defamation lawsuit brought by families of Sandy Hook shooting victims.

Now, attorneys for the families say they are frustrated as the defendant seems to be dodging his depositions scheduled as part of a jury trial to decide damages.

What we know

After a back and forth between the plaintiffs and the defense, plans for the deposition were pushed to this week with Joness attorneys agreeing for him to sit, in-person, for questioning sessions on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Jones didnt appear for either date.

The first signs of scheduling trouble came on Monday, March 21, when attorneys representing the conspiracy-theory-pedaling personality filed a motion requesting him to be excused from the deposition as a result of unnamed medical conditions.

The request cited testimony from Dr. Benjamin Marble who, according to court documents, appeared on Jones show on Monday and upon meeting the Infowars host, immediately advised [him] to go to an emergency room or call 911.

The doctor added, according to court filings, that, after Mr. Jones refused, the physician advised him to stay home, which Mr. Jones did not do,

He did not stay home, but Jones did, allegedly, visit with a doctor to get a second opinion on his condition. Later that evening, attorneys for Jones produced an additional doctors note stemming from the second opinion.

Signed by Dr. Amy Offutt, the redacted five sentence note cites a recommendation made to Jones that he not attend court proceedings for now, after assessing his unnamed condition.

We started a comprehensive medical evaluation, and he has labs that are pending to assess his [redacted] status, Offutt wrote to the court. I also gave him ER precautions if he develops escalating symptoms.

According to her website, Ouffutt is an extensively trained integrative medicine physician based in Marble Falls, Texas, who was, recently appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to the Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Advisory Council.

Her practice provides consultation and treatment to patients for chronic pain, offering yoga and other services including, ozone therapies and IV nutritional therapies.

The families attorney on Wednesday had requested a bench warrant if Jones didnt show up Thursday. But on Friday, they requested he be held in contempt of court for skipping out on the depositions, asking for him to pay escalating fees beginning at $25,000 per day and to be incarcerated until he sits his deposition.

What we dont know

Bellis has sided with the families attorney in recent motions, ordering Jones to appear for his deposition despite the doctors notes saying he should stay home. Its unclear how she or Jones attorneys will respond to the request for Jones to be considered in contempt of court.

At a scheduling hearing set for March 30, the court may decide what leverage, if any, will be held over Jones.
TORONTO, March 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Everyone in Canada deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. The COVID-19 crisis has made it clear that affordable housing is key to Canada's recovery, in communities across the country, including those in Toronto.

Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, alongside Arif Virani, Member of Parliament for ParkdaleHigh Park and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, John Tory, Mayor of Toronto, Ana Bailao, Deputy Mayor of Toronto, and Councillor for Parkdale-High Park, Gord Perks, announced a total of almost $440 million of federal funding to create over 1,000 new homes through the Rapid Housing Initiative. These housing units will support Canadians who are in uncertain housing situations, experiencing or at risk of homelessness or living in temporary shelters.

In the first round of the Rapid Housing Initiative, the City of Toronto received over $238 million in federal funding to create over 650 new affordable homes for those most vulnerable.

Through the second round of RHI, the Government of Canada has allocated $201.5 million in funding to the city of Toronto to create over 420 new affordable homes for individuals and families in Toronto.

New investments under the Rapid Housing Initiative will create thousands of good jobs in the housing and construction sector, grow the middle class, and build back stronger communities while getting us closer to our goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada.

Quotes:

"Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. Our government's funding through the Rapid Housing Initiative is resulting in the quick creation of over 1000 homes for individuals and families in need in Toronto. Through the National Housing Strategy, we will continue to support Canadians in need and ensure no one is left behind."  The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing, Diversity and Inclusion

"Through the Rapid Housing Initiative, our government is investing in affordable housing here in Toronto and across Canada to help create jobs and improve the quality of life for those who need it most. Thanks to today's announcement, low-income members of my community of Parkdale-High Park now have access to affordable homes."  Arif Virani, Member of Parliament for ParkdaleHigh Park

"Toronto is now on track to exceed its target in 2022 by creating more than 3,300 new and affordable homes for people and families who are facing homelessness. We are working as fast and as hard as we can to provide deeply affordable housing, with adequate wrap-around social and health supports, because that is the key to ending chronic homelessness. The Dunn Avenue site under construction now shows that when governments work together with our healthcare partners and community organizations, we can get housing built that helps people experiencing homelessness in months not years. I'm committed to continuing this progress on housing and working with our partners to get more housing built as soon as possible."  John Tory, Mayor of Toronto

"As a city, we need to leverage all available funding from other orders of government to create homes with support services for the most vulnerable residents living here. The City is grateful for the participation of our non-profit partners in preparing applications for funding from CMHC under this round of the Rapid Housing Initiative. The successful delivery of the City's HousingTO Plan requires the strong and supported commitment of the non-profit and Indigenous housing sectors, and they are a key part of the City's success in securing the funding announced today.".  Ana Bailao, Deputy Mayor of Toronto

Quick facts:

The RHI is a $2.5 billion program to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians, especially in the context of COVID-19, through the rapid construction of over 10,000 units of affordable housing.

program to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians, especially in the context of COVID-19, through the rapid construction of over 10,000 units of affordable housing. 41% of all units created under the RHI is being targeted to Indigenous peoples.

Units are intended to be constructed within 12 months of when funding is provided to program applicants (with some exceptions), with units in the North and in special access communities intended to be constructed within 18 months.

Close to 33 per cent of this new funding will go toward women-focused housing projects. The units will be built within 12 months of when funding is provided to program applicants.

The RHI takes a human rights-based approach to housing, serving people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and other vulnerable people under the NHS, including women and children fleeing domestic violence, seniors, young adults, Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, people experiencing mental health and addiction issues, veterans, LGBTQ2 individuals, racialized and Black Canadians, and recent immigrants or refugees.

The Government of Canada's National Housing Strategy is an ambitious, 10-year plan that will invest over $72 billion to give more Canadians a place to call home.

Associated links:

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. CMHC's aim is that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford, and that meets their needs. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

For further information: Media contacts: Arevig Afarian, Office of the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, [email protected]
BAGHDAD, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's parliament decided on Saturday to postpone the vote on a new president to March 30 after failing to reach a quorum due to political disputes among parliamentary political blocs, a state-run TV channel has reported.

Iraq's parliament held a session in the afternoon with the attendance of 202 lawmakers out of the 329-seat parliament, and the voting on a new president had to be postponed due to a lack of the required two-thirds quorum of the parliament, according to the Iraqiya channel.

After a short session, the parliament adjourned its regular session until March 28, while the vote on a new president until March 30 to give the political blocs enough time to negotiate the differences of the political process.

Earlier, the Iraqi parliament set March 26 as the date for a new parliament session to elect the president. Some 40 candidates, including President Barham Salih, who represents the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Rizgar Mohammed Amin, former chief judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that organized the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, would compete for the post.

The postponement came amid a political row among Shiite parties. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Sadrist Movement has vowed to form a new national majority from the winning parties in the elections, after his followers took the lead with 73 seats out of 329-seat parliament in the elections held on Oct. 10, 2021. Al-Sadr's pro-Iranian rivals, however, want to form a consensus government to include all political blocs, as was the situation in the successive governments after 2003.

Under the Iraqi constitution, lawmakers should elect a new Iraqi president from the candidates by a two-thirds majority of the 329-seat parliament, and the president is limited to serving two four-year terms.

Once elected, the new president will ask the largest parliamentary bloc to name a prime minister-designate to form a government within 30 days. 
UGC warned the students pursuing degree in china for the universities in china do not have any online programmees

On Friday, the University Grants Commission issued a warning to Indian students interested in pursuing higher education in China, saying that the higher education authorities does not recognise online degree programmes.

According to current guidelines, the UGC and AICTE do not accept degree courses completed solely online without prior clearance.

In a public notice issued by UGC, the commission stated that It has come to our attention that a few universities in the Peoples Republic of China have begun issuing notices for admission to various degree programmes for the current and next academic years.

Furthermore, UGC in the document mentioned that there has been no reduction in travel restrictions so far, and some Indian students are unable to continue their studies in China.

China has implemented travel restrictions as a result of Covid-19, and all visas have been suspended since November 2020, according to the commission.

Minister Wang Yi, on the other hand, has promised to discuss the issue with the appropriate authorities in order to provide relief to Indian students, according to Jaishankar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the Birbhum case, in which eight people were burned alive in West Bengal. The incident occurred in the Birbhum districts Bogtui village.

The team from the Central Bureau of Investigation has arrived at the scene of the horrific incident in which eight persons were burned alive. The SITs case report was also obtained by the CBI.

During the investigation into the Birbhum case, a 16-member CBI team will be accompanied by CFSL experts. On Friday, March 25, the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the CBI after the opposition questioned the SIT teams credibility and raised serious allegations against at least two of the members. The CBI has been given until April 7 to submit reports in this case, according to the court.

However, in the latest findings from the autopsy reports, the eight people killed, including five women and two children, were beaten and then burned alive in a house.
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STAMFORD  Webster Bank, which completed its merger with Sterling National Bank last month, announced Friday that it has doubled the footprint of its headquarters in downtown Stamford.

The bank has added 23,031 square feet and now occupies a total of 45,979 square feet at 200 Elm St., while it has also extended its lease. Webster originally leased space in the building in 2018 and then confirmed last month that those offices would serve as its new headquarters.

Webster is pleased to have 200 Elm as our new corporate headquarters and taking additional space. This will allow us to continue to grow in one of Stamfords premium downtown buildings, Michael OConnor, Websters regional president and director of corporate services, said in a statement.

Webster was represented in the transaction by Drew Saunders and Ed Tonnessen, who work in the Stamford office of commercial real estate firm JLL. Another commercial real estate firm, CBRE, is the new exclusive leasing agent for 200 Elm and an adjacent building at 695 E. Main.

The two buildings comprise an approximately 560,000-square-foot complex, which was acquired by A.M. Property Holdings late last year for $235 million in one of the largest property sales of the past decade in Connecticut.

While the new headquarters is in Stamford, Webster officials have said offices in Waterbury and Pearl River, N.Y.  which, respectively, served as the former headquarters location for Webster and Sterling  will be part of a multi-campus presence.

The bank employs a total of about 4,300 people. Webster officials said in a statement last month they could not specify how many employees are based in Stamford, Waterbury and Pearl River because there are no specific headcounts for any locations as we have a hybrid and remote working model.

Our colleagues work in company locations based on the needs of our customers and the most productive way to work in a safe and collaborative manner.

At 200 Elm, Websters headquarters are part of a property that underwent a $75 million, multi-stage redevelopment in the past decade under its former owner, Stamford-based developer Building and Land Technology.

When BLT acquired the site in 2012, it stood totally vacant as a result of the relocation a couple of years earlier of reinsurance firm GenRes headquarters to a campus about two miles north, on Long Ridge Road.

The property is being renamed The Link, with the new owners announcing Friday that they plan to further develop the asset by engaging the interior courtyard along with service enhancements, as well as rigorously pursuing sustainability and environmental initiatives.

Ownership is committed to creating a truly amazing work environment that is like no other in Stamford that offers tenants a plethora of amenities that are geared towards health, wellness, sustainability and safety as employees return to work, Nathan Wasserman, president of AM Property Holding Group, said in a statement.

The Link has 83,902 square feet of available office space, with units ranging from 3,700 square feet to 52,000 square feet, according to CBRE. Its amenities include a fitness center and spa, a conference facility and a cafeteria with indoor and outdoor dining.

Other tenants at 200 Elm-695 E. Main include professional services firms Deloitte and RSM, personal care and home care goods producer Henkel, alcoholic beverages specialist Diageo, insurer Ascot Group and hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp.

We are excited to be marketing this truly iconic asset in the heart of the Stamford Central Business District, Brian Carcaterra, a member of CBREs leasing team for the property, said in a statement.

Never in history has Stamford been a better place to live, work and play, and The Link is surrounded by all of the excitement of Harbor Point and the influx of new residents during these last two years.

With the recently concluded expansion and extension for Webster Bank, we are accelerating through our strategy and are hyper-focused on leasing the remaining balance of space.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
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DANBURY  When Gov. Ned Lamont addressed local business leaders a year ago, there was no bigger hot-button issue than tolls, with area merchants dependent on cross-border traffic with New York.

Returning to Danbury on Friday, Lamont suggested the biggest issue now is how to help people afford to live in the city, whether newcomers or those looking to stay, by attacking the high cost of housing and day care for the children of working parents.

Speaking to the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, Lamont stuck to themes he has been emphasizing in the spring legislative session  improving transportation, education and training, reducing hurdles for businesses, avoiding tax increases, and eliminating income taxes on pension funds on which retirees depend.

The Connecticut Department of Labor on Friday estimated the Danbury areas unemployment rate at 4.5 percent as of mid-February, the lowest of the 10 labor market areas the state tracks. The state calculated a 4.9 percent unemployment rate statewide, down from 5.1 percent the previous month.

Lamont reminded those in attendance that Danbury Hospital was the first in Connecticut to admit a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 in March 2020 before schools and businesses went remote in an attempt to limit transmission of the virus.

The state is coming out of this a lot stronger  weve got the wind to our back and amazing things have happened, Lamont said. For decades, the moving vans were leaving the state of Connecticut. Now as youve heard, we have tens of thousands of families moving into the state of Connecticut  not old guys like me, young families ... and they keep coming.

That is helping Connecticut reverse the tide on tax revenue. Lamont noted the presence of Mark Boughton, who he installed as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services last year after a long tenure as mayor of Danbury.

Mark Boughton was always running around Hartford with a tin cup saying, Help me out, help me out  now, hes a billion-dollar man, Lamont said. This gives us an opportunity to transform the state.

Three weeks ago, state Comptroller Natalie Braswell projected a $1.5 billion surplus for the state in this fiscal year, while calling attention to the plight of renters who have been hit with onerous terms as their leases come up for renewals by landlords looking to cash in on the hot real estate market.

Of about 225 rentals in Danbury listed on Apartments.com on Friday, about one in four were available for less than $2,000 a month  and only three for below $1,500.

Little more than 600 Danbury families have received assistance under the UniteCT rental assistance program that was created with federal funds, for an average boost of about $8,450 for each recipient or $2.2 million in total. Statewide, nearly $197 million in rent assistance has been disbursed under the program.

Having proposed an expansion of a property tax credit, Lamont promised Friday to intensify the states investments in affordable housing.

The No. 1 question I get from employers who are thinking about the state of Connecticut is housing  and will there be housing for young workers, Lamont said. It really slows down growth in our state, because of the high price of housing and demand outstripping supply.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman




LUSAKA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A Zambian expert has said that China and Zambia enjoy huge potential for cooperation, especially in such areas as agriculture and technology.

Haggai Kanenga, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zambia said in a recent interview that Zambia and China have made strides in cementing bilateral ties over the years.

He said that the recent visit by Zambia's minister of foreign affairs to China signifies the importance both China and Zambia attach to their relations.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
NEW DELHI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Friday that China and India should stick to their own development paths and join hands to safeguard peace and stability in the region and the world at large.

Wang made the remarks at a meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

He proposed a three-point approach to achieving that end.

First, both sides should view the bilateral relations from a long-term vision.

China and India should adhere to their two leaders' strategic judgement that China and India should not be a threat to each other, but an opportunity for each other's development, and put their differences over the border issues at a proper position in the bilateral relations, Wang said.

Second, China and India should view each other's development with a win-win mentality.

China and India should forge a cooperation model with a healthy interaction, so as to achieve mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation at a higher level and in a wider range, he said.

Third, both countries should take part in the multilateral process with a cooperative posture.

The two sides should step up communication, coordination and mutual support to send more positive signals for upholding multilateralism and inject more positive energy into improving global governance, Wang said.

For his part, Doval said the Indian side appreciates China for its insightful thinking and constructive proposals, and shares the identical view that India and China are partners instead of rivalries, and shouldn't let the border issues affect the overall bilateral relations.

Noting developing friendly ties between india and China is not only the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, but also the aspiration of the peoples of the two countries, Doval said India is willing to work with China to develop the sound and steady bilateral ties, he said.

Stressing that the differences between the two sides should not alter the general momentum of the bilateral relations going for the better, Doval said the two sides should make efforts to remove obstacles and disruptions in the bilateral ties, and strive to bring their ties back to the right track at an early date.

In response, Wang reiterated that the two sides should meet each other halfway and stick to the right direction so that the China-India friendship will become an unstoppable trend of the times.

The two sides affirmed the outcomes from the corps commander level meetings and the diplomatic consensus between the two countries, and agreed to speed up the resolution of individual issues left over by history, properly manage the situation on the ground and avoid misunderstanding and misjudgement.

The two sides also agreed to abide by the agreement reached in 2005 between the two governments on the political guiding principles for the settlement of the China-India boundary question, resolve the border issue through consultations in a peaceful and friendly manner, and refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.

Wang stressed that the special representatives on the China-India boundary question should maintain communication and exchanges, press for the shift from emergency response to regular management and control on the border issues as soon as possible, and stay committed to properly managing the border issues so as to seek a fair and just solution. 
As a proud Vietnam veteran, I attended the press conference unveiling of the new Conflict Specific Veterans License Plates with great interest. I like the idea of the new veteran license plate but I was a little turned off by those involved for praising each other for making this simple change to happen. After the accolades, each speaker basically said the same thing  that we owe veterans so much for their sacrifices that these new plates are a token of appreciation to honor and recognize their service. However, there is a catch. Anyone who currently has a veteran license plate will have to pay $27.50 extra to get the owed appreciation and recognition the speakers were talking about. There are no discounts or other considerations. The state of Connecticut is very good at confiscating dollars from residents, and we almost never have a say in how it is taken from us. I have a choice on this issue and will not be purchasing the new license plate.

March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. More than 58,000 young Americans died in the war so take a moment to remember them. The state will not be able to charge you for that.
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BRANFORD  Five Branford restaurants failed health inspections in the last six months, but all passed when reinspected, reports how. The inspections were carried out by the East Shore District Health Department, which covers Branford, North Branford and East Haven.

The five restaurants that initially failed were G.W. Carsons Burger Bar, Lennys Indian Head Inn, Parthenon Diner Restaurant, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Shoreline Cafe & Catering.

All establishments that serve food are subject to inspections one to three times a year, depending on the type of establishment. Each item on a detailed inspection sheet is given a risk factor of 1 to 4. To pass, the restaurant must meet two main requirements: It must score a minimum of 80 points out of 100, and it must not have any 4-point infractions, which pose the highest threat to food safety.

Amy Scholz, deputy director of the health department, said most failures are the result of a critical 4-point infraction, which include re-serving food, poor water quality, inadequate sewage disposal or cross-connections between machinery such as ice machines, food equipment and chemical dispensers.

She said the East Shore department follows the food code set by the Food and Drug Administration.

Scholz said most commonly, a failed 4-point item is probably due to a temperature violation.  Its one of the leading causes of food-borne illness. Hot food must be kept at 135 degrees or higher and cold food at 41 degree or lower.

We hope that when we come back for the reinspection, that sets the standard going forward, she said.

G.W. Carsons Burger Bar, 308 E. Main St.

G.W. Carsons Burger Bar was inspected on Jan. 26 and given a rating of 88, but failed because of a four-point infraction, keeping cold foods above the required 41 degrees.

Other violations included storing potatoes in a milk crate, an unclean deli slicer, unclean kitchen floors and walk-in cooler vent.

The restaurant was reinspected Feb. 2 and passed but given no score.

Christine Casinghino of Beacon Falls, owner of G.W. Carsons, said the temperature issue was caused by someone blocking a fan with supplies. Within like an hour I had brought down the temperature, she said. I would have tossed every item of food if the issue had gone on for any longer, she said. Im overly cautious, she said.

Lennys Indian Head Inn, 205 S. Montowese St.

Lennys Indian Head Inn was inspected on Sept. 10 and given a failing grade of 71, with one four-point infraction for improper hand-washing or not washing hands frequently enough.

Other violations included missing and broken thermometers, unclean food contact surfaces and improper sanitizing procedures, handling food with bare hands, boxes of seafood stored on the freezer floor, which had excessive ice buildup and milk crates used as storage, and unclean can opener and rust on a potato peeler, plus other areas that were unclean.

Lennys was reinspected Sept. 27 and passed with a score of 96. The owner, Christopher Conlin, could not be reached.

Parthenon Diner Restaurant, 374 E. Main St.

Parthenon Diner Restaurant was inspected Sept. 9 and failed with a score of 57, including three four-point infractions. These included frying oil and grease leaking into the basement, hot foods kept at too low a temperature, cold foods kept too warm, a too-high concentration of chlorine in a sanitizing bucket and lack of cleanliness in a variety of areas.

The Parthenon was reinspected Oct. 1 and given a score of 84 but failed a second time because of two four-point infractions: a too-high concentration of chlorine in a sanitizing bucket and keeping cold foods above the required 41 degrees. Other issues included an unclean fan, hood and floors and improper food storage.

The Parthenon was reinspected again Oct. 15 and passed with a 95-point score.

The owner, John Sousoulas of Branford, said, There was a hole in the floor behind the fryolator, so we had to fill it with spray foam. He said the diner has a three-part system for cleaning solution: one for the floor, one for food-grade items and one for washing pots and pans, installed by Cintas. One of them had too much chlorine, he said. They replaced the system. The concentration of chlorine was too high, he said.

Sousoulas also said a stainless steel hanging shelf was installed above the where the clean plates are sitting on a shelf to protect them from anything falling on them.

Everything has been properly repaired, he said. The last thing I need and the first thing I look for is when theres an issue that it gets repaired promptly.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, 3 E. Industrial Road

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, which is in the TA Express Travel Center, was inspected Feb. 17 as the result of a complaint. It failed the inspection with a score of 77, including one four-point infraction: keeping cold foods above 41 degrees.

Other issues included improper use of sinks, a jacket stored with dry goods, a lack of cleanliness of food equipment and utensils and vents, unclean floors, fryolator, trash bucket and sanitizing bucket, not changing gloves after each use and no hand-washing observed, a leaking water connection to the ice machine, litter and trash scattered near the dumpster, a dirty rag used to prevent a leaking faucet, cardboard boxes holding to-go containers saturated with grease and buttermilk batter on the wall behind breading station.

Popeyes was reinspected March 3 and passed with a 95-point score.

The owner is TA Operating LLC, which runs a gas station, truck stop, store and also houses a Subway and Starbucks. An employee of Popeyes said the manager at the time of the inspection was no longer working at the restaurant and said any comment would have to come from TA Operatings corporate headquarters, which is in Westlake, Ohio. A message left at TA was not returned.

Shoreline Cafe & Catering, 1247 Main St.

Shoreline Cafe and Catering was inspected after a complaint was made Sept. 3. A customer said she found mouse droppings under a sandwich delivered by Uber Eats. In an inspection Sept. 8, the sanitarian reported finding no evidence of any pests throughout the establishment interior.

The restaurant failed that inspection with a score of 77 and two four-point infractions: cans rusted expired poor condition and chemicals stored with food items.

Other issues included towels used to line cutting boards, an unclean can opener blade, items stored on the floor of the walk-in cooler, unclean cans and microwave interior and no food thermometer. The restaurant was reinspected Oct. 2 and passed with a score of 90.

Another complaint was made Nov. 22 by an anonymous neighbor about issues at two nearby buildings owned by Wilson and Dena Jara of North Branford. The Jaras own Shoreline Cafe but not the building. Among other issues, the complaint said employees were cleaning grills outside and spraying the grease around.

Sanitarian Dia Dihan inspected the property Dec. 14 and reported a trace of grease outside in the driveway. In her followup report, Dihan said she spoke to manager Dena Jara about this major issue and that cleaning grills or equipment outside should not be permitted. She understood and said this will not happen again.

Dena Jara said the restaurant works closely with the health department.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
The decision of the Lagos APC was announced by the party chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojebabi, during a meeting organised for party chieftai...

The decision of the Lagos APC was announced by the party chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojebabi, during a meeting organised for party chieftains and delegates at the Lagos Governors Lodge, Abuja by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The dinner was attended by Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; Ojelabi; members of the Governance Advisory Council, the apex leadership body of Lagos APC; members of National Assembly from Lagos State; Lagos State House of Assembly members; State Executive Council members and Chairmen of the Local Governments in Lagos State, among others.

Speaking during the dinner, Governor Sanwo-Olu, who commended all the party leaders and delegates for travelling from Lagos to Abuja to participate in the APC national convention, expressed his support for Israel and Ibirogba as chosen by the party to represent Lagos in the National Working Committee as well as the South West level of the APC.

They have shown our two candidates that we are bringing forward; the National Youth Leader, Dayo Isreal from Lagos Island in Lagos Central, and Lateef Ibirogba from Alimosho in Lagos West. We are sure that they will represent us very well, he was quoted as saying in a statement.

Ojelabi commended the governor for putting together the dinner and his contribution to the progress of the party. He also commended the delegates for travelling from Lagos for the convention.

The APC chairman implored the delegates to work for the emergence of Dayo Israel and Lateef Ibirogba as National Youth Leader and South-West Zonal Organising Secretary Organising respectively.

He said, We are determined to have a successful National Convention to put in place a democratically elected National Working Committee of APC for the next four years. The Unity List would be provided as we proceed to the venue of the convention.

We have our person who is going to represent the good people of Lagos State in the National Working Committee. We are presenting someone who is going to galvanise to ensure that the youths vote for our party in Lagos State and at the national level during the 2023 general elections. He is Dayo Isreal. We are presenting him as the National Youth Leader. I want you all to canvass for him. He is a dynamic youth, who knows what it takes to mobilise and galvanise the youths to support our party.

I also want to present to you the Zonal Organising Secretary, who is going to represent all of us at the South-West level. I have the honor to introduce Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, who will be contesting for the post of Zonal Organising Secretary.
There was a mild drama on Saturday when some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Ekiti State staged a protest at the ongoi...

There was a mild drama on Saturday when some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Ekiti State staged a protest at the ongoing national convention of the party, rejecting the primary election that produced Biodun Oyebanji as partys governorship candidate.

Oyebamiji, who was anointed by governor Kayode Fayemi emerged as the governorship candidate after other aspirants boycotted the primary election.

But the aggrieved members under the aegis of Ekiti Mandate Group noted that party leaders and the incoming National Working Committee (NWC) members must note that they are aggrieved and nothing will percify them unless the preferred candidate in person of Kayode Ojo is seen on the ballot.

The aggrieved members who staged a protest at the Eagle Square venue of the APC national convention were armed with placards bearing various inscriptions, calling on the party to recognise Eng. Kayode Ojo was the preferred choice to fly the partys governorship ticket.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards are: Return our stolen mandate; Kayode Ojo is our choice;

Governor Fayemi is killing APC in Ekiti state; we reject imposition among others.

The convener of the Ekiti Mandate Group, Abiola Timilehin, while speaking on behalf of the protesters warned that if justice is not done his group will end the reign of APC in Ekiti state.

He appealed to the leaders and the incoming National Working Committee (NWC) members to prioritise the need to urgently correct the injustice perpetrated by Fayemi and his cohorts in Ekiti state before the governorship election to avoid the what happened to APC in Zamfara state, Rivers state and Oyo State.

Timilehin stressed that they decided to create a scene here at the national convention of the party so as to call the attention of our leaders to the calamity thats about to befall the party in Ekiti if that kangaroo called primary election was not reversed.

His words: Recalled that the states governorship primary that was conducted on the 27th of February was reportedly marred by irregularities, which led most of the aspirants, including Engr. Kayode Ojo to call for its cancellation.

The aspirants had accused Governor Fayemi of manipulating the process in favour of his own anointed candidate, who was declared winner in that kangaroo arrangement called primary election.
DAKAR, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The 9th World Water Forum concluded here on Friday with a "Blue Deal" declaration that called for ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.

Ensuring adequate financing and inclusive governance, as well as the strengthening of cooperation in the water sector, are the other priorities of the declaration.

The "Blue Deal" is able to accelerate the implementation of the right to clean water and sanitation for all by providing appropriate legislative frameworks.

The "Blue Deal" also called for the application of international humanitarian law, in particular the additional protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which provide for the protection of water supply and sanitation systems that are considered vital in times of conflict.

Under the aegis of the World Water Council, water use stakeholders are called to "adopt sustainable and integrated management plans to preserve water resources and ecosystems and ensure resilience to climate change and demographic pressure".

The 9th World Water Forum was held for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa. 
Bridging a vast generation gap is part of the drama and humor in Jump, Darling, the final film in the long career of Cloris Leachman. Its certainly not Harold and Maude  especially because the relationship here is familial  but it is a sort of odd couple story of a young aspiring drag performer whose personal life is falling apart and his grandmother, who is fading in her elder years and is having difficulties living alone. Despite what at first looks like a formulaic scheme, the story has enough twists and sexual candor to keep the surprises coming.

Jump, Darling starts with Russells life collapsing. Hes been performing lip-synching drag acts in a bar, but his partner is tired of the dingy bar scene and perhaps also of Russells drinking problem. Russell responds by downing several drinks before he goes onstage and falls flat on his face. He leaves his boyfriend and heads to his grandmothers home in a rural area of Prince Edward County, Canada.

He arrives at a good time, as his grandmother Margaret has just singed off some of her hair while trying to light her stove and has a nearly empty refrigerator because she no longer drives and needs help with daily matters like getting to the store. Its not a particularly warm reunion, as Russell is blunt that his intent is to claim a car she once offered to him.

Russell also is broke and doesnt really know what his next move is. A once aspiring actor, he wants to get his performing career back on track, but hell have to overcome his self-destructive habits first. He prolongs his stay in order to help Margaret, and the result is some scenes one might expect. He lets her know what salty insults are no longer deemed socially acceptable.

Thomas Duplessie, as Russell, and Leachman carry the film. Leachman, who was in her early 90s when the film was made, makes effortless work of the cantankerous Margaret, whos lucid and determined though tired. She also shares parts of her life that Russell hadnt known, and that strengthens their bond.

Leachman won an Oscar for her role in The Last Picture Show, but she may be best known for her comedic work in film and TV. She starred in Mel Brooks' 1974 film Young Frankenstein, and she won eight Emmy Awards, including for her role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, from which her character, Phyllis, was spun off into her own sitcom. She died in January 2021 at the age of 94.

While its not inconceivable that Leachman could play Russells grandmother, Linda Kash, though in her late 50s during filming, looks too young to be his mother or Margarets daughter.

Russells mother arrives and is surprised her son is at Margarets house. Shes been trying to shepherd her mother into a retirement home. She also wants to push Russell back into his recent relationship. But hes already been making new acquaintances at the only gay bar in the area, and that gets complicated as well.

Featuring drag seems to be part of Canadian writer and director Phil Connells intentions. There are several excellent lip-synching performances, by Russell as well as Toronto drag stars Tynomi Banks from "RuPaul's Drag Race" and Fay Slift, aka John Paul Kane. It gets heavy handed in a couple of scenes with pointed speeches about what drag performance is. Russell lays out what drag does and doesnt define about a person.

But Russell has a long way to go in getting his life back on track, and Margaret is not finding her path any easier. Reconnecting helps them move forward, if nothing else with better understanding.

Jump, Darling opens April 1 at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.
After two years of drastic measures meant to contain the spread of coronavirus through five separate surges, Louisiana seems to have passed the ultimate coronavirus test: Mardi Gras 2022, where thousands gathered from all over, parading and partying their way through a dazzling, blue-skied Fat Tuesday.

Now, as vaccination requirements are dropped and masks are rarer indoors, the question is this: Can we repeat safely gathering throughout the coming height of festival season, and what comes next?

With Mardi Gras, the timing was rather fortuitous, said Dr. Joe Kanter, state health officer. The event took place on the downswing of a very large surge.

Falling late this year on March 1, the holiday coincided almost exactly with the final bottoming out of the omicron surge. Over the 78-day wave, nearly 450,000 Louisianians  almost 10% of the states population  were diagnosed with the virus, and far more were likely infected without ever getting a test to confirm their illness.

There were roughly 67% more known cases than there were in last summers delta wave, which had previously set records for infections and lasted a full month longer than the omicron surge.

And nearly four weeks later, when hospitalizations would have illuminated the potential human cost of such a large gathering, Louisiana is still in a good place, though most experts are tempering their optimism with the knowledge that another surge is likely.

Where we are right now is objectively the best place weve been in the entire pandemic, said Kanter. Whats ahead, its tough to say.

Statewide cases are at their lowest level since the first days of the pandemic, when testing was scarce and limited to those in the direst need of a diagnosis. Only 485 cases were reported in Louisiana for the week ending on Friday, about 1% of the number of cases reported in a single day during the peak of the omicron wave in late January.

And the trend seems to have staying power, for now. The last time the state reported more than 1,000 cases over the course of a week was for the seven days ending March 14. Even during prior lulls, the state hadnt been able to maintain case counts that low for more than a few days at a time.

Minor uptick

New Orleans itself saw what appears to be a very brief, minor uptick that likely can be traced back to Carnival. Cases had been falling rapidly since the omicron wave crested in the city at 6,087 cases per week on Jan. 25, hitting a low of 211 on Fat Tuesday. Exactly one week later, that figure had bumped up to 340, a small count by historic standards.

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It wasnt much of a blip and it came right back down again, said Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University.

After two weeks hovering in that range, case counts began to drop again last week. As of Friday, the city had reported only 136 cases over seven days, putting new infections roughly in line with other low points during the pandemic.

The metrics for tracking the most severe infections are also now at historic lows. Only 109 people were hospitalized with COVID on Thursday, continuing a 10-day streak in which hospitalizations have been at record lows. Only 8 people were on ventilators, typically only required for the most dire cases.

Deaths caused by the virus have also fallen to historically low levels, though delays in reporting often mean weeks-long delays in assessing their impact. About 1,635 people died during the omicron wave in Louisiana, just over half the toll taken by delta. Roughly eight new deaths were reported each day over the past week.

How long will the low last?

Over the short term, Louisiana can likely expect a couple more months of low cases and hospitalizations, at least through Jazz Fest in early May, said Hassig. But another surge is in the future, most health experts agree. The question is whether that will be due to BA.2, a cousin of an earlier version of omicron, or the next variant  a rho, sigma or tau, perhaps.

I can't help but think were going to see something in summer, said Hassig. As it gets hot, people are going to go inside in the air conditioning. And weve had a spike the last two summers.

The BA.2 version of omicron is gaining ground in Europe, where its causing an increase in cases. Some experts say that's not likely to happen in Louisiana. Omicron has infected so much of the population that it offers a buffer of immunity, said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at LSU Health Shreveport.

Someone who has recently recovered from any omicron infection  theyre going to be resistant to infection from any previous variant, especially if theyve been vaccinated, said Kamil. If you caught BA.1, you're unlikely to be a good home for BA.2.

But that buffer may start to wane during the hottest parts of summer. At the same time, Louisianas large unvaccinated population  about 47%, compared to 34% nationwide  creates fertile ground for a new variant.

We know that the virus is going to try to find a way out of the corner that our immune system pushes it into, said Kamil. We just dont know what the next one will look like and how dangerous itll be when it finds its way out of that corner."
A Jefferson Parish grand jury has indicted five people in the shooting death of a Terrytown National Guard member who authorities say fought back when they tried to rob him in his apartment.

Gerald Little, 18, accused of pulling the trigger, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the death of Jemond Cador, 21. Indicted with second-degree murder were Myron Lee, 20, one of Cador's fellow Guard members and the alleged mastermind of the holdup; Isaiah White, 20, Kewane Edwards, 22, and Matthew Smith, 20, according to court records.

All five defendants also were charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Lee was additionally charged with obstruction of justice, accused of disposing of evidence, court records said.

Victim seen as easy mark

Only Lee knew Cador, who lived in an apartment in the 200 block of Wright Avenue. It was Lee who suggested Cador as a robbery target, convincing his co-conspirators that Cador would be an easy mark who only played video games and wouldn't fight back, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The other suspects were recruited to help with the holdup, which occurred on Dec. 6. The men traveled from Baton Rouge to Cador's apartment in a black GMC Yukon registered to Lee's parents, authorities say.

Four of the men, including Little and Lee, went to Cador's door and kicked it in. In a confession to investigators, Lee said he and Cador began scuffling, authorities say.

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"The victim started winning the fight, at which time, Gerald Little shot and killed the victim," detective Steven Quaintance testified in a Feb. 3 court hearing.

Traffic stop

Soon after, Louisiana State Police pulled over the SUV for speeding on Interstate 10 near Kenner. Because neither the vehicle nor the weapons inside had been reported stolen, the five men in it were allowed to leave with a traffic citation.

But the stop provided the information that led Sheriff's Office investigators to the suspects.

The indictment does not say why only Little faces the most serious charge of first-degree murder, which is punishable by death if the district attorney's office seeks capital punishment. But during an earlier bond hearing in the case, attorneys for Lee, White, Edwards and Smith said their clients had not intended for anyone to be harmed during the robbery and had been angry with Little for opening fire.

Second-degree murder, the charge against the other four defendants, carries an automatic life sentence in prison upon conviction.

After the indictment was returned Thursday, the 24th Judicial District Court set bond for Lee at $950,000. Bond for the other defendants was set at $850,000.
An appeals court ordered the immediate release Thursday of a New Orleans attorney jailed for contempt of court by a Criminal District Court judge after he didn't appear for a murder trial that never kicked off.

Stavros Panagoulopoulos left the New Orleans jail about 9:20 p.m. Thursday, after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal ordered his release. The courts order came after attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus  which requires a judge to examine whether someone is being lawfully detained  on Panagoulopoulos behalf, saying he had every right to leave the courtroom.

Panagoulopoulos was arrested Thursday following a hearing in the courtroom of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Kimya Holmes. She had determined Panagoulopoulos exhibited willful disregard for a request that he appear for a murder trial that was set for Monday.

Holmes asked Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office deputies to arrest Panagoulopoulos after he left her courtroom Monday ahead of the scheduled trial of his client, Christopher Patterson, who, along with Gerald Barnes, is charged with second-degree murder in the April 2018 shooting death of 23-year-old Alfred Johnson in Gentilly.

Court transcripts show that Holmes thought Panagoulopoulos absence could have been racially motivated.

All Im saying is  if I was a white man or a white female, Im pretty sure the treatment I would be getting from the defense attorneys would be different, Holmes said, according to the transcript.

But in an interview, Panagoulopoulos said that he only left Holmes court after a plea deal reached between the defense attorneys and prosecutors fell through, and it became clear that all parties would ask for a continuance in the trial.

Panagoulopoulos was also needed in the 24th Judicial District Court in Jefferson Parish, where jury selection had begun in the murder trial of another of Panagoulopoulos clients: Leonidas Lowry, who was this week found guilty of second-degree murder in the November 2016 slaying of Ethan Allen in Gretna.

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According to the writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf, all attorneys had agree to reset the trial before Panagoulopoulos left, after which he was free to report to Jefferson Parish.

The court transcript shows Holmes fought the attorneys request to set a new trial date until she learned that a key defense witness was unable to testify because he was having surgery.

Panagoulopoulos said he was surprised by Holmes assertion that he may have left because of her race.

I defend everybody, and I treat all my clients equally  and I would have done the same thing no matter who was on trial or which judge I was in front of, Panagoulopoulos said.

He added that his domestic partner of 15 years, with whom he has two children, is Black.

Panagoulopoulos said that following the conclusion of Lowrys trial Wednesday night, he voluntarily returned to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court on Thursday morning to discuss his absence with Holmes.

She found him in contempt of court, records show, and remanded him to the jail for a 24-hour hold. Holmes also fined Panagoulopoulos $100, according to court records.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals order, which released Panagoulopoulos, also requires that the criminal court to produce the transcript from Monday, as well as Holmes written judgment explaining her decision to find Panagoulopoulos in contempt of court, for its review.

Holmes declined to comment Friday, saying that she couldn't discuss a pending case. Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judicial Administrator, Rob Kazik, also declined to comment on Friday.

Probably the most important thing to me  to any person  is my character and reputation, said Panagoulopoulos, who said the situation was disturbing. As a criminal defense attorney, my character and reputation are of the utmost importance. Its what I walk in with. Its all I have.
New Orleans trumpeter Kermit Ruffins made an emotional appeal Saturday, asking the person who shot his pregnant girlfriend in the abdomen to surrender to police.

Please turn yourself in and do one thing right in your life, Ruffins, 57, told WWL-TV from the hospital bedside of his girlfriend, Harmonese Pleasant, 29.

The couple said they didnt know who would have shot her but cant imagine she could have been the target.

Who would want to hurt a beautiful pregnant woman standing outside on a beautiful day, talking on the phone in front of her front door? Ruffins said.

Pleasants daughter, whom the couple have not yet named, was born by emergency C-section after the shooting Thursday night and admitted to Childrens Hospital. As Pleasant recovers from surgery at University Medical Center, she has seen her infant only via FaceTime when Ruffins visited or by using a phone app to get hourly updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kermit Ruffins (@ruffinsbbq)

Ruffins said Baby Ruffins still has three bullet fragments in her tiny body, but that she is breathing on her own and doctors told the couple she is getting stronger by the minute.

The life-threatening conditions, theyre no longer worried about, Pleasant said.

She said she hopes to go home next week.

Pleasant said she has no idea who shot her, in the 1300 block of Treme Street, and never heard a gun fire. Ruffins speculates she was hit by a stray bullet or a ricochet from someone shooting elsewhere.

This is something Ruffins already knows too well. He lost his niece, Milan Arriola, to gun violence in 2015.

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Ruffins has become a highly recognized culture bearer for the city he loves but is fed up with the culture of violence pervading New Orleans. He blames drugs, easy access to guns, violent video games and rap music lyrics for inspiring seemingly random violence, often by juveniles.

I think of their parents, the way they raised them, he said. Who can live like that? Turn yourself in for the better of our city and life in general.

'Could have had two funerals'

Then, the iconic musician choked out the words: We could have had two funerals.

Pleasant said she and Ruffins were planning a home birth, and they said they were excited after Pleasant got a clean bill of health Thursday morning for her and her baby after 39 weeks of pregnancy. It was a beautiful day, and she said she was outside enjoying the nice evening weather. She said Ruffins was not there at the time, but they were planning soon to eat takeout supper from Mandinas Restaurant.

Pleasant said she was walking in front of their house and talking on the phone with a Mississippi friend who hadnt been able to make it to her baby shower. She said she had just hung up and was close to the intersection of Treme and Esplanade Avenue when she felt a searing pain and blood dripping into her boots.

She said she screamed, stumbled about 20 steps and fell in front of the house she shares with Ruffins.

'This is not happening'

Ruffins daughter, Noonie, who lives down the street, came running with her boyfriend, Pleasant said. They tried to put her in a car, but it hurt too much, she said. She called Ruffins and told him she thought shed been shot.

Id never heard her scream like that, Ruffins said. Its like, This is not happening. What kind of people do we have living? Where are the damn parents? What kind of parents raised these people, man?

Ruffins rushed home before the ambulance took Pleasant away. He promised to follow her to the hospital, but he said police made him stay to answer questions. He was never detained, but he and Pleasant said police at first treated him like a suspect.

The way they treated me I just cant believe. They should look at me and know damn well I wouldnt hurt a fly, he said.

He immediately switched to a more appreciative view of how the police managed it: But I understand Kermit Ruffins is no different from no one else.
The tornado that tore through Gretna, Arabi and New Orleans East on Tuesday evening was the strongest to hit the city and its inner suburbs since accurate records have been kept, the National Weather Service confirmed Friday.

The weather service said the tornado had an estimated peak wind of 160 mph, ranking it a strong EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. It cut a track 11.5 miles long, and had a maximum width of 320 yards. The twister left one man dead in Arabi, and and at least two people injured.

While tornado records from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association go back to 1950, the second strongest tornado to ever touch down in New Orleans struck just five years ago. That storm cut through a heavily populated area of New Orleans East, injuring 33 people and causing more damage to buildings.

The 2017 twister storm was also an EF3, but it packed slightly lesser winds, of about 150 mph. The 2017 tornado was wider than the one that struck Tuesday, with a maximum width of 600 yards; it traveled 10.1 miles.

By the time Tuesdays tornado made it to the East, it was beginning to dissipate.

While Tuesday's twister was the strongest ever recorded tornado to hit the city, it's not the strongest to wreak havoc on the metro area. In December 1983, LaPlace was struck by a tornado that had winds estimated at 207 to 260 mph. That storm had a 7 mile track and a maximum width of 200 yards.

The LaPlace tornado measured F4 on the Fujita scale, which was in use at the time. NOAA began using the Enhanced Fujita scale, which is slightly more complex, in February 2007.
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, we all know by now, traffics less in the policy details vital to governance than in bizarre bouts of paranoia and grievance.

Remember his rant about the millennial leftists and their nonbinary fuss to save the world from intercontinental ballistic tweets? Or how he claimed President Joe Bidens inauguration would mark the final hour of conspiracy to dismantle the American election process, and the first hour of conspiracy to dismantle America? Or the time he talked of shooting armed protesters in a Facebook post that the company took down for violating its "violence and incitement" policy?

Well, last week brought more evidence that focusing on his southwest Louisiana districts needs is beyond Higgins ken.

Theres a new affront in the land, he contended in a typically alarmist fundraising email. This time its the Houses passage of the Crown Act, which addresses discrimination in employment and education based on hair style or texture, and grew out of a movement rooted in the painful real-life experiences of some Black Americans.

Or, to hear Higgins tell it: In my years representing South Louisiana in the D.C. Swamp, Ive seen a lot of ridiculous left-wing antics, but this could be the worst  The socialist left is fiddling while Rome burns.

Which got me thinking: What could be worse than a law to combat discrimination against people based on their natural hair?

Well, here are a few things that might ring a bell with Higgins constituents  not fire, but a long list of other afflictions.

The pandemic. Flooding, a harsh winter storm, and one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the state, followed six weeks later by another hurricane.

So much bad faith from the insurance industry that rock-ribbed free marketers in the Legislature are talking about imposing tough new regulations.

And some of the worst population losses in the country, according to new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, which found that Calcasieu Parish, where Lake Charles sits, lost more than 5% of its residents between 2020 and 2021, and rural, coastal Cameron Parish shrank by nearly 10%. Those figures probably dont surprise politicians more focused on conditions on the ground, whove been bemoaning the loss of habitable housing to disaster, and pleading with Congress to send enough money to create a housing recovery program to get people back and working.

Ironically, Higgins hair missive arrived just a day after the Lake Charles area got some genuinely great news out of Washington. Heading to Louisiana is $1.7 billion in block grants from the president  you know, the guy whose elevation to the office supposedly signaled the dismantling of America  out of disaster relief money previously approved by the same Congress that has delayed and shortchanged victims of Hurricanes Laura and Delta since the storms struck in 2020.

Some of the money will address recovery needs from last years Hurricane Ida, which matched Lauras frightening strength but struck the southeastern part of the state. But $450 million will go to southwestern Louisiana, on top of a long-sought yet inadequate initial allotment of $600 million.

Higgins scurried to claim part of the credit, of course, but those in the know see scant evidence of his fingerprints. He wrote letters seeking funding, but also openly snubbed Biden when he visited Lake Charles last year and suggested that it was up to Louisianas Democrats in Washington to work the process.

That they did, along with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has shown a distinct willingness to work with the administration on issues important to Louisiana. Others in the delegation participated too, although its hard to find anyone who singles out Higgins other than Higgins himself.

Heres how Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter, a Republican, tactfully put it: "I thank our entire Louisiana congressional delegation's efforts, especially those who are willing to sit down with both sides of the aisle and do whatever it takes to help people  This was not achieved by writing and delivering letters. This was achieved by good, old-fashioned elbow grease."

Or to borrow a phrase, credit goes to the folks who werent fiddling while Lake Charles struggled.
People attend the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

KRALJEVO, Serbia, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday.

A key event of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression was held at a square in the center of the Serbian city of Kraljevo, a city that was among the most frequent targets during the 78-day NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.

Speaking to representatives from the government, military, police, and citizens, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic described the aggression as a "brutal, horrible, criminal, inhuman attack on a small country."

He reminded the audience that NATO bombs, including cluster bombs and depleted uranium, destroyed tens of thousands of houses, along with schools, hospitals, and even kindergartens.

"We will not kneel and we will not beg, we want to keep the memory of the victims and we will never forget what you did to this country and people," he said.

In 1999, the U.S.-led NATO forces carried out continuous airstrikes for 78 days against Yugoslavia, leaving more than 8,000 civilians dead or injured and nearly 1 million displaced.

Some local residents told Xinhua that they felt strong emotions while recalling the bombing, which they all described as a horrible page in their lives.

Dragan Stanojevic, who is from Kraljevo, recalled that one of the first bombs fell here at the Ladjevci military airport.

"I felt this moment very strongly ... In this city, many people died at the hands of the NATO ... I keep only the worst memories from this time, and I wouldn't like anyone to experience war as it happened here," he said.

Ana, who was born in Pristina and now lives in Belgrade, said that her hometown was heavily bombed during the war.

"It was really painful to travel back into that past. I was just a kid and it left a huge scar on my life. The bombing left ruins everywhere in my hometown, and the invasion paralysed our nation," Ana said. 

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks at the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (C) attends the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (C) attends the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attends the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

People attend the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (C) attends the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

People attend the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

Serbia's National Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic (2nd L, front) and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic (3rd L, front) attend the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)

A witness speaks at the ceremony of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the NATO Aggression, in Kraljevo, Serbia, March 24, 2022. Thousands of Serbian people with lit candles and tear-stained eyes marked the 23rd anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia at a remembrance day ceremony here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Shi Zhongyu)
A man looks at a vintage motorcycle during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

People visit the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

A man takes photos of vintage motorcycles during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

People look at a customized motorcycle during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

An electric scooter is displayed during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

People look at customized motorcycles during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

People look at a customized motorcycle during the 2022 North American International Motorcycle Supershow in Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, on March 25, 2022. The three-day event kicked off here on Friday with hundreds of different models of motorcycles. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
TEHRAN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's anti-COVID-19 task force announced on Saturday that working hours and school attendance will return to pre-pandemic conditions as of April 3.

From April 3, working hours at public offices and organizations will return to what they were before the outbreak of the pandemic in the country in late February 2020, and physical attendance at schools and universities will be mandatory, Abbas Shirozhan, the spokesman for the National Task Force for Fighting the Coronavirus, said in a Saturday tweet.

He stressed that starting from the date, no excuse will be accepted for refrainment from in-person attendance at educational and academic centers.

Warning against any leniency in observing the health protocols, Shirozhan said the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet.

Over the past days, the country has reported average Covid-19 daily deaths and infections of below 100 and 2,000 respectively. 
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WHITING  Health and community leaders working in Northwest Indiana and beyond had no shortage of suggestions Friday for how to restructure public health programs and services across the Hoosier State.

The recommendations included everything from improving the pay, working conditions and development pipeline of health care workers to improving data collection and distribution to maintaining COVID-level financial resources for local public health agencies.

"You want people choosing public health as a career," said Connie Rudd Hannon, director of nursing at the Porter County Health Department. "We want the best and brightest to come and stay at the health department."

Listening carefully to each speaker were five members of the Governor's Public Health Commission, including Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner; former state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville; and Brian Tabor, president of the Indiana Hospital Association.

The panel is touring the Hoosier State, including a well-attended stop at Calumet College of St. Joseph, seeking input on state and local health issues prior to putting together a public health reform proposal for action by the 2023 Indiana General Assembly.

Several speakers at the Whiting college, including Sharon Johnson-Shirley, superintendent of Lake Ridge Schools, and state Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, stressed the need to bolster the availability of mental health care, particularly for kids and teens, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that scrambled everyday life and normal routines, perhaps permanently.

Others pointed out Indiana was hardly a healthy state heading into the pandemic with elevated levels of maternal and infant mortality, obesity, substance use disorder, and smoking rates.

Danita Johnson Hughes, CEO of Edgewater Health, and Carl Toren, chief medical officer at HealthLinc Community Health Center, among others, urged the commission not to forget those issues, where small lifestyle changes can make big differences, alongside the more challenging reforms under consideration.

The commission also was told of the dire need for more health care workers and emergency medical technicians to replace those who left the field amid the COVID-19 pandemic; shortages of school nurses in Hammond and elsewhere; the importance of sharing public health messaging with non-English speaking communities; difficulties getting vaccine records from Illinois for children relocating to Indiana with their families; long delays for out-of-state medical personnel to acquire an an Indiana license to practice; and the lack of adequate bus routes to Region hospitals.

Afterward, Box said the information shared with the commission was "incredibly important" and will go into shaping the commission's recommendations to the governor, as well as the legislative proposal the governor submits to the General Assembly.

"We always get good turnout and good support from the community up here in Northwest Indiana, and we appreciate it," Box said.

Kenley, who previously led the budget-writing Senate Appropriations Committee, said the commission's report almost certainly will call for increasing state funding for local public health departments.

"They are the people that touch the citizens, and provide the services, and we need to continue that and take advantage of it," Kenley said. "Based on our past history, Indiana hasn't really done hardly anything in this area, and it's kind of ripe to be an important area of budget consideration."

Kenley also applauded Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb for having the courage to take on public health reform amid the COVID-19 pandemic when there's no shortage of less complicated issues Holcomb could more easily tackle before his final term as governor expires in January 2025.

The commission is expected to submit its final report to the governor in late summer or early fall to give Holcomb time to incorporate public health priorities in his 2023 legislative agenda before the General Assembly convenes in January.

"I don't think there will be a lot of surprises, and I think the things that you're hearing in here will be the types of things that are being discussed," Kenley said.

Hoosiers interested in submitting public comment still may do so online through the survey link on the commission's website: in.gov/gphc.

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The way Julie Hoffman sees it, the women who create quilts for veterans are heroes.

These are amazing ladies, said the Lockport mother of three veterans. They are serving this country in their own way by being grateful to our countrymen who have been away.

Hoffman was there when the Heritage Quilters Guild presented area veterans with quilts during its Quilts of Valor event Feb. 26 at Lockport VFW Post 5788. The guild, formed in 1981 when 15 quilters answered an ad, participates in workshops, hosts speakers and makes the quilts for veterans.

Hoffmans children, Kenneth, Olivia and Hannah Macejak, were honored, with Olivia and Hannah on hand to receive the quilts.

Kenneth and Hannah were Marines and Olivia was in the Navy. Kenneth is now a police officer, Olivia a welder and Hannah is working on becoming a firefighter and paramedic.

My son started the path, Hoffman said. Ever since he was a young boy, he wanted to be in the military and read about it and studied it. He lived it. Every Halloween he would dress up as a scout sniper.

His dream was achieved when he went into the Marines and served in Afghanistan and served with the scout sniper group.

Olivia was aboard the USS Carl Vinson when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened to blow it up.

We were watching it on the news, and it was crazy to think that if any of his missiles went off, it was possible there could be damage to our ship, Olivia said of the carrier. We had 5,000 people on that ship at the time. Its like a floating city.

She said the threat of being bombed lasted about a month.

Hannah didn't face a missile threat but remembers piloting seven-ton trucks through all types of terrain including water. They could go through almost anything, she said.

Like her siblings before her, she knew she was destined for a military career.

I wanted to go into the service since I was 4, she said, Now, Im looking forward to being a firefighter and paramedic and helping the community.

Another recipient, Romeovilles Tom Jost served in the Air Force from 1963 to 1967 in Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. He helped bring the Moving Wall, the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, to Lockport in 2015.

Getting a quilt made him happy, especially considering the less than warm reception he and other service members received when returning from Vietnam.

This is fantastic, Jost said. Back in 1967 when I got out, I landed in San Francisco among all the hippies and the drippies there, and, if they didnt spit at you, they threw stuff at you.

People dont realize how embarrassing that was to walk around in uniform, and thats not right. Its coming around to where they appreciate what we did. We were just doing our job.

The 77-year-old said he will cherish his quilt.

This is easing the pain, he said. Its a healing process. These quilts  this might be on my casket. But thats a while away, I hope.

Frankforts Dustin Fritschel, a Lockport native, was another who received a quilt. He was in the Army from 2006-2009 and was deployed in Iraq.

He was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in an explosion in Baghdad in April 2007.

It was a mortar that was like a big bullet coming down from the sky, and it exploded, he said. I didnt have any idea that anything was wrong. I had some blood but other than a couple of puncture wounds in my back you couldnt tell that anything was majorly wrong.

We went to the hospital to get it checked out and they did an MRI and they found out I was internally bleeding, and I needed to have emergency surgery. Thats when I found out something was actually wrong.

At the presentation, Judy Gaines of the Heritage Quilters Guild told the service men and women: I hope you get warm and fuzzy feelings with these quilts.

These people are the glue that holds our country together and for that were very thankful.

Lockport VFW Auxiliary President Karen Szynkowski thanked the 70-member guild that meets at the post for providing the quilts.

God bless wonderful ladies for doing this, she said. I cant thank you enough.

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With 12 nominations, "The Power of the Dog" is this year's most nominated film. It has Best Director pretty well locked up for Jane Campion, which will make her the second straight woman to win that award  and just the third in history. Her adapted screenplay also has an above-average shot at an Oscar, too. It has four acting nominations for Benedict Cumberbath in the lead, plus Kodi Smit-McPhee and real-life married couple Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. It's not what most people would consider a feel-good movie, but it's thematically important and stunning to look at. Ari Wegner's camera work deserves an Oscar  though it'll be tough to beat "Dune." It also is likely to fall short to "Dune" in categories like Original Score, Production Design and Sound. But if it wins Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Campion would win three Oscars in one night  and that's a very possible scenario.
GENEVA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- People-centered development should be at the heart of the global community's approach to tackling inequality, China's permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva Chen Xu has said at the ongoing 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted economic and social development, and particularly the livelihoods of people in developing countries, he said on Friday. This has exacerbated inequality, bringing severe challenges to global development.

"We are of the view that development contributes significantly to the enjoyment of human rights. The international community needs to work together to speed up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve more robust, greener and more balanced global development," he added.

States should remain committed to people-centered development, he said; specifically, this means addressing uneven development among countries so that no individuals are left behind.

States should also practice multilateralism, establish global development partnerships, and support the UN in its coordinating role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Developed countries should extend more robust and targeted support to developing countries, the ambassador said.

China welcomes various development initiatives, including the Global Development Initiative, the African Union's Agenda 2063, ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, he noted.

"We call upon all stakeholders to strengthen cooperation to achieve common development, promote the enjoyment of human rights, and bring about a better future for people around the world," he concluded. 
MICHIGAN CITY  Authorities are seeking information after two victims were shot in a Michigan City neighborhood.

At 7:45 p.m. Friday first responders were called to investigate shots fired in the area of Hitchcock Street, north of U.S. Hwy 20, said Michigan City Police Department Sgt. Steve Forker.

Two people were reported to have been shot, and officers arrived on the scene along with LaPorte County EMS to administer aid.

Medics transported the two gunshot victims to Franciscan Health Michigan City with nonlife-threatening injuries. Police searched the area for evidence and witnesses, who were interviewed by detectives.

Authorities are continuing to interview witnesses, process evidence and gather video surveillance. Police said to protect the integrity of the investigation, no further information will be immediately released.

The Michigan City Police Department urges anyone who witnessed the shooting, has any information or has video the incident to contact Detective Mark Galetti at 219-874-3221, extension 1088, or email him at mgaletti@emichigancity.com.

Michigan City officers were assisted by the LaPorte County Sheriffs Department, Trail Creek Police Department, Michigan City Fire Department and LaPorte County EMS.

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SAUK VILLAGE  State police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that wounded a juvenile Friday.

At 8:50 a.m. police responded to a call involving a male juvenile suspect in the 22200 block of Torrence Avenue in Sauk Village, according to a news release from Illinois State Police.

Authorities have not released what the call was regarding or the age of the juvenile.

Sauk Village officers arrived at the scene and attempted to arrest the male juvenile. Police said he resisted and fled the area with a handcuff on one of his wrists.

Sauk Village officers chased after the juvenile and one officer discharged a firearm and the juvenile was struck by gunfire, Illinois State Police said.

The juvenile was taken to an area hospital and he has since been treated and released. Illinois authorities have not named the officer involved.

The Sauk Village Police Department requested Illinois State Police and the Public Integrity Task Force to investigate the shooting.

Illinois State Police said the incident is an active and ongoing investigation, and no additional information is releasable at this time. Anyone with information about the investigation is asked to contact ISP Zone 1 Investigations at 847-294-4400. Callers can remain anonymous.

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Editor's note: Chesterton officials initially reported the infant had died, but later released an update stating the infant was alive after being airlifted to a hospital. This story has been updated.

PINE TOWNSHIP  A woman died and an infant has been airlifted in serious condition after a vehicle crashed through a backyard and into a pond, officials said.

The infant remains in serious condition as of Friday night, police said.

Around 4:40 p.m. Friday, first responders were called to the 1600 block of Ardendale Avenue, said Chesterton Fire Chief Eric Camel.

A vehicle was located submerged upside down on its roof close to a small pier near the shore.

A man who was able to get out of the vehicle told first responders there was a woman and baby still inside, firefighters said.

First responders rushed to rescue the occupants. Pines Fire Department Chief Bob Watkins and another firefighter found a woman and pulled her to the shore to administer CPR, said Chesterton spokesman Kevin Nevers.

Porter Fire Department Chief Jay Craig went into the pond, and at first he found a child's safety seat while doing a search of the backseat. He then found the child's foot and pulled the infant from the water and began CPR.

I had arrived, and a male who was presumed to be in the vehicle had made it out and the Pines chief (Watkins) was doing CPR on the woman, Craig said. I stripped down to my jeans and went in to find the car upside down in the pond. I was able to open the door and reach in. I found the baby and pulled them out and took them to shore and then the ambulance took them to the hospital. ... I couldnt see anything at all in there so I was just searching with my hands.

Chesterton Fire Department Engineer Chad Compton and Camel also performed medical care on the woman after relieving Watkins and his colleague.

The woman and baby were in full cardiac arrest, and the woman was pronounced dead at Franciscan Health Michigan City, fire officials said. The infant was airlifted to another hospital for treatment.

The man was taken to Franciscan Health Michigan City in stable condition. Camel said the man appeared to be distraught.

At this time, officials said it was unclear who was driving the vehicle.

Porter County Sheriff's Department Cpl. Ben McFalls said initial investigations show the vehicle was traveling westbound on Old Chicago Road and drove through the "T" intersection at Ardendale Avenue. The vehicle continued driving through private property and eventually into a pond.

After the incident, Craig said he wasnt sure if he had the words to describe the rescue efforts of the first responders at the frigid pond Friday.

Everybody performed at the top of their job, Craig said. They should be proud of their efforts today. I watched some great teamwork.

The Porter County Sheriffs Department Reconstruction Unit and Indiana Conservation Officers are continuing the investigation. Police said no further information is currently available, but updates will be released as the investigation continues.

The individuals' identities have not yet been released by the Porter County coroner's office or police officials.

Check back at nwi.com as this story develops.

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Indiana's population grew by the smallest amount last year since 2015, while Northwest Indiana's most populous counties all saw natural decreases in population in which deaths outnumbered births during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study by Indiana University.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the Hoosier State added 20,341 residents last year, reaching a population of close to 6.81 million.

The Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business found the population increase was much smaller than the average annual gain of about 30,200 people over the previous decade.

Indiana only had a natural increase  births minus deaths  of 690 residents last year, according to STATS Indiana's population data. That's well below the average natural increase of 21,150 residents a year over the past decade.

Lake County suffered 710 more deaths than births last year, which was the worst natural decrease in the state. Porter and LaPorte counties had 300 more deaths than births.

While such a decline, sometimes described as a demographic winter, would normally be a cause for concern, it took place during one of the deadliest pandemics in U.S. history. The Indiana State Department of Health estimates COVID-19 killed more than 22,400 Hoosiers even after extraordinary safety precautions that included lockdowns, capacity restrictions and mask mandates.

"The primary cause of this slower growth was a sharp increase in the number of deaths in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll," said Matthew Kinghorn, senior demographer at the Indiana Business Research Center. "At the same time, fertility rates in Indiana continued to decline, resulting in only 77,600 births last year  the state's lowest annual tally on record dating back to the late 1960s."

The state did gain 19,000 residents through net in-migration or more people moving in than moving out. The Gary division of the Chicago metro area, which consists of Lake, Porter, Jasper and Newton counties, grew by 0.2% last year.

It remained the state's second-largest metro area with 719,700 residents.

Much of the growth remained concentrated in central Indiana. The population grew 2.6% in Boone County, 2.2% in Hamilton County, 2.2% in Hendricks County and 2% in Hancock County.

Hamilton County gained 7,782 more residents, Hendricks County 3,827 residents, Allen County 2,716 more residents, Johnson County 2,118 more residents and Boone County 1,883 more residents.

Marion County, the home of Indianapolis, saw a 0.6% decrease of nearly 5,670 residents.

"This drop stands in stark contrast to the trend over the previous decade when Marion County grew by an average of roughly 7,380 residents per year between 2010 and 2020," Kinghorn said. "An estimated net out-migration of nearly 9,230 residents was the primary driver of this decline in the state's most populous county."

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Purdue University is planning to welcome up to 20 Ukrainian college professors and doctoral candidates whose teaching and research have been interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that's now in its fifth week.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels said Friday the West Lafayette university hopes its newly established Ukraine Scholars Initiative can "make at least one small contribution to help the Ukrainian people in this moment of peril."

"Our hope is that we can offer refuge to these scholars and a chance to continue pursuing their work, and then see them return to a safe and free Ukraine," Daniels said.

"But while they are with us, I dont doubt that they will personify and perhaps share with our students the precious value of freedom and the constant need to defend it from its enemies."

To be eligible, a scholar must have held a research-oriented faculty position at a Ukrainian university, or be at the dissertation research stage of their doctoral degree program in Ukraine.

While at Purdue, Ukrainian visiting scholars can either engage in their own research or support research conducted by Purdue faculty members. They will not be permitted to enroll in any of Purdue's degree-granting programs.

Each visiting scholar will be assigned a tenure-track faculty sponsor within their academic area to serve as a mentor and advisor. The scholars also will be permitted to bring their families to Indiana.

In addition, Purdue will provide each scholar a monthly stipend, financial assistance for their spouse or children, visa expenses, round-trip transportation costs, and health insurance while in the United States.

"Our goal here is to help Ukrainian scholars whose research has been disrupted by the invasion," said Mike Brzezinski, dean of international programs.

"Our faculty and deans have already been in contact with their academic colleagues in Ukraine and have identified scholars interested in continuing their scholarly pursuits in America at Purdue University."

The intended program length is one calendar year, according to Purdue. But an extension may be possible depending on the circumstances in Ukraine.

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LAPORTE  A church fundraising drive to help fleeing residents of Ukraine is continuing after easily surpassing its goal with help from local natives of Poland.

Originally, the goal was $5,000 to help convert an abandoned school in Poland into a Ukrainian refugee center when the drive by Bethany Lutheran Church started last week.

Pastor Dennis Meyer said the total is over $10,000 and money is still coming in. Meyer said donations are from all over the Region.

Weve heard from people from Dyer, from St. John, from Merrillville, from Valparaiso and, of course, LaPorte as well. We're very excited about this, he said.

Initially, the church offered to match every dollar contributed to the cause up to $2,500.

Meyer said the match from the church was raised to $5,000 because of public response to the drive.

Its been very successful, he said.

An abandoned elementary school where Agnieszka Czupryna attended while growing up in the small village of Podlipie, Poland is being turned into the refugee center.

Her husband, Slawek, grew up in another village about 10 minutes away from where she lived. He didnt attend the school but went there for activities like sporting events.

Slawek is a 19-year veteran of the LaPorte County Sheriffs Office. The couple resides in nearby Kingsbury.

His wife is making the connections in her homeland to make sure the money ends up in the proper hands.

Meyer said the fundraising drive will continue indefinitely or until theres no longer a need for help paying the cost of creating the facility.

Donations are being accepted at the church and on the church website.

People giving inside the church are welcome to complimentary items such as the American flag and the Ukrainian flag on a lapel pin.

The church at 102 G St. is also flying a Ukrainian flag beside the American flag and the state of Indiana flag outside their building.

Meyer said the first batch of funds will likely be sent to Poland soon then more will be wired as additional funds come in.

We stand by the Ukrainians. Were praying for them. Its something that should never have happened, he said.

The idea stemmed from Meyer and Slawek talking about the Russian invasion and the human suffering caused by it.

Podlipie is about a 3-hour hour drive from the Ukrainian border.

The Czuprynas went to the same church while growing up and came to America separately with their families. They didnt see each other again until years later when a friend invited both of them to a family related event in Chicago.

They later married and have two children.

Church member Carrie Garwood said what surprises her the most is how many people from outside LaPorte learned about the cause and donated.

Weve seen checks from Schererville, Crown Point (and) Chicago," she said. "I had a lady call today. Shes in Florida but theyre originally from the New Buffalo area. Theyre sending a check from their foundation."

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You can find a calendar of our upcoming Times events here.

After being hit hard by the pandemic for two years, New York Citys restaurant workers are eager to continue welcoming back customers. Mayor Eric Adams has exhorted residents to get out of their apartments and experience the city. But after so much time eating mostly at home, what  and where  do people who love dining out in New York want to eat now? And how can they make sense of the state of restaurants today?

On April 8, The Times held a virtual event for news subscribers to explore these questions. The event, which can be watched above, was hosted by Nikita Richardson, a Times Food editor and the writer behind the new subscriber-only newsletter Where to Eat: New York City.

Ms. Richardson interviewed Daniel Baker, also known as Desus Nice, a Bronx native who is a comedian and co-host of the late-night show Desus and Mero. Mr. Baker, who has praised the roasted leek focaccia at the popular Brooklyn restaurant Lilia and holds strong opinions about how to find a great chopped cheese, discussed his favorite restaurants and where hes eating in New York City right now.
In contrast, the lHortus was the least rustic and most polished of the group and the highest in alcohol, 14.5 percent. It was 60 percent syrah and 20 percent each of grenache and mourvedre, with light tannins, aromas and flavors of fresh fruit and no herbal elements. It seemed to embody that modern imperative of emphasizing fruit and eliminating traces of green, which some people fear indicates underripe grapes.

Several readers like Ferd T. Elvin of Montreal and Ferguson of Princeton, N.J., very much liked this wine, but it was my least favorite. Nothing was wrong with it except that compared with the other two bottles it seemed to me to lack a sense of place.

That is possibly because Im not enamored with syrah from the Languedoc, even though syrah is conventionally seen as a big improvement over more traditional Languedoc grapes like carignan and cinsault. As with syrah grown in some of the warmer parts of California and Australia, it loses its savory nature and becomes sweet-fruited and indistinct.

My feelings, like anybodys, play into context and expectations. I expect Languedoc reds to conjure up the wild herbs of southern France famously known as garrigue. Without that herbal note, especially at higher alcohol levels, the wines can feel glossy and indistinct. Someone who prefers these more polished wines might call the dAupilhac rustic in a negative sense, even if they are not using that precise word.

Readers were divided on this wine. George Erdle of Charlotte, N.C., said, It has a funky, not so pleasant nose. But Shweta of Michigan liked it so much she said she immediately ordered a second bottle. And Keith W. Hall of Steelton, Pa., had two different opinions on two successive nights.

The first night, he said, the bottle had a lot of the barnyard and it was difficult to get past it. But the second night, he said, it was much better.

In my article last month introducing the Languedoc reds, I suggested the region was still searching for an identity. Several readers took issue with this notion.
Foo Fighters most recent album, Medicine at Midnight, arrived last year as the group was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and in an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Hawkins was direct about his hopes for its future. I want to be the biggest band in the world, he said.

Mr. Hawkins was born in Fort Worth on Feb. 17, 1972, and raised in Southern California. He started to play drums at age 10, and said that his mother gave him the confidence to dream big: When I first got drums, she was the one who would watch me play. She was a big supporter and told me Id make it, he said in an interview last year.

Attending a Queen show in 1982 confirmed that music was his passion. After that concert, I dont think I slept for three days, he said in a 2021 interview with the metal magazine Kerrang. It changed everything, and I was never the same because of it. It was the beginning of my obsession with rock n roll, and I knew that I wanted to be in a huge rock band.

After Mr. Hawkins played in a local California band called Sylvia and backing the Canadian rock vocalist Sass Jordan, his first mainstream break came in 1995, when he joined Alanis Morissettes band as she toured behind her blockbuster album Jagged Little Pill. (He appeared in the video for her breakout hit You Oughta Know, flipping his blond mane behind the drum kit.)
UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday extended until April 30, 2023 the mandate of the Panel of Experts assisting the committee which oversees its sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Unanimously adopting Resolution 2627 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the council also underscores that the panel shall carry out credible, fact-based, independent assessments, analysis, and recommendations in an objective and impartial manner and in accordance with the mandate of the Panel of Experts, as specified in paragraph 26 of Resolution 1874 (2009).

The council urges all states, relevant United Nations bodies and other interested parties, to cooperate fully with the committee established pursuant to Resolution 1718 (2006) and the Panel of Experts, in particular by supplying any information at their disposal on the implementation of the measures imposed by several other resolutions.

Resolution 1718 imposed a series of economic sanctions on the DPRK and established the sanctions committee to gather more information, specify the sanctions, monitor them, and issue recommendations.

A Panel of Experts established in 2009 supports the work of the sanctions committee through expert analysis, particularly in evaluating cases of noncompliance. While the sanctions committee can make legally binding decisions on how to specifically execute the sanctions, the Panel of Experts only has an informational and advisory role in support of those decisions. 
Image

Europes one-two punch

The European Union has just agreed on one of the worlds most far-reaching laws to rein in the power of tech companies.

The Digital Markets Act is aimed at stopping the largest tech platforms from using their interlocking services and considerable resources to box in users and squeeze emerging rivals. It could potentially reshape app stores, online advertising, e-commerce, messaging services and other everyday digital tools, in Europe and beyond.

The law will apply to gatekeeper platforms with a market value of more than 75 billion euros, or about $83 billion, which include Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft. Violators of the law, which could take effect later this year, would face significant fines.

The law is part of a one-two punch by European regulators. As early as next month, the E.U. is expected to reach agreement on a law that would force social media companies to police their platforms more aggressively. And these come after the bloc put the worlds strictest rules to protect peoples online data into effect in 2018. (Thats why nearly every website has pop-ups asking you for permission to track your data.)
At 17, he said, he was on a student trip to Guatemala when he found himself photographing a coup there and, as he put it, became the youngest war correspondent Life magazine ever had. He tried Haverford College but was more interested in photography than classroom study, and he left after a year to work in Dallas. Soon he was drafted, and he became an official photographer for the U.S. Army  the best job I ever had, he said, because it allowed him to roam all over the world.

After two years in the Army he joined U.P.I. He worked in Philadelphia, New York and Washington before drawing the Saigon assignment.

In 1972 he was one of a handful of photographers selected to accompany Nixon on his trip to China. That led to an offer to work for Time.

I took the contract with them with the proviso that I wouldnt have to do any more wars or any more politics, he told The Jackson Hole Guide of Wyoming in 1995. Ten days later I was back in Vietnam.

His main beat for Time, though, ended up being the White House. He captured countless historic moments involving the presidents of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, including several attempted assassinations.

In each case, he said, all that youve heard is true. Everything starts to move in slow motion, and it seems like it takes forever.

He worked for Time for almost 30 years and shot some 50 covers for the magazine. One, which ran in 1998, was an accident, and a feat of memory.
Mayor Eric Adams said on Friday that his administration was pursuing plans to clear New York Citys streets of makeshift campsites where homeless people live.

Mr. Adams, in a brief interview, provided few details about the initiative, which would require considerable manpower and logistical coordination. The most recent official estimate, in January 2021, put the number of people living in parks and on the streets at around 1,100, which was widely seen as an undercount.

The mayor also did not specify where the people now living in the encampments would go. Nonetheless, he vowed to accomplish what his predecessors had not in addressing a persistent, multifaceted issue.

Were going to rid the encampments off our street and were going to place people in healthy living conditions with wraparound services, he said in an interview. When asked about a timeline for his plan, Mr. Adams said, Im looking to do it within a two weeks period.
However, we are not merely passive supplicants at the mercy of prelates imposing lexical fiats from on high. Not everything settles in. For example, we are seeing that proposals for group names are less likely to be embraced when imposed from outside the group itself. When the Rev. Jesse Jackson called for the use of African American, his status and authority in Black America were roughly equal to Oprah Winfreys today. African American would have been much less likely to get around if it had been proposed by academics or lesser-known activists.

That kind of imposition from the outside has meant that Latinx, a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina, is hardly used by the people it purports to refer to. In 2020, Pew Research found that only 3 percent of Latinos use the term. BIPOC isnt doing much better. Too often, we take terminology proposals from academics and journalists as if we will henceforth be penalized  even if only socially  for going against their prescriptions. But their suggestions do not automatically affect language as it is used by ordinary people making themselves understood casually and comfortably.

It can seem that way because academics and journalists do a disproportionate amount of public writing and talking. For example, I suspect that normal people will continue saying master bedroom; I certainly will. Thus, there is no need to bristle at the proliferation of BIPOC as some kind of glowering fiat. Very few BIPOCs use it, and as Amy Harmon reported last year for The Times, in one national poll, more than twice as many white Democrats said they felt very favorably toward BIPOC as Americans who identify as any of the nonwhite racial categories it encompasses. And that is unlikely to change.

Again, this doesnt mean BIPOC is a failed term. It has simply become part of a burgeoning register of English favored primarily by certain professors and political activists. This is no more a problem than another register, the academese favored by many scholars of literature and the social sciences. People of this realm have a way of writing and even speaking to one another on academic subjects that seems almost exotic to the outsider. For example, the renowned critical theorist and University of California, Berkeley, professor Judith Butler was granted first place in the journal Philosophy and Literatures tongue-in-cheek bad-writing contest in 1998 for her prose in a 1997 essay, Further Reflections on Conversations of Our Time, that included this passage:

The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.

I find it a little facile to dismiss this genre, even in jest, as simply bad writing. Its practitioners intend it as studiously objective and precise. And the main thing, despite how unaesthetic this writing may be, is that it has no effect on how most of us communicate. Its an in-group practice that people look upon from the outside with a certain bemusement. It is a jargon.

People who refer to hegemony and structural totalities have a jargon. These days, there is what we could call, yes, a woke jargon. That is where Latinx and BIPOC live. These terms are not mistakes or misfires in not being taken up by most of the people they refer to, then. Who, after all, has an issue with there being jargons?
So although a debate has broken out inside the committee about summoning Ms. Thomas to testify, the panel at this point has no plans to do so, leaving some Democrats frustrated. That could change, however: On Friday, despite the potential for political backlash, Ms. Cheney indicated she has no objection to the panel asking Ms. Thomas for a voluntary interview.

A New York Times Magazine investigation last month examined the political and personal history of Ms. Thomas and her husband. That included her role in efforts to overturn the election from her perch on the nine-member board of CNP Action, a conservative group that helped advance the Stop the Steal movement, and in mediating between feuding factions of organizers so that there wouldnt be any division around Jan. 6, as one organizer put it.

During that period, the Supreme Court was considering a number of cases related to the election, with Justice Thomas taking positions at times sympathetic to Mr. Trumps efforts to challenge the outcome.

This month, Ms. Thomas acknowledged attending the rally that preceded the violence in an interview with a conservative news outlet, but otherwise downplayed her role. Then came disclosure of the texts to Mr. Meadows, the contents of which were earlier reported by The Washington Post and CBS News.

If the committee does not summon Ms. Thomas, some legal analysts said, it runs the risk of appearing to have a double standard. The panel has taken an aggressive posture toward many other potential witnesses, issuing subpoenas for bank and phone records of both high-ranking allies of the former president and low-level aides with only a tangential connection to the events of Jan. 6.
Because of the pandemic, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used only a fraction of its available beds for immigration detention. There have been public health concerns about spreading the coronavirus in congregate settings, and currently only about 60 percent of the beds the agency is paying for are in use.

The number of undocumented migrants crossing the southwest border has increased sharply during Mr. Bidens presidency, and his administration has increasingly turned to alternatives to detention, including ankle monitors, a smartphone application with facial recognition technology and phones that undocumented immigrants awaiting court proceedings can use to check in with immigration authorities.

As of Friday, more than 200,000 immigrants were equipped with one of these monitoring devices, according to internal data. That is more than double the number of such devices that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was using a year ago. Congress recently gave the agency more than $440 million for alternatives to detention for the current fiscal year, and the agency is testing a home confinement program that is expected to go nationwide this summer.

Republicans have hammered the Biden administration for releasing so many migrants into the country to await deportation proceedings, a practice referred to derogatively as catch and release. The concern has long been that such immigrants will not appear in court and will instead disappear into the country like millions of other undocumented immigrants.

The situation on the southwest border, where about 13,000 undocumented migrants have been apprehended each day in recent weeks, has proved fertile for Republican attacks on the administration. Many Republicans were outraged by the drop in arrests and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2021 compared with the prior year, the details of which were disclosed in a recent report from the agency.

Deportations declined last year partly because officials have been expelling migrants under the public health rule during the pandemic, and those expulsions do not get counted as deportations. But other enforcement actions inside the country declined as well because of revised priorities under Mr. Biden and staffing shortages.

In a year where there have been record highs of illegal border crossings, we shouldnt have a record low in arrests and deportations, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, wrote on Twitter after the report was released.
Federal health officials have hotly debated the way forward, with some strongly in favor of a second booster now and others skeptical. But they have apparently coalesced around a plan to give everyone age 50 and up the option of an additional shot, in case infections surge again before the fall. In the fall, officials say, Americans of all ages, including anyone who gets a booster this spring, should get another shot.

The Food and Drug Administration could authorize a second booster early next week, according to multiple people familiar with the deliberations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would then follow with its own advice.

A second booster is at best a stopgap measure. Many experts argue that the existing coronavirus vaccines need to be modified because the viruss variants are diminishing their power; the question is how to reconfigure them. A surge in the fall is considered highly likely, whether it comes in the form of the Omicron variant, a subvariant like BA.2 or a new lineage entirely.

More than a dozen studies are underway to find the next generation of vaccines, with the first results expected in May or June. If all goes well, that would allow enough time to produce new doses before the fall. One major hitch is that the Biden administration says it does not have the money it needs to reserve its place in line by paying vaccine manufacturers for doses in advance.

On the plus side, data from the C.D.C. indicates that four to five months after a third shot, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines remain about 78 percent effective against hospitalization due to Covid-19. That might even be an underestimate, given the studys limitations.
A more specific provision concerning relatives, including spouses, might also apply to his situation. Judges should not participate, the law says, in proceedings in which their spouse has an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.

Professor Gillers said the word interest was the key.

By writing to Meadows, who was chief of staff and active in the Stop the Steal movement, she joined the team resisting the results of the election, Professor Gillers said. She made herself part of the team and so she has an interest in the decisions of the court that could affect Trumps goal of reversing the results.

A New York Times Magazine investigation last month revealed new details of Ms. Thomass role in efforts to overturn the election from her perch on the nine-member board of CNP Action, a conservative group that helped advance the Stop the Steal movement, and in mediating between feuding factions of organizers so that there wouldnt be any division around Jan. 6, as one organizer put it.

In an interview this month with The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication, Ms. Thomas said that she and her husband kept their professional lives separate. Clarence doesnt discuss his work with me, she said, and I dont involve him in my work.

But the recusal law required Justice Thomas to inquire about his wifes activities, Professor Gillers said.

He had an obligation to ask her what shes doing, he said. He cannot close his ears and pretend that hes ignorant. Conscious avoidance of knowledge is knowledge.

It is one thing for a law to be on the books, and another to enforce it.

There may be questions about the constitutionality of the recusal law, as least as it applies to Supreme Court justices. In his 2011 annual report on the state of the federal judiciary, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the limits of Congresss power to require recusal have never been tested.
Russia signaled a possible recalibration of its war aims in Ukraine on Friday as the Kremlin faced spreading global ostracism for the brutal invasion, hardened Western economic punishments and a determined Ukrainian resistance that appeared to be making some gains on the ground.

A statement by Russias Defense Ministry said the goals of the first stage of the operation had been mainly accomplished, with Ukraines combat capabilities significantly reduced, and that it would now focus on securing Ukraines eastern Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting for eight years.

The Defense Ministry statement was ambiguous about further possible Russian territorial ambitions in Ukraine, where its ground forces have been mostly stymied by the unexpectedly strong Ukrainian military response.

But on a day when President Biden was visiting U.S. soldiers in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the statement suggested the possibility that the Russians were looking for a way to salvage some kind of achievement before the costs of the war they launched a month ago became impossibly onerous.
The lead author, Dr. Melissa Wachterman, a palliative care specialist at Harvard Medical School, and her co-authors argue that alternative locations, including free-standing inpatient hospice facilities and hospice units within hospitals, could better care for some terminal patients with difficult symptoms and provide relief for exhausted families. They also contend that financial incentives play a role in where death occurs.

Theres a lot of cultural pressure: If you really loved this person, youd keep them at home, Dr. Wachterman said in an interview. We need to acknowledge that there are people whose needs are so great that families cannot manage death at home.

Ninety-eight percent of hospice patients covered by Medicare receive what is called routine home care. The hospice organization sends nurses, aides, a social worker and a chaplain, in addition to drugs and equipment like a hospital bed, to the patients home. But it cant provide 24-hour care; that falls to family or friends, or helpers paid out of pocket.

Often, thats sufficient. But death can follow unpredictable trajectories, and some terminal conditions appear better suited to home death than others. Cancer patients have the greatest odds of dying at home, Dr. Warraichs analysis showed. Patients with dementia are most likely to die in a nursing home, and those with respiratory disease in a hospital.

Some patients may not need someone at the bedside 24 hours a day, but they need someone available 24 hours a day, Dr. Wachterman said.

A handful of hospice patients receive continuous home care, which means nurses and aides are provided eight to 24 hours a day; this accounts for 0.2 percent of hospice days, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare issues. Another handful receive inpatient services in a hospice facility, hospital or nursing home.

But inpatient care is hard to secure, accounting for just 1.2 percent of all hospice days in 2019. To be covered under Medicare, the patient must be diagnosed with a symptom that cannot feasibly be managed in any other setting, and thats a pretty high bar, Dr. Wachterman said.
These are the ingredients of a public health calamity, many experts fear. The W.H.O. and other organizations are deploying medical teams and shipping supplies, vaccines and drugs to Ukraine and to neighboring countries. But the aid may never reach areas of active conflict.

Its very scary

During the pandemic lockdowns, the Ukrainian government began disbursing three-month supplies of medications for H.I.V. and tuberculosis. But many Ukrainians forced to abandon their demolished cities were able to take only limited supplies of the medications needed to keep them alive.

Elizaveta Grib, 16, fled her home in Kyiv with her mother and younger brother on Feb. 28, four days after the bombing began. They packed what they could in suitcases and made their way by train to Mykolaiv, a city near the southern port of Odessa that came under heavy bombardment by Russian forces.

Ms. Gribs tuberculosis was diagnosed in September 2020 and she took some of her medicines with her, but now is unsure how she might obtain the drugs long-term. Without treatment, her disease could become resistant to all available therapies, perhaps even claiming her life.

Its very scary, she said.

At least 1,200 people with tuberculosis are thought to have fled Ukraine. The Alliance for Public Health, a nonprofit organization, is helping more than 400 such patients in countries like Poland and Moldova. The W.H.O., too, has readied a stockpile of tuberculosis drugs in Poland for refugees from Ukraine.

But most of the refugees are women and children, while the majority of Ukrainians with drug-resistant TB are men who must stay in the country and fight, said Andriy Klepikov, executive director of the alliance.
I feel like Im in a time warp, said Assemblywoman Latrice M. Walker, whose Brooklyn district includes neighborhoods that are slated for greater quality-of-life-issue enforcement. I know that the calendar says 2022. But a return to broken-windows policing makes me feel like its 1994 and Rudy Giuliani is the mayor, stop-and-frisk is out of control, and the N.Y.P.D. is harassing Black and brown New Yorkers.

Across the country, the politics of public safety have been dramatically reordered over the last two years, first by social justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd, and then by a rise in gun violence amid the pandemic. Nowhere has that trajectory been clearer than in New York City, where Mr. Adams, the citys second Black mayor, won last year by promoting both safety and racial justice.

His police commissioner, Keechant L. Sewell, insisted in a statement that the new quality-of-life initiative was NOT a return to stop-and-frisk, and later said the enforcement push would narrowly focus on the people and behaviors driving crime. It remains to be seen whether the initiative will be picked up by the citys district attorneys, who have long been reluctant to prosecute low-level offenses.

And Mr. Adams, who has relayed his own experience with police brutality and sought to battle injustice from within the Police Department, said that technologies like cameras would help guard against police misconduct, and that there would be efforts to get community input around enforcement of quality-of-life issues.

Prior to Mayor Giuliani being mayor, I talked about, that communities of color in particular, deserve the same quality of life as affluent communities, he said. The residents of these communities have been saying we want the quality of life we deserve, and we can get it without being abusive.

Police officials said the new plan is designed to address a sharp pandemic-era increase in quality-of-life complaints for things like public drinking and loitering. Chief Michael LiPetri, who is in charge of crime control strategies, said that during warmer months, nearly a third of shootings are tied to disorder and low-level crime.
It was not long ago that Democratic leaders in charge of New York City and state were practically begging for federal assistance, as the governor reluctantly weighed new tax levies and budget cuts to narrow a state deficit once estimated at $15 billion, and former Mayor Bill de Blasio asked Albany for the authority to borrow as much as $5 billion.

How exactly New York takes advantage of its newfound solvency  and how long it lasts  remains an open question.

Budget analysts are already sounding alarms that policymakers, particularly progressive Democrats, are pushing to use the windfall to launch ambitious new social programs that the state or city may not be able to afford once the money inevitably dries up.

Richard Ravitch, the former state official who helped mastermind the rescue of New York Citys finances in the 1970s, said in an interview that he feared New York could face a fiscal cliff if policymakers convince themselves that the federal fairy godmother will descend again to refill their coffers.

All I know is that when the federal money runs out, it is highly likely that the state and the city are going to face budget crises of significant proportion, Mr. Ravitch said. Its just in the nature of politicians in a democracy to want to spend the money youve got because there are so many seeking it for one thing or another.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, appeared to be guarding against just that outcome when she proposed her $216 billion budget in January. The proposal was the largest in the states history and called for spending billions of dollars to reward and retain health care workers and teachers.

But Ms. Hochul mostly structured those and other costly pandemic-related outlays as one-time expenses, rather than recurring liabilities, and she proposed putting 15 percent of the states operating expenses into reserve, a strategy that she projected would help balance the budget through 2027.
Lee E. Koppelman, a planning visionary who during four decades fought to impose a regional agenda for economic development and environmental conservation across Long Island, died on March 21 in Stony Brook, N.Y. He was 94.

His death, at Stony Brook University Hospital, was confirmed by his daughter Lesli Ross.

As the executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk Regional Planning Board from 1965 to 2006, Mr. Koppelman was instrumental in preserving tens of thousands of acres of farmland and open space in Suffolk County, protecting coastal wetlands and the underground water supply, creating Suffolk Countys park system and preserving the vast Pine Barrens forest.

All those things were well ahead of contemporary thinking at the time; now they are taken for granted, John V.N. Klein, a former Suffolk County executive, told The New York Times in 1999.

As an appointee beholden to elected county executives, Mr. Koppelman wielded little direct power. But as a nonpartisan, if prickly, expert planner, he won the respect of politicians, preservationists and developers.
As Jill Abramson wrote in the Times Opinion section, the courts 6-3 majority now seems to be reshaping itself in Justice Thomass image.

In a speech at Notre Dame last year, Thomas lamented, We have lost the capacity, even I think as leaders, to not allow others to manipulate our institutions when we dont get the outcomes we like.

And yet manipulating institutions is exactly what his wife, Ginni, tried to do. As Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reported in a Washington Post-CBS News bombshell, the conservative activist worked frantically to overturn the results of the 2020 election, calling it an obvious fraud, as Donald Trump and his allies were vowing to go to her husbands court to nullify Bidens win.

Ginni Thomas has had a chip on her shoulder since the Hill-Thomas hearings  she shamelessly left Hill a voice message in 2010 asking for an apology  and no doubt she thought if she could help claw back the presidency from Biden, that would be sweet revenge.

In a cascade of text messages, she urged Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to get Trump back into the Oval. Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! she pleaded, adding, The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History. Ginni  who attended the Jan. 6 rally before the raid on the Capitol started  urged Meadows to Release the Kraken.

The Republicans badgering Judge Jackson arent asking a single question about the explosive revelations regarding Ginni Thomas  nor are others of their party. Did the justice know what his wife was doing? Was he OK with it? Does he accept that he must recuse himself from cases dealing with Jan. 6 and the election?

Apparently not. Justice Thomas has already participated in two cases related to the 2020 election and its aftermath, despite his wifes direct involvement in the so-called Stop the Steal efforts, Jane Mayer reported in The New Yorker.
Ellen Schrecker

New York

The writer, a historian who studies higher education and political repression, is the author of The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s.

To the Editor:

Thank you! Just when this independent voter was giving up on The Times, you identify a significant problem and accurately attribute it to actions taken by both the left and the right.

Our polarized nation desperately needs the fair, balanced, ongoing discussion you seek to initiate. Might I suggest, for those who posted negative comments questioning why you would even bother with this  arguing that its nothing more than a false equivalence  that you begin with the March 10 Federalist Society event at Yale Law School that was disrupted by future lawyers who are supposed to be our best and brightest?

James Gavigan

Syracuse, N.Y.

To the Editor:

The right to freedom of speech in this country is not the right to speak their minds and voice their opinions in public without fear of being shamed or shunned. Rather, freedom of speech has always been the right to speak your mind without fear of reprisals from your government  i.e., imprisonment, torture or death, as is the case in countries such as Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and several others.

This right does not immunize the free speaker from legitimate criticism, economic pushback or any form of the same freedom exercised by other citizens.

Susan Joseph

Burlingame, Calif.

To the Editor:

That your editorial defending free speech against all those who infringe it should itself be controversial tells all one needs to know about the subject. What is needed now is the recognition across the ideological spectrum that frenzied intolerance of speech with which we differ is ultimately destructive of us all.

George Orwell said it best: If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.
*

Tanya was born in Volnovakha, a town outside Donetsk, in 1978. She turned 11 the year the Berlin Wall fell and was 13 when Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly to break away from the Soviet Union. She says she was the first in her class to resign from the Pioneers, a Communist version of the Girl Scouts. Shed always hated the propaganda about Grandpa Lenin and the expectation that she should never let her brightness show. Back then, panties came in one color: beige. If you wanted it black, you had to dye it, she told me. The dye stained her mothers midriff. Somehow, Tanya knew that better underwear was out there, even if shed never seen it.

She learned the Ukrainian language in college when she was 20. Shed always been told that it was the tongue of country bumpkins; educated people spoke Russian. Nonetheless, Tanya fell in love with it.

But she didnt actually feel Ukrainian until 2013  at age 35  when protests in Kyiv swept President Viktor Yanukovych from power after he backed out of a trade deal with the European Union. Tanya agreed with the protesters, but her parents were outraged that Mr. Yanukovych  a president theyd voted for  had been chased away by an unruly mob. They dismissed it as a coup that had been financed by the United States. They joined a protest in the city square. Putin, come and help us, they chanted.

In 2014, her parents voted to break away from Ukraine and form the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic, and the war in that region began. I call it the Donetsk Retired Peoples Republic, Tanya told me, rolling her eyes. Pro-Russian separatists had been battling the Ukrainian Army over the city for months, when Tanya packed her car and moved to Free Ukraine, like nearly every other young person she knew. She eventually settled in Mariupol, a charming city by the sea that was home to some 400,000 people.

Tanya fell in love with an American shed met online and moved to the United States in 2020. Her sister took over her rented apartment. Then Tanya helped her buy a cozy house in the center of Mariupol, a block from City Hall. Tanya kept in close touch with her parents, too, although she avoided talking to them about politics. During the pandemic, her parents sent her videos from Donetsk, of their rooster and the apple trees, at the house where windows had once been shattered by a mine explosion during the years of conflict. The war over Donetsk seemed endless. Tanyas parents blamed Ukraine, complaining that it was trying to kill them to avoid paying for their retirement.

Nobody Tanya knew in Mariupol expected Russia to invade. They all thought the Russian troops amassing on the borders were a bluff. Tanya urged her sister to stock up on food, just in case. She watched the mayor of Mariupol encourage city residents to stand strong, as the Russians attacked. She heard from friends in Kyiv who were signing up to fight. She decided that she had to do something, so she collected supplies for Ukraine. A group called Sunflower of Peace gave her medicine. She bought more with her own money. She filled three huge suitcases with drone parts, insulin, painkillers, tourniquets and a brand of coagulant called BleedStop.
For the better part of a decade, Ms. Grice, 39, has been cultivating a clientele that leans noticeably toward women who, like Ms. Rudolph, are professionally funny. Her roster includes several S.N.L. players past and present  Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer  as well as the Haim sisters Este, Danielle and Alana (best known for their music but also notably hilarious). Each has a distinct style, but Ms. Grice, across her body of work, seems inclined to make a statement in the most low-key way possible  a welcome retreat, perhaps, from the wigs, goofy costumes and stage makeup of a sketch comics work life.

Rebecca has a relaxed quality to all her styling, Ms. Bryant said. Theres kind of a Whats the big deal? feeling about all of her outfits, even when its what is on paper kind of a frilly dress.

Since she started working with Ms. Grice, Ms. Bryant often wears what could be described as frilly dresses, particularly ones by Simone Rocha, an Irish designer whose voluminous, ruffled silhouettes evoke a subversive kind of femininity. A floaty pink dress with cartoon-princess sleeves and a dainty floral pattern is a head-turning look, but its also the kind of dress that accommodates reclining on Seth Meyerss couch (or desk). Ms. Bryant values a sense of normalcy in dressing for appearances. I like to feel like Im one step away from my everyday self, she said.

Ms. Grice doesnt have a tidy philosophy about styling professionally funny women. But speaking over Zoom in January from her home in Los Angeles, she noted one tenet: Comfort is key, and comfort is confidence.
If they like technology and they want to be an early adopter for it, by all means, Bill Lamoreaux, a spokesman for the Motor Vehicles Division in Arizona, said on Thursday. This is absolutely voluntary.

In announcing the debut of this feature, Apple said that residents in participating states could press the plus sign in their Apple Wallets to add their license or state-issued ID card to their iPhone or Apple Watch.

The process requires participants to photograph the front and back of their license using their phones camera, and to complete a series of facial and head movements, according to Apple. Users must also provide a selfie, which is sent to their state using encryption along with the photos of their license so that local authorities can verify their identity.

It was not immediately clear how much it would cost the states to vet the requests associated with the digital licenses, which Apple and state officials said would not create an additional expense for people using them.

At the airport security checkpoints, people with an iPhone or an Apple Watch can hold the device up to an electronic reader, which will then prompt them to use facial recognition, a thumbprint or a passcode on their phone to consent to transmitting their encrypted information to a T.S.A. agent, Apple said.

The company emphasized that personal information is not stored on Apples servers, and that people will never have to hand over their phones to the security agents.

But not everyone is so bullish on the expanding technology.

Apple is now sort of trying to vertically integrate your whole life into its phone, Elizabeth M. Renieris, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, said on Friday.
Jurors in Colorado on Friday ordered the city and county of Denver to pay $14 million in damages to 12 plaintiffs after finding that police officers used excessive force against them during demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

The civil case in the U.S. District Court of Colorado was the first in the nation in which a lawsuit accusing the police of misconduct during the 2020 protests went to trial, according to the plaintiffs lawyers, who added that it could set a precedent for other pending cases across the country involving police misconduct against protesters in the George Floyd demonstrations.

The jury of eight Coloradans concluded that the city and county failed to properly train its police and that as a result, officers violated the plaintiffs constitutional rights under the First and Fourth Amendments.

The verdict is a message to the police department, to the highest echelons of the police department, but also a message to police departments all over the country, said Mark Silverstein, legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which represented the plaintiffs in the case.
Let me be very clear. Very clear, Mr. Perdue said to the crowd. In the state of Georgia, thanks to Brian Kemp, our elections were absolutely stolen. He sold us out.

Mr. Perdues allies argue that Governor Kemps track record is forever tainted by his refusal to try to overturn the election results or call a special legislative session to review them, even though multiple recounts confirmed Joe Bidens win.

Thats the wound with the salt in it right now that hasnt healed, said Bruce LeVell, a former senior adviser to Mr. Trump based in Georgia. David Perdue is the only one that can unify the Republican Party in the state of Georgia. Period.

Michelle and Chey Thomas, an Athens couple attending the rally, said they were unsure whether they would support Mr. Perdue in the primary or vote to re-elect Mr. Kemp as they knew little of Mr. Perdue before Saturday. Like many attendees, they were unsure if they could trust the results of the 2020 election. And Mr. Kemp, they believe, did not exercise the full extent of his power in November 2020.

A lot of candidates say they are going to do something and dont, Ms. Thomas said. Mr. Kemp, she added, couldve done a lot better job.

The candidates endorsed by Mr. Trump include Herschel Walker, a former Heisman Trophy winner running for Senate; U.S. Representative Jody Hice, a candidate for secretary of state; Vernon Jones, a former Democrat now running for Congress; and John Gordon, a conservative lawyer who helped Mr. Trump defend his false election claims in court. Mr. Trump this week endorsed Mr. Gordons bid for state attorney general.

Mr. Kemp has had years to guard himself against a challenge from the partys Trump wing. He was one of the first governors to roll back Covid-19 restrictions in early 2020, drawing the support of many on the right who were angry about government-imposed lockdowns. Last year, he signed into law new voting restrictions that were popular with the Republican base. And in January, the governor backed a law allowing people to carry a firearm without a permit and another banning mailed abortion pills.
The trial judge, Col. Matthew N. McCall, had traveled to Guantanamo Bay days earlier for three weeks of hearings but never held them. Instead, he ceded the courtroom to the negotiations, with prison guards shuttling the defendants to court most days.

Defense lawyers consulted the prisoners in the courtroom and in nearby holding cells, then would meet with prosecutors apart from the defendants, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Just like during court hearings, all activities stopped for designated prayer times, with Mr. Mohammed and the other prisoners worshiping on prayer rugs they brought from prison to court.

On March 17, the judge canceled the hearings in an order that quoted prosecutors as saying significant enough progress had been made in exploring possible plea agreements.

This is not the first time lawyers have discussed a plea bargain in the Sept. 11 case. In 2017, a key demand in failed negotiations sought guarantees that the men would serve their sentences at Guantanamo and not be sent to the supermax prison in Florence, Colo., where federal convicts spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.

This time, one participant said, a focus was seeking assurances related to how the men would be held as military prisoners, rather than pressing for a particular venue. The men want guarantees that, even after their convictions, they would be able to eat and pray communally, as they have done in recent years, rather than in solitary confinement, which was how they were held in the C.I.A.s secret black site prison network from 2002 to 2006, and earlier in their Guantanamo stay.

The detainees are also said to be seeking assurances that the military will commit to providing them with civilian-staffed health care, including psychological and physical rehabilitation from their torture in C.I.A. custody.

What to Know: The Sept. 11 Case at Guantanamo Bay Card 1 of 4 The crime. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and his four co-defendants are facing charges in a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay of aiding the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people. The charges carry the death penalty. The trial. The defendants were arraigned in 2012, but the trial has experienced various delays. The case has also been mired in pretrial proceedings, much of them focused on the C.I.A.s torture of the defendants. The role of torture. In 2021, a military jury condemned the use of torture by the C.I.A. in another war crimes case. This has raised questions of whether prosecutors could win a unanimous death-penalty decision even for Mr. Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times. A plea deal? Prosecutors have opened talks with lawyers for the five men to negotiate a potential plea agreement that would drop the possibility of execution. Guilty pleas in exchange for life sentences could bring to an end the long-running case. No deal is expected soon.







Their care is currently provided by military medical staff members who serve short tours of duty and are forbidden to ask about what happened to them in C.I.A. custody, constraining the ability of caregivers to treat them.
Two days after the 2020 election, Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, texted an old friend, Mark Meadows, the chief of staff to President Donald J. Trump.

She sent messages that had been making the rounds on pro-Trump sites, where anger over the election echoed her own raw feelings, including this passage: Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition.

Then she added of this fanciful, if chilling, set of conspiracy theories: I hope this is true.

She texted Mr. Meadows again the next day. Do not concede, she wrote. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.

The messages were among a flurry of text traffic between Ms. Thomas and Mr. Meadows that was revealed this past week, part of a trove of documents previously turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. (Ms. Thomas has openly opposed the committee and called for Republicans who serve on it to be expelled from the House Republican conference.)
Each week, Sharon Morgan sits at her desk and consults property records, deeds and wills that draw a clear line from her computer in Noxubee County, Miss., to her ancestors who were enslaved at a nearby plantation.

Sometimes Ms. Morgan, 71, still has to climb a rickety ladder at the county courthouse to retrieve heavy books from the 1800s, but the internet and other technologies have increasingly transformed the hard work of reconstructing the past as she had practiced it for decades.

Handwritten government records from the aftermath of Emancipation are now available for free online. Distant relatives whose ancestors were forced apart by slavery can be reached with a few mouse clicks. And the descendants of people who profited from slavery are digitizing crucial records long buried in attics and basements.

Through grass-roots groups, private genealogy firms and social media, it has never been easier for the descendants of 19th-century Americans to find and confront their histories. At the same time, the education of American history and the legacy of slavery has become an increasingly political issue, with Republican-led legislatures in several states passing laws to limit what can be taught in schools.
WARSAW  President Biden delivered a forceful denunciation of Vladimir V. Putins invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, declaring for Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power and casting the military clash in Europe as the test of all time in a decades-long battle to defend democracy.

In a speech from a castle that served for centuries as a home for Polish monarchs, Mr. Biden described the face-off with Mr. Putin as a moment he has long warned about: a clash of competing global ideologies, of liberty versus oppression.

Russias choice to wage war without justification or provocation was an example of one of the oldest of human impulses: using brute force and disinformation to satisfy a craving for absolute power and control, Mr. Biden declared before a crowd of hundreds of people in the courtyard of the Royal Castle and several thousand more outside its stone walls, watching on a large screen.

We need to be clear: this battle will not be won in days or months either, the president said. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead.
WARSAW  They were among the final few words of a carefully crafted speech. But they strayed far from the delicate balance that President Biden had tried to strike during three days of wartime diplomacy in Europe.

For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Mr. Biden said Saturday, his cadence slowing for emphasis.

On its face, he appeared to be calling for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to be ousted for his brutal invasion of Ukraine. But Mr. Bidens aides quickly insisted that the remark  delivered in front of a castle that served for centuries as a home for Polish monarchs  was not intended as an appeal for regime change.

Whatever his intent, the moment underscored the dual challenges Mr. Biden faced during three extraordinary summit meetings in Belgium and an up-close look at the wars consequences from Poland: keeping Americas allies united against Mr. Putin, while at the same time avoiding an escalation with Russia, which the president has said could lead to World War III.
Charred cars and a heavily damaged apartment building on Sunday in Mariupol, Ukraine, which was in increasingly dire straits.

KYIV, Ukraine  Russian forces redoubled attacks on strategic targets across Ukraine on Sunday, with fierce fighting reported around the capital, Kyiv, amid signs that the besieged city of Mariupol was close to falling.

As the conflict moved into its second month, Russian forces have largely failed in their first aim to take the largest cities and have narrowed immediate targets to the sieges of the southern port city of Mariupol and the strategically placed city of Chernihiv in the north.

Air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv during the day, but otherwise the city remained calm, lending some credence to the Russian Defense Ministrys recent assertion that it was turning its focus away from Kyiv to concentrate on the eastern front. Some Russian units were withdrawing to Belarus in the north to regroup and re-equip, according to the Ukrainian military, but heavy Russian artillery attacks continued around Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv.

Seven people, including two children, died in artillery fire in Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine, as Russian forces tried to subdue the city near the border, the Ukrainian news media reported. And missiles hit a fuel depot in western Ukraine as Russia continued to use airstrikes to disrupt supply lines to Ukrainian forces.

Ukraines top military intelligence officer suggested that Russia was changing its military focus to the south and east and might be trying to divide Ukraine between occupied and nonoccupied territories.

In fact, this is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine, said Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the intelligence division of Ukraines Ministry of Defense.

Image Flattened buildings in Byshiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Sunday. Credit... Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press

Fighting across the country showed Russian forces were working to consolidate their positions in key spots north of Kyiv and resisting Ukrainian attempts to break their grip there while focusing fully on seizing control of Mariupol. After weeks of siege in the port city, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians trapped there were facing increasingly dire conditions, without food and water, forcing people to use untreated sewage water to survive.

Western military analysts and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly emphasized that Russian forces have suffered heavy losses and have been thwarted in their primary objectives: to wrest control of the countrys main cities, including Kyiv. Struggling with difficulties in their supply lines, Russian forces are having to move slowly and focus on one target at a time, said Jack Watling, a research fellow and specialist in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute in Britain.

Still, Ukrainian forces, despite their successes in ambushing and stalling Russian units around the country, have not been able to reverse Russian gains in any significant way, he added.

In an interview with Russian journalists on Sunday, Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Russian forces had entered parts of Mariupol and that he had told Ukrainian soldiers still holding out there that they could abandon the city to save their own lives.

I talk to them twice a day, he said. I told them, If you feel that you need to get out and that it is right, that you can survive, then do it. I understand.

He added that the officers refused to go because they did not want to leave dead and wounded comrades and civilians behind. He made the remarks in an interview with several independent journalists that was published on the YouTube channel Zygar.

Image A soldier backed by Russia passed people waiting to leave Mariupol on Sunday. Credit... Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Mr. Watling said he did not expect Ukrainian forces to hold Mariupol any longer than a few days more.

They ran out of water, they ran out of food a while ago, he said. Exhausted troops on sewage water  you cannot fight long on that.

He added that he expected an insurgency to continue in the city after it falls.

As the war ground on, its physical toll on Ukraine was becoming more apparent. An estimated $63 billion in Ukrainian infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed as of last Thursday, Ukraines Parliament said in a Twitter post on Sunday.

The losses include more than 4,400 residential buildings, 138 health care facilities, eight civilian airports and 378 educational institutions. The cost was calculated by the Kyiv School of Economics.

After a month of intense fighting near Kyiv, some Russian military units were withdrawing to Belarus to regroup, traveling through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the Ukrainian military said.

These measures are taken to rotate units that have suffered significant losses, strengthen existing groups, replenish food, fuel and ammunition and evacuate wounded and sick soldiers, the military said in a statement.

It also said that the Russian Army was using the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor for logistics. Russian troops have blockaded the town of Slavutich, which is close to the Chernobyl station, and have escalated attacks on Chernihiv in an apparent attempt to consolidate a band of control north of the capital.

Ukraines chief negotiator at peace talks with Russia said a new round of negotiations would take place this week, starting Monday in Turkey, a NATO member that has used President Recep Tayyip Erdogans good relations with both Russia and Ukraine to try to mediate a solution to the conflict. But Turkish officials have conceded that any agreement between the two parties remains distant.

Image A Ukrainian soldier inspecting a destroyed Russian T-72 tank in Lukianivka, near Kyiv, on Sunday. Credit... Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters

Mr. Budanov, Ukraines military intelligence chief, predicted the Ukrainian Army would repel Russian forces as the fighting descended into an all-out guerrilla war.

The season of a total Ukrainian guerrilla safari will soon begin, he said. Then there will be one relevant scenario left for the Russians: how to survive.

More than 1,100 civilians have been killed since the war in Ukraine began, including at least 99 children, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in a report released Sunday that cautioned that the actual figures might be considerably higher. An additional 1,790 civilians have been wounded, including 126 children, the report added.

With many areas of Ukraine still bogged down by the conflict, many of the dead and wounded cannot be counted, the United Nations said. Left out of the U.N. report was the besieged city of Mariupol, where Russian forces hit a theater this month that hundreds of civilians were using as a bomb shelter, killing some 300 people, according to local officials.

As President Biden returned home from a visit with NATO allies in Europe and with Ukrainian refugees in Poland, President Zelensky urged him and other Western leaders to give Ukraine tanks, planes and missiles to help fend off Russian forces.

Ukraine cannot shoot down Russian missiles with shotguns, with machine guns, he said. And it is impossible to break the blockade in Mariupol without a sufficient number of tanks, other armored vehicles and, of course, aircraft.

Thousands of people  citizens, civilians who are dying there in the blockade  know that, he added. The United States knows it. All European politicians know it. We have told everyone.

Image The interior of the Regional State Administration office in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday. Credit... Roman Pilipey/EPA, via Shutterstock

Mr. Zelenskys remarks came as American officials scrambled Sunday to clarify that the United States does not have a policy of regime change in Russia, after Mr. Biden said at the end of a speech in Poland on Saturday that Russias leader, Vladimir V. Putin cannot remain in power.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the president had simply meant Mr. Putin could not be empowered to wage war against Ukraine or anywhere else.

French and British officials distanced themselves from Mr. Bidens remarks. When asked about them in an interview on Sunday, Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, said he would not use such language, adding that there should be no escalation  in words or actions.

Reporting was contributed by Ivan Nechepurenko from Istanbul, Maria Varenikova from Kyiv, Marc Santora from Krakow, Poland, Austin Ramzy from Hong Kong and Valerie Hopkins from Lviv, Ukraine. Maria Abi-Habib also contributed reporting.
LE HAVRE, France  Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leading left-wing candidate in Frances upcoming presidential election, once likened himself to one of natures slowest animals.

Trust a wise and electoral tortoise like me, he said at a rally in January. Slow and steady wins the race. And, he added, mockingly: Ive already tired a few hares.

Now, nearly two weeks before the first round of voting on April 10, Mr. Melenchon  a veteran politician who launched his third presidential bid 17 months ago  is hoping that Aesops fable about the tortoise who came from behind proves prescient.

For months, Mr. Melenchon and other candidates jostled in the polls below President Emmanuel Macron, the centrist incumbent, and Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, hoping to disrupt their widely expected rematch.
A man from Minnesota who was detained by Russian troops as he tried to leave Ukraine has been released, according to his family and a United States senator from his home state.

Tyler Jacob, 28, was taken off a bus by Russian soldiers at a checkpoint in Russian-occupied Crimea on March 13, his mother, Tina Hauser, said in a phone interview late Friday evening. He had been teaching English in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson since the fall.

Mr. Jacob was held at a jail in the Crimean city of Simferopol, where he was questioned and his phone was searched, Ms. Hauser said. He was released earlier this week and is now in a NATO country where he has been reunited with his wife and daughter, who separately made their way out of Ukraine, she added.

Ms. Hauser said she had spoken to her son over FaceTime after he arrived in the third country. She declined to name it for security reasons.
Two former republics of the Soviet Union  Russia and Ukraine  are once again in conflict. Here are some pivotal moments in the years leading up to Russias invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, as well as a brief look at their relationship in the 20th century.

2014  Protesters in Ukraine overthrow President Viktor Yanukovych in February. He had been friendly to Russias interests. During the revolution, more than 100 people are killed in protests that centered on the main square in the capital, Kyiv, often called the Maidan.

The interim government that follows this pro-Western revolution eventually signs a trade agreement with the European Union that is seen as a first step toward membership in the bloc.
The Philippines is reaping fruits of its agricultural collaboration with China in increasing food supply and safeguarding food security in the country, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Friday.

Dar made the remarks at a ceremony marking the inauguration of new breeding laboratories at the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) in Munoz city in Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila.

Dar said PhilSCAT, as an important initiative aided by China, has helped the Philippines increase its rice production thanks to the introduction of hybrid rice from China.

Established in 2001, PhilSCAT was dedicated to enhancing communication and technical cooperation in agriculture.

The third phase of the technical cooperation, which was launched in 2018, aims for expert exchanges for technical cooperation, high-yielding hybrid rice cultivation, and establishments of seed production technology demonstration sites.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Between these voices of reason and incitation, between these two seemingly different men, lie 22 years of power and five American presidents. As China rose, as America fought and lost its forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as technology networked the world, a Russian enigma took form in the Kremlin.

Did the United States and its allies, through excess of optimism or naivete, simply get Mr. Putin wrong from the outset? Or was he transformed over time into the revanchist warmonger of today, whether because of perceived Western provocation, gathering grievance, or the giddying intoxication of prolonged and  since Covid-19  increasingly isolated rule?

Mr. Putin is an enigma, but he is also the most public of figures. Seen from the perspective of his reckless gamble in Ukraine, a picture emerges of a man who seized on almost every move by the West as a slight against Russia  and perhaps also himself. As the grievances mounted, piece by piece, year by year, the distinction blurred. In effect, he became the state, he merged with Russia, their fates fused in an increasingly Messianic vision of restored imperial glory.

From the Ashes of Empire

The temptation of the West for Putin was, I think, chiefly that he saw it as instrumental to building a great Russia, said Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state who met several times with Mr. Putin during the first phase of his rule. He was always obsessed with the 25 million Russians trapped outside Mother Russia by the breakup of the Soviet Union. Again and again he raised this. That is why, for him, the end of the Soviet empire was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.

But if irredentist resentment lurked, alongside a Soviet spys suspicion of the United States, Mr. Putin had other initial priorities. He was a patriotic servant of the state. The post-communist Russia of the 1990s, led by Boris N. Yeltsin, the countrys first freely elected leader, had sundered.

In 1993, Mr. Yeltsin ordered the Parliament shelled to put down an insurgency; 147 people were killed. The West had to provide Russia with humanitarian aid, so dire was its economic collapse, so pervasive its extreme poverty, as large swaths of industry were sold off for a song to an emergent class of oligarchs. All this, to Mr. Putin, represented mayhem. It was humiliation.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, speaking by video to a major policy conference in Qatar on Saturday, urged that nation and other energy producers to increase their gas exports to Europe as part of a drive to reduce the continents reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

The future of Europe rests with your efforts, Mr. Zelensky said in a virtual address to the Doha Forum in Qatar, which is one of the worlds largest exporters of gas. I urge you to increase energy production so that Russia understands that no state should use energy as a weapon to blackmail the world.

Last year, 38 percent of the natural gas used by the European Union came from Russia, according to Bruegel, a research organization. Moves by the bloc to wean itself off that supply is vital to a broader Western effort to punish Moscow, a major oil and gas producer, for its invasion of Ukraine.

The United States banned imports of Russian energy on March 8, and European nations have pledged to gradually follow suit. In Germany, which has been Moscows most important natural gas customer, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last month that the country would halt certification of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that would link his country with Russia.
If youre earning cryptocurrency from a job  and people actually get paid in crypto nowadays  that is taxable income, at the fair market value at the time you received it. Lets say I did a job for someone and they paid me one Bitcoin right on Feb. 23. Well, on Feb. 23, Im incurring $40,000 of income. Or whatever the fair market value of Bitcoin was at the time that I received it for my services.

Why did your software need to exist?

The problem thats unique to cryptocurrencies that does not exist for equities is this data is fragmented across multiple different platforms. Lets say Im using E-Trade to buy and sell Tesla stock. Everything happens on E-Trade. Its not normal for any trading person to send their Tesla stock somewhere else.

Thats just not the case for crypto. All of a users transactions can take place across multiple different wallets and across multiple different third parties.

The software exists to kind of be the TurboTax for cryptocurrency investors. We integrate with all of the various platforms of the crypto economy. All that data gets fully normalized, and then it gets routed through our tax engines. Then we can generate with the click of a button necessary capital gains, capital losses and income reports.

What do you tell cryptonewbies when they ask you about the I.R.S.s view of cryptocurrency?

Theyre paying very close attention to the digital asset space. Its not accurate to think that Im using crypto, its pseudo-anonymous, theyre never going to know what type of income Im making. The I.R.S. has the ability to see a lot of whats happening in this space, and theyre very quickly increasing their investment into being able to do that.

Its been a big year for nonfungible tokens. What happens with those?

If you bought an NFT and then you later sold it or somehow disposed of it, traded it away for something, you realized capital gains on the fluctuation of that asset.

What sorts of crypto transactions make up the largest volume of entries into your software?

The most common is spot market trades  buys, sells  right on centralized cryptocurrency platforms like Coinbase.
Dr. Barrie Cassileth, who worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for over a decade, died recently at age 83. She is perhaps best known for this innovation in cancer care:
SAN FRANCISCO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Boeing and Airbus Helicopters on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to partner on the H-47 Chinook in support of Germany's heavy-lift helicopter requirements.

The partnership will draw on the strengths and combined expertise to deliver advanced capability, readiness and innovative solutions as part of the German Chinook industry offering, the announcement said.

"We are pleased that Airbus Helicopters has joined our team of strategic partners on the H-47 Chinook program for Germany," said Mark Cherry, Boeing vice president and general manager for Vertical Lift programs.

"Airbus Helicopters is excited to join Boeing's Chinook Germany industry team," said Wolfgang Schoder, general manager of Airbus Helicopters in Germany. "The H-47 Chinook is a proven, mature program ... and is the optimum solution for Germany with an excellent price-performance ratio."

The partnership agreement builds on the existing Chinook partnership team. Boeing is committed to working with German industry on aircraft sustainment, including post-delivery modifications and installations, aircraft maintenance, supply chain services, training and logistical support, as well as the potential for sub-systems Maintenance Repair and Overhaul work, according to the announcement. 
The French Parliament is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly. Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: the Senate meets in the Palais du Luxembourg and the National Assembly convenes at Palais Bourbon.
Mediaite 29 Sep 2021

MSNBC contributor Katty Kay announced she was resigning from Ozy Media after just four months in the wake of allegations that..
Virginia "Ginni" Lamp Thomas is an American attorney and conservative activist. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she married U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in 1987. Her conservative commentary and activism have made her a controversial figure, particularly since the spouses of Supreme Court justices typically stay out of politics.
The EU's fourth round of sanctions against Russia has targeted products that have both civilian and military use. DW explores how dual-use goods, until now, could have slipped under the radar.
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The 'Twilight' star first purchased the abode that is about an hours drive from downtown Los Angeles in 2020 for $3.8 million.
The war in Ukraine has moved Poland from the fringes of US foreign policy into the spotlight. At the same time, Washington has become even more indispensable for Warsaw as a guarantor of security.
Oneindia 26 Mar 2022

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Foreign Minister Baerbock told skeptical members of her Green Party that sending German arms to Ukraine was a necessary step. Meanwhile, Russia has indicated its aims for the war have shifted. DW has the latest.
US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" due to the invasion of Ukraine. He also warned Russian forces against moving onto "one single inch" of NATO territory.
Thousands of people, mostly Russian nationals, protested in the Czech capital against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Organizers said it was important to show that Russian expatriates are not secret Putin supporters.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed a warm welcome as they touched down in the Bahamas for the final leg of their Caribbean tour.
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Rumble 25 Apr 2022

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Mashable 23 Mar 2022
President Joe Biden to meet with Ukrainian refugees in Poland, the Oscars are back, with three hosts, and more news to start your weekend.


Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kathmandu, Nepal, on March 26, 2022. Wang Yi said here on Saturday that China will stick to its friendly policy toward Nepal and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the South Asian country. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba agreed here on Saturday at their meeting that both sides will make good use of the Nepal-China Joint Consultation Mechanism to complete existing key cooperation projects and explore new areas of cooperation.

Noting that China-Nepal cooperation enjoys vast potential, both sides agreed that deepening practical cooperation not only meets the needs of both countries, but will also inject strong impetus to regional development and prosperity.

Deuba congratulated China on the success of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and thanked China for providing strong support for Nepal's economic and social development over the years.

Deuba stressed that Nepal will continue to firmly adhere to the one-China policy and will never allow any forces to use the Nepali territory to engage in any anti-China activities.

Wang said China appreciated that and is ready to continue standing firmly with Nepal on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.

China will work with Nepal to safeguard the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and the basic norms governing international relations, resist unilateralism and oppose power politics, and contribute to regional peace and stability, Wang said.

Wang said China and Nepal have always supported, trusted and helped each other. The traditional friendship between the two countries has been enhanced through their joint fight against the earthquake and COVID-19, and their win-win cooperation has witnessed continuous and effective progress.

China-Nepal relations have become an example of equal treatment and win-win cooperation between countries large and small, and a demonstration of China's practice of the good-neighborly diplomacy, Wang said.

China will continue to firmly support Nepal in safeguarding national sovereignty and dignity, exploring a development path suited to its national conditions and pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies, Wang said.

Guided by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, China stands ready to expand all-round cooperation with Nepal and push forward their strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity, he said.

The two sides also exchanged views on strengthening multilateral cooperation. Deuba said the Nepali side believes that fairness and justice should be upheld in international affairs, and the United Nations Charter and international law should be abided by.

After the meeting, both sides attended the completion ceremony of Pokhara International Airport via video link. 

Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kathmandu, Nepal, on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)
Meanwhile, Russia has declared on Friday it will now focus on "liberating" the Donbas region and its breakaway republics.
By 23 March, more than 10 million people had been forced to flee their homes due to war in Ukraine, many displaced inside the country and more than 3.5 million as refugees abroad. Within three weeks, more than two million refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Poland.
Mexican graffiti artists and muralists unveiled their joint work in Mexico City on Friday in support of the victims of the conflict in Ukraine.
Rumble 26 Apr 2022

*We are deeply saddened by the news of Taylor Hawkins passing. The world has lost one of the great rock & roll drummers of..
During a speech in Warsaw, US President Joe Biden warned Russian forces against invading "one single inch" of NATO territory. He described Ukraine's resistance as part of a "great battle for freedom."
An E-fit has been released of a man police are looking to speak to in connection with the incident

Croydon Advertiser 26 Mar 2022
Here's the latest for Friday, March 25: President Biden meets with U.S. troops in Poland; U.S. officials say Russia concentrates fighting in southeast Ukraine; Teen falls to death at Florida amusement park; NYC Uber and Lyft drivers seek fuel surcharge.


The administration plans to seek funding for 25,000 beds, down from the 34,000 beds that are currently funded. It also severed a contract with a detention facility in Alabama.
Refugees arriving in Poland from war-torn Ukraine pleaded for more help from the United States to end the crisis. (March 26)


Protesters laid down teddy bears in front of the famous cathedral in the western german city of Cologne on Saturday, for the children who have been killed in Ukraine war since February 24. (March 26)


MOGADISHU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior al-Shabab militant on Saturday surrendered to the Somali government forces amid ongoing security operations to flush out members of the terrorist group in the southwest region.

The Somali National Army (SNA) officials told the state-owned Radio Mogadishu that the senior militant who has been coordinating attacks in Baidoa town and its environs for the past five years defected after reaching out to the SNA.

Several al-Shabab leaders have surrendered to government forces in the recent past during the security operations in southern and central regions.

The move comes as the militants have been launching bold attacks targeting government and electoral delegates taking part in the ongoing national elections.

The extremist group on Wednesday mounted one of its deadliest attacks in the capital, Mogadishu and in the regional presidential palace in the central town of Beledweyne where more than 50 people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the attack. 
Preply is collecting messages of hope and love from around the world to share with Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Mashable 28 Mar 2022

Did you catch the cryptocurrency ad that aired during the Oscars on Sunday night?



You may have forgotten about it as..
President Biden is visiting Poland, next door to Ukraine. He gave a speech to U.S. troops stationed there to raise morale and also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
DNA 05 May 2022

You'd be shocked to know that the duck has an Instagram account by the name - @seducktive where more than 571k people are following..
The S.S. Marine Dow Chem took her maiden voyage in April 1954 with a cargo of chemicals produced at The Dow Chemical Co.'s Texas division at Freeport. She was destined for markets on the Eastern shore.

The 551-foot vessel, the first built for carrying liquid chemicals, had a capacity of 3.5 million gallons. Dow was said to be a pioneer in the water movement of chemicals in bulk quantities. Its first leased vessel, the Marine Chemist was put into service in 1949 on the Gulf-Atlantic coastal route. The S.S. Marine Chemist, originally an oil tanker, was converted to carry chemical cargoes.
KATHMANDU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday that China will stick to its friendly policy toward Nepal and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with the South Asian country.

At a meeting with Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, Wang said no matter how the international scene and domestic situation of the two countries change, China will strive to promote the building of a China-Nepal community with shared future along the direction set by the leaders of the two countries.

Wang elaborated China's support for Nepal in three aspects.

First, China will support Nepal in finding a development path suited to its national conditions. China's friendly policy is open to all parties and party factions, and the people of Nepal, Wang said.

China encourages all parties and party factions in Nepal to engage in inclusive consultation and cooperate with each other for the sake of the fundamental and long-term interests of the people, and jointly explore a governance model that is conducive to promoting political stability, economic growth and people's livelihood, Wang said.

Second, China supports Nepal in pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies. China always believes that all countries are equal regardless of size, and respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries, he said.

China believes that the affairs of Nepal should be decided by its people, he said, noting that China opposes any attempt to undermine Nepal's sovereignty and independence, interfere in its internal affairs and engage in geopolitical games in Nepal.

Nepal should become a promising land for cooperation between China and South Asia, and China is glad to see Nepal co-exist friendly with other countries and play a bigger role in regional and international affairs, Wang said.

Third, China supports Nepal in furthering participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.

China and Nepal have made encouraging progress in jointly building the Belt and Road, which has significantly boosted Nepal's national construction, Wang said.

The Chinese side is willing to push forward the key cooperation projects between the two sides, ensure the smooth running of land ports between the two countries, explore cross-border cooperation in electricity, expand economic and people-to-people exchange channels, and build the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network to make the Himalayas a bond of friendly cooperation between the two countries, Wang said.

China is ready to assist Nepal in taking advantage of its own human resources, geographical location and national ecosystem as well as the opportunities brought by China's development to speed up its development and revitalization.

Khadka said that the two countries are good friends which share a traditional friendship, and also good partners in terms of promoting development cooperation.

Khadka said that Nepal thanked China's support for Nepal's efforts to safeguard sovereignty and independence as well as oppose external interference, reaffirming that Nepal firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests.

They agreed that the two countries should strengthen cooperation in terms of anti-pandemic drive and vaccines.

Both sides agreed that the Sino-Nepali cross-border railway project, planned by leaders of both countries and welcomed by the two peoples, should be completed, stretching the railway to Kathmandu.

Following the meeting, the two foreign ministers attended a signing ceremony of cooperation documents concerning technology, agriculture, infrastructure and public health. 
When Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said March 13 that all Americans would need a second booster shot, it struck many COVID-19 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-19. 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-19 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 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.

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-19 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, 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 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.

Theres some disagreement among experts on how well COVID-19 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-19 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.

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-19 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-19, there wont be any free vaccines  or free COVID-19 treatments  available to the public next fall.

We have an acute budgetary problem and were not yet out of the woods, Wherry said. COVID-19 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-19 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-19 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?

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.
MSU Extension of Midland County and cooperating parent educators sponsor the Parents Corner. Send submissions to Midland County MSU Extension Educator, Lisa Treiber, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 48640

An Afternoon at the Sugarhouse. Discover the magic of maple syrup season 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in March at Chippewa Nature Center. Experience the process of making syrup from start to finish during this drop-in program. Visitors are invited to peek in buckets on tapped trees, watch the steam rise in the sugar house and learn how to change maple sap into sweet maple syrup. This program is designed for all ages (under 18 with an adult).

Food Safety Q & A. MSU Extension offers a weekly 30-minute informational program about food preservation. A short presentation will be shared focusing on the featured topic, leaving plenty of time for Q & A. The next session is: Sharpen Your Kitchen Skills  Knives 101. Join in on this quick free presentation at 1 p.m. March 28. To register, visit www.canr.msu.edu/events/winter-food-safety-q-a-2022

Investigating Food with Science. Each week at 4 p.m., youth will explore the aspects of cooking as an experiment and baking as a science. A kid-friendly recipe or experiment demonstration will be presented for youth to try at home with an adults assistance. The following week, youth can share their experiences or pictures. All sessions will be presented via Zoom. The March 28 topic will be The Science of Baking! To register visit www.canr.msu.edu/events/investigating-food-with-science-2022 Any questions should be directed to Kellie Jordan jorda136@msu.edu.

Nature Play! Its time to play outdoors at 10-11 a.m. March 29 at Chippewa Nature Center. Whether were making pies in the mud kitchen, pretending to be animals, lounging in hammocks or creating nature art, this hour of play is sure to engage everyone. Caregivers must remain with children during this program and are encouraged to actively play alongside the children in their care. This program will be facilitated by a CNC staff member. Meet in The Woods Nature Play Area near Arbury Trail. This program is designed for ages 2-10 with an adult. Visit www.chippewanaturecenter.org to learn more.

Preserving MI Harvest Series. Michigan State University Extension will be offering a series of food preservation classes online, these free classes will be offered at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursdays. The topic on March 31 will be Preparing for Preservation. These sessions will not be recorded, they will only be offered live. Supporting materials will be emailed to all participants after each broadcast. Join in the fun, sign up for one, some or all these educational sessions. There is time at the end of each program to ask questions. To register, visit events.anr.msu.edu/PreservingMIHarvestWinter2022/

Top 10 Credit Tips. MSU Extension is hosting a virtual program to discuss 10 credit tips, 12-1 p.m. March 30. During this session learn about credit, credit reports, credit scores and how to build good credit. This class will be held via Zoom. Connection information for Zoom will be sent a couple days prior to the program. Pre-registration is required; to register, visit www.canr.msu.edu/mimoneyhealth/ click on the link online classes and you will then see this course as well as other options that might be of interest. Registration for this class closes on March 29.

Cooking Matters for Families. MSU Extension is hosting a new seriesat 6-8 p.m. beginning April 6. Parents and guardians with children ages 8-18 will learn about preparing healthy meals together, food safety, grocery shopping and budgeting for food. The program consists of six lessons, lasting two hours each. With the help of an experienced chef and nutrition educator, participants will gain the skills and confidence to make healthy, budget-friendly meals at home as a family. Participants will receive take-home groceries which they can use to practice, as a family, one of the recipes they learned in class. The classes take place at the Midland County MSU Extension office (third floor County Services Building). Spots fill up quickly; to register, call 989-832-6648 or email Sheila at salo@msu.edu.

Story Hour. Come spend an hour learning about nature, 9:30-10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m.-12 p.m. April 7 at Chippewa Nature Center. The hour will include a story, crafts, and other age-appropriate activities. Dress for the weather. Program will move indoors if weather is poor. For more information, visit www.chippewanaturecenter.org.

History Hike. Join Chippewa Nature Centers historical interpreter to hike the trails and explore the natural resources that brought people to the region. Hikers will look for evidence of how nature has influenced history and guided the settlement of the area. This event takes place 10-11:30 a.m. April 7. This program is designed for all ages (under 18 with an adult). To learn more, visit www.chippewanaturecenter.org.

Cooking for Crowds. Is your organization preparing for a food event? Cooking for Crowds provides food safety education to volunteers and groups who offer food fundraisers and events such as dinners and bake sales. Join MSU Extension for this online Zoom class, 3-6 p.m. April 26 to learn how to keep the community safe and prevent foodborne illness. There are a variety of food safety risks that develop when cooking large volumes of food. Learn to reduce these risks and help prevent the conditions that may lead to a foodborne illness. Educational topics include defining a foodborne illness, safe purchasing, storage, preparation, and safe service of food items. Class will include information based on the Michigan food code and regulations for the state of Michigan. The cost for this class is $15 with each participant receiving a food safety manual in the mail after registering for the class. www.canr.msu.edu/cooking_for_crowds/events

This program is also available as an in-person program with your organization. If interested, email treiber@msu.edu.
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Vlad Vasylyk is a typical high school student. He spends his days as a foreign exchange student at H.H. Dow High School participating in academic clubs, making friends and learning about American culture.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an attack on his hometown of Kharkiv, Ukraine last month, everything changed for Vasylyk.

Now, the 16 year old is sharing his story, and that of his country, with the Midland community with the goal to spread awareness and understanding about what is happening in Ukraine.

Pursuing a passion

Vasylyk, 16, came to the U.S. through Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX), a program by the U.S. Department of State. FLEX offers scholarships for students from Europe and Eurasia to spend an academic year in America; the acceptance rate is 2.3%, which rivals acceptance rates at Ivy League schools.

He began the program in September, first staying with a family in Bay City. In December, he transferred to Midland where he now lives with Kirk and Dawn Bortel. The Bortels have hosted exchange students in the past, but none as young as Vasylyk. The couple got to know Vasylyk and his family over the past three months, exchanging emails and eventually video calls.

One of Vasylyks favorite activities is cooking. He recently made borscht for his host family.

He is just a wonderful young man, Dawn said.

In Bay City, Vasylyk enrolled in a journalism class and developed a strong writing style. Encouraged by his teacher, he continued to pursue journalism after he transferred to Dow High School. Now he is considering it as a possible career path.

I discovered this skill, that I could actually write something, and I could make an impact by writing, Vasylyk said.

Cammie Hall, advisor to the Dow Highs student paper, Update, was impressed with the writing samples Vasylyk showed her when he first came to Midland. Although he started out shadowing senior newspaper staffers, Vasylyk quickly moved up to write independently as a staff writer.

He definitely had a great writing style already that worked well, Hall said. Hes very good at participating in our brainstorming sessions; doing that deep research to find connections to students. Hes been a huge asset.

Little did Vasylyk know that within a few weeks at his new school he would have a chance to share the story of a lifetime.

Bringing a global issue to the local level

On Feb. 24, Vasylyk received several messages from his friends and family. Confused, he texted his older brother, who is in Poland, to confirm the situation. It was true: Russia had invaded Ukraine.

Since we all had heard about all the military buildups, I wasnt expecting (an invasion), but I knew that it could happen, Vasylyk said.

Russian forces had amassed along the Ukrainian border since early 2021; by the end of the year, there were an estimated 150,000 troops, according to the Associated Press. On Feb. 24, Putin announced the start of a special military operation intended to demilitarize Ukraine and uproot alleged neo-Nazi nationalists."

Simultaneously, Russian military unleashed a series of air raids and missile strikes on Ukraine's military facilities and key infrastructure.

Events escalated and within a couple days of the invasion, Vasylyks hometown was bombed.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city with a population of 1.4 million, has been constantly shelled by Russian forces. In a March 16 Aljazeera article, a regional emergency service reported at least 500 people have been killed in Kharkiv since the invasion began. On March 15, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that more than 600 buildings have been destroyed.

It was kind of hard to see (pictures of) the downtown, the places where I would go for walks in the summer, Vasylyk stated. Just seeing them as if they jumped out of a history book was hard. They looked like nothing like they were.

Vasylyk and the Bortels have kept in regular contact with Vasylyks family, keeping tabs on their situation. Vasylyk explained that his family remained in Kharkiv briefly, huddling in a shelter for a couple nights. Afterwards, they decided to move to western Ukraine along with a mass exodus.

Usually that kind of trip would take one or two days at the most, including an overnight stop," Vasylyk said. "It took them six days to get there (because of the crowds).

One of the most difficult aspects for Vasylyk is not knowing what the future will look like or where he will go when the exchange program ends this summer. While he takes comfort in knowing that his family is safe, some of Vasylyks friends are staying in Kharkiv.

Im worried about them, Vasylyk stated.

While brainstorming topics to cover for the Updates March 18 edition, Hall proposed localizing the conflict in Ukraine. Update Editor-in-Chief Katie Hagen, a senior, volunteered to write the story. Meanwhile, Vasylyk provided information and interview opportunities with himself and his parents.

We just thought that we had a cool opportunity there that we didnt want to pass up, having (Vlad) in our class, Hagen said. "He was generous enough to have me interview him. Obviously, its a pretty sensitive topic, but it was a really cool experience.

The prospect of writing about a global historic event was intimidating, as Hagen was more used to covering stories about school and local activities. She delved into the history leading up to the invasion  including interviewing one of the schools history teachers, Brent Chambers  highlighting the Russian and Ukranian presidents as well as describing how events are affecting Vasylyk and his family.

Hagen, who has been involved in journalism class for three years  the past two on staff  explained that her horizons were broadened, and her perspective was changed by writing the story.

Ive never written a story of that magnitude before. I literally went in with no prior knowledge, Hagen said. It was a cool opportunity for me to learn about the situation and to be aware.

Vlad finds his voice

In addition to contributing to Hagens article about Ukraine, Vasylyk has spoken to other classes about current events and what led up to the invasion. Vasylyk hopes to spread awareness and understanding of the situation by offering first-hand information. He explained that he is happy to answer questions, even if people feel uncomfortable asking them.

It really switches the way you perceive those things, Vasylyk stated. I felt like this could potentially help the situation, by physically being present and spreading awareness.

Vasylyk has also talked with members of the Bortels church, sharing his insight about the invasion.

He has been willing to step out and help others really learn about whats going on in Ukraine, Dawn said.

Hes been very positive in the sense of what is happening, Hall said.

Vasylyk explained that the attack against Ukraine is not clear-cut, stating that many Russians dont approve of Putins actions. There are also relatives on both sides of the conflict; Vasylyk himself is half-Russian and has relatives across the border.

I want people to understand the basic concept of us as humans," Vasylyk stated. "No matter how different we appear to be, we are so, so similar. Regardless of where we are from, what background we have, what language which we speak, people are people."
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Photo: (Photo : TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

The father of Anna Sorokin, the subject of the popular Netflix biographical series "Inventing Anna," has broken his silence by blasting his own daughter, who tricked New York's elite into believing that she's a wealthy heiress.

Vadim Sorokin spoke in an exclusive interview with Daily Mail and said that his daughter's action was "dishonest and shameful" for their family. Vadim, however, said that Anna is still welcome to stay with them if she returns to Germany.

The "Inventing Anna" subject has been under custody with U.S. immigration as she faces deportation to Germany. In 2019, the Manhattan grand jury convicted her of grand larceny and theft, but she was released two years later for "good behavior." However, immigration decided to put her back in detention in mid-2021 because her visa had lapsed.

Read Also: Stimulus Check Fraud: California Mom Pleads Guilty to $145K Scam With Son on Death Row

Anna Sorokin's Real Family and Childhood

Anna swindled several people, mostly from New York's wealthy class, by pretending she was an heiress with $60 million. The 31-year-old claimed to her friends in America that her father is an oil tycoon.

The truth was Vadim, originally from Moscow, hails from an ordinary family who uprooted to Germany so he could give his daughter a good life. The father said that even while at the immigration detention, Anna has been asking for money to pay people to do things for her.

"She is in detention," Vadim said. "But even in there she hasn't learned how to control her finances."

Vadim, who runs a successful air conditioning and ventilation business in Germany, said that Anna grew up in a normal, regular household, went to a traditional school, and had many friends. After leaving high school, Anna decided to pursue arts for college at the Central Saint Martins in London.

Because of her father's business, Anna was privileged to have private language tutors and designer clothes. Later, she decided to drop out of college and work for a French fashion magazine.

According to Tatler, her father continued to support her with rent money and even bought her a car because her salary wasn't enough to cover her expenses in France. Then, she moved to New York and spun a tale about her pretend-life as an heiress to gain favor from the elites.

Vadim cannot recall a time when Anna has uttered that she loves her parents because all she ever talks about with them is money. Anna would always tell her parents that she was their only daughter, so they had to help her with her financial problems.

Despite denouncing what Anna did in America, Vadim does not believe his daughter is "evil inside." Instead, she needs to figure out what she really wants to do with her life. But even as Vadim said Anna could live with them, his daughter refused and stated that she'd rather stay in jail than with her parents in Germany.

Profiting from "Inventing Anna"

According to Deadline, Anna made $320,000 when she sold her life story to Netflix. She was also made a consultant on the TV series that starred Julia Garner as the fake heiress.

Meanwhile, some supporters of Anna launched a "Free Anna Delvey" art show in Manhattan to help fund her extradition fight. Her legal team allegedly plans to file an O-1 visa exemption, usually given to artists.

Anna has been detained at New York's Orange County Correctional Facility.

Related Article: Leviev Family Sues' Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev for Impersonating Billionaire Family
Photo: (Photo : Juliane Liebermann via Unsplash)

As a parent, starting to build up savings now can help you ensure that once your kids are older, they will not need to worry about how they will get by. Whether you are saving for their college tuition or just want to be able to help them get a good start in life, there are a few ways to start the process now.

Getting Your Own Finances in Order

You won't be in any place to help your kids if your own money is not in order, so spend a bit of time looking over your budget and accounts to see where you can improve. If you are not living within your means, reevaluate you're spending or look for extra income streams. And if you are in debt, think about what you can do to get out, especially if it is high interest debt. One way of getting your finances in order is to consider getting a personal loan. This can ensure you have enough funds to organize your finances and get in a better spot for the future.

Setting Up a Trust Fund

It can be more costly and difficult to set up a trust fund, but there are lots of benefits. You might be concerned about your child receiving full access to a sum of money as soon as they are 18 because you may feel they will not make the right choices with the money. Without trust, you can determine the way you want the money to be dispersed. You could choose for the child to receive a certain amount of money each year for a period of time. Or you might specify what the funds can be used for. While you won't get tax advantages, trust funds can be more flexible.

Saving for College

Talking to your kids early about the keys to achieving success in college, and how their education will be paid for is critical. Even if you can't cover the whole cost of school for your kids, contributing a little can prevent them from having to take on so much debt. One option is to consider a 529 savings account. These are great options because many times, it is possible to take out the money on a tax-free basis. And the funds can be used for many school-related expenses, such as textbooks, tuition, housing, and other costs.

Still, depending on your area, you could get some benefits as well. You might be able to deduct all or some of your contributions from your taxes. Make sure you do you research to figure out where you can do this. If you find yourself needing the funds before your kids go to college, you might be able to take out a few thousand dollars to help pay for school before college tuition.

Cutting Down on Expenses

The only way to consistently save for your kids is by making sure you work it into your budget. Start cutting out expenses that are not essential. Instead of purchasing your kids trips or new clothing they don't need, you might set that money aside in an account for them. Birthday and holiday gift money can also go into these accounts.
Photo: (Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

A community in Hopewell, Virginia, has been shaken by the discovery of a house with seven unsupervised children between the ages of one to seven years old who overdosed on what was thought to be sleeping pills.

Reports cited that the Hopewell Fire Department responded to a 911 call on Wednesday, March 23, in the afternoon and found that four of the seven kids were breathing but remained unresponsive. The rest of the children were lethargic but awake, and they were all brought to the hospital.

The investigators found a bottle of a pill without any label. Initially, they determined that it was for sleeping pills after questioning the oldest child, who was seven years old, according to NBC News.

However, reports later cited that the pills were anti-anxiety medication. It was not clear if this was prescribed for the child they questioned.

Read Also: Sleepy Chicken TikTok Trends but Doctors Issue Warning Against Food Trip

Unsupervised Children Expected to Make Full Recovery

Lt. Cheyenne Casale of the Hopewell Police Department told WTVR that they thought the children were in grave danger after overdosing on the prescription pills. The two youngest children had to be transported to a separate hospital with better facilities for their serious condition.

However, Casale said that all of the children are expected to make a full recovery because their bodies were able to metabolize and process the anti-anxiety medication. The police said that the prescription pills might cause lethargy, sleepiness, and unconsciousness when taken in the wrong dose. Casale said that the side effect of a wrong dose in smaller children was akin to a heroin overdose.

Jeffrey Gelina, related to four of the kids, said that the overdose was upsetting. He and his half-brother, the father of the other children, have been sharing the house, which was split into two apartments.

Gelina insisted that they were not unsupervised children. Two adults were looking after the kids, but one of them had to step out to the convenience store some four blocks away for a short period.

Nonetheless, representatives of the Child Protective Services and Social Services also got into the case and had the opportunity to talk to the children. The investigations will continue into who was accountable for the kids and how one of them got hold of the prescription pills.

An Accident or an Oversight?

Casale said that the police will still have to determine if this incident was an accident or an oversight. Subsequently, the police will consult with Attorney Richard Newman on potentially filing criminal charges against the adults involved.

According to ABC News, Newman does not want to comment about the case to the press as it's still under investigation. However, the lawyer said what happened is another reminder for the adults to keep prescription medication out of reach from kids.

The children will remain in the hospital until they are fully recovered and cleared. Social Services declined to comment if they would be placed under the state's custody.

Related Article: DEA Cracks Down on Drugs Bought on Snapchat After Increasing Overdose Among Teenagers
Photo: (Photo : LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images)

After refusing to approve the dog adoption for a family with a child with autism, Kismutt Small Dog Rescue, an animal organization based in Ontario, Canada, has received some backlash for alleged discrimination.

Advocates and parents of children with disabilities believe that the rescue group should change its policy or face boycotts from the locals. Despite the backlash, Kismutt Small Dog Rescue reiterated why they could not agree to a dog adoption for families with children with autism.

In a post on Facebook, the operator of the rescue group cited that they had two instances of dog adoptions where the autistic children hurt the animals. One of these incidents led to a dog incurring stitches on its head because the child "smashed a fan" and tried to cut the animal.

"Some may criticize my policy," the operator said, reiterating that the policy has been in place since 2012. "I just will not take a chance with another dog."

Read Also: New Drunk Driving Law in Tennessee Could Penalize Drivers Who Kill a Parent

"Never Hurt a Fly"

Parents Mike and Erin Doal shared via CBC that they decided to look into dog adoption after their son, Henry Doal, 9, expressed his desire to have a dog. Henry is on the autism spectrum and is non-verbal, but he communicates with a special software installed on his iPad.

Erin said that it made her happy to hear her son express his desire for a pet. However, it broke her heart after making inquiries from Kismutt Small Dog Rescue, who rejected their request without ever seeing Henry or their family. The mother said the decision disheartened her because her son "would never hurt a fly."

The mom further said she wanted to raise awareness of their experience with such rejection. Erin noted that there is so much misinformation and ignorance about autistic kids that their story would be a good reminder not to generalize every child or situation.

"Hurtful and Discriminatory"

Janet McLaughlin, a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, said it's "hurtful and discriminatory" to lump all autistic people in the same brush. She said all kids, whether or not they have disabilities, have different behaviors.

Mom Cassidy Sabo, who has a rescue dog for her son with autism, told CTV News that the Doan family's situation was "discrimination loud and clear." She said that she was offended by Kismutt's policy and hoped that the operators would see the situation as a learning experience.

Krista London, another mom with two kids under the spectrum, doesn't understand why Kismutt singled out autistic kids when all children have their meltdowns or unpredictable moods. She said it's the parents' job to ensure that their son or daughter is safe alone with the dog since pets can be unpredictable as well.

Autism Ontario also released a statement objecting to Kismutt's discriminatory practice and reminded of the need for more education about autism. Meanwhile, Erin said that they have not stopped looking for the right organization that will give them a chance at dog adoption.

Related Article: First Sesame Street Theme Park in San Diego Will Be Sensory Friendly
CANBERRA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia's public hospitals are in crisis, the country's peak health body has warned.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) on Saturday published its 2022 Public Hospital Report Card, finding that the number of hospital beds for every 1,000 people aged 65 and over - a key measure of hospital capacity - has fallen to 14.9.

AMA President Omar Khorshid said the figure has been in decline for 28 years and is a major contributing factor to hospital overcrowding.

"Thirty years ago we had more than 30 beds in our public hospitals per 1000 people over the age of 65, we now have fewer than 15 and our population is ageing," he said in a media release.

"We expect that by 2035 more than 1 million will be older than 85 - almost double of what it is today. 2035 is not very far away and if we want to save our public hospital system we must act now."

Khorshid said the public hospital capacity must be expanded to meet the demands of a population that is increasing in size, age and suffering from multiple chronic health issues, which needs to be backed by greater investment in primary care, giving GPs (general practitioners) the support they desperately need to keep people out of hospital.

According to the report, more than one third of emergency department (ED) patients waited longer than the recommended 30 minutes to receive urgent care.

"One in three people who present to an ED will wait longer than four hours to be either discharged or admitted. This is why we see increased ramping of ambulances in front of our hospitals and why patients are suffering unnecessarily," Khorshid said.

One in three patients waited longer than 90 days for category two elective surgeries including heart valve replacement operations.

Thirty-one percent of patients waited longer than 365 days for a knee replacement, up from 11.4 percent the previous year.

On Saturday, Australia reported more than 50,000 new COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths, according to health department figures from states and territories.

"Problems that have existed for years have only been amplified by COVID-19. It's time to fix this mess through better funding and more innovation," Khorshid said. 
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions
By Julia Reynolds, Center for Investigative Reporting

with William Kistner and Omar Lavieri in Buenos Aires



UPDATE: Just days after the publication of this Web-exclusive report on May 23, Jean Bernard Lasnaud was arrested in Switzerland in response to an Interpol request. Swiss authorities contacted the Argentina courts, where the current judge on the case quickly requested Lasnaud's extradition. If sent to Argentina, Lasnaud will face 22 years in prison on charges of arms smuggling and "abuse of authority." As this FRONTLINE/World report pointed out, the U.S. had broken from standard practice and never took even basic steps toward detaining Lasnaud. If he finally faces the Buenos Aires courts, it is hoped Lasnaud's testimony will help shed light on how a wanted international arms smuggler was able to spend a decade living openly in the U.S. Note: After Lasnaud's arrest, his Web site was taken off the Internet. This story was edited on January 27, 2012 to remove the name of a person unrelated to the subject of the story.



In the fall of 2001, international arms broker Jean-Bernard Lasnaud was at ease, sounding more like a seasoned entrepreneur than a fugitive from justice. "Business has been terrible since September 11," he laughed, during a telephone interview with FRONTLINE/World. "I'm going to give it up and buy a hot dog stand in New York City." Behind his carefree appearance, Lasnaud is a most wanted man. He is sought by Argentina and Interpol in connection with a massive illegal arms trafficking case, and he has been formally accused in European courts of arms smuggling and attempted fraud. Despite nearly three years' of arrest requests from Argentinean jurists, U.S. authorities have let him live peacefully in South Florida. Then, in the spring of 2002, Jean-Bernard Lasnaud disappeared. A French citizen by birth, Lasnaud has made South Florida his home for more than a decade. Personable and easy-going, he was in the business of selling tanks, rocket launchers and SCUD missiles from a luxury condo in a gated South Florida community. With the proper paperwork, a customer can still order a fighter plane or a 400-bed field hospital from Lasnaud's Web site. According to Lasnaud's estimate, his Caribbean Group of Companies sells between $1 and $2.5 million of merchandise a year. Lasnaud insisted his business is just like any other. "Of course I am completely legitimate," he said. "Why else would I be selling on a Web site, where everybody can see? You can see my licenses right there. And not just anybody can buy from me. You have to have the proper papers, certificates approved by the State Department." With a sporty bow tie and an easy smile, Lasnaud does not look the image of a shady arms dealer. In January, his name was posted plainly at the gate of his residence near Fort Lauderdale. "No. I am a husband and a father," he insisted when approached at his home for an interview. After some initial pleasant exchanges, Lasnaud grew tired of reporters' requests and said he did not want to discuss his arms business in South America. "That's old news," he said. Over the years, Lasnaud, 60, has been sought on a number of arms-related charges - mostly allegations of embargo violations and financial fraud - in France, Belgium and Argentina. A Belgian newspaper reported in 1983 that Lasnaud was convicted in absentia for illegal arms trafficking. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but the newspaper said police could not find him. A few years later, he showed up in the United States. Lasnaud now stands accused in Buenos Aires courts of brokering sales of Argentinean weapons to Croatia and Ecuador from 1992 to 1995, in violation of U.N. and international embargoes. As a result, in 1999 Interpol issued a "red notice" for Lasnaud, a high-priority request for immediate arrest and extradition. "An Interpol red notice is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today," says the U.S. Justice Department Web site. A red notice has been issued for Osama bin Laden -- and for hundreds of accused arms dealers, murderers and drug traffickers most people have never heard of. For nearly three years, the Justice Department has deviated from standard extradition procedure and has refused to arrest Jean-Bernard Lasnaud, curiously citing lack of evidence. Argentinean prosecutors are stunned at this refusal; a documentary trail of faxes, money transfers and email points to Lasnaud's knowledge and participation in the sales. Now it may be too late for the US to arrest him. After years of living freely in the U.S., Lasnaud appears to have gone missing. His former attorney Kenneth Warner says he hasn't heard from Lasnaud since March, and Warner confirms that Lasnaud has moved out of his condo. In early May, his phone was disconnected. Caribbean Group was handed over to the care of a Miami man named Seyed Moghani, who says that Lasnaud is in France. "He still owns the business," Moghani says, and customers can still place orders via fax. On May 14, Lasnaud told FRONTLINE/World via email, "I am traveling out of the U.S. for the time being." He added, "I have nothing to declare and I do not wish to answer to any questions." A source at Interpol headquarters in France says that travelling internationally with a red notice is "highly unusual." The Argentina and Ecuador Deals Between 1992 and 1995, Argentina's President Carlos Menem signed several decrees authorizing sales of Argentine-made arms to Uruguay and Panama. But the true destinations were Croatia, which was under a U.N. arms embargo, and Ecuador, embargoed by the 1945 Rio Accord because of its ongoing war with Peru. >> View a map of the arms trail In all, more than 6,500 tons of small arms and ammunition found its way to wars in the Balkans and the Andes, for fees totaling $100 million or more. Investigators estimate that half the money went for bribes. Witnesses testified that Jean-Bernard Lasnaud was seen at the Port of Buenos Aires, inspecting one of the shipments bound for Croatia. But the most significant documentary evidence against him surfaced from Argentina's Ecuador deals. Lasnaud is accused of brokering the sale of more than 70 tons of rifles and ammunition to Ecuador. To facilitate the deal, he partnered with Navy Capt. Horacio Estrada, who has been accused of torture and murder during Argentina's "Dirty War." It was a sweet deal gone bad. In February 1995, three shipments of what turned out to be old and defective weapons were flown to Quito. Rifles were missing their cleaning mechanisms and bayonets. Boxes were stamped with recent dates, but the ammunition was manufactured as far back as 1972. The Ecuadorian military was outraged. Lasnaud and Estrada scrambled to apologize. In a handwritten fax, Lasnaud and Estrada offered Russian anti-tank missiles to make up for their faux pas. The apology was apparently accepted, because Estrada received a transfer of $1.85 million from the Junta de Defensa Nacional de Quito. He had already issued a payment of $22,000 to Lasnaud a few days earlier. By July 1995, Ecuador tried to cancel the balance of its contract with Lasnaud's Caribbean Group, but 9.2 million cartridges were already on their way to Quito. This time the supplies came from Iran, because Argentina was attracting too much press. Details of the deal had leaked just days after the weapons landed in Ecuador. It now appears that the Ecuador sale was an attempt by a relative of President Menem to turn the dregs of Argentina's arsenal into quick cash. It was a sloppy deal that thrust a reluctant Lasnaud into the international spotlight. Death of a Witness Three years later, in 1998, Lasnaud was home in Florida, still brokering helicopters, small arms and anti-aircraft missile launchers with his partner Estrada. But in August 1998, Estrada was interrogated by an Argentinean judge for his role in the Croatia and Ecuador sales. Estrada issued a written statement to the court insisting that although he knew Lasnaud, they never completed a business transaction together. Four days later, Estrada was found shot dead in his Buenos Aires apartment. Police investigators ruled the death a suicide. They found 92 email messages from Lasnaud in Estrada's computer, all sent during the previous week and a half. One last email message urgently requested shipment of 1,500 rifles to Sierra Leone, where arms to rebel forces have been embargoed since 1997. Lasnaud signed off with, "Funds are available for this operation immediately. Best Regards, Juan." Estrada never read Lasnaud's final request. He was already dead. "Arrest first, ask questions later" The Lasnaud case is part of a matrix of arms sales, corruption scandals and terrorist bombings that have helped destabilize Argentina in recent years. It was Argentina's ongoing investigations into those events that led to Interpol's red notice for Lasnaud. Buenos Aires courts have looked to U.S. law enforcement for assistance in its investigations, but the requests seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Six months after the September 11 attacks, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a gathering of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General of the Americas that he applauded efforts to combat arms smuggling, and he stressed the importance of mutual assistance in extradition cases, "because only the criminals will benefit from restrictions on our ability to cooperate." Despite the tough talk, the U.S. has been inconsistent in enforcing weapons laws at home. While some international arms dealers such as Victor Bout are high-priority targets of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement, others such as Lasnaud don't seem to make it onto the radar screen. Typically, when Interpol issues a red notice, the Justice Department "arrests first and asks questions later," as one law enforcement official put it. Standard extradition procedures are followed even in minor cases. For instance, in 1992, a Miami resident was handcuffed, arrested, jailed for 40 days, and voluntarily extradited in response to an Argentinean judge's request. The charge? Owing $76 to a client in Buenos Aires. Argentinean prosecutors wonder, then, why the U.S. never arrested Lasnaud, an arms dealer accused of secretly brokering weapons smuggled around the world. Jeffrey Denner, a criminal defense attorney who helped rewrite the U.S.-U.K. extradition treaty, says that it is common procedure to make an immediate arrest in such cases, because the aim is to make sure the suspect doesn't flee. At that point, Denner says, questioning the other country's evidence is rare. "It's not up to us to decide whether he's guilty under Argentinean law. There's some basic due process that has to be covered, but beyond that, it's just not something we look into, ever." Typically, it is only after the arrest that the foreign evidence is examined in an extradition hearing before a magistrate judge. Northwestern University professor and international law expert Anthony D'Amato says that determining "sufficient evidence" is up to each country, but asking for it up front is rare. "There's no particular evidence rule," says D'Amato. "When it hasn't even gotten to the stage of a magistrate and it's just being done by the police, nobody has to be convinced of anything -- unless, as I suspect here, the U.S. doesn't want to be convinced." D'Amato says the procedure usually only varies when "there's some political reason why the U.S. doesn't want to do it. Because normally, the State Department is super-vigilant about dealing with these cases." "The interesting aspect," says Jeffrey Denner, "would be whether he's cooperating with the U.S. government or some of our allies, and that's why they're not doing this." U.S. "Winked" at Arms Sales National interests were apparently at stake in some of Lasnaud's deals. Dr. Daniel Nelson, a former arms proliferation consultant to the State Department, was in Croatia during the time of the sales. Nelson says that in the early 1990s, the US was in favor of arming Croatia but did not want to openly violate the U.N. embargo; instead, officials simply "winked" at weapons shipments from Argentina, South Africa, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine and Iran. "U.S. people were engaged in trying to find sources [to get arms to Croatia] - Islamic, and those that weren't. And Argentina was one of those," Nelson says. The State Department initially denied knowledge of Argentina's embargo violations. "[Ambassador Peter] Galbraith and the U.S. Embassy knew about that," says Nelson. "To suspect that they did not know about the Argentina deals, when Argentineans were speaking Spanish in the Croatian Defense Ministry, is ridiculous." Galbraith later admitted that while the U.S. did not openly endorse violating the U.N. embargo, he did tell the Croatians to "pay attention to what I did not say. ... It was meant to mean that we were not objecting." Another possible explanation emerged in a recent F.B.I. investigation of Lasnaud's son, Alexandre, for unrelated charges. In a tape made as part of that undercover investigation, Alexandre bragged to an informant that his father collaborated with the CIA. He claimed he and his father were attempting to buy Chinese radar equipment for the U.S. military. "What we're ordering, okay, is top secret, top secret sh-[that] the United States Military, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy want," Alexandre Lasnaud said, according to the transcript. "But it's not something that they publicize all over the world, saying we are seeking this, okay? ...They talked to my dad yesterday and they reiterate, we need this thing fast." "It's [not] something that the Democrats and Congress would understand -- that the United States Army is paying people to purchase foreign military items -- even though it's for the purpose of training American troops." Jean-Bernard Lasnaud is authorized to do business with the U.S. government and he proudly publishes his Defense Logistics Information Service license number on his Web site. "Government bids welcomed," reads the home page, under a "God Bless America" icon. An ownership trace of aircraft offered for sale on the site confirmed that at least one tanker-refueler plane is registered to the U.S. Air Force. A former U.S. intelligence agent stationed in Latin America tells FRONTLINE/World he has confirmed that Lasnaud has been a C.I.A. asset "since the Iran-Contra days," but says it is unclear whether he still has that status. "Lasnaud certainly fits the profile," a former U.S. Customs official in the Miami area agrees. "He's probably either [a C.I.A.] asset or he's an informant for Customs or some other agency." Sources from the criminal defense bar, the National Security Council, U.S. Customs and intelligence agencies agree there are only a few reasons that the Justice Department would not follow its normal procedure when faced with a red notice: it could be plain old bureaucratic incompetence; the subject has been or is an active informant in a criminal matter; or he is performing work deemed vital to U.S. national security. For example, in 1986 agents from U.S. Customs and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms impounded an Air National Guard Huey helicopter found in arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian's hangar, bound for El Salvador. But authorities dropped all charges. The reason, according to a U.S. Customs source, is that Soghanalian was providing information to U.S. intelligence. Another source in the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami says that when the Justice Department does not honor a red notice in the usual procedural manner, there "must be something else going on" related to U.S. national security or U.S. intelligence agencies. The Invisible Man Whatever the reasons for American reluctance to arrest Lasnaud, Argentina has not given up its effort to prosecute him. Even in the midst of economic crisis, the arms case remains a priority. In 2000, ex-president Carlos Menem and other top officials were investigated and placed under house arrest for their suspected roles in the arms deals. Although Menem was set free by a friendly Supreme Court last November, that decision was recently overturned and a new investigation of the former president has been ordered. In April, former finance minister Domingo Cavallo was arrested in connection with the arms sales. Three separate cases have been combined into one, and the Interpol arrest request for Lasnaud remains in force. According to the Department of Justice Criminal Division spokesman Bryan Sierra, the department stands by the original claim made by the division's Office of International Affairs -- that there is insufficient evidence Lasnaud knew the Ecuador shipments contained weapons. Yet it seems unlikely that U.S. investigators have not seen the fax and documents FRONTLINE/World has obtained that indicate otherwise. If nothing else, U.S. law enforcement's response has been confusing. U.S. Customs weapons investigators in Lasnaud's own neighborhood knew myriad details of the Argentina deals, but say they've never heard of Lasnaud. Meanwhile, officials in Customs headquarters in Washington acknowledge that they do know who he is. An assistant U.S. attorney initially expressed interest in the case, but after checking with colleagues said he could not meet with reporters. "I don't know what to tell you," he apologized. "Sorry I can't help more." Now Lasnaud may be gone for good. A former intelligence agent says, "The fact that he was here bothers me. The fact that he got out with a red notice on him bothers me even more." Dr. Graciela Abreu of the Argentinean embassy in Washington was perplexed as to why the Department of Justice never arrested Lasnaud. "We wanted to prevent this guy from leaving the country," she says. Although the Interpol notice remains in effect, Argentina cannot request extradition without knowing where Lasnaud is. When a cameraman for the Center for Investigative Reporting spotted Lasnaud in a parking lot last December, he called out, "Are you Mr. Lasnaud?" Startled, Lasnaud smiled and answered mischievously, "But it's not me." With that, he drove off, a bright American flag on his windshield, looking just like any other patriot in times of terror. Six months later, the arms baron of Ft. Lauderdale may be set to become the target of an international manhunt.



Additional reporting by Lowell Bergman, Allyce Bess, Dave Gilson, Marlena Telvick, Monica Sagullo, James Sandler, Will Evans, Mabel Tampinco, Robin Stein, Kelly Davis and Jared Saylor. Thanks to Gerardo Reyes, Patrick Oppman, and Ralph Renick Jr. Julia Reynolds is a staff reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting and editorial director of El Andar Magazine.



NEXT: VICTOR ANATOLIYEVICH BOUT

The Embargo Buster: Fueling Bloody Civil Wars






The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC) is projecting a revenue of US$2.3billion for this year through local and international visitor arrivals.



The ministry indicated the target revenue is possible as it is anticipating one million international tourists this year, and 800,000 domestic visitor turnouts to various attractions in 2022.



Tourism Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, who was speaking to the B&FT said the target is achievable as the country, despite the height of COVID-19 in 2021, was able to make close to US$2billion revenue from the sector.



As part of plans, the sector is making strides to create about 150,000 jobs out of tourism and cultural activities this year, he said.



Despite the ongoing global financial crisis and subsiding of COVID-19, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in its 2022 preliminary travel confidence report has said the recent rise in Omicron variant will temporarily disrupt travel recovery and affect confidence through early 2022.



The report however said most countries, from the second quarter of this year, will bounce back strongly with a revived confidence in the global travel market.



This, Dr. Awal said, requires a lot of creativity and innovation from sector players in Ghana to rake in the needed revenue, considering the financial crisis facing the world.



If we are able to innovate to bring in the US$2.3billion by close of the year through tourism, well be shoring up the cedi, creating jobs for Ghanaians and making the local economy resilient against all the external shocks and pandemics, he said.



As part of plans to meet the target, the ministry and Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) will in April this year launch Destination Ghana in London.



The launch in London, according to Dr. Awal is intended to drive about one million tourists from Europe into the country.



This and many initiatives are in the pipeline to ensure that we meet the target for this year, he said.

Source: B&FT









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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Crude prices declined in volatile trading on Thursday as investors assessed the potential for new supply in tight markets amid prospects of a new Iran deal.



Brent futures were down 15 cents, or 0.12%, at $121.45 a barrel, after falling more than $1 earlier in the session.



U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 75 cents, or 0.65%, to $114.18 a barrel at 0729 GMT, after shedding over $2 earlier.



The contracts had gained $2 and $1, respectively, in morning trade.



White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday the United States and its allies have made progress in Iran nuclear talks but issues remain.



"A lifting of Iranian export restrictions would help alleviate the immense tightness prevalent in crude markets right now," consultancy JBC Energy said in a note.



Iran is already preparing for a ramp-up in exports, and the state refiner NIOC has reportedly started to reach out to former key customers in India and South Korea, the note added.



Both contracts have posted steep gains this week, with Brent futures up more than $14 a barrel, or 13%, since Monday and WTI climbing over $10 a barrel, or 10%, as worries over supply disruptions intensified following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.



Oil markets jumped more than 5% on Wednesday following reports that crude exports from Kazakhstan's Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal had completely halted following storm damage. Russia's deputy prime minister said oil supplies could be stopped for two months. read more



U.S. President Biden is meeting with NATO allies on Thursday and is expected to announce additional sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special operation".



Meanwhile, stockpiles in the United States fell by 2.5 million barrels last week while inventories from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve declined by 4.2 million barrels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Market participants had expected a modest increase in supplies.



U.S. oil production remained flat at 11.6 million barrels per day, according to EIA data.



"Though the overall undertone remains quite bullish, $115 per barrel is still a hurdle area for the WTI crude and unless that is taken out convincingly, prices look to witness a breather," said Sugandha Sachdeva, vice president, commodities at Religare Broking.

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.

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Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, has called for peaceful industrial relations to ensure that labour focuses on the main mandate for production.



He said stakeholders must work together to reduce disruptions on the labour front.



Mr Baffour Awuah said this during a working visit to Ghana Textiles Limited (GTP) to engage staff and management over recent impasse.



Workers of the GTP on Thursday, February 24 embarked on a demonstration to draw the attention of the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry to remove Madam Fatoumata Doro, the Managing Director.



The staff, clad in red, closed the main entrance of the company.



Mr Baffour Awuah, whose visit was also to engage the GTP branch of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), emphasised the governments commitment towards a peaceful labour front for national development.



The Labour Minister reiterated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos commitment to building an economy that was not dependent on charity and handouts but an economy that looked past commodities to position our country in the global market.



We need a peaceful working environment to build a Ghana that looks to her own resources and proper management to engineer social and economic growth in our country, he said.



Mr Baffor Awuah also appealed to the workers to use the appropriate safety gadgets provided at the workplace to ensure their safety and charged the labour union to be responsible at the workplace.



The Labour Minister expressed concern about three recorded accidents at the workplace last year due to the failure of workers to wear safety gadgets.



He said theres the need for engagement with the GTP management to ensure industrial peace, adding that the Ministrys doors were opened to all.



It is our duty as the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to ensure that, all working environment is peaceful and free from issues that seek to corrupt the working atmosphere, he said.



Mr Joseph Amosah, GTP Production Manager and Mr. Kwame Ofori Gyau, GTP Human Resource Manager took the minister through some of the departments and units of the company.



GTP is the first indigenous Ghanaian textile brand launched unto the Ghanaian market in January 1966 by the late Osegyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanas first President.



GTP is designed, printed, distributed and marketed by Tex Styles Ghana Limited (TSG), a member of the global Textile giant VLISCO BV headquartered in Helmond, The Netherlands.



GTP has three sister brands  WOODIN which is also designed, produced and sold by TSG; VLISCO which is imported from the parent company in The Netherlands and UNIWAX which is produced in Ivory Coast by another subsidiary of Vlisco BV.







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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Undoubtedly, the implementation of the government flagship programme, free senior high school (SHS), is a positive step forward and it is here to stay.



However, the sustainability of the current model presents challenges primarily not only through cost but also available infrastructure.



Importance



In the context of cost alone, we must review how the programme is delivered.



The free SHS is to ensure that no child who gets to the senior high school stage is denied access.



The primary driver for this is to overcome poverty as a barrier to education.



However, free education for all is something Ghana patently cannot afford and so how do we protect education that is free for those who cannot afford it?



Means-tested



Access to free SHS must be means-tested parents of wards, who are to receive the programme to present their case with a simple statement of income and expenditure.



This should include the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) TIN and all tax clearance certificates.



The government will set a level of income below which children from the applicants may attend school for free.



The government can also consider tapering fees since incomes alone a little above the free SHS threshold may be difficult to absorb for families that are not eligible but still in low income.



This way, the direct burden on the government for all free SHS costs is somewhat ameliorated.



A major bonus is an ability, drive and compulsion to draw people from the informal sector of the economy into the formal by requiring them to be registered with the GRA for tax purposes.

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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The Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given an inkling about the harsh decision the regional bloc might take concerning three of its members whose military have truncated democratic rules in their respective countries.



President Akufo-Addo in his opening remarks at the fifth extraordinary meeting of the authority of ECOWAS on the political situation in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali described them as recalcitrant member states and called for swift and appropriate decisions on the way forward.



In an unusual manner, President Akufo-Addo who is known for giving opening remarks that last an average of four minutes in the previous four extraordinary sessions since the sessions started in Ghana a year ago did just a minute.



He welcomed his colleagues back to Accra again to take stock of where they were with the three recalcitrant member states, Mali Guinea and Burkina Faso and take appropriate decisions on the way forward.



He thanked his colleagues for attending the fifth extraordinary meeting of the authority of ECOWAS heads of state and the political situations Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso and declared the meeting duly opened.



He said this was a clear indication of their determination to assume the responsibilities for the security of ECOWAS.



The heads of states moved straight into a close session after President Akufo-Addo's remarks.





Source: graphiconline.com









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Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi, India, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhao Xu)

NEW DELHI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar agreed on Friday to strengthen communication for the further development of bilateral ties.

During their meeting in the Indian capital, Wang noted that China and India, which are neighboring ancient civilizations with a combined population of 2.8 billion people, are the two nucleus forces promoting a multipolar world, economic globalization, diversified civilization and greater democracy in international relations.

As the world is entering a time of turbulences and transformations, the two countries should strengthen communication and coordinate their stances in safeguarding their legitimate interests as well as the common interests of the developing countries, so as to make respective contributions to peace and stability in the region and the world as well, Wang said.

For his part, Jaishankar said that India attaches great importance to its relations with China, with no changes made in its strategic assessment of the importance of China.

India is willing to strengthen communication with China and increase mutual trust to get their relationship out of its current low as early as possible, and to enable steady and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, he said.

Wang said that China and India, as two rational major developing countries, should put their border issue at a proper position in bilateral relations. The border issue should neither define nor affect the overall development of the China-India ties.

The two countries should help eath other fulfill achievements rather than constrain one another, and should support rather than reject each other, he said.

The Chinese foreign minister noted that the two countries should adhere to the important consensus reached between their leaders that China and India should not be a threat to each other, but an opportunity for each other's development.

The two countries should properly resolve the border issue and well manage their differences so as to promote bilateral relations, he said.

In the meeting, Jaishankar said that his country and China have maintained effective communication via diplomatic and military channels since last year. After rounds of the Corps Commander Level Meeting and meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs, the two militaries have realized disengagement along the Line of Actual Control in most parts of the border areas' western sector.

The Indian and Chinese border troops should disengage each other in the remaining parts as soon as possible, he said.

In the meeting, the two sides agreed that it is in the common interests of both countries to restore peace and tranquility in the border areas, and they should achieve regular management and control there on the basis of disengagement and take effective measures to avoid misunderstanding and misjudgement.

They also agreed that the two countries have same or similar positions on major international and regional issues, and they should work for mutual understanding and support in order to make positive contributions to the world.

The two sides agreed to engage in dialogue and communication on issues including deepening economic and trade cooperation, facilitating personnel exchanges, and promoting exchanges on the transboundary river hydrology.

The two sides also exchanged views on the fight against COVID-19, Ukraine, and Afghanistan as well as multilateral affairs.

They agreed that multilateralism should be upheld, and the UN Charter and international law should be abided by, while disputes should be settled peacefully via dialogue. They also expressed their grave concerns over the impact of unilateral sanctions on the global economy and supply chain security.

On the same day, Wang also met with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during his working visit to the South Asian country. 
The Executive Secretary of the Northern Regional branch of the National Peace Council (NPC), Rev. Father Thaddeus Kuusah, has entreated the various ethnic groups and traditional authorities to tolerate one another to promote peaceful co-existence for national development.



According to him, some of the conflicts being witnessed in the country were as a result of the disregard for the cultural diversity of individuals and groups, saying the only way to ensure national cohesion was to respect one anothers views and beliefs.



"We need to stop looking down on the cultures of others; every ethnic group values its culture, and so looking down on others culture can lead to conflicts, he added.



Rev. Father Kuusah was speaking at a days peace-building and conflict resolution workshop for assembly members in Karaga in the Northern Region last Wednesday.



It was organised by the Karaga Peace Ambassadors, a civil society organisation, in collaboration with the STAR Ghana Foundation.



The training formed part of a conflict, security and stability fund (CSSF) project being implemented in northern Ghana and funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK.



For some time now, the Karaga District has recorded a number of disturbances arising from farmer-herder conflicts, leading to the loss of lives and properties.



Rev. Father Kuusah charged the assembly members to be impartial in resolving conflicts to ensure peaceful resolutions.



He also advised residents of the district to co-exist peacefully and use lawful mechanisms to settle their differences, instead of resorting to violence.



Objective



The Project Officer of the CSSF, Mr Aaron Atimpe, said the training was aimed at building the capacity of the assembly members for them to collaborate effectively with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the resolution of conflicts in the area.



"Under the CSSF, 13 communities in three districts in northern Ghana are being supported to implement community-led approaches to address identified conflict and insecurity issues and also strengthen stakeholder action at the local level towards peace and security," he said.



For his part, the Coordinator of the Karaga Peace Ambassadors, Mr Baba Kamaldeen, appealed to the people to eschew violence and embrace peace to promote development.







Source: graphiconline.com









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Dr Chris Kpodar, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Investments Ghana Limited, says artificial intelligence (AI) represents the future and that should be the direction Ghana should be going.



It is the pathway to achieving increased efficiency, lower human error rates and improved workflows among other highpoints.



AI refers to the use of simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions and may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving.



Dr Kpodar, who is also a Chief Technical Advisor for the Centre for Greater Impact Africa (CGIA), said AI had become necessary in all spheres of life and gradually becoming the future.



Ghana like all other developing countries must join the technological drive through strategic policies, he stated at a forum organized by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tema.



Dr Kpodar encouraged young people to learn and to draw level with the new trends of AI, its benefits and implications for industrialization.



Everyone who wants to be relevant in this age does not require just reading and writing but knowing and applying artificial intelligence, therefore, I have always advocated that no education should take place without practical training.



He noted that AI alone could make the world food-sufficient and poverty-free if adopted and applied well.

Source: GNA









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The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, has asked the Business Committee of Parliament, to re-schedule the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Attas appearance before the House to answer questions filed by members.



He explained that it was obvious Mr Ofori-Atta would not be able to appear before the House due to other engagements.



Mr Osei-Owusu gave the directive in response to a request by the Minority caucus that most of the pending questions had been advertised in the name of Mr Ofori-Atta in the Order Paper since June 2021, yet he only kept giving reasons not to appear in the House to answer them.



Speaking on the floor of Parliament yesterday, the Minority Chief Whip, Mr Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, said the Minority found such conduct very unacceptable since Mr Ofori Atta could find time to go round the country for town hall meetings but does not want to answer to the representatives of the people.



Mr Muntaka raised the concern soon after the Majority Chief Whip, Mr Frank Annor-Dompreh, had proposed that the House vary the Order of Business and consider a motion for the approval of the Report of the Finance Committee on Ghanas subscription to 11,996 shares ($11.9 million) allocated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank.



But Mr Muntaka said the House had scheduled about 10 questions for the Finance Minister to come before the House to answer them yesterday.



Definitive instructions



He said per the Standing Orders, the minister was to answer questions within two weeks after the notice of the questions had been served on him.



He, therefore, was worried that if Parliament kept accommodating the Finance Ministers excuses, he would gloss over the questions he was supposed to answer.



I would plead with the Speaker that we may want to vary some work and I do not have any objections to that but we should give a definitive instruction for the Finance Minister to come and answer the questions so that we do not leave it in the pool for them to get lost.



Minister



Speaking in support of the Minority, the Mr Annor-Dompreh, agreed that those outstanding questions advertised in the name of the Finance Minister had gone through the necessary process.



He, however, expressed doubt that those questions were admitted eight months ago.



In this House between leadership, we have come to a working agreement that where a sector minister is unable to attend upon the House, at least we should have correspondence a day ahead of the day he is billed to answer the said questions.

Source: Graphiconline









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There was some drama in Parliament as the Majority attempted to remove embattled Assin North MP, James Gyakye Quayson, from the floor of the House during Parliamentary proceedings insisting that Parliament must adhere to an order from the High Court that prevented James Gyekye Quayson from holding himself as an MP.



Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, MP, Kwadaso, had asked the House which was presided over by Joseph Osei Owusu (Joe Wise), First Deputy Speaker, to decide the fate of the MP who was in the chamber to present the people of Assin North.



This call generated a heated debate among legislators regarding whether or not James Gyakye Quaysons presence was in contempt of court. The Kwadaso MP was also seeking to find out if his colleague was permitted to be in the House and continue to carry himself as a lawmaker.



Honourable Speaker, we are law-abiding people, we go by the tenets of the constitution. I want to find out from you whether his presence here is allowed, Dr. Nyarko said.



Samuel Atta Akyea, Abuakwa South MP, added his voice to the debate, stating, the House should not condone the conduct of the embattled MP.



Let it sound strong that he is disqualified to come to this chamber until he is allowed to sit here by a High Court. If not then he is in contempt of the court and this honourable house should not give its blessings to a man who has conducted himself improperly and we shouldnt encourage such behaviour for our own dignity, he said.



But in a reaction, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, South Dayi MP, noted, The Honourable Atta Akyea has misled the House to suggest that the Appeal is not before the Court of Appeal, it was not dismissed. What was dismissed was an interlocutory matter that was set aside on grounds of noncompliance, the substantive appeal is pending. As a House, we cannot tolerate this. Our two brothers (Dr. Kingley Naryko and Atta Akyea) are completely out of order for raising this matter on this floor.



The right of the Honourable member is not yet determined by a court of law, he has the right of an appeal which appeal is still.



Joe Wise in his ruling said, The only thing that has to be verified is whether or not the appeal has been determined. That is a question of fact, it is not the question of law and I do not intend that we do that at this moment. I will discuss that with leadership and whatever steps we have to take we will take after that.



A Court of Appeal in Cape Coast on Tuesday, March 22 struck out the appeal by James Gyakye Quayson for non-compliance with court procedures.



Quayson had filed an appeal that was challenging a High court ruling that declared new parliamentary elections should be organised in the constituency.



The presiding judge, Irene Charity Larbi, ruled that the MP failed to comply with the courts directives to submit his written submission within a stipulated time.



Watch the proceedings below as captured by TV3:





Source: Ghanaweb.com









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The Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, Nana Ayew Afriyie says a threat by some Members of Parliament drawn from the Minority side over the mandatory COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) is nothing but baseless.



He explained in a post on his Facebook wall that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is yet to speak on the situation  hence, their threat to picket at the airport is not realistic.



Why not wait and listen to the President before you decide to embark on a demonstration or call the Minister of Health to the committee to answer any grievance or further questions? a portion of his post reads.



He continued by saying, I have no idea of what the President has up his sleeves for us on Sunday. I advise the public to disregard the call for demonstrations and give the President the opportunity to speak first on Sunday the 27th of March.



This follows calls by some NDC MPs to make the mandatory COVID-19 testing at the Airport free.



According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, the government must accompany the re-opening of the land borders with the removal of the costs for KIA testing.



In as much as I welcome this development [the expected opening of land borders], it is inadequate. We want to see a complete reversal; a complete rollback [of the fees].



The MP for North Tongu addressing the Media in Parliament said, We want to serve notice that if by next week, the government does not reverse the fees . . . we are going to talk. Series of actions including public action, public manifestation and picketing at the airport until that fleecing going on at the airport is reversed.



Read Below Dr Ayews Facebook post



MINORITY THREAT OF DEMO ON AIPORT TESTING IS NOT REALISTIC.



While I think the minority is taking advantage of the news that the president will issue new covid directives on Sunday 27th March, their threat to demonstrate is not realistic.



Why not wait and listen to the president before you decide to embark on a demonstration or call the minister of health to the committee to answer any grievance or further questions.



I have no idea of what the president has up his sleeves for us on Sunday. I advise the public to disregard the call for demonstrations and give the president the opportunity to speak first on Sunday the 27th of March.



I DISAGREE WITH THE MINORITY & WHY WE CANT DO AWAY WITH AIRPORT TESTING FOR NOW, BUT RATHER CONSIDER PRICE REDUCTION:



1. There is no new evidence that fully vaccinated persons are covid free



2. Antigen is quick, max 10mins.



3. Many antigen equipment have sensitivity and specificity values well improved and close to PCR, especially wrt specificity values( ie the probability that, a negative test is truly negative )



4. Ghana records rising levels of covid new cases, especially after Christmas and Summer vacation. ( Ref GHS covid data). Here people move from more prevalent areas move to our country where the prevalence is on the lower side. Also, there are more social gatherings during this period.



5. Summer is yet to come and we are likely to have more people from the west coming for holidays in Ghana. With this uncertainty, I will never recommend KIA testing to be abolished until one cycle is over ie summer and winter come in by 2022 without any surge in covid new cases.



Nana Ayew Afriye Dr. MP

{ Chairman- Health Committee}

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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US President, Joe Biden will travel to a town near the Polish-Ukrainian border Friday March 25, trying to signal Western resolve against a Russian invasion.



Air Force One will jet into the eastern Polish town of Rzeszow -- bringing the US president less than 80 kilometres (50 miles) from a war-torn nation still struggling to repel a brutal Russian invasion.



The trip is designed to underscore Washington's willingness to defend NATO allies, as fears rise that the month-old war in Ukraine could spill westward sparking what the US president has called "World War III."



The Kremlin's refusal to rule out the use of nuclear weapons, and a steady flow of Russian disinformation about chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine has left Kyiv and its allies fearful of an even-more serious conflagration.



Russia is already accused of using phosphorus bombs and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas -- something the United States has branded a war crime.



Against that backdrop, Biden will meet members of the US 82nd Airborne Division, part of NATO's increasingly muscular deployment to its eastern flank.



At an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday NATO announced the deployment of further troops to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, as well as bolstering chemical and nuclear defences in case Russia expands its attack beyond Ukraine.



In Poland, Biden will also receive a briefing on the dire humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which has seen more than 3.5 million people pour out of the country, mostly to Poland.



The UN believes that more than half of Ukraine's children have already been driven from their homes, "a grim milestone that could have lasting consequences for generations to come," according to Unicef chief Catherine Russell.



"Every day it's 20, 30 times we go to the basement (to shelter)," said a sobbing 37-year-old Vasiliy Kravchuk in the garrison town of Zhytomyr.



"It's difficult because my wife is pregnant, I have a little son."



Biden's trip comes as the West faces urgent questions about what more it will do to help those like Kravchuk withstand the Russian onslaught.



This comes after Ukraine's embattled president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday begged NATO for unlimited weapons to help besieged Ukrainian cities like Mariupol cling on in the face of fierce Russian bombardment.



About 100,000 civilians are said to be trapped in the southern port city with dwindling supplies of food, water, and power, and with encircling Russian forces slowly grinding the city to dust.









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PARIS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- One migrant from Eritrea was electrocuted on Friday while trying to get on a train at the station of the city of Valenciennes, northeast France, French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported.

Three other migrants following him were also injured, and one employee of the French National Railway Company (SNCF) suffered a shock at the scene.

A fire was triggered in the wagon that contained tires, then spread to other wagons and onto another train.

According to Le Figaro, the migrants attempted to smuggle on to the train heading to the city of Calais for England. But the first migrant that went into the tarpaulin wagon was electrocuted and died on the spot.

"They are migrants that could be underage," said the public prosecutor of Valenciennes Jean-Philippe Vicentini.

The train station was evacuated and traffic was interrupted. The mayor of Valenciennes, Laurent Degallaix, annoucned that the train station would be closed until Saturday. 
Erik Seidel Defeats Phil Hellmuth to Win US Poker Open $25,000 NLH ($472,500)

March 25, 2022 Connor Richards Editor & Live Reporter U.S.

Erik Seidel is the latest US Poker Open winner after he defeated fellow Poker Hall of Famer Phil Hellmuth in Event #9: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em to win $472,500 and the prestigious trophy.

Seidel, who passes David Peters to sit fourth on the all-time money list with $39.2 million in earnings, topped a field of 63 entrants in the high-roller tournament that generated a prize pool of $1.6 million.

The heads-up battle between the two poker legends was a sight to see as Seidel bested Hellmuth to deny The Poker Brat the title and send him out in second for $315,000.

Phil Hellmuth

Its pretty wild that the two of us got heads-up. Thats the third time weve been heads-up, so it was fun, Seidel said after the victory, noting that he is 3-0 against the 16-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner.

Event #9: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Results

PLACE PLAYER COUNTRY PRIZE (IN USD) 1 Erik Seidel United States $472,500 2 Phil Hellmuth United States $315,000 3 Alex Foxen United States $220,500 4 Sam Soverel United States $157,500 5 Tamon Nakamura Japan $126,000 6 Ren Lin United States $94,500 7 Alex Livingston Canada $7,8750

Free to Play Slots

From Queen-Four to Runner-Up

The legendary heads-up duel almost never happened it looked like Hellmuth would be going home in fifth place.

Playing five-handed, Alex Foxen opened on the button holding pocket nines and Hellmuth made a frisky three-bet to 350,000 from the big blind with queen-four offsuit and about 540,000 left in his stack.

Foxen four-bet to put his opponent all-in and Hellmuth, to the surprise of many, did not instantly fold. Instead, he mulled over a call, which the utterly shocked PokerGO commentators said would be arguably one of the worst decisions of his poker career.

Nobody would call here, said Jeff Platt.

Not a single person, agreed Brent Hanks. Absolutely nobody is putting the rest of the money in.

Hellmuth disagreed and ultimately found a call for his tournament life.

Yeah, I guess I better play to win, he said before putting in the chips.

Hellmuth didnt have to sweat it long as the flop came to pair his queen, and the board finished out to improve Hellmuth to trips and keep him alive.

just setting up my twttr  Biz Stone (@biz)

It wasnt the first bad beat Foxen took at the final table. In the first hand of the day, it was Seidel who held the pocket nines while Foxen had pocket sevens. The flop came to give both players sets and an unsuspecting Foxen snap-called a re-raise shove from Seidel, who he covered, only to see he was in bad shape in the brutal cooler.

The on the turn gave Foxen additional outs with a flush draw but the on the river locked up the pot for Seidel and propelled him to his eventual victory.

Seidel was again on the winning side of a big cooler when he flopped a set of eights against the turned top to pair of Sam Soverel. All the money got in on the river and Seidel doubled up to take a commanding chip lead and leave Soverel with just two big blinds. Soverel was able to spin it up from there but ultimately fell in fourth place.

Foxen, who just days ago shipped Event #7: $15,000 No-Limit Holdem for $283,500, finished in third place when his ace-ten couldnt hold against the king-queen of Hellmuth as the board came out to give Hellmuth a boat.

Alex Foxen

Seidel entered heads-up play with a dominant chip lead that Hellmuth was never able to take away.

In the final hand, Hellmuth moved all-in holding jack-nine on a flop of , only to see he was dominated by Seidels queen-jack. The runout of didnt help Hellmuth and he hit the rail in second place in his third final table of the series.

Monkey Off Seidels Back

Though Seidels facial expression was hidden behind a face mask, the victory was undoubtedly a sweet one for the nine-time WSOP bracelet winner, whose last outright victory on the live felt was in the 2015 European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final 100,000 Super High Roller, which earned him $2.2 million.

The monkey is off his back! Platt exclaimed from the commentators booth when Seidel defeated Hellmuth. Erik Seidel has his first live tournament win in seven years!

Erik Seidel after winning the 2015 EPT Grand Final 100,000 Super High Roller

The high-roller victory gave Seidel 284 PokerGO Tour points and put him fifth on the 2022 USPO leaderboard with 428 points. Seidel finished fifth in Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Holdem for $74,400 and fifth in Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em for the same amount.

A list of winners so far at the 2022 USPO is available in the table below.

2022 US Poker Open Winners

Remember, all dozen events on the 2022 US Poker Open schedule count toward the PokerGO Tour (PGT) leaderboard.

Check out the PokerNews US Poker Open Hub here!

*Images courtesy of PokerGO.
During a televised speech to parliament on March 17, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for the war in Ukraine, echoing one of the Kremlins justifications for the invasion of Russias neighbor.

Ramaphosa emphasized that his government cannot condone the use of force and violations of international law. But he also criticized coercive measures, such as sanctions imposed on Russia outside the legal framework of the United Nations.

The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region, said Ramaphosa.

That is misleading, as it neglects Russias repeated military aggressions in the region, including those against Ukraine in 2014, as well as NATOs purpose as a defense organization.

Founded in 1949, NATO is a defense organization formed by the United States, Canada and a number of West European countries after the Second World War, in part to stop the spread of communism under the former Soviet Union.

In the years following German reunification and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO has added numerous new members. The alliance now includes 30 countries, including many former Soviet republics or satellite states.

NATO has an open door policy that allows countries to join based on unanimous consent of alliance member states. Despite Ukraines desire to join, however, and its increasingly close ties with the U.S. and European Union, NATO membership has not been extended to Ukraine.

A key reason for that has been Russias opposition. Indeed, top U.S. officials and foreign policy experts alike have over the years viewed Ukraines entry into NATO as a red line for Russia and President Vladimir Putin, who in December complained loudly about NATO expansion.

'Not one inch to the East,' they told us in the 90s, Putin said at his annual news conference, as Russian troops massed along the Ukraine border. So what? They cheated, just brazenly tricked us!

Putin was referring to 1994 negotiations that led to the Budapest Memorandum, an agreement between the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine that provided security assurances  not guarantees  to Ukraine for giving up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.

The deal pledged Russia and the parties to respect Ukraines sovereignty and territorial borders. In 2014, Russia violated those borders by using military force to annex Crimea, stage a phony accession referendum and instigate an anti-Kyiv rebellion in Ukraines Donbas region.

In other words, Russia had already invaded Ukraine eight years ago, in a conflict that has cost an estimated 14,000 lives since. Thousands more  combatants and civilians  have died in the months since Russias all-out invasion began on February 24.

In 1997, Russia signed the Founding Act with NATO, agreeing to mutual relations, cooperation and security with the aim of building peace in the Euro-Atlantic region. The act clearly states that signatories do not consider themselves adversaries.

In 2002, the NATO-Russia Council was established, and Moscow was granted access to NATOs headquarters.

The countries have pledged to respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states and their inherent right to choose the means to ensure their own security, the inviolability of borders and peoples' right of self-determination.

The Founding Act made no mention of preventing NATO from expanding eastward. Among other things, the act commits NATO and Russia to the following:

 Acknowledgement of the vital role that democracy, political pluralism, the rule of law, and respect for human rights and civil liberties and the development of free market economies play in the development of common prosperity and comprehensive security;

 Refraining from the threat or use of force against each other as well as against any other state, its sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence in any manner inconsistent with the United Nations Charter and with the Declaration of Principles Guiding Relations Between Participating States contained in the Helsinki Final Act;

 Respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states and their inherent right to choose the means to ensure their own security, the inviolability of borders and peoples' right of self-determination as enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE documents

After Russias armed annexation of Crimea, NATO suspended cooperation with Russia.

NATO clearly states that it is a defensive alliance, does not impose any threat to Russia, and acknowledges every states right to adopt its own security measures.

In fact, after the end of the Cold War, Russia committed to building an inclusive European security architecture, including through the Charter of Paris, the establishment of the OSCE [The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe], the creation of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, and the NATO-Russia Founding Act, NATO says on its website.

South Africa has cordial relations with the Kremlin and close economic ties. The country is one of 16 in Africa that abstained from the United Nations General Assembly vote denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On March 19, Ramaphosa said Putin had asked him to mediate in the Ukraine war because of South Africas ties with Russia and its membership in the BRICS group of emerging economies  which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Some analysts say Ramaphosas statement on NATO expansion undercut his potential to serve as an unbiased mediator.

Meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden stated clearly prior to the invasion that the Western alliance and Ukraine did not present a threat to Russia.

Neither the U.S. nor NATO have missiles in Ukraine. We do not  do not have plans to put them there as well, Biden said. Were not targeting the people of Russia. We do not seek to destabilize Russia.

For its part, Russia repeatedly denied in the months leading up to its invasion that it planned to attack Ukraine, even as it was building up a large invasion force along Ukraine's borders while U.S. and European diplomats worked urgently to head off a war.

Since the invasion, the U.S. and its European allies have enacted an unprecedented number of economic sanctions against Russia, Putin and other Russian leaders and influential oligarchs.
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A Mount Pleasant resident has pleaded guilty to defrauding a loan program the federal government created to help struggling businesses save jobs during the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

Adam Cessna, 39, admitted at a hearing this week to filing bogus documents on behalf of a fictitious company to obtain nearly $100,000 from the Payroll Protection Program in June 2020. He was charged in late January.

U.S. District Court Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks accepted his plea agreement Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

"Are you guilty?" she asked at one point.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

Cessna is the second area resident charged this year with bilking the U.S. Small Business Administration's forgivable loan program with the help of "others, both known and unknown," according to court documents.

A common thread between the cases is that both applicants obtained the money while working for Boeing Co. in North Charleston. They're no longer employed for the 787 planemaker, which appears to be a victim of circumstance.

Cessna's LinkedIn profile shows the Ohio native and Air Force veteran joined the company in 2012 as a manufacturing technician and that he was a program administrator from late 2015 until February.

"I was at Boeing for the last 10 years," he told the judge when asked about his work history. "I recently left there."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Bowers said Cessna wired fake payroll and tax documents in April 2020 to apply for the SBA loan through an out-of-state bank. According to an online database, the money was supposed to help save 11 jobs at an automotive repair and maintenance business on Palmetto Hall Boulevard in Mount Pleasant called Adams Detailing. The $99,356 was deposited into his personal bank account.

Cessna, who waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury, faces up to five years in prison or a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced later.

The other ex-Boeing worker who defrauded the loan program is Suzanne Weintraub, also of Mount Pleasant. She was charged about two weeks before Cessna with illegally obtaining more than $122,000.

She was scheduled to be in federal court for a plea hearing alongside him on Wednesday, but her appearance was later rescheduled without explanation.

Weintraub was a Boeing systems manager who obtained a payroll loan from the SBA through what the government called a "defunct" retail bakery.

Prosecutors traced her scheme to April 2020, the same month that Cessna sent in his application. She requested money for a sole proprietorship called Sunny Bee Cookies, which listed a home address in the RiverTowne neighborhood off of S.C. Highway 41 in Mount Pleasant.

Like Cessna, Weintraub included fake documents in her application. Both are required to cooperate with investigators and forfeit any money or other assets they have received from the crimes. Prosecutors are seeking to recoup a minimum of about $37,000 from Weintraub.

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment Friday when asked whether the two cases are connected.

The Justice Department said it's taking a tough stance on crimes involving money from the COVID-19 economic relief effort known as the CARES Act. Earlier this year, a Blythewood woman was sentenced to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to defrauding the SBA out of $1.2 million. On March 15, a North Carolina man was ordered to spend 20 months behind bars for illegally obtaining more $1.7 million from the Paycheck Protection Program.
A highly visible corner property that thousands of I-26 commuters pass every day in North Charleston is now under new ownership.

FIN Holdings LLC paid $1.3 million for the two-plus acre site that once housed the Dorchester Road Inn at 3668 Dorchester Road, according to Charleston County land records. It was listed for $1.8 million.

David Hurwitz, a commercial real estate broker who handled the deal, said a partner in the firm is Kevin Adams, of Memphis, Tenn.-based Big River Development.

Adams did not respond to a request for comment on plans for the property.

The former hotel site, which previously went by other names such as Dorchester Motor Lodge and America's Best Inn, met the wrecking ball in 2020 after the city condemned the building.

The seller was Lands End Hotel Group LLC. It paid $525,000 for the old motel parcel next to Interstate 26 in 2013, according to land records.

Hurwitz also said Adams is trying to buy more property in the area.

The broker pointed out the former motel property is in a prominent location next to the interstate.

"I'm glad that property sold so it can be improved," he said.

Rental rates

The cost to rent an apartment in Charleston decreased slightly in February from previous rates in late 2021, but rates are still nearly 18 percent higher than the same month a year ago, according to online firm Apartment List.

Rates had spiked by as much as 21 percent last October.

The median rental rate for a one-bedroom apartment stands at $1,446 while a two-bedroom unit costs about $1,690.

Charleston remains far above the national average cost of $1,294 for a two-bedroom unit.

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For context, it's important to note that rental rates were just starting to rise at this time last year after the widespread availability of vaccines allowed renters who had returned home to live with family members during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak to begin to move back into apartments.

Also, rental discounts that were put in place for pandemic pricing to offset the loss of tenants began to taper off.

The 17.9 percent spike in Charleston comes out to $259 more for a one-bedroom unit and nearly $303 in higher costs for a two-bedroom apartment over the past 12 months.

The price jumped 0.7 percent from January to February in South Carolina's largest city while the national rate jumped 0.6 percent, considerably smaller than the 2 percent spike for each of four consecutive months last summer.

Mount Pleasant has the most expensive rental rates in the state, with a median of $1,868 for a one-bedroom unit and $2,146 for a two-bedroom apartment. That's up 1.4 percent from January and 18.8 percent higher than February of last year.

It's a bit cheaper to rent in the state's third-largest city of North Charleston, though prices did climb 0.7 percent in February and the year-over-year rate jumped 20.4 percent.

A one-bedroom unit in North Charleston costs $1,244 while a two-bedroom is $1,406, based on the median price.

Rents continue to trend upward, and though the pace has decreased, rent growth is still outpacing pre-pandemic levels for apartment dwellers across the country, according to Apartment List.

SC rental rates February median price for 1- and 2-bedroom units Charleston: $1,446; $1,690

Columbia: $1,122; $1,320

Greenville: $1,110; $1,353

Mount Pleasant: $1,868; $2,146

Myrtle Beach: $924; $1,174

North Charleston: $1,244; $1,406

Rock Hill: $1,352; $1,472

Spartanburg: $949; $1,074

Summerville: $1,092; $1,526 Source: Apartment List

New division

Two Charleston-area commercial real estate firms have joined forces to create a division focused on warehouses, manufacturing sites and other income-producing properties of that ilk.

Ziff Real Estate Partners and Norvell Real Estate Group, both of Mount Pleasant, announced they have formed ZRP Industrial.

Norvell partners Drayton Calmes and Frank Norvell will lead the acquisition effort for a "newly formed division" of Ziff that is focused "on investments in existing, value-add industrial real estate as well as new development opportunities."

The newly formed division, acting solely as a principal investor, will focus on investments in existing industrial real estate as well as new development opportunities.

Ziff Real Estate Partners has completed nearly $1 billion in transaction volume over its 30-plus years, with investments in flex industrial, self-storage and neighborhood retail properties. The company's current industrial portfolio includes about 500,000 square feet of flex industrial properties.
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues on Saturday as relevant parties are working to broker a peaceful solution. Following are the latest developments of the situation:

The main tasks of the first stage of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine have been completed in general, the Russian military said Friday.

"The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced," said Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

"Our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing -- the complete liberation of Donbass," he said.

- - - -

Russia's special military operation in Ukraine will continue until all tasks set by President Vladimir Putin are fulfilled, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

"These targets are related to the future of Ukraine: the status of Ukraine as a neutral state, a state that does not pursue an anti-Russian policy, a state that is not militarized, and a state as our normal neighbor," Medvedev said.

- - - -

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The two leaders discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan said he had told the leaders of NATO members about Turkey's "active and principled policy, and the effective diplomatic efforts comprehensively."

- - - -

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that his country's negotiation process with Russia is very difficult, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported Friday.

"The negotiation process is very difficult. The Ukrainian delegation has taken a strong position and does not relinquish its demands," Kuleba was quoted as saying.

He stressed that the Ukrainian side insists on a ceasefire, security guarantees, and territorial integrity of Ukraine at the talks.

- - - -

European Union (EU) leaders agreed to purchase natural gas jointly to be able to secure cheaper prices and cushion the steep increases in the energy sector, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

She told a news conference at the end of an EU leaders' summit in Brussels that instead of outbidding each other, European countries will be using collective bargaining to secure cheaper prices. 
South Carolinians continued returning to work in February while a growing labor force kept the state's unemployment rate steady.

The jobless figure held at 3.5 percent last month, according to a report released March 25 by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. The national rate was 3.8 percent, down from 4 percent in January.

Monthly data, adjusted for seasonal factors, showed that about 3,400 South Carolina residents who had been classified as unemployed returned to work in February. That brought the number of employed workers to about 2.3 million, up 49,000 compared to a year earlier.

"It was a good report for South Carolina," said Sonya Waddell, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va.

Overall, employers in the Palmetto State added 17,500 positions across all industry categories last month, excluding farms. That was a sizable jump from 10,400 in January.

Nearly all employment categories reported hiring increases last month. The most robust gains were in the professional and business services category, which was 7,100 jobs for February and higher by 8,300 from a year earlier.

Waddell said that's positive for South Carolina's economy since that industry accounts for about 14 percent of the state's total employment. Most of the increases were in higher-paying scientific and technical services fields.

The government sector added 2,700 jobs, mostly at the state level.

Other growth sectors included leisure and hospitality, up 2,200 jobs after a gain of 4,700 in January, while the broad-based trade, transportation and utilities category added 2,000 workers. The education and health services field grew by 1,600 and manufacturers hired 1,000 employees.

The only decrease was in the information industry, which shed 700 jobs in February.

The statewide labor force, defined as the number of residents who are working or actively looking for jobs, grew by 3,822 from January to almost 2.38 million.

Meanwhile, South Carolina's persistently low labor participation rate, notched a modest one-tenth of a point gain to 57.2 percent. While small, the increase was "encouraging," Waddell said, but it was slightly below the February 2020 figure.

DEW director Dan Ellzey said the state has made progress on the jobs front since the pandemic, with about 46,000 more employees working last month than 12 months earlier, though he added that demand for labor remains elevated. About 112,000 jobs are open statewide, he said.

This week, his agency announced the launch of a new task force that will look at ways to increase the labor force participation rate in South Carolina. The panel met for the first time earlier this month.
SUMTER  Two women were moving around rows of tables in Millwood Elementary Schools cafeteria debating how many people would show up to a Parent Teacher Association meeting that evening. Before the coronavirus spread across the country, about 500 people would show up to the meetings, a large number considering Millwood has fewer than 700 students.

But attendance plummeted as the pandemic stretched on until the group was lucky if 20 people showed up for a Facebook Live meeting.

Debbie Flynn, the PTAs president, predicted that 100 people would show up to the event that was being held in conjunction with the schools science fair. Ashley Filcher, the treasurer, was hoping that at least 50 people would make it.

PTA organizations across the country have experienced severe drops in participation since the start of the pandemic, according to Heidi Wilson, senior manager of media relations for the National PTA. PTA and Parent Teacher Organizations are often seen as groups that organize small-scale bake sales or host meetings where parents sit around and gossip, but well-run ones often shape the entire culture of a school or serve as the drivers for parent outreach efforts. This is important because education authorities have repeatedly found that parental involvement in their childs education is the most predictive indicator of a student's success.

A Post and Courier analysis of 1,081 South Carolina public K-12 schools websites found that these organizations are rarely at the schools that need them most. Less than 10 percent of schools where half the students are Black have a PTA or a Parent Teacher Organization. This number drops to about 3 percent when the student body is over 75 percent Black.

More coverage To read more in-depth stories from The Post and Courier's Education Lab, go to postandcourier.com/education-lab.

The same is true for schools where most of the students are in poverty: Only 34 percent of schools where over half the students are economically disadvantaged have a PTA or PTO.

Millwood is split pretty evenly between Black and White students. And it is a Title 1 school, meaning that children from low-income families make up almost half of the population. It connects with these families by opening the school up to parent volunteers and encouraging them to join groups like the PTA. It also makes PTA meetings into family events centered around student activities. Parents can bring their children to a meeting where details about fundraising efforts and school status updates are broken up by arts performances and prizes given out to students for academic achievements.

Flynn knew her PTA was at a crisis point and its future hung on her ability to recruit more parents during this event. The meeting was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., but parents and teachers typically showed up early. It was already 5:30 p.m. and Flynn and Filcher were the only ones there. Flynn watched the cafeteria doors, praying shed be right and that the school would continue on as the same inclusive community that welcomed her before the pandemic disrupted everyones lives.

Fitting in

Sumter is a rural region in South Carolinas Midlands full of strip malls and dollar stores. Houses are grouped together in tight clusters. They dont give these neighborhoods names, but if someone says they live by the Shaw Air Force Base or by Pinewood Road, everyone knows where that is. The area is divided fairly evenly between Black and White residents. Most dont have a college degree.

Susie Atkinson, a former president of Millwoods PTA, attended the elementary school herself in the late 1980s. Back then, the school was smaller and the area was filled with people who were born in Sumter and stayed their whole lives. This changed as more people moved to the region because of the air base or Continental Tires plant, which brought in a lot of families from overseas.

Atkinson sent her two sons to Millwood and joined the PTA in 2016. Back then, the PTA only had five members, but that changed the following year when Cornelius Leach became principal of the school.

The district covered the cost of background checks of anyone who volunteered in the school, so he decided to make the school more accessible to parent volunteers. The PTA was coordinating its meetings with student events at the school. People could bring their entire family to a meeting and learn about what the school was doing while watching a student choir performance or academic fair. Soon hundreds of people were showing up.

Flynn moved to Sumter from Las Vegas in 2019. Her husband was active-duty military and came as part of a remote pilot and aircraft unit that transferred to the area. She was a military wife, so she was used to relocating and adapting, but she was still nervous about fitting into a region that was largely filled with lifelong residents.

Soon after her twin daughters started kindergarten, she decided to become a classroom volunteer. That September, Filcher approached her and asked her to help with the PTA. They were short-staffed that day and Filcher needed help with the PTA-run school store where students could purchase snacks and other goods with Mustang bucks, currency named after the schools mascot, that students earned for acts of kindness.

Flynn had heard horror stories of cliquey PTAs, so she was skeptical about joining, but when she attended her first meeting she saw how inclusive the group was. The meetings were attended by Millwood families from a variety of backgrounds and felt more like a community event than a tedious sit-down. Within weeks, Flynn was on the board. She felt like a true part of the school community and believed she would be friends with the other PTA members for the rest of her life.

Then the pandemic hit.

Why PTAs matter

Ann Henderson, a senior consultant at the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement, grew up in a family that always rooted for the underdog. Whenever they watched sports, they cheered for the team that the odds were stacked against. She was raised in Trenton, N.J., back when the Roebling family known for building the Brooklyn Bridge was there recruiting workers from all over Eastern Europe to work in their factories. She joked that they promised these immigrants the world, and then they got Trenton.

She spent her childhood hopping between her citys Italian and Polish neighborhoods, taking in the different cultures, but didnt consider herself politically active until college. After she finished her freshman year at Oberlin College in Ohio, she attended the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I have a dream speech.

Before King began speaking, she and many other attendees were sitting around the Mall. When he started giving his speech, they all stood up and surged forward.

I thought, this is what it means when people call it the civil rights movement, people surging forward, coming together for a common purpose for everyones benefit and working together toward it, she said.

School improvement councils PTA and PTO organizations are not the only groups that help parents connect with schools in South Carolina. In 1977 South Carolina passed a law mandating that each K-12 public school in the state have a school improvement council. These councils are groups composed of the schools principal, teachers, parents, students and community leaders. Two-thirds of the group have to be elected by their peers and one third appointed by the principal. Tom Hudson, the executive director of SC-SIC, said a school improvement councils main role is to get advice developing the schools five-year improvement plan. Parent outreach can be a part of this plan, but its not always included in the list of goals. Councils can instead choose to focus on something else like updating school facilities or turning around students pandemic-related learning loss.  Hillary Flynn

After she graduated from college she worked at an antipoverty group and was reading the research on the debilitating impact poverty could have on children. She began visiting what she called fortress schools, meaning they made it difficult for parents to enter. These schools were filled with Keep out and No Trespassing signs. She sometimes struggled to find out how to physically get into the school because all the doors were locked. A couple of times, she had to go around to the back of the school by the dumpster to find an intercom connecting her with someone inside.

Many of these schools believed that they were great centers of education, but the reason they were not performing well was there was something wrong with the local families and children who were sent there. Henderson wanted these schools to look themselves in the mirror and properly address their own failings.

She began researching the link between parental involvement in education and students success in 1981. Henderson became interested in the subject after reading a paper by a fellow education researcher that uncovered a link between schools with PTAs and higher student achievement. She wondered, "If a school having a PTA could have a measurable statistical effect, what other forms of engagement can?"

Over the following two decades, she authored several seminal research reviews looking at the link between parent engagement and student academic performance and healthy development. In the early 2000s, she partnered with Karen Mapp, who works as a senior lecturer at Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Education, to perform a research review on the link between parental involvement in education and the performance of students of color and students from low-income families. They found that, regardless of a students background or income, they tended to earn high grades, attend school regularly, have better social skills, and graduate and go on to postsecondary education if their parents were involved with their school.

Historically, schools dont tend to reach out to families of color and low-income families, and these parents are often afraid of coming into a school and advocating for their own childs education. Henderson noticed that schools that reached out to these families tended to perform better because the feelings of trust and inclusion spread throughout the schools culture.

Relationships between schools and these families were especially important during the pandemic, where students of color and students in poverty had their education disproportionately impacted. Henderson observed that schools that engaged with these families through Zoom check-ins, helped deliver instructional materials, or assisted them with getting access to Wi-Fi experienced less learning loss.

While the pandemic was an extraordinarily pervasive catastrophe, Henderson pointed out that smaller events shake up a school district all the time. Some examples are a factory closing and scores of families losing their jobs, or many families from overseas immigrating to a new community who needed help learning how to navigate the school system. Its important for schools to set up pathways for parents to advocate for themselves, and PTAs and PTOs can help bring parents into schools.

There are negative sides to these organizations. Often, PTAs and PTOs are filled with White parents who dont reflect the background of the student body. PTAs and PTOs in schools with wealthier families also tend to raise more money during fundraising events than those where families are less economically advantaged, exacerbating already-existing economic disparities between schools.

But The Post and Courier's analysis of more than a thousand K-12 public schools websites found that schools where the majority of the student body were students of color or low-income children didnt even have these parent groups. Now the few that do are facing additional challenges as their participation rates crash during the pandemic.

Virtual world

Flynn got her real estate license right before the pandemic hit. She spent five years as a stay-at-home mom, something she struggled with because she described herself as a go-go person. She was excited to start a new career, but when her daughters were thrust into virtual learning she had to put her plans on hold.

Her daughters were still in kindergarten and remote learning was difficult. Instead of spending time in class interacting with their teacher and playing with their friends, they had to sit in front of a computer for five to six hours a day. One of her daughters adapted well to the virtual classes, but the other struggled to sit still.

Flynn was concerned about the friendships she made with Millwood parents during the fall. She had only lived in Sumter for a year, and been with the school for eight months. She worried her friendships would fizzle out. The PTA held meetings over Facebook Live, but sometimes only 10 people showed up. This was a problem impacting PTAs around the state. Tanya Robinson, the former president of the S.C. PTA, told The Post and Courier membership dropped by approximately 20 percent from 72,000 in 2017 to 58,000 in 2020.

Flynn understood why parents werent as engaged: Dues were only $5 annually but many parents were struggling financially. Others didnt come because they werent coordinated with student performances or academic events. Many werent showing up because they couldnt see what their time and money were going toward since they werent allowed in the school.

The PTA worked hard to help parents stay connected with Millwood by gathering volunteers to contact families whose children didnt show up to class or turned off their videos during lessons. By the spring of 2021, Flynn and the other PTA members knew their participation rates had reached a breaking point, and the only thing that would save them would be returning to in-person learning. At a meeting in May right before the school year ended, the PTA members suggested that Flynn be president.

After a second of deliberation Flynn told them that she would do it: During the 2021-22 school year she would take on the responsibility to turn the entire PTA around.

Meeting in person

In the beginning of August, Flynn and four other members of Millwoods PTA gathered in her kitchen to go over the events planned for that year. COVID-19s highly contagious delta variant was spreading through the state, but the PTA members tried to remain optimistic as they snacked on dishes everyone had brought for a lunch potluck. As the children yelped and squealed outside playing in Flynns pool under the supervision of one of the PTA members husbands, Flynn laid out her goals for the year.

The PTA needed to recruit new members. Flynn was grateful for the help of the four women who came to her home to strategize that day, but she was also acutely aware of the stark contrast between the number of people present at that days meetings and those she attended when she first joined the organization.

None of the women in attendance that day predicted how rapidly the delta variant would tear through student populations. A Post and Courier analysis of S.C. Department of Education data found that during the first seven weeks of the 2021-22 school year, at least 15 districts and 233 schools returned to virtual learning, and 156,169 students went back to learning remotely.

Millwoods PTA acted fast: It partnered with a local farm and gave families the opportunity to buy fresh vegetables at a discount. When some students were able to return to class but larger gatherings were still prohibited, they held a virtual dance-a-thon where families pledged a certain amount of money based on how long their child danced with the rest of their class over Zoom. In December, when the delta variant was dying down, the association was able to put together a last-minute winter wonderland-themed party at the school celebrating students who performed well in the accelerated reading program. They handed out cotton candy that looked like snow, white doughnut holes, and created snowballs made out of cotton balls and wool for snowball fights.

Parental involvement was critical because, like many schools across the country, Millwood suffered from pandemic-related learning loss. In the 2019-20 school year, approximately 53 percent of its students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts, according to the S.C. Department of Educations school report card. This dropped to about 41 percent in the 2021-22 school year.

When Flynn got the go-ahead to host an in-person PTA meeting on March 22, she knew how critical the event would be for both her associations future and for the school. They planned on doing a joint event with the schools science fair to help draw in parents, but Flynn was still worried about the PTAs ability to connect with them after so long. She forced herself to quell her anxiety, telling herself over and over again that parents would turn up.

A good crowd

Parents and children began trickling into the cafeteria around 5:40 p.m. By 6 p.m., the place was packed with about 100 people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder at the cafeteria tables. Some people showed up in military garb, some in jeans, and others in dresses and heels.

As they came in, Filcher handed out raffle tickets at the door and a sheet explaining what the PTA was with a QR code that brought them to the website. She asked each of them to sign up listing all the great things the organization has accomplished.

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The meeting illustrated why Millwoods PTA was so successful in connecting with parents. It started off with Flynn speaking at the podium in front of the room, giving parents basic information about how to get more involved with the association. Then Leach announced the science fair winners, making the event feel like a celebratory party rather than a meeting. Filcher was next, discussing the over $13,000 the PTA raised that went to financing the school's store and other activities.

Afterward, the winner of an essay contest hosted by the Daughters of the American Revolution was announced. This was followed by updates on the schools mental health outreach efforts, a raffle drawing and a presentation of trophies to the class in each grade that was doing the best that quarter in the schools accelerated reading program.

This strategy of requiring families to attend a PTA meeting if they wanted to participate in the science fair drew in members of the community. Breaking up the more technical information about the PTA and the school with prizes for students and parents both kept them engaged and showed them how much Millwood students were accomplishing.

After the meeting, parents were given the opportunity to walk around the school and see the students science fair displays. Flynn hung back in the cafeteria, on an adrenaline high after pulling off a successful event.

Im glad it's organized this way," she told Filcher. "We didnt want the parents to come to the science fair and just leave."

Her daughters ran up to her and took her hands. They walked down looking at poster boards of science experiences that showed different types of mold that grew on sandwiches or which type of juice best cleans a penny. Families were talking to each other and showing off their childrens accomplishments, walking freely through the school for the first time in years.

How we did our analysis:

The Post and Courier looked at schools websites for this analysis: If a schools PTA or PTO was not mentioned on the site, it was not included. Magnet and charter schools were excluded from the analysis, as well as technical schools, early childhood schools, and Juvenile Justice academies. PTSA organizations were grouped with PTAs and PTSOs with PTOs.
COLUMBIA  The plan to expand the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center and connect it to a private redevelopment in the Vista with three hotels, parking and other projects has died.

Developer Ben Arnold had proposed using 12 acres of land he owns that runs along Gervais Street and is connected to the convention center for a redevelopment project that would build three hotels, including Columbia's first four-star hotel under Hilton's Tapestry banner, among other projects.

In a March 25 statement, Arnold said cited the lack of political will to push forward with the public-private project for pulling the plug on his plans that were crucial to the proposed convention center expansion.

"I am incredibly disappointed as I grew up in Columbia and believed that a project like this would make a real difference and be a win all the way around," Arnold said in a statement.

The plan's demise first was reported by The State newspaper.

Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said the expansion proposal as written did not work for Columbia.

I thank Ben for taking a step back. This project, as presented, isnt right for us to prioritize at this time," he said. "If in the future, a plan presents itself for us to expand the convention center and still meet our obligations to every community in our city, then we will look forward to considering it.

The deal had been contingent on public funding to expand the current convention center, which was designed to accommodate such growth. It also depended on public funding for a parking garage that would serve the convention center and nearby hotels.

Backers of the expansion had argued that the convention center is too small to attract many larger events that would bring more visitors to downtown Columbia.

Columbia City Councilman Joe Taylor told The Post and Courier earlier in March the city has more pressing priorities before considering expanding the convention center, and that the investment is a risk given the uncertainty around the hospitality business amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city needs to address the renovation of Finlay Park, ongoing obligations with the city-owned office tower at 1401 Main St. and the Bull Street redevelopment and the city's homeless population among other issues "before we move forward with any new special-interest projects," he said.

"I'd like to thank Ben Arnold for graciously declining to move forward," Taylor said March 25. "This particular project is simply not the right deal and not the right time. There are areas of the city that we need to work on and projects that we need to finish before we take on another project of this magnitude, period."

Arnold, who lives in California, said he was willing to cover rising construction costs of 18 percent but still could not get elected officials to agree to go forward.

Arnold said he would immediately pursue an different development plan for the area but did not share details.

The city included a $10 million request for the convention center expansion in a list of projects for state lawmakers to consider funding during its budget process this year. But that line item was 10th on the list, with $35 million to eliminate railroad crossings and $16.5 million for Finlay Park listed as top priorities.

Backers of the proposal, including former Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, had sought to tap into state funding for the project, an avenue that other projects around South Carolina had used. Benjamin and others were disappointed to receive only $9 million for the expansion in 2021 after seeking $19 million.

Stephen Fastenau contributed from Columbia
GEORGETOWN  Liberty Steel sued the city of Georgetown for its recent efforts to force the downtown mill to close over a zoning dispute.

Liberty also asked the court to halt the city's zoning appeals process that could determine the fate of the mill that was once one of Georgetown's largest employers. The Liberty appeal with the city is scheduled to be heard on April 6.

The lawsuit came less than two weeks after the city sent a second letter saying the mill triggered a zoning change by being closed for more than a year. A 2018 ordinance changes the zoning of the 50-acre site on the Sampit River from industrial to commercial if the plant is not operating for a year.

The commercial zoning would prevent the mill from reopening and would open the site for hotels, stores and restaurants meant to draw visitors to the state's third-oldest city.

Liberty alleges in the lawsuit that Georgetown cannot file another letter arguing the plant should close while the first appeal with the city is underway. The company filed an appeal with the city in mid-February soon after Georgetown leaders sent its first letter saying the mill was out of compliance.

Liberty argues Georgetown "is using pre-textual and constantly changing reasons and procedures and ignoring agreements which it made, all in an effort to support its illegal actions."

The company added the second letter "makes a mockery" of the zoning appeals process and alleges that former and current city officials, none of whom are named, "have been on a mission to close the Facility in violation of applicable laws."

Georgetown Mayor Carol Jayroe, who has said the site could generate more jobs as a tourist hub rather than as a steel mill, declined comment on the Liberty lawsuit.

The main argument between the city and mill is over when the clock started to trigger the zoning change.

Liberty Steel's owners contend the plant closed in February 2021, which would mean the company's mid-January restart with 65 workers kept the mill compliant with city zoning ordinances.

However, a Feb. 4 letter from former city zoning administrator Chris Inglese indicated that it was his determination that Liberty had already run out of time.

"On or about" April 22, 2020, according to Liberty Steel's zoning appeal, company CEO Gregory Jones informed Georgetown that the company needed to idle the mill for 90 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his letter, Inglese wrote that he accepted that date as the "commencement for abandonment," or the date on which the 365-day clock began ticking.

Liberty appealed Inglese's decision on the grounds that COVID-19 was an act of God that superseded its influence, and that Inglese himself was no longer a city employee. Inglese became Newberry County's administrator in late 2021, though he continued to work for Georgetown on a contractual basis.

Part of Liberty's zoning appeal was that Inglese's involvement violated the state constitution forbidding public officials to hold dual offices.

On March 14, Liberty Steel received a letter from interim Georgetown zoning administrator Tammy Kinsley. The letter reiterated that the mill lost its nonconforming use and stated that the mill's use of force majeure  breaking a contract due to unforeseen circumstances  to keep its existing use was "a weak basis to be used as a strong justification for keeping the nonconforming use under this ordinance."

In her letter, Kinsley wrote that Liberty owners knew of their plans to keep the mill closed longer when they suggested in September 2020 that the city start the so-called closing clock in February 2021.

In its lawsuit, Liberty argued it was unclear whether the arguments in the latest letter from the city would be used at the April 6 zoning appeals hearing.
GREENVILLE  The West End is losing another hospitality business as Crafty Cats Brewery, Coffee & Tea will close after the weekend.

However, Crafty Cats intends to relocate and keep its business model, according to an announcement posted on social media on March 25.

"We will let you know the new address as soon as it is ready," the announcement read, and "until then we will be closed for a little bit. We want to say thank you to all of you who came to support our business in these almost 2 years."

Crafty Cats opened in July 2021 in the location of the former West End Coffee Shoppe near the very end of South Main Street. Envisioned by couple Sara and Aaron Burton, the business fused a love of tea, coffee, on-site brewing, sandwiches and pastries, and collectible cat-themed merchandise.

The establishment embraced the concept of all-you-can-eat pizza on Fridays, which the owners said will continue at the new location.

The relocation comes months after the city of Greenville approved plans for a renovation of the building owned by Stone Property Management.

The plans would create an outdoor plaza with artificial grass and string lighting, along with an alleyway that company president David Stone Jr. envisions as a Dutch-style woonerf, which is translated as a living street.

The concept allows for a mix of light traffic with recreation.

The changes are partly meant to complement development of a mixed-use 270-apartment complex in the works on property owned by Allen Temple AME Church where the West End Community Development Center currently resides.

The apartment developer, SunCap Property, faced resistance by the city's Design Review Board over walkability concerns. Revised plans, which theoretically will work in concert with Stone's concept, helped win city approval.

SunCap is coming before the city's Design Review Board on April 7 with further revisions, which include a redesigned parking garage that will offer more spaces available to the public.

Future plans for the Crafty Cats building include a rooftop seating area.

Crafty Cats is the latest in a series of closures in the West End in the past several months.

Last October, two Charleston-based restaurants  Husk Barbeque and Liberty Taproom  shut down. A few weeks earlier, High Spirit Hospitality announced it would move from the Old Cigar Warehouse to the new Judson Mill development, making way for Atlanta-based New Realm Brewing.

Last week, Greenville Drive general manager Eric Jarinko told The Post and Courier that the Liberty Taproom space was bought by team owner Craig Brown and is being renovated to accommodate a new tenant, which will be announced in the near future.
Brandon Alter covers the town of Kingstree and Williamsburg County for The Kingstree News. He is from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He graduated from the University of South Carolina's school of Journalism and Mass Communications in May 2021.
Living alone on the Charleston peninsula is notoriously expensive, but a proposed adjustment to the city's zoning laws could provide more options.

Developer Jeffrey Roberts is advocating for an amendment to the city's land-use code that will make it more cost-effective to build under 400-square-foot studios on the peninsula. The idea gained initial approval from Charleston City Council on March 22.

Roberts, managing member of JRR Development, is proposing the city decrease the number of parking spots required to build a new apartment complex if its units are between 250 and 375 square feet.

He wants the city to require one parking space for every third unit in such buildings. Reducing the amount of parking required allows developers to save money and fit a higher number of units on a smaller lot, he said.

"We are creating more price-approachable housing for people who dont need a car," he said.

These types of units are built to accommodate a sitting and sleeping area and a kitchenette. While some already exist on the peninsula, the city's parking requirements make them harder to build at a profit, Roberts said.

Given their size, he said they likely rent at around 30 percent less than a 500- or 600-square-foot studio. He anticipates developers like himself marketing "micro units" at around $1,300 a month on the peninsula.

"The tradeoff would be that you would live in something smaller but youre close to everything," he said.

A targeted approach

Instead of petitioning the Charleston Planning Commission and City Council for a special exemption to the parking requirements for one specific project, Roberts is trying to get the city to adopt a broader policy addressing the issue. Although uncommon, any city resident can legally propose a change to city zoning policy, city Planning Director Robert Summerfield said.

Roberts has at least one project in the works that would utilize the reduced parking requirements if they pass. He wants to build an apartment complex on Spring Street adjacent to the Medical University of South Carolina with about 100 units and 40 parking spaces. Those parking spaces would come with an individual cost to the renter.

If the parking requirement reduction gets final approval it will only apply in areas of the peninsula that already have a "mixed-use," designation in the city's land use code. These are areas where the city allows for the development of large, residential and commercial-use buildings and developers are required to set aside 20 percent of apartments for those making 80 percent of the area median income or AMI.

For Charleston, 80 percent of the AMI is $46,000 per year for a single-person household, according to the city's Department of Housing and Community Development. Developers do have options to bypass that requirement.

Under current zoning laws those buildings are required to offer one parking space per market-rate unit and one parking space for every two affordable units.

Roberts' proposed reduction in parking requirements to one space for every third micro-unit, also includes a stipulation that such complexes can only be built within three-quarters of a mile from a full-service grocery store and one-quarter of a mile from a bus stop. They will have to include bike racks as well.

"This wouldn't work well to plop this in the center of a low-density neighborhood like Harleston Village," he said.

With rent and home prices rising across the city, officials have been stressing the importance of making housing available for people with a range of incomes  from fully subsidized housing to housing that people with a teacher's or a firefighter's salary could afford.

"We have to unleash the private sector on this problem so that normal people can live on the peninsula," said Councilman Ross Appel at the March 22 council meeting.

The Charleston Housing Authority, for example, is shifting from a model of building apartment complexes that exclusively house people in a specific income bracket to building complexes that offer units at a mix of price points.

While new micro units, when offered at market value, may not be affordable for residents with lower incomes, they could fill a need for some of the middle-tier inventory the peninsula lacks.

Coming to terms with cars

While reducing parking requirements might increase the amount of housing available on the peninsula, skeptics of such policies say they can lead to more street parking in surrounding areas.

"The risk comes in when we are dealing with theory," said John Gaber, chair of the Department of City Planning and Real Estate Development at Clemson University. "In theory if you provide less parking, people will have less cars, but the data says the jury is out."

To manage that concern, Roberts said his proposal includes a provision that prohibits tenants of such buildings from applying for city parking passes.

Summerfield said he sees promise in the idea.

"It really does address the need for development that has mobility alternatives like transit and grocery stores and other daily needs nearby," he said.

But he voiced some concern over the overall impact of reducing parking requirements more broadly.

"I am not sure about the size of the units and the nature of our transit to support this right now," he said.

The idea has gained the endorsement of the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors. Josh Dix, government affairs director for the association, said it will be a key component in encouraging broader transit access in the city so that eventually, it will be easier for more residents to get around without a car.

With the (Lowcountry Rapid Transit) coming online in the future, we need this type of housing to support the ridership and we need the ridership to support the housing. These are the types of ideas we applaud, Dix said at the council meeting.

Roberts' proposal was approved by the Planning Commission. City Council approved its first reading March 22 but also agreed to have the council's Committee on Community Development review the details of the ordinance before it goes for a final vote.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- With access choked, food stocks and fuel almost exhausted, aid distribution in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is at an all-time low, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

"We are now past the 100-day mark with no relief truck going into Tigray," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. "The distribution of food assistance has fallen to its lowest levels since humanitarian operations were originally scaled up last March."

Since mid-December, hostilities in the Afar region east of Tigray closed the Semera-Abala route into Tigray's regional capital of Mekelle, the office said. Although aircraft ferried 221.8 metric tons of medical supplies to Tigray, it is only 4 percent of the medications required.

As the lack of food challenges relief distribution, the lack of fuel limits local delivery of aid, especially in remote areas, OCHA said. Since March 10, there has not been an authorization for cash transfers.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the Ethiopian government's declaration on Thursday of an indefinite humanitarian truce, effective immediately, said Stephane Dujarric, his chief spokesman. Tigrayan authorities also committed to a cessation of hostilities effective immediately.

"The conflict in Ethiopia has caused terrible suffering for millions of people across Afar, Amhara, Tigray, Benishangul Gumz and Oromia," Dujarric said. "These positive developments must now translate into immediate improvements on the ground."

The spokesman said Guterres "reiterates his call for the restoration of public services in Tigray, including banking, electricity and telecommunications, and calls for all sides to proactively enable and facilitate the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian assistance across all affected areas."

OCHA said that only about 68,000 people in Mekelle and Enderta received some available food supplies last week, although not a complete package. More than ten times as many people should receive a full package of assistance weekly.

The office said the United Nations and partners provide critical assistance to people affected by conflict in Afar and the Amhara region, south of Tigray. More than 125,000 people in Afar have received food assistance since late February.

In Amhara, OCHA said the United Nations and partners provided food assistance to more than 425,000 people in the past two weeks in Wag Hemra, North and South Wollo, and South Gondar zones. The government assisted a further 400,000 people in conflict-affected areas.

The office said that more than 8 million people had received food assistance under the current distribution round since late December. 
Theres no shortage of work in South Carolina for people who investigate government waste, fraud and abuse.

From the clerk of court who dipped into federal funds to give herself a $30,000 raise and the school district that allowed an alleged embezzler to resign rather than being fired to the school district that secretly provided free housing for a superintendent and the continuing saga of corrupt sheriffs, were reminded of the problem just about every time The Post and Courier and its reporting partners roll out another installment of their Uncovered investigative series  and increasingly through routine news coverage.

What we have a shortage of is government officials to investigate the abuse, and in too many cases even the authority to investigate it.

Although the attorney general and the states 16 solicitors have jurisdiction over criminal matters, they still need investigators to identify and gather evidence of illegalities, and police and SLED have their plates full investigating violent crimes.

What we need are investigators who dont have to juggle allegations of waste, fraud and abuse with murders, assaults and burglaries  and who have expertise in uncovering the fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, misconduct, violations of state or federal law, and wrongdoing the state inspector general is charged with uncovering.

So it was encouraging to see the House increase funding in next years budget for the inspector generals office and the state Ethics Commission  nearly doubling the money for the former and providing funds for one additional investigator for the latter.

Encouraging but insufficient  in two ways.

First, it isnt enough money to do the job that needs to be done. Second, and more significantly, it doesnt give either agency the authority to do the job that needs to be done.

Gov. Henry McMasters budget proposal tripled the funding of the inspector generals office, in order to expand its jurisdiction beyond its current scope (most state agencies) to encompass any entity that receives state funds  primarily but not exclusively cities, counties and school districts. He also asked lawmakers to double the funding for the Ethics Commission and expand its jurisdiction to cover people who lobby school districts and local governments, rather than just state government lobbyists.

Both expansions make sense. But while we definitely need to put the same sort of legal distance between lobbyists and city and county council and school board members as weve legislated for state lawmakers, the lobbyist expansion is the less important of the two. Theres an urgent and crying need to unleash the inspector general on school districts and local governments.

The Houses spending spreadsheet says $730,059 was added to the IGs $899,726 annual budget to pay for operating expenses for additional auditing responsibilities, but the spreadsheet isn't a legal document, and nothing in the budget bill discusses additional responsibilities. Im told that the Ways and Means Committee generally supported Mr. McMasters expansion but, appropriately, didnt want to accomplish it through a budget proviso. The problem is that bills to increase the authority are on life-support. If that.

H.3069 to let the inspector general conduct financial and forensic audits of school districts has been sitting in committee since it was prefiled in December 2020. Senate Education Chairman Greg Hembree managed to get his similar bill out of committee a year ago. But S.202 has been stuck on the Senate calendar since then, with an objection from Sen. Chip Campsen.

Oftentimes the biggest opponents of legislation work behind the scenes to block it, and I'm sure that the governor's proposal to let the IG inspect how anybody spends state funds would generate significant opposition. But this seems to be a situation where there are surmountable objections but just not enough interest in the Legislature to surmount them. Nobodys come to me and said, 'We dont want to be looking at what school districts are doing with state money, thats a bad idea,' Sen. Hembree told me Thursday. And why wouldnt we?

Why indeed?

Mr. Campsen, who was one of the primary advocates of creating the inspector generals office in 2012, told me he worries that the expansion would distract the inspector general from his work helping the governor identify and correct problems within the executive branch of state government.

Sen. Gerald Malloy made a similar objection when the Education Committee debated the bill last year, but he also argued that it was redundant because we have SLED to investigate criminal wrongdoing and the state Education Department to perform oversight of the districts.

Actually, as Mr. Hembree noted, the Education Department and SLED dont have the capacity to do forensic audits. And as Sen. John Scott argued, referring potential problems to the inspector general allows you to go somewhere besides law enforcement, so  you get a chance to clean it up before it ends up in law enforcement.

Mr. Campsen acknowledges the need for more auditing capacity; hed just prefer to create a separate inspector general within the Education Department to investigate school districts. Several states with statewide inspectors general also have some agency IGs. Indeed, South Carolina has inspectors general in the departments of Juvenile Justice and Social Services  something I learned when I checked in with the national Association of Inspectors General. Which says something about the gravitas and impact that state agency inspectors general have.

The bigger problem with Sen. Campsen's idea is that we have a state inspector general now who does a good job and who says hes ready to take on that extra work once he gets the extra staff. It would take a lot longer and likely a lot more money to build a new office from scratch in the Education Department. And as my colleagues in our news department keep discovering, weve got a desperate need right now to get people who know how to examine financial problems at least looking over the school districts.
The State Ethics Commission has always under-reached on enforcing the anti-corruption provisions of South Carolinas government ethics act and overreached on enforcing its gag rule.

The commission has led citizens to believe that when they filed complaints against state and local officials they were prohibited by law from talking about what those officials did; in fact, they were only barred from talking about their filing of the complaint.

And the commission hasnt hesitated to prosecute people for violating what everybody agreed was the actual prohibition.

But as The Post and Couriers Avery Wilks reports, the Ethics Commission has now renounced its punitive approach to whistleblowers, saying, essentially: Never mind. Not just about its overreach but also about the entire idea that state law gags anyone except the commission itself.

Its the bizarre result of a lawsuit that misinterpreted the gag rule and was based on the anonymous plaintiffs misinterpretation of an anti-profiteering provision in the ethics law. And frankly, its a little difficult to wrap our heads around the idea that supporters and opponents alike have always misinterpreted the secrecy provision of the 1991 ethics act  along with the similar provisions in the ethics law that preceded it. But while were certain that the 1991 Legislature didnt intend its new law to be read this way, its not an unreasonable reading of it. And its certainly a welcome one.

The change of policy came four months after Senate President Tom Alexander filed an amicus brief that took issue with the lawsuit's claim that someone who had filed an ethics complaint was prohibited from discussing its allegations. That was consistent with how the law had been understood for decades, but his brief went beyond that understanding and pointed to language in the statute that says the confidentiality requirement applies only to the government itself.

We hope that about-face signals a larger change in the attitude of the commission, which, as Mr. Wilks and his colleagues have documented, has routinely let public officials off with light punishments, dismissed cases on technicalities and only rarely referred its findings to law enforcement.

Attorney Chris Kenney told Mr. Wilks he expects to settle the lawsuit soon and get a courts endorsement of that settlement, which is crucial so the Ethics Commission cant change its mind and go back to its old interpretation of the law.

In the short term, the policy change should help Mr. Kennys client come forward and identify which legislator failed to report that his LLC received more than $100,000 from the subsidiary of a lobbyist's principal  a company or person who employs a lobbyist  even though the legislator voted for a bill that helped the lobbyist's principal.

It looks as though the Ethics Commission was correct in concluding that the legislator wasnt violating the law: Recusal isnt required unless the money comes directly from the lobbyists principal. But what he or she did clearly was unethical  the sort of thing many people think of as bribery, although it wouldnt meet the legal standard for that. Its something the Legislature repeatedly has refused to outlaw, but its something that the people who vote for or against that legislator need to know about.

In the longer term, the new interpretation of the law should make people more willing to file ethics complaints and to speak out when they believe the commission swept their complaint under the rug  which was the thing the gag rule has most consistently kept hidden.

That would improve our understanding of how seriously the commission takes its job, but we shouldnt have to rely on voluntary reporting from people who might not fully understand the new policy. Instead, the Legislature should eliminate what weve always thought of as a gag rule, and lawmakers should require the commission to report more fully on its disposition of cases.

That information is crucial to a full understanding of how well its doing its job, and it provides important information about how well our public servants are obeying the law.
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
When it comes to climate change, it sometimes seems that even though we are running out of time to effect solutions, no one is noticing and no one is taking meaningful action.

For many, the struggle to combat climate change seems like a hopeless, never-ending battle.

Opposed by some in the fossil fuel industry and other business interests, climate advocates seem to be at an insurmountable disadvantage.

The reality is that people are listening, and opinions are changing.

The latest Yale Climate Opinion Survey reveals that 73% of residents in the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina think global warming is happening.

Another study by Luntz Global showed that 75% of U.S. voters want the government to limit carbon emissions and that 80% want Congress to put politics aside and reach a bipartisan solution.

Some members of Congress have responded to this shift in public opinion and have joined the Climate Solutions Caucus.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is a member of this group.

I support his willingness to find bipartisan solutions to the climate crisis and hope other elected representatives will join him.

RONALD MALCOM

Johns Island

Kudos to Charles River

South Carolina is blessed with more than 1,000 life sciences organizations, engaged in areas from biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to medical devices and health IT.

Never was this more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic when millions were hospitalized and too many lives lost.

As friends, family and neighbors fell ill, our industry, including Charles River Laboratories professionals, stepped up.

Move than 100 organizations produced personal protective equipment, tested for COVID-19, conducted vaccine clinical trials and expedited health solutions.

Gov. Henry McMaster expressed appreciation by declaring Life Sciences Week in South Carolina.

I am CEO of SCBio, a statewide, not-for-profit, public-private life sciences industry association and economic development organization.

SCBio, which is the states voice of life sciences, wishes The Post and Courier article Monkeys & Blood had highlighted Charles Rivers globally celebrated work that helps save millions of lives and improves patient safety.

Carefully obtained from Atlantic horseshoe crabs by Charles River professionals, Limulus amebocyte lysate is critical to saving lives of patients everywhere.

The unique, natural substance is used to test every injectable pharmaceutical, implantable medical device and approved COVID-19 vaccine against contamination. Without it, endotoxins could enter the body and produce life-threatening sepsis.

For decades, Charles River has protected and nurtured our crab population. Its microbial testing is considered best-in-class by scientists globally.

And with synthetic LAL neither readily available nor FDA-licensed, industry experts decline its sole use because the safety of IVs, vaccines and more would not be assured as with natural LAL.

Charles River and our life sciences ecosystem make tremendous contributions to our state and the health of mankind. Their lifesaving medical innovations should be celebrated.

JAMES CHAPPELL

CEO of SCBio

Greenville

Putin hurts Russia, too

The past decade should have been a time of great Russian-American friendship, but because of President Vladimir Putins menacing tone, that friendship has not been realized. And Russia has been the loser.

For example, Polands 5-year average GDP growth has been 5%, while Russias has been 0.5%.

Trade and tourism both suffer. Who wants to visit Russia with this tyrant in charge? The Russian Duma should vote to impeach Putin.

Why is Russia allowing its economy to be run into what must surely be negative territory after all the sanctions?

WILLIAM MCLELLAN

Charleston
President Bidens public appearances in Europe this week have made for a dangerous spectacle of debility and senescence. It does not serve Bidens interest to take notice. The media have therefore pitched in to airbrush the spectacle.

That is the point Kyle Smith makes in the New York Post column Media works overtime to clean up Joe Bidens word salads. In his Wall Street Journal Best of the Web column James Freeman offers the constructive practical advice that The President should avoid public speaking.

The White House has posted transcripts of Bidens remarks in Europe here (March 24 press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels), here (March 25 remarks during visit with members of the 82nd Airborne Division in Rzeszow, Poland), and here (March 25 remarks on humanitarian efforts with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, also in Rzeszow).

Smith quotes Bidens testament to his own prowess in response to a bizarre question about how, assuming he is defeated when he runs for re-election, possibly by Donald Trump, he would stop the next president from undoing things he has done. Smith paused here to observe: Bidens answer should have been, Thats not how this works. Ex-presidents dont get to tell their successors what to do, sorry. Re-elect me! But no. Biden showed hes got half a mind to ramble.

The German reporter Smith quoted is Der Spiegel Brussels bureau chief Markus Becker. Markus is the kind of guy to whom Barack Obama was appealing when he appeared as a presidential candidate in Berlin with his speech of July 2008. (You can look it up.) Asked if there is anything Biden and NATO are doing to carve Bidens work in stone to prevent from being undone by another president following the 2024 election, Biden held forth as follows:

Ive been dealing with foreign policy for longer than anybody thats involved in this process right now. I have no concerns about the impact  I made a commitment when I ran this time. I wasnt going to run again, and I mean that sincerely. I had no intention of running for President again and  until I saw those folks coming out of the fields in Virginia carrying torches and carrying Nazi banners and literally singing the same vile rhyme that they used in Germany in the early 20s  or 30s, I should say. And then, when the gentleman you mentioned was asked what he thought  and a young woman was killed, a protester  and he asked  was asked what he thought, he said, There are very good people on both sides. [See John Hinderakers post Joe Biden, liar.] And thats when I decided I wasnt going to be quiet any longer. And when I ran this time  and I think the American press, whether they look at me favorably or unfavorably [sic], acknowledge this  I made a determination: Nothing is worth  no election is worth my not doing exactly what I think is the right thing. Not a joke. Im too long in the tooth to fool with this any longer. And so, were a long way off in elections  a long way off. My focus of any election is on making sure that we retain the House and the United States Senate so that I have the room to continue to do the things that Ive been able to do in terms of grow the economy and deal in a rational way with American foreign policy and lead the world  lead the  be the leader of the free world. So  but its not a  its not an illogical question for someone to ask. I say to people at home: Imagine if we sat and watched the doors of the Bundestag broken down and police officers killed and hundreds of people storming in, or imagine if we saw that happening in the British Parliament or whatever. How would we feel? And one of the things that I take some solace from is: I dont think youll find any European leader who thinks that I am not up to the job. And I mean that sincerely. Its not like, Whoa Its that  that  The point is that when  the first G7 meeting I attended, like the one I did today, was in Great Britain. And I sat down, and I said, America is back. And one of the  one of my counterparts, colleagues, a head of state, said, For how long? For how long? And so, I dont blame  I dont  I dont criticize anybody for asking that question. But the next election, Id be very fortunate if I had that same man running against me.

There is more, and worse, in the transcript of this press conference and the other linked remarks.
Of all the catastrophic decisions that governments made in response to the Wuhan epidemic, mask mandates were the most mind-numbingly foolish. And they werent harmless, either: we will be seeing the effects on todays children for many years to come.

As the midterm elections draw closer, mask mandates, along with other covid infringements, have been abandoned almost everywhere. Apart from the fact that children are still forced to wear masks in some schoolsa crime, in my opinionthere are two major exceptions. The first is medical facilities. I had an operation this morning (reconstruction of an Achilles tendon) and thus had to don a mask for some hours. But I am willing to cut those folks some slack, if only because I hardly ever set foot in clinics or hospitals.

The second exception is airplanes and airports. By federal executive order, masks are required in airports and on airplanes, and flight attendants (on Delta, at least) begin each flight by absurdly instructing passengers to replace their masks between sips and bites.

Is there some reason why covid is particularly threatening on airplanes? Are airplanes, with their air filtration systems, somehow more conducive to spreading disease than other environments, like stadiums, concert venues, bars and restaurants? No rational explanation of that theory has been forthcoming, but Joe Biden recently extended the order requiring masks through April.

I flew to Phoenix a few days ago, and on the outbound flight the captain came out of the cockpit just before takeoff to greet the passengers. He thanked us for flying Delta (more or less mandatory if you fly out of the Twin Cities) and also thanked us for going along with the mask rule. He noted that the crew has to do it too, and concluded by saying that he hopes the mandate will expire in a few weeks, a wish that I am sure was shared by more or less all of the passengers.

The airlines cant like being one of the last bastions of masking, and finally they are doing something about it. On Wednesday, the CEOs of United, American, Delta, Southwest, FedEx and other airlines wrote an open letter to Joe Biden, requesting that covid regulations unique to air travel be lifted. The letter is embedded below; here are some excerpts:

[M]uch has changed since these measures were imposed and they no longer make sense in the current public health context. The persistent and steady decline of hospitalization and death rates are the most compelling indicators that our country is well protected against severe disease from COVID-19. Given that we have entered a different phase of dealing with this virus, we strongly support your view that COVID-19 need no longer control our lives. Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions  including the international predeparture testing requirement and the federal mask mandate  that are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment.

***

The predeparture test requirement, imposed to slow the introduction of variants into the U.S., has outlived its utility and stymies the return of international travel. The United Kingdom (UK), the European Union and Canada have recognized this reality and lifted travel restrictions. The U.S. inconsistency with these practices creates a competitive disadvantage for U.S. travel and tourism by placing an additional cost and burden on travel to the U.S. Further, many outbound travelers are not willing to risk being stranded overseas.

***

The science clearly supports lifting the mask mandate, as demonstrated by the recently released CDC framework indicating that 99 percent of the U.S. population no longer need to wear masks indoors. Several studies completed before we had the added layer of widespread availability of vaccines, including one from Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health3 and another from the U.S. Department of Defense4, have concluded that an airplane cabin is one of the safest indoor environments due to the combination of highly filtered air and constant air flow coupled with the downward direction of the air. Lifting the mask mandate in airports and onboard aircraft can be done safely as England has done. Importantly, the effectiveness and availability of high-quality masks for those who wish to wear them gives passengers the ability to further protect themselves if they choose to do so.

The airline CEOs emphasize this point, too:

It is critical to recognize that the burden of enforcing both the mask and predeparture testing requirements has fallen on our employees for two years now. This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers.

This is true. There are a few mask Nazis in the ranks of flight attendants, but most are appropriately casual about enforcing the mandate. On the other hand, when passengers openly refuse to wear masks, difficult situations are created. I have experienced delays in takeoff on a couple of occasions when there was an argument between flight crew and one or more passengers who wouldnt don masks. In one instance, passengers ultimately were escorted off the plane. These tense situations benefit no one. They also represent the merest tip of the iceberg when it comes to travelers frustration with irrational covid rules.

Lets hope the airlines have enough clout with the Biden administration to bring this foolishness to an end, once and for all. Here is the letter:
I forget which leftist thinker remarked some years ago that conservatives stormed Washington, while leftists stormed the English Department. While the first half of this statement may be contested, the second half is dead on the mark. There are few traditional academic disciplines today that have fallen further into the fever swaps of leftist ideology than English literature, which has had the effect of driving students away from the field en masse.

The Washington Post last week ran a long feature about the Modern Language Association (MLA), the major academic body for English literature and related disciplines (such as foreign languages). The story, written by Jacob Brogan, who has a Ph.D in English from Cornell but works at the Posts Outlook page no doubt because an academic post was not forthcoming, does its best to obscure the leftist rot in English departments, but cant quite pull it off. Some samples:

The panel in progress  Lessing and the Intersectionality of Gender and Cultural Diversity  had another 20 minutes to go, just enough time for questions. But no hands were raised, and no one was holding forth. In fact, the room was free of any sign of life. The seats were empty, the table uncluttered by notes or napkins. Even the hotel corridor outside, lined with rooms hosting other sessions, was silent.

Who would sit through such drivel, unless you are one of panelists needing a venue to spout your drivel?

For decades, the conference was the ground zero of professional life for literature scholars. Thousands descended on it to engage with the latest research and catch wind of the newest trends while listening to papers. . . It was here, too, that rising scholars would meet with acquisition editors from the various university presses, pitching them on books that could make them into stars  or at least earn them tenure. Even in the good years, the convention was a bad place for graduate students searching for work. . . But those jobs mostly dont exist anymore. Thanks to shrinking department budgets, declining enrollments, and other, more malignant antipathies, tenure track openings have evaporated, leaving many casting about for underpaid adjunct employment. That process has been underway for years, but it has only accelerated in the past decade. Hiring last peaked in 2007-2008, when the MLAs jobs report recorded 3,506 openings across English and other languages. By 2019-2020, the most recent year for which data is available, that number had fallen to 1,411  only half of which were for tenured or tenure track positions  even as graduate programs continued to award new PhDs. Attendance at the MLA fell at a similar rate, a decline only compounded as departments began to shift interviews online even before the pandemic: In 1968, the conferences attendance swelled to 11,750. By 2020, only 4,395 attendees showed up.

I wonder if it ever occurs to anyone in the field that maybe it was something they saidhave been saying for 30 years now? Is it merely a coincidence that the handful of conservative professors of literature tend to have over-subscribed lecture courses (like Gary Saul Morson at Northwestern)?
Harvard screwed Roland Fryer. Thats what happened to Roland Fryer. National Association of Scholars President Peter Woods Spectator column When Harvard canceled a black professor {UPDATE: published in accessible form by the New York Post here] applies Woods academic expertise to tell the story. As if we didnt have enough to be indignant about, we now have the case  the rise and fall  of Professor Fryer to digest. Woods column includes a link to the excellent video by Rob Montz (below). The video is accompanied by the following account:

Roland Fryer was an unlikely Harvard superstar. Abandoned by his mom at birth and raised by an alcoholic dad, Fryer became the youngest black professor to ever secure tenure at Harvard and won the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, the prize for the best economist under 40 in the world.

Fryers research routinely upended the woke orthodoxies dominating academia. But not on purpose; Fryer isnt partisan. Hes only interested in digging up truth, no matter what it is. Truth, he says, is the key tool for improving the lives of black boys and girls.

Then, in 2018, Fryers career was suddenly cut short. Harvard had an official line on why: hed sexually harassed his staff. Fryer was banned from campus and his multi-million dollar lab was shut down. The few legacy media outlets that did cover the case, such as the New York Times, dutifully repeated the universitys narrative: this punishment was overdue MeToo justice.

No, it wasnt. Drawing on previously unreported documents and interviews with dozens of Fryers friends and colleagues, we reveal his cancellation for what it was: an ideological purge.
KIEV, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said that Kiev insists on a system of security guarantees for Ukraine as one of the key elements of negotiations with Russia, the presidential press service reported Saturday.

During an interview with German media, Podolyak stressed that such a system "is impossible without the participation of the United States in the first place."

According to the negotiator, the future of Crimea, certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk should be decided only by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.

He called on Ukraine's partners to provide air defense systems, give weapons to "adequately help" Kiev, adding that sanctions, such as oil embargoes and restrictions on financial transactions, are also needed.

Earlier this month, Podolyak said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, may hold talks soon.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that it is too early to talk about a meeting between the two presidents, as there is no breakthrough yet in the peace talks.

Ukrainian and Russian delegations held three rounds of peace talks in-person in Belarus since Feb. 28, and the fourth one started on March 14 in a format of video conference. 
Sometime in February, while romantic partners were being served breakfast in bed and black-market sellers were cashing out from the fuel scarcity issue, two young men found a way to bring happiness onto the faces of many Nigerians.

Nigeria is not a stranger to having several ordinary people transformed into social media celebrities overnight when discussing viral sensations.

From Olajumoke Orisaguna, a bread seller turned model, to Jeremiah Ekuma, a pure water seller turned law undergraduate, these people prove that a single video or image on social media could positively change lives.

This is the story of two friends, Matthew Precious Kelechi and Amakor Johnson, who became famous after their dance video went viral.

Popularly referred to as the Happie Boys, Kelechi and Johnson were brave enough to show their fantastic dance moves at a Chicken Republic outlet in Aba, Abia State, where they worked as security guards.

While they danced, a stranger named Aku Caleb Chisom, who is now their manager, took a video of them and sent it to Gossipmill, a popular blog account on Instagram.

Unfortunately, the viral video cost them their jobs, as their employees fired them. Moreover, news of their termination was announced on social media, exposing their previous employers to hate messages from Nigerians.

However, their fan base grew with 139,000 followers on Instagram. Additionally, a special assistant to the Governor of Delta State offered them a job and a scholarship to study in Cyprus. In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Happie boys talk about the challenges they faced growing up, why they danced at work, and Chicken republics involvement with their termination.

PT: Nobody saw your rise to fame coming. What inspired you to dance on duty?

HAPPIE BOYS: Simple; we were happy. Since we started working at Chicken Republic, we made it a duty to dance every day while opening the door for customers. So, we did what we usually do; entertaining customers in the restaurant.

PT: Tell us about your background.

KELECHI: Well, I come from a family consisting of four siblings. Eating three square meals in a day was hard, and we faced landlord issues.

My mum sold vegetables, and my dad was a dry cleaner, making us have little resources to manage.

JOHNSON: I remember selling pure water on the streets to survive. With my dad being a carpenter and my mum a provision seller, I hustled to make money.

PT: Tell us about your journey so far? How did you two end up as security guards?

HAPPIE BOYS: Surprisingly, after completing our secondary school education, we did not have the means to further our education, so we went job hunting and applied at Chicken Republic, Aba. Two weeks later, they called, asking us to resume work as their new security guards.

PT: How many weeks, months, or years did you work at Chicken Republic?

HAPPIE BOYS: We spent over three months at Chicken Republic as we began working there in December 2021.

PT: Describe how it felt working there?

HAPPIE BOYS: It was stressful, and they did not give us staff food. So, feeding expenses came out of the little money they paid us. Also, the sleeping conditions were unpleasant as we slept outside and got bitten by mosquitoes.

PT: How much did you earn, and was it enough to meet your basic needs?

HAPPIE BOYS: We earned 20,000. The money was not enough as it went into catering for our siblings and paying their school fees.

PT: When you noticed that your dance video had gone viral and you were sacked from your job at Chicken Republic, what was your action?

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HAPPIE BOYS: Initially, we were happy and excited when we saw the buzz being created about the videos. Then, we received a termination message from the head office, accusing us of tarnishing the institutions image, which was quite shocking.

Nevertheless, everything almost seemed like a dream., especially with the various calls we received from strangers and friends.

PT: What do you miss about your previous job?

HAPPIE BOYS: They were having fun, our co-workers, and the generous customers who gave us money on their way out.

PT: You have been given a scholarship by Mr Chibuzor Chinyere of Omega Power Ministries (OPM)to continue your education. Where did you stop in the academic pursuit?

HAPPIE BOYS: Now, given the opportunity to travel to a country like Cyprus, we hope to attain a tertiary degree in addition to our secondary school degree. It sounded unbelievable. When Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere announced, many people called us, requesting we go to his house.

So, meeting him and being told we would study overseas at Final International school in Cyprus was a mind-blowing moment. We also got a job offer from the special assistant on special duties to the Governor of Delta State, Ossai Ovie Success.

PT: How did you deal with criticism from people who felt the termination was the right move by Chicken Republic?

HAPPIE BOYS: Indifferent. We did not feel lousy hearing people who had opposing opinions about what we did. Its a free world, and anyone can say whatever they like.

PT: What were your reactions when Chicken Republic denied not having anything to do with the dismissal?

HAPPIE BOYS: The statement released was a lie. The dismissal letter came from the Chicken Republic itself, not the security agency.

PT: Are any of you in a relationship?

HAPPIE BOYS: No. But we are open to dating someone who isnt interested in us because of our fame.

PT: How often do you receive messages from female admirers?

A lot. We have many girls who send us messages, trying to shoot their shots. An ex-girlfriend sent us a message after she heard about our fame.

PT: Lately, you have been producing comedy videos. Tell us how it has been trying to break into the comedy skit industry.

The reason for branching out into comedy is we are trying to remain relevant. We dont want to be a one-hit-wonder. Doing comedy skits gives us a chance to grow the brand, stay visible in the minds of Nigerians, and gain more followers.

We came to Lagos to meet up with famous comedians like Nasty Blac, Sydney talker and others to collaborate before leaving Nigeria.

PT: Whats next for the Happie boys?

HAPPIE BOYS: Completing our university education, creating more content for social media and making Nigerians happy.

PT: Where do you see yourselves in the next ten years?

HAPPIE BOYS: Top celebrities living luxury lives, building houses and companies, and having a tremendous positive impact on people.

PT: How long do you see yourselves working together?

HAPPIE BOYS: Its a long term relationship between the three of us. We appreciate the fact that we understand each other and can cooperate.

PT: Before we wrap up this interview, anything you would like to tell every dreamer out there

Kelechi: Keep on pushing. Dont give up.

Johnson: Work hard and be happy.

Caleb: Never look down on yourself, and make your mama proud.

.

The man behind the camera

Behind every viral video is a man or woman who captured the trend-worthy moment on an electronic device.

The Happie Boys brand would never have existed if Aku Caleb Chisom didnt shoot their viral dance video.

Somewhat fresh from secondary school, Caleb was awaiting admission into university when he crossed paths with the Happie boys.

PT: Walk us through why you decided to record them and share the video with the entire world.

CALEB: I noticed these guys dancing at Chicken Republic. So, I took a video of them and uploaded it on my WhatsApp status. My friends commented on how entertaining these guys were. I knew they had prospects. So, when I saw them dancing, I took a good video and sent it to Gossipmill on Instagram. And voila, a viral video was born.

PT: After the video went viral, they got sacked. What did you do?

CALEB: I felt terrible and guilty but saw this as an opportunity for the boys to grow. So, I created an account on Instagram and TikTok and pushed them to create more content that Nigerians would love.

PT: Being the person that made them famous, you became their manager. Were there any challenges you faced initially?

CALEB: No challenges. Instead, the number of followers flooded their Instagram and TikTok accounts. But with my experience and Ideas, we were able to monetise fast.

PT: Will the Happie boys take their dancing skills to a professional level?

CALEB: Yes. We hope to create more dance-related content.
The month of April is about to get super exciting as the premiere season of The Real Housewives of Lagos (RHOLagos) is set to debut exclusively on Showmax on April 8.

The reality show follows the life of six opulent women in Lagos. You can watch the trailer here.

The cast of the first Nigerian instalment of the award-winning franchise includes Carolyna Hutchings, Iyabo Ojo, Chioma Ikokwu, Mariam Timmer, Laura Ikeji and Toyin Lawani-Adebayo.

As we countdown RHOLagos, here are five exciting shows you can enjoy.

The Real Housewives of Durban (RHOD)

This show is the real deal. It will take you through the lives of some of Durbans most intriguing high-flying women and socialites. It is the second instalment of the Real Housewives franchise in Africa.

RHOD is currently streaming on Showmax, and you can watch seasons 1 & 2 on the platform.

Nigerian Idol:

Since the seventh season of the reality singing competition, Nigerian Idol, began weeks ago, it has been filled with exciting and hilarious moments. The competition is now down to 12 contestants thrilling the audiences and the judges in the live shows. But, it gets more interesting as the power to save a contestant lies in the hands of the viewers and not the judges.

You can catch the live shows by 7 p.m. every Sunday on Showmax.

Unmarried

Its still international womens month, and you can spend some time with the women of Unmarried. Unmarried follows the lives of three inseparable ladies as they strive to survive the dynamics of friendship, career challenges and relationships.

This show is a must-watch, starring Venita Akpofure, Enado Odigwe and Folu Storms.

My Flatmates

The Basketmouth hit comedy series is one you should not miss. The comedy series follows the lives of friends who share an apartment and all the hilarious and chaotic events that occur as they navigate each day.

Listed as one of Showmaxs most-watched shows of 2021, the comedy series is back with a new season starting today, 21st March. You should binge-watch the five initial seasons.

Ghana Jollof

If the Ghana and Nigeria brawl on social media is hilarious, imagine that experience on a 13-episode comedy series.

The Showmax original follows the lives of 2 friends, Romanus and Jasper, who leave Nigeria to Ghana in search of greener pastures. They squat with a university friend, Kweku, as they find out if the grass is greener on the other side.

It is one hell of a fantastic adventure, and you should be binge-watching it.

These and more exciting shows are available to keep you entertained in anticipation of RHOLagos on Showmax.
With a few hours to the national convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there are indications none of the six other aspirants for the chairmanship position has agreed to step down for Abdullahi Adamu, the preferred candidate of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The convention is billed to hold today, after it was postponed several times by the caretaker committee of the party.

Mr Buhari on Wednesday met with the aspirants for the partys top job and informed them of his decision to support Mr Adamu, a serving senator and former governor of Nasarawa State.

The aspirants who attended the late-night meeting with the president on Wednesday include Mr Adamu, Tanko Al-Makura, George Akume, Abdulaziz Yari, Saliu Mustapha, Sani Musa, and Muhammed Etsu.

In his push for consensus candidates ahead of the convention, Mr Buhari ordered APC governors to refund money paid for the expression of interest and nomination forms by any of the aspirants willing to step down for Mr Adamu and other consensus candidates.

Each of the aspirants paid N20 million for the forms.

But few hours to the convention, none of the other aspirants has indicated interest in withdrawing from the race.

United in rebellion

Credible sources close to two of the major candidates from the North-central region told PREMIUM TIMES that the other six contenders have had various meetings and have resolved not to back down on their pursuit.

One source, who is also a delegate to the convention, said one of the aspirants had decided to step aside but was persuaded by the others not to do so in order to thwart the chances of Mr Adamu.

Many governors are not happy with Buharis choice for national chairman but none of them can come out openly to challenge him.

That is why they are secretly encouraging other aspirants never to back down so that they can work behind the scenes to ensure Adamu is not elected, the source said.

He added that many governors are secretly mobilising their delegates to vote against the presidents choice.

Another source who also does not want to be mentioned said series of meetings were going on as of 10 p.m. on Friday but all the six other aspirants were yet to take a stand. He said the other six aspirants will take a collective decision on the matter.

Many stakeholders have been prevailing on the other aspirants to step aside and give a written consent but none of them has agreed.

I assure you that whatever decision they are taking will be a collective one, he said.

As of the time of 10 p.m. Friday night, no aspirant had agreed to step down. However, a unity list was being prepared with Mr Buharis choice as chairman.

How Buhari revealed his choice to aspirants

More facts have also emerged on how President Buhari revealed his choice of Mr Adamu to the seven chairmanship aspirants of the party.

One of the aspirants who narrated what transpired at the meeting to PREMIUM TIMES said they were invited to have a dinner with the president where he revealed that he wanted Mr Adamu as chairman.

Immediately after the dinner, the president was handed over a script which he read to us and at the end told us that Senator Abdullahi Adamu had his backing for the race.

When he finished reading the script, he left us there with his chief of staff and others.

There was no dialogue whatsoever and that is why most of the aspirants are aggrieved, the source said.

He added that most of the chairmanship aspirants vented their displeasure after Mr Buhari left the meeting.
The United States Friday added six Nigerians to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons due to their support of Boko Haram.

According to a statement by Ned Price, spokesperson of the U.S. department of state, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added Nigerian nationals Abdurrahman Musa, Salihu Adamu, Bashir Yusuf, Muhammed Isa, Ibrahim Alhassan, and Surajo Muhammad to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.

The six Nigerians were blacklisted for financing the activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, who have in atleast the past 10 years been responsible for insecurity in Northeastern Nigeria as well as in neighbouring countries..

The groups activities have caused over 100,000 deaths in Northern Nigeria since 2009, according to official figures.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram, Mr Price said.

He noted that the U.S. action follows the United Arab Emirates prosecution and conviction of the individuals for supporting terrorism.

The Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organisation on November 14, 2013.

According to a Daily Trust report, the six persons were convicted by an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over alleged funding of the terrorist group.

Two of the convicts, Surajo Muhammad and Salihu Adamu, were sentenced to life imprisonment while the remaining four, Ibrahim Alhassan, AbdurRahman Musa, Bashir Yusuf and Muhammad Isa were jailed for 10 years each.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) finally holds its National Convention today (Saturday) to elect members of its National Working Committee (NWC). The event is coming 638 days after the dissolution of the last substantive NWC led by Adams Oshiomhole.

When the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC appointed Mala Buni as the Chairman of the caretaker committee, it asked it to midwife the process that will produce a national convention within six months.

Not only did the committee fail to deliver the said mandate, but it was also accused of being afflicted by a sit-tight syndrome. In addition, its legitimacy was challenged by several members of the party, including a cabinet member, Festus Keyamo.

The rise and fall of Adams Oshiomhole

The former labour union leader had been at loggerheads with several governors of his party as far back as 2018 during the APC primaries for the 2019 general elections. His quest to institute party supremacy created for him enemies in several APC controlled states.

In Ogun State, Mr Oshiomhole prevented the then governor, Ibikunle Amosun, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, from imposing his lackey, Adekunle Akinlade, as the flag bearer of the party in 2019. Mr Akinlade was forced to move to APM alongside some of his supporters.

A similar incident occurred in Imo State where the then governor, Rochas Okorocha, was prevented from imposing his son-in-law, Henry Nwosu, as the governorship candidate. Mr Nwosu had to decamp to Action Alliance to contest.

It was not just governors that got the big stick from the ex-NLC leader. A cabinet member, Adebayo Shittu, who skipped the mandatory NYSC scheme as exposed by this newspaper, was also disqualified.

In Adamawa State, Mr Oshiomhole drew the ire of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, whose brother, Halilu Ahmed, a governorship aspirant in 2018, was also affected at the primaries.

Although Mrs Buhari did not make reference to the case of her brother, she accused Mr Oshiomhole of acting with impunity.

Crises in Rivers and Zamfara states led to court orders that handed those states to the opposition party, PDP.

During the 2019 general elections, the ruling party won the presidential election and a majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly.

However, aside from Rivers and Zamfara states, the party was defeated in states like Oyo, Bauchi, Adamawa and even Imo State, until the judicial interpretation by the Supreme Court.

While Mr Oshiomhole survived the battle with the governors, he had a more serious encounter in his state, where the battle between him and his estranged godson and governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, led to his suspension from the APC at his ward, and ultimately the loss of his position.

Before the intervention of President Buhari via the NEC of the party, APC was enmeshed in a power tussle between two members of the NWC, Victor Gaidom and Abiola Ajimobi. The emergence of Mr Buni resolved the crisis, however, temporarily.

Bunis reign

Mr Bunis emergence put the party in the firm grip of the governors.

The Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee was instantly faced with the execution of two governorship off-season elections in Edo and Ondo states. The party lost Edo but kept Ondo.

The legality of Mr Bunis dual role as state governor and party head became contentious, particularly after the split decision of the Supreme Court on the Rotimi Akeredolu versus Eyitayo Jegede case after the Ondo State governorship election. Four out of the seven-member panel had dismissed Mr Jegedes appeal.

Festus Keyamo, the Minister for Labour and Productivity, in 2021, said if Mr Jegede had joined Mr Buni in the suit, the APC would have lost the state. He warned Mr Buni not to superintend over the planned congresses of the party.

Aside from Mr Keyamo, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Ita Enang, also challenged the legality of Mr Bunis role in the party.

Like in Ondo, APC lost Bayelsa State to PDP after the intervention of the court which sacked the governor-elect, David Lyon, and his deputy. The party was also defeated in Anambra State.

Within this period, Mr Buni also went on an expansion drive, poaching three governors from the main opposition party. Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Bello Matawella of Zamfara State and David Umahi of Ebonyi State all swapped the umbrella for the broom.

However, those gains only papered over cracks in the APC.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked Mr Umahi over his defection, while another court sacked 20 members of the Cross River State House of Assembly for dumping the PDP for the APC.

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The states congresses further exposed the division in the party. Parallel congresses were held in several states, including Ogun, Delta, Kwara, Osun, Zamfara, Cross River and Kano. In some of these states, there were two or more state executives. Most of the crises in these states have resulted in court cases.

In Zamfara State, the decamping of Mr Matawalle further polarised the party to an extent that the former governor, Abdulaziz Yari, and Kabir Marafa almost united to fight the new governor.

The crisis was messy as Messrs Buni and Marafa engaged in media tirades. The latter had called the CECPC an illegal contraption, prompting the caretaker committee to issue a warning of disciplinary action against Mr Marafa.

By the time the acting chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Governor Sani Bello of Niger State, swore the state chairmen in, it was obvious that several bigwigs of the party had lost out to their governors.

In Kwara State, the faction loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had lost out to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, while Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who was in bitter rivalry with his successor, Gboyega Oyetola, also found himself holding the short end of the stick. A similar situation happened in Ogun State between Ibikunle Amosun and his successor, Dapo Abiodun.

Aside from the congresses, the Buni-led CECPC struggled to get the membership registration and validation exercise going. The process caused crises in Kwara and Imo, while it was suspended in Delta State. More so, several leaders of the party, including Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Adams Oshiomhole and others, criticised the exercise for one reason or another.

Sight tight syndrome

In December 2020, the tenure of the CECCPC was extended by six months after a meeting between Mr Buhari and members of the committee. Interestingly, the tenure was again extended indefinitely in June 2021.

The inability of the Buni-led committee to hold the convention raised some eyebrows within the party. A group, led by Ayo Oyalowo, called for the resignation of Mr Buni in November 2021.

Even after the party announced that the convention would hold in February 2022, the announcement was greeted with scepticism from the supporters due to the rancour of the congresses.

Interestingly, there were voices in the party that wanted postponement. Orji Kalu, the Senate Chief Whip, had in a letter addressed to Mr Buni in 2021, said it would be prudent to postpone the convention until all pending issues at the states were resolved.

Some governors also favoured the postponement until all the crises among the state executives were resolved. Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said some governors supported the move.

Yes, we were divided. We were divided over the timing of the convention. Okay, there were some governors that felt that we should put off the convention until we resolve all the congresses issues in some states. As you know, there are issues in some states. So some governors held the view that we should wait until all this is (these are) resolved, he told State House correspondents in Abuja after some APC governors met with President Buhari.

Despite the announcement of February for the convention, two weeks into the new year, there was no sign of preparation from the party, prompting Salihu Lukman, the then Director-General of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), to write an open letter to Mr Buni, demanding his resignation if certain actions were not taken.

The call by Mr Lukman further divided the party, but the DG later became the first casualty of the struggle. Later, the governors announced another date, February 26, 2022.

Fresh postponement and palace coup

Despite the announcement of February 26, uncertainty continued to hover around the party and its elusive convention.

By January, the declaration by several heavyweights in the party of presidential ambitions, and the signing of the Electoral Act (2022) into law, further heightened the tension within the party on meeting the timetable for the general elections in 2023.

The inevitable was confirmed by the CECPC in a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing February 26 as the date for zonal congresses for the party. A new date of March 26 was announced for the national convention.

In a twist, Mr Buni was momentarily removed as chairman of the caretaker committee in a dramatic fashion, while he was overseas for medical attention.

The Governor of Niger State, Sani Bello, was directed to take over from Mr Buni, according to Mr El-Rufai, who disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV.

In the interview, Mr El-Rufai alleged a sinister plot by the caretaker committee to postpone the March 26 date again.

We got to know of a court order last year. It was obtained in November. A member of the party went to court to say there must not be a convention until his case against the party is disposed of which can take months or years and the lawyers of Buni went to court and agreed with the person and nobody knew about this order.

It was a nuclear weapon to destroy the convention which further made us believe that there are fifth columnists in the party that want to bring this party down because if we dont have (convention) and we go ahead with the primaries we might likely have our candidates lose all their seats as the case in Zamfara.

We reported to the president that no action had been taken on the order. He said the Niger State governor must take over on Monday and we should use whatever legal means necessary to make sure that the convention is delivered, Mr El-Rufai, who claimed to speak for the APC governors, said

At that point, it appeared as though Mr Buni was out totally, alongside the National Secretary, John Akpanudoedehe. The Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, even issued a statement with some unsavoury words, like referring to governors backing Mr Buni as Yahoo governors.

The insidious and appalling happenings within our party in the last few months, especially under the immediate-past leadership clearly posit a huge embarrassment. Without necessarily dwelling on details that are known to critical stakeholders, the path taken lately by Governor Mai Mala Buni, the immediate past head of the CECPC and an indivisible few, is an unenviable trajectory undeserving of our dear party. It is a disdainful narrative, Mr Akeredolu said.

Mr Bello, in his new role, reconstituted the convention committee and called an emergency NEC meeting of the party. This move, however, gave Mr Buni a lifesaver.

A letter by INEC, in response to the invitation to the APC NEC meeting, saved Mr Bunis hold on the party. The commission refused to recognise the letter because both the chairman and the National Secretary did not sign.

The Commission draws your attention to the fact that the notice for the meeting was not signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the CECPC contrary to the provision of the Article 1.1.3 of the Commissions Regulations and Guidelines for Political Party Operations (2018).

Furthermore, the APC is reminded of the provision in Section 82(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 which requires at least 21 days notice of any convention, congress, conference, or meeting convened for the purpose of merger and electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies

While all these dramas were going on, both Messers Buhari and Buni were abroad for medical care. Perhaps to rescue the situation, the two gentlemen had a meeting, with the president retracing his steps in a letter written to the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Abubakar Bagudu.

In a swift move, Mr Buni was back in control of the party and the planning of the convention.

Also, the case filed by one Salisu Umoru, a member of the APC, which asked the court to restrain APC from holding the convention until his case against Mr Buni and INEC was determined, was also vacated.

Hours to the commencement of the convention, the party is still trying to adopt consensus candidates in a bid to forestal rancour at the event.
Four aspirants will be slugging it out for the position of the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the partys national convention on Saturday in Abuja. The position has been zoned to the South-west comprising Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun and Lagos states.

Those gunning for the position are Iyiola Omisore, Adebayo Shittu, Olaiya Olaitan and Ifeoluwa Oyedele.

Iyiola Omisore

He is a former deputy governor of Osun State between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and senator representing Osun East Senatorial District on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 2003 to 2011.

In 2018, the 64 years old engineer from Ile-Ife, contested the governorship election in Osun State under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) but crashed out of the race having come third after APCs Gboyega Oyetola and PDPs Ademola Adeleke.

But Mr Omisore became a beautiful bride as his support for any of the parties in the rerun ordered by INEC was crucial to all of them. The rerun was to take place majorly in Mr Omisores strongholds. His home became a mecca of sort.

A high powered delegation from both PDP led by former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, met with Mr Omisore to support the party. On the other hand, APC led by the governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, visited him.

Mr Omisore subsequently went into coalition with the APC for the September 28 rerun in seven polling units of four local governments, namely Osogbo, Orolu, Ife North and Ife South.

Mr Oyetola was subsequently declared winner of the election by INEC.

He was allegedly promised the senatorial ticket of Osun East by the APC in the 2019 general election though it never materialised.

In February 2021, Mr Omisore defected to the APC. His quest to occupy the position of the national secretary of the party might be a payback time. He is reportedly the anointed candidate of the National Leader of the APC and presidential hopeful, Bola Tinubu.

However, Mr Omisore ambition may be threatened by his alleged involvement in the 2001 murder of the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bola Ige.

Despite court rulings, the allegation is still hanging on his neck, with groups calling on the current AGF, Abubakar Malami, to reopen the case.

Besides, some political allies of Mr Ige may not back him for the quest to become the APC scribe at Saturdays convention.

Adebayo Shittu

Adebayo Shittu is the immediate past Minister of Communication during President Muhammadu Buharis first term.

He had served as a lawmaker in the Oyo State House of Assembly where he was the youngest at the 26. Mr Shittu, 69, is a lawyer and Shittu, a three-time Commissioner in the state.

His last days in office was, however, characterised by NYSC certificate scandal. PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported how Mr Shittu skipped the mandatory one-year service despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU) at age of 25.

The controversy was believed to have played a major role in his failure to make the cabinet list for the second time.

Meanwhile, during the 2019 governorship election, Mr Shittu, who was from the CPC bloc that formed the APC, had wrestled to emerge as the governorship candidate of the APC but failed after the then Governor Abiola Ajimobi threw his weight behind Adebayo Adelabu, who later emerged the candidate of the Party.

Mr Shittu vowed not to campaign for Mr Adelabu, who eventually to the election to Seyi Makinde of PDP.

Mr Shittu is believed to be enjoying the support of some cabals in the Presidency in the desire to be the APC national secretary at the convention today.

Olaiya Olaitan

The 55 year-old Olaiya hails from Ibadan in Oyo State. He holds a doctorate degree in Agronomy from the University of Ibadan.

His political experience dated back to 1995, when he contested for Chairman Ibadan South East Local Government through Zero party platform and subsequently under PDP.

He contested for Oluyole federal constituency seat in 2007 under Labour party. He joined defunct ACN in 2010 under the leadership of former Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo State.

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He was the running mate of the deceased Alao Akala in the 2019 governorship election on under the umbrella of the ADP in Oyo State.

Mr Olaiya currently lectures at the department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

Although his chances of clinching the position of the national secretary are not certain, Mr Olaiya is seen as Mr Shittus Plan B even when both are political foes back home.

Ifeoluwa Oyedele

Ifeoluwa Oyedele, an indigene of Okitipupa in Ondo State, was an Executive Director (Engineering & Technical Services) at Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited.

He was a governorship aspirant during the 2020 gubernatorial election in Ondo state. He also served as the head of media and publicity committee of Buhari Campaign Council in Ondo State during the 2019 presidential election.

Mr Oyedele is believed to be the preferred choice of Mr Buhari for the APC scribe position.
Following persuasions and negotiations by governors and other leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the six other aspirants for the office of the national chairman have agreed to step down for Abdullahi Adamu, President Muhammadu Buharis choice for the job, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The meetings were held till the early hours of Saturday, this newspaper learnt with the aspirants eventually agreeing to support Mr Adamu. However, as of 8 a.m. on Saturday, a formal announcement of the agreement has yet to be made and some of the delegates who support other aspirants apart from Mr Adamu say they are unaware their candidates have stepped down.

Apart from Mr Adamu, the other six aspirants for the position of national chairman are ex-Nasarawa governor Tanko Al-Makura, ex-Benue governor George Akume, ex-Zamfara governor Abdulaziz Yari, Kwara politician Saliu Mustapha, Nasarawa senator Sani Musa, and Muhammed Etsu.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the aspirants were initially adamant about stepping down, insisting on taking part in the election at Eagle Square, Abuja.

At their earlier meeting held Friday evening, the other six aspirants had insisted on taking part in the election. However, that changed with the late-night meetings held.

President Buhari had on Wednesday met with seven of the aspirants for the partys top job and informed them of his decision to support Mr Adamu, a serving senator and former governor of Nasarawa State.

In his push for consensus candidates ahead of the convention, Mr Buhari ordered APC governors to refund money to any of the aspirants willing to step down for consensus candidates.

Each of the chairmanship aspirants paid N20 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms.

The aspirants, however, did not have the chance to dialogue with the president as he left immediately after he informed them of his choice.

Tough decision

Close sources to two of the chairmanship aspirants who were at the venue of the meetings late in the night said it took the intervention of governors to persuade the six other aspirants to withdraw from the race.

The governors who spearheaded the meetings were Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and his Lagos and Ekiti counterparts, Babajide Sanwoolu and Kayode Fayemi respectively.

One source at the meeting also said each of the aspirants was asked to put his withdrawal in writing.

The pressure was too much, you know what it means when the president has taken a stand, one of the sources said.

Another source who witnessed some of the meetings said the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, also played a key role in persuading the aspirants to step down.

Delegates React

One delegate from Nasarawa State, who is a supporter of Mr Al-Makura confirmed that he is aware the former governor has stepped down from the race. The majority of the delegates from Nasarawa, who were lodged in a hotel in the Wuse area of Abuja, had planned to vote for Mr Al-Makura, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

However, a delegate from Kwara and key supporter of Mr Mustapha said they had yet to be told that they would have to vote for Mr Adamu based on the consensus arrangement. Another delegate and supporter of Mr Yari from Zamfara expressed a similar position on Saturday morning, indicating the outcome of the late-night meetings had yet to be made known to many delegates about an hour before the start of the convention.

Unity list

Some of the delegates spoken to said they are still expecting the Unity List the party promised to produce for all the positions.

The Chairman of the media sub-committee of the convention and Nasarawa Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Friday, said a unity list would be made available to delegates at the convention venue.

However, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that as of Saturday morning, some of the zones had yet to reach an agreement on positions allocated to them.

Some of the positions that have yet to be decided on are the Deputy National Chairman (North), National Youth Leader, and National Organizing Secretary.

The convention is expected to start at about 10 a.m. today.
The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has offered an explanation on how the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) plans to attain a Unity list ahead of the March 26 National Convention.

Mr Sule, who is also the Chairman of Media and Publicity Committee for the event, said on Friday that President Muhammadu Buhari, late Wednesday night, directed that the new officials of the party should emerge by consensus.

With the event barely a few hours away, PREMIUM TIMES can report that the ruling party has not been able prevail on aspirants to endorse consensus candidates for some seats.

Sources close to some of the chairmanship aspirants told this newspaper that their candidates remain in the race.

Mr Sule said some geo-political zones have already agreed to the list put together by the partys leadership and that efforts to attain the ultimate aim of achieving full consensus continues.

He said the party intends to achieve consensus candidates for all the positions through wide consultations with aspirants, stakeholders and their constituencies.

If you want consensus, you must have a unity list. You must have people who have agreed, aspirants who have agreed, stakeholders who have agreed, constituencies that have agreed. That is the meaning of unity list, that is how we intend to achieve a unity list, he explained.

The governor said if their aim for consensus failed to scale through, the APC will be forced to explore other options as stipulated by its constitution.

As far as our party is concerned, we have all the three options in our constitution and the number one choice always in our party is consensus because it actually creates a rancour-free convention.

The reason being, all the stakeholders from the various zones will sit and agree and all aspirants will also agree, sign off before we go into the convention.

We are still on that first choice, even though democracy and our constitution of Nigeria demand that if that doesnt work, then we go ahead and look at the other options. Right now, consensus remains our option number one, he said.

Not all political appointees are barred from convention

Also offering clarity on the section of the recently signed Electoral Act (2022), Mr Sule argued that some delegates lists are automatic even if they are political appointees.

He said this while explaining the partys decision to bar political appointees from voting at its national convention, as stipulated by Section 84 (12) of the law.

In compliance with this, the APC on Thursday night declared that all political appointees who were elected as delegates to the National Convention slated for 26/3/2022 SHALL NOT VOTE in view of the controversy surrounding Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

it however said they can attend the convention as observers.

The Senate had rejected Mr Buharis request to amend the controversial subsection in the Act to allow political appointees to contest and participate in the primaries without tending their resignation.

Last Friday, the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, declared that section was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.

The judgement followed a suit filed by a lawyer and politician, Nduka Edede, in a suit number FHC/MU/SC/26/2022, with Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, as the only defendant.

While Mr Malami has agreed to implement the courts judgement, the Senate has also registered its intention to appeal the judgement.

However, Mr Sule, in his explanation, said that not all political appointees are exempted from participating in the exercise.

Our delegate lists are usually statutory if we have a former president as a political appointee, if you have a former senator as political appointees, those are automatic delegates. Lets not confuse the two. Just because being an appointee does not necessarily take you out of being a delegate because delegates are classified clearly.

I dont think everyone holding political office are actually political appointees of the president, governors or senators appointees.

Most of the list of delegates we have submitted, we dont have commissioners, we dont have advisers, we dont have all those unless if somebody was a former this or former that. In that case, just being an appointee does not completely exclude such a person from being a delegate, he said.

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The Nigerian Navy said that it had apprehended the naval rating allegedly involved in the stabbing and shooting of a medical doctor, Owen Edo-Ojo.

The Director of Naval Information, Adedotun Vaughan, said in a statement that the alleged incident occurred last Saturday at Gbamgbala St., Elegushi, in Lekki area, Lagos.

The rating in question has been apprehended and detained while the due investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to the alleged shooting and stabbing of the doctor, he said.

The commodore said that the Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) WEY, Navy Town, Ojo, had paid a visit to the Edo-Ojo family to empathise and confirm the condition of their son.

Investigation is ongoing and if the rating is found culpable, he will be appropriately punished in line with extant provisions of the Armed Forces Act.

The Nigerian Navy is not unmindful of the place of discipline, professionalism and respect of the civil populace by naval personnel in the discharge of their duties, he said.

Mr Vaughan said that the Navy remained committed to the respect and protection of law-abiding citizens.

The commodore assured that appropriate punishment would be meted to any of its personnel that violates extant regulations and Standard Operating Procedure. (NAN)
The Kaduna State Government has confirmed the killing of some citizens in six villages of Giwa Local Government Area of the state.

The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, however, said in a statement on Friday in Kaduna that a detailed security report was still being awaited.

Some citizens have been killed by bandits in six villages of Giwa LGA, he said.

According to Mr Aruwan, the attacks occurred between Thursday and the early hours of Friday.

The affected villages are Dillalai, Barebari, Dokan Alhaji Yau, Durumi, Kaya and Fatika.

An unspecified number of locals were also kidnapped, he said.

The commissioner assured that the state government would keep the public abreast of developments. (NAN)
WARSAW, March 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday met with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov during his visit to Poland, "for an update on Ukraine's military, diplomatic, and humanitarian situation," according to the White House.

Biden dropped in a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their Ukranian counterparts, Kuleba and Reznikov.

They discussed "further efforts to help Ukraine defend its territory" and the United States and its allies' ongoing actions towards Russia, the White House said in statement.

In a tweet, Kuleba said that the meeting between Ukrainian ministers and U.S. secretaries allowed him to seek "practical decisions in both political and defense spheres in order to fortify Ukraine's ability to fight back," while Reznikov tweeted that he acquired "cautious optimism."

Biden is visiting Poland, after attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, G7 gathering and the summit of the European Council -- three intensive summits in two days with the Ukraine crisis as major focus.

The U.S. president tried to coax a display of unity with European partners, but failed to talk them into concerted actions against Russia.

The NATO summit concluded Thursday with no agreement to impose additional sanctions against Moscow, especially the country's oil and gas products. Nor did the European Council summit succeed in reaching a consensus on the same issue. 
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has ordered all public servants and political office holders in the state to begin reporting to their places of work on Mondays or face sanctions.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the directive is part of Mr Soludos efforts to end the Monday sit-at-home order usually observed in Anambra and other South-east states.

The sit-at-home order was introduced by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, to put pressure on the federal government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu who is standing trial in Abuja for alleged treasonable felony and terrorism.

Although IPOB had suspended the order, residents have continued to observe it mostly out of fear of possible attacks by gunmen.

Governor Soludo has repeatedly condemned the civil order which has disrupted the local economies.

Mr Soludo, during his inaugural address, said the poor masses lose an estimated N19.6 billion in Anambra alone.

The Head of Service in Anambra State, Theodora Igwebe, in a circular on Friday, disclosed that Mr Soludo said the order to report to work on Mondays follows the need to reposition service in the state for better performance and productivity.

Consequently, absence from duty on Mondays or any other official workday without approval will be viewed as serious misconduct which will attract appropriate sanctions, the statement read.

This directive takes immediate effect, it added.

The circular, addressed to key officials of the state government, also directed political office holders, permanent secretaries and all heads of non-ministerial departments to supervise and monitor workers for compliance.

The governor earlier said his administration has reached an agreement with the market and transport union leaders to put an end to the Monday sit-at-home in the state.

Mr Soludo spoke shortly after meeting with the leaders of market and transport unions on Friday.

Our people are losing productive hours and competitiveness to the activities of criminal elements who have taken advantage of this self-defeating strategy to destroy the economy of our dear state, he said of the sit-at-home order.

IPOB, a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which they want to be carved out from Nigerias South-east and parts of South-south, has been accused of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the two regions.
The police in Zamfara State said they have arrested 10 suspected bandits, killed one, rescued some victims and foiled an attack.

The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, said the efforts was part of their commitment to ridding the state of bandits.

He said they foiled banditry attack, neutralised one bandit, recovered two AK-47 rifles, boxer motorcycles, arrested 10 suspects for various offences and rescued of a 60-year-old kidnapped victim in Gummi local government area.

According to him, a notorius bandit, Lawali Ruguduma, who had been terrorising residents, was arrested in Bukkuyum local government during an anti-banditry patrol, while one bandit was killed during an exchange of gunfire between police and bandits in Kwarin Ganuwa and Nasarawar Mai Fara communities and the two AK-47 rifles discovered.

Mr Shehu added that they arrested eight bandits and rescued the 60-year old woman victim.

Those arrested include Ummaru Alhaji  Abdu, Buban Buba, Abubakar Shehu, Abdullahi Sangamere, Sidi Masallaci, Mohammed Ajiya, Saminu Bala and Muhammad Sani who have confessed to terrorising Gummi local government area.

A motorcycle snatching syndicate was also smashed in the state capital.

The police spokesperson called on members of the public to acknowledge the effort of the Police and other security agencies in combating crime and criminalities in the state and continue to pray for the sustenance of peace and tranquility in Zamfara State and Nigeria as a whole.

The CP equally assures of Police continuous commitment to safeguard the security and safety of people of Zamfara State, he added
After he was affirmed as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has called on other aspirants of the party to join hands with him to achieve victory at the July 16 gubernatorial election.

After an internal wrangling in the PDP over who becomes the flagbearer of the party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published Mr Adelekes name as the candidate for the party ahead of the governorship election in the state.

Alongside Mr Adeleke, the electoral umpire also cleared 14 political parties and their candidates.

The parties and candidates include National Rescue Mission (NRM), Abede Samuel; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke; All Progressives Congress (APC), Adegboyega Oyetola; Social Democratic Party (SDP), Omigbodun Oyegoke; Labour Party (LP), Oyelekan Akingbade; Action Peoples Party (APP), Adebayo Elisha; Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Awoyemi Oluwatayo; and African Action Congress (AAC), Awojide Segun.

Others are Accord, Akande Victor Babalola; Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Adesuyi John Olufemi; Action Democratic Party (ADP), Kehinde Atanda; YoungProgressive Party (YPP), Ademola Adeseye; Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Ayowole Olubusuyi Adedeji; New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Saliu Oyelami; BootParty (BP), Adeleke Aderemi.

The electoral umpire had also stepped three political parties which are; AA, APGA and ADC down for not meeting up with the set guidelines.

Speaking through a statement signed by Olawale Rasheed, Director of Media and Strategy, for his Campaign Organisation, Mr Adeleke told other aspirants of the party who wrestled the party ticket with him that, it is time for us as a party to join hands to face the APC to secure a landslide victory in July.

We have disagreed among ourselves. Now is the time for us to forgive and forget. We are not enemies; we are brothers. In brotherhood, we shall contest and win. So I call on our elders, leaders and fellow aspirants to strengthen and expand this winning train.

Our people are ready to vote and elect me as Governor because they know me, they have my record as a Senator, they know I am pro-people, they know my agenda is for them. Osun people know I will return government to the people, away from anti-people interest that exploit and pauperise them.
In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, a former Senate deputy minority leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, who recently dumped the PDP for the APC, speaks about his new party, power rotation in Taraba State, and his ambition to become governor of the state.

PT: You recently crossed from the PDP to APC, just like other prominent politicians in Taraba. Dont you fear a clash of egos with other prominent members in the party?

Bwacha: A clash of egos where?

PT: In the APC, considering that you met other prominent politicians in the party?

Bwacha: I am not considering any major threat from the APC members I met on ground. APC members a fortnight ago organised a dinner for me in Abuja, the attendance was very impressive and the remarks by our various leaders from the party chairman, from my colleague, who was then the only APC senator from Taraba, the minister whose comments were simply fantastic and encouraging  a lot of other prominent members from the APC like Engineer Ahmed Yusuf, His Excellency Uba Maigari, and a couple of them.

Those who attended the dinner will bear me witness that the reception was marvelous. Even my colleague, Senator Yusuf, said any prominent APC member that was not there is an IDP, which means an Internally Displaced Politician, because all those that matter in the APC were there. So we are good to go.

PT: With your movement, the APC now has two senators from Taraba. Is it a sign that the PDP is becoming weak in the state?

Bwacha: It is not only becoming weak, it is becoming irrelevant. You see, if you get power and you dont use it well, people somewhere along the line are bound to react. And that is what we did. They cannot be held down, they want development. They cannot be held down based on party, they didnt create PDP, they didnt come into this world with PDP. But they came into this world desiring to live like God wanted them to live and whoever wants to lead them must lead them justly. So if PDP did not provide that vehicle for them, they will change to another party. And that is what is happening in Taraba. People are angry. They are yearning for development and they are not getting it in PDP.

PT: The present governor is from Taraba South, where you hail from. A lot of people are clamouring for change, for the North to take its turn. What do you think?

Bwacha: There is nothing wrong with anybody clamouring for a power shift. When you are talking about democracy, it is all about inclusiveness, you dont exclude anybody. Well, there is nothing we are doing that would have offended the power configuration or power equation in the state. First and foremost, we have been involved in the power equation from day one. And as it stands today the three senatorial districts have had a fair share of exercise of power or rotation of power. The North had about 10 years, the centre had about eight years while the South is now serving for another eight years, so it has virtually gone round. Now, the governor of the state can be produced by any zone  if the south produces it the zoning begins from there, if it is in the central or North, the zoning also begins from there. So there is nothing we are doing that offends the rotation of power. This is just common sense.

PT: What are your plans for Taraba, given its potentials?

Bwacha: I am yet to make a public declaration about my gubernatorial ambition, of course, I am under tremendous pressure by politicians and by people who call the shots in the state, across the length and breadth of the state, not only from my zone, we have our people across the state. I am impressed by the level of confidence people have in me. By the time we finally decide and make a declaration on how to tackle the problems of Taraba State, it will not be a big deal because it is a terrain that I know very well and I have worked through the ranks to get to where Grace has placed me now. I am trusting God for the next level, we already have a team of experts on ground working and also studying the situation.

PT: Your new party is finding it difficult to organise a national convention, doesnt that indicate internal disharmony? If so, wouldnt that affect your aspiration?

Bwacha: I dont see that as a threat to the future of the party. Remember, it is the ruling party and it is not just easy because of the competition and various interests. Remember, people go to where things are happening, and because it is happening in the APC, there are bound to be contending forces and power play here and there What you see in the postponement going on is to get all clusters of interest to fuse together to have a common understanding, that is the position so far.

PT: What do you consider as the most critical factors going to the general elections next year?

Bwacha: What I know is that political activities have heightened in all the political parties, so as we face the general election, we are conscious of certain indices in the polity, like insecurity, like factors that could affect the economy, and a couple of other things. But essentially, these are things that we are familiar with and this is a year of heightening political activities so we are not expecting anything different.

PT: Your take on Governor Darius style of politics?

Bwacha: Well, I will leave that to those who are in Jalingo (the state capital). But at the appropriate time, I will speak on that. We have a lot to say, there is still time and the time is on our side.
A wave of crisis seems to have hit the boat of the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State as a faction of the party has emerged a few hours to the national convention in Abuja.

Abu Gbadamosi was sworn in as parallel chairman of the party on Friday.

The swearing-in ceremony was held at Trans Wonderland Plc, Amusement Park, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

Isaac Omodewu is the chairman of the other faction of the party in the state.

Some top party members rejection of Mr Omodewus chairmanship appears to be the reason for the emergence of the new faction.

PREMIUM TIMES was unable to speak with key party members about the development, as they had all converged on Abuja for the partys national convention.

But it was gathered that the members who opposed Mr Omodewus leadership include Adeolu Akande, Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission; Ismail Adewusi, Post-Master General of the Federation; Zacch Adelabu, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Sugar Development Council; and Joseph Tegbe, a gubernatorial aspirant.

Others are Azeez Adeduntan, former Commissioner for Health, and Wale Olatunji. Chairman, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM) among others.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that police sealed off the party secretariat at Oke-Ado in Ibadan on Thursday night.
Six chairmanship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have adopted Abdullahi Adamu, President Muhammadu Buharis choice, for the position.

The aspirants are a former governor of Nasarawa State and serving senator, Tanko Al-Makura; Special Duties Minister and former Benue governor; George Akume; Niger East Senator, Sani Musa; Saliu Mustapha from Kwara State; a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari; and an aide to the Niger State governor, Mohammed Etsu.

The aspirants, in a letter to the Chairman of the Election Sub-committee, signed on their behalf by Mr Akume, said they have adopted Mr Adamu as the consensus candidate.

May I kindly refer to the appeal by Mr President for the Chairmanship aspirants of our great party to agree to a consensus arrangement wherein our colleague H.E. Sen. Abdullahi Adamu is made our consensus candidate for the chairmanship position and forward letters of withdrawal from the under-listed aspirants to wit.

By indicating that they had included each individual letter of withdrawal by the aspirants, they appear to have complied with Section 84(9) of the electoral law.

Clause 84(9) provides that (a) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate.

Efforts to reach aides to Messrs Al Makura and Musa were unsuccessful as they did not respond to the telephone calls from this newspaper.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the withdrawal of the candidates, after a meeting in the early hours of Saturday.

President Muhammadu Buhari had pushed for a consensus option in picking the new leaders of the ruling party.

He had on Wednesday night met with seven of the aspirants for the partys top job and informed them of his decision to support Mr Adamu, a serving senator and former governor of Nasarawa State.

In his push for consensus candidates ahead of the convention, Mr Buhari ordered APC governors to refund money to any of the aspirants willing to step down for consensus candidates.

Each of the chairmanship aspirants paid N20 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms.

It was gathered that most of the aspirants had initially refused to step down vowing to contest against Mr Buharis choice.

While it appears that the party has finally resolved the issue of consensus as regards the position of the national chairman level, it is not clear if that has been achieved in the case of the other 21 NWC positions.
Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday announced its choice candidates for the National Youth Leader and the South-West Zonal Organising Secretary.

Gboyega Akosile, the chief press secretary to the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, an APC governor, announced this in a statement shortly before the commencement of the partys national convention on Saturday.

The statement said the Lagos branch of APC had settled for 36-year-old Dayo Israel as National Youth Leader and a former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, as South-West Zonal Organising Secretary.

The decision of the Lagos APC was announced by the party chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojebabi, during a dinner organised for party chieftains and delegates at the Lagos Governors Lodge, Abuja on Friday night by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the statement said.

The dinner, according to the statement, was attended by Governor Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat; Lagos APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi; members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the apex leadership body of Lagos APC; members of National Assembly from Lagos State; Lagos State House of Assembly members; State Executive Council members and Chairmen of the Local Governments in Lagos State, among others.

Speaking during the dinner, Governor Sanwo-Olu commended all the party leaders and delegates for travelling from Lagos to Abuja to participate in the APC national convention.

He expressed his support for Messrs Israel and Ibirogba as chosen by the party to represent Lagos in the National Working Committee as well as the South West level of the APC.

They have shown our two candidates that we are bringing forward; the National Youth Leader, Dayo Isreal from Lagos Island in Lagos Central, and Mr. Lateef Ibirogba from Alimosho in Lagos West. We are sure that they will represent us very well, the governor said.

Mr Ojelabi commended the governor for putting together the dinner and his contribution to the progress of the party. He also commended the delegates for travelling from Lagos for the convention.

The APC chairman implored the delegates to work for the emergence of Dayo Israel and Lateef Ibirogba as National Youth Leader and South-West Zonal Organising Secretary Organising respectively.

He said, We are determined to have a successful National Convention to put in place a democratically elected National Working Committee of APC for the next four years. The Unity List would be provided as we proceed to the venue of the convention.

ALSO READ: Lagos APC to adopt consensus candidate for state congress

We have our person who is going to represent the good people of Lagos State in the National Working Committee. We are presenting someone who is going to galvanise to ensure that the youths vote for our party in Lagos State and at the national level during the 2023 general elections. He is Dayo Isreal. We are presenting him as the National Youth Leader. I want you all to canvass for him. He is a dynamic youth, who knows what it takes to mobilise and galvanise the youths to support our party.

I also want to present to you the Zonal Organising Secretary, who is going to represent all of us at the South-West level. I have the honour to introduce Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, who will be contesting for the post of Zonal Organising Secretary.

Zoning, other candidates

The National Youth Leader is one of the three national working committee offices of the party specifically zoned to the South-west zone of the party  the other two being  the national secretary and the national woman leader.

Mr Israel will be slugging it out with five others  Moshood Erubami, Abdul Wasiu, Dada Olusegun, Kareemat Abiola, Temidayo Abdullahi, and Olalekan Edwards  who are also in the race for the office of the National Leader of APC.

For the office of the South-West Zonal Organising Secretary of the party, Mr Ibirogba, the Lagos APCs preferred candidate, has only one challenger, Egbedeyi David, in the election today (Saturday).
Some delegates to the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2022 National Convention have expressed mixed feelings over the organisation of the exercise.

Some of them said the Convention Planning Sub-Committee should have done more to ensure orderliness in accessing the convention venue.

Tony Ndanenu, a chieftain of the party and delegate from Delta State, while commending the committee, said a proper security arrangement would have helped.

This, he said, was especially with regard to party members struggling with and pushing aspirants to gain access to the convention venue.

He added that the development led to some delegates losing their valuables including phones, while some others got injured as police officers tried to disperse the crowd with teargas.

However, Jude Azimadu, the Secretary APC in Ndokwa East in Delta State, said in spite of the situation, he was looking forward to a successful convention.

Mr Azimadu commended the Governor Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee for managing the partys affairs since it came on board.

He, however, said there was more work to be done by the partys incoming National Working Committee (NWC) to take it to the next level.

As of the time of filling this report, delegates were seen seated at their states stands as they await the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and the partys critical stakeholders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 46 NWC positions are expected to be contested, including 21 NWC and 45 non NWC positions.

The Eagle Square, venue of the convention, located in the Central Business District, is already wearing a new look with colourful decorations.

Petty traders are also taking advantage of the large number of party faithful, both at the party secretariat and around Eagle Square, to carry out brisk businesses as they hawk branded T-shirts, wrappers, hats, key holders, wristbands and other souvenirs.

Heavy security presence was also noticed at the Eagle Square as well as around the entrance to the venue.

Hotels in Abuja city centre, and in the satellite towns, have been fully booked as early as a week before the convention.

(NAN)
Some unidentified gunmen on Saturday attacked the Kaduna Airport, killing an official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), identified as Shehu NaAllah, at the runway.

The manager of the airport, Amina Salami, confirmed the incident to Channels Television.

She said the bandits invaded the airport through the perimeter fence from a nearby forest at about 1 p.m.

She stated that the deceased security guard, Mr NaAllah, was patrolling the runway when he was shot by the assailants.

Mrs Salami said soldiers at the airport, however, responded immediately and repelled the attack

The sound of gunshots attracted the attention of armed security operatives who arrived the scene, and were able to repel the bandits form gaining access into the main airport complex, she added.

The attack delayed the takeoff of a scheduled Lagos-bound aircraft.

Armed operatives of the Nigerian Airforce and other military personnel took over the inner and outer areas of the airport to fish out the bandits, Channels Television reported.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has provided more details of the armed attack at the Kaduna airport on Saturday, and has confirmed a staff member was killed by the assailants.

The agency said a group of bandits attacked the Runway 05 axis but were repelled by security forces.

It said normalcy has since been restored at the airport and security officials recovered two motorbikes abandoned by the bandits.

The airport manager, Amina Salami, had earlier confirmed the attack, saying bandits invaded the airport through the perimeter fence from a nearby forest at about 1 p.m.

She said a security guard who was patrolling the runway was shot by the assailants before soldiers, attracted by the sound of gunshots, responded.

The attack delayed the takeoff of a Lagos-bound flight.

The Kaduna State government also confirmed the incident. Governor Nasir El-Rufai commended the security forces for their prompt response to the attack, and for repelling the attackers, and condoled with the family of the victim, the State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said.

FAAN said in a statement on Twitter that a reinforcement team from the Nigerian Defence Academy was on ground to ensure safety and security of airport workers/users.

The Authority uses this opportunity to sympathise with the family and friends of the victim of this unfortunate incident, the statement signed by Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, Ag.General Manager, Corporate Affairs, said.

Deadly gangs referred to the government as bandits have been operating in North-western Nigeria for years, abducting and killing thousands. The attack at Kaduna airport appears to be one of the most daring by the bandits.
KIEV, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's western city of Lviv came under attack on Saturday, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi confirmed that there were three explosions in the city.

The powerful explosions occurred on the city's eastern outskirts, Kozytskyi wrote on Facebook, urging people to stay calm.

One of the attacks possibly hit a local oil storage facility, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, citing reports from social media. 
 again, we are making a strawman argument. Its not about who is standing on a better moral ground or who is sitting on a sounder economic footing between the West and Russia. Its about the fact that Russia attacked a sovereign nation, doing what she considers best to make her stronger and more prosperous.

On February 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine, resulting in a major escalation of conflict between the two countries and the setting off the biggest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. At the time of writing this piece, thousands have died and both sides have sustained serious casualties. As a fall out of this tragedy, an estimated three million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes and into another country, triggering an unprecedented refugee crisis.

In the events leading up to the invasion, President Putin accused the United States (U.S.) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) of threatening Russias security by expanding eastward and claimed that Ukraine is being dominated by neo-Nazis, who he said were persecuting the Russia-speaking minority in the country.

Its important to note that the man leading the group being accused of prosecuting a neo-Nazi agenda is no other than President Volodymyr Zelensky, being Jewish and yet a native Russian speaker. But none of these mattered to Putin and the Kremlin power structure. In 2021, Russia began a massive build up of military assets along its Ukrainian border, in preparation for an invasion, a charge which it denied up until the night prior to the invasion.

On the morning of February 24, Russian missiles rained over Kiev, the Ukraine capital, followed by a multi-pronged large ground invasion, in what Putin called a special military operation to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine.

Granted that Russia has a legitimate reason to be concerned, should Ukraine join NATO, the latter had equally demonstrated unwillingness to extend its membership to Ukraine in deference to Russias voiced concerns. That said, Ukraine as a sovereign country is within its rights to purse strategic relationships  military, economic or political  with any group it chooses to align with, in pursuit of its national interest. That is what Russia and every other independent nation do all the time.

With one of the strongest military forces in the world, supported by one of the largest nuclear arsenals that boasts of over 6000 warheads, Russia is heavily fortified and knows that the West will do everything humanly possible to avert an armed confrontation with it. Doing otherwise would, without doubt, result in mutually assured destruction, which no one desires. But Putin had other reasons for invading Ukraine.

The straw man argument is about the construction of a second argument that tends to resemble, to a certain degree, the one that the opponent is wanting to make. Most often, however, the distorted interpretation is only remotely related to the original claim. The perverted argument may just focus on one aspect of the claim, exaggerate it or take it totally out of context. Those are logical fallacies which are not alien to polemical debates

The Kremlin believes that Russia will never become a consequential global power without exerting control over Ukraine. There is also the idea that a democratic and prosperous Ukraine is a threat to the current authoritarianism in Russia and may inspire a whole generation of dissenting voices that could demand changes in the way things are done.

As despicable as Russias action is in invading her smaller neighbour killing and maiming innocent citizens, one would have thought the whole world would rise up with one voice and in total condemnation of such predatory and barbaric behaviour Not really. There are some very intelligent minds applauding Russias actions and blaming Ukraine for daring to chart her own course. The basis of their support for Russia is premised on the notion that NATO countries like the United States had caused even worse atrocities in the past than whatever Russia is doing currently in Ukraine. Even when that may be the case, should Ukrainians be left to be murdered in their homes simply because Russia is not doing anything worse than what the West had done in the past?

Instead of rallying in support of Ukraine, these people are busy attacking the strawman.

The straw man argument is about the construction of a second argument that tends to resemble, to a certain degree, the one that the opponent is wanting to make. Most often, however, the distorted interpretation is only remotely related to the original claim. The perverted argument may just focus on one aspect of the claim, exaggerate it or take it totally out of context. Those are logical fallacies which are not alien to polemical debates, especially the one about highly charged emotional subjects.

But for the sake of this piece, lets even consider the relationship between NATO and Russia. There is this argument being made that if the West really wanted to pursue global peace, NATO should have disbanded when the Warsaw Pact ended in 1991. What proponents of this line of thought believe is that if NATO had gone the way of Warsaw, Russia would today have no issues to worry about and that meant the invasion of Ukraine could have potentially been avoided. Thats just a gross over-simplification of facts.

What many might be ignoring is the fact that after the Warsaw Pact collapsed in 1991, Russia and a few other countries of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) joined China in the Shanghai Coorperation Organisation (SCO), also called the Shanghai Pact. SCO is a transcontinental security, economic and political alliance regarded as the worlds largest regional organisation. Russia did not just go home and suck it up, it went into a larger pact with China and others.

Military exercises are also regularly conducted among member states of the SCO in order to maintain regional peace and stability, as well as promote cooperation against terrorism and external threats. Its equally important to note that the Warsaw Pact did not dissolve because Russia was extending an olive branch to the West out of sheer benevolence. The pact crumbled because USSR, which was the glue holding the union, unraveled in 1991.

Most of these nations feel threatened by Russia and are all flocking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), seeking to protect themselves against a belligerent neighbour Starting with Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary in 1999, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania followed in 2004, and Albania in 2009. Thats exactly the same thing Ukraine wants, not to threaten Russia but to pursue her own growth and development as a nation.

America and Europe sure loved that Warsaw Pact collapsed, just like you would rejoice when your enemy runs into problems. But thinking they caused the collapse of the Warsaw Pact is like blaming the wind for the collapse of a house built on a faulty foundation. That would be giving the West too much credit. Communism was defeated because what it teaches went against the nature of man and every other institution that it propped up collapsed when it couldnt stand anyomore. Its been called the most bogus human experiment in history.

Russia is lashing out because, after the collapse of the USSR, many of the nations that were part of the old communist alliance no longer saw a future in authoritarianism and therefore gravitated towards liberal democracy, as practiced in the West. The latter is far from perfect but has proven over time to be a more sustainable political model that guarantees more peace and prosperity, while delivering a better quality of life than what obtained under the yoke of communism.

Most of these nations feel threatened by Russia and are all flocking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), seeking to protect themselves against a belligerent neighbour Starting with Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary in 1999, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania followed in 2004, and Albania in 2009. Thats exactly the same thing Ukraine wants, not to threaten Russia but to pursue her own growth and development as a nation.

Russia and Putin need to have a deep introspection on why all their former friends and allies are abandoning them and seeking new friendships with the West. Maybe it has to do with the old saying that if you make better mousetraps, the world would beat a path to your door. The West offers peace, opportunities and progress to her citizens. Russians, on the other hand, are served with Putins extremely corrupt and repressive regime that favours the oligarchs and poisons or assasinates opposition figures.

Ukraine should be allowed to choose her friends. I do know that if given an option to decide between St. Petersburg and New York, on where to live and raise a family, those blaming Ukraine would choose the latter.

But again, we are making a strawman argument. Its not about who is standing on a better moral ground or who is sitting on a sounder economic footing between the West and Russia. Its about the fact that Russia attacked a sovereign nation, doing what she considers best to make her stronger and more prosperous.

Osmund Agbo, a public affairs analyst is the coordinator of African Center for Transparency and Convener of Save Nigeria Project. Email: Eagleosmund@yahoo.com
There is no consensus on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. While some argue that as a sovereign state, Ukraines desire to be able to determine its own security alliances is legitimate, others note that Russias national security concerns are germane, given Kievs increasing rapprochement with NATO. Thus, this is a catch-22 situation that can only be resolved by mutually beneficial agreements.

The Russia-Ukraine crisis that began on February 24 has divided academics and keen observers of international politics. In a bid to assess the direction of the conflict and its implication for the future of Russia-Ukraine relations, the University of Johannesburg (UJ)s Institute for the Future of Knowledge organised a webinar titled Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Escalation or Detente? on March 16. The event was facilitated by Professor Suzy Graham, Vice Dean, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Humanities, UJ. The three key speakers were Ambassador Ilya Rogachev, Russian Embassy in South Africa; Ambassador Steven Pifer, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; and Distinguished Professor David Marples, Department of History, Classics, and Religion, University of Alberta, Canada.

Ambassador Rogachev noted that Russias action in Ukraine was ignited by the incessant conflict in Donbas, Eastern Ukraine and the Ukrainian militarys imminent attacks on Luhansk and Donetsk, two major cities in Donbas. The Ambassador highlighted that in the past eight years, the Ukrainian armed forces have been killing civilians in Donbas. He further argued that following an unconstitutional bloody coup detat in Ukraine in 2014, the people in Donbas refused to submit to the Kiev regime, leading to violence in the region. Consequently, between 600,000 and 800,000 people were granted Russian citizenship. He argued that the Russian minority population in Ukraine is facing repression, as laws prohibiting Russian cuture, language and media have been promulgated. Another major factor borders on security and strategic considerations, most especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)s eastward expansion. Ukraines quest to become a NATO member is a matter of national security concern for Russia. Indeed, despite Russias opposition and the pledge to the Soviet leadership in 1990 and 1991 that there would be no eastward expansion, for about thirty years, NATOs infrastructure has been moving close to Russian borders in the interim, provoking a direct threat to Russias national security. Moscow initiated diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue by drafting two treaties on mutual security guarantees, which were presented to the United States (U.S.) and NATO on December 15, 2021. However, the proposals were rejected. Similarly, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov wrote his counterparts in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), reiterating the principle of equal and indivisible security, which underscores the notion that a state cannot insure its own security at the expense of the security interests of other member states. This principle finds its legal basis in the 1999 Instanbul and 2010 Astana declarations. Ambassador Rogachev further stated that Kievs quest to acquire nuclear weapons, coupled with significant Western states and domestic neo-Nazists influence on the Ukrainian government, pose a threat to Russias security, hence Moscows inevitable action in Ukraine.

On his part, Ambassador Pifer diagreed with the Russian Ambassador, noting that the war is not limited in scope and not restricted to the protection of Donetsk and Luhansk, given that 125 Russian battalion tactical groups and 200,000 Russian soldiers have invaded Ukraine. He stated that the ongoing conflict is the largest war in Europe since 1945. He further illustrated that Ukraine does not pose a security threat, by drawing attention to the asymmetric warfare as Russian military personnel is four times more than that of Ukraines, the Russian defence budget is ten times more than Ukraines, and Russia has 4,400 nuclear weapons, while Ukraine has nil. While Moscow has presented the crisis as a dispute between Russia and NATO, 2004 was the last time a state around Russian borders joined NATO and it was after 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and provoked a conflict in Donbas that NATO installed military infrastructure in the territory. According to Ambassador Pifer, the allegation that neo-Nazists control Kiev does not hold water as the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. Neither does the claim that Ukraine posseses nuclear weapons have any merit as the allegation was only made in the past few weeks to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine. He noted that the primary motive for the war was Moscows desire to significantly influence Kievs domestic and foreign policies, as the Russian administration is gripped by fear that borders on regime survival in light of Ukraines rapproachment with the West. In his view, a Westernised, democratic and economically successful Ukraine will ignite a crisis of authority in Russia.

Professor Marples engaged the crisis from a historical perspective, highlighting the 1997 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership that was signed by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma. The treaty partitioned the black sea fleet and codified an agreement, which specified that Russian speaking areas would not be prohibited from speaking Russian. Thus, Russia-Ukraine relations in this period were arguably fairly stable. Relations began to sour in 2004 when Russian-backed presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych lost in the presidential election to Viktor Yushchenko. President Yushchenko elevated Ukrainian nationalists involved in anti-Soviet actions during World War II.

In 2014, then President Viktor Yanukovych decided to join Eurasian Economic Community and accepted a large loan from President Putin, as opposed to Ukraine having an associate membership of Europe. This decision led to domestic protests that eventually resulted in the ousting of President Yanukovych. The subsequent election of President Petro Poroshenko further aggravated the already fragile relations, as his administration introduced what was labelled memory loss, which resulted in erasing the communist past from Ukrainian national history, elevating the heroes of Ukrainian independence, changing the names of streets and buildings and toppling the statutes of Vladimir Lenin. Relations were arguably at their lowest ebb in that period. However, there was a U-turn following Volodymyr Zelenskyys emergence as the president in 2019, on the promise to improve the Ukrainian economy. There were no indications of declining relations in the immediate period of Zelenskyys administration, begging the questions of why relations suddenly got worse and why the war only started now.

There is no consensus on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. While some argue that as a sovereign state, Ukraines desire to be able to determine its own security alliances is legitimate, others note that Russias national security concerns are germane, given Kievs increasing rapprochement with NATO. Thus, this is a catch-22 situation that can only be resolved by mutually beneficial agreements. Ultimately, to jaw-jaw is better than to war-war.

Oluwaseun Tella is Head of the Future of Diplomacy at the University of Johannesburgs Institute for the Future of Knowledge, South Africa.
Contrary to popular belief, our universities cant solve all societys problems or even teach about them. Every society contains many knowledge centres  domestic, public, private, industrial, etc. We belong to the higher education cluster, and we cannot perform the tasks allocated to other sectors, such as primary and secondary. Sometimes we inherit issues that should have been corrected earlier, such as language, ethics, and civic responsibilities. However, this does not absolve them of the responsibilities of bettering society. Therefore, the best way for our universities to start teaching societys most pressing problems is by first determining the important problems to society. Knowing this will help to focus on dealing with each identified pressing problem.

As a powerful institution, the university must begin to push for some changes on its own while also teaching about the problems and changes in the societies. The people with the most connections, knowledge, access and skills reside in the university community, and we need to use all these resources to drive change. How far have we been able to tap these resources to influence the changes we want to see in the country? Are our universities taking the drivers seat or just waiting for things to fall into place?

Our universities need to begin to establish a deep connection with other institutions of the societies. For instance, they need to connect to the workplace, religious centres, and, more importantly, early education providers, who are important because they set the foundation for each student before going into a university system. If they get it wrong, the university will have difficulty producing excellent graduates. And since we know better in the universities, we should connect with these important institutions. If our universities can connect with them, they can work out how the training that students receive in their early stages is instrumental to their subsequent growth and development at the universities.

Importantly, we need to rejuvenate our curriculum. We have long maintained a curriculum that has lost touch with the realities of our present world. It is possible that if you line up universities graduates from the last twenty years, they will all testify to learning the same thing in the same way and with the same limitations. We must rise above this and respond to our curriculums terrifying knowledge and skill lacuna.

However, when drawing up a curriculum, we should not mistake assembling people who alone have been in the system. While their experience and input are valuable, I believe we can be more encompassing in drawing our curriculum by including top inputs from employers, key stakeholders, and policymakers. Having all these people contribute to the curriculum will give it a boost, but it will also make it solid and more relevant.

Our universities are referred to as research and development centres, which means that from a distant and close look, the university has an unending obligation to drive research and development for academic or educational upliftment and to proffer solutions to societys core problems. In meeting the demands of society, I cannot stress enough the importance of community service. Many universities in Nigeria have put different community service programs around them, but we still have to look deeper. The goal is not merely to establish these community programmes; we also need to investigate whether such are achieving their intended purposes.

Particularly, we need to ask how the community service has been able to lift people out of some of their most terrifying situations? How many people have we served in ways that have transformed their lives in their years of establishment? How has community service granted access to people on the street? We should not just talk about the gown and the town; we need to ensure that the contributions of the gown are lifting the town in ways that we have not experienced before.

Universities should go beyond imparting textbook knowledge to students to teaching them about real-life experiences. Students should be able to learn about their future workplace, how it operates, and how to manage themselves in it. They should be made to understand labour market trends and how they are supposed to prepare to meet its ever-expanding demands. Universities can also create work-integrated learning opportunities so that students get unhindered opportunities to experience what obtains out there.

The demand for routine is fast disappearing and being replaced by machines. This means that based on the present operational curriculum in our universities, graduates may be unable to meet the demands of the future workplace and most likely become unemployable. In response, our universities can train students for a world that demands more soft skills. Thus, beyond what we presently experience in our universities, we can begin to incorporate lifelong lessons and skills in our curriculum so that graduates can meet the demands of the twenty-first-century workplace.

Cultural learning is part of the soft skills of the future that robots cannot replicate because it teaches young people the culture and values of the environment. This will contribute to their success in any job as it gives them cultural sensitivity, people management skills, communication capacities beyond just the language of their disciplines, and so on.Universities must be designed to accommodate students peculiarities. It must be designed so that students can find happiness, purpose, value, and knowledge in it. The university should no longer be a centre for rote learning. It needs to be a place where everyone comes in and goes out fulfilled. Happy university graduates make up happy societies.

Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland.

This is the text of a presentation at the 6th Biennial Conference of Committee of Pro-Chancellors of state-owned Universities in Nigeria, held at Osun State University from March 21-25.
The University of Benin (UNIBEN) on Saturday ordered the flying of the institutions flag at half-mast to mourn the death of the first female vice-chancellor in Nigeria, Grace Alele-Williams.

Mrs Alele-Williams, who was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Benin in 1985, died on Friday in Lagos at the age of 89.

The University of Benins spokesperson, Benedicta Ehanire, in a statement, said Lilian Salami, current vice-chancellor of the institution on behalf of the university community mourned the passing of her predecessor.

Mrs Salami, the second female vice-chancellor in the institution after Alele-Williams, described the late former and first female vice-chancellor as an iconic giant for breaking the glass ceiling for other women to blossom.

She expressed solace in the fact that the late professor was being celebrated rather than mourned.

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin, Prof. Lilian Salami, on behalf of the Governing Council, Management, Staff, Alumni and Students, mourns the passing of her predecessor, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams.

Prof. Salami described the late former and first female vice-chancellor of the University of Benin as an iconic giant who broke the glass ceiling for other women to blossom, Ms Ehanire stated.

Mrs Alele-Williams, Nigerias first female professor of Mathematics Education, was born on Dec. 16, 1932 in Delta to an Itsekiri mother and Owan father from Sobe, Edo.

She trod where others dreaded  Obaseki

Meanwhile, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has described the late former vice-chancellor as an Amazon who trod where others dreaded.

He said she was a thoroughbred academician who throughout her life left an indelible mark of dutiful service, hard work, diligence and determination.

Mr Obaseki said this in a statement on Saturday to mourn Mrs Alele-Williams passing.

The governor commiserated with the Alele-Williams family, praying that God will grant all the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

It is with a heavy heart that I received the sad news of the passing of renowned academic and administrator, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams.

As the first female Nigerian to earn a doctorate degree in mathematics, Prof. Alele-Williams was a woman of many firsts. She shattered the glass ceiling and didnt look back thereafter, the governor said.

(NAN)
After his failure to secure the governorship ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State for the second time, the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuf, has resigned from the party.

Mr Yusuf, PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered, tendered his resignation letter at the partys secretariat in Osogbo, Osun State capital, on Friday.

When contacted, Mr Yusuf confirmed the report, saying; Thanks for the enquiry. It is true. I have left APC. That is all I want to say for now.

The chairman of the party in the state, Gboyega Famodun, who also confirmed the development in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Friday night, however, said he was yet to receive the letter as he was taking part in the partys ongoing national convention in Abuja, the federal capital territory.

Likely reasons for exit

Since he controversially became the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in 2015 against the wish of the party structures in the South-west, and particularly the camp of the partys national leader, Bola Tinubu, Mr Yusuf literally lost his relevance in the party.

While the partys South-west structure had rooted for the emergence of the incumbent speaker of the National Assembly, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the speaker in 2015, Mr Yusuf had joined forces with those described as a faction of the new Peoples Democratic Partys (nPDP) caucus in the house to produce the immediate past speaker of the assembly, Yakubu Dogara.

He was also elected to deputise Mr Dogara.

Since the election, both Mr Yusuf and his then political leader and former Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, became estranged.

Throughout his tenure as the deputy speaker, Mr Yusuf was schemed out of major party decisions in the South-west and his then aspiration to become the governor of the state was frustrated.

The decision to opt for the direct primary mode to elect the governorship candidate of the party in 2018, which eventually produced the states incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, was reportedly targeted at him.

In a public media interview after the partys primary in 2018, Mr Yusuf accused the then national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, of being behind his troubles.

That man will destroy this party, I mean Adams Oshiomhole. But I can assure you that nobody can frustrate me out of the party. I will remain here, Mr Yusuf had alleged then in 2018.

He also accused Mr Aregbesola of attempting to ruin him politically, saying the former governor fought him tooth and nail, to allegedly see to his downfall.

But while he remained within the party during the 2018 governorship election in the state, Mr Yusuf was accused of anti-party activities.

Courted by Oyetola

Following his disagreement with his predecessor, Mr Oyetola tried to befriend anyone who may disagree with Mr Aregbesolas struggle for dominance in the states political affairs.

Just the same way Mr Aregbesolas arch-enemy and former deputy governor in the state, Iyiola Omisore, became Mr Oyetolas bride, he also went to court Mr Yusuf, apparently to spite his predecessor.

But the friendship could not last for long as Mr Yusuf soon reignited his interest to become the governor of the state under the states ruling party.

In spite of the general consensus among the partys leadership and the rank and file in the state that the governor should be returned for the second term, Mr Yusuf was the first to obtain the partys nomination form to contest the governorship primary.

Jilted by TOP

After publicly denouncing any plan to join forces with the loyalists of Mr Aregbesola to unseat the incumbent, Mr Yusuf was later co-opted into The Osun Progressives (TOP) force, a faction of the APC in the state loyal to Mr Aregbesola.

At a public function, Mr Yusuf declared his support for TOP alongside the states former speaker, Najeem Salaam; the former secretary to the state government, Moshood Adeoti; a former secretary of the party in the state, Rasaq Salinsile, and the partys former chairman, Lowo Adebiyi.

As part of the groups strategies to wrestle power from the incumbent, a shadow primary election was reportedly conducted for four aspirants in the faction towards producing a single strong aspirant to confront Mr Oyetola at the partys primary.

The four aspirants had included Messrs Yusuf, Salaam, Adeoti, and the incumbent senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Adelere Oriolowo.

Independent sources confirmed to this newspaper that while Mr Salaam polled 50 votes, Mr Adeoti polled 20; Mr Yusuf, 10, while Mr Oriolowo was said to have recorded no vote.

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But rather than presenting Mr Salaam as the factions aspirant to face Mr Oyetola, Mr Adeoti was publicly presented by the self-acclaimed leader of the faction, Mr Aregbesola, as its favourite flag bearer.

Justifying the decision of the faction, a former assistant chief of staff to Mr Aregbesola, Gbenga Akano, said whatever the decision of the faction on who should fly the partys flag at the poll was taken in the interest of the state.

Who was there at our primary? All that you have is rumour. And if Salaam had won and we eventually settled for Adeoti as our candidate, that was still a joint decision that was arrived at without rancour, Mr Akano said.

But rather than abiding by the factions decision, Mr Yusuf insisted that he would present himself at the partys direct primary, and he did on February 19, when it eventually held.

Shamed at the poll

On February 19 when the primary of the party eventually held, while Mr Oyetola recorded a total of 222,169 votes to defeat his closet rival and the preferred candidate of Mr Aregbesola, who scored 12,921, while Mr Yusuf polled only 460 votes.

The result of the primary, this newspaper learnt, has further exposed Mr Yusuf as someone without political relevance in the state.

On the day of the primary, at the Ansar-u-deen primary school compound where Mr Yusuf voted in his Ward 5 Bara B polling centre, he polled only 10 votes.

The video of the announcement of the results at the poll where Mr Yusuf was present, soon went viral.

Since the primary held, Mr Yusufs relevance in the party further waned, and while Mr Omisore was receiving the partys support for his ambition to become the National Secretary of APC at todays convention, Mr Yusuf could not even make the list of delegates.

The apparent neglect, which he currently suffers in the party, must have informed his decision to throw in towel on Friday while the members of the partys leadership were already in Abuja for the national convention.

I wouldnt comment now  Famodun

Meanwhile, the partys chairman in the state, Mr Famodun, said he was only told on the phone by his men at the states party secretariat about the former lawmakers resignation.

He, therefore, said until he sees the content of his resignation letter, he could not comment on the matter.

Mr Famodun said; We are all here in Abuja and so I have not seen the resignation letter, and it will not be proper for me to comment until I see it.

We will wait until we review the letter but I can assure you that we will handle the development appropriately.

What next for Mr Yusuf?

It is, however, not yet clear what the next move of the former lawmaker would be.

While APC members in his Irepodun Local Government Area of the state have described his exit from the party as good riddance to bad rubbish, some have suggested that he may join the opposition PDP in the state.

However, it is unclear which faction of the PDP in the state Mr Yusuf may decide to join if he settles for that decision, as the major opposition party in the state currently suffers internal crises which has led to its Balkanisation.

While a faction is loyal to the political family of the late first executive governor of the state, Isiaka Adeleke, other political leaders have queued behind former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the former national deputy chairman of the party, Shuaib Oyedokun.

The two factions produced two different governorship candidates at parallel party primaries.
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Beijing saw the reading for a primary air-pollution index fall 33.3 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, official data showed.

The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 34 micrograms per cubic meter in the January-February period, said the Beijing municipal ecology and environment bureau.

The city reported no severely polluted days in the two months.

During the Beijing Winter Olympics period from Feb. 4 to 20, the city's average PM2.5 reading stood at 23 micrograms per cubic meter.

The PM2.5 reading is a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or less in diameter, which can penetrate deep into people's lungs and pose serious health risks.

Beijing made a breakthrough in its air pollution control last year as the city reached the national air quality standard. The city's average concentration of PM2.5 was 33 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021, the lowest level since records began in 2013. 
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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
WASHINGTON, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers expect hundreds of physicians, government and industry leaders to attend the National Hispanic Medical Association's (NHMA) multi-day annual conference from March 24 to 27, 2022 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia. Healthcare professionals from across the nation will gather at the conference for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began to share lessons and experiences to innovate healthcare delivery.

On March 27th, NHMA is launching the NHMA Medical School Partnership Program to work with deans, faculty and residency program directors on increasing Hispanic patient-centered and community-based curriculum, NHMA leaders as visiting lecturers, and admitting more Hispanic physicians to better improve the physical and behavioral health of many essential workers and Hispanic patients.

The NHMA annual conference is among the largest of its kind and consists of dozens of educational workshops, plenaries, and career development opportunities emphasizing Hispanic health priorities designed to increase cultural competence among physicians and researchers. For 25 years, NHMA has drawn attendees from medicine, academia, government and industry to share best practices in caring for Hispanic/Latino patients and families.

Featuring a noteworthy lineup of speakers  including Director of CDC Rochelle Walensky; Director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD; Director of Office for Civil Rights (OCR), HHS, Lisa J. Pino; Director of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Robert Otto Valdez, PhD, MHSA; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Director of OMH RADM Felicia Collins, MD, MPH, FAAP, and more  leaders will discuss their vision for federal policies and programs to address the social determinants of health and well-being that affect the Hispanic/Latino community.

On Saturday evening, March 26, NHMA will honor the contributions of former NHMA Fellows and Board Members Ricardo De La Cadena, MD and E. Luis Aguilar, MD by presenting awards posthumously. We will also honor our Physician of the Year, Susana Morales MD; Government Awardee: Robert O. Valdez, PhD, Director, Agency for Health Research and Quality; Corporate Awardee Robert H. Bard, Publisher of Latina Style Magazine; outgoing Board and Chapter leaders; and leaders from the Council of Medical Societies, Hispanic health professional associations and advocacy organizations.

Major conference sponsors include: Centene, Abbott, American Medical Association, AARP, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, PhRMA, Travere Therapeutics, Vertex, Natural Resources Defense Council, Better Medicare Alliance, DaVita, and Pfizer Inc.

To register and learn more information about the NHMA 25th Annual Conference, visit www.nhmamd.org/2022-conference.

About National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA): Established in 1994 in Washington DC, NHMA is the premier non-profit membership association representing the interests of 50,000 licensed Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of NHMA is to empower Hispanic physician leaders to improve the health of Hispanics in the United States.

SOURCE National Hispanic Medical Association
In-Scope:

Machine grade:

The market vendors should focus on grabbing business opportunities from the machine grade segment under the grade type category, as it accounted for the largest market share in the base year. The high impact and weather-resistant properties of machine-grade polyester straps increase their preference in sectors such as the automotive industry.

Out-of-Scope:

Hand grade

To gain further insights on the market contribution of various segments, Request for a FREE sample

Highlights-

Segmentation- The report extensively covers market segmentation by grade type (machine grade and hand grade)

The report extensively covers market segmentation by grade type (machine grade and hand grade) Key Companies- Auto Strap India, Campanini ugo Srl, CONSENT Group, Crown Holdings Inc., DAE YANG STRAPS, DuBose Strapping Inc., Fromm Holding AG, GREENBRIDGE, Industrial Yarns Pty Ltd., LINDER GmbH, Messersi Packaging Srl, Mosca GmbH, Narrowtex Pty Ltd., National Webbing Products Co., North Shore Strapping Inc., Plastex Extruders Ltd., Samuel Son and Co. Ltd., Teufelberger Holding AG, Plastic Strapping Co. Ltd., and UNIVERSAL STRAPPING Corp. among others.

Auto Strap India, Campanini ugo Srl, CONSENT Group, Crown Holdings Inc., DAE YANG STRAPS, DuBose Strapping Inc., Fromm Holding AG, GREENBRIDGE, Industrial Yarns Pty Ltd., LINDER GmbH, Messersi Packaging Srl, Mosca GmbH, Narrowtex Pty Ltd., National Webbing Products Co., North Shore Strapping Inc., Plastex Extruders Ltd., and Co. Ltd., Teufelberger Holding AG, Plastic Strapping Co. Ltd., and UNIVERSAL STRAPPING Corp. among others. Driver- Polyester straps have emerged as a viable option to steel strapping

Polyester straps have emerged as a viable option to steel strapping Challenge- Alternatives such as polypropylene strapping

Download FREE Sample: for more additional information about the Polyester Straps Market

Vendor Insights-

The polyester straps market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as quality, price, service, brand image, distribution, and marketing to compete in the market. The key offerings of some of the vendors are listed below:

Auto Strap India - The company is involved in offering petrock poly ethylene terephthalate strap for heavy-duty packaging, which provides a superior alternative to steel strapping in terms of strength, cost-effectiveness, and workability, making it one of the best strapping materials to use for securing any type of palletized or unitized load.

The company is involved in offering petrock poly ethylene terephthalate strap for heavy-duty packaging, which provides a superior alternative to steel strapping in terms of strength, cost-effectiveness, and workability, making it one of the best strapping materials to use for securing any type of palletized or unitized load. Crown Holdings Inc - The company is involved in offering polyester straps which are mostly used in heavy-duty bundling applications such as shipping bricks, metals, beverage pallets, and other heavyweight packages.

The company is involved in offering polyester straps which are mostly used in heavy-duty bundling applications such as shipping bricks, metals, beverage pallets, and other heavyweight packages. DuBose Strapping Inc. - The company is involved in offering plastic strapping and plastic strapping systems for a wide range of industrial applications ranging from paper to lumber, to bottles and cans, thus ensuring the protection of products during handling, storage, and throughout the shipping process.

Find additional highlights on the vendors and their product offerings. Download Free Sample Report

Learn More about Key Driver & Challenge of the Market-

Polyester Straps Market Driver:

Polyester straps have emerged as a viable option to steel strapping:

The corrosion issue in steel has been addressed by the advent of polyester straps. Steel corrodes easily, causing the quality of things wrapped in it to deteriorate. As a result, there was a need for alternative strapping options such as polyester straps.

Polyester Straps Market Challenge:

Alternatives such as polypropylene strapping:

Polypropylene strapping is a low-cost alternative to polyester straps for moderate duty such as bundling, unitizing, and palletizing. Bundling and packaging newspapers, magazines, food goods such as meat, appliances, corrugated boxes, cut paper, and cartons are some applications for polypropylene strapping.

Find additional information about various other market Drivers & Challenges mentioned in our FREE sample report .

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Here are Some Similar Topics-

Cast Polymer Market by End-user and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Gelcoat Market by End-user and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Polyester Straps Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 16.02% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 1.15 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 15.33 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 45% Key consumer countries US, China, India, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Auto Strap India, Campanini ugo Srl, CONSENT Group, Crown Holdings Inc., DAE YANG STRAPS, DuBose Strapping Inc., Fromm Holding AG, GREENBRIDGE, Industrial Yarns Pty Ltd., LINDER GmbH, Messersi Packaging Srl, Mosca GmbH, Narrowtex Pty Ltd., National Webbing Products Co., North Shore Strapping Inc., Plastex Extruders Ltd., Samuel Son and Co. Ltd., Teufelberger Holding AG, Plastic Strapping Co. Ltd., and UNIVERSAL STRAPPING Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for 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 Grade Type



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 Grade Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Grade Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Grade Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Grade Type

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Grade Type



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Grade Type

5.3 Machine grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Machine grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Machine grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Machine grade - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Machine grade - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Hand grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Hand grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Hand grade - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Hand grade - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Hand grade - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Grade Type

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Grade Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 42: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 45: 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 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: 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 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: 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 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 82: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 83: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 84: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.14 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: 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 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Auto Strap India

Exhibit 93: Auto Strap India - Overview



Exhibit 94: Auto Strap India - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: Auto Strap India - Key offerings

10.4 Crown Holdings Inc.

Exhibit 96: Crown Holdings Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 97: Crown Holdings Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 98: Crown Holdings Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 99: Crown Holdings Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 DuBose Strapping Inc.

Exhibit 100: DuBose Strapping Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 101: DuBose Strapping Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: DuBose Strapping Inc. - Key offerings

10.6 Fromm Holding AG

Exhibit 103: Fromm Holding AG - Overview



Exhibit 104: Fromm Holding AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 105: Fromm Holding AG - Key news



Exhibit 106: Fromm Holding AG - Key offerings

10.7 GREENBRIDGE

Exhibit 107: GREENBRIDGE - Overview



Exhibit 108: GREENBRIDGE - Product / Service



Exhibit 109: GREENBRIDGE - Key offerings

10.8 LINDER GmbH

Exhibit 110: LINDER GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 111: LINDER GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 112: LINDER GmbH - Key offerings

10.9 Messersi Packaging Srl

Exhibit 113: Messersi Packaging Srl - Overview



Exhibit 114: Messersi Packaging Srl - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: Messersi Packaging Srl - Key news



Exhibit 116: Messersi Packaging Srl - Key offerings

10.10 Mosca GmbH

Exhibit 117: Mosca GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 118: Mosca GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: Mosca GmbH - Key offerings

10.11 Samuel Son and Co. Ltd.

and Co. Ltd. Exhibit 120: Samuel Son and Co. Ltd. - Overview

and Co. Ltd. - Overview

Exhibit 121: Samuel Son and Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

and Co. Ltd. - Product / Service

Exhibit 122: Samuel Son and Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.12 Teufelberger Holding AG

Exhibit 123: Teufelberger Holding AG - Overview



Exhibit 124: Teufelberger Holding AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: Teufelberger Holding AG - Key news



Exhibit 126: Teufelberger Holding AG - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 127: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 128: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 129: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 130: Research methodology



Exhibit 131: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 132: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 133: List of abbreviations

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SOURCE Technavio
NEW ORLEANS, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until May 3, 2022 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against C3.ai, Inc. ("C3" or the "Company") (NYSE:AI), if they purchased the Company's securities between December 9, 2020 and February 15, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period") and/or purchased or otherwise acquired the Company's shares pursuant to the Company's December 2020 initial public offering (the "IPO"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Get Help

C3 investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-ai/ or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

C3 and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period and/or in the Registration Statement and Prospectus issued in conjunction with the initial public offering, violating federal securities laws.

The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) the Company's partnership with Baker Hughes was deteriorating; (ii) the Company was employing a flawed accounting methodology to conceal the deterioration of its Baker Hughes partnership; (iii) the Company faced challenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover; (iv) the Company overstated, inter alia, the extent of its investment in technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth, and the scale of alliances with its major business partners; and (v) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

The case is The Reckstin Family Trust v. C3.Ai, Inc., et al., No. 22-cv-01413.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

SOURCE ClaimsFiler
NEW ORLEANS, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ClaimsFiler, a FREE shareholder information service, reminds investors that they have until April 25, 2022 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Gatos Silver, Inc. (NYSE: GATO), if they purchased the Company's securities between October 28, 2020 and January 25, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period") and/or purchased or otherwise acquired the Company's shares pursuant to the Company's October 2020 initial public offering (the "IPO"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Get Help

Gatos Silver investors should visit us at https://claimsfiler.com/cases/nyse-gato or call toll-free (844) 367-9658. Lawyers at Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC are available to discuss your legal options.

About the Lawsuit

Gatos Silver and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period and/or in the Registration Statement and Prospectus issued in conjunction with the initial public offering, violating federal securities laws.

On January 25, 2022, post-market, the Company revealed "errors in the technical report entitled 'Los Gatos Project, Chihuahua, Mexico' with an effective date of July 1, 2020 . . . , as well as indications that there is an overestimation in the existing resource model" and that on a preliminary basis, the Company estimated a potential reduction of the metal content of its CLG's mineral reserve ranging from 30% to 50% of the metal content remaining after depletion.

On this news, shares of Gatos Silver fell $7.02 per share, or approximately 68.9%, to close at $3.17 per share on January 26, 2022.

The case is Bilinsky v. Gatos Silver, Inc., et al., No. 22-cv-453.

About ClaimsFiler

ClaimsFiler has a single mission: to serve as the information source to help retail investors recover their share of billions of dollars from securities class action settlements. At ClaimsFiler.com, investors can: (1) register for free to gain access to information and settlement websites for various securities class action cases so they can timely submit their own claims; (2) upload their portfolio transactional data to be notified about relevant securities cases in which they may have a financial interest; and (3) submit inquiries to the Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC law firm for free case evaluations.

To learn more about ClaimsFiler, visit www.claimsfiler.com.

SOURCE ClaimsFiler
Lumina Datamatics Limited will present a host of advanced tech solutions taking the publishing industry forward at the London Book Fair from April 5-7, 2022.

MUMBAI, India, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumina Datamatics Limited, one of the largest service providers to global publishers and eCommerce companies, will be at the London Book Fair 2022 (LBF) from April 5 through to April 7 this year. They will host their visitors at stall 3B15 in the famous Olympia Exhibition Centre in West Kensington, London.

Attending LBF this year celebrates a return to normalcy for the industry even as Lumina Datamatics marks its presence for the 13th consecutive year, except the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fair hosts a few conferences, summits, and seminars that serve as headliner events for the who's who in the publishing industry.

The event this year has chosen Sharjah, U.A.E. as its market focus and Catalan Literature as a highlight. It will also host a conference on the Rights of Content Creators, a Writers' Summit, and a Forum for Research and Scholarly Publishing.

Mr Sameer L. Kanodia, Managing Director & CEO, Lumina Datamatics Limited, who will be at the Fair, expressed his excitement, "For us, going to the London Book Fair has become almost like a ritual. LBF is an august gathering of the greats in the global publishing industry. There's no telling our joy at being back, and I look forward to catching up with our peers and clients. The past two years, we sorely missed all buzz, the fanfare, and the uniquely insightful engagement it creates." He added, "We'll be bringing some of our best technology and tools to be exhibited at LBF, including Arty, BluPencil, ExpertSourcePro, Journal Express."

Lumina Datamatics Limited is inviting LBF attendees to visit its booth at 3B15; book a meeting in advance at: https://www.luminadatamatics.com/london-book-fair/

About Lumina Datamatics

Globally, 8 of the top-10 publishers and 3 of the top-5 eCommerce retailers trust Lumina Datamatics as their strategic partner in providing content, analytics, and technology solutions. Our clients benefit from the reduced time-to-market for new products and services, optimised business processes, operational efficiencies, improved competitiveness, and relevant insights. Lumina Datamatics' expert solutions combine its various in-house platforms, partnerships with global technologies, and more than 2800 professionals spread across Germany, India, and the U.S. This international footprint services our customers across four continents: Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

Visit luminadatamatics.com or go to LinkedIn.

Media Contacts:

Ojas Kulkarni

+912240340578

[email protected]; [email protected]

SOURCE Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
The AI SMILE Orthodontic Accurate Smart Alignment System Venus 1.0 which is independently researched and developed by scientific team of Weiyun Group, is based on the millions of database on Weiyun cloudbrain. It can accurately identify and automatically analyze gingival margin lines and teeth segmentation through artificial intelligence technology and featured big data calculation. According to the individual physiological characteristics and tooth morphological traits and status, the ideal dental arch and tooth alignment design will be automatically generated, with the considerations of aesthetics as well as biomechanics. At the same time, the step-by-step simulation of digital predictive design and the determination of personalized dynamic solutions signify the breakthrough in invisible orthodontic technology globally. The breakthrough of Venus 1.0 is not only showing its pioneering technology power of the world's leading level, but also demonstrating to the international market its core competitiveness in vertical scenarios such as invisible orthodontics and digital medical industry, promoting the innovation and transforming the current industry.

A New Era: From Digitializing to Deep Learning

Compared with the traditional dental treatment problems such as long waiting time, tedious process of taking records and taking mold, and difficulties to predict the effect of orthodontic treatment, the successful advent of AI Smile Venus1.0 marks a historic breakthrough in Orthodontic treatment and digital dentistry worldwide. Professor Pan working in Orthodontics department of Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, which is the national center for oral disease clinical research department, comments that "Venus 1.0 adopting artificial intelligence and biological simulation core technology, targeted to the analysis of current user dental arch and craniofacial morphology, assist doctors with the intelligent dynamic solution to be closer to the patients' demands and aesthetic preferences. It has the characteristics of high precision, high efficiency and high individuation." In addition, the AI orthodontic system provides a visual and real-time dynamic demonstration scheme on the mobile APP, which has revolutionized the way of medical records management and doctor-patient communication, it truly promotes the reform of the medical industry from Digitalizing to Deep learning. Venus 1.0 processes the digital dental model within 30 seconds, and demonstrates teeth arrangement plan within 1 minute through APP + SaaS (software). It predicts dynamic processes and final treatment effect, which provides the effective, efficient and visible method for treatment management to doctors and patients, reducing time and communication costs and information gaps, achieving the true WYSIWYG.

Budding Unicorn: Weiyun AI & Robotics Group Is Much-anticipated With Its Overwhelming Tech Advantages.

As a company structuring its technology R&D as the core competitiveness, Weiyun AI &Robotics Group has always seen " technology brings a better life" as its mission since it started. With its pioneering technology power by continuous efforts and breakthroughs in last decade, it has been paid a wide amount of attentions by the industry and medias. In last two years, Weiyun Group had received hundreds of millions in financing, and been awarded as "Annual Frontier Science and Technology Innovation Enterprise", "Pioneer In AI Technology Practice", "Core Enterprise of The Year", as well as be recognized as "The Unicorn Enterprise" by the national sector twice in a roll. In the future, Weiyun will keep updating AI smile Orthodontic Smart Alignment System and widely putting it into commercial use, improving the service procedures and standards of medical treatment, and transforming the current medical industry. AI Smile Venus 1.0 will be practiced as the important national medical project with well-known stomatological hospitals and clinics including Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital. At the same time, Weiyun Group is also planning to launch this cutting-edge technology for in-depth cooperation with its international invisible orthodontic AI SMILE clinics, and also looking forward to assisting more dental clinics which have the same commitment to provide high standards digital dental services in more efficient and effective way in hope to bring the benefits to more dental doctors and patients.

Innovation gives the direction for the future, and technology makes the future coming true. Weiyun AI & Robotic Group will be consistently making efforts to renew its sharp technology with outlooking the global trend while focusing on digital dental industry. As the leading tech firm in medical scenarios, Weiyun Group will keep concentrating on its AI technology advantages, establishing the close-loop digital dental industry chain, achieving the full coverage and complete solution of oral medical treatment, improving the treatment experiences and effects, therefore, leading the update of consumption as well as the industry.

SOURCE AI SMILE
Eleven abstracts highlight new data on bimekizumab in the treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis

Pooled data from five Phase 3/ 3b trials showed that more than eight out of 10 patients who achieved complete skin clearance with bimekizumab at week 16, and entered open-label extension, maintained this response through two years

trials showed that more than eight out of 10 patients who achieved complete skin clearance with bimekizumab at week 16, and entered open-label extension, maintained this response through two years Data from the open-label extension period of the BE RADIANT study showed that achievement of complete skin clearance at week 48 was maintained through week 96 with continuous bimekizumab treatment and improved for patients who switched from secukinumab to bimekizumab

ATLANTA, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it is presenting 11 abstracts on bimekizumab in the treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis at the 2022 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., on March 25-29, including a late breaking oral platform presentation and 10 posters. The platform presentation details new analysis of pooled data from five bimekizumab Phase 3/3b clinical trials, which showed that over 80 percent of patients who achieved complete skin clearance (PASI 100) at week 16 and entered the open-label extension (OLE) studies maintained this response through two years, and no new safety signals were identified.1

Among the poster presentations, new data from the OLE period of the Phase 3b BE RADIANT study showed that clinical responses (PASI 100 and absolute PASI, PASI 2) achieved at week 48 were maintained through week 96 with continuous treatment with bimekizumab and improved for patients who switched from secukinumab to bimekizumab on entry to the OLE.2,3 Patients who were PASI 90 non-responders with secukinumab at week 48 achieved improved clinical responses (PASI 90 and PASI 100) after switching to bimekizumab in the OLE.3 Among patients who were PASI 90 responders with secukinumab at week 48, PASI 90 response was maintained and PASI 100 response increased following switch to bimekizumab in the OLE.3

Bimekizumab is an investigational product and is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The safety and efficacy and safety have not been established. In the European Union and Great Britain, bimekizumab is the first selective IL-17A and IL-17F inhibitor to be approved for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy.4,5

"Long-term complete skin clearance is an important goal for people with psoriasis, and the new 96-week data from the open-label extension period of the BE RADIANT study offer fresh insights on the sustained response and clinical potential of bimekizumab in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis," said Bruce Strober, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor, Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, U.S., and Central Connecticut Dermatology Research, Cromwell, CT, U.S. "In addition, the improved clinical responses seen in patients who switched to bimekizumab after 48 weeks of treatment with secukinumab offer further new insights that should help to inform future clinical practice."

Emmanuel Caeymaex, Executive Vice President, Immunology Solutions and Head of U.S., UCB, said: "We are pleased to share our latest long-term data on bimekizumab with the dermatology community at the 2022 AAD Annual Meeting. The wealth of new data, insights and progress being presented underlines our commitment to advances in psoriasis care for people living with this challenging, life-long condition."

Phase 3/3b studies: two-year pooled data for bimekizumab in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis1

Data were pooled from the BE VIVID, BE READY, and BE SURE Phase 3 trials, the Phase 3b BE RADIANT trial and OLE (48 weeks), and the first year of the BE BRIGHT OLE study. Analysis evaluated PASI 100 maintenance through two years (OLE 48 weeks) among PASI 100 week 16 responders who entered the respective OLE studies and received continuous bimekizumab maintenance dosing from week 16 (320 mg every four weeks [Q4W/Q4W/Q4W] or Q4W/Q8W/Q8W). At week 16, 62.4 percent of bimekizumab-treated patients (n=1,362) achieved PASI 100. Of those who entered the OLEs, 85.1 percent (Q4W/Q4W/Q4W; n=316) and 83.8 percent (Q4W/Q8W/Q8W; n=267) maintained PASI 100 at year two (OLE week 48). The exposure-adjusted incidence rates (EAIRs) of overall and serious treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were 192.7 and 5.9. The most common TEAEs were nasopharyngitis (EAIR of 18.4), oral candidiasis (13.0), and upper respiratory tract infections (7.8). Almost all cases of oral candidiasis (98.1 percent) were mild or moderate.

BE RADIANT open-label extension study in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: efficacy and safety data through 96 weeks2

Complete skin clearance (PASI 100) levels observed with bimekizumab in the BE RADIANT study were maintained in the OLE through week 96 (74.8 percent and 70.6 percent at weeks 48 and 96, respectively) and improved for patients who switched from secukinumab to bimekizumab on entry to the OLE period at week 48 (52.8 percent and 76.1 percent at weeks 48 and 96, respectively). The absolute PASI response (PASI  2) was also maintained through week 96 (94.3 percent and 93.4 percent at weeks 48 and 96, respectively) and improved for patients who switched from secukinumab to bimekizumab on entry to the OLE period (83.9 percent and 94.6 percent at weeks 48 and 96, respectively). During the OLE, the most common adverse events with bimekizumab were nasopharyngitis (11.8/100 patient-years), oral candidiasis (7.8/100 patient-years), and urinary tract infection (4.5/100 patient-years). Adverse events were comparable between patients continuing bimekizumab or switching from secukinumab to bimekizumab. The incidence of serious adverse events was low. These analyses included 336 patients treated with bimekizumab, and 318 patients treated with secukinumab who completed the BE RADIANT double-blinded period and switched to bimekizumab upon entering the OLE.

BE RADIANT open-label extension study in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: responder analysis in patients switching from secukinumab to bimekizumab3

At week 48, 53/318 patients (16.7 percent) treated with secukinumab had not achieved PASI 90. After switching to bimekizumab in the OLE, responses improved. At week 96, 79.2 percent of this group achieved PASI 90, and 50.9 percent achieved PASI 100. At week 48, 256/318 patients (80.5 percent) treated with secukinumab had achieved PASI 90. After switching to bimekizumab in the OLE, 95.2 percent of this group maintained this response at week 96, and the PASI 100 response increased from 65.2 percent at week 48 to 79.9 percent at week 96. No clinically relevant differences in safety outcomes for patients who switched from secukinumab to bimekizumab were observed from weeks 48-96.

 Modified non-responder imputation analyses

About the BE READY, BE VIVID and BE SURE studies and the BE BRIGHT open-label extension study6,7,8,9

The efficacy and safety of bimekizumab in the treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis were evaluated in three Phase 3 studies, versus placebo and ustekinumab (BE VIVID), versus placebo (BE READY), and versus adalimumab (BE SURE). Patients who completed one of these three Phase 3 studies were eligible to enroll in the BE BRIGHT open-label extension study.

About the BE RADIANT and BE RADIANT open-label extension study10

BE RADIANT was a Phase 3b, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, active-comparator-controlled, parallel-group study designed to assess the efficacy and safety of bimekizumab compared to secukinumab in adults with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis. Patients who completed the 48-week double-blinded period were able to enroll in the ongoing 96-week open-label extension, where they all received bimekizumab.

About bimekizumab

Bimekizumab is a humanized monoclonal IgG1 antibody that is designed to selectively and directly inhibit both interleukin 17A (IL-17A) and interleukin 17F (IL-17F), two key cytokines driving inflammatory processes.11

Bimekizumab is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults, and its efficacy and safety have not been established for any indication in the U.S.

For further information, contact UCB:

Investor Relations

Antje Witte

T +32.2.559.94.14

email [email protected]

Corporate Communications

Ally Funk

T +1.678.365.6321

email [email protected]

Brand Communications

Eimear O'Brien

T +32.2.559.92.71

email [email protected]

About UCB

UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With approximately 8,600 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of 5.8 billion in 2021. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news.

Forward looking statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will", "continue" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates and beliefs of management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial information, expected legal, arbitration, political, regulatory or clinical results or practices and other such estimates and results. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of UCB, or industry results, to differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include: the global spread and impact of COVID-19, changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or to obtain them on acceptable terms or within expected timing, costs associated with research and development, changes in the prospects for products in the pipeline or under development by UCB, effects of future judicial decisions or governmental investigations, safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, product liability claims, challenges to patent protection for products or product candidates, competition from other products including biosimilars, changes in laws or regulations, exchange rate fluctuations, changes or uncertainties in tax laws or the administration of such laws, and hiring and retention of its employees. There is no guarantee that new product candidates will be discovered or identified in the pipeline, will progress to product approval or that new indications for existing products will be developed and approved. Movement from concept to commercial product is uncertain; preclinical results do not guarantee safety and efficacy of product candidates in humans. So far, the complexity of the human body cannot be reproduced in computer models, cell culture systems or animal models. The length of the timing to complete clinical trials and to get regulatory approval for product marketing has varied in the past and UCB expects similar unpredictability going forward. Products or potential products, which are the subject of partnerships, joint ventures or licensing collaborations may be subject to differences disputes between the partners or may prove to be not as safe, effective or commercially successful as UCB may have believed at the start of such partnership. UCB's efforts to acquire other products or companies and to integrate the operations of such acquired companies may not be as successful as UCB may have believed at the moment of acquisition. Also, UCB or others could discover safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with its products and/or devices after they are marketed. The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one of UCB's products that implicate an entire class of products may have a material adverse effect on sales of the entire class of affected products. Moreover, sales may be impacted by international and domestic trends toward managed care and health care cost containment, including pricing pressure, political and public scrutiny, customer and prescriber patterns or practices, and the reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers as well as legislation affecting biopharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement activities and outcomes. Finally, a breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of UCB's data and systems.

Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any of such forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labelling in any market, or at any particular time, nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be or will continue to be commercially successful in the future.

UCB is providing this information, including forward-looking statements, only as of the date of this press release and it does not reflect any potential impact from the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, unless indicated otherwise. UCB is following the worldwide developments diligently to assess the financial significance of this pandemic to UCB. UCB expressly disclaims any duty to update any information contained in this press release, either to confirm the actual results or to report or reflect any change in its forward-looking statements with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless such statement is required pursuant to applicable laws and regulations.

Additionally, information contained in this document shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

References

Gordon KB, Armstrong A, Lebwohl M, et al. Bimekizumab efficacy and safety through two years in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Analysis of pooled data from five phase 3/ 3b clinical trials. To be presented at the 2022 AAD Annual Meeting. Strober B, Paul C, Blauvelt A, et al. Bimekizumab efficacy and safety through 96 weeks in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Results from the open-label extension period of the BE RADIANT phase 3b trial. To be presented at the 2022 AAD Annual Meeting. Lebwohl M, Ghoreschi K, Strober B, et al. Bimekizumab efficacy and safety in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who switched from secukinumab: Results from the open-label extension period of the BE RADIANT phase 3b trial. To be presented at the 2022 AAD Annual Meeting. BIMZELX (bimekizumab) EU Summary of Product Characteristics. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/bimzelx-epar-product-information_en.pdf. Last accessed March 2022 . BIMZELX (bimekizumab) GB Summary of Product Characteristics https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/12834;

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/12833. Last accessed: March 2022 . Reich K, Papp KA, Blauvelt A, et al. Bimekizumab versus ustekinumab for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (BE VIVID): efficacy and safety from a 52-week, multicentre, double-blind, active comparator and placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2021;397(10273):487-498. Gordon KB, Foley P, Krueger JG, et al. Bimekizumab efficacy and safety in moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (BE READY): a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised withdrawal phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2021;397(10273):475-486. Warren RB, Blauvelt A, Bagel J, et al. Bimekizumab versus Adalimumab in Plaque Psoriasis. N Engl J Med. 2021;385(2):130-141. ClinicalTrials.gov. A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Bimekizumab in Adult Subjects With Moderate to Severe Chronic Plaque Psoriasis (BE BRIGHT). Available at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03598790?term=NCT03598790&draw=2&rank=1. Last accessed: March 2022 . Reich K, Warren R, Lebwohl M, et al. Bimekizumab versus Secukinumab in Plaque Psoriasis N Engl J Med. 2021;385(2):142-152. Glatt S, Helmer E, Haier B, et al. First-in-human randomized study of bimekizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody and selective dual inhibitor of IL-17A and IL-17F, in mild psoriasis. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2017;83(5):991-1001.

SOURCE UCB, Inc.
NEW YORK, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against C3.ai, Inc. ("C3.ai" or the "Company") (NYSE: AI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and docketed under 22-cv-01413, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) C3.ai Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Offering Documents issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering conducted on or about December 9, 2020 (the "IPO" or "Offering"); and/or (b) C3.ai securities between December 9, 2020 and February 15, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Plaintiff pursues claims against the Defendants under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired C3.ai Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the IPO; and/or securities during the class period, you have until May 3, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

C3.ai operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence ("AI") software company. The Company offers a variety of software-as-a-service applications for enterprises and software solutions and integrated turnkey enterprise AI applications for oil and gas, chemicals, utilities, manufacturing, financial services, defense, intelligence, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications market segments. The Company also purports to have strategic partnerships with Baker Hughes related to oil and gas markets; FIS related to financial services markets; Raytheon; and AWS, Intel, and Microsoft.

The complaint alleges that the Offering Documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading and were not prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations governing their preparation. Additionally, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, the Offering Documents and Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) C3.ai's partnership with Baker Hughes was deteriorating; (ii) C3.ai's was employing a flawed accounting methodology to conceal the deterioration of its Baker Hughes partnership; (iii) C3.ai faced challenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover; (iv) the Company overstated, inter alia, the extent of its investment in technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth, and the scale of alliances with its major business partners; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On February 16, 2022, during pre-market hours, Spruce Point Capital Management ("Spruce Point") issued a report and strong sell research opinion regarding C3.ai (the "Spruce Point Report"). Specifically, Spruce Point alleged that it had uncovered, inter alia, "[e]vidence of a severely challenged partnership with Baker Hughes, a related-party and C3.ai's largest customer"; "[s]igns of problematic financial reporting and accounting regarding the Baker Hughes joint venture and a revolving door in C3.ai's Chief Financial Officer position"; that "[c]hallenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover make it unlikely that C3.ai will meet aggressive analyst estimates"; "[e]vidence of exaggerated or irreconcilable claims made by C3.ai[,]" including "numerous discrepancies" regarding "the value of and cumulative investment made by C3.ai in its technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth and the scale of alliances with companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Google Cloud, Intel and Amazon Web Services"; and "[w]orrisome corporate governance practices and insider enrichment." As a result, Spruce Point "conservatively estimate[d] 40% - 50% downside risk to C3.ai's share price."

Following publication of the Spruce Point Report, C3.ai's stock price fell $1.01 per share, or 3.93%, to close at $24.70 per share on February 16, 2022.

As of the time this Complaint was filed, the price of C3.ai Class A common stock continues to trade below the $42.00 per share Offering price, damaging investors.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
Read the original article on Coffee or Die Magazine. Follow Coffee or Die on Instagram.

KYIV, Ukraine  The nearby shelling is loud enough to rattle the walls. From the upper-story balcony of this safe house on the edge of Kyiv, a thick, black plume of smoke is seen rising from a scene of destruction a couple of kilometers away at most. Much closer, other puffs of fresh smoke show where artillery has just fallen within a field. The boundary between lethal danger and relative safety is narrow and constantly shifting on the outskirts of Ukraines capital city. Its a different kind of war than what Tyler, a 30-year-old U.S. Army combat veteran of Afghanistan, has previously experienced.

What I experienced in Afghanistan was nothing like this. It would be much easier to die here than in Afghanistan; the Russians have some heavy firepower, Tyler tells Coffee or Die Magazine during an interview in Kyiv before his first deployment to the nearby front lines as a Ukrainian Foreign Legion volunteer.

Im not here to fuck around, Tyler says. I know exactly what Im getting into. I spent a lot of time and money creating a will before I left for Ukraine. I wouldnt be here if I didnt believe this was worth dying for. To be a good soldier, you have to be willing to say goodbye.

From the balcony, listening to the snarls of a nearby battle, Tyler watches a woman on the street below casually saunter by as she leads her dog on an evening walk. This correspondent remarks, Welcome to the twilight zone.

Its so surreal, Tyler says. After a pause he adds, I wish I could have seen Kyiv before the war.

For security reasons, Tyler requests that his last name and certain identifying information not be disclosed. After crossing into western Ukraine from Poland two weeks earlier, he enlisted with the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, otherwise known as the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. According to the terms of his contract, he can leave the country at any time.

On March 6, Ukraines Foreign Ministry estimated that some 20,000 foreigners from more than 50 countries had applied to fight for Ukraine since Russias full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. Among that number were about 3,000 Americans, Voice of America reported.

Trim, bearded, and well spoken, Tyler has a well-paying and prestigious job back home in the United States and is on good terms with his family. He isnt running away from anything, nor is he seeking to scratch some existential itch in a war zone or achieve social media fame. In fact, hes scornful of other foreign volunteers who portray themselves as heroes on social media.

If youre looking to be famous, thats not the right reason to be here, Tyler says, adding that during his time in Ukraine hes met some highly trained and capable foreign volunteers, as well as some bona fide war tourists who have no business on a battlefield. For any prospective foreign volunteers who want to serve in Ukraine, Tylers advice is this: Understand the risks  this is not a safe place. If you havent made out a will, and if you arent willing to risk your life, you shouldnt be here.

Tyler has no personal connection to Ukraine  no family background, no wife or children or girlfriend in harms way, and no friends besides the ones hes made over the past two weeks since his arrival. In short, he had every opportunity to avoid this war and go on living in peace. Even so, he risked his job and spent a shitload of money to travel to Ukraine in order to fight in someone elses war.

If you see a bully picking on someone, you dont just walk on by. You have to help, Tyler explains. When I saw what was going on in Ukraine, I asked myself, Are you just going to watch, or are you going to do something about it?

Apart from his innate desire to get involved, it was, in the end, the courageous actions of the Ukrainian nation that finally convinced Tyler that their cause was worth fighting for.

A lot of countries would have given up already, he says. I wouldnt be here if Ukrainians hadnt resisted the way they have.

Tyler is scheduled to link up with a unit of foreign fighters, including other U.S. military veterans, at a front-line location to the east of Kyiv. Outwardly, he displays no overt signs of anxiety. He acknowledges the risks, as well as the fact that combat in this war will be far different than what he experienced in Afghanistan. Even so, theres little free space for fear to creep in. His mind is occupied with last-minute chores, and, perhaps most importantly, hes not alone.

With him this evening is another American volunteer and two Ukrainian friends. Theyve just arrived in Kyiv this afternoon and have spent the evening smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee on the safe house balcony while the sun sets and the nearby war rumbles.

In contrast, it is during the quiet moments of solitude and inactivity that ones imagination has more liberty to run wild with dark imaginings. For his part, Tyler says he tries not to envision what it will be like on the front lines. Rather, he simply focuses on the necessities of the here and now.

I had the most anxiety before I arrived in country, Tyler says. I had some moments when I asked myself, What the fuck are you doing? There are so many unknowns when youre not here. But now that Im here and there arent as many unknowns, Im sleeping better than I did back in the US.

My biggest fear is to die because I did something stupid, he adds.

Tyler kept his departure for Ukraine under wraps from his employer. As for his parents, he told them he was simply headed to Ukraine to volunteer. But they know, he says. In fact, his fathers parting words were Kick some ass.

He never said that before I went to Afghanistan, Tyler says.

The one person Tyler completely confided in was his brother, a fellow US Army veteran.

My brother was my biggest help and supporter with everything I had to do to get out here, and I couldnt have done it without him, Tyler says.

The Ukrainian military divides foreign volunteers into three categories: those with military backgrounds and combat experience, those with military backgrounds and no combat experience, and those without any military backgrounds. Volunteers like Tyler who have combat experience are not required to undergo any additional training and can be quickly fielded into combat units.

And while his combat experiences in Afghanistan may not match the kind of force-on-force warfare ongoing in Ukraine, Tyler is confident in his proven ability to effectively operate while under fire, and under pressure.

Its hard to measure a persons potential from their resume, Tyler says. I didnt come over here thinking that my experiences from Afghanistan had fully prepared me for this kind of war. But nobody knows how theyre going to be until shit happens. So, in that sense, I have a slight advantage. You have to be physically ready for war, thats true. But its mostly mental.
NEW YORK, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Rafael Holdings, Inc. ("Rafael" or the "Company") (NYSE: RFL). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Rafael and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On February 28, 2022, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that "the management and Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Rafael Holdings, Inc. . . . concluded that the Company's previously issued unaudited consolidated interim financial statements as of, and for the quarter ended, October 31, 2021 (the 'Prior Period'), should no longer be relied upon because the Company did not correctly allocate non-cash losses to its noncontrolling interests and incorrectly calculated the weighted average shares outstanding by including in the figure nonvested restricted stock in the Prior Period resulting in material misstatements of certain balance sheet, statement of operations and comprehensive loss and statements of equity items for, and as of the end of, the Prior Period." Rafael further advised that "[m]anagement has concluded that, as of the end of the Prior Period, there existed material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting[.]"

On this news, Rafael's stock price fell $0.21 per share, or 6.67%, to close at $2.94 per share on March 1, 2022.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
NEW YORK, March 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. ("New Oriental" or the "Company") (NYSE: EDU) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 22-cv-01876, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons who purchased New Oriental American Depository Shares ("ADSs") between April 24, 2018 and July 22, 2021, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") against New Oriental and certain of the Company's senior officers and directors.

If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired New Oriental ADSs during the Class Period, you have until April 5, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

New Oriental provides educational programs, services, and products to students across the People's Republic of China ("China" or the "PRC") and delivers online courses through its online learning platforms. In the early 2000s, the Company entered the K-12 after-school tutoring sector. Moreover, in 2005, New Oriental commenced its online education services through its Koolearn platform. The Company now provides comprehensive online education services through its subsidiary, Koolearn Technology Holding Limited.

In February 2018, the Chinese government released a set of regulations aimed at reining in excessive tutoring fees and limiting the perceived societal harm resulting from the ubiquity of for-profit tutoring programs such as those offered by New Oriental. Among other changes, the regulations prohibited after-school tutoring institutions from providing courses more advanced than the syllabus and curricula applicable to the respective primary and secondary school students, providing courses designed to enhance exam-taking skills, and linking school enrollment with tutoring results. Overall, the regulations were aimed at reducing disparities in school performance between relatively affluent students able to afford after-school tutoring and those that could not.

Because New Oriental operates in a highly regulated industry within China, the impact of new laws and regulations impacting the Chinese tutoring industry and the Company's compliance with the Chinese regulatory framework and government prerogatives are of material importance to investors. In fact, New Oriental acknowledged the material importance of maintaining strict compliance with Chinese laws, regulations, and government prerogatives. In New Oriental's Form 20-F filed with the SEC on September 16, 2020, New Oriental stated that the Company was "continuously making efforts to comply with the requirements under these regulations and implementations" governing after-school tutoring businesses imposed by the Chinese government, and any failure to do so could "materially and adversely affect [New Oriental's] business and results of operations."

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) New Oriental's revenue and operational growth was the result of deceptive marketing tactics and abusive business practices that flouted Chinese regulations and policies and exposed the Company to an extreme risk that more draconian measures would be imposed on the Company; (ii) New Oriental had engaged in misleading and fraudulent advertising practices, including the provision of false and misleading discount information designed to obfuscate the true cost of the Company's programs to its customers; (iii) New Oriental had falsified teacher qualifications and experience in order to attract customers and increase student enrollments; (iv) New Oriental had defied prior government warnings against linking school enrollments with the provision of private tutoring services; (v) as a result of the foregoing, New Oriental was subject to an extreme undisclosed risk of adverse enforcement actions, regulatory fines and penalties, and the imposition of new rules and regulations adverse to the Company's business and interests; (vi) the new rules, regulations, and policies to be implemented by the Chinese government following China's annual "Two Sessions" parliamentary meetings were far more severe than represented to investors by Defendants and in fact posed an existential threat to the Company and its business; and (vii) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and lacked a reasonable factual basis.

On April 25, 2021, media reports revealed that the City of Beijing had fined four online education agencies, including the New Oriental subsidiary Koolearn, the maximum fine of 500,000 yuan (approximately $80,000) each for misleading customers with false advertising regarding course pricing.

On May 12, 2021, news reports revealed that an impending crackdown by the Chinese government on the private tutoring sector would be further reaching and more drastic than previously publicly known, including that regulators had already taken adverse actions against New Oriental and other for-profit tutoring companies.

On this news, New Oriental's ADS price fell $2.77 per ADS, or 19.4%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $11.51 per ADS on May 13, 2021.

On June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced that they had fined fifteen off-campus training institutions, including New Oriental, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud.

On this news, New Oriental's ADS price fell $1.77 per ADS, or 16%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $9.32 per ADS on June 3, 2021.

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, effectively ending any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China.

On July 25, 2021, New Oriental published an "update" on the new regulations, which stated that the Company will "comply with relevant rules and regulations when providing educational services" and "expects such measures to have material adverse impact on its after-school tutoring services related to academic subjects in China's compulsory education system."

On this news, New Oriental's ADS price fell $4.46 per ADS, or nearly 70%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $1.94 per ADS on July 26, 2021.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

[email protected]

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
Berlin, March 26 : Germany's actual daily Covid-19 infections were likely to be twice as high as the number of officially reported cases, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has said.

"The number of unreported cases is not known, but it can be assumed that the actual number of new infections is more than twice as high," Lauterbach said on Friday at a press conference.

"Unfortunately, it is not a good situation." Reported infections remained near record figures as 296,498 cases were reported within 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The seven-day incidence per 100,000 residents slightly rose to a new record level of 1,756.4, Xinhua news agency reported.

Nevertheless, a high number of deaths, around 300 per day, and the "impending overload of the health care system are unacceptable," the German Health Minister said.

"We have come to a situation where we cannot simply wait." Lauterbach defended the recent easing of nearly all Covid-19 measures in Germany, but urged the federal states to use their right to tighten measures again for particularly critical hotspots.

Unvaccinated people should get a jab as they could "hardly avoid infection at the moment." Although elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions were particularly at risk, nearly 90 per cent had not received a fourth vaccination dose.

As of Thursday, 75.9 per cent of Germany's population had been fully vaccinated, with at least 48.6 million booster shots administered, according to official figures. However, 19.5 million people in the country remain unvaccinated.
Geneva, March 26 : Gilbert F. Houngbo from Togo will be the next Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the organisation has announced.

He was elected by the UN agency's Governing Body, comprising representatives of governments, workers and employers during their meeting in Geneva on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Houngbo, former Prime Minister of Togo, will be the 11th head of the agency, and the first African to hold the post.

His five-year term will begin on October 1, 2022. The current Director-General, Guy Ryder, from the UK, has held the office since 2012.

Four other candidates from the Republic of Korea, South Africa, France and Australia participated in the elections.

Founded in 1919, the ILO has the mandate to promote decent work for all. It has 187 member states.
Dublin, March 26 : The Irish Department of Health has reported an additional 9,324 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19, the highest figure since the country scrapped the mask mandate at the end of February.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals on Friday also hit a fresh high of 1,466 since then, according to the figures from the department.

There were 55 Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU) across the country as of Friday morning, said the department.

The latest ICU figure is moderately higher than that recorded at the end of February when there were 47 Covid-19 patients being treated in ICU in the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

Kingston Mills, a professor of Experimental Immunology at the Dublin-based Trinity College, said in a local television program on Friday that the recent easing of Covid-19 restrictions, including mask wearing, combined with a more transmissible variant BA2, has led to a huge increase in Covid-19 infections in Ireland.

He said the surge in Covid-19 cases is inevitable as it is difficult to stop transmission from a person who is not wearing a mask.

Starting from February 28, the Irish government no longer requires people to wear mask in pubic indoor settings and on public transport. Since then, the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations in Ireland has been on a consistent rise.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Jerusalem, March 26 : Israel has announced that it will host meetings with four visiting Foreign Ministers this Sunday and Monday.

The US Secretary of State, and Foreign Ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Bahrain will arrive in Israel for a series of "historic" diplomatic meetings at the invitation of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to a statement released by the Ministry.

Israel signed an agreement with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco to normalise ties in 2020. The agreement came as part of the so-called Abraham Accords, in which Sudan also agreed to normalise ties with Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.
Jerusalem, March 26 : A senior Israeli military delegation led by Tal Kelman, the military official in charge of Iran affairs, wrapped up a series of meetings in Morocco this week, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The visit was revealed to the people by Avichay Adraee, the Arab Spokesperson of the IDF, through his Twitter account on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the visit to Morocco's capital Rabat, Kelman met with the Chief of Morocco's military Belkhir El Farouk, and other senior Moroccan officers, according to Adraee's tweet.

The two delegations reviewed "regional and international challenges ... and opportunities on military cooperation in the areas of training and rehabilitation, in addition to operation and intelligence fields," the IDF Spokesperson wrote.

A memorandum of understanding on military cooperation was signed, he added.

Israel and Morocco signed a historic agreement for the establishment of full diplomatic relations in December 2020. A similar normalisation agreement was also signed with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Sudan.
Baghdad, March 26 : Iraq's northern city of Mosul, once a battleground for fierce battles to dislodge militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, held a four-day festival for traditional music in a bid to breathe life into the worst destroyed areas of the city.

"The Mosul Festival of Traditional Music is the first festival held in the city. It aims to revive traditional music in Mosul and introduce new talents," said Farah Qadour, a senior official of a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) participating in the festival, told Xinhua news agency on Friday.

Up to 12 Iraqi orchestras and five musical bands from Europe will give eight concerts during the festival running from March 24 to 27. The musical event is organised by several Iraqi NGOs with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, according to Qadour.

"We insisted on holding the concerts in this part of the city (western Mosul) to bring back normal life by the performance of the city artists," she said, referring to the western side of Mosul which was the most affected part of the city by the battles against the IS militants, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Four artistic musical bands represent the cultural and heritage diversity of Nineveh province," Faris Sabah, an official of a local NGO, told Xinhua.

The western side of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, witnessed the fiercest battles as Iraqi forces pushed IS militants into the strip of land along the bank of the Tigris river. Desperate militants increasingly resorted to suicide attacks and showed stiff resistance in the narrow alleys of densely-populated neighbourhoods.

A large part of Nineveh came under IS control in June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to control parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

In July 2017, Iraq formally declared that Mosul, the country's second largest city, was liberated from the IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the militants from their last major stronghold in the country.
Paris, March 26 : One migrant from Eritrea was electrocuted while trying to board a train at the station of the city of Valenciennes, northeast France, French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported.

Three other migrants following him were also injured, and one employee of the French National Railway Company (SNCF) on Friday suffered a shock at the scene, Xinhua news agency reported.

A fire was triggered in the wagon that contained tyres, then spread to other wagons and onto another train.

According to Le Figaro, the migrants attempted to smuggle on to the train heading to the city of Calais for England. But the first migrant that went into the tarpaulin wagon was electrocuted and died on the spot.

"They are migrants that could be underage," said the Public Prosecutor of Valenciennes, Jean-Philippe Vicentini.

The train station was evacuated and traffic was interrupted. The Mayor of Valenciennes, Laurent Degallaix, annoucned that the train station would be closed until Saturday.
Kinshasha, March 26 : At least 27 rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were killed by the Army in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said the Congolese Army.

At least 27 ADF rebels were killed during a military operation launched by the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) since Wednesday in the village of Walese-vonkutu of the northeastern Ituri province, said Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, Spokesman for the FARDC in Ituri, on Friday.

According to the Spokesman, the operation was launched from Wednesday until Friday morning, aiming to eradicate the presence of ADF rebels who have been active recently in Ituri, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the operation, the Army retrieved bombs and other ammunition, while conquering three strongholds of the ADF rebels.

Military sweep operations are still underway in the area to ensure total stability, the Spokesman added.
Abuja  Residents of Chukuku community in Kuje Local Government Area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over unrestrained kidnappings and abductions in the community.

The residents barricaded the Kuje-Gwagwalada road yesterday morning during the protest.

The protest followed the raid yesterday on Chukuku community by armed kidnappers said to number over 20.

Two men and a woman were abducted by the kidnappers, who shot sporadically to scare the residents during the raid.

A resident estimated that more than 30 persons have been kidnapped in the area since January. He said one person was killed during a previous raid while farmers were also kidnapped from the field by some of the invaders.

On Tuesday a pastor of ECWA Church, Rev Yohanna Joshua and two sons of the former Secretary of Kuje Area Council Local Education Authority, Danladi Bulus- Felix and Victor-were abducted Gudoji community in Kuje.

The protesting residents were demanding the setting up of a military checkpoint along Chukuku road to Kwali, to ward off the kidnappers using the road as the entry point to commit notorious act.

They also pointedly accused government of failing to commission the already constructed Police station in Chukuku. They pointed accusing fingers at the Police patrol team of refusing to heed warnings from local vigilance group last night about an impending raid on the community.
Sanaa, March 26 : Yemen's Houthi militia have claimed responsibility for fresh cross-border drone and missile attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the third such attack in less than a week.

"A number of bomb-laden drones targeted the oil refineries in Ras Tanura and Rabigh, as well as the Aramco oil facilities in Jazan and Najran ... A barrage of wing missiles targeted Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah and the Saudi capital Riyadh," Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said on Friday in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

"We also launched several ballistic missiles at other vital Saudi targets in Jazan, Dhahran Al-Janub, Abha, Khamis Mushait," the Houthi spokesman said, vowing to launch more attacks to break the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition forces on the Yemeni ports under the Houthi militia control, Xinhua news agency reported.

A statement from the Saudi-led coalition forces said "a total of 16 hostile attacks by the Houthi militia hit energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and we exercise restraint in order to make the Yemeni consultations a success," the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV reported.

The meeting is slated to be held in Riyadh next week, convening Yemen's political parties to discuss a comprehensive political solution to end the country's seven years of civil war, which the Houthi militia has refused to join.

Earlier this week, the Houthi militia launched two other attacks against the same energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, using barrages of drones and missiles.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened on March 26, 2015, to support the Yemeni government.
Ankara, March 26 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone conversation to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The two leaders on Friday discussed the situation on the ground and the stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, according to a statement issued by the Turkish presidency.

Erdogan told Zelensky that he once again had emphasised Turkey's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity at the NATO leaders' summit, which was held in Brussels on Thursday, said the statement.

The Turkish President said he had told the leaders of NATO members about Turkey's "active and principled policy, and the effective diplomatic efforts comprehensively." "Turkey has put into practice all the help it can in this process," Erdogan told the Ukrainian President.

Earlier on Friday, the Turkish President said he would make a phone conversation with Zelensky and with Russian President Vladimir Putin this weekend or early next week, to inform them about his discussions at the extraordinary NATO summit, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I may probably talk with Putin either this weekend or early next week," the semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted Erdogan as saying.

"As we will evaluate the meetings at the NATO (summit), I will tell him 'Now you should be the architect of a step to be taken for peace' for the next process. We should find a way to end this by suggesting him 'Make an honorable exit'," the Turkish President said.

Moscow and Kiev were close to an agreement on four issues, including Ukraine's neutrality, partial disarmament, security guarantees, and the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, Erdogan told journalists on his flight from Belgium to Turkey.

But the Russian demands on the future status of Crimea and Donbas continue to be the most important disagreement in negotiations, he said.

Last week, the Turkish President renewed his offer to bring the leaders of Russia and Ukraine together in Turkey for final decisions on these topics.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Juba, March 26 : The World Food Program (WFP) has condemned the attack on a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies in south Sudan's Jonglei state that left three people killed.

WFP said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, that the commercial convoy of 44 trucks carrying WFP food assistance came under attack from armed gunmen between Gadiang and Yuai in Jonglei state, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This is completely unacceptable," said Adeyinka Badejo, acting Country Director for WFP in South Sudan.

Badejo added that this incident is the third ambush in Jonglei state in the past four months.

The UN humanitarian organisation disclosed that similar attacks occurred in December 2021 and March 2022 respectively.

"These continued attacks and looting only serve to make humanitarian work increasingly challenging and sabotage life-saving food assistance destined for vulnerable communities. Further attacks on humanitarian convoys will put humanitarian assistance at risk where WFP will be forced to suspend its food assistance in greater Jonglei until there is a conducive environment for humanitarians in the area," the Country Director for WFP in South Sudan added .

WFP urged the government to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice and safeguard the safety and security of humanitarian staff and assets.

The UN humanitarian organisation said it has invested considerable efforts to negotiate humanitarian access in hard-to-reach areas to ensure isolated and marginalised people receive the assistance they need.

It, however, noted that it's the transitional unity government's responsibility to ensure safety and security for the population and the humanitarian community.

The UN agency called on the government to investigate incidents involving attacks on humanitarian workers or cargo.
Kiev, March 26 : As Moscow's invasion of Kiev has been underway for more than a month now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said that his country's forces "have dealt powerful blows to the enemy", adding that there were "significant losses" on the Russian side.

In a video address posted on Facebook early Saturday morning, the President said: "Over the past week, our heroic Armed Forces have dealt powerful blows to the enemy, significant losses." Zelenksy also made a reference to the reported disappearance of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was last seen in public on March 11.

"They say that the Minister of Defence of Russia has disappeared somewhere... I wonder if he personally wanted to visit Chornobaivka?" the President queried.

According to Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister, Shoigu suffered a heart attack "after a tough accusation by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine", adding that he is currently "undergoing rehabilitation" in hospital, the BBC reported.

The Defence Minister briefly appeared in a video on Thursday, but there were no official confirmation on his exact whereabouts.

In his video message, Zelensky again thanked "our defenders who showed the occupiers that the sea will not be calm for them even when there is no storm. Because there will be fire".

"By restraining Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay." The President also touched on the suffering in the besieged city of Mariupol which is worsening, as tens of thousands of people are trapped without food, water or heat.

"The situation in the city remains tragic. Absolutely tragic. The Russian military does not allow any humanitarian aid into the city." The port city is key to Russia's military campaign. If it falls, it would give Russia control of one of Ukraine's biggest ports and create a land corridor between Crimea and the Russian-backed regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, March 26 : Karnataka education department, which successfully conducted board exams during the Covid pandemic in the last two years, is now facing the challenge of hijab issue.

Against the backdrop of verdict by the Special bench of the Karnataka High Court, the state government has decided not to allow students wearing hijab to take up exams. To ensure smooth conduct of exams, tight police security will be made near the examination centres.

The state government is conducting crucial SSLC (Class 10) examinations from March 28 and will continue till April 11. As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for SSLC exams this academic year.

The exams will be conducted in 3,444 centres across the state. CCTV cameras have been installed in all examination centres and prohibitory orders will be clamped in and around them.

Since the last two years, the teaching fraternity has been under tremendous stress. The teachers pledged their lives and worked during Covid pandemic and conducted board exams. Though, all students were passed, the initiative by the department was appreciated. Separate arrangements were made for Covid affected students to give their exams.

The teachers were also used for Covid-related work and many had lost their lives in the process. Now, its the hijab issue which is equally stressful for them, sources in the education department say.

However, the High Court order on hijab is being challenged in the Supreme Court by petitioner students. Opposition Congress is vehemently demanding ruling BJP to allow students to write exams by wearing hijab.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has demanded that the Muslim students with dupatta matching with the uniform be allowed inside the examination halls.

Later, he went on to say that if Hindu, Jain women and religious leaders can wear cloth around their faces, why can't Muslim students? The statement stirred a controversy and later, Siddaramaiah clarified that he has great respect for religious leaders and he didn't mean to insult them.

Sources in the police department said that even after government order following the court verdict, the students will attempt to write exams wearing hijab and when they will be stopped, there will be chaos near the examination centers. The situation need to be handled properly to ensure that students attending exams are not disturbed, they say.

B.C. Nagesh, Minister for Education has clarified that students wearing hijab are not allowed to take exams and there is no second thought about it. "We will not allow students with hijab to any exams including board examinations," he said.

Education department is conducting separate exams for all subjects similar to the pre-Covid pattern. The students will have to obtain minimum passing marks this time. The government has clarified that it won't pass the students just like that as it was done in the last two years.

Covid regulations for students have been relaxed and wearing of mask is not mandatory in examination halls. However, the examination halls would be sanitised and social distance will be maintained.

Earlier, the Special bench of Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petitions seeking permission to wear hijab in classrooms. It also stated that wearing of hijab is not an essential part of Islam.

The court had also directed the state to look into the aspect of role of invisible hands which created the crisis all of a sudden when everything was going smooth in the state.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Washington/Seoul, March 26 : The US will introduce a new UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution that will update and strengthen sanctions against North Korea in the wake of Pyongyang test firing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Washington's envoy to the world body announced.

"... Because of DPRK's increasingly dangerous provocations, the US will be introducing a chapter seven Security Council resolution to update and strengthen the sanctions regime," Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a UNSC meeting held on Friday, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The ICBM launch on Thursday ended the North's self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing that had been in place since November 2017, reports Yonhap News Agency.

This was the latest show of force following 11 previous rounds of missile tests this year that included the firing of a new hypersonic missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

"The Security Council must speak publicly and with one voice to condemn the DPRK's unlawful actions and encourage the DPRK to return to the negotiating table," Thomas-Greenfield told the Council meeting.

The rare public meeting of the UNSC on North Korea, the first of its kind since 2017, came at the request of the US and five other members of the 15-member council, including the UK and France.

The envoy reiterated that the US remains "committed to a diplomatic solution. We hope the DPRK will accept our repeated offers of dialogue. But we also cannot stand idly by in the face of the DPRK's repeated Security Resolution violations".

She also dismissed calls for sanctions relief for North Korea, saying, "Why should the Security Council reward bad behaviour?" It was however, not immediately clear when the US plans to introduce the new UNSC resolution.

The US had previously sought to impose additional UNSC sanctions on North Korea following Pyongyang's repeated missile provocations this year, but efforts have so far failed due to opposition from Russia and China, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the Security Council and close allies of North Korea.

During the meeting on Friday, Russia again opposed the US' call for enhanced sanctions, saying it will create "unacceptable socio-economic and humanitarian problems" for the people of North Korea.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New York, March 26 : India has called for international action on the nuclear-missile nexus of Pakistan and North Korea, calling it a threat to the region's security.

New Delhi "believes that there is a pressing need to address the proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) in our region", India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti told the Security Council on Friday.

"These linkages have an adverse impact on the peace and security in the region, including on India." While he referred to North Korea by its formal name, diplomatically he did not mention Pakistan, but it was clear he was speaking of the well-documented swap of Islamabad's clandestine nuclear technology for North Korea's missile technology.

This cooperation helped Pyongyang develop nuclear weapons and Islamabad build missiles.

Tirumurti spoke at the Council meeting convened at the request of the US to discuss North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, which ended Pyongyang's self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing that had been in place since November 2017 While the world is consumed by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, nuclear-armed North Korea sprang the ICBM test and its leader Kim Jong-un taunted the US.

KCNA, the official North Korean news agency, quoted Kim as saying that his country should get ready for a"long-standing confrontation with the US" and that "the strategic forces of the DPRK are fully ready to thoroughly curb and contain any dangerous military attempts of the US imperialists".

Tirumurti said: "India deplores the launch of an ICBM by the DPRK. This is a violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council relating to the DPRK. It affects peace and security of the region and beyond." The launch contravenes Pyongyang's own self-declared moratorium against the launch of ICBMs, he added.

Russia and China have proposed a Council resolution for loosening sanctions on North Korea citing their impact on its people.

China's Permanent Representative Zhang Jun said" "The China-Russia draft resolution on the DPRK serves one purpose and only one purpose and that is to ease the humanitarian and logistical plight".

US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered: "We have also heard recent calls for sanctions relief for the DPRK. But why should the Security Council reward bad behaviour?" The US will be introducing its own "resolution to update and strengthen the sanctions regime", she said.

The two resolutions will not survive the vetoes from the opposing sides.

Tirumurti said that "India is sensitive to the humanitarian situation in the DPRK" and had sent it $1 million worth of anti-tuberculosis medicines through the World Health Organization.

The nuclear-for-missile swap was carried out through what came to be known as the "Khan Network", a nuclear arms bazaar run by A.Q. Khan, the prime mover behind Pakistan's nuclear bomb.

Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf admitted that Khan had given North Korea centrifuges for enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.

Khan said that his country had been buying missiles from North Korea.

In deals going back to Pakistan's slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, North Korea gave her country missile designs.

Pakistan's Ghauri missile is based on North Korea's Rodong (sometimes written as No Dong).

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 26 : Despite the assurance that they are "committed to the right to education of all citizens", the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan announced earlier this week that they will not allow girls to attend secondary school until further notice.

Responding to this development, Education Cannot Wait's (ECW) Director Yasmine Sherif said to support a peaceful and prosperous future for all Afghans, the de facto authorities must ensure the right to education for all children and adolescents across the country.

Ensuring that both girls and boys can return to school, including the resumption of adolescent girls' access to secondary education, is key for the development of the country, she said.

ECW is the UN's global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

While boys have been able to access primary and secondary school since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, girls' access to education has been limited to primary school in most of Afghanistan's provinces, she said.

With this announcement an entire generation of Afghan children and adolescents could be left behind.

Afghanistan faces a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with over half the population -- 24.4 million people -- in need of humanitarian and protection assistance. Today an estimated eight million school-aged children need urgent support to access education.

This is a crucial moment for the de facto authorities to make good on their commitments. The time has come to fulfill the right to education for all girls and boys in the country. Knowledge is the pillar of any flourishing nation, Yasmine added.

ECW has been supporting community-based education in Afghanistan since 2018, together with strategic partners in the UN system, donors and civil society, reaching children in the most challenging contexts.

The ECW-supported Multi-Year Resilience Programme focused on the most marginalized children, including a strong focus on female teachers and girls' education, with 60 per cent of all children reached being girls.
Warsaw, March 26 : US President Joe Biden again called his Russian counterpart a "war criminal" due to the Moscow's continued invasion of Kiev.

Biden made the remarks during a joint briefing on the humanitarian efforts for Ukraine with Polish President Andrej Duda on Friday in Rzeszow, located close to the Poland-Ukraine border.

In his opening remarks, Biden, who arrived in Poland on Friday, said the "single-most important thing that we can do from the outset is keep the democracies united in our opposition and our effort to curtail the devastation that is occurring at the hands of a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal".

"And I think it will meet the legal definition of that as well," he said.

On March 16, Biden had called Putin a "war criminal" for the first time which evoked condemnation from Russia.

On Wednesday, the State Department made a formal assessment that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.

"Based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Our assessment is based on a careful review of available information from public and intelligence sources," Secretary of State Blinken had said in a statement.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 26 : India reported 1,660 fresh Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, a marginal decline from 1,685 cases reported on the previous day, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, following a continuous downward trend, the country's active caseload has further declined to 16,741 this morning, constituting 0.04 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

In the same period, 4,100 fatalities were also registered, pushing the total number number of deaths to 5,20,855. However, Maharashtra has added 4005 while Kerala added 79 backlog deaths.

A total of 2,349 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 4,24,80,436. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.75 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 6,58,489 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 78.63 crore cumulative tests.

There has been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily positivity rates too. Weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.29 per cent and the daily positivity rate is also reported to be 0.25 per cent.

On the vaccination front, India's Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 182.87 crore as per provisional reports till 7 a.m this morning. This has been achieved through 2,16,75,657 sessions. Over 1.07 crore adolescents have been administered with the first dose of Covid vaccine since the beginning of vaccination drive for 12 to 14 age group, said the ministry.

More than 16.41 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, as per the ministry.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Abuja  Justice U. N. Agomoh of the Ibadan Division of the Federal High Court has dismissed a suit seeking the deletion of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act which bars serving political appointees from participating in the convention of political parties for want of jurisdiction.

Justice Agomoh dismissed the suit while delivering ruling on the issue of locus Standi / Jurisdiction raised by the court.

The suit was dismissed on March 17, a day before another Federal High Court in Umuhia, Abia State, presided by Justice Evelyn Anyadike struck down the same Section 84 (12) for violating the 1999 Constitution.

The Ibadan suit was filed by Nigerian citizen, who also claimed to be a registered voter, Chief Oyewole Bolanle.

He had approached the court for an order striking down the said section for allegedly running contrary to constitutional provisions.

The suit marked: FHC/IB/CS/32/2022 has the Attorney General of the Federation as sole defendant.

Amongst reliefs he sought from the court in the Originating Summons filed by his lawyer, Mr O. J. Dare include a determination whether by the combined effect of Sections 1(3), 6(6)(a) and (b), 66(1)(f), 137(1)g) and 182(1)g) of the Constitution, the provisions of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 can validly limit, remove, abrogate, disenfranchise, disqualify.

and/or oust the constitutional right or eligibility of any political office or public office holder to vote or be voted for at any convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of nomination of such a person or candidate for any election, where such person has " resigned, withdrawn or retired" from the said political or public office at least 30 days before the date of election.

" A declaration that Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 cannot validly, limit, remove, abrogate, disenfranchise, disqualify, and / or oust the constitutional right or eligibility of any political office or public office holder to vote or be voted for at any convention or congress of any political party... ."

He also urged the court to further declare the amended Electoral Act as "grossly ultra vires and inconsistent with 66(1)(f), 137(1)g) and 182(1)g) of the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, invalid, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever".

While he prayed for an order of court nullifying and or setting aside Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act for being unconstitutional, the plaintiff prayed for another order "directing and compelling the defendant to forthwith delete the provisions of Section 84 (12) with immediate effect.

However, responding, the trial court observing that the defendant was not in court and also not represented decided to throw up the issue of Locus Standi, because it " touches on and is closely linked to the question of jurisdiction of the Court".

Justice Agomoh stated that where a plaintiff lacks locus standi, the court cannot properly assume the jurisdiction to entertain the action.

He noted that notwithstanding claim by the plaintiff that the said contentious Section 84 (12) breached his constitutional right, the question of constitutionality or legality of the offending provisions of Section 84 12 of the Electoral Act, 2022 vis a vis Sections 1(3), 6(6)(a) and (b), 66(1)(f), 137(1)g) and 182(1)g) of the Constitution does not create any public right or public duty.

"I am of the view that the wordings of Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022 are without ambiguity, the right created are exercisable by political or public office holders, it is personal.

"It is for any political or public office holder who believes that his right has been infringed upon as a result of that section to approach the court for redress, and not do so by proxy or better still by a person who is not a political or public office holder. It is a personal right which a man has to accrue to himself.

" This i must say is quite different and distinguishable from situations that cover public interest", he held.

The court further stated that its duty to declare a violation of the provisions of the Constitution arises only when there is a dispute before it brought by legitimate disputants who would be affected by the illegality complained about.

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" The judicial powers vested on the court expansive as it is, can only be invoked by a proper application brought by a person who has sufficient legal interest to bring the action.

While he stated that there is no evidence before the court that the plaintiff is a member of any political party, he held that for him to challenge the constitutional provision, he must show sufficient justiciable interest or sufferance of injury or damage that he will suffer as a result of Section 84 (12).

In dismissing the suit for lack of jurisdiction, the judge remarked that if all registered voters decide to file suits across the country like the plaintiff, in pretense of protecting and defending the Constitution there cannot be harmony but anarchy and chaos.

"Consequent upon my thoughts above, it is my firm view that this court lacks the competence to assume jurisdiction over a case that the plaintiff lacks the locus standi to institute.

" The resultant effect is that this suit is hereby struck out. I make no order as to costs," he held.
New Delhi, March 26 : On a humid September day in Shikaripara village in Jharkhand's Dumka district, Anita Dasi (37) was busy uploading data on a white phablet. Her colleague, Daisy Lily Murnu (35), checked registers at the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) office.

The office itself seemed in need of urgent renovation. A damp odour filled the air, the drab walls pockmarked with spiderwebs and non-functional sockets. Yet, Dasi and Murnu powered through their usual workday, prioritising others' grievances over theirs, with their jobs as employees of the MGNREGA Sahayta Kendra (help centre) - or as they referred to themselves, 'Sahayta Kendra Didis' (Help Centre Sisters).

Sahayta Kendras are centres that serve as a bridge between civilians and government officials, helping people be aware of and assert their rights, especially with regard to MGNREGA. While legal agreements in place lay down the government's responsibilities towards these help centres, the two women have claimed that they largely work independently, without the logistical allowances they were promised.

"We work for the marginalised and poor. Our mission is to raise public awareness about MGNREGA's standards," Dasi told 101Reporters. "For instance, if someone has a problem with their wages, they may hesitate to take action because they may be unaware of their rights. So we help them understand the issue and guide them." There are three stages to a Sahayak Didi's work. First, she informs people about their legal entitlements and accountability mechanisms. Second, she helps workers fill out an application form with this information and assemble supporting evidence, such as workers' testimonies, dated receipts, etc, and submit the form to the local government. Third, she follows up on these applications.

Expanding scope of help While Sahayta Kendras most commonly deal with issues centred around MGNREGA, volunteers like Dasi and Murnu help assist with various other government interactions.

"In my town, beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana [an Indian government initiative aimed at providing affordable housing to the urban poor] received Rs 1,20,000 in four instalments. However, they were unaware of their entitlement to an additional Rs 20,000 for labour costs. They applied for it only after we told them about it," Dasi pointed out.

Sulekha Mal, a 45-year-old pahariya tribal woman, is among the many who benefited from Sahahyak Didis.

"As an ailing woman, gathering wood from the forest for cooking was quite difficult," she told 101Reporters. "When I approached the concerned authorities, they said they didn't have a gas link available. I informed Didi, who then helped me access gas stoves through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana [an Indian government scheme that provides LPG connections to women from families below the poverty line]." Murnu recalled an instance where she took on the block office and brought to light the fraudulent activities of a gram rojgar sewak (rural employment officer), who wasn't providing employment to labourers.

"We complained to the block division officer, and he was made to pay a fine, after which he facilitated his own transfer because he realised we wouldn't allow him to do any wrong," she chuckled.

If an individual doesn't receive a requested job within 15 days of application, they are eligible for unemployment benefits. For the first 30 days, at least one-fourth of the minimum wage must be paid, followed by half the minimum sum. In August 2017, because of these Sahayak Didis, 111 workers in the districts of Lohardaga, Gumla, Dumka, West Singhbhum and Godda in Jharkhand received a total of Rs 2,15,339 in unemployment benefits.

Fighting the system from within Dozens of people have benefited from the assistance of these Sahayak Didis, but it's been no easy feat for them. From dealing with the wrath of powerful, corrupt government officials to keeping up with unorganised Gram Sabha meetings and fighting nepotism in elections, they have often had to tackle the same problems that they usually seek to help others with.

For instance, when Dasi called for fair elections in response to influential people choosing mukhiyas (village heads) from their own family, she was attacked and called a "witch who ate her husband and would eat you as well".

"We're NREGA Sahyata Kendra volunteers who advocate for the masses, but at times, us sahayaks have to advocate for our own rights, as well," she said, with Murnu nodding in agreement and adding, "Sometimes, government officials reprimand us for bringing labourers' problems to them." For the past year and and a half, the volunteers have been waiting for their three-year Memorandum of Understanding - signed on August 2, 2017 with Jharkhand's Rural Development Department - to be renewed. The department is meant to empower underprivileged women and members of vulnerable communities and groups in the state, by organising and capacitating local groups and generating sustainable livelihoods. The MoU also clearly states the government's responsibility towards Sahayta Kendras.

"According to the MoU, we should receive a monthly financial aid of Rs 2,000 plus other allowances, like for internet costs, but we continue to work without it. All we have is a phablet. The affidavit was forwarded to senior officials, but they are delaying it, using the pandemic as an excuse," Dasi told 101Reporters.

Interrupted, inadequate training In the past, Sahayak Didis had hoped to receive training to better reach those that need their help. But the pandemic interrupted these government workshops, which have largely been exclusionary.

"If the government gives us guidelines in English, we return them and ask for a Hindi translation," Dasi said, who wasn't able to complete her education as she was married at 14. However, she boasts of superior Hindi writing and reading skills.

"Earlier, we went to Dumka city for some training workshops, but these, too, were not held after the pandemic broke out. The dada [associate] from PRADAN [an NGO] helped us learn new things, and we take advice from him in complicated situations." PRADAN - Professional Assistance for Development Action - is a well-known NGO that's focussed on alleviating large-scale rural poverty. Supported by the Ikea Foundation, it's been instrumental in identifying members who can lead the way in showing how Sahayta Kendras can support the vulnerable.

"The idea was to create awareness among villagers about their existing rights and entitlements and also bridge the gap between the beneficiaries and administration," said Anup Das, project executive at the organisation.

It was following various trainings organised by PRADAN, which also introduced these women to block and district authorities, that Sahayak Didis expanded their work beyond the scope of MGNREGA.

"We decided to look into different rights like ration, pension and other schemes targeted at supporting women," added Dasi.

Supporting women, acknowledging the fair intentions of Sahayta Kendras and the challenges they face, Dasi and Murnu continue to work, motivated by their passion to help others. As Dasi said, "We've created a sense of trust among villagers, and they respect us because we function as a bridge between them and government authorities. What would they think if we abandoned this work? We're not doing this for the money; we're doing it for the poor and marginalised." (The author is a Delhi-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
New Delhi, March 26 : Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, on Saturday announced the launch of 'Modi Story', a volunteer-driven initiative to bring together inspiring moments from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life.

"A young man used to come and stay with us. We were good friends and that continues even today," Gandhi-Kulkarni said in the trailer promoting the website launched on various social media platforms.

It also has small, edited testimonies by spiritual guru and social worker, Swami Avadeshanand Giri; classical dancer, Sonal Mansingh; Olympian Neeraj Chopra and badminton star Pullela Gopichand.

One of the testimonies was from veteran Kishorilal Agrawal from Gujarat who narrated how he remembers Modi coming in a turbaned avatar, akin to a Sikh, during emergency days.

According to the Modi Story, "The making of New India is the story of common Indians coming together, aspiring for greatness, in the spirit of 'we the people'." "At the root of it, igniting action and aspirations, is Narendra Modi," it said, adding, "There are many people, from far and near, who have caught a glimpse into Modi's life, his intent, integrity and intensity. They came away inspired, keen to infuse the same 'can do' spirit in everyone. 'Modi Story' is about such voices. It is about all of us collectively and individually." It has also appealed to common people to send in their unique interactions with Modi.
New Delhi, March 26 : Apple CEO Tim Cook on Saturday took to Twitter to share photos shot by students from Tamil Nadu on iPhone 13 mini.

"Forty high school students from Tamil Nadu, India captured the vibrance of their communities on iPhone 13 mini. Now their work is featured in the student showcase at the historic Egmore Museum for the Chennai Photo Biennale," Cook noted.

Forty high school students from Tamil Nadu, India captured the vibrance of their communities on iPhone 13 mini. Now their work is featured in the student showcase at the historic Egmore Museum for the Chennai Photo Biennale. #ShotOniPhone https://t.co/t0DhNYWGvm pic.twitter.com/I30DTwZkbT  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 25, 2022

Recently, Cook wished everyone on the occasion of Holi, the festival of colours.

"Wishing everyone celebrating Holi a vibrant beginning to spring. Here's to spreading the joy of color with these beautiful images #ShotOniPhone13ProMax," Cook said in a tweet.

Wishing everyone celebrating Holi a vibrant beginning to spring. Heres to spreading the joy of color with these beautiful images #ShotOniPhone13ProMax by @coffeekarma and @rohit_apf. pic.twitter.com/bMx9K1McE2  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 18, 2022

He also shared three photos clicked on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max.

According to market research firm Counterpoint, Apple dominated the list of top 10 best-selling smartphones in 2021 globally, as seven out 10 smartphones in the list were iPhones.

The top 10 best-selling smartphone models contributed 19 per cent to the total global smartphone unit sales in 2021, compared to 16 per cent in 2020.

"The share of the top 10 models is increasing YoY, indicating a trend of brands focusing on their leading models and making their portfolios leaner in some cases," the research firm said in a statement.

"With entry-level models facing component shortages in 2021, we also saw faster diffusion of key features in the mid-tier segment," it added.

The top five models in 2021 were from Apple.

The iPhone 12 was the best-selling model, followed by iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 11.

The top three models contributed 41 per cent to Apple's total sales.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Patna, March 26 : A minor girl was allegedly gang-raped repeatedly for three days by five youths in Bihar's Supaul district, a police official said on Saturday.

The accused kidnapped the girl on March 19, took her to an isolated place and assaulted her sexually. They also filmed the crime and threatened to upload it on social media if she revealed the incident to anyone.

After committing the crime, the accused left the victim near the village on March 22. The girl reached home and revealed her ordeal to her parents.

As the victim was missing from the house, her father approached the local Sadar police station to lodge a missing complaint. When the victim returned home, he again went to the police station to register an FIR of gang-rape and kidnapping but was refused.

The victim finally approached senior officials of the district. As per her statement, Jaydeep Thakur, son of Bechan Thakur, kidnapped her along with four of his friends and took to an undisclosed place and gang-raped her for three days.

"We have registered an FIR against the accused on the statement of the victim and initiated the investigation. The accused will be put behind the bars soon," said Indra Prakash, SDPO of Supaul (Sadar).
Gurugram, March 26 : A 28-year-old Chinese national was held by Gurugram Police for illegally staying in India. The accused was identified as Wang Yanam.

He was detained from old DLF area by the Gurugram Police. A senior police official said that he was arrested under Foreigners Act.

"He had been living in India without any valid visa. He is originally from Bodor Laser 1000, Chunbo Road, Licheng Distt Jinan City (Shandong Province) country China. An FIR has been lodged against him," said a senior police official.

The official said that his visa expired on August 18, 2021.

"Since then he had been living in India illegally," the official said.

Further investigation in the matter is underway.
Bhopal, March 26 : The two-day brainstorming session of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's cabinet began in the state's hill station - Pachmarhi on Saturday morning.

The session started with all the party workers singing national song 'Vande Mataram' at a well decorated lawn of a hotel.

Various developmental issues will be discussed during the meeting with each cabinet minister submitting a detailed report of his department. Chouhan will review the development works done in the last two years of his tenure and instructions will be issued for completion of delayed projects before the Assembly polls.

Before leaving for Pachmarhi from Bhopal on Friday night, Chief Minister Chouhan had formed several committees involving different cabinet colleagues. The committees are assigned to prepare a complete blueprint of schemes which will be reviewed in one-on-one meetings with the cabinet ministers.

Also, the meeting will be crucial for the chief minister to prepare a roadmap for the next Assembly polls in the state. Interestingly, hours before Chouhan, along with his cabinet colleagues, left for Pachmarhi, BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya held a press conference in Bhopal and said that Chouhan will lead the party in the 2023 Assembly polls.

There is no discussion of a change in leadership in the state, he said. "Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has performed well and you can be assured that BJP will contest the next Assembly election in the state under his leadership," Vijayvargiya has said.

Since the BJP lost the 2018 Assembly elections, it was being speculated that the party might make changes in the leadership just before the November 2023 Assembly polls.

"In this state, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has created a record of being the longest serving chief minister. His simplicity, accessibility, humility and sensitivity are the reasons why he is still extremely popular. Even today, he is known as 'Mama' for the children of the state," Vijayvargiya stated.
Thiruvananthapuram, March 26 : Kerala State Fisheries and Culture Minister Saji Cherian, known for his big mouthed statements, is in fresh trouble as the Youth Congress has decided to file a petition over his wealth before the Vigilance, Lokayukta and also the Election Commission.

The 56-year-old Cherian who represents Chengannur assembly constituency in Alappuzha district, is a close aide of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and even though he is only a legislator for nearly four years, he was made a cabinet minister last year. He got a promotion this year into a powerful CPI-M state secretariat also and has become very vocal which has already landed him in trouble.

After the public protests began over the K-Rail project, Cherian has been going hammer and tongs against the protesters and he has now antagonised his own electorate who have vowed that they will see that he will not be elected next time.

Cherian came under fire when former Home Minister and veteran Congress legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said that he has with him records to prove that the alignment of the K-Rail was altered so as to save Cherian's house.

To this Cherian said that he will only be glad to give over his house which is worth over Rs 5 crore for the project and the money realised can be transferred to an account of Radhakrishnan with a request that money should be given as charity to a Pain and Palliative society at his home town.

After his statement Youth Congress workers dug out his affidavit filed along with his nomination to the assembly election, wherein he says the total assets belonging to his wife and him is a mere Rs 35 lakh.

Youth Congress activists have informed that they are going to file a petition against Cherian before the Vigilance, Lokayukta and the Election Commission about this discrepancy.

Cherian earlier made a goof up when he categorically said that there would be no buffer zone beside the K-Rail track but his own party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had to correct him and said there is a buffer zone.
Chennai, March 26 : In a tragic incident in Tamil Nadu's Vellore, a man and his daughter died after their e-bike went up in flames suffocating them to death in their asbestos sheet-laden house in the wee hours on Saturday.

Police said that M. Duraivarma, (49), who was running a photo studio near Tollgate, Vellore bought a new e-bike a few days ago. He plugged the charger of his bike into an old socket in the entrance of his house and went to sleep on Friday night.

An electrical short circuit led to the e-bike going up in flames and smoke engulfing the residence.

His 13-year-old daughter Mohana Preethi, a student of Class 8, was also found dead along with Duraivarma at the house. Police said that the socket might be an old one with less voltage capacity to charge an e-bike.

Local people said that they found the e-bike in flames and smoke engulfing the house around 1 a.m. They alerted the police and Duraivarma's sister who stays a few houses away. However, local people could not put out the fire as it was thick and had spread to a nearby petrol bike.

A unit of firefighters reached the spot from Vellore and put out the flames and local people entered the house breaking open the front door.

The father-daughter duo was found dead with minor injuries. Police said that they assume the father and daughter died due to suffocation as there were no burn injuries on the bodies.

Duraivarma had lost his wife in 2013 and he was living with his son and daughter. After dinner, his son went to stay with a close relative while father and daughter retired for the day at their residence when the tragedy struck.

Local people said that his daughter had visited her father after several months as she was staying at a relative's place at Thiruvannamalai for getting better education.
Srinagar, March 26 : The holiest Kashmiri Hindu shrine of Mata Kheer Bhawani in Tullamulla village of Ganderbal district, has been the abode and icon of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood for centuries. No local Hindu would enter the deity's temple shrine at Tullamulla after having non-veg food and equally reverent of the goddess, no Kashmiri Muslim, till date, enters the temple shrine after eating non-veg food.

The symbolic brotherhood between communities is reflected during the annual festival at the Kheer Bhawani shrine. Kashmiri Pandit devotees throng the shrine from different parts of the country while the local Muslims wait with earthen milk filled pots to welcome the Pandits at the gate of the temple shrine.

The spring inside the shrine is worshipped by Pandit devotees while the local Muslims share the belief that the colour of the spring during the days of the annual festival forecasts the events to follow. "In 1947 when the 'Kabalis' (Tribal invaders) came to Kashmir, the colour of the spring was black.

"My father told me that year that Kashmir is going to witness the worst", said Ghulam Rasool, 80, a resident of Tullamulla village.

Religion is the bedrock of the local Pandit's belief in the goddess at the Tullamulla shrine while tolerance, compassion and coexistence form the bedrock of the local Muslims respect for the deity. The temple is constructed over the sacred spring. The goddess has many names including Rajna or Ragyna along with variations in honorifics such as Devi, Mata and Bhagavati.

The term 'Kheer' refers to milk and rice pudding that is offered to propitiate the goddess. The annual festival is held during 'Jyeshtha Ashtami'.

According to legend, Ragyna was pleased with the devotion of Ravana and appeared before him. Ravana got an image of the goddess installed in Sri Lanka. The goddess subsequently became displeased with Ravana's ruthlessness. With the help of Hanuman, she came to Tulmul as the place is called in Sanskrit records. The night of her arrival in Tullamulla is called Ragyna Rathi.

Swami Vivekananda had visited Kashmir. During his worship at the Kheer Bhawani temple, the condition of the temple that time is believed to have concerned Vivekananda. In 'The complete works of Swami Vivekananda' the goddess tells him, "It is my desire that I should live in a dilapidated temple, otherwise, can I not immediately erect a seven-storeyed temple of gold here if I like? What can you do? Shall I protect you or shall you protect me!" The current form of the spring, temple pond and the temple were built during the reign of the Dogra Maharaja, Pratap Singh.

Despite the exodus of the local Pandits from Kashmir, their devotion to the patron Hindu goddess of Kashmir, Mata Ragyna remains unshaken.

Each year, during the festival, Pandits living in different parts of the country after getting uprooted from their native land, throng the temple in hundreds. To prove the doomsday fathers wrong, local Muslims in dozens wait with milk filled earthen pots to welcome their Pandit brothers. The spirit of Kashmir lives forever, despite the enemies of Kashmir's eclectic culture having done their damnedest to silence it.
Geneva, March 26 : Halfway through the agenda of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, Europe is on track to meet only 26, or 15 per cent, of the 169 targets, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said.

Seven years after the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, Europe must accelerate progress or reverse current trends to achieve its 2030 ambitions, according to the report, which identifies the targets and goals where urgent action is required to make the 2030 agenda a reality, Xinhua news agency quoted the UNECE as saying in its 2022 SDG progress report released here on Friday.

"Our report shows that progress has been too slow: where we needed to accelerate progress on 57 targets (last year), this has now increased to 64; while last year we had nine targets for which we needed to reverse the trend, we now have 15," said UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova.

As a few targets, such as those relating to extreme poverty, food security, maternal mortality or safe drinking water, are on track to meet the SDGs, progress in many other categories must be accelerated.

For instance, although extreme poverty is rare in the UNECE region, targets to reduce poverty and income inequality are not on track to be achieved by 2030, as one in five individuals experience multidimensional poverty across UNECE countries, the report said.

While the UNECE region is on track to meet targets on maternal and child mortality and road safety, all other health targets require acceleration, such as the progress towards reducing the incidence and impact of communicable and non-communicable diseases and improving mental health and wellbeing.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected access to healthcare services with the potential to further slow progress on preventable diseases, premature mortality, mental health and family planning, the report said.

Based on the report's assessment, of all the measurable targets the UNECE region will achieve only 26 SDG targets by 2030, while progress has to accelerate for 64 targets and the current trend needs to be reversed for 15 targets.

Meanwhile, about 40 per cent of the 169 targets cannot be adequately measured by official statistics due to insufficient data, which is an "urgent reminder that reliable, accurate, trustworthy statistics are not only the basis of good technical analysis but are the foundation of evidence-based policymaking at all levels", she said.
Moyosere of Yorubaland and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Guru Magazine, High Chief Abimbola Aboderin has raised concern over the deplorable socio-economic and political condition of Nigeria.

Aboderin, who said he is greatly saddened by the present situation of the nation, lamented that many are unable to afford three square meals as the situation of the country has become so agonising for many citizens.

He said however that the root cause of the problem in the country is not actually a result of failed leadership but that it has its root in the old age corruption which has been in the system for a long time.

The multiple award-winning philanthropist said this during a media parley on the topic, "Dissecting Critically the Current State our Nation Nigeria", recently in Lagos.

He said further that he was ready to present himself to rescue Nigeria from its present woes if given the chance to run as president in the forthcoming elections.

"I come out to say it boldly that if Nigerians globally are ready to contribute to my presidential aspirations I am ready to salvage Nigeria with my wealth of experience and international connections.

"I am ready to help salvage Nigeria, but I will only put myself foreword if Nigerians are ready to contribute towards my being their president and salvage them from the present unbearable state we have found ourselves", he said.

While advising Nigerians to shun money politics come 2023, the politician who claimed his love for the country was beyond financial gains, said, "All I have done for Nigeria because of my love for her cannot be overemphasised.

"If I have done it in the past for Nigeria, I can still do it again because I have God on my side and the connection globally to help Nigeria and to emancipate her from her present state."

The business tycoon per excellence, who also used the opportunity to unveil his latest book, titled, "Democracy and Untold story of June 12", prompted all and sundry that the book is not written to praise or castigate anyone but only aimed at producing the truth and full details of what transpired before, during and after the historical June 12 presidential election so that others can learn from the past mistakes and reunite as one great Nigeria.
New Delhi, March 26 : The history and destiny of a nation is determined by 3 Ps -- principles, people and Parliament, Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sushil Chandra said on Saturday.

"The principles and core values were set out very clearly in the Constitution of India. Being a representative democracy, it is the will of her people, which is sovereign and most powerful. The Parliament is the repository of the Trust of people and an expression of this sovereign will," Chandra said at an event where 'Sansad Ratna Awards 2022' were presented to Parliamentarians.

"This casts a heavy responsibility on the Members of Parliament. It is a sacred trust, which, in the words of India's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad ji, has to be approached with humility and prayer," he said at the event organised by Prime Point Foundation, Chennai, here.

Chandra also elaborated on the Parliament and the welfare of people and the importance of good legislature. The classical functions of a good legislature, the CEC said, are being inclusive; to engage and be responsive and raise matters of public importance in Parliament.

He also went on to describe roles of Standing Committees in the Parliamentary democracy and then, narrated the efforts made by the election Commission for improving voter participation and how "despite the pandemic, when other countries cancelled elections, the Election Commission of India conducted state assembly polls with all due procedures and protocols followed." The Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to Dr M. Veerappa Moily (Congress) and Dr H.V. Hande (BJP).

The Lok Sabha - Excellence Award General - Overall tally was presented to Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP, Jharkhand); the Lok Sabha - Excellence Award - First time MP - was presented to Kuldeep Rai Sharma (INC, Andaman Nicobar Islands); Lok Sabha - Excellence Award - Women MP - overall tally was presented to Heena Vijayakumar Gavit (BJP, Maharashtra); the Lok Sabha - Topper in Initiated Debates was presented to Saugata Roy (AITMC, West Bengal); the award for Lok Sabha - Topper in Questions was Sudhir Gupta (BJP, Madhya Pradesh), Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award -Sitting MPs - General - was presented to Amar Patnaik (BJD, Odisha), the Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award - Sitting MPs - Women MP - Total tally was presented to Fauzia Tahseen Ahmed Khan (NCP, Maharashtra) and the Rajya Sabha - Excellence Award -Retired MPs was presented to K.K. Ragesh (CPI-M, Kerala).

The Excellence Awards - Lok Sabha Committee were given for Agriculture (Chairman: P.C. Gaddi Goudar, BJP, Karnataka); for Finance (Chairman: Dr Jayant Sinha, BJP, Jharkhand); for Labour (Chairman: Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJD, Odisha) while the same for Excellence Award - Rajya Sabha Committee were given for Education (Chairman: Dr Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe, BJP, Maharashtra).

The awards for Super performers - sustained performance (Sansad Vishisht Ratna) N.K. Premachandran (RSP, Kerala) and Shrirang Appa Barne (Shiv Sena, Maharashtra).

A committee headed by Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS, parliamentary Affairs, and co-chaired by T.S. Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner of India had nominated the MPs for Sansad Ratna Awards 2022 for their performance in the current Parliament till the end of the winter session in 2021.
Chennai, March 26 : A LTTE supporter in Chennai, who is under judicial custody, has been sent to National Investigation Agency (NIA) for interrogation by a special NIA court.

The NIA had sought K. Bhaskaran's custody for interrogation in connection with Rs 75 lakh that was deposited in his bank account from the United States.

It has also charged that he had used forged documents to withdraw money from an Indian Overseas Bank Account in Fort Branch, Mumbai for supporting the activities of LTTE.

Bhaskaran, working as an IT professional in Chennai for the past 20 years, was arrested in January 2022 after a Sri Lankan citizen of Tamil origin, Letchumann Mary Franciska (50) was taken into custody by the 'Q' branch of the Tamil Nadu police from Chennai airport in October 2021 with a fake Indian passport.

The woman had arrived in India in 2019 on a tourist visa and stayed here citing Covid -19 reasons.

On interrogation, the police found that she and her accomplices -- K. Bhaskaran, Kenniston Fernando, Johnson Samuel, and L. Sellamuthu -- were arrested for forging Indian documents including passport, Aadhaar card, and other documents and opening multiple bank accounts to withdraw money from an Indian Overseas Bank account of Fort Branch, Mumbai.

The money withdrawn was, according to Tamil Nadu police, used for reviving the LTTE operations.

While all the four are under judicial custody, the NIA requested for the custodial interrogation of Bhaskaran from NIA special court judge, K.H. Elavazhagan for two days on Saturday and Sunday. The court also directed the NIA that there should not be any human rights violation to Bhaskaran while in NIA custody.

Bhaskaran, Mary, and other accomplices have been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention ) Act of 1967, Passports Act of 1967, and Indian Penal Code (IPC).

NIA, in its prayer before the court, said that Bhaskaran had to be in custodial interrogation to get details on the money trail in his account, including deposits in his account from foreign accounts as well as on more details regarding his business partner in the United States.
New York, March 26 : An Indian-American ophthalmologist in New York has been sentenced to 96 months in prison for a healthcare fraud scheme, along with fraudulently obtaining government loans meant for Covid-hit small businesses.

Ameet Goyal, MD, was sentenced this month by Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, for falsely billing for millions of dollars of upcoded procedures, and also for fraudulently obtaining two government-guaranteed loans intended to help small businesses during the pandemic.

"Fraud doesn't fully capture how blatant this was and how unjustified this was. This was not about need, it was about greed," US District Judge Cathy Seibel said in a statement by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Goyal previously pled guilty to all charges in a six-count superseding Indictment before Judge Seibel in September last year.

In addition to the prison term, he was sentenced to five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture of $3.6 million and restitution of $3.6 million.

Goyal has already paid approximately $1.79 million toward these obligations.

"A prominent ophthalmologist and oculoplastic surgeon who has now surrendered his medical license, Goyal was blinded by greed. Over a seven-year period, he preyed on the trust placed in him and cheated patients and insurance companies of $3.6 million in false charges," said Williams.

To cover his tracks, Goyal created fictitious operative reports, seeded across hundreds of patient files, violating the integrity of patients' medical records and making it more difficult for subsequent doctors to evaluate their care.

He sent patients who could not pay the upcoded bills to a collection agency, decimating their credit.

According to the DoJ, Goyal also pressured other doctors to join the scheme and threatened to retaliate against their livelihood and careers.

"Even after being arrested for this scheme, he committed a breathtaking new fraud and stole $637,200 from the Paycheck Protection Programme in the early days of a devastating pandemic," Williams said.

"For his crimes, Goyal will serve a substantial sentence in prison," he added.
New Delhi, March 26 : Around 600 paratroopers of the Indian Army's Airborne Rapid Response teams carried out large scale drops near the Siliguri Corridor on March 24 and March 25 in an Airborne Exercise, after being airlifted from various airbases, the force said.

The exercise involved advanced free-fall techniques; insertion, surveillance and targeting practice and seizing of key objectives by going behind enemy lines.

Siliguri Corridor is the strategically important region near the country's northern border with China that also borders Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The Corridor is considered very important from the military perspective and connects the northeastern region with the rest of India.

The 60 km long and 22 km wide Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, is also known as the 'Chicken's Neck'.

Wedged between Bangladesh to the south and the west and China to the north, the Siliguri Corridor links India to neighbouring Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

As China continuing road and airstrip construction activities on its side of the border, the threat to the Siliguri Corridor is a constant one, as the infrastructure could allow China to mobilise rapidly in the region.

India too have enhanced deployment in the region and is also developing military infrastructure.
Bhopal, March 26 : Congress leader and former Minister Kamleshwar Patel called Shivraj Singh Chouhan's ongoing two-day brainstorming cabinet meeting at hill station Pachmarhi as an event. The Congress leader alleged that for the last two years, the BJP government has been more focused on event management than the serious challenges the state is facing.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Bhopal on Saturday, Patel questioned Shivraj Singh Chouhan's decision to hold a cabinet meeting in a hotel in Pachmarhi instead in Bhopal. He demanded that the state government should tell the people how much money was invested for BJP's event.

"If Shivraj Singh Chouhan is really serious about the development of Madhya Pradesh, he would not have invested public money for event management, instead he could have held meetings at the secretariat office or his official residence as it always happens," Patel said.

He further alleged that the BJP led Madhya Pradesh government failed to provide scholarships to the students belonging to ST, SC and OBC categories for the past two years. "Recently Rs 318 crore was released for scholarship, whereas it requires around Rs 1,200 crore. More than 35,000 primary schools have been shut in the past two years and teachers who were earning for their livelihood are now unemployed," Patel said.

During the Congress government, primary schools were opened under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan to provide education to the poor children, but all those schools were closed and now the BJP government has introduced a new concept -- CM Rise Schools. "It would have been better if those existing schools were redeveloped and teachers have been appointed. But, for his own event management, the chief minister invested around Rs 7,000 crore. This huge amount of money could have been utilized for other purposes," he added.

A two-day brainstorming cabinet meeting is underway at a hotel in Pachmarhi. The cabinet meeting will conclude on Sunday evening.
New Delhi, March 26 : A man was killed and his cousin suffered injuries after a fight broke out between them in the national capital, an official said on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Imran, a resident of Holambi Kalan, while the accused cousin, Sohel was also injured in the incident and is currently admitted to a hospital.

Furnishing details, DCP Brijendra Yadav said the incident took place on the the intervening night of March 25-26 in north Delhi's Holambi Kalan area.

"A call was received stating that a man has been stabbed and is currently admitted at Harish Chandra hospital," the DCP said.

As the police reached the hospital, they found that one of the person had succumbed to his injuries while the other was shifted to M.V. hospital, Pooth Khurd, Delhi for further treatment.

Based on the statement of deceased's elder brother, the police registered a case under section 307 of the IPC against Sohel who is currently undergoing treatment at Safdarjung hospital.

The motive of the crime is still unclear, however, prima facie it looks like the case of sudden rage, said the official.

Neither Imran, nor Sohel have any criminal record.

Further investigation is on, the official added.
Thiruvananthapuram, March 26 : Protests against the Kerala government's ambitious K-Rail project continued on Saturday with public-police clashes being reported from several places.

However, Revenue Minister K.Rajan categorically denied having issued any order to lay the marking stones. Joining the issue was Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan who sought to know who had issued the orders if not the revenue minister.

Following the minister's statement, people at various locations in Kottayam and Ernakulam intensified their protests and clashed with the police raising anti-Vijayan slogans.

At Kottayam and Ernakulam, angry protesters pulled out the stones laid by the K-Rail officials and planted a stone in the local government village office at their respective locality.

Satheesan said things has reached a stage where there is absolute confusion about the whole project as none seems to have any clue of anything at all.

"Various departments are speaking in different tones about the project and there seems to be none who is responsible," said Satheesan.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.Muraleedharan said the Union Railway Minister had informed the Rajya Sabha that no sanction has been accorded to the project as yet.

"The meeting that Vijayan had with the PM was a routine one and anyone who heard the Railway Minister speak knows for sure that no sanction for it has come," said Muraleedharan who was in the state capital city to visit people whose land has now been marked for takeover for the K-Rail, if it becomes a reality.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that Vijayan should not go forward with the project as it is not viabl.

Highlighting the chaos in Sri Lanka, former State Industries Minister P.K.Kunhalikutty said that it was a result of massive loans taken by the government. He said Kerala will not be far behind if such unviable projects are implemented.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 26 : The Ministry of Ayush has signed a Host Country Agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) for establishing a WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar in India, with its interim office at the Institute of Training and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) in Gujarat.

The Centre will be supported by an investment of about USD 250 million from the Government of India. The primary objective of GCTM is to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology and improve the overall health of communities' the world over.

The agreement was signed in Geneva by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush and Director General, WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on March 25.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his message to the event said, "It is heartening to learn about the signing agreement for the establishment of Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. Through various initiatives, our government has been tireless in its endeavour to make preventive and curative healthcare, affordable and accessible to all. The global centre at Jamnagar will help in providing the best healthcare solutions to the world." Ayush Minister Sarbanand Sonowal said that his Ministry was able to get this due to the initiative and efforts of our illustrious Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added that the Centre will bring far-reaching benefits to traditional medicine systems around the world. He informed that the Centre will bring availability of a better system to connect with the latest scientific methods.

Highlighting the importance of the Indian government's initiative, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said that harnessing the potential of traditional medicine by drawing on modern science and the principles of equity and sustainability will be a game changer for health in the 21st century.

The GCTM will be the first and only Global Centre for traditional medicine across the world. It will focus on building a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicine practices and products and help countries integrate it as appropriate into their health systems and regulate its quality and safety for optimal and sustainable impact. The WHO-GCTM is designed to engage and benefit all the regions of the world.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 26 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday embarked on a five-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said Jaishankar's visit comes after invitations were extended by his Maldivian and Sri Lankan counterparts Abdulla Shahid and G.L. Peiris, respectively.

Jaishankar will arrive in Addu city in the Maldives on Saturday, during which he will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with Shahid.

The two-day visit will see the signing of several agreements related to bilateral development cooperation, as well as the inauguration/ handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security, the Ministry said in the visit.

During Jaishankar's trip to Sri Lanka from March 28-30, bilateral meetings and interactions.

Peiris had visited India in February, while Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa was in New Delhi earlier this month.

While in Sri Lanka, Jaishankar will also participate in the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on March 29 in Colombo,.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also virtually attend the fifth BIMSTEC summir on March 30.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First," the statement said.

"Jaishankar's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka."
Bengaluru, March 26 : Prominent Lingayat seer Dr Veerasomeshwara Shivacharya Swamiji of Rambhapuri Mutt, has stated that it is wrong for Karnataka Opposition leader Siddaramaiah to rake up hijab issue often, even after the High Court verdict.

The High Court has given a verdict making uniform compulsory for school children. Abiding by the verdict of the court is the duty of all, he said.

He further objected to Siddaramaiah's statement on swamiji's head covers and head gears while commenting on hijab. "Siddaramaiah has spoken lightly about headgears worn by religious seers. This does not suit his dignity. He should apologise and end the issue," he said.

There is no connection between headgears worn by religious seers and hijab. Headgear worn by seers is a cultural symbol of India. Even Swami Vivekananda wore headgear. There is a tradition of wearing headgears in the state, he said.

The seers have taken up the work of spreading religious values by wearing headgears, he explained.

Siddaramaiah, despite knowing well about consequences after trying to divide Veerashaiva-Lingayat community and suffering a setback in elections, has made a statement on religious seers wearing headgears while talking about hijab. His statement has been condemned across the state, he said.

Sanganabasava Seer of Managooli Mutt in Vijayapura said that Siddaramaiah had to step down after attempting to divide Veerashaiva and Lingayat community. Now again he has spoken lightly about religious seers which is not a good development. "He must issue clarification in this regard, otherwise the people will throw him out of the state," he said.

Siddaramaiah had said that the government should allow wearing of hijab by Muslim students and write exams. He further stated that even Hindu and Jain women, religious seers covered their heads and seers wore headgears and they were not questioned.
analysis

Cutting government taxes and levies was the only way to ease an anticipated R2-plus per litre petrol price hike without endangering industry sustainability, MPs were told by various petroleum refining, retailing and wholesalers associations on Friday.

The words may have been different, but without fail the message was the same: knee-jerk responses amid a public outcry of rising petrol prices would undermine the sustainability of the domestic industry given the slim margins across the board.

DA MP Kevin Mileham's comment on the associations' "incredible self-interest" was supported by other MPs in a rare cross-party political agreement.

Friday's meeting of the parliamentary mineral resources and energy committee came as the government announced an overall review of the petrol price - with more pressing mitigation of rising petrol prices under way.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has triggered rapidly rising global oil prices that have upped the pressure in South Africa where the petrol price, after a series of increases, breached R20 per litre.

In an unusual move, the 2022 Budget did not raise the fuel levies and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) tax - the carbon tax component of the...
Jerusalem, March 26 : A senior Israeli military delegation led by Tal Kelman, the military official in charge of Iran affairs, wrapped up a series of meetings in Morocco this week, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The visit was revealed to the people by Avichay Adraee, the Arab Spokesperson of the IDF, through his Twitter account on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the visit to Morocco's capital Rabat, Kelman met with the Chief of Morocco's military Belkhir El Farouk, and other senior Moroccan officers, according to Adraee's tweet.

The two delegations reviewed "regional and intand along the bank of the Tigris river. Desperate militants increasingly resorted to suicide attacks and showed stiff resistance in the narrow alleys of densely-populated neighbourhoods.

A large part of Nineveh came under IS control in June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to control parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

In July 2017, Iraq formally declared that Mosul, the country's second largest city, was liberated from the IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the militants from their last major stronghold in the country.
New Delhi, March 26 : Taaruk Raina gets nostalgic about shooting with late actor Rishi Kapoor in 'Sharmaji Namkeen' in his final film.

He recalls a few moments with Rishi from the sets and throws light on his role in the movie.

It is written and directed by Hitesh Bhatia and features actor Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Suhail Nayyar and Isha Talwar.

Taaruk reminsces: "The conversations about food, his amazing stories from the '70s and '80s about his film shoots, there were so many. I remember the most embarrassing moment for me with him, it was the second or third day on set, and I had to do a scene with him, while he was saying the dialogues to me I was just in awe of how good he was, so much so that I forgot my own lines. I didn't know what to say or do, but Hitesh sir (our director) covered for me and made it pass. I just couldn't help it." He says as an actor it was a great opportunity for him to work with Rishi Kapoor and he got to learn a lot from him. Taaruk opens up on how he found him as an actor and what makes him special.

"I learnt something new everyday with him, he was unlike anyone else. When he was on set he didn't need anything, he was just the character. No concerns of how he's going to look, nothing at all. He just used to switch on and switch off as soon as the camera used to roll, and everything he did was perfect. I guess that's what experience makes you," he shares.

He is playing the role of Rishi Kapoor (Sharmaji)'s younger son in the film.Taaruk delves into detail to discuss his character.

Taaruk shares: "I play a character named Vincy, Sharmaji's younger son, he's a misfit in society, much like his father post retirement and that's where they form a special relationship. He holds no judgement and tries to glue the family together at all times. He wishes to be a dancer and mostly keeps to himself, or at least tries to." On the challenges faced while playing this character, he reveals: "My biggest challenge was the dance sequences, as I'm not a trained dancer and it required me to learn B-boying power moves, and of course, being patient." He continues sharing about the preparation work, saying: "We did workshops for the film before shoot, like any other project and then a lot of dance training. Other than that Hitesh sir made it so clear as to what he wanted that it became easy for us on set to create an equation." Taaruk says that this is one of the most special project to him and the reason being: "It means the most to me, not just because I got the chance to work with Rishi ji, Paresh Ji and Juhi maam, but the fact that it's become personal to all of us. Everyone involved in this project has given it everything, the film has gone through every obstacle possible, most films would have never made it to the finish line in this situation, but ours did." On the work front he is all geared up for his next, 'Mismatched season 2' that will be out in the near future on Netflix.

'Sharmaji Namkeen' is scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on March 31.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, March 26 : Actress Amala Paul, who loves to travel, on Saturday chose to share her wisdom on decision-making and life with her followers on Instagram by posting a video clip of her road trip.

Posting a video clip of a drive that she had undertaken with friends to heal herself, the actress wrote, "There are two roads you can take at this point; one that repeats the same cycles you're currently experiencing or one that throws you into a world of new beginnings.

"Whatever you decide, let your intuition guide you and your faith inspire you. You're getting closer to greatness each day." Amala is known to travel and go on treks to relax. In fact, Amala considers her Himalayan trek to be one of her biggest achievements. In 2016, the actress went on a 110-km trek that happened at a height of 17,000 feet. It was supposed to be a 10-day trek, but she covered the distance in eight days.

Only recently, the actress had recalled her trip to Indonesia's Pink Island by posting pictures on Instagram that she had shot there.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hubballi : , March 26 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Karnataka on April 5 to launch a slew of special programmes for the development of the State, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Bommai was speaking to media persons at Hubballi airport on Saturday.

He further said that Union minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah is set to visit the State on April 1.

Shah is keen to bring major reforms in the Cooperation sector and the state government is set to start 'Ksheera Abhivridhi Bank', he said.

Shah would launch the Logo of the 'Ksheera Abhivridhi Bank' and the Yeshaswini programme during his visit. A huge convention is being organised as part of the launch programme as it would give a big boost for the dairy sector, Bommai said.

Speaking about the cabinet expansion, he said that the issue will have to be discussed with the party top brass in Delhi. "I will go to Delhi when the leadership calls me," he said.
Mumbai, March 26 : Actor Vivek Oberoi has wrapped up shooting for upcoming multilingual film 'Kaduva', which stars Prithviraj Sukumaran.

Directed by Shaji Kailas, 'Kaduva' marks the second collaboration of actors Prithviraj and Vivek, after 'Lucifer'.

Having prepped extensively for the part, Vivek plays a parallel lead in the project. The story reflects a deep conflict between two strong-headed men, Oberoi had said earlier. Intoxicated by power, his character is an otherwise conscientious character.

After the success of 'Lucifer', Vivek has signed a lot of big projects.

It was recently reported that Oberoi has been working towards physically transforming for his next.

Through most part of his shoot in Kerala, the actor had his trainer with him on set. It was rumoured that the actor will soon kick off an interesting project that will see him in a whole new light. He is all set to begin the workshops and readings for the project next week, inform sources.
Mumbai, March 26 : Actress and writer Sukhmani Sadana recalls shooting in extreme cold weather conditions for the web series 'Apharan 2'. The actress is seen playing Nafisa in the web show.

Sukhmani says: "The day I recovered from Covid was the day I had to fly down to Haridwar for my first day of shoot in 'Apharan'. I had an action sequence to do on day 1 falling off from the top of a bridge. I was so weak because of dengue and Covid during the first wave." 'Sacred Games' actress shares further about the challenges: "Everybody on the crew was also very scared that I was going to jump off the bridge though I had a harness and there was an action master, a director. But I realised that it was my true test as an actor because there are days like these when we are so shattered and physically we are so weak but still we have to do our job because that's what we are meant to do." Recalling her experience of shooting one of the most challenging sequences of her career, Sukhmani shares: "We had a really tough time shooting in Belgrade in Serbia. It was freezing, everybody was wearing warm clothes, but I, as Nafisa, had to wear a thin chiffon saree on the top of a building.

"I remember I could barely feel my limbs and every time my shot was over, my team would come and rub my hands and feet and get me gel pads that give warmth. They got me blowers and heaters and blankets and shawls to cover me because I literally could not feel my fingers and my feet." Sukhmani anyhow managed to face the toughest of shoot conditions. "Everybody was very sympathetic. I remember they would keep giving me hot water to drink. It's been a tough shoot, running around on the streets wearing heels, and having a stern face of Nafisa throughout. But I thoroughly enjoyed it," she shares.

Directed by Santosh Singh, 'Apharan 2' streams on Voot Select.
New Delhi, March 26 : After Google announced a pilot programme to test third-party billing systems in Android and across its wider ecosystem starting with Spotify, Epic Games has said that it is not satisfied with the move.

The Fortnite game developer, which sued Google after it removed Fortnite from Google Play for including direct payments, said it plans to continue advocating for an open app ecosystem, reports The Verge.

"Apple and Google continue to abuse their market power with policies that stifle innovation, inflate prices and reduce consumer choice," Corie Wright, Epic's VP of public policy, said in the statement late on Friday.

"One deal does not change the anticompetitive status quo. We will continue to fight for fair and open platforms for all developers and consumers," Wright added.

Epic is not part of Google's pilot programme.

The Google programme, announced earlier this week, will allow a small number of participating developers to offer an additional billing option next to Google Play's billing system and is designed to help it explore ways to offer this choice to users while maintaining its ability to invest in the ecosystem.

"We think that users should continue to have the choice to use Play's billing system when they install an app from Google Play," Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management, had said in a blogpost.

The company said it will be partnering with developers to explore different implementations of user-choice billing, starting with Spotify.

"As one of the world's largest subscription developers with a global footprint and integrations across a wide range of device form factors, they are a natural first partner," the company said.

The New Delhi-based Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) has called Google's "user choice billing" announcement for "select" developers a clear admission of guilt and an illusion of choice tactic.
Mumbai, March 26 : India pacer Mohammed Siraj is looking forward to working under new Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis and a most talked-about bowling unit during the upcoming IPL 2022 edition.

Siraj will be strengthening a bond with the franchise into the fourth year while his former skipper Virat Kohli will be extending his partnership with RCB into the 15th year.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will be launching their campaign in the 15th edition of IPL against Punjab Kings on Sunday (March 27).

But while rekindling old ties, Siraj is also looking forward to forging partnerships with news players as the Hyderabad pacer joined the team in Mumbai after completing his isolation period.

"I was very excited for today. In fact, I couldn't even sleep last night as the joy of finally joining my RCB family overwhelmed me," Siraj said in the latest episode of RCB Bold Diaries, the franchise's podcast show.

Siraj further added, "I will be following my rhythm, and will be bowling accordingly. I do not want to rush things as after returning from the quarantine, it is almost next to impossible to put in my best efforts. That is why I will be focusing on my rhythm." Siraj was all praise for the Royal Challengers' new captain, Faf du Plessis, the South Africa white-ball skipper who will be taking charge of his first IPL team.

"We have a very good team and a brilliant captain in Faf. He has led his country for a while and that is a plus point for all of us," Siraj was quoted as saying by RCB in a release on Saturday.

Asked about being part of the most-talked-about bowling unit of RCB, which will be further strengthened with Australia's Josh Hazlewood joining it. Siraj said he is looking forward to the new partnership.

"If we talk about our bowlers, the partnership between Harshal (Patel) and me was pretty fine in the last edition of the tournament. Hazlewood will be coming in and Akashdeep (Singh) is already there. It is a decent bonding and there is a good bench strength to support us too. It will be fun."

Latest updates on IPL 2022

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Colombo, March 26 : Proving the priority that India occupies in Sri Lanka specially at a time when the country is facing one of its worst economic crisis, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will visit Sri Lanka on March 28 to 30.

Visiting on the invitation of Sri Lanka's Foreign Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, Jaishankar's visit follows Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa's visit to India early this month and last December and Minister Peiris' visit to India in February.

"The bilateral meetings and interactions which EAM will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that the Sri Lanka occupies for India," announcing the visit of EAM, the Indian External Affairs Ministry stated.

In a series of financial and humanitarian assistance by India, on March 18, $1 billion credit facility was extended to Sri Lanka as a "short term concessional loan facility".

Helping to import food, other essential commodities and medicines from India, the SBI had provided the facility following an agreement signed between the two countries during the visit of Lanka's Finance Minister Rajapaksa.

Triggered by a shortage of foreign exchange, with last week's $1 billion, India has provided $2.4 billion financial assistance to Sri Lanka since January.

Jaishankar, who was present at the signing of the agreement with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted: "Neighbourhood first. India stands with Sri Lanka. $1 billion credit line signed for supply of essential commodities. Key element of the package of support extended by India," Jaishankar tweeted.

Before visiting Colombo, Jaishankar will visit Addu city in Maldives on March 26-27 and will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and is to hold discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid.

Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First.

Jaishankar's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka, the External Affairs Ministry reiterated.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Panaji, March 26 : The Congress legislature party and other opposition MLAs on Saturday unanimously proposed former Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeria as a consensus candidate for the upcoming elections for the Speaker of the state legislative assembly.

Sequeira's candidature was unanimously approved by the 11-member Congress legislature party, even as two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, as well as other opposition MLAs supported the decision, Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat told reporters on Saturday.

"There was unanimity among opposition MLAs that Aleixo Sequeira should be our candidate for the Speaker's post," Kamat said, after a meeting of the Opposition MLAs ahead of the two-day session of the Goa legislative assembly beginning March 29.

"One issue which was decided was I will fight the Speaker's election. They have proposed my name," Sequeira himself said.

The BJP has 20 MLAs in the 40-member state legislative assembly and enjoys the support of five other MLAs, including three independents and a two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party legislature unit.

Mathematically, Sequeira seems to have an impossible task ahead of him, with just 15 MLAs on his side.

Sequeira has formerly served as an Environment Minister and a deputy Speaker in the state assembly. The BJP has not finalised its candidate for the Speaker's post yet.

The Speaker's election is scheduled to be held on March 29 and will be conducted by pro-tem Speaker BJP MLA Ganesh Gaonkar.
An employee works at the main depot of a metro line in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 10, 2022. (Xinhua)

by Liu Chuntao and Naim-Ul-Karim

DHAKA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's metro will begin commercial operations on Dec. 16, easing gridlock in capital city Dhaka. Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTC), a Bangladeshi state-owned enterprise is behind the 20.1-km metro, with work being carried out by Thai and Chinese, Japanese and Thai companies.

VICTORY DAY

A Joint Venture (JV) between China's Sinohydro, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited, and Italian-Thai Development (ITD) Public Company Limited, a Thai company, has been building the main depot for MRT Line-6 in Dhaka since 2017 at a cost of about 180 million U.S. dollars.

Dai Jun, acting in-charge of Sinohydro under the Joint Venture, told Xinhua recently that work on the depot is more than 95 percent complete. "We know that DMTC wants the line to open on Victory Day (Dec. 16) this year," he said. "We will hand it over to the DMTC as soon as possible."

"We're pleased and honored to participate in such a milestone project in Bangladesh," he said. "We want to build a sustainable relationship through our performance and to participate in more projects like this in Bangladesh."

TAMING THE DESERT

Dai's Bangladeshi colleague Rabiul Hasan Chowdhury has been deputy safety manager of the ITD-Sinohydro JV since 2018. He spoke of the north of Dhaka before the metro work began.

"This place was like a desert. Together with the Chinese, we've worked day and night to get where we are today," he said. "We have built the depot without any major incidents."

Civil engineer Nazmul Islam has been working on the metro for five years. He is very pleased with the state of construction. "The steel structure, roof and everything you see is made to the highest quality."

Traffic congestion in Dhaka will be greatly reduced when the metro begins operations, he said, "We will be able to travel from one place to another in a very short time. Dhaka residents are excited."

MORE TO COME

Bangladesh borrowed funds from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to finance the metro rail project in stages. The metro will eventually cover large parts of the city. The first train made a trial run in August on a section of the line with 16 elevated stations.

Bangladeshi Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said trains will begin running on the first phase later this year when two more China-backed infrastructure projects -- the Padma Bridge and Karnaphuli River Tunnel -- will also be inaugurated.

Once the metro line is running normally, six-car trains will operate a four-minute service carrying 60,000 passengers each hour. 

Photo taken on March 10, 2022 shows the main depot of a metro line in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Xinhua)

An employee works at the main depot of a metro line in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 10, 2022. (Xinhua)

An employee works at the main depot of a metro line in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 10, 2022. (Xinhua)

Photo taken on March 10, 2022 shows metro rail lines in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Xinhua)
The United States government Friday donated five nuclear detector cans to the Nigeria police to assist the outfit in checking terrorism in the country.

The equipment, which were donated to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Unit of the police, are also meant to strengthen their capacity to stabilise security in the country.

The equipment, worth over $2million, include chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear EOD-CBRN.

The US government did the donations through its Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD).

The equipment included five MDS vans, three radioisotope identification devices, three-pack eye backpack radiation detectors, three survey metres, seven censor technology radiation pagers, including maintenance and parts kits.

Presenting the equipment to the commissioner of police, EOD-CBRN command, CP Zannah Shettima, the US Consulate Assistant Regional Security Officer, Jon

Dvorak said, "Nigeria remains one of the United States' key partners in combating the smuggling of illicit nuclear and radioactive material.

"Nigeria stands tall, not only in Africa but globally, in its commitment to preventing the trafficking and use of materials that pose a threat to health and safety."

In his remark, CP Shettima commended the gesture, adding that the training of 30 policemen on operators' training and an additional 10 on maintenance of the mobile detection devices was impactful.
Bhopal, March 26 : Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh on Saturday opposed the proposal moved by Vivek Agnihotri to set up a 'genocide museum' for Kashmiri Pandits in Bhopal, for which Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has promised land to the 'The Kashmir Files' director.

Singh said the step would disrupt the social harmony of Bhopal which has a large Muslim population.

"I am totally against setting up a genocide museum in Bhopal. We will not let the communal harmony of Bhopal get disturbed," he said.

Singh's objection came a day after Agnihotri arrived in Bhopal to participate in a film festival and proposed to Chouhan to establish a 'genocide museum' to showcase the sufferings of Kashmiri Pandits. The Chief Minister on his part has promised to provide land and other facilities for the proposed museum.

On Friday, Singh had objected to Agnihotri's recent "Bhopalis are assumed to be homosexuals" remark.

In a viral video clip of an interview given to an online channel, Agnihotri could be heard saying in Hindi: "I have grown up in Bhopal, but I am not a Bhopali. Because Bhopali has a different connotation. You can ask any Bhopali. I will explain it to you in private. If someone says he is Bhopali, it generally means he is homosexual, a person with 'Nawabi' desires." Reacting to Agnihotri's reamrk, Singh tweeted: "Vivek Agnihotri ji, this could be your experience, but not that of the Bhopal citizens. I am also in contact with Bhopal and Bhopalis since 1977, but I never had this experience. Wherever you stay, there's always an influence of the company you keep."
Panaji, March 26 : Former Ports Minister and Congress MLA Michael Lobo, on Saturday, urged the attendees present at the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on March 28 to stand up and tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his face about the hardship caused by the continuous increase in fuel prices.

Lobo, a former BJP Minister, was speaking to reporters at the state legislative assembly complex here.

"We oppose (fuel hike). The PM should take whatever measures to roll it back immediately. He (PM) is coming here and I hope somebody from the audience over there should stand and say this and tell him that we are really feeling the heat, not only in Goa, all over India," Lobo said.

Top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, top party office bearers, chief ministers of seven BJP-ruled states are expected to be in attendance at the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his cabinet members at an indoor stadium near Panaji on March 28.

"Petrol prices have increased, diesel prices have increased. People of Goa, people of India have felt the heat and the Prime Minister should understand this and help to roll back these prices," Lobo also said.
Chennai, March 26 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday invited investors in Dubai to take advantage of the opportunities available in the state, which he said would result in mutual growth.

A delegation from the state led by Stalin is in Dubai to mobilise investments to Tamil Nadu.

Addressing industrialists and businessmen in Dubai, Stalin said the government's goal is to make Tamil Nadu the global investment destination for manufacturing, services and other sectors.

He said that independent surveys have validated Tamil Nadu as a leading state in good governance, economic growth, and social and public health indicators.

Stalin said that 75 among the Fortune 500 countries have presence in Tamil Nadu, adding that the state is setting up an international furniture park, the first of its kind in India.

The Chief Minister said the southern state also offers investment opportunities in electric vehicles, cold storages and warehouses, among others.

Stalin pointed out that the state has signed 124 MoUs in the last 10 months, involving an investment of $8 billion.

He also said that Tamil Nadu had a positive GDP growth rate of 5.8 per cent in 2020-2021.

"This clearly shows the faith and confidence global investors have reposed in Tamil Nadu," he said.
New Delhi, March 26 : A 28-year-old man who was involved in a number of cases of theft that were registered at different police stations in the national capital, was arrested by Delhi Police, an official said on Saturday.

The accused, identified as T. Sarath Kumar, a resident of Ramaji Nagar in Tamil Nadu, used to visit Delhi for only thievery and return to his native village after committing the crime.

During his visit to Delhi, the accused used to stay on the pavements of Railway stations in a bid to evade arrest.

Furnishing details about the case, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sagar Singh Kalsi said, on March 23, when a police team was patrolling in the Lahori Gate police station area, they received a tip-off that a person involved in several robbery cases was roaming in the area.

Acting on the information, the police laid a trap and started checking the vehicles as well as the suspected persons. At around 8.30 p.m. a suspected person was seen trying to flee after noticing the presence of police. However, the police team nabbed the suspect, later identified as T. Sarath Kumar.

Upon the accused's search, one button operated knife was recovered from his possession and accordingly the police registered a case under section 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.

During interrogation, the accused Sarath Kumar disclosed that he belongs to Tamil Nadu and used to visit Delhi by trains to commit crimes in busy markets near the railway stations.

The police official said that the accused is a habitual criminal with a history of involvement in seven cases of theft registered at different police stations of Delhi.
Chennai, March 26 : National Award-winning director Seenu Ramasamy on Saturday disclosed that superstar Rajinikanth, after watching his upcoming film 'Maa Manithan', had congratulated him wholeheartedly.

Taking to Twitter, Seenu Ramasamy said, "I did not disclose that you (referring to Rajinikanth) had watched 'Maa Manithan' in January and had called me up over phone to congratulate me for my film.

"Had I disclosed then that you had called, they would have said that I was doing it to sell my film.

"The very fact that you watched the film was a blessing. That was enough for us." The director also went on to disclose that now the film had been sold and that its release date too had been finalised.

Producer R K Suresh, who is releasing the film, tweeted in Tamil, "Crores of thanks to 'Maa Manithan' Rajinikanth for appreciating our film 'Maa Manithan'."
Mumbai, March 26 : As the new season of the upcoming cop drama 'Abhay 3' shows the existence of the supernatural world and black magic, actors Asha Nehi and Vidya Malvane share their creepy experiences in real life.

Asked about their belive in supernatural power Asha told IANS: "Even though I haven't experienced anything creepy so far, I believe in buri nazaar. Many times it happens that our elders like mothers, grandmothers burn chillis to remove negative energy from our surroundings and protect us. I believe that if blessing works, the curse also affects. But, in our show, the evil force showing their conviction and why they do that they so." Vidya on the other hand shared one of the creepy experiences that she had during one of her trips to Finland.

Vidya mentioned, "Once I was in Finland, living in a resort where the location was beautiful but remote. When I opened the window of my hotel room, I saw a huge tree and there was a water body across. A visual just crossed my mind that of a lady in a white sari, holding a candle in her hand. But that's it, I did not entertain that much." "In the night, when I was asleep, I heard a loud sound of banging on my door and I just felt that room is possessed, I might not stay alive tonight. I was so scared. In the morning even though I asked around if someone came at my door, but nobody was there! yes, I did experience that," she added.

In the new season, Abhay, played by Kunal Kemmu is investigating a series of murders where the killer is leaving clues that shows some element of supernatural activities.

Vidya who is playing a pivotal part in the narrative said, "My character is onto the other side, the evil side. In the human mind, there is a good and evil side in all of us. It depends on how we interpret and let evil come out. Nidhi, my character believes that death is the ultimate moksha, so she is trying to give death to every human being to achieve their moksha." Sharing more details of her character, Asha said, "This season Sonam Khanna is much bolder, brighter and her actions are a reflection of that. From the outside, she also comes across like a psycho. But there's an emotional shift happened in her that audience will get to know." Directed by Ken Ghosh, 'Abhay 3', also featuring Vijay Raz, will be released on ZEE5 on April 8.
Bengaluru, March 26 : Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday urged parents and the BJP government in the state to convince the students about the court verdict on hijab to ensure that their careers are not ruined.

Shivakumar was speaking to reporters on the state government's decision to ban students from appearing in the crucial SSLC exams (Class 10) wearing hijab in the backdrop of the recent high court verdict.

"Children's education is of paramount importance. The students might commit mistakes. They might even be persistent. But their future must not be harmed for this. The parents need to sit and talk with them," he said.

"Religious leaders, parents and teachers must themselves get convinced first, and then persuade the children. Children always listen to their teacher's words, and the mother is their first teacher," the Congress leader added.

When asked about Opposition leader Siddaramaiah's demand to let students wear 'dupatta' around their heads and write exams, Shivakumar said, "The Congress stands with what the Constitution says. For us, the Constitution is like Bible, Quoran or Bhagavad Gita. I won't say anything more." "The court has given its verdict on hijab, which some have agreed, and some have not. I am not in a position to say whether the judgment is wrong," Shivakumar said.

The state government will conduct the SSLC exams from March 28 to April 11. As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for the exams this academic year.

The exams will be conducted in 3,444 centres across the state. CCTV cameras have been installed in all the examination centers and prohibitory orders will be clamped in and around the exam venues.

The Karnataka High Court recently ordered restricting the wearing of hijab in educational institutions, deeming it not an "essential religious practice" in Islam.
Bhopal, March 26 : After a video of a hijab-clad Muslim girl purportedly offering namaz inside a college classroom in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media, the university administration has ordered a probe into the matter.

As per sources, the incident occurred in Dr Harisingh Gour University (HGU), a Central varsity, in Sagar district. In the viral video, a burqa/hijab-clad girl could be seen purportedly offering namaz inside a classroom.

After the video surfaced on media, members of the Hindu Jagran Manch reached the university campus and staged a protest, raising 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans and reciting Hanuman Chalisa at a temple located on the campus. They later handed over a memorandum to the university administration demanding action against the girl student.

Kapil Swami, a member of Hindu Jagran Manch, claimed that namaz was deliberately offered inside the classroom on Friday.

"It was a deliberate act carried out on the behest of some faculty members of the university. We have demanded that punitive action be taken against those who helped the girl offer namaz," Swami said.

Neelima Gupta, Vice Chancellor of HGU, has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

"A five-member committee has been constituted to look into the matter. The committee will submit its report within three days, and further action will be taken based on this report. We have asked all the students to follow their religious practices outside the university campus," Gupta said.

The Karnataka High Court had recently ordered restricting the wearing of hijab in educational institutions in the state, deeming it not an "essential religious practice" in Islam. On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused urgent hearing of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict.
Mumbai, March 26 : Actor Raghav Tiwari, who was seen playing a protagonist Aditya in his acting debut show 'Hamari Wali Good News', is in his hometown Jaipur to host a fashion show.

The actor remembers his modeling days and says: "Fashion Industry has always been very fascinating, glamorous and glittery. But it has own merits and demerits. In my initial days I started my career as a model. Though I was not tall enough to be a ramp model but I use to get a hell lot of print projects. Modelling grooms your personality and improves the way you carry yourself and gives you a confidence boost." Raghav feels modeling is taxing.

He says: "Modelling as a job is very taxing. When I started working as a newbie print model, I use to get atleast 100 to 150 changes with not an average pay which was inhuman. Even for ramp models its very taxing to maintain a certain lean physique and walking for different different shows. Modelling is very competitive plus age restricted too." He says at the time there is not much scope left for people pursuing modelling.

"I also feel that few years ago there was a wave of models getting recognition and fame. Veterans like John Abraham, Muzamil Abrahim, Dino Morea, Arjun Rampal among others who are at the top. But now we hardly get to know about upcoming models. So, I believe we have hell lot of talented people in Modeling stream too and they deserve the push in the industry," he concludes.
Bengaluru, March 26 : Hindu activists in Karnataka's Madikeri district on Saturday staged protest by sitting on the ground to vacate Muslim merchants from carrying out their business in a convention organised at Shanivarasante of Somavarapet taluk.

The Muslim merchants were carrying out their business in the state-level convention of organic farming and indigenous breeds of cows organised by Manehalli Mutt.

They had put up sugarcane juice and snacks shops. The Hindu activists present on the spot objected to their presence and told them to vacate.

"What is the connection between the convention of indigenous breeds of cows and the people who slaughter cows," submitted the activists.

They further said that "the Muslim merchants do not have any love for cows they only want to carry out the business here".

Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had demanded to get shops of Muslims vacated from the premises of famous Chamundeshwari hills in Mysuru city.

Sriram Sene founder Pramod Muthalik has met the Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Anand Mamani and urged that non-Hindus merchants should be vacated from the premises of the Savadatti Yallamma pilgrimage centre in Belagavi district.

He visited Savadatti Yallamma temple and stated that lakhs of pilgrims visited the temple and there are more than 50 per cent of Muslim merchants carrying out their business here, he said.

If there are non-Hindu staff in the Religious Endowment department, they should be transferred immediately. Otherwise, a protest will be staged, he said.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said that Egypt is committed to consolidating strategic cooperation with Rwanda, especially at the economic, commercial, security, and military levels.

He also expressed Egypt's interest in convening the Egyptian-Rwandan joint cooperation committee as soon as possible to further mutual coordination and consultations, and exchange views within the African Union (AU) context.

Sisi was speaking during a meeting with Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Heliopolis, where they held one-on-one talks followed by expanded discussions between the delegations of both countries, according to Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady.

Commending the historical ties with the sisterly African nation, Sisi said Egypt is keen on meeting Rwanda's development needs, especially in the infrastructure, health, and education sectors, by maximizing investments of the Egyptian companies involved in these sectors and increasing technical support to Rwandan cadres to build their capacities.

Meanwhile, Kagame hailed Egypt's pivotal role in preserving regional peace and security, applauding also the positive stances adopted by Egypt to ensure stability in the Great Lakes, East Africa, and the Nile Basin regions.

The talks also covered a wide range of issues of mutual concern, topped by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue, and ways to achieve economic and development integration between Nile basin countries to serve mutual interests and address common challenges, the spokesman noted.

Finally, the two leaders witnessed the inking of several memorandums of understanding (MoU) to promote cooperation in various domains, including diplomatic training, youth and sports, museums, IT, and postal services.
Kathmandu, March 26 : Nepal and China signed six agreements related to various projects on Saturday.

The Foreign Ministers of Nepal and China, Narayan Khadka and Wang Yi, respectively, witnessed the signing and exchange of agreements, MoUs and documents after delegation-level talks.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the agreements is on a technical assistance scheme for the China-aided feasibility study of the cross-border railway.

Another is on on economic and technical cooperation, under which China will increase its annual assistance to Nepal from Rs 13 billion to Rs 15 billion and will finance some projects that will be mutually agreed upon between the two sides.

Another agreement is on cooperation on the feasibility study of the China-Nepal Power Grid interconnection where China will finance the new alignment of the Ratamate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung transmission line.

Similarly, both sides have also signed a protocol on the safety and health conditions of haylage export from Nepal to China. Another agreement is about providing 98 per cent duty free treatment to imported goods in China.

Likewise, the Chinese side has handed over the certificate of Araniko highway maintenance project Phase III to Nepal.

Both sides have also also approved the minutes of the seventh meeting on enhancing cooperation in the railway sector, which took place in January 2022 in a virtual mode.

Another agreement is about Covid vaccine assistance to Nepal. China will donate an additional 4 million doses of Sinovac to Nepal.

The last one is a protocol on sending a Chinese medical team to work in Nepal.

Wang, who is also the State Councilor, arrived in Kathmandu on Friday after completing his working visit to India where he held talks with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar.
New Delhi, March 26 : Two persons were arrested by the police for duping people on the pretext of verifying their Instagram accounts, a police officer said on Saturday.

According to social networking service Instagram, a verified badge is a Blue Tick that appears next to an Instagram account's name in search, and on the profile.

It means that the Instagram has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or brand it represents.

The official said a woman lodged a complaint at Cyber Police Station, Dwarka alleging that her son was cheated by unknown fraudsters of Rs 14,400.

She stated that her 15-year-old son got a mobile number for verifying his Instagram account. When her son contacted that number the caller asked him to deposit Rs 6,000 through UPI.

Afterwards, her son was again forced to deposit Rs 5,700 as his account was blocked. The third time, the fraudsters demanded Rs 2,700 more for further course of action.

As the complainant's son realised that he had been cheated, he demanded his money back, however, the alleged persons refused to pay the amount and blocked him.

Accordingly, based on this complaint, the police registered a case under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and took up the investigation.

During investigation beneficiary details of alleged fraudulent transactions were obtained from PhonePe, UPI and Kotak Mahindra bank.

On the basis of a technical analysis, a police team conducted raid in Pitampura and Rohini area and apprehended one accused Shivam Dev (19), a first year BA student, and on his instance the second accused Shubham Kumar (21), who is said to be mastermind of the scam was also nabbed.

During interrogation, both the accused disclosed that they used to look for the Instagram users whose accounts were not verified.

Thereafter, they sent them messages through different IDs for verifying their accounts.

Whenever any user showed interest, they demanded money through UPI and once the money was received, they used to block the senders.
Dhaka, March 26 : Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen has reiterated that Rohingyas must be repatriated to their original place in Myanmar's Rakhine State, stating his country cannot bear the immense socio-economic and environmental costs by hosting millions of refugees for an indefinite period.

He said this while delivering a speech on the open-ended meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ad Hoc Ministerial Committee on the Accountability for Human Rights Violations against the Rohingyas, held in Islamabad, on the margins of the 48th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held from March 22-23.

The 10-member ad hoc committee was formed in line with the decision of 45th CFM held in Dhaka in 2018 to ensure justice to the Rohingyas.

The meeting discussed the updated status especially of the recent hearing in February 2022, on the case filed by Gambia, as the chair of the Ad hoc committee, at the International Court of Justice to hold Myanmar accountable for the Human Rights violation against the Rohingyas.

The current status on the voluntary contribution by the member states and the summary of the fund requirements to maneuver the case were presented by the Gambia.

Momen in his statement reiterated the importance of repatriation of the Rohingyas to avoid trans-national socio-economic catastrophe due to millions of Rohingyas, especially thousands of juveniles and youths apprehensive of no hope about their future.

While thanking Gambia and the OIC for the support for the legal action, he called for keeping the momentum going to provide justice to Rohingyas.

He also called for strong solidarity from the member states by contributing voluntarily to meet the legal expenses of the case. Turkey committed to contribute $2,00,000 to the fund.

The members of the ad-hoc committee praised Bangladesh for hosting this large number of refugees over the years and even providing bringing them within the Covid vaccine programme.

The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh led a five-member delegation to the 48th Council of Foreign Ministers comprising Bangladeshi envoys to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and the senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
London, March 26 : UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak is facing questions over his wife's wealth after accounts indicated that she received millions of pounds in dividends from a firm that is still operating in Russia, Daily Mail reported.

Sunak's wife, Akshata Murthy, has a stake worth hundreds of millions in Infosys, founded by her billionaire father Narayana Murthy.

The Labour Party warned that Sunak has "very serious questions to answer" over Murthy's shares.

Labour Party MP Liam Byrne said: "At a time when we have a responsibility to stand with the Ukrainian people as they resist Russian aggression, this is extremely concerning," Daily mail reported.

Major consultancy firms PwC, KPMG and Accenture have all quit Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, citing a desire to protest against Kremlin's war. By contrast, Infosys is still operating in Moscow.

A Daily Mail analysis has found that over the past year, Infosys made two dividend payments that would have netted Murthy around 11.7 million pounds through her 0.93 per cent holding in the company.

The dividend can be calculated from Infosys' most recent financial results, published in the US.

It consists of a payment of Rs 15 per share, announced in April last year, as well as a second payment of Rs 15 rupees in October last year. The war in Ukraine began months later.

Murthy, who married Sunak in 2009, is one of the wealthiest women in Britain, with a fortune reportedly even larger than the Queen's.

Quizzing the Chancellor about his wife's links to Russia earlier this week, Sky News presenter Jayne Secker asked him: "Are you giving advice to others that you are not following in your own home?" The Chancellor now faces more pressure over his wife's holdings in Infosys, given that he has warned businesses to "think carefully" about making any investments that would benefit the Moscow regime, Daily Mail reported.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Bhopal, March 26 : The district court in Indore on Saturday convicted veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh and six others in an 11-year-old case, and sentenced them to one-year imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of them.

However, later on Saturday evening, all the convicted persons were released on bail after furnishing an amount of Rs 25,000 each.

After getting bail, Singh said that he has been falsely framed in the case, and he will challenge the decision in the high court.

Three other accused in the case were acquitted in the absence of appropriate evidence against them.

The case dates back to 2011, when Singh along with then Congress MP Premchand Guddu had gone to Ujjain to attend a programme organised by the party.

While Singh was on his way to Ujjain, some members of the BJP's youth wing had shown black flags to him, which did not go down well with the Congress workers, leading to clash between both sides.

In the incident, a BJP youth wing leader, Amay Apte, had received severe injuries while some others also got injured. The youth wing of the BJP had lodged a complaint against Congress leaders, including Singh, accusing them of attempt to murder.

Apart from Singh and Guddu, the other accused in the case were -- Mahesh Parmar (ex-MLA), Dilip Choudhari, Jay Singh Darbar, Aslam Lala, Nanant Narayan Meena, Mukesh Bhati and Hemand Chouhan.

Out of the nine accused in the case, three -- Parmar, Bhati and Chouhan -- have been acquitted, while six others were sentenced to one-year imprisonment.

Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra said, "We welcome the court's decision. The Congress knows that Digvijaya Singh and other party leaders were framed in the matter by the BJP. As Congress workers, we stand with Singh and others who were convicted in the false case. We will challenge te order in the high court."
Warsaw, March 26 : Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has hinted at an agreement on "concrete steps" to reduce the number of Russian missiles hitting facilities in Ukraine.

This was announced by Dmytro Kuleba after his talks with the US delegation led by President Joe Biden in Warsaw.

Kuleba did not specify the details, but hinted quite clearly at the prospect of obtaining additional weapons capable of shooting down missiles, European Pravda reported.

He posted on his account a photo of Defence Minister Alexei Reznikov handing over to Biden and other members of the US delegation "the wreckage of one of the Russian missiles that fired at the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, better known as the Yavoriv Military Range".

"Today, in developing contacts between Presidents Zelensky and Biden, we agreed on the next steps to ensure that fewer such missiles fall on Ukrainian soil. And, of course, for Ukraine to win," the Minister said.

The Ukrainian Defence and Foreign Ministers, Oleksiy Reznikov and Dmytro Kuleba, visited Warsaw on Saturday for talks with their US counterparts. Biden personally joined the meeting, European Pravda reported.

During the meeting, Biden promised to achieve Ukraine's victory in the war with Russia.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Warsaw/Moscow, March 26 : US President Joe Biden on Saturday called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "butcher" after meeting refugees in Warsaw, Poland, in an intense criticism of the Russian leader's actions in Ukraine that have seen millions of refugees flee to the neighbouring countries, CNN reported.

During his visit, Biden was asked by reporters what seeing the Ukrainian refugees at Stadion Narodowy made him think of as he deals with Putin every day.

Biden responded: "He's a butcher", CNN reported.

After initially looking to downplay a personal rivalry between himself and Putin, Biden has ramped up his rhetoric against Putin over the last 10 days.

Last week, Biden for the first time called Putin a "war criminal" and then later referred to him as a "murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine".

He has also called the Russian invasion of Ukraine "inhumane", CNN reported.

Biden's new insults further narrow the window of opportunity for improving Russian-American relations. This was stated by the press secretary of Putin, Dmitry Peskov, RT reported.

"Of course, such personal insults narrow the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current administration of the US. We must be aware of this," he was quoted as saying.

Peskov noted that the leader of the state must remain sober.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Srinagar, March 26 : A three-member team from the World Bank had a meeting with J&K Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Saturday regarding the World Bank-funded projects being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir.

The World Bank team was led by Abhas Jha, Practice Manager, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, South Asia Region, and also comprised Deepak Singh, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist, and Hemang Karelia, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist.

The World Bank team lauded the efforts of J&K government in streamlining the implementation of the World Bank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) during the past two years.

The Chief Secretary had a detailed discussion with the visiting team about the progress made on JTFRP.

Mehta emphasised the need for exploring more possibilities for capacity building of engineers in the sphere of seismic proof construction. He expressed hope that the World Bank would continue to support J&K in the areas of climate change, sustainable development, environmental sustainability and other significant sectors.

Later, the World Bank team visited the 500 LPM manifold oxygen plant at SDH Charar-e-Sharief in Budgam, one of the manifold oxygen plants constructed by J&KERA under the World Bank-funded JTFRP.

It was informed that the oxygen plant at Charar-e-Sharief will directly benefit around one lakh people in various areas of the remote Charier-e-Sharief tehsil.

Under the World Bank-funded JTFRP, 30 oxygen plants have been constructed by J&KERA at a cost of Rs 70 crore in the most far-flung areas across J&K.
New Delhi, March 26 : The Delhi Police has arrested two persons who allegedly duped 51 home buyers to the tune of Rs 11 crore, an official said on Saturday.

The accused, identified as Akshay Jain and Prateek Jain, were taken into police custody on Friday.

Furnishing details about the case, DCP (Economic Offences Wing) M.I. Haider said the complainants or victims reported that Directors of Manju J Homes Ltd. induced them to book flats in its proposed housing project namely 'Red Apple Homez' situated in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

In 2012, at the time of booking of flats, it was assured to the victims that possession of the promised flats shall be handed over within 3 years.

However, till date, the construction at the site has not been completed and the builder company stopped paying EMIs to the banks.

So far, 51 complainants, involving an amount of Rs 11 crores have approached the EOW, the official said.

He said that several of these complainants have alleged that though the loan was sanctioned on their applications but without their knowledge, loan amount was disbursed to the builder by forging their signatures on several documents.

After preliminary enquiry, a case under sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 471 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code was registered and investigation taken up.

During investigation, it was found that the land of the residential project was registered in the name of the accused builder company.

"A notice under section 102 CrPC to the concerned District Collector, Sub-Registrar, SDM, Tehsildar, GDA, etc., was sent with the request that the land of the project was used to cheat the investors and no further transfer or creation of third party right on the same be allowed.

"The reply received from the Ghaziabad Development Authority has revealed that the permission for the project was accorded in December, 2015 and after that permissions from Fire Department, Environment Deptt. and Municipal Corporation were to be received," the official said.

However, examination of the complainants/victims has revealed that the builder company prior to sanction of the project had started collecting funds from the investors since 2012.

Further it was found that the builder company had raised the structures of the buildings and the construction was stopped in 2015.

At present the project site was sealed by the Ghaziabad Development Authority for violation of the condition of license.

"The investigation also revealed that accused Prateek Jain and Akshay Jain in connivance with other co-accused persons namely Vijayanta Jain and Rajkumar Jain had started a company and launched a project namely Red Apple Homez to dupe the public," the official said. As per the police, both the accused started evading the investigation after joining the probe at initial stages.

"Both the accused were arrested on March 25 and they were taken on 1 day Police Custody Remand," the DCP said, adding that the investigation is currently underway.
New Delhi, March 26 : A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Patna has convicted one Kamirujjaman, a resident of West Bengal, for smuggling fake Indian notes.

The quantum of punishment will be announced against him on March 28.

The court noted that the prosecution was able to bring home the guilt of the accused, and convicted Kamirujjaman, a resident of West Bengal, for the offences punishable under sections 489B, 489C,120 B read with section 489 B of IPC.

Initially, a case in this respect was lodged with Bettiah town police station of Bihar in 2019.

The Bihar Police had seized fake notes with a face value of Rs four lakh from one Julkar Shaikh.

Later on, the investigation was transferred to the NIA.

After investigation, four chargesheets were filed against 6 persons in 2019 and 2020.

Earlier, three accused, Shahnawaj Shaikh, Mannalal Chaudhary and Selim Sk were convicted and awarded eight years imprisonment on February 25 in this case.

The accused, convicted on Friday, had collected FICN from co accused Selim Sk and sent it to Bettiah through accused Shahnawaj Shaikh. He was one of the main conspirator of FICN trafficking in this case.
Marchers call for Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi to step down

"We are frustrated and anxious. On the one side, the South African government has revoked the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP), on the other side there is this movement called Dudula. Our futures are really uncertain," says Taurai Beans.

Beans joined about 200 people marching from Pieter Roos Park in Parktown, Johannesburg to the Hillbrow and Johannesburg Central police stations on Saturday. The march against xenophobia was organised by activists and organisations under the Kopanang Africa Against Xenphobia (KAAX) banner.

The march was initially supposed to take place on 21 March, to coincide with Human Rights Day. But the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) prohibited the march because of threats of violence from anti-immigrant groups.

KAAX approached the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to overturn the prohibition. The matter was heard on Thursday and the judgment overturning the prohibition was handed down on Friday. JMPD and the South African Police Service (SAPS) were deployed across the inner-city, ahead of the march.

Addressing the crowd at Pieter Roos Park, KAAX chairperson General Moyo said, "We are here to say no to xenophobia [and] away with Operation Dudula ... Africa must unite against xenophobia and all forms of exploitation and oppression."

Operation Dudula is an organisation that has been accused of vigilantism and anti-immigrants.

"We cannot allow xenophobia to divide the working class. We are calling on different institutions, including Home Affairs and law enforcement to act and protect everyone who lives in South Africa," Moyo told GroundUp.

KAAX has been endorsed by more than 50 organisations, including the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) and some of its affiliates., as well as the Workers and Socialist Party, the Socialist Youth Movement and the United Front.

As the group marched through the streets of Hillbrow, where Operation Dudula supporters also marched last month, some marchers handed out KAAX pamphlets to bystanders.

Beans, who came to South Africa from Zimbabwe 17 years ago, said it was encouraging to see people come out in support of the march. He was forced out of his home in Attridgeville, Pretoria when xenophobic attacks swept across the country in 2008.

"I feel South African for the first time and I'm glad to see that there are others who also see us as humans," he said.

Moyo said marchers were also against the scrapping of the ZEP, which will "render many Zimbabweans illegal".

In November the Cabinet announced that it would not be renewing the ZEP. About 182,000 Zimbabweans who hold the permit have been given a year's grace to migrate to other permits to allow them to stay in South Africa.

But, permit holders have told GroundUp that the Cabinet decision has made their futures uncertain.

"I teach accounting and they do not classify that as a critical skill. My job is hanging in the balance," said Beans. He said South Africa is the only home his two children know.

"My daughter is in grade 10. She is left with two years and now she has to move to Zimbabwe, where I have been disconnected from the society for the past 17 years. My ten-year-old son was born here. He speaks South African languages better than he speaks my home language. It's very stressful," he said.

Another marcher and KAAX supporter, Biko Mutsaurwa, said "bureaucratic and inefficient processes" at the Department of Home Affairs made it difficult for immigrants to get the correct documentation.

Mutsaurwa came to South Africa in 2016. He says he "victimised for political activism" in Zimbabwe. He said he was granted a section 22 asylum seeker's permit at the Department of Home Affairs' offices in Durban. The permit was valid for six months, pending a final decision on his asylum application.

Mutsaurwa said his application was unsuccessful, meaning since 2016 he has had to go to Durban every six months to renew his permit.

"I appealed the unsuccessful application in 2016 and five years later, I'm still waiting to hear back from the appeal board," he said. Mutsaurwa said the uncertainty he faced without asylum seeker status has made it difficult for him to get a job. Without a job, he said he cannot afford to go to Durban every six months to renew his asylum seekers permit.

In a memo addressed to the South African Government and police, the marchers called on Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi to step down "with immediate effect". The marchers said Home Affairs failed to comply with the "country's legal protections afforded to asylum seekers, refugees and other vulnerable migrant groups in South Africa".

They also called on JMPD and SAPS to enforce the law equally and "do their job of protecting the rights to gather and protest". They called for an end to the harassment and intimidation of immigrants, as well as the withdrawal of the proposed Employment Services Amendment Bill, which they said discriminates against immigrants.

The marchers demanded that the President implement the National Action Plan to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances. They also called on the government to ensure that every child born in South Africa is registered.

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The memorandum was read by Janet Munakamwe from African Diaspora Workers Network and Julekha Latib from One Voice Of All Hawkers Association.

At the Hillbrow Police Station, the memo was received by Captain Noel Mbedzi, on behalf of the station commander. He said the station would give marchers feedback once they had read it.

Two SAPS nyalas and two JMPD nyalas were parked outside Johannesburg Central Police Station, where Colonel Gonaseelan Micah Govender received the memo on behalf of the station commander.

While no deadline for response was given, Moyo said KAAX would be holding more marchers, community engagements and training sessions.

Meanwhile, a few dozen Operation Dudula supporters were picketing on the other side of the Johannesburg Central Police Station, where Nhlanhla Lux Dlamini has been detained since Thursday night.

According to Operation Dudula general secretary Zandile Dabula, Dlamini has been charged with house breaking and damage to property. She said he will appear in Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Operation Dudula Members sang and later formed a prayer circle, praying for Dlamini's release. The members said his arrest will not stop them from continuing with their operations and "defending the country".
Gurugram, March 26 : The Gurugram police crime unit of Sector-10 has arrested two more criminals, including the prime accused, in connection with the murder of two brothers who were liquor merchants.

The incident took place on February 25 at the Khor village in Pataudi.

The accused have been identified as Ajay alias Jaildar of Jhajjar district -- a suspected henchman of Lawrence Bishnoi, Kala Jathedi and Goldy Brar gang -- and Karambeer alias Karmu of Badli in Jhajjar district.

The police have made three arrests in the incident till now.

Earlier, the police had nabbed Akshay Kumar on February 27, a resident of Khor village in Pataudi, who had provided the information about the deceased brothers to the criminals.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Preet Pal Sangwan said, "Ajay hatched the plan to eliminate the duo brothers on March 25. While Karambeer had helped them to avoid police arrest and had also provided a Mahindra Scorpio which was used by the criminals during the incident." The criminals disclosed before the police that they wanted liquor domination in the area and they killed Paramjeet Thakran (43), a former Councillor, and his brother Surjeet Thakran (50) with the help of other criminals.

Sangwan asserted that they are yet to develop Ajay's links with any gang.

"Ajay was serving life imprisonment in a dual murder case which he had committed in Jhajjar. He was granted bail by the high court in March 2020," he added.

In connection with the incident, a case of murder had been registered against Ajay, Rohit, Sandeep Goriawas, Dinesh alias Gangaram and Dharmender sarpanch based on a complaint filed by the victims' third brother Ajit Singh at Pataudi police station.
New Delhi, March 26 : Three persons, including a woman, were booked here on Saturday for outraging religious sentiments of a man during an incident of road rage, the police said.

According to the police, the incident took place at around 3.15 p.m. when a 33-year-old man was going from Vasant Kunj towards Saket on his scooter.

When he reached near the red light of Saket Metro Station, one car hit the scooter of the complainant which was driven by a man and had two more occupants, including one woman.

"The complainant asked them to stop and on this, heated arguments took place between them which turned into a scuffle, during which the turban of the complainant fell down," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Benita Mary Jaikar said.

All the three accused, including the woman, then fled the spot leaving behind their car.

"The complainant was sent to Safdarjung Hospital where he was medically examined and thereafter, his statement was recorded," the official said.

Accordingly, the police registered a case under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, the car which was involved in the incident has been impounded. It was found to be registered in the name of Shakti Sejwal, a resident of Lado Sarai.

"The owner revealed that the car was being driven by his son and daughter, aged 24 and 28 years, respectively," the official said, adding that the third man is yet to be identified.

Of the three, one man, identified as Shobit, has been arrested while efforts are on to nab the others.
Hubballi : , March 27 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said preparations are in "full swing" under the leadership of Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani for the Global Investors' Meet to be held in November.

State government has given importance to industries. "We are aiming to attract huge investments," Bommai said.

"Karnataka leads with the number one spot among the states in the country in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the last three quarters of the financial year. It shows the confidence of the foreign investors in Karnataka, Bommai said.

For the first time in the state, a committee headed by the Chief Secretary has been constituted for effective implementation of programmes announced in the Budget, he said.

The committee would ensure issuing work orders for various programmes and projects with coordination between various departments and consent of the Finance Department, he said.

It would oversee the complete implementation of the Budget. The committee has been constituted to ensure speedy implementation of budget programmes and get immediate clearances for the projects, he said.

Instructions have already been issued to all the departments for speedy implementation of all the projects announced in the budget, Bommai said.
Guwahati, March 27 : Three employees, including two engineers of the government-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), were killed after a turbine of the dam got flooded and exploded at Khandang hydropower project in Assam's Dima Hasao district on Saturday, officials said.

NEEPCO officials added that following incessant rain in the upper reaches of Meghalaya, the dam of the NEEPCO power plant flooded and several trees were uprooted killing engineer Anupam Saikia, Manager Jayanta Hazarika and another contract staffer Dimraj Johri on the spot.

The sudden entry of a large amount of water into the turbine of the power project caused extensive damage, but exact volume of damage was yet to be ascertained, the NEEPCO official said.

Local people suspect that few more people might have been trapped in the flood accompanied by huge landslides.

Senior NEEPCO officials and experts have rushed to the site and rescue as well as further investigation was underway.

The NEEPCO officials said a similar such mishap occurred in the Dima Hasao district on October 7, 2019, killing four employees of the company.
Bhopal, March 27 : The death of a buffalo and her calf following a dog bite created panic among people at a village in Madhya Pradesh, prompting them to rush to the hospital for rabies vaccine.

The incident took place at a village in Gwalior district.

As the news of the death of the buffalo and her calf spread on Thursday, people in the village became worried. They panicked and rushed to a local healthcare centre as they had consumed milk of the buffalo that died.

Upon hearing the news of the death of buffalo, one after another person started rushing for a rabies vaccine.

Gathering of a large number of people surprised the medical staff and they learned that a buffalo and its calf had died after being bitten by a rabid stray dog.

"This caused an alarm when hundreds of people realised that the 'raita' that they had consumed a day before at a religious ceremony was made from the curd of the same buffalo. Therefore, they rushed to get vaccinated," said a doctor posted in the hospital in Dabra town of Gwalior district.

As per reports, the milk of the same buffalo was also delivered into many houses. People panicked knowing that the dog which had bitten him was rabid.

As soon as the news spread, people started fearing that they might contract rabies from the milk and curd.

With a limited stock of rabies vaccine against around 1,000 people who gathered there, the medical staff had to face a tough time to convince people. They wanted to get vaccinated to save themselves.

As the situation worsened, officers from Gwalior Medical College and Infectious Disease Centre had to rush to Dabra to control the situation.

With the high demand for rabies injection, the PHC also ran out of anti-rabies stocks.

Nearly 1,000 people wanted to get anti-rabies shots but only one of them got the jabs, he further added. However, around 150 villagers were not convinced and were given anti-rabies shots. Many of them even approached private hospitals to get vaccinated.
Kiev, March 27 : At least five people were injured in missile attacks on Ukraine's western city of Lviv, Head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi said on Facebook.

Two missile strikes hit the city at about 4:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) on Saturday, Kozytskyi said, noting that residential buildings were not affected, according to preliminary information.

The threat of new attacks on the city persists, the official added, urging people to stay in shelters.

He said in an earlier post that three powerful explosions occurred on the city's eastern outskirts, Xinhua news agency reported.

The news above has yet to be confirmed from the Russian side.
Read your horoscope for 01 May to 07 May here 

Aries: The king of the zodiac, the Sun, will move into its exaltation sign Aries, pushing you towards a total transformation. See More

Taurus: The transit of the Sun will be entering Aries, and this is a complex phase. This transit will trigger your emotional and physical health in a complex way. See More

Gemini: The transit of Venus will enter Pisces, and this is a very important time for your career. See More

Cancer: The transit of Venus through the ninth house of higher studies and foreign collaborations indicates the opportunities from foreign lands. See More

Leo: Transit Venus will enter the eighth house of financial matters, and this is a sensitive time for your money matters. See More

Virgo: The transit Sun will impact your financial matters, and you are talking a lot about financial matters. See More

Libra: Mars is moving through the fifth house of children and group ventures. See More

Scorpio: The weekly horoscope for Scorpio shows a lot of changes at home. You will have to be with your family members, and female figures in the family will have a lot of needs. See More

Sagittarius: The transit Mars will impact the third house of short projects and communication. See More

Capricorn: The transit of Mars will impact your money matters, bringing expenses too. See More

Aquarius: Mars, the planet of aggression and war, is impacting you, which is the time for transformations. See More

Pisces: The transit of Venus through your sign will make you very much imaginative and spiritual. See More
Sanaa, March 27 : Yemen's Houthi rebels have announced a three-day unilateral ceasefire with the Saudi-led coalition, voicing their commitment to a permanent truce if the coalition ends airstrikes and withdraws forces.

"We will suspend cross-border missile and drone attacks and all military actions against Saudi Arabia for a period of three days. If Saudi Arabia would agree to end its airstrikes and blockade against Yemen, we are ready to turn this declaration into a final and permanent commitment," said Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Houthi militia's Supreme Political Council, in a televised speech on Saturday.

"The initiative includes the suspension of all ground battles on all frontlines, including the province of Marib," al-Mashat added, on the occasion marking the entering of the Yemeni civil war into its eighth year, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Houthi political leader also proposed a deal to swap all prisoners, including the brother of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, with the Saudi-led coalition forces.

"We call on the UN envoy to facilitate the exchange of all prisoners," al-Mashat said.

The Houthi initiative came hours after the coalition forces launched heavy airstrikes on Houthis' vital military and economic sites in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and the capital Sanaa in retaliation for Houthis' cross-border missile and drone attacks against oil facilities in Saudi Arabia this week.

The Houthi militia has recently intensified attacks against Saudi Arabia after it lost several strategic districts in the oil-rich provinces of Marib and Shabwa during its fighting against the Yemeni government army in the past two months.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened on March 26, 2015, in the Yemeni civil war in an attempt to reinstate the Hadi government.
7 Steps to Success: a Common-sense Guide to Succeed in Specialty Coffee "Location will make or break your specialty coffee business. It's important to choose a highly visible spot that is on the way to or near an area where your prospective customers work, go to school, shop or travel." - Greg Ubert, founder and president, Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Choosing the right location is the first  and most important  step in opening an independent coffee shop.

"Location will make or break your specialty coffee business," said Greg Ubert, founder and president of award-winning coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea. "It's important to choose a highly visible spot that is on the way to or near an area where your prospective customers work, go to school, shop or travel."

In addition to being highly visible, he said, great locations are in high-traffic areas with easy in, easy out access.

You can get the traffic count by asking your city for the latest traffic study done on the address, he said. This will give you the traffic count by side of the road, hour of the day, and day of the week."

Crimson Cups 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup consulting team can help you use the traffic count to project potential sales.

Ubert said the ideal location varies depending upon whether you want to open a coffee shop with drive through, coffee kiosk, drive-through coffee stand or mobile coffee bar. Profitable locations often are in or near:



Strip malls with high-volume traffic

Downtown office buildings

Colleges and universities

Tourist areas with a high volume of pedestrian traffic

Airports

Ubert discusses additional considerations for choosing an ideal coffee shop location in his book, Seven Steps to Success: a Common-sense Guide to Succeed in the Specialty Coffee Industry.

Now in its second printing, this easy-to-follow guide is the foundation of Crimson Cup's 7 Steps to Success program, which includes consultation on locating and outfitting the right coffee shop location, writing a coffee shop business plan and much more.

For over 30 years, Crimson Cup has helped entrepreneurs open and run unique independent coffee shops serving their local communities. To date, over 300 shops in 30 states have set up shop through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program.

Unlike a coffee shop franchise, Crimson Cup's 7 Steps program allows business owners to operate a business that reflects their individual style.

"From signage to seating, the owner is in charge," Ubert said. "We offer all the support of a franchise  and more  but without the franchise fees and loss of control."

To learn more about the 7 Steps program or to schedule an initial consultation, call 888-800-9224 or visit the Crimson Cup website.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1991, Crimson Cup is at the forefront of the coffee industry. Its attentive roasting, startup support and global partnerships are consciously designed for the greater good of communities around the world. Among other national recognitions, the company has earned 2020 and 2017 Good Food Awards, the 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Crimson Cup travels the world searching for the perfect cup  driven by meaningful relationships, honesty and a shared vision for the future. Its Friend2Farmer initiatives foster respect and decency through mutually beneficial collaboration across local and global communities.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also owns several Crimson Cup Coffee Houses and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
PremierFirstLook helps potential buyers get a step ahead in today's competitive buyer's market, maximizes the exposure of our sellers listings, and promotes our fellow downtown small businesses. - Chrissy Schultz, Premier Group Office Manager

In a red-hot real estate market, one local firm has created an incentive for their clients to get a first look at newly listed properties and vie for the opportunity to win a gift card to a downtown Frederick restaurant. Mike Muren and his Premier Group of Long & Foster Real Estate created #PremierFirstLook, a new initiative that includes interactive photo booths at open houses for fun mementos and social media giveaways. One $100 gift card to a different downtown restaurant will be given away each month.

#PremierFirstLook helps potential buyers get a step ahead in today's competitive buyer's market, maximizes the exposure of our sellers listings, and promotes our fellow downtown small businesses, says Chrissy Schultz, Premier Group Office Manager. We are selecting downtown restaurants and shops to support sustainability in our neighborhood and build lasting connections.

Community members can enter the monthly giveaways by attending Premier Group Open Houses and posting photos from the interactive photo booths to Facebook and Instagram, using the hashtag #PremierFirstLook.

About the Premier Group of Long & Foster

Muren started in real estate in 2001 and has built his Premier Group of Long & Foster to become one of the top-producing real estate groups in the region.

In 2007 Muren began integrating other agents into his business plan and built a team of professionals focused on providing exceptional customer service. This new business structure allowed him to share his real estate success with like-minded colleagues and gave him the ability to also focus on other facets of the real estate industry. In 2013 Muren founded the Premier Group of Long & Foster Real Estate.

The Premier Group of Long & Foster is located at 244 N Market St, in downtown Frederick, https://www.trurealtors.com, (301) 524-4471.
The Supreme Court has upheld the de-registration of 22 political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The parties were among the 74 de-registered in 2020 by INEC following their poor performances in elections.

Justice Ejembi Eko of the apex court voided and set aside a judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, which had nullified the de-registration.

Justice Eko held that the Court Appeal on its own raised the issue of lack of fair hearing in favour of the 22 scrapped parties and arrived at a conclusion without hearing from other parties in the matter.

The apex court held that the Court of Appeal took out the issue of fair hearing out of the contemplations of the notice of appeal filed by the political parties but refused to do the needful in order to be fair to others in the matter.

A few hours after, a group, Equity and Justice in Politics and Governance Movement, commended INEC chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, for sanitising Nigeria's electoral system.

Convener of the group, Momodu Tarkaa, said the decision to de-register those parties had brought sanity to the electoral system.

INEC had on February 6, 2020 de-registered 74 political parties for failing to win any political office in the last general election.

The Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) and 21 other parties sued at the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge their deregistration.

In a judgment on June 11, 2020, the Federal High Court dismissed the suit on the grounds that INEC was empowered to de-register parties that failed to win elections.

The court held that Section 225(a), (b) and (c) of the Constitution could be construed disjointively to imply that INEC possesses the power to deregister parties.

Tarkaa, in a statement, after the judgement was delivered said with the judgement, the confusion created by two many political parties without electoral value was over.

According to him, INEC can now focus and concentrate on how the electoral system in the country can be further deepened and enhanced, so that Nigerians can have dividend of democracy.
We continue to be committed to supporting the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic growth of diverse student communities with evidence-based content. This study further cements our position as one of the only SEL program providers backed by Tier 1-level evidence as defined by ESSA,

The Positive Action Program improves behavioral, social, and emotional outcomes in a diverse population of elementary school students, according to a new article recently published in The Elementary School Journal. The program was developed by Positive Action, Inc. (PAI), the leading education and technology company for evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs.

The final results, measured over each students journey from grades three to five, showed that students who were taught the Positive Action Program had more positive outcomes than students who were not. Seven content areas were measured: positive youth development, emotional health, self-esteem, health behaviors, problem behaviors, environmental climate, and academics. Growth curve analyses revealed statistically significant effects in each of the content areas.

In each participating school, more than 50 percent of students were from low socioeconomic backgrounds and more than 50 percent of students had not passed state achievement tests. Experimental and control group schools were matched on variables including racial demographics and percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.

We continue to be committed to supporting the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic growth of diverse student communities with evidence-based content. This study further cements our position as one of the only SEL program providers backed by Tier 1-level evidence as defined by ESSA, says Alex Allred, the CEO of PAI. Evidence-based Interventions, defined by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, as applied by the U.S. Department of Education are classified into four tiers. Tier 1, the highest standard, also known as Strong Evidence, is reserved for interventions supported by one or more well-designed and well-implemented randomized controlled experimental studies. As education emerges from the challenges of the pandemic, the need for effective and reliable mental health resources for students cannot be overstated, says Allred.

The rigorous longitudinal study assessed the impact of the Positive Action Program on low-income, urban, minority elementary students in grades 3-5. Data for the study were obtained as part of a randomized controlled trial funded by grants from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

This research provides evidence that SEL programs can work for low-income, minority populations, contributing to a gap in the current SEL literature. Further, this research demonstrates the wide variation of programmatic impacts on students attitudes, skills, and behaviors, such as academics, positive youth development, and problem behaviors, says Kendra Lewis, associate state specialist professor at the University of New Hampshire and co-investigator of the study, underscoring the strength of evidence supporting the benefits of the Positive Action Program.

Read the abstract of the study, entitled, Effects of Positive Action in Elementary School on Student Behavioral and Social-Emotional Outcomes by Kendra M. Lewis, Stefanie D. Holloway, Niloofar Bavarian, Naida Silverthorn, David L. Dubois, Brian R. Flay, and Carl F. Siebert, which appeared in the June 2021 issue of The Elementary School Journal, here: https://doi.org/10.1086/714065

About Positive Action, Inc.

Positive Action, Inc. (PAI) is the leading education and technology company for evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. Developed by founder Dr. Carol Allred beginning in 1973 and first published in 1982, our PreK-12 programs are based on the intuitive philosophy that we feel good about ourselves when we do positive actions. We offer the only SEL program proven to simultaneously improve student academic achievement and behavior in multiple, multi-year randomized controlled trials, the highest standard of evidence-based education. Our programs have earned prestigious accolades from numerous institutions, including the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, Harvard University, and The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). For more information, visit: https://www.positiveaction.net/.


SEO company seeks new expert SEO copywriters to join its growing SEO team. While our partner writer teams are dispersed, we like to integrate each team into the culture and camaraderie among our internal team at SEO.co.

SEO.co, a premier SEO company to online brands and websites, is seeking top-notch writing partners for growing the company's network. Content writing services, and particularly the writers that provide those services, remain in high demand. Consequently, SEO company is seeking to grow through a unique partnership with quality SEO writers.

The firms freelance structure for its writer teams gives partners the flexibility and autonomy they desire with the security of consistent writing opportunities. While all the SEO companys writers are native English speakers, many of them live as expats in various unique areas of the world. Partners serve as both ambassadors of the company's unique standing in the industry and also connect the company to more publisher opportunities.

As an SEO company that services across dozens of industries, SEO writing partners will have the unique opportunity to flex their skills in different industry sectors, gaining new exposure for their own personal and company brands.

We have some writers that like the challenge of connecting with websites across different industries and other writer partners who like to stick to networking a specific niche, says Sam Edwards, SEO companys CMO. For instance, a writer partner might be working on a lawyer SEO partnership one day and then move to an ecommerce writing partnership growth project the next. And, since all our writing partners are independent contractors, each has the ability to pick and choose the industries on which they would like to focus.

As a premium provider of SEO services and SEO content, SEO company seeks content writing partners who can follow and adhere to stringent guidelines for sourcing only quality partners, publishers and other website operators. Experience in writing proficiently in varying topics is a plus, but not necessary as partners tend to be connectors. Also the ability to adapt to new industries and take input on sourcing other partners in search engine optimization is a plus. Like many SEO companies, SEO.co utilizes systematized approach to managing SEO writing, including advanced project management tools which the writing partners are expected to use to track progress for growing publisher relationships.

While our writer partners are dispersed, we like to integrate each partner into the our culture of camaraderie at SEO.co, says Edwards. We are looking for expert connecting website partners who not only have the skills to match our client needs in a reliable way, but those that match our SEO company culture."

About SEO.co

Founded in 2010, SEO.co is the premier content writing and SEO link building service for discerning brands. Since its founding, the company has worked with thousands of clients in dozens of industries from technology to food services in crafting expert level content aimed at increasing online traffic through search engine optimization. The SEO company has writers who have produced content for some of the most well-recognized publishers on the internet. Originally founded in Seattle, Washington, the SEO company team is now dispersed across more than a dozen states. More information on the SEO company content writing services is available at https://contentwritingservices.com/
Founded by alumni from the French luxury group Kering, which owns the Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent luxury brands, as well as from Nike, Alpha is a new duo of apps designed for digital clienteling. The Alpha platform has launched in both the U.S. and Italy, and hopes to build an on-going, personalized relationship between shoppers and luxury brands through a concept the company is calling connected clienteling. Alpha co-founder Roberto Tagliabue previously served as director of digital innovation at Nike, as well as the founder and CEO of digital design agency Awake; while Marcello Vignocchi, another co-founder, served as the former innovative solutions director at Gucci before becoming mobile apps product director at parent-company Kering.

The idea for Alpha came when Roberto and Marcello were working together on developing Kerings proprietary Luce application for sales personnel and saw an opportunity for carving out a niche themselves in the digital clienteling space. Alpha is designed to be used across brands for customers to communicate their preferences and associates can foster a long-term relationship with their clients, particularly the bigger spenders. Alpha hopes to differentiate within the digital-tool space by offering a twinned pair of platforms, one used by associates and one used by customers, and then aggregating communications into one platform so that customers dont need to repeatedly share and input their personal information into different apps. Alpha is designed as a turn-key solution, meaning that brands can pilot the product out of the box without any CRM or inventory integration. Brand associates can connect directly with their clients on Alpha via a QR code shared in store or via text message, removing the need for customers to manually register.

Luxury brands traditionally make the bulk of their profits from their top customers, often those spending at least $10,000 a year. For some luxury retailers, more than half of their revenue is driven by just the top 5% of customers. These clients are also generally the most engaged, and personal relationships with this top tier of shopper are key to generating business as well as considered fundamental to the luxury experience. In order to retain this customer base, brands and retailers are increasingly deploying personalized services both in-store and virtually in order to connect the dots between things like inventory and client preferences.

Alpha is designed to enhance these relationships and make the shopper experience smoother and more habitual, as well as give luxury brands better access to robust customer profiles.

+++

This article originally appeared in the PSFK iQ research report, AI Enhanced Customer Service.
In our monthly thematic roundup of BookLife titles, were featuring books on food, travel, and cooking. Want to see your book spotlighted? Check out our calendar at booklife.com/news/policies/booklife-s-indie-spotlight.

Food & Fiction

Add Cyanide to Taste

Karmen Spiljak

ASIN B0957YB1V9

About the book: A sinister cook, a cursed cake, a casual dinner between neighbors that goes murderously wrong. This unique collection of culinary mysteries includes cyanide-free recipes for dishes featured in the stories.

Author statement: As a massive foodie and crime fiction lover, Ive always enjoyed stories that revolve around food. The idea of writing the kind of book Id want to read kept my spirits up during the pandemic. I had a lot of fun thinking of new ways to combine food and murder.

The Country Bake-Off

Riya Aarini

ISBN 978-1-73631-695-5

About the book: In this childrens book, Mouse Country is about to hold its famous Country Bake-Off! Joyful Jazella is eager to enter the competition. But Proud Pazenna has an extravagant kitchen and fancy spices, and she is sure shell take home the prize. Will Jazellas cake impress the judges, or will Pazenna outbake her?

Author statement: I was inspired to write this book after hearing a phrase about putting extra care into your efforts when given the least favorable circumstances, especially in comparison to those whove been given the most advantageous ones.

Death in Paris

Kate Darroch

ASIN B09PMP4J6Y

About the book: In book one of the Mairi Maguire Cozy Mysteries series, Scots Irish teacher Mairi Maguire works in top boarding schools all over the world, but on days like today she wishes shed never left Glasgow! Theyve been in Paris just 12 hours. Liannas in jail accused of murder and Mairis being chased by murderous criminals. She didnt dream traveling outside Scotland would be so dangerous! The books in the series feature recipes for every meal eaten by the sleuth: Scottish, Irish, Regional English (e.g., Lancashire hotpot), French, Italian, Turkish, and many more dishes from around the world. Readers are also introduced to famous sights from each city visited, along with little-known facts.

Author statement: Mairis story begins in August 1970, which was a very exciting time to be a womanthe world was opening to us and we really believed that we could be agents of massive positive change. I have fond memories of the years 1970 to 1975. I wrote these stories to give people a break from the difficult world of Covid-19 by transporting them to another and better world. But the better world in these stories is not an illusion. Its how things were back in the 1970s for many women; its how things could be today. My cozies are like all coziesentertaining. But true to the spirit of the 1970s in which they are set, these little books are also educational. I hope that, just as fans of James Blish can never forget that water has a double meniscus, Mairis readers will remember that people have been praying in Sacre Coeur continuously, 24 hours a day, for over 100 years.

Travel Memoir

Adventure in Zanskar: A Young Womans Solitary Journey

Amy Edelstein

ISBN 978-1-73526-508-7

About the book: In 1983, 21-year-old Amy Edelstein set out on a solitary 500-kilometer journey in the highest valley in the world. Zanskar, the westernmost corner of the Tibetan plateau, had only recently opened to travelers. She would spend several months walking by foot, crossing passes above 16,000 feet, sleeping in caves, meeting high lamas, and exploring a culture that had remained virtually the same for thousands of years. It was a culture that would change dramatically and irrevocably in the few short decades that followed. What drew her was the eternal seekers quest for wisdom and insight. What shaped the rest of her life is what she found in the land, the culture, and its people.

Author statement: The 1970s were a hard decade for independent-minded young women to come of age in America, especially in an East Coast industrial city that was more like the lumbering Midwest than the forward-thinking Eastern seaboard. When I looked around the Pittsburgh neighborhood I grew up in, I knew in my bones that if I was going to find guides for a deeper purpose I was going to have to head much further afield. I searched in the halls of academia, where I met brilliant and good people, but not wise ones. So, I took leave from Cornell University and went east, landing in Thailand, turning left to discover Burma, to the rice paddies of Bangladesh, and then the mountains of Nepal. I spent the next year walking in the high Himalayas and the next four years in India, studying philosophy and meditation with the best teachers I could find, and doing everything I could to tame my restless, anxious, and self-critical mind.

Basilicata: Authentic Italy

Karen Haid

ISBN 978-1-73483-220-4

About the book: Basilicata is a journey to a land where ancient pagan rites live alongside those of the Catholic Church, world-class wine washes down edible hyacinth bulbs, zip lines parallel old mule trails, and the air is infused with the ideals of Roman poets and brigands.

Author statement: With heart and humor, I set out to explore a lesser-known corner of Italy and discovered a fascinating land that maintains an old-world charm and authenticity into the 21st century.

Braving the World: Adventures in Travel and Retirement

Pam Saylor

ISBN 978-1-73607-311-7

About the book: This memoir and guidebook recounts travels from Rome to Croatia, London, and Venice and includes tips and tricks to help anyone plan their own adventure of a lifetime.

Author statement: In 2017, after taking early retirement, my husband and I packed four suitcases and one beer cooler full of insulin and boarded a one-way flight to Italy for a yearlong dream trip. But our dream trip wasnt always dreamy. As we navigated the challenges, we learned a lot about travel, life, and ourselves. I hope my book encourages anyone who is hesitant to travel to just go!

Here We Are & There We Go: Teaching and Traveling with Kids in Tow

Jill Dobbe

ISBN 978-1-937165-21-5

About the book: Dobbes memoir chronicles her experiences teaching overseas in Ghana, Mexico, Singapore, and Guam with two children. The story concludes with Dobbes two children as teenagers returning to the U.S., where they experience another type of culture shock.

Author statement: I have written and published three travel memoirs about our familys life overseas. During those first 10 years when my children were small, I knew theyd never remember the lion dances in Singapore, visiting the slave castles in Ghana, or attending fiestas on Guam, so I wrote it all down, filling journals. When I decided to write my book, I unearthed those journals and used those memories to write my memoir about our lives abroad.

Paris Blue

Julie Scolnik

ISBN 978-1-64663-471-2

About the book: Paris, 1976: 20-year-old American student Julie Scolnik has just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (married) French lawyer in the bass section. This moving tale of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman will transport readers to the cafes, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late 70s, follow deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and explore a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden immutable grief.

Author statement: I wrote part one of this story down over 40 years ago, and then every 10 years or so I would work on it and put it away again. I had way too much material. But I finally read a book on memoir and learned that memoir was a universal truth as illustrated by a personal story. So, I cut 100 pages, restructured it, had a revelation about the title, and my final, truest version of the book was born.

Plunge: One Womans Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary

Liesbet Collaert

ISBN 978-1-73598-060-7

About the book: Tropical waters turn tumultuous in this travel memoir as a free-spirited woman jumps headfirst into a sailing adventure with a new man and his two dogs. Join Liesbet as she faces a decision that sends her into a whirlwind of love, loss, and living in the moment. When she swaps life as she knows it for an uncertain future on a sailboat, she succumbs to seasickness and a growing desire to be alone. Does Liesbet find happiness? Will the dogs outlast the man? Or is this just another reality check on a dream of living at sea?

Author statement: Plunge encapsulates a decade of my nomadic lifestyle, mainly an eight-year period aboard a 35-foot sailing catamaran called Irie. While the genre of my book is travel memoir, the story digs deeper into the facts of living the so-called dream. It merges awe-inspiring sights and experiences with the challenges of living 24/7 together in a small space, as well as health, immigration, and money issues. The sailboat is the physical space in which some of the drama and joys occur; the scenery of the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific is the backdrop. I have been writing daily diaries since I was a teenager and documented my sailing journey (and current RV lifestyle) in blogs since 2007. In addition, I kept notes onboard of special feelings, precious moments, and dreadful experiences. All these items are the foundation of my book, shaped and edited into a compelling narrative.

Viking Voyager: An Icelandic Memoir

Sverrir Sigurdsson

ISBN 978-1-64543-469-6

About the book: This book is a true story of the making of a modern Viking and his global adventures. Born in Reykjavik and steeped in the Icelandic sagas, Sigurdsson knew from an early age that he would travel the world like his Viking forefatherswith one difference: todays Vikings travel not to loot and plunder, but to learn, study, and contribute on the larger stage of human endeavors.

Author statement: I loved to tell stories of my travels to friends, who encouraged me to write them down. I did, in bits and pieces, and dumped them in a folder on my hard drive, like photos in a shoebox. Then I showed some episodes to my wife, Veronica Li, a former journalist and published author. She decided to help me weave my travel stories into a book with a coherent theme. Once we decided on a theme, we had a framework to hang my exploits on. Im now a retired architect, after having worked on building education facilities in 30 developing countries. I feel this Viking has truly found his fortune, in the precious connections with people of diverse cultures and the wonderful sights and scenes all over the world.
Alice Elliott Darks second novel, Fellowship Point (Scribner/Rucci, July), takes on currently relevant themesfeminism, aging, environmentalismbut the center is timeless: a story of womens friendship. Agnes and Polly are lifelong best friends who have followed very different paths. Polly is married with children, deferential to her husband, affluent; Agnes is independent, a successful writer of feminist books for children and the author of a literary adult series written under a pseudonym.

Now 80, Agnes is struggling with her health and writers block and convincing Polly to join her in preserving Fellowship Point, a section of coastal land in Maine that has been in both womens families for generations. The situation creates a litmus test for relationships with family, friends, and community, and the enduring connection of these two women is a lens with which to examine the arc of feminism across the 20th century.

Fellowship Point is an immersive, intimate, modern interpretation of a 19th-century novela literary page-turner that hits all the salient points of the long-entwined lives of two female friends.

The books history is its own story. World rights were sold to Simon & Schuster in 2002 based on a partial manuscript for a novel about a womans book club. Dark had just published her debut novel, Think of England, following two story collections. She wrote the contracted novel, originally called The Book Group, but she says when The Jane Austen Book Club came out, it didnt seem like a good idea to have a second one so I put the book away. I started another novel but couldnt figure it out and put that one away as well.

Then, Dark recalls, in 2011, at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, I had hit a wall and just sat in a chair for many hours looking out the window when a character came to me. I wrote pages that didnt end up in the book, but other characters arrived. When Agnes came in, she was larger than life and the energy shifted.

The story, Dark says, was always about Maine, where she spent summers and her mother had a house, and she adds, I always write about women. Ive always been interested in the lives of women, especially old women. I didnt think about it until someone asked me, What is your book about? And I said, Two old women. And then I thought, two old women is not the stuff of popular fiction! But even at 80, they are still changing, growing. Im interested in all aspects of womenas children, as young women, as older women. The whole cycle of womens lives is fascinating to me.

Meanwhile, Darks agent, Henry Dunow of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, who says hes known her for 25 years as an author and an agent and a friend, tells me that Alice had one editor after another and, for a long time, no editor. There were a lot of false starts. When Jon Karp became publisher at S&S in 2010, Dunow asked him to keep the faith, be patient, have belief in this author. Karp did, and Dunow says this is one of the happier publishing stories of belief, loyalty, and fairness.

Dunow saw bits and pieces of Fellowship as Alice worked on it for the next 10 years. (Henry bothered me once, in 2010, Dark says). By 2018 she had a 1,400-page draft, which she cut to 800 pages and gave to Dunow, who felt it was a masterpiece. He reached out to S&S editorial director Marysue Rucci and asked if she would watch over it.

Rucci agreed with Dunow about Fellowship being a masterpiece. They revised the original contract, rearranging the elements, she says. When Rucci was given her own imprint at Scribner in August 2021, Fellowship Point went with her.

We just kept hoping that at some point Alice would deliver, Rucci says. I left S&S, came back, and in 2018, Henry called me. I have great news! he said. What? I asked. A manuscript from Alice. The only thing is, its 800 pages. 

Rucci was intrigued when Dunow offered her the book; she was always a fan of Darks writing. We cut 250 pages, Rucci says. Alice is an extraordinary revisor and so gracious. From the first you know you are with someone with extraordinary skill. When I got the imprint, I was hoping she would move with me. I thought it was the perfect book to anchor the inaugural list: the ideas of conservation, the possibilities, or not, for women. Its a beautiful social critique and such a gorgeous friendship between these two women. People have said, Finally! I cant wait to give this to my best friend. 

Dark didnt know Rucci, but when she received a letter from her about how much she loved the book, Dark says, it was unbelievable and exciting and gratifying and an overwhelming relief. Marysue responded with such enthusiasm. She was great to work with and I was very glad to go over to Scribner with her.

Although Dark says she started Fellowship Point before the Ferrante books, she was excited by the fact that her character Agnes is an anonymous author like Ferrante. I could watch the reactions, she says. It was timely.

Dark also did a lot of research about women donating land and land preservation. They were not strongly attached to landowning like men, she explains, and didnt have control of land until the beginning of the 20th century, but they had the urge to protect it. She cites Roxanne Quimby, the cofounder of Burts Bees, who bought land all over the United States, particularly in Maine, and donated over 87,000 acres to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument established in 2016.

Dunow calls Fellowship Point a 19th-century novel whose twists and turns would make Charles Dickens blushan old-fashioned story but very contemporary in themes and concerns, while Dark tells me she loves 19th-century novels and wanted to write one but make it modern.

The idea of modern doesnt follow when I ask for her email.

She laughs. Im one of three people who still has AOL, she says. Its a badge of honor!
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has died at the age of 50, his bandmates and representative announced late Friday night.

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"The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins," the Texas native's band tweeted.

"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time."

Hawkins' representative, Steve Martin, confirmed the sad news to The Hollywood Reporter, but did not disclose the cause of the musician's death.

People.com said the band performed at Lollapalooza Argentina earlier this week and was set to take the stage Friday at the Festival Estereo Picnic in Bogota, Colombia, but organizers of the event announced the musicians had to cancel the appearance due to a "very serious medical situation."

Before joining Foo Fighters as a replacement for William Goldsmith in 1997, Hawkins played drums on Alanis Morissette 's iconic Jagged Little Pill concert tour.

Foo Fighters has won 12 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.

The band also appeared in the recent horror-comedy film, Studio 666 and the musicians were announced as performers for next weekend's Grammy Awards ceremony.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

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TMZ said Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison, son Oliver and daughters Annabelle and Everleigh.
La Embajada de los EE.UU. felicito a los 32 policias del curso Negociaciones en situaciones de Crisis y Rehenes dictado por instructores del FBI. Estados Unidos reafirma su compromiso de fortalecer las capacidades de la PNP en seguridad ciudadana y apoyo al desarrollo del pais. pic.twitter.com/XDolL7ZjbX
Ringo Starr, Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne were among the numerous music icons taking to social media to pay tribute to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

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Hawkins, 50, died unexpectedly Friday while he and his rock band were in South America to perform. No cause of death has been announced.

"God bless Taylor peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love," Starr, who was the drummer for the Beatles, wrote on Twitter.

"Shocked and saddened to hear @taylorhawkins has passed away today.! . Our prayers and condolences go out to the Hawkins family, a@foofightersa friends and fans. Sad," Simmons of KISS wrote in his own post.

"Taylor Hawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side," Osbourne tweeted.

"Taylor Hawkins 1972-2022. Our deepest sympathies to Taylor's family, his fans, and of course his band," said the Smashing Pumpkins's Twitter account.

"In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad," added Nickelback.

John Stamos shared: "This was Taylor Hawkins' last text to me: 'Ya We've yet to fully have a hang -Got a put that [expletive] together before we die.' Wise words from my friend- put that [expletive] together! I'm so [expletive] sad. Another one gone too soon."

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"So heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins' passing, what an incredible talent, who didn't also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway. The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did, Rest In Peace," said musician Finneas O'Connell.
YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces again resorted to aggressive actions around 11:00 March 26, using various caliber small arms and attempting to advance in the direction of the Republic of Artsakhs eastern borderline, the territory in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the Ministry of Defense of Artsakh said in a statement.

The Defense Army units are taking appropriate countermeasures to neutralize the adversarys advance. Steps are taken in the direction of finding ways for resolving the situation with the Russian peacekeeping contingents command, it added.
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Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

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A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Clear to partly cloudy. Low 57F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. State Minister of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan expressed hope that the Azerbaijani troops will pull back through Russias efforts and that Azerbaijan will stop violations against the security of the people of Artsakh and Russias guarantees.

From midday March 25 until the morning of March 26 there havent been any changes of positions along the frontline of Artsakh, and the Azerbaijani armed forces remain in the village of Parukh and on one side of the adjacent Karaglukh height, and a short while ago they made an unsuccessful attack attempt against our military unit, Beglaryan said in a statement on social media.

Beglaryan said the Artsakh military is taking appropriate warning and suppressive measures to neutralize potential threats.

He said the Russian peacekeepers posts continue to function in Parukh and Khramort, and that the Russian side made significant efforts for ensuring the ceasefire regime in its area of responsibility.

We expect that through Russian efforts the Azerbaijani troops will pull back to their initial positions and wont make more violations against the security of the people of Artsakh and the Russian Federations guarantees. We stand firmly in our homeland and we are ready to withstand whatever challenges may come, Beglaryan said.

On March 24-25 the Azerbaijani troops attacked Artsakh military positions and invaded the Parukh village.

Azeri drone strikes killed 3 Artsakh troops and wounded 15 others.
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 
YEREVAN, MARCH 26, ARMENPRESS. The international community must take practical and targeted steps to prevent the attempts of destabilizing the situation in South Caucasus, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At the same time, it added that it expects that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh will take concrete and visible steps to resolve the situation to not allow new deaths and combat operations.

The recent statements issued by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Azerbaijan once again blatantly indicate that the objective of Azerbaijans policy of systematic violence and terror against Nagorno-Karabakh is ethnic cleansing of the Armenian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Thereby, on March 24, the invasion of Azerbaijani armed forces to the village of Parukh in Nagorno-Karabakh was preceded by constant shelling of Armenian settlements and civilian infrastructure, as well as the threats from the Azerbaijani side voiced for several days by loudspeakers and directed to the Armenian population of Khramort village, neighbouring the village of Parukh, urging them to leave their settlements.

In parallel with this invasion and provocation of hostilities, amid the unprecedented cold weather, Azerbaijan has been disrupting the operation of a vitally important gas pipeline for several weeks, putting the people of Nagorno-Karabakh on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Moreover, in order to complete its pursuit of ethnic cleansing and to implement the policy of subjecting the Armenians of Artsakh to genocide with new vigor, Azerbaijan demands through its statements the withdrawal of the self-defense forces of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The statements of the Foreign and Defense Ministries of Azerbaijan also prove the pre-planned manner of the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan in the area of responsibility of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a blatant contempt for commitments obliged by the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, including the provision for the sides to stop in their positions.

The international community is obliged to undertake effective and targeted steps to prevent the attempts of destabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of implementing proper investigation of the actions of the peacekeeping contingent during the invasion of the units of Azerbaijani armed forces into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh, as well as the peacekeeping contingent to issue a clear demand to Azerbaijani forces to return to their starting positions.

We also expect the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh to undertake concrete, visible steps to resolve the situation and prevent new casualties and hostilities, the foreign ministry said in the statement.
Emily M. Olson / Hearst Connecticut Media /

LITCHFIELD  White Memorial Conservation center is presenting The Tribes and Cultures of Papua New Guinea with Stewart McPherson, at 2 p.m. April 2 on Zoom.

Guests will take a virtual visit to one of the most remote places on the planet with Stewart McPherson, who will discuss the unique and amazing cultures and tribes of New Guinea and surrounding islands, covering the crocodile clan of the Sepik River, the Baining fire dancers, the shark callers of the Trobriand Islands, the smoked bodies of Aseki, the Huli wigmen, the Hagen wigmen, the Asaro mudmen, and the Chimbu skeleton men., according to a statement. This lost world, rarely visited by the arm-chair tourist, is home to towering mountains, lush tropical rain forests, mammal species similar to those found in Australia, glorious bird life, and flora exclusive to the island. It even has a glacier.
Sources say blame-fearing Chinese officials hastily order border closures at the first sign of infection

Long lines of trucks have formed at the Chinese borders of Laos and Myanmar, held up by Chinas restriction of imports in an effort to prevent more coronavirus outbreaks, sources in both Southeast Asian countries told RFA.

In Myanmars eastern border town of Muse, exports to China of seven types of goods  including rice, chilies and eels  have been suspended since March 15, resulting in a backup of more than 70 trucks, border traders there told RFAs Myanmar Service.

"From the very beginning, it has been very difficult to trade with the Chinese side because of the high cost and the frequent changes in the system, Than Bo Oo, general secretary of the Muse Rice Commodity Exchange, told RFA. Lately, most of the goods being moved are those left over from recent months. No new shipments have come from the mainland.

We are still adjusting to the system changes. The cost of shipping from the border now seems higher than the cost of shipping on the seas," he said.

Some of the trucks have opted to unload their cargo into warehouses along the Muse border rather than wait around for China to ease the restrictions, he said.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, border traders were able to export 40,000 to 60,000 bags of rice a day. Prior to last weeks restrictions, only two or three 12-wheelers with 50 tons of rice could get into China each day, the traders told RFA. Now none are crossing.

Fisheries products are now being sent to China through the air because the land route is inaccessible, Tai Kyaw said.

Khun Min Thant blamed Chinas policy of delegating responsibility for local COVID-19 policies for the back-up at the border. He said that local Chinese officials in areas near the Myanmar are quick to stop imports to show they are trying to respond to outbreaks. They worry that doing nothing would put their jobs in jeopardy.

Two mayors already lost their positions in Ruili in connection with COVID surges. So if only one or two people are found infected, they order a complete lockdown, Khun Min Thant said Under these circumstances, our losses will continue.

More than 200 trucks have been stopped at the border by Chinese authorities in Kachin State, just north of Muse.

The recurring opening and closing of the border since trade officially resumed in November last year has been a headache for Myanmar traders. RFA reported in January that after an abrupt closing, trucks carrying watermelons decided to dump their cargo near the border rather than wait around for the fruit to spoil.

China is fighting its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the Wuhan mass infections at the start of the pandemic, with authorities struggling to contain the highly contagious omicron variant under the Chinese Communist Party's controversial "dynamic zero-COVID" policy.

An estimated 50 million people had been placed under lockdown in various cities and districts across the country as of last week.

Figures for lockdowns in Yunnan, the Chinese province bordering Laos and Myanmar, were not immediately available. But local media said Chinese authorities closed a fruit market in the border town of Ruili after a cluster of transmissions was reported on March 8.

Thaung Naing, an assistant secretary at the Ministry of Commerce, told RFA that officials with the ruling military junta are working to get China to lift the various restrictions on Myanmar goods.

RFA attempted to contact the Chinese embassy in Yangon but received no response.

According to figures from the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce, cross-border trade between Myanmar and China totaled $5.47 billion for 2020. But it slumped to only $3.13 billion last year.

Laos logjam

The backup of trucks at the Chinese border in Laos remains agonizingly long for drivers trying to get their goods into China, with disputes over access spilling into fistfights between Lao and Chinese truckers. Even as trade between the countries resumed, China imposed a number of precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including reducing the number of trucks that can cross over the border gate at Boten.

Its been a parking lot from Nampheng Village all the way to the Boten border gate for almost six months now, a Lao truck driver told RFAs Lao Service, describing a backup of about 25 miles.

It takes us more than 14 days to get to our destination in China, he said.

Another trucker told RFA that the authorities must solve the congestion at the border soon, because most of the trucks are carrying produce.

Some products have an expiration date, and they wont be accepted by the Chinese. For example, vegetables, watermelons, bananas and chilies are quickly perishable. The dry produce like corn and cassava is OK though, he said.

But a Lao customs official at the Boten gate told RFA that traffic at the border has improved, due to the reopening of another gate in a different province.

The recently opened $6 billion Lao-China Railway should help alleviate the border backup by reducing demand for truck freight. But most Lao goods cannot be shipped to China along the high-speed rail connecting the Lao capital Vientiane to Chinas rail network, a Lao import-export expert who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA.

Only the Chinese goods are coming to Laos [via train]. We have to wait until the Lao goods are allowed, he said.

Lao minerals, cassava and cassava powder are allowed in the cargo bays on the train, he said.

For those whose goods are in the clear, the railway has been great for business, a mineral exports worker told RFA.

We ship our on the train to China every day, he said. We ship the freight in containers it takes no more than 30 hours to reach the destination. Weve all switched to the railway to ship our products because its faster and cheaper.

An official of the Lao Ministry of Industry and Trade explained that Laos was negotiating with China to open train freight to more types of Lao products.

Of course, we want to ship more goods, especially agricultural products such as vegetables, bananas, watermelons and rubber by train to China. We dont know how long the negotiation will last or when it will end, the official said.

The Vientiane Times reported this week that the Lao government has promised to get more investment from China in an effort to boost exports.

Key to their strategy will be making the train available to Lao goods headed for China. The report said in the railways first 100 days, more than 360 cross-border trains transported 280,000 tons of freight to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane and Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
France expressed concern over the Azerbaijani military advance in Nagorno Karabakh.

March 26, 2022, 11:11 France calls on Azerbaijan to pull back troops from Artsakh villages

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 26, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: France expresses regret over the recorded incidents in Nagorno Karabakh, particularly the armed incidents and the troop advance in Parukh and Khramort regions. France calls on the forces, which, as reported, have advanced, to pull back to their initial positions in accordance to the November 9 2020 ceasefire statement, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The French foreign ministry also expressed concern over the gas supply cut-off in Nagorno Karabakh, demanding the restoration of the supply. It said that this issue has been noted during the French foreign ministers phone calls with Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.
Widespread conflict since the military took control of Myanmar has increased the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to nearly 900,000, according to the United Nations, and aid workers say that worsening food shortages are pushing the country ever closer to the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

Earlier this week, the U.N. Humanitarian Office said that 519,900 people had been displaced by clashes between the military and anti-junta forces throughout the country of 54 million since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, bringing the total of IDPs in Myanmar to 890,300.

The estimate of IDPs, which adds to the 370,400 people who had already fled conflict zones in Myanmar prior to the coup, came as a rights group called on foreign governments to take stronger action against the militarys widespread abuses in the lead up to Armed Forces Day celebrations planned by the junta for the weekend.

The agency said that civilians are suffering the consequences of escalated fighting in northwestern Myanmars Magway and Sagaing regions and the southeastern states of Kayah and Kayin, while aid groups have been hampered by tight security. The four areas are centers of fierce resistance to junta rule and have seen some of the worst violence since the coup.

An aid worker who spoke to RFAs Myanmar service on condition of anonymity said refugees in the isolated Kayah townships of Demawso and Phruso have only poor-quality rice to eat each day because roadblocks erected amid the clashes had led to food shortages.

The situation in Phruso is particularly bad. Theres been a severe food shortage there for a long time because they dont have rice fields in the area and no rice can be transported there, the worker said. Even if you have money, you cant buy rice anywhere.

The worker added that those who have sought shelter in makeshift camps are also suffering from shortages of drinking water and medicine.

In Sagaing region, where the military is engaged in a scorched earth campaign, junta troops have attacked villages, setting some on fire and forcing residents to flee.

A resident of Shar Lwin village in Sagaings Khin Oo township, where 63 houses were recently destroyed by arson during a military raid, said inhabitants are too frightened to return to the area and are facing a water shortage while in hiding.

Many villagers are in trouble. We are hiding in the forest and  as summer approaches, the major problem is water scarcity, he said.

There are health problems due to the change in climate. Not just our village, but all the villages in the area are suffering. Im praying for a quick end to these troubles.

In Khin Oos Kala Lu and Shar Lwin villages alone, troops set fire to at least 327 homes during the month of March, displacing an estimated 2,500 people.

In Southern Chin states Kanpetlet township, a week of intense fighting between the military and the anti-junta Kanpetlet Chin Defense Force (CDF) from March 10-17, forced more than 1,000 people from 10 villages to flee to the jungles, residents said  most of them with only the clothes on their backs.

Fighting has been going on for some time between the junta and the CDF and the military fired heavy weapons randomly into the area several times, said one of the townships residents, who also declined to be named.

All the elderly, children and disabled are now hiding in the forests and mountains. When fighting broke out, people were not prepared, so they had to flee to safety in a rush with nothing they needed. Everyone is having a hard time without any food.

Kayah war refugees in Southern Shan State's Naungdaw township, Jan. 30, 2022. Credit: Khu San Oo Supply routes blocked

An official with the Chin Affairs Federation, who asked to be identified only as Mary, said the junta is actively blocking supplies to the area, exacerbating food shortages.

People in the country are now living in fear. As soon as the soldiers enter a village, their priority is to destroy rice mills, if there are any. They always burn the rice mills first and then the barns, she said.

This is their strategy. When they cut off the food supplies, it becomes very difficult for people to survive. Thats the main problem facing IDPs in the country.

She added that it was impossible to provide adequate assistance to refugees because of blocked food supply routes.

Ko Banyar, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Group, which helps refugees in Kayah state, called on the junta to reopen supply routes to alleviate hunger in the region.

Food embargoes should never be imposed on IDPs emerging from conflict zones, regardless of the political situation, he said. The blockades must be reopened so that international aid can flow freely. These [IDPs] are the people of Myanmar, not enemies of the state.

Ko Banyar also urged the U.N. to hold talks with the junta to ensure that refugees receive the help they desperately need.

The U.N. Humanitarian Office said staff have assisted refugees in northern Shan State but warned that the number of IDPs has increased drastically, as fighting intensified between the military and ethnic armed groups.

Last week, the agency said in a statement that despite an influx of humanitarian aid for 6.2 million non-IDPs in need of assistance, Myanmar has yet to receive funding for key sectors.

Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing presides over an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021. Reuters Marking Armed Forces Day

Also on Friday, New York-based Human Rights Watch called on concerned governments to strengthen economic sanctions against junta members and other senior military officers, as well as military-owned conglomerates, as it highlighted the militarys atrocities ahead of Armed Forces Day, observed in Myanmar on March 27.

The group also called for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a global arms embargo against Myanmar and refer the country situation to The Hague-based International Criminal Court over atrocities targeting civilians since the coup.

Governments joining Myanmars Armed Forces Day celebrations are celebrating the militarys brutal suppression of its own people, said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Governments should instead participate by enacting targeted sanctions against the generals and military businesses.

On March 27, 2021, Myanmar security forces killed as many as 163 anti-coup protesters in deadly crackdowns in what is thought to be the bloodiest day of violence since military takeover.

Since the coup, security forces have killed people more than 1,700 civilians and arrested more than 9,900, according to Thailands Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

On Thursday, a joint report by Fortify Rights and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School identified 61 senior military and police officials who ordered abuses or are otherwise directly implicated in what it designated crimes against humanity in the first six months after the coup.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Biden administration had imposed sanctions on five Myanmar nationals and five entities in response to the juntas crackdown on civilians.

In a statement that highlighted the deadly violence in Myanmar on Armed Forces Day last year, Blinken said that the sanctions were levelled by the administration to show our strong support for the people of [Myanmar], and to promote accountability in connection with the coup and the violence perpetrated by the regime.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Family members of Hamidulla Wali and Nurmemet Rozi worry the two will face torture if returned to Xinjiang.

Mask-clad Muslim pilgrims keep a safe social distance amid the coronavirus pandemic as they circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the center of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on the final day of the annual Muslim Hajj, Aug. 2, 2020.

Two Uyghur men arbitrarily detained in Saudi Arabia since November 2020 are believed to be at risk of being forcibly repatriated to China, an international rights group said Wednesday.

Religious scholar Hamidulla Wali (in Chinese, Aimidoula Waili) and his roommate Nurmemet Rozi (Nuermaimaiti Ruze) traveled to the country from Turkey on a Muslim religious pilgrimage to Mecca and were arrested on Nov. 20. Authorities allegedly have never told them why they were arrested and detained, according to rights groups.

Family members of the two men told London-based Amnesty International on March 16 that Wali and Rozi had been transferred from Jeddah to Riyadh, Saudi Arabias capital, in a move they believed was a precursor to extradition.

A source who declined to be identified for safety reasons told RFA on Friday that Saudi authorities revoked Rozis Saudi Arabian residency card on Wednesday and sent an official notice about it to his local sponsor.

Amnesty has urged Saudi authorities to stop plans to extradite the two Uyghur men to China, saying they would be at high risk of torture given the governments crackdown on Muslim minorities in the countrys far-western Xinjiang region.

If sent to China, it is highly likely that these two men will be subjected to arbitrary detention and torture in Xinjiangs network of repressive internment camps or prisons, where hundreds of thousands of other Uyghurs have faced grave human rights violations, said Lynn Maalouf, Amnestys deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, in a statement.

She noted that under international law, the Saudi government has an obligation not to extradite Wali and Rozi to China.

The Saudi authorities should halt all plans to deport the men and immediately release them from detention, unless they are to be charged with a recognizable criminal offence, Maalouf said.

The Saudi government has publicly supported Chinas antiterrorism measures in what rights activists have said is a tacit approval of the crackdown on predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang.

Saudi authorities have returned other Uyghurs back to China after they traveled to the country for work or to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Nuriman Hamidulla, Walis daughter, told RFA on Friday that her father is in danger.

From what we hear now from our source in Saudi is that there is a huge risk of deportation and the source says maybe international organizations and media can help us by publicizing their cases, she said.

Nuriman also said she met with a lawyer in Turkey about how to prevent them from being deported, but that there is no way to do so in Saudi Arabia using legal channels. Through the lawyer in Turkey, Walis family contacted the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Ankara, but no one responded.

From what we know from the past is that the Uyghurs who were deported back to China from Saudi Arabia were all first transferred to a prison in Riyadh, then they were deported back to China, she said.

Turkish authorities told Walis family that they can do nothing because Wali is not a Turkish citizen even though he holds a long-term residence permit.

In a previous RFA report, Wali said he arrived in Saudi Arabia in February 2020 to perform the umrah hajj, a form of the holy Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca that can be made at any point during the year. He also said he was unable to return to Turkey, where he has been a resident since 2016, after travel routes were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, Wali also told RFA that a source in Saudi Arabia had informed him that Chinese authorities made an official request to the Saudi government to arrest and deport him to China, though he did not elaborate on the reason. He said he was also advised to go into hiding shortly before police first began looking for him in July.

Wali, the former owner of Hadiya Clothing, was arrested in Xinjiang in August 2013 after one of his factory employees was accused of inciting protesters to attack police stations. He spent several months in prison, where he was tortured, but eventually was declared innocent of participating in the deadly riot.

Translated by RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Russian forces and the remaining Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol continue to fight pitched battles as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed hope a ceasefire would take place to evacuate more civilians from the devastated complex.

After ten weeks of brutal bombardment that have turned the city largely to rubble, Russian fighters have entered the massive steel plant, where about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters and a few hundred civilians have taken shelter in the tunnels and bunkers deep beneath the surface.

Russian forces have stepped up attacks against the plant in recent days, Ukrainian forces said, and may be seeking to sack it by May 9, when Russia celebrates Victory Day, the countrys most patriotic holiday commemorating the Soviet Unions defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

"Russian occupiers are focusing on blocking and trying to destroy Ukrainian units in the Azovstal area," the Ukrainian army said in a statement on May 5. "With the support of aircraft, Russia resumed the offensive in order to take control of the plant."

Mariupols fall would be a major success for President Vladimir Putin, depriving Ukraine of a vital port, allowing Russia to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and freeing up troops to fight elsewhere in the Donbas, the eastern industrial region that the Kremlin says is now its chief objective.

The plight of the civilians holed up in the plant with little food or water has garnered international attention and led to calls from leaders around the world for Russia to allow them to be evacuated.

Guterres told the UN Security Council on May 5 that a third operation was underway to evacuate civilians from Azovstal. In joint efforts with the Red Cross, the UN has helped nearly 500 civilians flee the area over the past week.

"I hope that the continued coordination with Moscow and Kyiv will lead to more humanitarian pauses to allow civilians safe passage from the fighting, and aid to reach those in critical need," Guterres said.

"We must continue to do all we can to get people out of these hellscapes," he said.

Guterres declined to give details on the new operation "to avoid undermining possible success."

Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said on her social media page that people would be evacuated from Mariupol on May 6 at noon, but gave no further details.

Russia had earlier said it would open a humanitarian corridor from 08:00 to 18:00 Moscow time on May 5, 6, and 7 from the Azovstal plant to evacuate civilians.

Though the Kremlin claimed on May 5 that the corridor was functioning, Ukraine had not confirmed that anyone had been freed from the plant that day.

Scepticism still remains about the likelihood of an evacuation as previous Russian announcements of cease-fires have failed.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett raised the humanitarian crisis at Azovstal with Putin during a call on May 5.

Bennetts office said in a statement following talks between the two leaders that Putin had promised to allow the evacuation of citizens through a UN and Red Cross humanitarian corridor.

In a statement released by the Kremlin, Putin told Bennett that Kyiv must order the remaining Ukrainian fighters inside the steel plant to lay down their arms.

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.

With Russian forces bogged down by stubborn Ukrainian resistance along all the eastern front line, a frustrated Kremlin accused the West of preventing a "quick" end to its military invasion by supplying weapons and intelligence to the country.

"The United States, Britain, NATO as a whole hand over intelligence...to Ukraine's armed forces on a permanent basis," Peskov told reporters.

"Coupled with the flow of weapons that these countries are sending to Ukraine, these are all actions that do not contribute to the quick completion of the operation," he said, adding that this was "incapable of hindering the achievement" of the goals of Russia's military operation.



Russia appears to have already given up on its initial goal -- to take the capital and install a Kremlin-friendly regime.

After suffering heavy losses during the first month of the war as it spread its forces out too thin, Russia has since regrouped to focus its efforts on taking eastern Ukraine.

However, Russian forces continue to face tough resistance and suffer losses, raising doubts among many military experts that they will be able to achieve their more modest goals.

Zelensky, meanwhile, launched a global crowdfunding platform -- United24 -- on May 5 to help Kyiv win the war and rebuild the country's infrastructure.

"Every donation matters for victory," he said in English in a video on his Twitter page.

"In one click, you can donate funds to protect our defenders, to save our civilians, and to rebuild Ukraine," Zelensky said in the video.

WATCH: In the first stage of the operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steelworks, which is under attack by Russian forces in Mariupol, over 150 people were brought out by bus. Those who got out told harrowing stories on May 3 of bodies strewn around the plant.

Later that day Zelenskiy addressed by video a conference in Warsaw dedicated to supporting Ukraines war effort and rebuilding.

Referencing the U.S.-led initiative to rebuild Europe following World War II, the Ukrainian leader called on the West to launch an analogous Marshall Plan to help his country recover from the extensive destruction caused by Russias military campaign.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the conference raised $6.5 billion for Ukraine.

In discussing ways to financially support Kyiv, EU President Charles Michel said on May 5 that the bloc should confiscate and sell Russian assets it has seized and use the proceeds to rebuild Ukraine, echoing an idea already floated by the United States.

The EU said early last month it had frozen 30 billion euros ($32 billion) in assets linked to blacklisted Russian and Belarusian individuals.

Meanwhile, the United States announced on May 5 that it had seized a $300 million yacht in Fiji belonging to Russian billionaire Suliman Kerimov.

In addition to seizures, the West is continuing to impose sanctions to weaken Russias ability to carry out its current military campaign and future aggression.

A day after the European Union announced plans to curb Russian oil imports across the board, the U.K. said on May 5 that it had sanctioned Evraz, a Russian steel producer whose products are critical for the nations rail industry.

Russia is using its rail network to ship weapons and troops to its border with Ukraine.

Marking "another small victory," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced on May 4 that 344 women, children, and elderly people were evacuated safely from Mariupol.

But her announcement was clouded by a report by the Associated Press that put the death toll of an earlier Russian air strike on a Mariupol theater converted into a shelter at approximately 600 people, doubling previous estimates by Ukrainian officials.

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 5 that Russia will likely attempt to "inflate the threat" posed by the Belarusian military's exercises with the aim of fixing Ukrainian forces in the Belarusian border area to prevent them from being deployed to the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Minsk has aided Russia's invasion by allowing Belarusian territory to be used to stage the attack.

Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed in an interview with AP on May 5 that he had information showing Ukraine had planned to attack Belarus, without producing any evidence.

Lukashenka has been shunned by the international community since he claimed victory in a presidential election in August 2020 that the opposition says was rigged, and unleashed a wave of violence to stifle mass protests afterward.

In Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniester, a television channel reported that shots have been fired near one if its border crossings with Ukraine.

The report on May 5, which comes after several similar alleged incidents in the Moscow-backed Transdniester region since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, could not be independently verified.

Kyiv has warned that Russia wants to destabilize the region to create a pretext for a military intervention in Moldova, which also borders NATO member Romania.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, BBC, and AFP
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has presented a five-point agenda to the international community to support his country as it struggles against a massive Russian military invasion.

In order to bring about peace more quickly, Ukraine must be stronger, Poroshenko, 56, told Current Time, explaining his countrys top priority. In order for Ukraine to be stronger, it must have more weapons.

In recent weeks, Poroshenko has been in the forefront of Ukrainian diplomatic efforts as the war against Russia has entered its second month and has brought devastation to many Ukrainian towns and cities. He presented Kyivs action plan to the European Parliament on March 23.

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.

Kyiv is calling for a lend-lease program to provide everything from food to munitions, help gaining control over its airspace through the urgent supply of fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft batteries, and a second front of hellish sanctions against Russia including a complete trade embargo, Poroshenko said.

Such an embargo will stop them for sure, he added. It is unacceptable that [Russia is selling commodities for] $1 billion a day  that is 300 Russian tanks or 200 Iskander missiles for each day that Russia is getting this money. We must stop this and we will. That is the second front.

In addition, Kyiv is calling for a massive program of economic support for the post-war rebuilding of the economy and for the European Union to open its doors to Ukraine.

This year, Ukraine must receive official candidate status, he said. We are really counting on this.

Poroshenko argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been surprised by Ukrainian unity in the face of the invasion, which was launched on February 24.

Putin was counting on blowing up Ukrainian stability from within, Poroshenko said. But we never gave him a chance. Ukrainians now are united and are demonstrating, to the surprise of the world, how to repel an aggressor. Putin, who was counting on raising the Russian flag in Kyiv within 36 hours, has already paid a huge price.

Poroshenko added that he has pledged his complete support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who soundly defeated him in the 2019 presidential election.

I met with Zelenskiy immediately after February 24, Poroshenko recalled. We shook hands and we agreed to begin everything from a clean slate. He can solidly count on my support because now we have a common enemy. And that enemy is Putin.

We are united around Ukraine, he added. Everyone is a soldier now, and the war has made us all equals.

They dont scare us, he said about the Russian armed forces. They have no idea where they are. We are enormously motivated because we are fighting for our land, for our people, for our familiesfor our future. And what are Russian soldiers doing here? They cant even answer that question themselves.
For Ukrainians fleeing the Russian assault on their homeland, staying at a hotel not only owned by a Russian national, but located in Serbia, an EU aspirant but also a traditional Russian ally, might at first seem an odd choice to seek shelter.

But for dozens of Ukrainians the hotel in central Serbia run by Mikhail Goluptsov and his wife, Vera, has been welcoming.

"When a person is in trouble, they should be helped first, no matter what their faith or ethnicity, regardless of who they are and where they are from," Goluptsov told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.

Goluptsov, his wife, and four children left Russia in 2014 when the Kremlin seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and began backing separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Since 2019, he and his wife have been running a hotel in Prnjavor, a small town in central Serbia.

Shortly after Russia launched its unprovoked assault on Ukraine on February 24, Goluptsov stepped up, opening his hotel to Ukrainians fleeing what U.S. defense officials have described as the largest conventional military attack since World War II.

Amid polling suggesting a majority of Russians back Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine, Goluptsov said "real Russians" are always on the side of justice, ready to protect, and help in times of trouble. In recent weeks, protesters against the war in Russia have faced harsh reprisals.

"Guided by these principles, I left Russia in 2014 when it annexed Crimea, because I did not want my family to live in a country that is taking part of the territory from its neighbors," Goluptsov said.

Goluptsov said Ukrainian refugees were welcome to stay at his hotel, named Sidar And Skvos, as long as they needed, with food and lodging offered for free.

More than 3.6 million Ukrainians had fled the country, according to UN data as of March 23. And more than 13,000 Ukrainians have made their way to Serbia, according to the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration. About 3,000 refugees have found lodgings with relatives or friends in the country, according to information gleaned by RFE/RL.

There are currently 48 refugees from Ukraine in the reception centers in Obrenovac, near Belgrade, and Vranje, in southern Serbia, according to information obtained by RFE/RL from Serbian refugee officials.

Serbia's Delicate Balancing Act

Serbia is performing a delicate balancing act between its European aspirations, partnership with NATO, and its centuries-old religious, ethnic, and political ties with Russia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, facing elections on April 3 in which he needs to retain the support of Russian-leaning citizens, has pointed to Moscow's longtime backing in the United Nations where it has refused to recognize the independence of Serbia's former breakaway province of Kosovo.

On March 4, thousands of Serbs waving Russian flags and carrying pictures of Putin marched through Belgrade to the Russian Embassy, in a rare show internationally of public support for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

Ahead of the march, Vucic told Ukraine's ambassador in Serbia that Belgrade respects international law and the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and that it stands ready to provide humanitarian aid and accept refugees.

Serbia, which relies on Moscow for its energy needs, also joined the UN General Assembly's condemnation of Russia's attack but has declined to introduce sanctions against Moscow.

The country's flag carrier Air Serbia continues to fly between Belgrade and Moscow -- even adding capacity for a while until returning to the original eight flights a week following rebukes from critics in Serbia and abroad -- as the EU and Russia issued tit-for-tat airspace bans.

The decision to open the doors of the hotel to Ukrainian refugees was made during a recent family reunion, with the Goluptsovs' four children returning home from far-flung destinations, including Canada and Germany. They had all been separated for two years, largely due to travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My wife and I, together with them [the children], decided right away to help and immediately released information about it through social networks and Internet groups," Goluptsov, a retired engineer, explained.

The first families, mostly mothers with small children, began trickling in, with many staying only a few days before traveling on to EU states. Many have since contacted the Goluptsovs from Poland, Spain, and Italy, to express their gratitude and let them know they are safe.

'Patient, Gentle, And Kind'

Among the first to arrive in late February was Olha Manmar who traveled from Kyiv with her three children -- aged from five to 12 -- along with a friend, Hanna Nizhegarodova, and her 16-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter.

"They offered to pay for their stay, but we didn't want to hear anything of it. We told them they could stay as long as they wanted and that everything was free for them. We wished a quick end to this evil so that they can return to us one day as tourists," said Goluptsov.

Manmar, who has now moved on to an apartment in the nearby city of Kragujevac, especially praised Goluptsov as well as his wife Vera, a former journalist, for their hospitality and kindness.

"Of course, the children were not the best behaved after four days of travel, but the Goluptsovs were very patient, gentle, and kind. That meant a lot to us because we were all stressed out. We will never forget their kind support and understanding, nor their extended hands of friendship and warm hugs with which they welcomed us," Manmar told RFE/RL, adding that the youngest person she saw at the hotel during her stay was a one-month-old baby.

"Mikhail provided rooms, meals, and support. He simply turned the hotel into a shelter for refugees," Manmar said.

"He will always remain in our hearts for his kindness and decency."
When I left Russia, I wasnt sure I was doing the right thing, said 28-year-old Artyom Saprykin, an IT specialist from Ufa, the capital of Russias Bashkortostan region. Now, I am sure.

On March 15, Saprykin left President Vladimir Putins Russia for Armenia, one of tens of thousands of Russians who have left their homeland since Moscows invasion of Ukraine on February 24. For instance, Georgias government has said more than 30,000 Russians have arrived in that country since the war began; Turkey reported more than 14,000 Russians moved to that country in the first three weeks after the fighting began.

The main reason, he told RFE/RLs Siberia.Realities, was the realization that Russia has no future. I realized this a long time ago, but nonetheless kept putting off a decision. But with the beginning of the war, I understood that the situation in the country was much worse than I thought.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, many emigrating Russians have reported unpleasant experiences getting through passport control to leave the country. On a special Telegram channel called Passport Control From The Russian Federation 2022, dozens of travelers report that they underwent long interrogations. Many had to unlock their telephones and computers and watch as Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives read their personal messages.

I knew from friends what was waiting form me when I left, Saprykin said. They already experienced a complete shakedown.

Saprykin said he prepared in advance -- buying a return ticket, encrypting some data, deleting as much as possible, moving things to the cloud.

In short, I made sure they couldnt question anything, he said. As a joke, I left the app for [Russian social-media platform] Odnoklassniki on the phone and filled it with instructions for making pickled cabbage and doing home repairs.

As soon as the border guards learned that Saprykin was an IT specialist, he was pulled out of the line for interrogation.

'You Do Love Putin, Right?'

After his phone was searched, he said, the agent asked him his opinions about the war in Ukraine. The agents last question, however, caught Saprykin off-guard.

That ghoul stares into my eyes with a puppy-dog look and says: But you do love Putin, right? Saprykin recalled. The other questions I had prepared for but this one I did not expect. I said: I dont love anyone. Not even my mother or my grandmother. I am a misanthrope. It is the way I was born and there is nothing I can do about it. And there were no more questions.

Saprykin was then ordered to empty his bag on the table. The agent gathered everything up and left the room. For the next 40 minutes, the most frightening scenarios passed through his mind, he said. But in the end, they let him through.

Such interrogations and searches are illegal under Russian law, said human right lawyer Alyona Savelyova of the NGO Russia Behind Bars.

Not having any authority to interrogate people or carry out personal searches -- including of telephones -- the agents call them conversations, Savelyova explained. It is as if no search happened, and you just voluntarily showed them your phone. They dont write up any report. It is as if there was no interrogation. They just asked you about politics, about what you think of the conflict with our neighbors. Of course, all this is illegal.

Lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who heads the NGO First Department, added that border agents also pressure travelers with an informal means of blackmail.

They can keep you at passport control for so long that you simply miss your flight, he said. Russians these days have real problems with tickets and with money. If a person is in danger of losing a ticket that cost him 50,000 rubles [$500], of course he is going to show them whatever they ask to see.

Forty-seven-year-old Yulia, who asked to be identified only by her first name, left Russia for Turkey from Moscows Domodedovo airport on March 12 with her husband and school-aged daughter. Her husband became separated in the lines for passport control and failed to emerge on the other side, Yulia told RFE/RL.

Later, she learned that her husband was pulled from the line when he told the agent that he worked in a bank.

He was hustled off into a separate room, Yulia said. There were two men in plain clothes there. The first thing they did was take his telephone and begin searching it.

'Like An Eternity'

Like Saprykin, Yulia and her husband had been warned about the searches and had deleted everything that could be considered suspicious  particularly chats with Yulias sister, who lives in the embattled Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

We said enough emotional things there that they could put us away for life, Yulia said.

The first question Yulias husband was asked, she said, was why he had deleted all his chats: What were you trying to hide? she quoted them as saying.

The agents interrogated him for about an hour.

I think that the only thing that saved us was that we had bought return tickets, Yulia said.

When he emerged with his passport, his hands were shaking, Yulia recalled. His face was white as a sheet of paper. I was afraid that hed have a stroke. Only after he regained control of himself could he tell me what happened. That hour of interrogation seemed like an eternity to him.

She added that when her family left Russia, they did not intend to emigrate for good, but merely to change their circumstances before I went mad.

But that is how my motherland saw us off, she said. Thanks a lot. We intended just to leave for a rest, but now, to be perfectly honest, I dont even know if it is worth going back. They havent even declared martial law, and this is how they treat people. And what will happen if they do impose it? Are they going to put people up against the wall for the smallest suspicion?

Ruslan, who asked that his surname be withheld, left Moscow for Turkey on March 5. He told RFE/RL that his wife is Ukrainian, and her relatives live in that country.

So how could I feel about this war? he said. And I definitely have no intention of going there to die for Putler.

When he was passing through passport control, the agent asked to see their return tickets. As soon as he admitted they didnt have any, he and his wife were pulled from the line and taken to an interrogation room.

There were two men in suits in the room, he said. They didnt introduce themselves.

After a few questions, they asked to see Ruslans phone.

They went through it for about 10 minutes, he said. They read everything  SMS messages, browser histories, subscriptions, and even the history of my likes. They were very thorough. I had an unread message from my mother, and they read that too.

Agents asked him what organizations he belonged to, whether he had donated any money or transferred any funds to Ukraine. They asked about his attitude toward ongoing political events and how he distinguishes fake news from the truth.

I tried to answer briefly and precisely without going into details, he said. I knew it was a provocation and they were trying to rattle me, get me to lose self-control.

Ruslans wife was questioned extensively about her family in Ukraine and her contacts with them.

The last question was funny, Ruslan said. Have your rights been violated in Russia because of your nationality? My wife answered: The woman in line in front of me with a Russian passport was allowed through without a single question, but I have already been sitting here with you for half an hour. You tell me if my rights have been violated.

After another 20 minutes, the couple was allowed to pass to the waiting area.

There were a lot of families there with dogs and cats in carriers, Ruslan said. It was immediately obvious that these people werent flying off on vacation for a week.

I think the guys who interrogated us understood this too, he added. But they didnt have to power to stop us. They havent gotten the order yet.

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting from Russia by correspondent Marina Aronova of RFE/RLs Siberia.Realities.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, all public hospitals in the country have been operating under martial law and have been working 24/7. Some medical workers have moved their families into the hospitals with them, while volunteers have arrived to help.
State Minister of Artsakh Artak Beglaryan expressed hope that the Azerbaijani troops will pull back through Russias efforts and that Azerbaijan will stop violations against the security of the people of Artsakh and Russias guarantees.

March 26, 2022, 14:08 Azerbaijani troops still havent pulled back after advance. Artsakh State Minister

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 26, ARTSAKHPRESS: From midday March 25 until the morning of March 26 there havent been any changes of positions along the frontline of Artsakh, and the Azerbaijani armed forces remain in the village of Parukh and on one side of the adjacent Karaglukh height, and a short while ago they made an unsuccessful attack attempt against our military unit, Beglaryan said in a statement on social media.

Beglaryan said the Artsakh military is taking appropriate warning and suppressive measures to neutralize potential threats.

He said the Russian peacekeepers posts continue to function in Parukh and Khramort, and that the Russian side made significant efforts for ensuring the ceasefire regime in its area of responsibility.

We expect that through Russian efforts the Azerbaijani troops will pull back to their initial positions and wont make more violations against the security of the people of Artsakh and the Russian Federations guarantees. We stand firmly in our homeland and we are ready to withstand whatever challenges may come, Beglaryan said.

On March 24-25 the Azerbaijani troops attacked Artsakh military positions and invaded the Parukh village.

Azeri drone strikes killed 3 Artsakh troops and wounded 15 others.
PHNOM PENH, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's anti-drug police have arrested three foreigners for smuggling almost 600 kg of illicit drugs, the Anti-Drug Police Department (ADP) said in a news release on Saturday.

The all-male suspects were caught on March 21 in capital Phnom Penh and the southwestern coastal province of Preah Sihanouk, the ADP said.

"The trio were arrested while attempting to export the drugs to a third country by sea," the ADP said. "A total of 596 kg of illicit drugs has been seized from them during the raids."

The confiscated drugs included 510 kg of ketamine, 51.6 kg of ecstasy, 20.8 kg of nimetazepam, 11.7 kg of FUB-AMB (Cannabinoid) and 1.95 kg of crystal methamphetamine (ice), it added.

The southeast Asian nation has no death sentence for drug traffickers. Under its law, anyone found guilty of trafficking over 80 grams of illicit drugs could be imprisoned for life.

According to the ADP, in 2021 the authorities nabbed 13,765 drug suspects in 6,242 cases throughout the country, confiscating 4.43 tons of illicit drugs. 
On March 26, the Azerbaijani armed forces, after invading the village of Parukh in the Askeran region, continued their movements and hostile actions in the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping troops in different directions of the Karaglukh height. Necessary restraining actions were taken by the Armed Forces of the Artsakh Republic in order to stop the advance of the enemy, Artsakh Information Center informs.

March 26, 2022, 18:53 Subversive actions of the enemy in different directions of the Karaglukh height stopped. The operative-tactical situation remains tense

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 26, ARTSAKHPRESS: In the result of repetitive skirmish, the subversive actions of the enemy were stopped.

As of 5 PM, the operative-tactical situation in this part of the line of contact remains tense. Work with the Russian peacekeeping command staff towards the stabilization of the situation is underway.
Concerned officials are facing an unprecedented challenge in the making of an effective overall National Master Plan for the 2021 to 2030 period, with a vision till 2050. Planners are currently facing an uphill task due to insufficient international experience to develop such a plan, which is meant to facilitate the efficient use of all natural resources for the sustainable development of the country as a whole. Saigon Investment spoke with Mr. NGUYEN DINH CUNG, former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, on his views on this matter.

JOURNALIST: - Sir, what is your opinion on the making of an overall National Master Plan under the 2017 Planning Law for the first time in Vietnam?

Mr. NGUYEN DINH CUNG: - Planning is not a new process for Vietnam, but the making of a National Master Plan will be done for the first time, in accordance with the Planning Law enacted in 2017. Such a comprehensive National Master Plan would lay a solid foundation for affiliate national plans such as land use planning, marine space planning, sectoral planning, regional and provincial planning throughout the country. In short, based on the 2017 Planning Law, we are going to introduce an overall National Master Plan first, before developing more specific plans for lower levels. However, shortage of time and resources, especially human resources for planning, have been a major hindrance in making plans for higher and lower levels simultaneously.

The workload is too heavy when it comes to remedying the structural defects in development of spaces at the moment. Such problems include geographical and administrative divisions; limited regional connections; inability of provinces to make good use of their advantages; failure to set up a national infrastructure and transport infrastructure; and failure to turn available resources into regional driving forces for national development. The extremely heavy workload requires dedication and professionalism of a staff team that will be responsible for plan development and plan assessment. To be honest, this present staff team is still insufficient and quite defective, and they lack vision and breakthrough ideas. In fact, plan development is very much like playing a game of chess, in which it may sometimes take up to twenty years to make a certain move, rather than deal with immediate short-term problems. Only when a successful National Master Plan is developed will there be a fresh impetus for a significant development in the entire country.

- Sir, key economic regions are considered as the main points when it comes to making an overall National Master Plan. Key economic regions have been set up, but connection between them remains a big problem and there is still no visible incentive because these regions have not fulfilled their roles as driving forces as per expectations. What are your thoughts on this matter?

- I don't think the concept of key economic regions is really what can be described as coming under planning. Instead, it is just gathering the neighboring cities and provinces together in a club format for annual meetings, and a few joint deals may be signed for a close friendship and in a largely symbolic sense. Also, there are too many such key regions, making it impossible to refer to some areas as really superior. In order to have effective planning, it is sometimes necessary to break up the current regional boundaries and establish new ones, depending on the market demands and advantages of each region and area, with special attention to specific goals of each area. Efforts should be focused rather than spread out thin, and policies should be tailored with specific characteristics. It should be made abundantly clear that plans must be implemented, and planning must undoubtedly be of very high quality.

- Sir, how do you think we can have high quality plans when the planning staff team is insufficient and the planning officials have to simultaneously develop plans of high and low levels so as to introduce enough plans as per schedule?

- I believe that the most important step at the moment is to strengthen the human resources in charge of planning. Plans cannot be of expected quality when different planning officials try to make different plans in a hurry. Several agencies and provinces have chosen to hire foreign consultants and raise funds from the communities for this planning. This is a correct way, but excellent foreign consultants need to be supported by domestic experts with an indepth knowledge of the local situations.

First of all, I think that we need to have good leaders, especially local ones, who are really serious about planning roles and highly dedicated and personally committed to the process of planning. They must be able to shrug off the idea of office terms and the thought of seeking favors for this or that project. What is most significant for a successful leader is an iron will and political courage that could help him refuse to approve unfeasible plans. Ultimately, the most workable plans must include non-planning interventions.

- Sir, could you please give a clear explanation of what you mean by non-planning interventions?

- As I said, planning is arranging spaces with proper distribution of resources. Once having decided to develop an area into a key economic region, authorized officials must courageously provide sufficient resources for the concerned cities and provinces in the region to cope with their problems, and work closely together to establish a sustainable development ecosystem. They must also be courageous enough to filter out economic trends like digital economy or environmental benefits that are inappropriate in the concerned areas. They must plan for development, based on their specific advantages and needs.

Regarding the distribution of resources, authorized planners tend to make decisions in favor of poorer regions and try to collect all the possible taxes from richer areas. Yet it would be much better to provide better resources and opportunities for areas with great potential for development, making it possible for such areas to become wealthier, thereby providing better products for other regions. The law of the market proves that investors would never try their luck in an area where they do not find any favorable opportunity for profits, no matter how low the taxes are or how low the land use fees are.

- Thank you very much.

Anh Thu (interviewer)
As the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues, new satellite pictures show the degree of infrastructure destruction in the city of Izyum and Ukrainian soldiers destroying a Russian landing ship.

Ukrainian Forces Destroy Russian Landing Ship After Trying to Bring Military Supplies to Mariupol

An amphibious Russian landing ship burned and flooded in the port of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine, according to new satellite photographs that Maxar Technologies shared.

Business Insider added that Ukrainian forces attacked the Russian ship, an Alligator-class landing ship, on March 24.

According to the Pentagon, the ship was offloading supplies for Russian troops besieging the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"The destroyed ship in Berdyansk could carry up to 20 tanks, 45 armored personnel carriers, and 400 paratroopers," Anna Malyar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said on Thursday, according to The New York Times. "This is a huge target that was hit by our military."

The first photo shows the ship, which is partially submerged, with fire and smoke rising from it.

The larger viewpoint in the second photo also reveals a burning storage tank in the port with white smoke flowing out of it.

Maxar published satellite imagery of the Russian ship that the Ukrainian military had struck in the port of Berdiansk, which is currently occupied by the Russian forces.



The March 25 photos reveal "Russian Alligator-class landing ship thats burned & partially submerged." pic.twitter.com/5p86Jv9ie0  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 25, 2022

Last week, there were also satellite photos from Maxar showing the word "Children" () inscribed in Russian on the ground in front of and behind the Mariupol theater. According to reports, the residents placed the sign in hope that the Russian soldiers would not fire on them because hundreds of civilians, including children, were taking shelter there when the Russian forces attacked Mariupol.

"The (theatre) building withstood the impact of a high-powered air bomb and protected the lives of people hiding in the bomb shelter," Ukraine's Ombudswoman Ludmyla Denisova said on the Telegram chat service (via Sky News).

ALSO READ: Russia 'Bombs' Ukrainian Theater Marked by Word 'Children' in Tragic Satellite Photo [LOOK]

Russia Destroys Eastern Ukraine City

As Russia strives to link advances made in northern Ukraine's Kharkiv area with its stronghold in eastern Ukraine's Izyum, the city has been caught in the crossfire.

Even as fierce battles for ground control raged inside Izyum, council deputy Max Strelnyk told CNN on Thursday that Russian bombers and artillery had "completely decimated" the city.

A big boiler facility and every neighboring residential structure appear to be razed in satellite pictures north of the school. There don't appear to be any military objectives in this part of central Izyum.

Around 3 miles (5 kilometers) northwest of Izyum, a convoy of Russian self-propelled artillery can be seen approaching. Russian military presently controls the city sectors on the northern side of the Seversky Donets River, which divides Izyum in two, according to Strelnyk.

The city regions along the river's southern bank are governed by Ukraine. The turrets of Russian self-propelled artillery pointed at center Izyum on a field three miles northeast of the city.

The first phase of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been proclaimed "complete," according to a Russian army chief, although the operation's goals may be cut back. According to Mirror, Kremlin soldiers are shifting their focus to completely "liberating" eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.

On Friday, the country's military ministry stated that 93 percent of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic's territory and 54 percent of the Donetsk region, the two territories that make up the Donbass, have been "liberated."

Sergey Rudskoy, the chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff's major operations department, said he would not exclude out assaulting Ukrainian towns that had been blockaded.

He also claimed that if NATO sought to restrict the airspace above Ukraine, as Kyiv has demanded, Russia would retaliate immediately. On Friday, the Russian military ministry indicated that the operation would continue until Russian soldiers completed their tasks but did not provide further details.

RELATED ARTICLE: Satellite Photos From Space Show Heartbreaking Russian Invasion of Ukraine [Look]

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
Despite the challenges that have cropped up in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, Auburn officials praised how the city has weathered those obstacles and talked about plans for the future.

Auburn City Manager Jeff Dygert and Mayor Mike Quill gave updates on the municipality's operations at a virtual State of the City address Thursday, as shown on the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce's YouTube channel.

Quill said the city has remained a "steady and resilient presence delivering essential public services to our people every day," adding that the city has continued to address the challenges and opportunities prompted by the pandemic. He thanked the over 350 city employees for their efforts.

Dygert discussed the city's efforts for the future, such as looking at a renovation project for the building that holds the Auburn Police Department and the new Auburn Ambulance Service, the latter of which began operations in fall 2021. Other future plans include projects for the Aurelius Avenue and Lake Avenue bridges, as Dygert said those projects have been identified by the state for funding, though he indicated the work would entail "a lengthy process."

He also talked about plans to renovate Memorial City Hall.

"This building was built in 1930 and would benefit just from an overall general rehabilitation, but it also is in need of security upgrades and mechanical upgrades and such, so we'll be moving ahead with that project," he said.

Dygert also touched upon challenges the city is facing.

"We have a highly competitive labor market right now, which is making it more difficult for us as an employer to even fill our own positions, but it certainly is driving costs related to construction projects that we pursue," he said.

Other challenges include increased costs and lack of availability for raw materials and components for various city projects. On the positive side, Dygert said, the city has seen significant uptick in sales tax revenue, "approximately 20% compared to the previous year, which is an indicator that we've got a good, strong local economy."

The city is also eligible for expanded state and federal infrastructure funding opportunities. Dygert said the city has noticed increased interest in commercial development in some of Auburn's commercial areas.

"Those are all good things, are indicators that there's an interest in people doing business in Auburn. We know that there's an interest in people buying homes in Auburn, and we'll continue to do the work we need to do to move the community forward, improve neighborhoods and focus on growth and revitalization," Dygert said.

Dygert also examined Auburn's citywide property reevaluation. He said the city revalues property "on a regular basis, every few years," with that process happening this year. The city's slideshows during the presentation said 8,763 city parcels were reevaluated, including 7,258 residential spots and 779 commercial sites.

"The impact of that, while shocking to many folks, is a signal that obviously property values in the city of Auburn are going up. It shows a significant growth in housing and commercial property sales, and we remind the community that home ownership is an investment and when our property values go up, that shows a healthy economy, in most cases, and it's growing personal wealth, which is important," Dygert said. "It also does not necessarily mean an increase in taxes, depending on where you fall in that situation."

As a part of Auburn's street tree replacement initiative, approximately 420 ash trees affected by Emerald Ash Borer beetles have been removed. The city is also working on tree plantings, a citywide inventory of trees and a management plan for street trees through different funding sources.

Renovations on the city parking garage are currently expected to be finished in June, following a fire at the structure in May 2019, with updates including improved lighting, concrete repairs, floor and stair sealing and more.

The State Street Public Plaza project is nearing completion, Dygert said. Work has been ongoing for city-owned land at 1-7 State St. to become an outdoor events plaza.

"We hope by June or so, the plaza itself will be completed, and then we'll be doing a restoration of the street in that area that's been beaten up a little bit through the process," Dygert continued.

Additional subjects covered in the presentation included the $21 million Auburn is set to receive through the federal American Rescue Plan, getting the first half of it in May 2021 with the remaining sum set to arrive this May.

Dygert also talked about the city's new ambulance service and efforts to clean up neighborhoods with different departments and the Auburn Nuisance Abatement Commitment implemented last year to review complaints about different nuisance properties.

Other updates included 10 new officers with the Auburn Police Department completing police academy training and a plan to get body cameras to APD members within a few months. The city manager also spoke about projects that have been finished within the last year, including the recent public safety building which houses the Auburn Fire Department, the South Street Reconstruction project and the $6 million undertaking to replace the State Street Bridge.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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Sworn law enforcement officers with Antioch and Pittsburg police departments are under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Contra Costa County District Attorneys Office in connection with crimes of moral turpitude among other alleged offenses, authorities said Friday.

District attorneys officials cited the ongoing nature of the investigation for not being able to release more specific details of the alleged conduct, but said the criminal investigation pertains to sworn law enforcement officers at both departments. Three Pittsburg police officers were placed on administrative leave on Wednesday in connection with the investigation, Pittsburg police said in statement on Friday.

The broad range of offenses under investigation involve crimes of moral turpitude, district attorney officials said.

Investigators conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity at multiple locations on Wednesday, but district attorneys officials did not specify the activity or the locations.

A review of both active and closed cases involving these officers will be necessary to evaluate whether those cases are now compromised, district attorneys officials said in a statement provided to The Chronicle.

The investigation involves three current Pittsburg police officers and several local police officers, according to a Pittsburg police statement posted to the departments Instagram account on Friday afternoon. All three Pittsburg police officers were placed on administrative leave on Wednesday after FBI and district attorneys officials met with the officers, police said.

Pittsburg police said the department received a tip in September that an officer was involved in illegal activity and said that other local police officers were involved but said the tip did not go into further details. Police said that they do not have additional information on the alleged misconduct, citing the ongoing investigation.

When we learned of the allegations, we immediately contacted the District Attorneys Office and asked them to conduct an independent criminal investigation, Pittsburg police said in the statement. Anytime there is any allegation of criminal misconduct, that is something our organization takes extremely seriously.

Police added that Any officer who has violated their oath of office by engaging in illegal or unethical conduct will be held accountable.

Antioch police directed The Chronicle to the citys spokesperson for comment, who provided a statement from Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe.

Thorpe said he appreciated the FBI and District Attorney Diana Bectons willingness to help in our fight to reform the Antioch Police Department, saying that he has been committed to reforming the Antioch Police Department since he became mayor.

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 order to achieve our goal of having a safe city there must always be a level of trust between our community and our officers, Thorpe said. (Becton) has my personal assurance that the City of Antioch will continue to assist her in this matter.

Both police departments have cooperated with the joint investigation, district attorneys officials said. Pittsburg police said that the department will be conducting its own internal investigation that will be completed by an independent, outside investigator.

District attorneys officials said they will continue to work in conjunction with Federal authorities along with the cities of Antioch and Pittsburg to ensure public trust and public safety.

Lauren Hernandez (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
Denis Poroy/AP

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel advisory for Baja California in Mexico, which includes the sprawling border city of Tijuana, due to high rates of crime and kidnapping, the agency said.

The advisory warns people to reconsider travel to the area, and says that travelers there should remain on main highways and avoid remote locations.
A 16-year-old Oakland girl, a student at Castlemont High School, died in a shooting in Sacramento last week, authorities said Friday.

Sacramento police identified the victim as Marcella Garcia but said the circumstances of her death has not been determined.

According to Sacramento police, officers responded to a report of a gunshot wound in an apartment in the 2100 block of L Street at 11:24 a.m. on March 17 and found Garcia suffering from at least one gunshot wound. They attempted life saving measures but Garcia died.

Police found a firearm at the scene. According to spokesman Chad Lewis, the case was classified as a death investigation and is being investigated by the departments homicide division. No other details were available.

Oakland Unified School District spokesperson John Sasaki confirmed that Garcia was a Castlemont High School sophomore and said the school and the district were devastated by news of her death.

She was a bright light at Castlemont, whose natural talents were obvious to those around her, he said. She had a wonderful singing voice which we were looking forward to hearing on stage during the school's upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration.

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.

Sasaki said he had no details on the case but decried the loss of Garcias life to gun violence.

Of course, the fact that she passed the way she did is another tragic example of our country's scourge of gun violence, which must come to an end. he said. The Castlemont family will miss Marcella, and our hearts go out to her friends and family.

Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
For more than 20 years the 600-acre windswept slope above the Contra Costa County city of Pittsburg has been a centerpiece of the multipronged battle between developers who want to build homes in the East Bay hills and environmentalists determined to preserve the open ridgeline that defines the regions dramatic topography.

Now, like so many California land use conflicts, the future of the 1,650-home subdivision development is playing out in a mostly empty county courtroom, far from the site in question and the residents who would be impacted.

On Thursday, attorneys for Discovery Builders, part of the group of companies controlled by the Seeno family, appeared at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in downtown Martinez to square off against lawyers for the environmental group Save Mount Diablo.

The hearing was an opportunity for Discovery Builders to persuade Judge Edward Weil to reconsider an earlier ruling in which he sided with Save Mount Diablo, essentially saying that Pittsburg city consultants had botched the projects 487-page environmental impact report, something required by the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA.

In Pittsburg, the Seeno family of developers  which has clashed with environmentalists and city officials throughout the Bay Area  is proposing a large subdivision on a hillside on the citys southern edge, where San Marco Boulevard comes to a dead end with a chain barricade hanging between concrete bollards. Below the fence is the subdivision San Marco Villas, a neighborhood of tract homes built out over the past decade. Above the fence is grassland where cattle graze in the distance.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle 2002

It is there, on the windy ridge separating Pittsburg from Concord, that east Contra Costa Countys most prolific developer would build the Faria/Southwest Hills Annexation Project, a concept that Pittsburg voters approved in 2005.

In December, Weil ruled that the EIR was inadequate because it did not include a detailed survey of the protected species of plants or wildlife on the property. In addition, the judge agreed with Save Mount Diablo that the EIR violated state environmental laws by adding 150 accessory dwelling units to the total after the analysis was completed.

Weil has until May 5 to make a decision on the motion for a new trial, after which the developer would have 30 days to file an appeal.

Discovery attorney Ellis Raskin explained that the EIR in question is only the first in what will be a series of studies that will become much more specific as the plan solidifies. The tiered EIR approach is not uncommon in large phased development that are built out over several decades, he said.

The EIR assumes the worst-case scenario  that the entire property is a habitat that could support the species in question, he said. Doing a micro-study of flora and fauna would have been pointless because the current conditions will be long outdated at the time when construction starts. In addition, Discovery doesnt know yet where the homes will be placed exactly.

The EIR assumes that all of the areas of the habitat could support those special species, Raskin told the judge. Eventually, he said, people will go out on the site and say where specifically these species are found and how many.

He said the additional 150 ADUs will not be stand-alone backyard cottages, typical in the Bay Area, but bedrooms with separate entrances and kitchenettes. The additional 150 units would not increase the overall number of bedrooms contemplated, he said.

Mount Diablo attorney Winter King countered that an ADU isnt a bedroom, its a separate living quarters.

The EIR didnt even acknowledge these additional 150 ADUs and the project description didnt do any analysis of their impact, King said.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle 2020

After the hearing, King questioned the point of an EIR that leaves so much of the specific analysis for later.

I think it was a terrible environmental impact report, she said. It didnt say anything and it didnt give the public and decision makers an accurate estimation of the true impact of this project.

Save Mount Diablo Executive Director Seth Adams argued the lack of specificity of the EIR  it doesnt say where the actually homes would be built, where neighborhood parks would lie, where a new school might be placed  gives Discovery Builders the leeway to basically do what they want on the site. He said that Save Mount Diablo has no problem with the density proposed, but rather the development of the ridge.

Most cities in the East Bay have pretty much gotten the memo that protecting the ridgeline is a public good, Adams said.

He called the motion for a new trial a waste of everybodys time.

While the subdivision has more in common with the mega-development in the Central Valley than the typical Bay Area infill project, Discovery Builders President Louis Parsons said that it will provide much-needed housing that is close to the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART Station. Pittsburg is also more affordable than most of the Bay Area. The average home there is $680,000, compared with $740,000 in Concord or $860,000 in Pleasant Hill.

We build housing for working families, he said.

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.

Parsons said the opposition to the project was similar to other projects rejected through the Bay Area.

They threw everything and anything at us  if you take a handful of spaghetti and throw it at the wall a few pieces are going stick, he said. The amount of work we have done to listen to the different stakeholders on this project is unprecedented.

Pittsburg City Manager Garrett Evans said that the project has improved since it was first floated in the 1990s. The percentage of preserved open space has increased from 128 acres to 265 acres, he said. It was approved by city voters in 2005 and has been approved by multiple environmental agencies including both state and federal fish and wildlife agencies.

It would generate $13.5 million in habitat fees, $43 million for traffic mitigation, $13.5 in school fees, $2.75 in annual property taxes and another $1 million in other fees, Evans said. It would also help attract a grocery store to the area, a top priority for residents. The city has been unsuccessfully trying to attract a supermarket to a vacant lot nearby.

We have just one Safeway for thousands of homes, he said. Whenever we talk to the grocery chains they say they need more buying power, more roofs in order to make a new market feasible.

If the motion for a new trial fails and Seeno appeals the decision, the judge has a lot of leeway in what the developer will have to do to fix the EIR, according to land use attorney and CEQA expert Jennifer Hernandez. It could be a simple addendum to the study, which could be done in a year or less, or it could require the developer to start a new EIR.

Hernandez said EIR lawsuits are on the rise, especially in cases involving housing  housing-related CEQA lawsuits jumped from about 25% of all cases a decade ago to closer to 60% today. Increasingly the lawsuits are being filed by groups formed in reaction to a specific project. Save Mount Diablo does not fall into that category.

They are a true environmental group as opposed to a one-off or NIMBY group, he said.

Matt Regan, senior vice president of public policy for the pro-business group Bay Area Council, said the entrenched opposition to development on infill sites has forced the region to accept housing on open space like that in Pittsburg that is not as well-served by public transit or as close to jobs and shopping.

In a perfect world its not the type of project we would like to see, he said. But we have to get past trying to stop anyone who proposes to build on the hillside because the alternative is that people move to Texas.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
For Daniel Radcliffe, it felt good to be bad.

The English actor, who rose to fame playing the heroic Harry Potter, embraced portraying an eccentric villain in the new adventure-comedy The Lost City.

Its always nice to do something different. Its not something I do a lot of in my career, sort of as the bad guy, so its very, very fun, Radcliffe told the Daily News.

Theres great stuff about playing a hero ... but its lovely to spend a film not having to be the emotional center of the film or the eyes of the audience or anything like that, and just to kind of go, oh yeah, I dont even have to be sympathetic or likable or any of those things. Theres something very freeing about that.

Radcliffe stars in the movie, in theaters Friday, as Abigail Fairfax, a bombastic billionaire obsessed with recovering an ancient artifact from the Lost City of D.

He kidnaps romantic novelist Loretta Sage, played by Sandra Bullock, after she references the Lost City in her book, hoping she can help him find the treasure. Lorettas cover model, portrayed by Channing Tatum, then begins an ill-equipped rescue mission, kicking off chaos in the jungle.

Its very, very heightened in situations and the characters are in danger all the time, but even in those situations everyones still very quippy and funny, Radcliffe said. Theres something very classic-feeling about that. The journey the audience should go on is really just fun. Theres great action and theres thriller elements, and it is a very compelling story, but ultimately youre kept hooked because you love the characters.

Radcliffe, 32, enjoyed playing a villain in a comedy, saying he approached the antagonist role differently than he would have in a straight drama.

He is the least favorite son of a media mogul, Radliffe said of his character. He is kind of amoral and villainous, but all of his villainy is motivated by a very human and slightly pathetic need to be liked, and (he) desperately wants his dad to be impressed by him. The evil actions are almost from a very mundane and human place, which I think was clever.

Production took place in the Dominican Republic, with many scenes shot in the actual jungle.

The setting provided extraordinary scenery thats featured throughout The Lost City, said Radcliffe, who appreciated the film using a helicopter unit rather than drones to capture the natural beauty.

We had a proper helicopter unit on this, so (with) some of those shots of the ocean and of the mountains, you really feel the scope of it in a different way, Radcliffe said. Its very, very cool.

The actor, who has also frequently starred on Broadway throughout his career, said it was a thrill to work with Bullock and Tatum.

I grew up obviously on the Potter films and working with extraordinary actors like Maggie Smith and Richard Harris, but I didnt as a young child really have an appreciation for who they were and what their work had been, he said. Whereas I grew up watching Sandras movies, so to be on set with her is incredibly special. Very nerve-wracking at first, but thankfully she puts you at ease pretty quickly.

The Lost City had its world premiere this month at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, marking Radcliffes first time at a cinema since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was just joyous, Radcliffe said. It was so nice to sit in there with an audience and listen to them react to stuff. It was very much a reminder, like, oh yeah, this is why cinemas are good and this is why Ive missed this.

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Last summer, months before Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian law enforcement began laying the groundwork for an information war against its western neighbor. As part of that strategy, Russian authorities looked inward, launching criminal investigations against Russian journalists, including me and my colleagues at the independent news outlet, Proekt. They accused us of defamation of an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, and soon after, our media outlet was declared an undesirable organization  a status that allowed authorities to imprison anyone who collaborated or worked with it. For both crimes, I could have ended up in prison for a decade. And, I would have, had I not managed to leave the country before authorities could detain me.

Now living in the Bay Area, I am often asked by Americans whether the war in Ukraine is an ethnic conflict. Perhaps, they suggest, there might be some long-standing enmity between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Perhaps they are so different from each other that the situation was a powder keg, only in need of a megalomaniacal authoritarian ruler to light the match.

I understand why some people might think this. Major Western media outlets have hovered around the idea, and Russian President Putin justifies his invasion with false accusations of genocide. But its not true.

In English, the word Russian doesnt distinguish between ethnic Russians, or Russkiye, and people from the Russia that once made up the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union, or Rossiyane. The latter group includes many people that came under ethnic Russian control, including Ukrainians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chechens, Jews and many others. These ethnicities, while distinct, also blended. Particularly while under the control of the Soviet Union, they were forced into a single ethno-cultural identity, and as a result, ethnicities mixed.

I am a quarter Ukrainian, and my Ukrainian friends in the U.S. speak Russian and many have Russian, Jewish and Tatar surnames. They grew up watching the same films and reading the same books I did. There are myriad ties like these between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.

The same holds true within Ukraine: Those who are now dying from bombings in Kyiv, Kharkov and other cities are descendants of all the ethnicities that once lived together under Soviet control and they are all considered Ukrainian. Right now, my relatives of Russian-Ukrainian-Greek origin are hiding in the besieged Ukrainian city of Nikolaev while my wifes aunt, an ethnic Russian, hasnt been in touch from the now surrounded city of Mariupol in over two weeks.

So if this isnt an ethnic war, what is fueling it? What motivates Russian soldiers to pick up weapons against their family and friends across the border, people with whom they share so much linguistic and cultural connection?

As an independent Russian journalist, Ive seen and experienced the slow strangle Putin has had on the free flow of information over the past 20 years. One by one, each independent media outlet I worked for was shut down by authorities or sold to businessmen loyal to the Kremlin, leaving Putin to craft whatever narrative he wanted for the Russian people. This month, the last remaining independent media outlets in Russia  like Dozhd TV and Ekho Moskvy radio  were shut down in conjunction with the start of the war. Russians were told that their country was taking on a special military operation to liberate its neighbor from fascism and would be welcomed with open arms. As Russian forces were met with fierce resistance, Putins propaganda machine changed the narrative, telling Russians that the Ukraine government was a puppet of the West, which was determined to humiliate them.

This extensive propaganda machine goes far deeper and is all-encompassing in ways that most Americans do not appreciate. The RT television channel, which is often the only Russian-controlled outlet foreigners know of, is only a small part in a media ecosystem built under Putins regime. Journalists are not just banned from working  they can actually be imprisoned for calling the war in Ukraine a war. All of this, coupled with the blocking of outside media and social networks like Facebook, means Russians have no easy way to find out the truth about what is happening in the world. But with more than 10 nationwide channels in the country, all subordinate to the Kremlin, there are plenty of sources to hear the governments lies.

As much as Putin would like to tell Russians and the world that his is a just cause to end a supposed genocide or to liberate a people, the truth isnt so noble.

Over the past several decades, Russia and Ukraine have become very different countries and not because of ethnicity. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there have been six presidents in Ukraine, and most have held office for no longer than one term, giving way to rivals in democratic elections or losing power as a result of mass popular unrest. During the same time, there were only three presidents in Russia. The first simply transferred power to the second, appointing him as his successor, and the third was just a temporary puppet. But in reality, the second president controlled the government the entire time and has so for 23 years  Putin.

This is the difference between todays Russia and Ukraine. Over the years, Ukrainians have been building a democratic state. Along the way, they have had setbacks and successes. Some of their democratic initiatives worked, others did not. But regardless of the outcome of any one measure or initiative, over time, the citizens of Ukraine learned to say no to the authorities  to argue with them, to defend their rights and twice to call their leader into account when those respective presidents tried to deceive them.

All this time, Putin has been attempting to do the exact opposite with the citizens of Russia  to accustom them to the irremovability of his power and to wean them from challenging the actions of the Kremlin. We are now seeing the result of his efforts  millions of Russians, intimidated by the authorities, deprived of access to accurate information and believing the propaganda, do not openly oppose the war.

And yet there is still hope. Because at the same time, many of those same Russians are secretly trying to contact their relatives hiding from bombs in Ukraine and inevitably will hear the truth from them.

Putins war is against anyone who has their own dignity and who values their rights. It does not matter whether they are Ukrainian or Russian, journalist or ordinary citizen. He may fight tooth and nail, but people inside and outside of Ukraine will do so, too. And in the end, Putin will lose.

Roman Badanin is a Russian journalist, founder and editor in chief of the Proekt and Agentstvo media outlets; former editor in chief of the Dozhd TV channel and the RBC news agency. He is a senior international fellow at the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program at Stanford University.
This is a new kind of war, waged by a new kind of citizen.

The failure of the Russian forces to subdue Ukraine quickly has astonished experts, officials and journalists worldwide. It shouldnt. The Ukrainian resistance is just the latest example of the new attitudes and abilities of 21st century citizens.

While social media has been getting a lot of attention in this TikTok War, the real story is the growing determination and capacity of ordinary people. Around the world, ordinary people are fundamentally different from people of generations past. They have dramatically higher levels of education, far less deference to authority figures and much greater facility with technology.

These trends have changed citizenship itself. We need to understand this shift so that societies, especially democratic ones, can figure out how to adapt, both in war and peace.

The war in Ukraine is instructive, in at least four ways.

First, citizens now have the ability to make their own media; Ukrainians, under attack, are mass-producing reality TV. Thanks to footage produced by thousands of people and viewed by millions, the war has a constantly unfolding cast of characters. Ukrainian farmers towing Russian vehicles, a soldier moonwalking in a field, people joyriding on a captured Russian tank, and a little girl singing Let It Go in a Kyiv bomb shelter have become relatable, inspiring figures in the conflict. Seemingly every time Ukrainians have success on the battlefield, they upload videos of burned tanks and downed planes.

Perhaps most poignant are the videos of Russian prisoners of war  young, hungry and confused  being fed by their captors and allowed to call their mothers. These conversations, in which they tell their parents they are OK and arent sure why they ended up in a war, may be the best hope for affecting Russian public opinion. The Ukrainian hotline set up for Russians trying to get information on their loved ones on the front lines has also produced heartrending recordings. These videos expose the one thing Vladimir Putin cant easily hide: Russian deaths on the battlefield.

All that citizen-made media has been fuel for a second major trend of 21st century life: crowdsourced community organizing.

Nonviolent protests have sprung up around the world, both on the internet and on the streets, including in Russia and in occupied Ukrainian cities. The capacity of citizens to make this civil disobedience visible has rallied millions of others to their cause. People are filming the crowds that slow Russian convoys and mapping protests around the world in precise geo-located detail, so that others can join in.

This organizing happens rapidly and shows advanced collective thinking. People arent simply protesting the war, they are focusing on specific priorities and pressuring Western governments to move on them: singling out Russian oligarchs, denying Russian banks access to the SWIFT global financial network, banning Russian oil and shaming international corporations into halting their Russian operations. Community organizers call this finding winnable issues. Many of these economic sanctions are unprecedented, and it seems unlikely that Western governments and businesses would have taken all of these drastic steps if not for large-scale public pressure.

In addition to pressuring governments, many citizens are also sidestepping civil society institutions. They are supporting Ukrainians not just through traditional means like donating money to the Red Cross, but by using networks like Airbnb to send money directly to Ukrainian families. This is international aid without institutional intermediaries.

It isnt just the aid that is do-it-yourself. The warfare is DIY, too.

The contributions of Ukrainian citizens to the war effort includes all generations: grandmothers making Molotov cocktails, mothers brandishing assault rifles, young couples getting married at the front, schoolchildren sewing camouflage nets.

Some of the combatants arent even in Ukraine: a small army of hackers is helping to disrupt Russian technologies, interfere with defense communications and broadcast news about the war to Russian citizens. In an interview with Politico, Ukraines deputy digital minister, Alex Bornyakov, reported that there are 300,000 people worldwide contributing to these efforts.

We dont have a chain of command or any structure at all, Bornyakov said. So, (Russia) cant fight it. Its impossible to disrupt it or break it down. You cant bomb it or cut off connections or take down a top person  because there is no top person.

Of course, such warfare isnt entirely new. For thousands of years, ordinary people have taken up scythes and muskets against invading armies; for hundreds of years, there have been propaganda campaigns; for decades, people have been able to see in real time events happening on the other side of the world.

But the war in Ukraine is revealing how much things have advanced in the last 20 years: the full flowering of a gigantic global network of person-to-person connections, the blurring of the lines between professionals and amateurs, the ability of almost everyone to make their experiences visible and immediate to millions of other people.

Five years ago, the American writer and democracy advocate Eric Liu said that we are in fact in the midst of a profound global Great Push Back against concentrated, monopolized, hoarded power. Today in Ukraine, we are witnessing not just the decentralization of power  along with knowledge, skill, and authority  but the ability of the crowd to wield those decentralized resources in coordinated ways.

The changes in citizen attitudes and capacities are not all positive. Just like previous generations, 21st century citizens can be selfish and unwilling to compromise, saddled with bias and racist assumptions, and fundamentally misinformed. There is no guarantee that the crowd will wield power in ways that are wise, equitable or just.

But these dangers are unavoidable when people are empowered. And the best way to reckon with them is to seize the related opportunities that this change in citizenship creates for democracy.

We are already seeing what is possible when democratic governments support, inform and collaborate with 21st century citizens. Countries like Colombia, Iceland, Taiwan and Brazil have been leaders in democracy innovation: reforms and practices that strengthen relationships between people, give them a meaningful say in decisions, and support their volunteer efforts. Many of these ideas, like participatory budgeting and citizens assemblies, create situations where people can learn about an issue, talk with people who have different views and make decisions together. (Some Ukrainian cities have also been hotbeds of this kind of democratic experimentation.) Others, like crowd resourcing, inspire and coordinate volunteer efforts to solve public problems.

The desire of citizens to connect, be heard and get things done seems universal. Even in Russia, the demand for democratic input in governance has been on the rise.

Governments should adapt to the shift in citizenship by explaining these potential democracy innovations to their citizens, offering different democracy options and working with citizens to implement them, and measuring their impacts.

Putins regime seems more like a criminal institution than a political or military one. And it still may be effective enough to win the war because of the overwhelming Russian advantage in traditional military resources. But even if the Russian military is victorious on the battlefield, it seems unlikely that the Russians can occupy, let alone govern, Ukraine for long.

Whenever peace comes to Ukraine, and the rest of the world, we need to appreciate the new realities of what citizens want and can do. The greatest hope for democracy, justice and peace is for leaders and institutions to interact more productively with the people they serve.

Matt Leighninger is the head of democracy innovation at the National Conference on Citizenship, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in America. This piece was writen for Zocalo Public Square.
Rayna Hoffman-Ramos, a 61-year-old Oklahoma resident, was arrested last week on suspicion of murder in a nearly 30-year-old cold case that once rocked San Carlos, a quaint Bay Area city on the San Francisco Peninsula known more for its yearly tree-lighting ceremony than violent crime.

The San Mateo County Sheriffs Office announced the arrest Thursday, saying the advancement in forensic technology allowed them to identify the Oklahoma woman (who lived in San Mateo County in 1993) as a suspect in the jarring murder of Shu Ming Tang. Tang was shot to death in the chest in the middle of the day on April 26, 1993, inside of his convenience store, San Carlos Devonshire Little Store.

Despite hundreds of tips stemming from a nationally televised appearance on "Americas Most Wanted" five months after the murder, the police only ever reached a vague description of the shooter: a woman in her mid-20s driving a faded blue 1970s station wagon.

Grant Marek/SFGATE

With an abundance of pride, I announce a significant development in a 1993 cold case murder of Shu Ming Tang, having occurred in the city of San Carlos, San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos G. Bolanos said at Thursdays press conference. This was a cold case for nearly three decades. Today I can announce that weve made an arrest and justice for Mr. Tangs family is at hand. The San Mateo County Sheriffs Office would like to thank the Tang family for their support. I hope your family will finally get the justice you deserve and the closure you desire.

After a whirlwind 24 hours that included Thursday visits from three Bay Area TV stations and several local newspapers (both English and Chinese), Devonshire Little Store was mostly business as usual on Friday, with customers trickling in for sundries.

Chung Sun, a Taiwanese immigrant who bought the Little Store three months after Tangs death and has fielded unanswerable questions about the case for almost three decades, told SFGATE the arrest brought forth a mixture of emotions.

Blair Heagerty/SFGATE

Customers ask me about it all the time, and I just say, no, no, no. Now I can say, This lady did it, he said Friday. I have an answer. Next time people come in theyll be happy about the cold case being solved.

But Sun admitted he still has myriad questions.

My interest is why? he said. She knows the store has no money, I want to know, what was the conversation? Why did she shoot this man? She looks like a normal person, how can she do this?

The sheriffs office still believes the murder was a robbery gone wrong, but with Hoffman-Ramos in Oklahomas Washington County Jail awaiting extradition to California to face charges, answers could be coming sooner than later.

AP

Sun said hes been holding onto newspaper clippings of the murder that were passed to him by Tangs wife when he first bought the business.

This is part of Devonshires story, he said, while flipping through 1993 editions of both the San Jose Mercury News and now-defunct The Times. Everyone still remembers this case even 30 years later.

But the 87-year-old Devonshire Little Store has always been more than just a footnote in a cold case  and that was never more evident than during the past several years as it tried to survive a pandemic that crippled small businesses in America. In a 2020 SFGATE profile of Devonshire Little Store, Sun said generous donations from customers during the beginning of the pandemic kept the store afloat.

Ive been here so many years  the neighborhood cares about me. I care about my neighbors, this is a symbol of that. Were all communities, we can all help each other, he told SFGATE then. Especially: I live in this neighborhood and its mostly Caucasians and Im from Taiwan, right? So it really, really touched my heart, this is more than money.
Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage

KRTY has been sold to a Christian broadcaster, leaving just one country music radio station in the Bay Area.

Empire Broadcasting announced it sold KRTY, based in San Jose, last week to the Education Media Foundation. The sale comes two years after the death of Empire Broadcasting's 98-year-old president Bob Kieve.
Fabian Meseberg / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

The crater floor peeks at me through rainforest foliage as I walk the rim around Kilauea Iki  a 400-foot-deep crater created by Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiis most active volcano.



I started my day early in the morning, so the 3.3-mile loop hike Ive set out on is peaceful with only an occasional passerby. The sun warms an otherwise chilly forest and the air smells of morning dew as I make my way along the path inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.



The trail leads me gradually down to Kilauea Ikis crater floor. Its a lovely, well-maintained walk, but Im anxious for the main attraction  and the occasional views interspersed through the trees are a big tease.



While Kilauea Volcano is Hawaiis most active, its not the youngest  that honor belongs to Kamaehuakanaloa (formerly Loihi), which is currently erupting underwater. A shield volcano that sits low and long, Kilauea has many craters. Halemaumau Crater is its most famous, known for its red glowing lava lake.



But on the other side of Kilaueas caldera, separated only by a tree-covered ridge, is Kilauea Iki  translated to Little Kilauea in English. While this crater is smaller than the neighboring Halemaumau, it is still large, at about a mile wide.



The last eruption at Kilauea Iki was in 1959, when a spectacular line of lava fountains shot into the air 50 to 100 feet high and sent lava down its crater walls to the bottom, where it pooled.

Im watching some fireworks that make the 4th of July look like a guy lighting a match, said one eyewitness in a 1959 Honolulu Advertiser newspaper article. Observers called it more fantastic than anything that happened at Halemaumau.



After about a month, the eruption stopped and formed this hardened lava lake that, today, people can hike across.
It's about to get even harder to get through Oak Creek Canyon.

State Route 89A through Oak Creek Canyon is scheduled to undergo some major work over the next 16 months. The Arizona Department of Transportation is planning construction improvements along both the north and south ends of the canyon, including rockfall mitigation and rehabilitation of the Pumphouse Wash Bridge in addition to drainage and sediment control.

The work will span from milepost 375 to 389.

The improvements are much needed, Brendan Foley, assistant district engineer for ADOT's Northcentral District, said during a public information meeting Wednesday.

"All three improvements are vital to preserving the integrity and safety of the highway," Foley said.

The massive project will ideally curb unexpected rockfall incidents along the highway by stabilizing multiple known rockfall areas. Rockfalls can happen without any warning and can pose a huge safety risk for those traveling along the highway, in addition to shutting down the roadway for hours as crews attempt to remove the obstruction.

It should also address the deteriorating slopes along the roadway -- which should reduce the potential for mud and rock slides in addition to improving the quality of the water being discharged into Oak Creek Canyon. The bridge project is meant to improve the structural integrity and extend the life of the bridge, which was constructed in 1931, by an estimated 25 years.

All three projects will be taking place on different timelines, which are still waiting for approval by ADOT and the contractor. Everything is slated to be completed by late 2023, with a possible break occurring during the winter season.

The long-term improvement project is expected to cause major traffic flow issues for those traveling through the canyon.

The road will remain open, but officials said traffic will be restricted, with the roadway narrowed to one lane through the work zones with alternating northbound and southbound travel. Flaggers will control traffic, and temporary concrete barriers will be used for lane restrictions.

In addition, ADOT officials said residents can anticipate up to five daytime closures from Sunday through Thursday. There are no dates for the closures just yet, but Foley said they will likely occur in mid-May and late July 2023. An additional 10 overnight closures are expected to occur at any time during the course of project. He added that notice will be provided at least seven days in advance.

"We recognize these restrictions and full closures, in particular, are inconvenient for everyone," Foley said. "Unfortunately there is no way to do these projects without some closure and extended lane restrictions."

ADOT officials noted that the full closures won't take place over the weekend, on holidays or when there's a major event in Sedona.

This left some feeling like the priority was on seasonal visitors, not full-time residents.

"It hurts the locals. It hurts the commuters. It hurts the people that have business during the week," said Jen Bielack, a resident of uptown Sedona. "Whereas weekends would more impact the tourists."

Others worried about how these restrictions and closures will impact their lives, citing concerns about upcoming travel and public safety. Project heads, however, clarified emergency services will still be able to get through when needed.

The work is scheduled to begin later this spring. Drivers will need to take Interstate 17 and State Route 179 to get between Sedona and Flagstaff during the full closures.

Reporter Bree Burkitt can be reached at 928-556-2250 or bburkitt@azdailysun.com.

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W.C. Fields was once quoted as saying, Never work with animals or children. In this film, Ruby whose real name is Bear steals almost every scene from the other actors. Maybe Fields knew something.

I have another dog movie for the whole family to watch.

Rescued by Ruby is a Netflix film and a true story.

Ruby is a very cute border collie mix that was adopted multiple times and then quickly returned to the animal shelter she thought of as home because of her generally "unmanageable" personality.

Rhode Island State Trooper Daniel O'Neil (Grant Gustin) needs a young dog to train to pursue his dream of joining the K-9 search and rescue team. ONeil was rejected seven times and has one last chance to qualify before he turns 30.

Ruby is hours away from being euthanized when ONeil adopts her.

Kaylah Zander plays Melissa, ONeils very patient and loving wife. Scott Wolf, a face many will remember from the Party of Five TV show in the late 90's, is Matt Zarrella, head of the K-9 Unit. I worked for Director Harry Winer when he was directing an episode of the show and had the pleasure of meeting Wolf and watching him work.

Camille Sullivan is Pat, the woman who works at the animal shelter and loves Ruby but cant adopt the dog because of the menagerie she already has at home. Tom McBeath is Seamus, a mystery man.

I enjoyed the scenes between Dan and Melissa. ust when I thought she was about to haul off and belt him one, shed do something sweet and forgiving. I would have belted him one; Im not that sweet.

Fans will recognize Gustin as the Flash/Barry Allen, a DC Comics character on television. I would like to see him in more movies. He was quite good.

Katt Shea directed Rescued by Ruby, and the screenplay was written by Karen Janzen. Although the film is very predictable, that is what you want in this story. The script is very clean. There is no foul language or sex; the film is rated G.

At the end of the film, they show the out-takes they made with the animals and children. I love out-takes; it shows just how funny we can be.

Rescued by Ruby is only an hour and 37 minutes  just enough time to make you feel good. And I promise you will want to go to the nearest animal shelter and rescue a new pet. If you are unable to rescue a cat or dog, please give a generous donation or volunteer.
Officials of Grand Canyon National Park said Friday that a woman has died on the Colorado River.

Mary Kelley, 68, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, was on day nine of a private boating trip Thursday when her boat capsized at the top of Hance Rapid at river mile 77. Kelley was ejected from the boat into the river before members of her party were able to retrieve her from the water, Joelle Baird, park ranger and spokesperson, said.

When they pulled her from the water, she was found unresponsive, Baird added. And that is when they began CPR and notified the park via their personal locator beacon.

At approximately 11:18 a.m., the park was alerted of the emergency and informed that CPR was in progress. Rangers flew to the location by helicopter but all resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

This is not the first time Hance Rapid has claimed a life. On June 15, 2021, James Crocker, 59, fell into the water at Hance Rapid and could not be resuscitated.

It is one of the more technical rapids, Baird said. It's very challenging, even for experienced boatman who have been on the river many times.

The incident involving Kelley is the first to result in a fatality on the Colorado River this year. Grand Canyon National Park has the most search and rescue (SAR) incidents of any national park  an estimated 785 incidents between 2018 and 2020.

Baird, who has been stationed at the park for 10 years, said she has observed an increasing trend in the number of SAR incidents at Grand Canyon, especially over the last couple years.

We saw a lot of people visiting the park during the pandemic in general, 2020 and 2021, Baird said. But last year in 2021, we had a total of 411 search and rescue incidents in Grand Canyon National Park. Normally, we average around 300 search and rescues a year. But to have 411, it really took a toll on our staff and resources.

As the summer season approaches, Baird said she expects to respond to more SAR incidents.

If trends continue with our visitation going upwards, then we would potentially see search and rescue incidents climb as well, she said.

Baird urges all park visitors  no matter their activity  to take safety very seriously and come prepared for the extreme environments of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Even the most highly experienced and well-prepared recreation enthusiasts can still find themselves trouble, she said.

It is a highly technical river, she said. Accidents can happen. I don't think anything preventative could have been done ahead of time for this case.

Sean Golightly can be reached at sgolightly@azdailysun.com

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LONDON  In Belize, a visit to a cocoa farm was scotched after residents protested. In Jamaica, the prime minister declared his country was moving on from the British monarchy. In the Bahamas, the couple arrived to demands from a group calling for slavery reparations that they acknowledge Britains economy was built on the backs of our ancestors.

For Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, it has been a turbulent tour of the Caribbean  one that has dramatized, through a pileup of gaffes and miscues, how rapidly Queen Elizabeth II is losing her grip on these distant dominions, even when she sends her most popular proxies.

Barbados cast off the queen as head of state last November, and Jamaica seems emboldened to follow suit, though it would require a referendum to amend the islands constitution. William, second in line to the throne, got a taste of how the mood toward the monarchy has changed in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and a renewed call for reparations for Britains role in the slave trade.

We intend to fulfill our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country, Jamaicas prime minister, Andrew Holness, said Wednesday as a po-faced William looked on.

On many stops of their tour, the couple was greeted warmly, even jubilantly. But even those encounters were marred by off-key images. During a military parade, William, resplendent in a white dress uniform, rode with his wife, also in white, in the same open-top Land Rover that carried the queen and Prince Philip in 1962. To some locals, it was a caricature of a colonial proconsul inspecting his troops.

In Trench Town, the Kingston neighborhood famous as the home of Bob Marley, the couple tried their hand at reggae and mixed with friendly crowds. But the enduring image of the stop was likely to be them touching the fingers of children stretched through a chain-link fence  the kind of public relations gaffe that afflicts other members of the royal family but has rarely tarnished this couple.

The dissonance is about more than poor stagecraft, according to scholars and royal watchers. Sentiment toward the royal family has shifted perceptibly in the Caribbean since the killing of Black people by the police in the United States inflamed a long-simmering debate in Britain and its former colonies about the legacy of empire. Barbados decision to remove the queen was a tipping point.

Barbados is seen as the conservative of the Caribbean, said Richard Drayton, a professor of imperial history at Kings College London, who spent his childhood on the island. So when Barbados takes a step like this, it creates space for other Caribbean countries to move in that direction.

Both major political parties in Jamaica support becoming a republic, though there are legal hurdles that make it more complicated than in Barbados. Guyana led an earlier wave of republicanism in the Caribbean, dissolving its ties to the queen in 1970. Trinidad and Tobago followed in 1976 and Dominica in 1978.

Karwai Tang - Getty Images

Elizabeth, 96 next month, remains head of state of 15 countries in the Commonwealth. While she has a reservoir of popularity in the Caribbean, particularly among older people, Drayton said many were impatient for a public acknowledgment by the monarchy of its role in the slave trade, which was conducted under royal imprimatur by the Royal African Co. in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Williams father, Prince Charles, spoke candidly about the stain of slavery when he was on hand for the ceremony at which Barbados became a republic. By all accounts, William went even further, though he stopped short of a formal apology.

I want to express my profound sorrow, he said at a dinner in Jamaica. Slavery was abhorrent, and it should never have happened.

Given the charged atmosphere, Drayton said Buckingham Palace miscalculated by choreographing the couples visit as a traditional royal tour. The idea was to send William and Catherine, who are among the most popular royals in opinion polls, to represent the queen during her Platinum Jubilee (she stopped traveling overseas several years ago). Catherine, more commonly known as Kate, still got good reviews in the London tabloids.

This is a very old strategy on the part of the royal household to cement its hold over the dominions, to make the charismatic presence of the crown visible, he said. The assumption they could simply send out members of the royal family to press the flesh and charm the crowds reflects a lack of clear thinking.

The royal family has grappled with questions about race since last year, when the biracial, American-born wife of Prince Harry, Meghan, told Oprah Winfrey in a sensational television interview that a member of the family had expressed concerns about the color of their babys skin. Asked bluntly whether his family was racist, William said no.

While the Harry and Meghan show did not intrude on the William and Kate tropical tour, royal watchers said the repeated references to racial issues served as an illustration of what was lost when Harry and his wife gave up their royal duties and relocated to California. On a visit to Africa before the split, Meghan electrified crowds that had never seen a British duchess who looked like them.

If this tour had been led by Harry and Meghan, it would probably have gone down a lot better than William and Kate, said Ed Owens, a historian who has written about the relationship between the media and the monarchy. Harry and Meghan were, if you like, the monarchys silver bullet, making it more palatable.

Still, given the deeper historical trends, it is unlikely that even they would have kept the queens realm from shrinking further. Drayton predicted Jamaica would be a republic in two years, possibly followed by Belize, though its situation was complicated by security concerns about its neighbor, Guatemala.

The hesitations about doing this are now gone, he said. That particular ship has sailed.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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SOFIA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said here on Saturday that he would not allow his country to be involved in the conflict in Ukraine, according to a press release by his press office.

"As head of state, I will not allow Bulgaria to be involved in this conflict," Radev said while answering a question about Bulgaria's decision, along with Hungary, of not to send weapons to Ukraine.

He was elected to defend the security of Bulgarians and peace in Bulgaria, Radev said.

"The price of war is paid by the citizens, not the television preachers," Radev said.

"My concern is the people," he added.

According to Bulgarian Constitution, the president is the Supreme Commander in Chief of the country's Armed Forces.

Last November, Radev was elected for the second consecutive five-year term.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told a joint press conference after talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last week that they have not discussed any military assistance to Ukraine. 
The need to rely on virtual teaching technologies during the pandemic has been beneficial for both teachers and students as such experiences allow them to be better prepared for the new normal of hybrid work and enhance their overall productivity, according to the Sino-British College of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.

The university has again been leveraging such technologies due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai.

"The pandemic has made educators more resilient and provided them with greater familiarity of the functions available through our Virtual Learning Environments platform and the adoption of various pedagogical practices in both virtual teaching and learning contexts," said Gareth Lewis, head of the School of Engineering and Computing of the college.

Daniel Sdrigotti, a French lecturer at the college, noted that the use of digital teaching tools has also allowed teachers to provide students with more individualized feedback.

Lee Henderson, head of the School of Business and Management of the college, stated that staff members have full confidence in the city's pandemic measures and understand that time is needed to bring the number of cases down to a controllable level. Till this happens, virtual learning will be the primary medium of instruction.

Henderson's sentiment on the city's management was echoed by other foreign teachers from the college who said that Shanghai's grid-based management has made them feel safe.

"I dare say that nearly all expats would agree they feel safer in Shanghai than wherever they may call home," said Tony Ryan, a senior lecturer from the United States.

"China's stringent COVID-19 policy has resulted in the safest living and working environment. Friends and family back home have been envious that while they were living under strong lockdown measures, Shanghai was back to business as usual," he added.
Beyond Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin is also fighting cultural battles.

In a speech Friday from the nondescript, beige-walled office in which he has been conducting much of his public business this month, Putin made no mention of Ukraine. Instead, he expanded upon a personal obsession: cancel culture.

Western elites canceled author J.K. Rowling because she did not please fans of so-called gender freedoms, Putin said in his nationally televised remarks, flanked by two Russian flags. Rowling was widely criticized in 2020 after voicing support for a researcher whose views on transgender people had been condemned by a court.

Japan, he claimed, cynically decided to cancel  the fact that it was the United States that dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. And now, he said, the West is busy canceling Russia, an entire thousand-year-old country, our people.

That the Russian president delivered a disquisition on Western public discourse Friday may seem odd at a time when Russia is fighting what some analysts believe to be its bloodiest war since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. But it underscores how Putin tries to channel cultural grievances and common stereotypes for political gain  while using language that also allows him to speak directly to possible allies in the West.

This is his cultural front, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. Hes also at war there.

Speaking at the beginning of a videoconference with Russian cultural figures, Putin said proverbial cancel culture has become the cancellation of culture.

And, as seems inevitable in Putins speeches these days, the Nazis came up, too.

The names of Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff are being removed from playbills. Russian writers and their books are being banned, Putin said. The last time such a mass campaign to destroy objectionable literature was carried out was by the Nazis in Germany almost 90 years ago.

For the moment, Kolesnikov said, Putins main audience when railing against Western cancel culture is domestic, with the Kremlin intent on feeding the grievances against the West upon which Putin draws much of his support. But casting Russia as a protector of traditional values from the thrall of wanton liberalism is also a message that finds sympathy around the world  including among American right-wing commentators like Fox News Tucker Carlson, whose monologues are often shown on Russian state television.

We have a constitutional right to a free press, but we dont have it, Carlson, dubbed into Russian, said in a clip from his show that was played in a news segment on state-controlled Channel 1 this week. And that is not Russian propaganda.

Putin on Friday defined cancel culture as the public ostracism, boycotting and even complete silencing of people who do not fit into modern templates, no matter how absurd they really are.

It was at least the third time in recent months that he spoke about the subject, one that appears to encapsulate for him the hypocrisy and shallowness of Western elites.

It is also a particularly important message to Putin now, as he tries to convince Russians that they need not despair that their country is turning into a pariah in the West, with companies and cultural institutions cutting ties. Spotify, the music streaming giant, on Friday became the latest company to suspend operations in Russia, after blanketing Moscow in advertisements when it entered the Russian market in 2020.

Domestic culture at all times protected the identity of Russia, Putin said. It readily accepted all the best and creative, but rejected the deceitful and fleeting, that which destroyed continuity of our spiritual values, moral principles and historical memory.

Russia, Putins argument goes, is culturally superior because it respects history and traditional values. Now, he says, the West is betraying its cravenness and Russophobia by trying to cancel Russia itself, including its contributions to the arts and to history, particularly to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Indeed, how broadly to punish Russian cultural figures in response to the war in Ukraine is a topic of debate around the world. Some have called for Russias total isolation, while others argue that blanket bans on all Russian entries at film festivals, for example, go too far.

In the main, however, relatively few Russian artists have been canceled, as Putin would have it. While there have been scattered examples of arts organizations in the West canceling Russian works and performers in the aftermath of Putins invasion of Ukraine, the vast majority have continued to prominently feature Russian culture.

The Metropolitan Opera on Friday was opening a revival of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys Eugene Onegin featuring three Russian artists. That same night, the New York Philharmonic was performing Dmitri Shostakovichs Ninth Symphony (next week, the orchestra will play Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev). The Chicago Symphony, meanwhile, is in the midst of a series of all-Tchaikovsky concerts.

To Putin, though, the idea that the West is rising up against all things Russian is a convenient foil. He had conductor Valery Gergiev join him for Fridays videoconference, which was held to mark Culture Workers Day in Russia and honored the winners of a Kremlin arts prize.

Gergiev, a prominent supporter of Putin, was removed from his post as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic this month after he refused to denounce the invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, Putin dangled what appeared to be a reward for Gergievs loyalty: He asked the conductor whether he was interested in re-creating a common directorate that would unite the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow with the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

The Bolshoi is currently led by Vladimir Urin, who last month signed a letter expressing his opposition to the war in Ukraine. Gergiev did not respond to a request for comment Friday. The Bolshoi said no personnel changes had been announced.

Whats most important right now is to indoctrinate his supporters, Kolesnikov, the analyst, said of Putin. The message: Our cultural life is not ending, and we dont need anything from the West.

For Rowling, whose Harry Potter books are immensely popular in Russia, being defended by Putin as a victim of Western cancel culture apparently did not sit well.

Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics, Rowling posted on Twitter, in response to Putins remarks.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
For more than a decade, the Pentagon, pinned down in Afghanistan, followed China's rise as a global power and Russia's ambitious military modernization program with growing alarm. The consensus in Beijing, Moscow and among some in Washington was that an era of U.S. global dominance was rapidly coming to an end.

But one month into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, senior Pentagon officials are brimming with newfound confidence in American power, spurred by the surprising effectiveness of U.S.-backed Ukrainian forces, Russia's heavy battlefield losses and the cautionary lessons they believe China is taking from the war.

"Let me put it this way," said one senior Pentagon official of America's standing in the world. "Who would you switch places with? Seriously, who would you switch places with?"

It's a stunning shift in tone for a department that in August ended a 20-year war in Afghanistan with a chaotic withdrawal as an ascendant Taliban returned to power. Even though the U.S. military has not played the primary role in the American response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, senior Pentagon officials are quick to tout the still-unfolding war as proof of America's economic, diplomatic and military strength.

The senior Pentagon official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said that the last few weeks have shown that the United States can marshal its "primacy in the global financial system" and its network of allies "in ways that can absolutely pummel aggressors."

The success of U.S. and NATO-trained Ukrainian forces has also bolstered the Pentagon's confidence following the embarrassing collapse of U.S.-trained militaries in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. The Ukrainian military's will to fight and ability to inflict heavy losses on larger and more technologically advanced Russian force has taken many at the Pentagon by surprise.

"I think Ukraine has been able to tie the Russians in knots in large part because of what we've been able to do to help them since 2014," the senior defense official said, adding that the failures of Afghan forces "might" have caused U.S. officials to underestimate Ukrainian troops.

Such optimism isn't universally shared. Critics note that the Russian invasion is only one month old and that the Russians already are using their overwhelming firepower advantage to level Ukrainian cities in an attempt to secure a brutal and bloody victory. Even a partial triumph would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to say that he had stood up to the world and the flood of arms from the West.

The United States also has relied heavily on European allies, who have often taken the lead in leveling crippling sanctions on the Russian economy at considerable costs to themselves. It's not yet clear whether the current unity will fracture if the war drags on for months.

"We need to demonstrate our [collective] power every day, and we can only demonstrate it if we keep everybody together," said Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. "This is not something the U.S. has traditionally done well."

Some Republicans have charged that Putin's perception of the United States and its allies as militarily weak or unwilling to fight gave him the confidence to invade Ukraine. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, this month compared Biden to Neville Chamberlain, the former British prime minister who sought to appease Hitler before World War II.

"Weakness invites aggression. It's a historic axiom. And it's true," McCaul said in a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Pentagon officials contend that there was little they could do to deter Putin, who expected a quick and easy victory in Ukraine, and argue that their broader strategy of "integrated deterrence" - which leverages economic, diplomatic and military power to dissuade potential aggressors - has so far worked to stop Putin from expanding the war into NATO territory. The Biden administration has made integrated deterrence the cornerstone of its soon-to-be released National Defense Strategy, which was delayed as the threat of an invasion grew.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the model of integrated deterrence comes out smelling pretty good from this," the senior defense official said.

Others pointed to Putin's Ukraine invasion as proof of the concept's failure. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., said in an interview that he "completely and strongly" disagrees with anyone who cites Ukraine as an example of the success of integrated deterrence. "I cannot fathom how they can make that argument with a straight face," he said. "Their whole deterrence strategy rested on the idea that the threat of limited sanctions could deter Putin."

Gallagher added that the Ukraine conflict "could still escalate in ways that we don't foresee right now."

The biggest critique from Republicans has been that Biden and the Pentagon have been too quick to foreclose military options and too worried that aggressive U.S. efforts to arm the Ukrainians might spur Putin to widen the war.

More robust U.S. involvement "would be an assurance that Russia would lose the war," said Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "If the Ukrainian military can fight the Russian military to a standstill, imagine what it would look like if the United States and its allies joined?"

Biden's worries about triggering a wider war against a nuclear power, however, haven't constrained U.S. ambitions regarding Ukraine. A few weeks ago there was grave doubt among senior U.S. military officials about whether the Ukrainians could hold onto their country if Putin was determined to launch an all-out invasion. Now Pentagon officials talk of the need to make certain Putin suffers a "strategic failure."

Such an outcome, these officials said, would have far reaching consequences in Moscow but also in Beijing, where China's Xi Jinping is almost certainly drawing lessons from Putin's struggles.

"Amphibious landings are the single hardest large-scale military operations that there is," the senior Pentagon official said. Since the start of the Ukraine invasion, Russia has kept its amphibious ships parked off the coast of Ukrainian cities, apparently afraid to come ashore. At least one of those ships, thought to be carrying armored personnel carriers and tanks, was struck by Ukrainian forces Thursday in the Black Sea port of Berdyansk, resulting in a huge fireball.

Compared with Ukraine, Taiwan is a "hellscape" for an invading force that combines open beaches, mountainous terrain and dense cities, the senior defense official said.

Former defense secretary Robert Gates offered a similar assessment Wednesday in an online conversation with Michael Vickers, his former undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Xi and Putin have both described the United States as "in decline," politically paralyzed and eager to pull back from the rest of the world.

"Xi's got to wonder about his own army at this point," Gates said in the conversation, organized by the OSS Society. "The resistance of the Ukrainians has got to make him wonder, 'Maybe I've underestimated the consequences of a military attack on Taiwan?'"

Gallagher took the opposite lesson, arguing that even though China recognizes Russia's struggles, Putin's gamble should spur a greater sense of urgency regarding Taiwan. "All of the evidence suggests that we are already in the window of maximum danger," he said.

A longer-term challenge for the Pentagon, which is prone to its own fits of military hubris, will be to recognize the limits of its power and the crucial role U.S. allies will play in containing Russian and Chinese global ambitions, according to analysts and even some senior Pentagon officials. In the 1990s and early 2000s when the United States was at the height of its power, U.S. leaders often treated allies as an afterthought. President George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 over the objections of allies such as Germany and France.

"We had this sense where we could do it all and the allies were a problem," said Daalder, the former NATO ambassador.

More recently, Biden decided on a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan with little input from America's NATO allies who had fought alongside U.S. troops for two decades. Now Daalder said the challenge for the Biden administration and possibly successive presidents will be to hold together the global coalition of democracies that came together to confront Putin "not just for a month or a year, but for a decade plus" as the United States and its allies work to disentangle their economies from Russia and eventually from a resurgent and increasingly authoritarian and aggressive China.

Such an approach would require a new kind of humility, and new deference to the allies on both military and economic matters.

"If strong economic, political and military competition with Russia and China is the priority," Daalder said, "we can't do it by ourselves."
A girl makes a heart shape with her hands as civilians are evacuated from Mariupol under the control of Russian military and pro-Russian separatists. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Ukraine: a war diary from Lviv  photo essay

Photojournalist Alessio Mamo talks about his experience covering the conflict from Lviv in Western Ukraine, 50 miles from the border with Poland, and finds echoes of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq that he has covered. by Alessio Mamo

For the inhabitants of Lviv, being woken up in the middle of the night by the air raid siren is a warning that, despite being untouched so far by the bombings, the time may also come for them.

In over 10 years of working in countries in conflict this was also a first for me. There are no air raid sirens announcing terrorist attacks in Kabul, just as there are none when Turkish drones bomb the population in north-eastern Syria. But, if there is one thing that makes this war the same as any other in any area of the planet, it is the way it changes peoples faces.



Thousands of Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in Medyka, the main border crossing between Poland and Ukraine. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in Medyka the crossing border between Poland from Ukraine.

The confused, terrified, dismayed looks of the children of Kharkiv, Kyiv and Mariupol are the same as those of the children of Raqqa, Mosul and Palestine. They are those of the children who have just landed in Sicily, after a night in a rubber dinghy, in the midst of the waves of the Mediterranean, surprised to have survived.

Group of women mostly from South Africa and Zambia inside a supermarket at Medyka border crossings. They were studying Medicine at the University of Kyiv.

The cry of pain of Ukrainian mothers who lost their children in the war is the same as that of the Yazidi mothers who found the bodies of their loved ones buried in mass graves in Iraq. It is they, who have no power over war, who are the first to pay for its atrocities and consequences.

Immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, I went with Guardian correspondent Lorenzo Tondo to the Polish cities on the border with Ukraine, where tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the war were beginning to arrive. It was enough to go to Przemy?l train station to understand the proportions of a conflict that, in just a few weeks, has caused the exodus of more than 3 million people, the fastest moving refugee crisis since the end of the second world war.

Hundreds of Ukrainians arrived at the Przemy?l train station after the journey from Lviv.

Families with children inside the train to Przemy?l in Poland.

In the eyes of each of the passengers who get off the buses and trains coming from Ukraine or walk to Medyka, Polands main crossing point, you can read the silent despair on the faces of the mothers, grandmothers and daughters who have seen their homes disintegrate under the blows of Russian forces. It is the silence of those who have lost everything. The eyes of those who do not know if they will see their loved ones or their city again, or even if they will ever be able to return to their country. Refugees, fleeing the war, are mostly women, after Ukrainian authorities introduced martial law, banning men aged 18-60 from leaving the country.

Migrants that have just crossed the border between Poland and Ukraine at Medyka

In early March, alongside Tondo, I entered the city of Lviv in Ukraine, 50 miles from the border with Poland and a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Ukrainians. The 700,000 inhabitants of this magnificent Unesco world heritage site knew that they could be the next to leave home.

Ukrainian civilians take shelter in a basement of a hotel in Lviv? after air raid sirens.

I am not on the Kyiv frontline, or beneath the Kharkiv bombings, where dozens of my colleagues document crimes against civilians. Since the beginning of the conflict, about five journalists and video makers have died. Yet, despite this, the war has also arrived here, in Lviv, where thousands of refugees are seeking refuge, where people run for cover in the citys bomb shelters, during air raids, and where local authorities have ordered dozens of statues to be wrapped in padding to protect them from Russian attacks. The war has come here too, with the roar of explosions in the distance that hit the military base of Yavoriv, close to Lviv and the Polish border, killing at least 35 people and injuring 134 more.

Funeral at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church of four Ukrainian men, killed in a Russian military attack in Yavoriv

On Tuesday 15 March, I attended a funeral in Lviv of four Ukrainian men, killed in the attack. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church.

The four men were of different ages. The youngest was born in 1991, the oldest in 1966

Seeing Ukrainian mothers hugging their childrens coffins took me back to Qamishli, in north-eastern Syria, where the mothers of the Kurdish forces soldiers mourned their children, killed in Turkish attacks. Attending a funeral in a country at war is not easy, documenting the suffering, aware of invading the privacy of these people. But the work of a photojournalist is a continuous internal struggle between emotions and the duty to document. A step back in respect of pain, a step forward so that pain is also felt by the rest of the world.

The priest had to interrupt the ceremony due to an air raid siren. The pastor had to stop family members carrying the coffins outside the church. The four men were of different ages. The youngest one was born in 1991, the oldest in 1966. Once the air raid siren had stopped, the priest resumed the ceremony and the coffins were carried outside to be buried.

As I watched the soldiers and friends of the victims holding large crosses in front of their tombstones, I read the despair and terror of those who are aware that, one day, it could also be their turn. They are very young. At their age, they should be planning for their futures, having fun, travelling and falling in love. Instead, here they are, forced to take up arms in a war they have not started and whose fate is far from defined.
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.

Skip the paper

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.

Match numbers

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.

Report all credits

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.
CONCORD (BCN)

Girls will be climbing ladders, slinging hoses, wrangling power tools and performing other firefighting tasks during NorCal First Alarm Girls Fire Camps in Concord Saturday and Sunday.

Two separate all-day fire camps will take place at the Contra Costa County Fire Training Center on Treat Boulevard, hosted by NorCal Women in the Fire Service. Each one-day camp will give girls in grades 9-12 exposure to the skills involved in a firefighting career.

Professional female firefighters from all over Northern California will lead the camps, which are limited to 25 girls and 25 staffers per camp in an abundance of caution due to COVID-19.

Members of the media, fire chiefs, city managers, labor leaders and elected officials are invited to visit the camps between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The camps are not open to the general public for visits.

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.

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By Eli Wolfe

San Jose Spotlight

A small group wants to stop San Jose's main water retailer from changing its rate structure, arguing this will potentially remove an incentive for conserving water.

Water Rate Advocates for Transparency, Equity and Sustainability (WRATES) -- a group that advocate on behalf of water customers -- challenged San Jose Water Company's proposed rate hike and is currently in litigation before the California Public Utilities Commission.

The group claims San Jose Water Company's proposal would not just increase water bills, but also reduce an incentive to conserve water -- a serious issue in Silicon Valley, where ongoing drought is exacerbating water shortages.

San Jose Water Company (SJWC) is waiting for the commission to approve a 13.35% rate hike on its customers, which would apply retroactively for the first months of 2022. The utility also wants to change the way customers are charged. SJWC is the largest water retailer in San Jose, serving more than a million customers in the city and surrounding cities such as Cupertino, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and Los Gatos.

The proposed change addresses the two things a water customer is billed for: how much water they use -- also known as a "volumetric" charge -- and the "connection" charge, which is essentially a cost for service. The connection charge is fixed -- it doesn't change. The water usage changes depending how much water a household uses.

Right now, 54% of a customer's bill covers how much water they use. The remaining 46% reflects the fixed connection charge. That means if a person conserves water -- like using a low flow toilet and letting their lawn die -- they can theoretically cut down a significant part of their water bill.

WRATES member and Monte Sereno Mayor Pro Tempore Bryan Mekechuk said SJWC wants to flip the ratio. According to records filed with the CPUC, the proposal would result in customers paying 55.4% for connection charges and 44.6% water usage charges. Mekechuk said this will give SJWC a more stable and predictable stream of revenue, but it will make it harder for customers to save a buck by conserving water.

"The importance of that is you can't reduce your water bill by reducing the amount of water that you use," Mekechuk told San Jose Spotlight. "Your bill is going to go up and there's nothing you can do about it."

John Tang, vice president of regulatory affairs and government relations at SJWC, said even with the changed ratio, SJWC would still incentivize people to conserve water. The company uses a tiered rate system, which charges higher-volume users more depending on how much water they consume. He added that a higher fixed rate will help the company pay for critical infrastructure projects, such as the routine replacement of pipes.

"There's no finish line here," he told San Jose Spotlight. "You put in that pipe today and 100 years later somebody else is going to replace it."

How the water flows

To get approval for this change, SJWC filed an application last year with the California Public Utilities Commission. If the commission gives its blessing, SJWC will be able to implement a series of rate hikes over the next three years that will bring in additional $87.7 million in revenue.

"Bills are just going to skyrocket if it's approved," WRATES member Patrick Kearns told San Jose Spotlight.

Many San Jose households are ill-equipped to handle even a small additional increase in their water bills. Last November, San Jose auditors reported at least 1,160 customers in the San Jose Municipal Water System were behind on their bills. They owed $1.1 million -- an amount 18 times greater than the amount owed in December 2019, which the audit described as a testament to the pandemic's financial impact on residents. San Jose Water Company wouldn't say how many of its customers are behind on bills.

Tang told San Jose Spotlight any rate change will likely happen at the end of the second fiscal quarter, which is months from now. He explained the proposed rate increase reflects an industry-wide problem as water utilities grapple with costly infrastructure replacement projects and stringent regulations. He also noted San Jose Water Company purchases more than 90% of its water from the wholesaler Santa Clara Valley Water. When Valley Water raises its rates, SJWC must follow suit.

WRATES members argue San Jose Water Company also hasn't been transparent about its financial reasons for requesting a significant rate increase. For example, Mekechuk requested SJWC's audited financial statements to help him evaluate the proposed rate increase. Mekechuk said the company told him the documents were confidential and he'd have to sign a non-disclosure agreement to review them. Mekechuk later learned the documents were available on a public website.

Tang said this was SJWC's mistake.

"I did not know personally they were on a public-facing website," Tang said. "This is not something that's universally well-known in the industry."

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.
More than 30 residents of two apartment complexes in Antioch were displaced Friday evening following a fast-moving fire that spread from one building to the other.

Steve Hill, spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, said late Friday evening that the two-alarm fire was first reported at 8:23 p.m. in the 2300 block of Sycamore Drive, east of Auto Center Drive and north of state Highway 4.

Hill said the fire began in a one-story apartment building, where it damaged two residential units. He added that flames jumped the sidewalk separating the building with a two-story apartment building. The fire quickly spread to a balcony of that building, eventually damaging eight units there.

The fire was under control at approximately 9:30 p.m.

Hill said 21 adults and 12 children were displaced from a total of 10 apartment units. The American Red Cross is assisting the fire victims late Friday evening.

There were no injuries to residents or firefighters, but one resident was transported to a local hospital for an unrelated medical issue.

Hill said none of the 10 units damaged are inhabitable.

Fire investigators arrived on scene and have determined preliminarily that the fire began in the vicinity of gas meters on the exterior of the one-story apartment building. PG&E is assisting fire investigators. The investigation is ongoing.

Firefighters will remain on scene through early Saturday morning to watch for any possible flare-ups.

Hill said the fire caused $1 million in damage to the two buildings and its contents.

Sycamore Drive between Auto Center Drive and Spanos Street will remain closed for at least the next two hours, as of 11:30 p.m. Friday.

A 58-year-old employee of the Hayward Public Library was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexual abuse against a juvenile during a period of approximately five years.

The police investigation discovered that the juvenile victim was sexually assaulted more than once while visiting one of the city's public library branches.

A Hayward police spokesperson made the announcement of the arrest late Friday afternoon.

Robert Spitzel, of Castro Valley, was arrested and taken into custody just before 10 a.m. Friday, and is currently being held on four counts of sexual abuse against a minor. Spitzel does not have any known prior criminal history.

The investigation discovered that the victim was sexually assaulted while visiting the Weekes Branch Public Library in south Hayward. The library is located at 27300 Patrick Ave.

Following his arrest Friday, Spitzel was placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the police investigation.

Ofc. Cassandra Fovel, a Hayward police spokesperson, added that there is currently only one identified victim of sexual abuse involving Spitzel.

The city of Hayward, along with the Hayward Public Library and the Hayward Police Department, are committed to safety and supporting any victims through this process, Fovel said. Anyone who believes they have been victimized is asked to contact the Hayward Police Department.

Fovel said this is an active investigation and further details about this case are still being examined.

Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Det. Stephen Kawada at (510) 293-7176.

The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office announced Friday an ongoing criminal investigation by them and the FBI related to "crimes of moral turpitude" involving Antioch and Pittsburg police officers.

The District Attorney's Office said authorities on Wednesday "conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity at multiple locations" related to the investigation.

Prosecutors said they are reviewing active and closed cases involving officers under investigation, and that the two police departments and their respective cities are cooperating with the investigation.

No other details were immediately released as of Friday afternoon.

A person was wounded in a shooting Thursday afternoon in East Oakland, police said Friday.

The shooting occurred shortly after 4 p.m. in the 2000 block of 82nd Avenue, less than two blocks from East Oakland Pride Elementary School.

Police are investigating and said no other details were available Friday.

PG&E crews will soon be replacing more than 160 service lines and more than one mile of gas main pipeline in Rodeo.

A spokesperson for the Contra Costa Public Works Department said Friday that the utility has been issued a permit to conduct the work, which will begin next week and continue through November.

The purpose of this work is for PG&E to upgrade gas equipment and pipeline, which will ultimately benefit more than 160 local customers with a safer, more resilient system.

There are no plans for the work to interrupt gas service.

The work will occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Work will take place on the following streets: Myrna Way, Langlie Way, Langlie Court, Stirling Drive, Viewpoint Boulevard, California Street, Sandpoint Drive, Coral Drive, Donald Drive, and Claeys Court in Rodeo.

Customers in the affected area will receive notification in advance of the work.

A $2.3 million grant that will be directed to assisting with cleaning up streets in Alameda County and combatting illegal dumping has been received by the county's District Attorney office.

The office is receiving the grant from California Department of Transportation Clean California.

County officials said illegal dumping is an environmental justice issue and disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities, stating that one of the most difficult and complex challenges in addressing illegal dumping is dumping at or near homeless encampments.

Caltrans' Clean California Grant will support a new partnership between the Alameda County

District Attorney's Office, the Downtown Streets Team, Waste Management and local

recycler Argent Materials. DST will provide continuous litter and graffiti abatement services in

Hayward and east Oakland, and Waste Management and Argent Materials will provide for

disposal of the waste collected.

The project, which will also include a public awareness campaign, is expected to be completed by June 30, 2024.

DST is non-profit organization that engages unhoused persons in community beautification and litter abatement in their neighborhoods and provides DST team members with job training and other services to help find pathways out of homelessness.

The Environmental Unit of the District Attorney's Office will provide support and oversight of

the program, including coordination with the Alameda County Illegal Dumping Task Force, of

which the cities of Oakland and Hayward are active members.

An 85-year-old Fairfield man is missing Friday evening, only hours after he called his family to say he was stuck in traffic and driving home from Vallejo.

A spokesperson for the Fairfield Police Department said Friday evening that Lebrane Wallace left Vallejo Friday afternoon and was on his way home to Fairfield. His family told police he called them at 4:45 p.m. to let them know of his whereabouts.

As of 9 p.m., Wallace has yet to arrive home and has not been seen or heard from since his phone call.

Wallace has medical conditions that make him an at-risk missing person. He was last seen driving a black 2019 Volkswagen Arteon with California disabled license plates DP798RS.

The Fairfield Police Department is requesting assistance from the public in locating Wallace or his vehicle.

If located, please contact the Fairfield Police Department at (707) 428-7300.

Aiming to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss among other environmental challenges, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife are giving $12.6 million to their alma mater for a new research center.

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment was announced this week by the University of California at Berkeley.

The center will combine data science and environmental science to solve environmental challenges. Solutions will be publicly available, practical, replicable and scaled for the good of society.

Data science's role in solving environmental challenges has increased thanks to the availability of new data along with computational methods and tools.

UC Berkeley's Division of Computing, Data Science and Society will partner with the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management to develop the center, which will add to ongoing research and collaboration.

The new center will use open science principles, which aims to make research and the spread of it accessible to everyone. Also, in open science, knowledge is developed through collaborative networks.

The National Weather Service forecast for Saturday for the greater San Francisco Bay Area calls for partly cloudy skies throughout most of the day with highs in the 60s to low 70s. Overnight lows Saturday morning under mostly cloudy skies will range from the upper 40s to the mid 50s. A chance of rain is expected late Sunday evening.

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.
Joc Pederson moved on from his home in Studio City, CA, last fall.

His modern farmhouse there closed for $4.1 million in October 2021. Property records show an entity connected to the MLB player sold the place.

The deal handed the slugging outfielder a tidy profit, because he purchased the stylish space for $3.25 million in 2018.

Now with the San Francisco Giants, the Bay Area native may not have a need for a Southern California home base.

But his L.A.-area pad was quite a catch.

Getty Images / Realtor.com

Built in 2016, the 5,183-square-foot home has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

The gated two-story home features a home theater, outdoor kitchen, saltwater pool, and temperature-controlled wine room.

MORE FROM REALTOR:

The chef's kitchen comes with custom marble counters and a breakfast bar. It looks out onto the family room. Nearby, glass doors open to a covered outdoor dining area.

Upstairs, the primary suite overlooks the backyard. Three en suite bedrooms are located in the opposite wing, and they are connected by an open lounge area.

In a video tour of the place in 2019, the player explained that he and his wife, Kelsey, just had their first child and needed to upgrade and get more space for their family and dog, Blue. The family welcomed a second child in 2020.

The pearl-wearing Pederson still maintains a small space in L.A.

As we previously reported, he looks to have picked up a two-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot condo in a full-service building in Glendale, CA, in 2021 for $870,000.

The All-Star began his career with the Dodgers in 2014 and helped the team win the World Series in 2020.

As a free agent, Pederson signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs for the 2021 season. Soon after, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves, where he helped the team win the 2021 World Series and earned the nickname Joc-tober.

This month, the 29-year-old signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Giants.

The post World Series Champ Joc Pederson Sells Studio City Home for $4.1M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
It is a poor player who plays the game, and a wise one who plays their opponent.

 "Bridgerton," Season 2

Dearest reader,

I am pleased to inform you that the newest season of "Bridgerton," which debuts today on Netflix, is an absolute delight.

Indeed, much of the compulsively watchable period dramas second outing has refined the elements that make the "Bridgerton" world of balls, promenades and country homes so compelling. Set in a fantasy Regency England, with Queen Charlotte at the helm, it is full of bright colors and healthy aristocrats who do not look as though they would ever catch a cold, let alone syphilis. The show has improved upon many critical elements, including the costuming  which previously had the unfortunate effect of flattening many of the female characters bosoms.

We are reunited with the Bridgerton family; although the dashing Duke of Hastings (Rege-Jean Page) will not be returning, his duchess, the former Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) has returned to her family to assist in the debut of her sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie), perhaps the most reluctant debutante in London.

This season, the focus is on Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), who, to put it lightly, is certainly a cad and a rake with a capital R, as the first episode describes him. Previously, we had observed Lord Bridgerton frightening away all of his sister Daphnes suitors, mistakenly believing that he and he alone should select her husband in a fit of protection, all the while behaving precisely like the type of man he did not want to see his sister marry.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Now, Lord Bridgerton is seeking his own bride, though he is quite insistent that she should be only perfectly amiable, rather than making a love match as his own parents, Lord Edmund and Lady Violet Bridgerton, so famously held.

He sets his sights on Miss Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), one of the loveliest of our new arrivals to the ton. However, he faces a formidable opponent in her older sister, Miss Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), who holds him in great dislike after she overhears him saying that he will not marry for love  and there, Lord Bridgerton meets his match in more ways than one.

It is always amusing to observe an arrogant gentleman be put in his place by a confident lady, as the author of "Pride and Prejudice" would surely concur. (And indeed, there is an homage to an infamous scene in the 1995 adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice.") Rather ironically, in protecting her sister from Lord Bridgerton, Miss Sharma occupies a similar role to the one he did in the first season. It is that note of commonality that begins a new understanding for Lord Bridgerton and Miss Sharma, crystallized in a heart-breaking moment of an almost-kiss.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Surrounded by many fine actors, Mr. Baileys performance is commendable, as he is dealt the difficult task of earning the audiences trust and sympathy as he evolves Lord Bridgerton from a merely frustrating character to one who wins over hearts, both that of Miss Sharma and the audience.

I confess, I did not count myself as one of the viewers who enjoyed the first season of "Bridgerton," as it depended on spectacle and silliness to propel the story. It was as though the show was pulled by a team of horses, full of wild twists and turns. It was quite exhausting. It also lacked a true sense of the interior lives of the characters, which is one of the most compelling aspects of romance novels like the "Bridgertons" series by Julia Quinn on which the show is based.

Instead, the second season is conducted at a more sedate pace: composed of many quieter moments so that the characters  and the narrative  allow the actors to shine. Many of its best moments are also its quietest.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

To that point, one of our most compelling characters is Miss Penelope Featherington, a wallflower who understands precisely that to be quiet and ignored can be a power all on its own. After she was revealed as Lady Whistledown, the tons foremost gossip columnist, her story continues to take on a new urgency. The Featherington family, after the death of its patriarch, is destitute, and without means, they will be forced to leave their home. But as Lady Whistledown, Miss Penelope, in another excellent performance from Nicola Coughlan, is able to earn funds and secure her own financial well-being.

Sadly, in a rare misstep for "Bridgerton," such a narrative arc did not await her closest friend, Eloise Bridgerton, who has become one of the most tedious characters in the show. While many viewers would heartily concur with her desire to find her own path in life  that of daring to be a spinster at a time when single women would have had a difficult time without financial support  that desire has become her entire personality. Unfortunately, there is little depth to that single note, although actress Claudia Jessie makes a valiant effort. Still, there is hope: Surely, Eloise shall receive her own due when the show adapts her story.

Still, aficionados of the previous show, as well as new viewers, should find much amusement in the shenanigans of our "Bridgerton" family and their many friends.

I remain, your humble and obedient servant,

A Lady
The statement was made by Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee and Chairman of the Municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai at a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway to Vietnam Grete Lochen on her working trip in the city yesterday.

At the meeting, Chairman Phan Van Mai thanked the Norwegian Government and people for their assistance in the Covid-19 fight in the city over the passing time.

Chairman of the Municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway to Vietnam Grete Lochen



The ambassador expressed her impression of the results of vaccination work and Covid-19 prevention and control measures of Vietnam. The reopening of economic activities, international flights and via policy will contribute to attracting investment as well as foreign tourists in the country generally and in Ho Chi Minh City particularly in the coming time.

Up to now, the city has basically controlled the Covid-19 pandemic and is gradually recovering economic activities with the goal of the Covid-19 pandemic control, creating a favorable environment for businesses and supporting them to resume their operations.With the advantage of a long coastline, both Vietnam and Norway have the potentialities to strengthen cooperation development in three key fields of marine economy, renewable energy and circular economy.The city leader suggested the ambassador support and introduce Norwegian businesses to cooperate and invest in the marine economy in combination with marine environmental protection, linkage with the Southern territorial waters.The city set a target of 50 percent reduction in plastic waste release into the sea by 2025 and 75 percent reduction by 2030. To achieve the goal, the city needs experience and technology support from international friends, including Norway.
The mother of a West High School junior wants her daughter, who has Down syndrome, to complete her senior year and graduate with her class, while the district is citing policy that says the soon-to-be 19-year-old is too old.

Billings School District 2 policy 2050 states that schools don't have to enroll students who have reached age 19 on or before Sept. 10 of the school year in question.

Montana House Bill 233 was amended last summer to offer funding allowing school districts to extend high school education for special-needs students up to age 21.

But according to SD2 Superintendent Greg Upham, the new law still allows for local school districts to stick to their own policies if they choose.

Jana Pennington is the mother of Emily, who has participated on West High's cheer squad and has worked at the family's boutique, The Banyan Tree. Jana Pennington has appealed the district's decision and mounted a social media campaign to persuade the school board to reconsider the ruling. By Friday evening, the campaign had generated more than 150 emails to the board supporting Emily being able to attend her senior year.

Upham on Friday spoke cautiously because of confidentiality concerns. He did say the board has not reviewed the matter specifically, although board members are aware of the Pennington family's concerns.

In February of this year, Pennington wrote to Upham and the board.

My daughter Emily will turn 19 on July 11, 2022, approximately nine weeks before the deadline keeping her from attending her senior year and not completing the high school education she is entitled to, Pennington wrote.

Pennington and Randy Russell, the district's K-12 executive director, then corresponded several times over email.

Russell told Pennington in November that Superintendent Upham forwarded me an email he received regarding your daughter aging out. Following the meeting with me on or about Oct. 28, I gathered more information regarding the situation from your daughters IEPs [individualized education plan], engaged with staff on this topic, and consulted with legal counsel.

Then, citing the district's policy, Russell added that the school district has been firm and consistent in its position.

Pennington said Emily was heldback in kindergarten, which she does not regret, even though she knew about the law at the time. At some point in the next 12 years before she graduates, Im sure there will be legislature introduced so Emily will have a remedy to graduate, she said, recalling her thought process at the time.

In her letter to the district, Pennington listed several major surgeries that delayed Emilys education, with most of them occurring during her early years of development.

We are major advocates of having our daughter be mainstreamed into regular education classes, not only for educational purposes but also for social development reasons, which for Emily is especially critical, she wrote.

On Jan. 21, there was another email conversation about the appeal process. Russell informed Pennington that the next step would be to submit a written request to Upham that the board could hear as an agenda item. Policy 1420 outlines the process once a superintendent receives it.

Were following what we thought was the policy procedure to get onto the agenda, and we werent getting anywhere, Pennington said.

The Gazette only received emails from Pennington, rather than all of the emails that were sent back and forth.

(Emily) loves the students, teachers, and faculty that she gets to spend time with each day, Pennington wrote, adding that you will find her at every sporting event cheering on her fellow student body members to victory.

In an online document Pennington complied, she outlines how she has researched Montana state law, spoken with program directors at the Office of Public Instruction as well as multiple state legislators, sought legal counsel, made public comments at school board meetings, and met with the principal and district administrators.

During the last board meeting, she was surprised to see her concern did not appear on the agenda. She communicated with trustee Zack Terakedis and anticipated the board reviewing the policy.

He addressed the matter in an email to other board members Feb. 24.

As a parent, planning is a big part of successful families, Terakedis wrote. I would like to know our anticipated plan for this request and when and if we are going to see it on an agenda.

Terakedis was unable to be reached as of press time, but Pennington said she didnt hear back from him after that.

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India's newest budget airline Akasa Air plans to launch its first commercial flight in June.

The airline's chief executive Vijay Dube said on Friday that they are working with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to get the required clearances for commencing the air operations.

He was speaking at a session at Wings India 2022, India's civil aviation show at Begumpet Airport which was formally inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday.

Dube, however, did not reveal which Indian cities the airline is looking at for commencing the operations.

Backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjuhnwala, the airline had received a no-objection certificate (NOC) from MoCA in October last year.

Dube said that the airline plans to have 18 aircraft within 12 months from launch and add 12-14 a year later.

Akasa Air had placed an order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX jets in November last year.
Water returns to Lake Elmo beginning April 15 and before it arrives Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks has a lot of work to do.

"It's a tight schedule," said Mark Ruggles, the regional fisheries manager for FWP who is overseeing the work at the lake.

The water held by Lake Elmo flows from the irrigation system run by the Billings Bench Water Association. The BBWA's main ditch starts at the Yellowstone River near Laurel and carries water to agricultural land east of the Billings Heights.

BBWA turns that water on in April as farmers and ranchers in eastern Yellowstone County begin work for spring planting and the summer growing season. The water that flows through Lake Elmo eventually arrives at some of those farms.

"We fully expect to run the water," said Gary Davis, a member of the BBWA board. "Those users are expecting their water."

Before it can arrive, crews at Lake Elmo must finish building the lake's headgate, which requires large amounts of concrete and time for it to cure.

That concrete has to be poured by Monday in order for it to cure by April 15, when the first water flows in. Work on the headgate has fallen a little behind and so the pressure is on, Ruggles said.

"Our crews are ready," he said. "They know the week before the 15th will be scramble time."

With a mostly-empty lake, FWP made the most of the opportunity and spent fall and winter installing a number of improvements to bolster the health of the lake's ecosystem and improve the recreational experience there, including fishing.

FWP crews have already installed fish habitats on the lake bed known as Georgia cubes and catfish condos.

Georgia cubes are a series of three large black boxes connected by a type of rubber hose that allow for fish to breed and grow before entering open lake waters. FWP biologists discovered three was the ideal number for the cube clusters for producing the highest density of fish and most diversity of fish species.

Crews have also built gravel fish spawning beds and brush piles from eradicated Russian olive trees that will also serve as a fish habitat.

Along the shoreline crews have built nodes from which visitors can fish or picnic. The beach portion has been improved and work on an improved walkway around the lake and landscaping will continue through June.

Most importantly, FWP officials have found no signs of Asian clams.

"I have not found anything that looks like it survived," Ruggles said. "We're feeling pretty confident that we got 'em. But it only takes one."

The invasive clams can reproduce quickly and in large enough numbers to clog irrigation and municipal water systems. They filter out water nutrients that are necessary to support desirable fish and organisms in the food chain. FWP was concerned that if left unchecked the clams would spread through irrigation ditches to the Yellowstone River and beyond.

The tiny clams were discovered during a Fish Wildlife and Parks training exercise at Lake Elmo designed to teach state wildlife workers how to discover and identify invasive species. The training worked exactly as designed as it turned up the Asian clams, mostly clustered near the boat ramps.

Subsequent searches of an irrigation storage reservoir and ditches and rivers upstream and downstream from the lake found no other Asian clams, suggesting they are limited to Lake Elmo. The invasive clams are found nowhere else in Montana.

Ruggles is hopeful that with Lake Elmo having sat dry all winter it'll stay that way.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that corporate tax reduction has helped the economy.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill, the minister told the Lok Sabha that corporate tax collections stood at Rs 7.3 lakh crore so far this fiscal.

Besides, Sitharaman pointed out that the Central government did not increase taxes last year or this year.

She cited that 32 countries like Germany, France, Canada, UK among others increased taxes.

The Minister said that this budget has not burdened the public but yet put the money where the multiplier would be maximum where infra creation of assets will happen.

To sustain high growth rate, the Centre has earmarked a massive budgetary outlay of Rs 7.50 lakh crore for FY23.

Furthermore, she said that tax payers numbers have increased to 9.1 crore from 5 crore a few years ago.

The Lok Sabha on Friday approved the Finance Bill, thereby completing the budgetary exercise for fiscal year FY23.

The Bill was approved in the lower house by a voice vote, after 39 official amendments, moved by Sitharaman, were accepted.
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A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Normans collaborator and friend, Carly Sheppard, held the blade, Ricardo Martinez Roa captured the images of Norman, one lying prone, the other of his bloodied back.

The two photographs that comprise Cicatrix (All that was taken, all that remains) were taken of artist S.J Norman during a live performance in New York in January 2019, during which a cut was made for every death that had occurred in the previous decade.

This years winner of the $35,000 Blake Prize has challenged audiences not to step back from the stark images that show incisions made on the skin of the artists back, each recognising an Aboriginal death in custody.

The winner of the 2022 Blake Prize, Cicatrix, created by S.J Norman. Credit:Ricardo Martinez Roa

Sure theyre deep, and sure it hurt. But I find it curious when people fixate on the pain or what they imagine is the shock value of these images, Norman said in a statement to this masthead. I dont find the sight of blood or a few razor cuts confronting. Why is this blood confronting and not, say, the blood that is spilled in the course of a rugby or boxing match?

Why is this blood confronting and not the blood spilled by Aboriginal people who die in the custody of the colonial carceral state and never receive justice? What conditions anaesthetise a populace to the sight of certain kinds of pain and not others? That is really one of the central questions of this work.

In its 67 years, the long-standing Blake Prize has evolved from an art prize reflective of a largely Christian community to that a wider interpretation of spirituality, belief and religion through art.

In his work, Norman has referenced the practice of cicatrisation used in Sorry Business, and for other reasons that remains extant in many Indigenous nations and suppressed by colonisation in his own, he said.
Bazil and Frida Thorne, the Sydney winners of the Opera House Lottery. Credit:Staff photographer Young Graeme is trotting cheerily down Wellington Street, Bondi, to Mr Mallouks shop to buy his morning packet of chips before waiting for Mrs Smith to pick him up out the front. He is about to cross the road at the Francis Street intersection but pauses when he sees it blocked by a blue car with the passenger door open. There is a man standing near it with sallow skin, a greasy grin and a funny way of speaking. Hello, the stranger says, I am to take you to school. Why? Graeme asks, a slight tremble in his voice. Where is Mrs Smith?

Ive been sent to pick you up to take you to Scots, because the lady who normally picks you up is sick. Graeme Thorne, aged 8, of Bondi was kidnapped on his way to school. Disappointed and a little confused, but raised to trust and obey what adults tell him, Graeme climbs inside the car and sits next to the stranger, his little eyes only just peering above the dashboard. Some 10 minutes later, Phyllis Smith is with her two boys in her Holden station wagon when she pulls up outside the Mr Mallouks shop. She sends her eight-year-old son in to get him, only for him to come back to the car  Hes not in there, Mum. Strange.

She drives to Edward Street and goes in to see her friend Freda Thorne. Is Graeme here? Why no. He left 30 minutes ago. How very . . . odd. And a little alarming. It is so unlike Graeme to be anything other than reliable. Still, surely there must be a logical explanation. Telling Freda not to worry, Phyllis and her boys head off to Scots together. It will be fine, Freda. Ill give you a call, no doubt in 20 minutes or so. It is all a bit odd Little Graeme knows the way to Scots and asks the stranger why they are going the wrong way.

Mrs Smith never takes me through Centennial Park on the way to school! We are going to pick up some other boys, says the stranger. Which also seems odd, because what boys live in the park? And now they are going even further into it, and he has stopped the car at a very isolated spot. Mister . . . ? But the man doesnt speak, and after pulling something out of a small travel bag hed had on the back seat, there is a sudden sweet but chemical smell in the car, as the stranger holds a rag in his right hand and looks at Graeme with sudden intent. Mister . . . ?

There is no sign of Graeme at Scots! Not even when the headmaster calls a full-school assembly and asks who has seen Graeme Thorne. They all know who he is  after the Opera House Lottery win, he had been the talk and envy of the school. Phyllis Smith goes straight back to the Thornes in Bondi. Barely able to stand still, and struggling to put sentences together, Freda Thorne calls the police. I have your son Sergeant Larry OShea of the Bondi police has only just arrived at the Thorne home, to settle down the crying woman and get to the bottom of this, when the phone rings. It is 9.47am. Mrs Thorne snatches up the receiver.

Hello . . . ? Is your husband there? comes a heavily accented voice. What do you want him for? asks Mrs Thorne tentatively. I have your son . . . Mrs Thorne, just managing to hold things together, hands the phone to Sergeant OShea, who identifies himself to the caller as her husband. I have got your boy, the voice repeats. I want 25,000 before 5pm. Where would I get money like that? OShea replies, as yet unaware of the Thornes 100,000 win. You have plenty of time before 5pm, the caller says, though pausing, realising that anyone who does not know of the big win is not Mr Thorne at all, and probably the police. I am not fooling. If I dont get the money, I will feed him to the sharks.

Stephen Leslie Bradley, the man responsible for kidnapping Graeme Thorne, in police custody, December 6, 1960. Credit:Staff photographer How will we contact you? I will . . . call back at 5 pm. The phone goes dead. As unbelievable as it seems, Graeme Thorne has been kidnapped. The boy was now awake

From a telephone booth on the corner of Spit Road and Medusa Street, just to the south of Mosmans Spit Bridge, the thickset European man walks back to his Ford, glancing nervously at the boot, whence comes a regular thumping. Back in Centennial Park it had been a relatively easy matter to hold the chloroform-soaked rag to the eight-year-old till he was unconscious, bind his hands and feet and gag him, before wrapping him in a blue tartan picnic blanket and then putting him in the boot and shutting it  but clearly, the boy has now awoken. The banging had stopped It has been a tough day for the thickset European man. So much drama, so many scares, including when the furniture removalist had arrived at the time that a distinct if muffled banging could be heard coming from the garage. Mercifully the removalist had obeyed instructions to steer clear of the garage, and the banging had stopped soon enough in any case. Now that the twilight hour has set in and all is quiet, it is time to check on the lad. He opens the boot and, tremulously, he reaches out his hand.

It is every bit as bad as he had feared. August 16, 1960, Grandview Grove, Seaforth, hush!  a woven crypt More than 300 police and 200 soldiers searched new areas of Frenchs Forest for clues to the kidnapping of Graeme Thorne on July 13, 1960. Credit:Staff photographer Birds sing, dogs bark, and kids play in the street. It is true that since the kidnapping last month everyone has been just a little more careful, but still the kids of Sydney are largely left to their own devices. See now Phillip Wall, Eric Coughlan Jnr and Andrew McCue, scabby-kneed boys of seven and eight years old, playing in the cubbyhouse theyve made in a vacant lot, just over the side fence of Erics house. Theyre playing dare, and just as it starts to get dark, young Phillip Wall decides hes brave enough to go over and lift up the lumpy blanket that had turned up in the vacant lot a few weeks ago.

He approaches slowly. A fly buzzes by. His hand shaking, Phillip pulls back a fold of dirty blanket. Geeeez! It looks like the back of a head! Is that . . . hair? And below it the collar of a shirt? He screeches and bolts back to the others. They huddle together for a matter of seconds . . . Are you sure, Phillip? YES! . . . before running home as fast as their little legs can carry them. Peter FitzSimons new book The Opera House. Credit:Hachette Body in a blanket David Wall gets out of his car after a long day and goes inside to find his 11-year-old daughter Diana bursting to tell him a story about the boys having found a dead body on the vacant lot, before his deeply upset wife rushes in with Phillip in tow, indeed telling him a garbled and highly unlikely story about having found a body in a blanket.

Eric Coughlan Snr  who has heard the same story from son Eric  holds the torch as David Wall kneels and carefully unties one of the blankets knots to reveal . . . two arms, tied with twine at the wrists, hanging down. Good Lord! It is clearly a child, wrapped in a rug. But dead. David Wall gags and reels back. In the small apartment at Edward Street there is a knock on the door. Its 9.15 pm. Bazil Thorne snatches the door open  good news, perhaps?  only to see their friend, the Reverend Clive Goodwin, standing there with a stricken expression on his face. Oh God, please dont say . . . ? You havent . . . ? They havent . . . ? Yes, Bazil, I am desperately sorry to tell you, they have. Three boys found him while playing north of the Spit Bridge, late this afternoon. The police are sure it is Graeme, and he has been dead for weeks.
A 21-year-old woman has died, and her former partner arrested, after she was found with multiple stab wounds on the landing of her Mayfield unit on Friday night.

Newcastle City Commander Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphries said officers arriving at the Crebert Street unit at 10.40pm on Friday were confronted with a horrendous scene, finding the woman with a number of injuries and her three-year-old child nearby, uninjured but covered in blood.

Police arrested the womans ex-partner, a 22-year-old investigators say was released from prison several weeks ago and was on parole.

He was the subject of an apprehended violence order, police say.

Despite police and NSW Ambulances efforts, the woman died at the scene.
Work at a central Queensland mine has halted after a 59-year-old worker was killed overnight in what the operator described as a lifting incident. It was the third industry fatality in the state since September.

Police say emergency services were called to the Moranbah North underground coal mine  operated by Anglo American about 200 kilometres west of Mackay  following the incident about 10pm on Friday.

Anglo American operates a number of mines in Queensland, including the Moranbah North and Grosvenor mines. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The man was declared dead at the scene after suffering critical head injuries during a workplace incident, a police spokeswoman said. He was an employee of long-term site contractor Mastermyne, that company confirmed.

Anglo American released a statement on Saturday morning confirming a worker had been killed. In a later update, it said the man was part of a crew moving an old piece of equipment on one of the underground roadways.
It was lights, camera, action as Melbournes newest film production sound stage launched on Saturday, with a major international film production due to begin shooting shortly.

Docklands Studios $46 million Sound Stage 6boasts an almost-million litre tank for filming underwater sequences taking centre stage.

The opening of Docklands Studios new sound stage on Saturday. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Better Man  a biopic about English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams  will be the first film to begin production on the new stage.

Directed and co-written by The Greatest Showmans Michael Gracey, the film is touted as an introspective look into the moments that shaped Williams both musically and personally.
Sitting in his new house on a quiet street in Missoula, Sakha decompresses after a long day of work. In his living room, his 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter climb over him, vying for attention.

Sakha, his wife and two children left a northern province of Afghanistan last fall and have since found a new home in Missoula.

I am a generation of war," Sakha said. "I was born and I was raised during the war in Afghanistan."

EDITOR'S NOTE Sakha's quotes were given through a Dari translator for this story.

Since U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in August, 99 Afghans have resettled through the International Rescue Committee's Missoulas office, Director Eamon Fahey said. He anticipates receiving another 15 to 18 Afghans into Montana during the second phase of the Afghan Placement and Assistance Program.

Sakha worked at a government organization targeted by the Taliban. When his family got news of the groups resurgence in their home country, they immediately took their kids to the Kabul airport to evacuate.

When they arrived at the airport, U.S. troops qualified Sakha and his family as vulnerable people and potential Taliban targets, starting the resettlement process. But they still had to wait outside the gates for two days as scenes of chaos unfolded in and around the Kabul airport. They spent another day inside the terminal before they finally boarded their plane.

Long road to Montana

Sakha and his family flew almost 10,000 miles: from Kabul to Qatar, from Qatar to Germany (where they paused their travels for about 10 days) and from Germany to a U.S. military base in New Jersey. Here, the family went through a vaccination and medical screening process.

Sakha does not use his full name in this story for fear of retaliation from the Taliban against his family who are still in Afghanistan.

Sakha said his son wasnt aware of what was happening during the evacuation. At 6, his daughter could tell something was wrong from the chaos.

She knew we were trying to save our lives, he said. There was some shooting and explosions going on, and we covered the kids' eyes and ears so they didnt see and hear what was going on.

Sakha had traveled outside of Afghanistan previously. For the rest of his family, this was the first time leaving their home country.

In Germany, Sakha said he and his wife were provided two small meals a day. They would skip their second meals, and ration them for the kids.

When they got to New Jersey, Sakhas family spent about a month living among many other refugees. They were given a choice of relocation sites, one of which was Missoula. Moving to Big Sky Country would expedite the process off the military base, and Sakha wanted to get his family to a new home as quickly as possible.

Once they arrived in Montana, Sakhas family worked with the IRC in Missoula to find housing. The four bounced around from hotels to temporary housing before landing in a two-bedroom apartment in the South Hills. Since then, they've settled into a spacious single-family home they're renting in the Franklin to the Fort neighborhood.

A bright future

Sakha has found a job at a local health store in town, where he starts work at 6 a.m. and gets home in the late afternoon. Hes procured a drivers license and recently purchased a car for his family. Both of Sakhas kids attend school in town.

The family misses their home, but Missoulas geography reminds the family of their native country, Sakha said. Its weather and mountains that stretch for miles arent too different from the climate in northern Afghanistan.

Sakha still has family back home whose well-being weighs on his mind: "I have constant worry about their safety and security."

His family has connected with a few other Afghan families living in Missoula.

At the beginning it was very tough, he said. There arent many Afghan families here and we were one of the first to arrive.

Sakha and his wife have connected with the few other Afghans in Missoula. This community support has helped with the adjustment, especially when they gather for meals to cook Afghan food.

Transition is not an easy job," he said. "We were even thinking of going back at one point  it was extremely difficult."

His family is already looking to their future in Montana  his wife is pregnant with their third child, and Sakha has ambitions to work for a U.S. government agency down the road.

I see a bright future for my kids here, he said.

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The head of the recently established United States Space Force has visited Western Australias Coral Coast to tour a world-class observatory providing valuable and unique space surveillance.

Chief of space operations General John W. Jay Raymond landed in Exmouth on Thursday and toured the Learmonth Solar Observatory.

U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations General John W. Jay Raymond lands in Exmouth. Credit:U.S. Embassy Australia

The facility is jointly operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the United States Air Force and tracks and monitors solar activity.

Joined by U.S. Consul General David Gainer, he also visited Harold E. Holt Naval Communication Station to learn more about the United States-developed space surveillance telescope and c-band radar.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flatly rejected suggestions he should have met with Chinas new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, arguing that doing so would have been a demonstration of weakness.

And Mr Morrison said there was great concern across the Pacific family about a security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands that could lead to a potential base for Chinese naval vessels on Australias doorstep, over which Canberra, Washington and Wellington have all expressed concern.

He pointedly noted that Australia respected the Pacific islands sovereignty and that Australia havent sought to influence them, or interfere with them in any way.

Chinas new ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, requested to meet Prime Minister Scott Morrison, but it was declined.

The Prime Minister also hit back at former prime minister Kevin Rudds claim the Coalition government had neglected Australias Pacific island neighbours and ripped hundreds of millions of dollars of aid out of the region.
The Australian government says it expects basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment when Australian citizen Cheng Lei goes on trial in Beijing next week.

Cheng Lei, who worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media for a decade before being detained in 2020, was formally arrested a year ago on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.

The mother of two was jailed after she made a series of Facebook posts critical of the Chinese governments response to the initial outbreak of COVID-19.

Cheng Lei, seen here on the ABCs Q&A in 2014, was formally arrested last year on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Paynes office confirmed in a statement on Saturday that the government had been notified by Chinese authorities of Leis hearing on March 31.
A chemical smell still lingered in the air on Sunday morning, as firefighters in Lviv sprayed water on a burned section of an oil facility hit in the Russian attack. A security guard at the site, Prokopiv Yaroslav, said he saw three rockets strike and destroy two oil tanks but no one was hurt. The third strike threw me to the ground, he said. Russias back-to-back airstrikes shook the city that has become a haven for an estimated 200,000 people who have had to flee their hometowns. Lviv had been largely spared since the invasion began, although missiles struck an aircraft repair facility near the main airport a week ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky angrily warned Moscow that it is sowing a deep hatred for Russia among his people.

You are doing everything so that our people themselves leave the Russian language, because the Russian language will now be associated only with you, with your explosions and murders, your crimes, Zelensky said in an impassioned video address. An adviser to Ukraines interior minister also said Russian forces were beginning to destroy his nations oil depots and food warehouses. In what was billed by the White House as a major address, Biden spoke inside the Royal Castle, one of Warsaws notable landmarks that was badly damaged during World War II. US President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Credit:Getty Images He borrowed the words of Polish-born Pope John Paul II and cited anti-communist Polish dissident and former president, Lech Walesa, as he warned that Putins invasion of Ukraine threatens to bring decades of war. In this battle we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days, or months, either, Biden said.

The crowd of about 1000 included some of the Ukrainian refugees who have fled for Poland and elsewhere in the midst of the brutal invasion. Loading We must commit now, to be this fight for the long haul, Biden said. After meeting with refugees at the National Stadium, Biden marvelled at their spirit and resolve in the aftermath of Russias deadly invasion as he embraced mothers and children and promised enduring support from Western powers. Biden listened intently as children described the perilous flight from neighbouring Ukraine with their parents. Smiling broadly, he lifted up a young girl in a pink coat and told her she reminded him of his granddaughters.

The President held hands with parents and gave them hugs during the stop at the soccer stadium where refugees go to obtain a Polish identification number that gives them access to social services such as health care and schools. Some of the women and children told Biden that they fled without their husbands and fathers, men of fighting age who were required to remain behind to aid the resistance against Putins forces. What I am always surprised by is the depth and strength of the human spirit, Biden told reporters after his conversations with the refugees at the stadium, which more recently had served as a field hospital for COVID-19 patients. Each one of those children said something to the effect of, Say a prayer for my dad or grandfather or my brother who is out there fighting. The President tried to use his final hours of his European trip reassuring Poland that the United States would defend against any attacks by Russia as he acknowledged that the NATO ally bore the burden of the refugee crisis from the war. Your freedom is ours, Biden told Polands President, Andrzej Duda earlier, echoing one of that countrys unofficial mottos.

More than 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began, and more than 2.2 million Ukrainians have crossed into Poland, though it is unclear how many have remained there and how many have left for other countries. Earlier this week the US announced it would take in as many as 100,000 refugees, and Biden told Duda that he understood Poland was taking on a big responsibility, but it should be all of NATOs responsibility. Loading Biden called the collective defence agreement of NATO a sacred commitment, and said the unity of the Western military alliance was of the utmost importance. Im confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing NATO, Biden said. But he hasnt been able to do it. Weve all stayed together. European security is facing its most serious test since World War II. Western leaders have spent the past week consulting over contingency plans in case the conflict spreads. The invasion has shaken NATO out of any complacency it might have felt and cast a dark shadow over Europe.

Warsaw, a city of nearly 1.8 million people, has grown by about 17 per cent in a month as the refugees have come in huge numbers seeking shelter. While Poles have so far welcomed Ukrainians, the humanitarian efforts are largely the work of volunteers. Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski has warned it is not sustainable and that social services are buckling under the strain. Loading The US has been sending money and supplies to aid the refugee effort. This week, Biden announced $US1 billion ($1.33 billion) in additional aid in addition to accepting refugees. The US and many of its allies have imposed multiple rounds of economic and other sanctions on Russian individuals, banks and other entities in hopes that the cumulative effect over time will force Putin to withdraw his troops.
As a two-term vice-president, a politician for the last 50 years, and a former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden is no stranger to the drumbeat of war.

He confronted Americas fatigue in Vietnam as a new Senator in the 1970s. He had a front-row seat to geopolitical tensions between the US and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. And he voted against the attack on Iraq during the Gulf War of the 1990s before inheriting the challenges of Syria and Afghanistan several decades later.

US President Joe Biden dramatically escalated his rhetoric against Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP

But Russias invasion of Ukraine has made Biden a slightly different kind of wartime president, as he tries to defeat a ruthless dictator without wanting the US to fire a single attacking shot.

For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a strongly worded speech in Poland today, which concluded a three-day trip to Europe to discuss the war on Ukraine.
~All Relevant Stakeholders Encouraged to Participate in the Process~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The honorable Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport, Mr. Rodolphe Samuel, announced the start of the development of a National Positive Parenting Support Program by the Department of Youth, during last Wednesday's weekly Council of Ministers Press Briefing.

The Minister explained that the Department of Youth in collaboration with UNICEF the Netherlands, kicked off its stakeholder introductory meeting on March 22nd, for the development of the island's first National Parenting Program themed Positive Parenting Support Program. With the aim to provide support to parents and other primary caregivers by improving key factors needed to foster a healthy family environment and support structure, the department anticipates as the outcome that family communication, family bonds, and trust between parents, caregivers and children will be strengthened by building existing skills and creating culturally appropriate approaches, for parents to support children through all critical stages of their development.

The program will be developed by the Caribbean Child Development Center in partnership with the University of the West Indies. The Consultant's team has already commenced with the project and is at the stage of carrying out literature reviews on existing (and past) parenting programs that are being used on our island. It is therefore imperative that every program and/or report be included in said review.

"As the success of developing such a program, highly depends on the contribution from among others: Governmental and non-governmental stakeholders including Afterschool Programs/ Safety Net Programs, school counselors, early childhood caregivers, family members who also offer care to children and most importantly, the youth" the Minister encouraged all relevant persons to share their information and participate in the survey which will soon be forthcoming.

Once the program has been developed and presented to the stakeholders, training for Facilitators and Master Trainers will be organized. More information will be shared via the Department of Youth as the project unfolds

Further information on this project can be obtained by contacting the Department of Youth by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Saint Lucia:--- The Caribbean Association of Banks (CAB) Inc. has expressed satisfaction with the just-concluded FIBA AML Compliance Conference, which was held 28 February to 2 March at the Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, USA. CAB Chairperson Mr. Dalton Lee and CEO Ms. Wendy Delmar profited from the opportunity to engage with bankers, financial services professionals, regulators, and service providers from across the Americas, as well as officials of various US government regulatory agencies.



One of the key agenda items for CAB was the Caribbean Roundtable, with participation from organizations including but not limited to Republic Bank, Bank of Montserrat, Grenada Co-operative Bank, the Atlantic Council, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and CitiBank. One of the points raised at the session was the importance of the Caribbean as the sixth-largest trading partner for the USA. In addition, participants also deliberated the vexing issue of de-risking and the loss of correspondent banking relationships which remains a source of serious concern within the region. The CAB has been at the forefront of efforts to engage with regulators, policymakers, and other identified strategic partners on the issue of de-risking, and the organization stands firm in its commitment to pursue robust advocacy on this subject.



Among the important topics addressed at the three-day conference were the emergence of cryptocurrency; human trafficking; developing a culture of compliance; the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the Caribbean and its financial services system; and correspondent banking as a humanitarian good, as posited by Ms. Delmar during her closing remarks at the Caribbean Roundtable. She contended that the numerous small island developing states of the Caribbean have a disproportionate dependence on these services to sustain business and enterprise, noting as well that one has to look no further than the tourism industry to appreciate the significant degree to which correspondent banking services play a vital role in the sustenance of livelihoods.



"In order to overcome these hurdles, we will continue to advocate for equitable access to international finance and trade activity via Correspondent Banking Relationships. Further, our banks and governmental agencies have to be more responsive and proactive in responding to the concerns of correspondent banks and regulators in jurisdictions like the USA. We need to effectively position ourselves leaving no room for assumptions on their part. Through our participation in conferences such as this we strive towards a positive change in the perception of the regions banking and financial services sector."



The CAB team also explored a number of areas that are ripe for growth, meeting with national and regional banking associations from Latin America, as well as regulators from the USA. Several of these subjects will be explored at a more granular level at the CAB CEO & Directors' Forum on June 10 and 11, 2022. Look out for more details on event.
Nick Uhre, co-owner of the Grand Gateway Hotel, sent a lengthy email to Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday asking, in part, for her help to remove Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender from office.

Uhre's request follows the revelation of racist comments posted by his mother, Connie Uhre, where she said the Grand Gateway Hotel would ban all Native Americans from the property because she can't tell "who is a bad Native or a good Native."

Ian Fury, Noem's chief of communications, said her office normally does not respond to media requests about these types of emails but condemned the racist remarks.

The Governors office generally does not comment to the media on correspondence received from private citizens. The Governor is opposed to all racial discrimination  there is no room for racial discrimination in South Dakota," Fury said. "Due to ongoing litigation on this subject, she will not be commenting further at this time.

The ongoing litigation references a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Retsel Corporation, parent company of the Grand Gateway Hotel, for denying services to Native Americans.

In Uhre's email to Noem, he claims "Allender is biased and is unfit to serve as mayor."

"Steve Allender has been looking for a way to smear me or my family because of our outspokenness regarding the agenda of the left," Uhre wrote.

He claims Allender took advantage of Connie Uhre's racist comments and posted them on Twitter for the mayor's own gain. He excuses Connie Uhre's comments by saying she "has 'moments.'"

"How he has publicly portrayed this establishment is wrong. The mayor posting my moms Facebook post on his twitter account is beyond the pale," Uhre wrote.

He claims the community outrage over the racist comments have put him and his business at risk.

"I have no more employees in the bar. Soon, I will have no employees in my hotel due to them fearing for their safety," Uhre wrote.

In the email, Uhre claims the issue and the publicity are not based upon the racist comments, but because of his opposition to the MacArthur Foundation Grant, which the Pennington County Sheriff's Office received in 2015 and aims to reduce jail population and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

"Governor Noem, you know my stance on the MacArthur Foundation and the Safety and Justice Challenge grant which is Critical Race Theory for our Criminal Justice System. I guess Im over the target as the saying goes. Because Im getting it," Uhre wrote. "This social media smear is very planned."

He goes on to say, "Steve Allender is using his own position to manipulate the situation. Period!"

Uhre pleas with Noem to remove Allender from office and cites South Dakota Codified Law that allows the governor to remove "constitutional state officers" for "crimes, misconduct, or malfeasance in office."

However, a mayor is not a state officer. The governor has no power to remove a municipal elected official.

Allender spoke with the Journal on Thursday and said Uhre is "unhinged."

"It's completely illogical and desperate. I am at a loss to understand how he and members of his family say idiotic things, which creates a storm of criticism for him," Allender said. "Then he can turn and blame it on me. I will own my mistakes, but I won't own his.

"This mess has been made messier because of he and his family's inability to navigate through it in a responsible way."

In Uhre's email, he states he spoke with three Rapid City Council members, and the council members informed him that "the Mayor has a personal vendetta for me."

Allender said the allegation is false.

"I've heard from two of the council members that he mentioned who said they have not said anything to Nick about me having a vendetta," the mayor said.

Allender said the entire Rapid City community is suffering because of the racist comments and actions.

"It's all of us. It's everyone. It's not just Nick Uhre," Allender said. "He's got his own beliefs, and he and his family decided to make them public... And now he's suffering the consequence.

"The court of public opinion will not tolerate he and his family's insincere apologies. The other rhetoric he's spewing out through this event, everything he says, will come back to bite him  and I wish I knew what to tell him. I wish there was someone that could give him the proper advice, but it's just getting worse every day," Allender said.

Contact Nathan Thompson at nathan.thompson@rapidcityjournal.com.

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Wyomings population is growing faster than the countrys.

The states population grew by 1,536 people between July of 2020 and 2021, according to data from the census bureau.

Thats an increase of 0.3%, above the nationwide average of 0.1% in the same time period.

Data also shows more people moving into Wyoming since July 2020. Over a year, 1,368 more people moved to the state than left it, an announcement from state economist Dr. Wenlin Liu said.

Between 2014 and 2019, Liu said, Wyoming saw more people leave than arrive in the state each year. While the state lost a net of 474 people in 2019, that pattern turned around in 2020.

Lincoln County reported the highest rate of growth in that time, with an increase of 2.4% from July 2020. The area is home to Kemmerer, the site of a proposed advanced nuclear reactor, and also houses 9% of people who work in Teton County according to a housing needs assessment for the region. Teton County is the most expensive place to live in Wyoming.

Counties in the north of the state also saw their populations grow. Sheridan Countys increased by 2.1%, according to the data, and Crook and Johnson counties increased by 1.9% each.

There was a 1.5% increase in Park County, and 1.4% in Big Horn County.

Many people chose to relocate to less populated and lower cost areas during the pandemic, and the increased availability of remote work made this possible, Liu said.

The exception in the north is Campbell County, which lost 1.5% of its population based on the census estimates. Last year, the New York Times reported that Gillette, the county seat, was among the 10 metropolitan areas in the U.S. whose population decline sped up the most during the first year of the pandemic. Campbell Countys major economic driver is energy, and both coal and oil suffered slowdowns during the pandemic.

Other counties that rely heavily on the energy industry also experienced declines  Sweetwater County with a 1.3% decrease, Weston with 0.9%, Natrona with 0.8% and Converse with 0.4%. Sublette and Hot Springs counties also lost population.

The COVID-19 virus hit energy producing and serving areas especially hard as demand plummeted, and the rebound of the industry has been painfully slow, particularly in Wyoming, said Liu.

There were 171 more births than deaths in Wyoming between July 2020 and July 2021, data shows.

Liu said that growth from natural change, or births versus deaths, has steadily declined in the last 12 years as birth rates go down and baby boomers continue to age.

An analysis of 2020 census data showed that Wyoming had the slowest population growth of any Western state in the decade prior, and the seventh-slowest in the nation. Census figures showed population growth in Wyomings bigger cities and declines in small towns.

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SALISBURY  In celebration of April Fools, stories and community, Scoville Memorial Library presents Anansi- the Trickster Spider: A West African Folktale performed by Leslie Elias and Daniel Saed of Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Childrens Theater. The participatory storytelling experience and show for all ages will be held at 11 a.m. April 2.

Elias, director of Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Childrens Theater, adapted a popular West African folktale into this interactive show for children. Audience participation is an essential ingredient in the telling of the story, according to Elias.

Two main actors of the Grumbling Gryphons portray a variety of lively characters. Daniel Saed plays the lead role of Anansi, the infamous trickster of the Ashanti People of West Africa.

Saed, who grew up performing with Grumbling Gryphons, is also a member of Town Hall Players in Cornwall and Nutmeg Junction Radio in Torrington, and performed the role of Max in The Sound of Music with the Housatonic Musical Theater Society at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, where he graduated in 2020.

Elias, in addition to writing and directing, plays numerous roles in the production, including the characters of Crocodile, Monkey, Lion and Queen Bee. Elias, a resident of West Cornwall, has served as Artistic Director and co-founder of Grumbling Gryphons for 42 years. She is the winner of the 2018 Connecticut Arts Hero Award, as well as the 2018 Culture Max Award given by Northwest Connecticut Arts Council for Arts Educator.

Anansi- the Trickster Spider is a well-known comical character who originated in Western Africa, Elias said. The tale, How Anansi Brought the Stories Down, tells how Anansi, with the aid of the children in the audience, tricks the various animals of the jungle and retrieves the stolen stories of the world from Nyame, the Sky God.

The theater company is renowned for its fantastic masks and captivating costumes, made by Ellen Moon of Cornwall, and for its innovative interaction with children. Grumbling Gryphons has been performing in schools, museums, libraries and festivals throughout the United States since 1980. The company has performed at Bushnell Park in Hartford; the American Museum of Natural History and Lincoln Center in N.Y.C; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Miami Book Fair International; the Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick, Maine; the Stockton Childrens Museum in California, and at various international festivals. In 2003 they won the Connecticut Governors Arts Award.

For more information, contact Kendra Percy, Childrens Services Coordinator, at sc-kpercy@biblio.org, or visit www.scovillelibrary.org

To reach Leslie Elias, Director, email grumblinggryphons@gmail.com, 860-672-0286, or visit www.grumblinggryphons.org
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HEBRON  A Hebron woman was charged with animal cruelty Friday after officers found dozens of dogs and cats, as well as parakeets, goats, geese and a pony, in repugnant conditions, officials said.

Several agencies went to the home of 59-year-old Joann Connelly on Wednesday after a complaint was made that she had moved and left a large number of animals behind. The home on Porter Road was listed as a licensed animal importer called CT Pregnant Dog and Cat Rescue, according to Connellys arrest warrant application.

Arriving officers were greeted by a loose dog and an overwhelming odor of urine and feces, the warrant said. One officer said they could smell the odor about 15 feet away from the open front door.

Officers said the home was extremely filthy, with the floors covered in urine and feces, newspaper clippings, dog food and dirt.

Air quality is worse than poor, one officer noted.

A state animal control officer saw 30 dogs on the first level of the home  29 of which were confined in crates that were soiled with urine, feces and used pee pads. One crate contained two large dogs, giving them little room to move, the arrest warrant stated.

In the basement, officers found four 6-month-old puppies with their mother. One officer said four of the dogs were caged and one was loose, running around on a floor that was littered with debris, trash, urine, feces and pieces of insulation and newspaper, according to the warrant.

A back room in the basement contained 14 caged cats, some of which were sharing cages, as well as feces, urine and kitty litter everywhere. Five additional cats were found on the second floor of the home  three in the bathroom and two in the bedroom, the warrant stated.

Officers also found two parakeets in a cage in one of the bedrooms. The room was filled with bird waste and filth and there was also a strong scent of incense burning in the room which is very detrimental to the health of the birds, according to the warrant.

Outside the home, officers found a pony and two goats in a shared living space and three geese, the warrant said. It was unclear from the warrant whether the geese were also in the shelter or loose in the yard.

One officer noted that the shelter contained so much built-up fecal matter and hay debris that it blocked approximately half the doorway and the animals would have to climb up to enter.

The warrant stated that Connelly has been receiving animals sent from other states. She reportedly had a delivery of more animals scheduled for Saturday.

All animals found in the home were seized and are receiving veterinary care, state police said.

The incoming animals is being managed and the animals have predetermined adoptive homes, state police said. The states Animal Control will be tracking and ensuring these animals are going to home with proper care, state police added.

The warrant says state troopers assisted Hebron and State of Connecticut Animal Control with serving the arrest warrant.

Connelly was charged Friday morning with three counts of animal cruelty  one involving cats, one involving dogs and one involving birds. She was held on $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear Monday in state Superior Court in Rockville, according to the warrant.

This was not animal controls first time inspecting Connellys house.

Hebron and state animal control officers inspected the CT Pregnant Dog and Cat Rescue on Feb. 28, 2020. Officers noticed that the home was dirty and smelled like dogs, but was not dirty enough that would alarm the health department, the warrant stated.

In the back of the home, officers found five large dog crates each containing a canine. Officers said all the dogs appeared to be in good order and they left the home.

Nearly a year later, on Feb. 5, 2021, a state animal control officer received a complaint requesting a welfare check of a dog at the CT Pregnant Dog and Cat Rescue. An officer attempted to conduct the welfare check, but there was a locked gate and no access to the home.

Connelly never showed officers the dog but supplied paperwork showing the dog was vetted and that the dog was doing better, according to the arrest warrant.

The state Department of Agricultures Animal Control Unit received another complaint about the rescue on July 19, 2021, after Ocean State Veterinarian Services in Rhode Island said Connelly brought three puppies to the hospital that appeared to have distemper.

The veterinarian said Connelly refused to euthanize the animals. The veterinarian said the puppies were suffering and if they left the hospital, two of the three would die, according to the arrest warrant.

Before animal control officers arrived, Connelly agreed to euthanize two of the three puppies. She took the third puppy to a holistic veterinarian for further treatment. Officers later discovered that two more puppies from the same litter had been euthanized at the Boston Vet before the Rhode Island visit, the warrant stated.

Also, officers issued Connelly infractions for failing to notify the Department of Agriculture of an adoption event. She was also issued a verbal warning for not vetting the puppies within 48 hours of entering the state.

On Sept. 16, 2021, an animal control officer received a complaint about Connelly neglecting her personal dogs and dogs within the rescue.

The complaint stated Connelly had more than 25 dogs at her house that were living in an unclean, unhealthy and unsafe environment and they were confined to crates majority of the day, the warrant stated.

State police also received numerous complaints about animal abuse. Officials tried numerous times to access the home, but were unsuccessful, and there wasnt enough substantive evidence at the time to apply for a search warrant, the warrant said.

Animal control received another complaint in November 2021 regarding a puppy from Connellys rescue that was brought into the state. The puppy was very sick and diagnosed with Giardia but later recovered from the illness, the warrant stated.

Connellys arrest Friday came after a joint investigation with the Hebron Animal Control, the Department of Agricultures Bureau of Regulatory Services State Animal Control and the Hebron resident state trooper.
STAMFORD  Girl Scout cookies arrived by the truckload on Saturday at Cummings Park in Stamford on Saturday as cookie season begins in Connecticut.

Nearly 40 teen volunteers from Greenwich High School and Stamford High School signed up to help unload the cases of cookies from the trucks.
GREENWICH  Greek Independence Day was celebrated by a happy crowd of nearly 50 people at Town Hall on Friday afternoon.

The Greek flag, donated by town resident and Board of Estimate and Taxation member Karen Fassuliotis, was raised on the town flagpole. It will be flown there for the next week to mark the countrys independence.
A Romanian citizen admitted to his role in an ATM skimming scheme Friday, according to federal prosecutors.

Nicolae Marius Barbu, 50, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in federal court Friday. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 30 years and is scheduled to be sentenced June 16.

The U.S. Attorneys office said a Connecticut bank experienced about 35 incidents of ATM skimming in Stratford, Monroe, Trumbull, Greenwich, Fairfield and other locations within the state from February to June 2017.

Police determined that there were several people involved in a scheme that placed skimming devices on ATM machines to capture account and PIN numbers. Members of this conspiracy used the information to make substitute ATM cards and obtained money and made purchases using those cards, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

Barbu joined the conspiracy in April 2017, the U.S. Attorneys office said.

In April 2018, Barbu and another individual stole credit cards from a person at a gym in Rockville, Md. They then used the cards to make more than $9,000 in purchases at Microsoft and Apple stores in Maryland, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

Barbu was arrested in Michigan in June 2021. He has been detained since his arrest.

Barbu has also agreed to pay almost $140,000 in restitution to the victim bank, as well as $9,500 to the banks that issued the credit cards used in his fraudulent purchases, the U.S. Attorneys office said.
Ron Chapple / Getty Image

A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday after he was found with two semiautomatic pistols in a motel in Enfield, according to federal prosecutors.

Last summer, 25-year-old Tevin Gonzalez was involved in multiple shooting and fire-bombing incidents in Springfield, Mass., the U.S. Attorneys office said.
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NORWALK  When April Grisanti was abducted on a chilly winter night in 1985, she disappeared essentially without a trace.

Police said witnesses last saw the 20-year-old woman being forced into a car by her ex-boyfriend James Purple Aaron after the two got into an argument at a Main Street bar.

Aaron was ultimately convicted of kidnapping. But police never located Grisanti and Aaron was not charged in connection with her presumed death.

In the nearly four decades since Grisantis abduction, as police struggled to uncover new leads, her sister Gina Grisanti has launched her own hunt for clues. In an interview, she said she believes she is closer than ever to ending the 37-year-old mystery.

I've never been this close in my entire life, Gina Grisanti said. In 37 years, we had nothing. And now we have a smoking gun.

Gina Grisanti said she believes a social media post that appeared to reference her sisters abduction strongly suggests there are people alive today who have important information about the death.

The post, according to Gina Grisanti, includes a screenshot that purports to show a conversation between two people discussing April Grisantis hidden remains and the threat posed by the still-open police investigation.

Police, however, have expressed skepticism that the post reveals anything new about the case. Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said cold case investigators looked into the post, but determined it was not a credible piece of evidence.

Gina Grisanti is looking for closure and she hasn't been able to get it, which we understand is incredibly difficult, Kulhawik said.

Gina Grisanti said she was disappointed by the police departments assessment, but added that she plans to push forward with her search. In the last year, she has raised more than $1,500 to cover the cost of handmade missing person posters with pictures of her sister. She also intends to use the money to pay for a private investigator.

Gina Grisanti said she believes more clues about her sisters abduction might surface if the state offers reward money to anyone with information about the disappearance.

Under Connecticut law, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice, the governor has the authority to offer up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for serious crimes.

I think the reward is a big deal because people bite at rewards, Gina Grisanti said. If the government wont offer a reward, I am willing to somehow save every penny off the ground.

April Grisanti, according to police, was last seen leaving Anthonys Cafe around midnight on Feb. 1, 1985 after a dispute with Aaron. At the time of the abduction, witnesses told investigators that Aaron had forced Grisanti into his blue Cadillac before driving north on Main Street.

Aaron returned to his Stuart Avenue residence more than two hours later. Investigators said they believe he may have traveled to New York before arriving home due to a toll booth stub that was later recovered from his car.

April Grisanti was never seen again. But her wallet, drivers license and birth certificate were found abandoned about a half-mile from where Aaron lived, police said. Her car was later found in the Norwalk River.

Aaron, who was 33 when Grisanti disappeared, was eventually convicted of kidnapping and unlawful restraint. He spent more than six years in prison.

Up until his death in 2016, Aaron denied any involvement in the disappearance. He maintained for years that April Grisanti exited his car about three blocks away from the bar.

Kulhawik said investigators still believe Aaron was directly responsible for April Grisantis death and for hiding her body. Even though the primary suspect is dead and no new significant breakthroughs have emerged in the case, Kulhawik said the investigation into the disappearance continues.

We did think that when Purple (Aaron) died that someone might come forward with information because then they wouldn't be afraid, Kulhawik said. But that didn't happen.

Despite being frustrated by the lack of answers surrounding her sisters last moments, Gina Grisanti said she is committed to continuing her search for as long as it takes. Her main motivation, she said, comes from her family members.

My mother is the reason I'm doing this and my daughter, who is also named April, is the reason I'm doing this, she said. We have lived with this for 37 painful years. But who wouldnt do everything they could to bring their loved one home?
CASPER , Wyo.  Nearly two decades after being sentenced to death, Dale Wayne Eaton was ordered Friday to spend the rest of his life in prison without the chance of parole or commutation.

Eaton was convicted of the kidnapping, rape and murder of Lisa Marie Kimmell, which took place in Casper in 1988. Friday was the 34-year anniversary of Kimmell's disappearance.

Eaton's trial and conviction took place in 2004, and he was originally sentenced to death. But court appeals kept that punishment from being carried out, and prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty in September after a competency hearing found he was unfit to proceed.

Before Eaton was sentenced again, two of Kimmell's sisters and her mother delivered victim impact statements Friday inside a Natrona County district courtroom.

Kimmell's older sister, Sherry Odegard, said "the original sentence should've been upheld."

Sheila Kimmell, Lisa's mother, asked Eaton to look at her and her daughters, pointing out that he has not in the past. He obliged.

"Please. Hear us," she said. "Our pain has spanned the minutes, the hours, the days, the weeks."

All of Lisa Kimmell's family members addressed Eaton and his counsel directly. Odegard took particular issue with the defense's argument that Eaton had a difficult childhood and that his mental health did not equip him to withstand a capital punishment hearing.

"A tough childhood doesn't excuse ... his health issues don't excuse," Odegard said. "He knows right from wrong, and so do you. Shame on you Mr. O'Brien."

Eaton, who is suffering from declining health, is not the victim, Kimmell's youngest sister, Stacy Pitts, noted.

"It feels so unjust that Dale Wayne Eaton has been provided three square meals a day," Pitts said.

Eaton did not originally intend to speak. After Eaton consulted with his defense attorney, lawyer Sean O'Brien said that his client had asked him to apologize on his behalf.

Sheila Kimmel said she did not accept the apology because it did not come from him directly.

The Kimmell family decided years ago that they wanted to pursue capital punishment in Eaton's case, but it was not about "blood lust." In fact, they said that if Eaton apologized and revealed his other victims, they would not pursue the death penalty. Sheila Kimmell repeated this point Friday, but the closest they got was an apology from O'Brien and some overheard whispers.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Blonigen, who prosecuted Eaton, told the Star-Tribune that he overheard Eaton tell his lawyers that he's had nightmares about the murder and that "she's the only person I've ever killed."

For years, Eaton was the only person in the state on death row.

A sentencing hearing was set for January. The hearing is mostly a formality, since Eaton was already set to spend the rest of his life in prison after prosecutors backed off the death penalty last fall.

Members of the Kimmell family came from Montana and Colorado, prepared to give a statement. But Eaton didnt show.

Court records show a transportation order signed by a Natrona County district court judge in November.

In the days after the hearing, the Department of Corrections said it never received the order to move Eaton to Casper from the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington for the January date. Typically, a DOC spokesperson said, those orders will be passed from the court to the district attorney, then to the sheriffs office and the DOC.

But a sheriffs spokesperson said their office wasnt involved in this particular order. Blonigen said the prosecutor's office had a copy of the transport order from November, but wasnt sure why it didnt make it to the prison.

Wyoming hasnt used the penalty in 30 years, since Mark Hopkinson was executed in 1992.

"You have the death sentence, but you don't have the death penalty," Blonigen said Friday.

Fridays hearing comes nearly 34 years after Kimmells death, on the anniversary of her disappearance from Denver.

"I was 13 when my sister was killed and I'm 47 now," Pitts told Eaton. "Even after all these years, I'm still so angry."

Kimmell was traveling from Colorado to Billings to see family when she went missing. About a week later, she was found dead in the North Platte.

The case was unsolved until 2002, when DNA evidence linked her death to Eaton. Her car was soon found buried on his property in Moneta, and he was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping, raping and murdering her.

Sheila Kimmell said Friday that she believes that Eaton had other victims before and after her daughter's death.

In 2006, on what would have been Kimmells 36th birthday, the family burned Eaton's property to the ground after winning it in a lawsuit.

Eaton was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty on all counts. But before he was set to be executed in 2010, he received a stay. A federal judge took him off death row in 2014, and the September evaluation put the final quash on the penalty in his case.

Technically, the defense still has 30 days to appeal the latest sentencing, but Blonigen said he's received "no indication" that Eaton's lawyers will proceed down that path.

Kimmell's family say they feel like they have a sense of "finality," but not closure.

"This just closes another chapter of a long book," Sheila Kimmell said. "Hopefully, this is the last chapter."

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unexpectedly decided against reopening schools Wednesday to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on a promise and opting to appease their hard-line base at the expense of further alienating the international community.

The surprising decision, confirmed by a Taliban official, is bound to disrupt efforts by the Taliban to win recognition from potential international donors at a time when the country is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community has urged Taliban leaders to reopen schools and give women their right to public space.

The reversal was so sudden that the Education Ministry was caught off guard on Wednesday, the start of the school year, as were schools in parts of the Afghan capital of Kabul and elsewhere in the country. Some girls in higher grades returned to schools, only to be told to go home.

Aid organizations said the move exacerbated the uncertainty surrounding Afghanistan's future as the Taliban leadership seems to struggle to get on the same page as it shifts from fighting to governing.

It also came as the leadership was convening in Kandahar amid reports of a possible Cabinet shuffle.

U.S. Special Representative Thomas West tweeted his "shock and deep disappointment" about the decision, calling it "a betrayal of public commitments to the Afghan people and the international community."

He said the Taliban had made it clear that all Afghans have a right to education, adding, "For the sake of the country's future and its relations with the international community, I would urge the Taliban to live up to their commitments to their people."

The Norwegian Relief Committee, which spends about $20 million annually to support primary education in Afghanistan, was still waiting for official word from the Taliban about canceling the classes for girls above the sixth grade.

Berenice Van Dan Driessche, advocacy manager for the committee, said their representatives had not gotten official word of the change as of Wednesday night, and that girls in the 11 provinces where they work had gone to school but were sent home.

The committee's staff in the provinces "reported a lot of disappointment and also a lot of uncertainty" about the future, she said. It said that in some areas, teachers said they would continue to hold classes for the girls until the Taliban issued an official order.

Waheedullah Hashmi, external relations and donor representative with the Taliban-led administration, told The Associated Press the decision was made late Tuesday night.

"We don't say they will be closed forever," Hashmi added.

U.N. special representative Deborah Lyons will try to meet Thursday with the Taliban to ask them to reverse their decision, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Earlier in the week, a statement by the Education Ministry had urged "all students" to return when classes resumed Wednesday.

On Tuesday, ministry spokesman Mawlvi Aziz Ahmad Rayan had told AP that all girls would be allowed back to school, although the Taliban administration would not insist on it in those areas where parents were opposed or where schools could not be segregated.

He was reluctant to give details but promised if schools can meet these conditions, "there would no issue for them" to begin classes for girls in the higher grades.

"In principle, there is no issue from the ministry side, but as I said, it is a sensitive and cultural issue," he added.

The decision to postpone the return of girls at the higher grade levels appeared to be a concession to the rural and deeply tribal backbone of the hard-line Taliban movement that in many parts of the countryside are reluctant to send their daughters to school.

The decision also came as the movement's leadership has been summoned to southern Kandahar by the reclusive Taliban leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, amid reports of a Cabinet shakeup, according to an Afghan leader who is also a member of the leadership council. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The official said it was possible that some senior interim Cabinet positions could be changed.

Since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021, there have been persistent reports of differences among the senior leadership. According to these reports, more hard-line members are at odds with pragmatists, who want to see a greater engagement with the world. While staying true to their Islamic beliefs, they want to be less harsh than when they last ruled Afghanistan, banning women from work and girls from schools, the reports say.

Television is permitted in Afghanistan today, unlike in the past, and women are not required to wear the all-encompassing burqa. but must wear the traditional hijab, covering their heads. Women have also returned to work in the Health and Education ministries and at Kabul International Airport at passport control and customs.

The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and returned to power after America's chaotic departure last year.

Girls have been banned from school beyond the sixth grade in most of the country since the Taliban's return. Universities opened earlier this year in much of the country, but since taking power the Taliban edicts have been erratic. While a handful of provinces continued to provide education to all, most provinces closed educational institutions for girls and women.

In the capital of Kabul private schools and universities have operated uninterrupted.

The religiously driven Taliban administration fears going forward with enrolling girls beyond the sixth grade could alienate their rural base, Hashmi said.

"The leadership hasn't decided when or how they will allow girls to return to school," he said. While he accepted that urban centers are mostly supportive of education for girls, much of rural Afghanistan is opposed, particularly in Pashtun tribal regions.

In some rural areas, a brother will disown a city-dwelling brother who allows a daughter to go to school, said Hashmi, adding that the Taliban leadership is trying to decide how to open education for girls beyond the sixth grade nationwide.

Most Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns. In their sweep through the country last year, other ethnic groups such as Uzbeks and Tajiks in northern Afghanistan either joined the fight with them or simply did not oppose them.

"We did everything the Taliban asked in terms of Islamic dress, and they promised that girls could go to school and now they have broken their promise," said Mariam Naheebi, a journalist who spoke to the AP in Kabul.

"They have not been honest with us," added Naheebi, who has protested for women's rights.

___

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As a child and later as a teen, Penelope (Penny) Schmidt rode the school bus each day from her home in Elsah to school in St. Louis. She passed through Alton taking little notice of the river town she now calls home. Her airy loft, filled with paintings, sculptures and photos follows her journey from Elsah, to New York City, then back to the Midwest, to Alton.

After graduating from Principia College, where her father, James Schmidt, headed the art department, she moved to New York to work in an art gallery. Later, she would open her own gallery, Schmidt Bingham, on 57th Street. I am a great art appreciator, she says. I loved dancing with my mother and taking art classes from my father, but I was not a natural at either. I also loved art history, so I became an art dealer.

A framed photograph of a very young Penny surrounded by paintings indicates she got her start quite young. Thats me on the left, my father standing next to me, and my tiny little brother is behind a painting. It was one of my first gallery experiences. I think we were at a show of student work, she says.

I came back to the Midwest to visit my father after Sept. 11. Deciding to move here was not something I had planned. In fact, it was the last thing on earth Id ever imagined, she says. I came back with a very different perspective having lived in Greenwich Village where I loved the historic architecture and appreciated all water views. I became enchanted with this river town.

She began looking for a home. Although she appreciated the historic houses in Alton, she didnt need a four-bedroom home and she didnt have a car to garage. The industrial area in downtown Alton was what appealed to her. The idea of living downtown wasnt popular then. The Marina District was home to the railroad, a big flour mill and lots of bars, not condos and apartments, she says.

When she learned the historic Lime Building, built in 1912, was going to be available for sale by closed bids, she decided to put in a bid. I wanted to have these wonderful water views, unobstructed, and everyone tried to talk me out of it, she says.

I had this idea that Id like to live in the building. Of course, at 36,000 square feet it was too big for me, so I knew a mixed-use plan would be the way to go. I think that was what sold the city. That, and the watercolor painting my father did of the building, which I presented with my bid, she says.

She finished the building redevelopment in two years, selling all 10 residential lofts prior to completion.

We had a basic palette of hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel kitchens, fireplaces, high ceilings and exposed brick. Every loft has wonderful 8-foot knotty alder wood doors. The buyers got to select the finishes in each unit.

For her own space, she chose light finishes for her floors. Exposed brick walls, steel and wood beams all speak to the buildings past. She commissioned sculptor Carroll Todd, one of the artists in her New York Gallery, to create signature pieces for the space. The first, a sculptural stainless-steel hood for her kitchen evokes both the river and smoke in its shape and movement. He also designed the fireplace surround and sculpted handles in the shape of an S for the 8-foot doors that close off the bedroom.

The unusual frosted windows came about when her fathers friend, David Rowland, visited. They had both attended Cranbrook, the iconic art school in Michigan. You might recognize his name for his design of the midcentury 40 in 4 chair, named because you can stack 40 chairs 4 feet high. He said, Penny, youve got to do frosted because these windows look out on a brick wall. He was right. Theyre huge, triple layer windows with the inside glass sandblasted. Its wonderful because when light comes in the early morning it hits the brick and casts a rose-colored glow inside.

Schmidts innate design skill shows in the juxtapositions of periods and styles of furniture and in the areas she creates for conversation and for contemplation. The placement of the art, the rhythm of how it moves through the space and fills the rooms without feeling crowded reflects her gallery background.

Her move to downtown Alton has been a good one for Schmidt for her lifestyle, her work and her future.

I never thought Id want to work at home but because of these high ceilings, big windows, and great views it feels very spacious, not claustrophobic at all. I get to walk everywhere. I didnt even have a car until I moved here. I love being able to walk to shops, to restaurants, to the library, to the arts center, and to Riverfront Park. Yes, its great, she says.

Penelope Schmidt

Home  Alton

Occupation  Independent art consultant

Family  Schmidt has two brothers, Rob and Ben Schmidt and shares her home with her rescue dog.
ST. CHARLES  A St. Charles County jury will decide next week whether to give a former Dent County sheriff's deputy convicted of murdering a woman in 2017 a death sentence or a life term without parole.

Jurors will hear evidence over several days next week to re-sentence Marvin D. Rice, 54, in the 2011 killing of Annette Durham, the mother of his child.

A judge in 2017 sentenced Rice to death after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. The Missouri Supreme Court later affirmed the conviction but ordered a new sentencing.

Rice was also sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder in the killing of Durham's boyfriend, Steven Strotkamp, but the Missouri Supreme Court in 2019 overturned that case and ordered a new trial.

Rice's first trial was moved to St. Charles County from Dent County because of the publicity attached to the case, and because of Rices former job there. His retrial also will be held in St. Charles County.

A jury was selected this week, officials said. The St. Charles County Circuit Court sealed Rice's pending murder case in Missouri Case.Net, the state's online court system, ahead of trial.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the nature of Marvin Rice's trial that is beginning March 28. The story has been updated.

Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
LIBERTY, Mo.  A man who runs a little-known, low-budget radio station in suburban Kansas City says he is standing up for free speech and alternative viewpoints when he airs Russian state-sponsored programming in the midst of the Ukrainian war.

Radio Sputnik, funded by the Russian government, pays broadcast companies in the U.S. to air its programs. Only two do so: One is Peter Schartel's KCXL in Liberty and one is in Washington, D.C.

Schartel started airing the Russian programming in January 2020, but criticism intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Schartel said people accuse him and his wife of being traitors to the U.S. and occasionally issue threats. Some critics say he is promoting propaganda and misinformation, but Schartel maintains most people who call to complain haven't listened to the program.

Some will talk to me, but others will still call me a piece of whatever," he said. "What I am thankful for is we are still living in a country where they can call me up. Even if they arent thinking about free speech theyre exercising that right.

Radio Sputnik is produced by the U.S.-based branch of Rossiya Segodnya, a media group operated by the Russian government.

Its content prompted the National Association of Broadcasters to issue an unusual statement on March 1 calling on broadcasters to stop carrying state-sponsored programming with ties to Russia or its agents.

The statement from NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said the organization is a fierce defender" of free speech but that given Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe."

During one recent broadcast of The Critical Hour that aired on Schartel's station, the hosts and their guests echoed false and unsupported claims about Ukraines government.

They repeated Russian state media lies about the Russian militarys attacks on civilian targets and its destruction of entire neighborhoods, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putins baseless claim that his enemies in Ukraine are Nazis.

The Kansas City Star said in an editorial that Schartel is putting his financial needs above ethics by spreading Russian propaganda.

Much like the National Association of Broadcasters, we advise KCXL to drop all programming that paints Putin in a positive light. The Russian president is no victim; he is for sure no war hero, The Star wrote.

Schartel acknowledged that he initially accepted the Radio Sputnik contract because he was struggling to keep KCXL afloat. The station operates out of a dilapidated, cluttered building. He said he stopped taking a salary months ago, though he does nearly all the work.

Schartel's Alpine Broadcasting Corp. is paid $5,000 a month to air Radio Sputnik in two three-hour blocks each day, according to a U.S. Justice Department Foreign Agent Registration Act filing in December 2021.

KCXL's other programming includes shows that are heavily religious, offer opinions across the political spectrum and promote conspiracy theories. One program, TruNews, has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for spreading antisemitic, Islamaphobic and anti-LGBTQ messages.

Schartel said he airs programs that are not commercially viable and don't depend on advertising, which he contends influences news reporting. He said he is promoting free speech by providing a platform for people who otherwise aren't heard.

Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, said all radio station owners in the U.S. have a right to air whatever content they want.

It this station thinks its going to make a mark in Missouri by playing Radio Sputnik, they have the right to do so, Gutterman said.

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates licensing of radio and television broadcasts, does not censor content unless it intentionally endangers public safety or is found to be obscene, indecent or profane.

Radio Sputnik listeners hear discussions not only about Russia but also current issues in the U.S. and other countries. The theme throughout the broadcast is that U.S. policies intentionally damage the U.S. and other countries while benefiting other corrupt governments, the rich and big business.

The deal that brought Radio Sputnik to the small Missouri station was brokered by RM Broadcasting, based in Florida, which is run by Anthony Ferolito. He signed a similar deal in 2017 with Way Broadcasting, which agreed to lease WZHF-AM's airtime in Washington, D.C., to RM Broadcasting.

Because of his contracts with Rossiya Segodnya, the Justice Department required Ferolito to register as a foreign government agent in 2018, citing a 1938 law for people lobbying for or acting on behalf of a foreign government. Ferolito lost a lawsuit over the registration.

Ferolito did not return messages from The Associated Press, but RM Broadcasting said in a statement that the company stands with Ukraine and all victims of oppression and aggression. It said RM Broadcasting is dedicated to freedom of speech.

The public is explicitly notified throughout the broadcast day of the source of the material, so that people can make an informed decision on whether to listen or turn the dial  and that freedom of choice is the ultimate underpinning of our republic, the statement said.

Gutterman, of Syracuse University, noted that state-produced content from countries not friendly with the U.S., including Russia and China, is already available on some cable stations and online, although some providers have dropped Russian content since the war began.

Modern media has changed the radio landscape we grew up with, he said. Even if stations drop it, people can find this content.

For his part, Schartel doesnt think the uproar over the Radio Sputnik broadcasts will last.

Russian state-controlled RT America, the television counterpart to Radio Sputnik, closed its U.S. branch this month and laid off most of its staff. Schartel said that likely means his contract won't be renewed when it ends in December.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are uniquely vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks. In fact, over 70% of cyberattacks target SMBs. Yet, many companies still underestimate the costs of a data breach, even though the consequences can be fatal.

Fortunately, there are some relatively straightforward steps that you can take to address these dangers. Access this blog to unlock these steps.
ST. CLAIR COUNTY  A Centreville man was killed Thursday night when his vehicle veered off the interstate, struck a concrete barrier and burst into flames, police said.

Kevin L. Clark Jr., 30, was driving northbound on I-255 near I-64 just after 10:30 p.m. when his 2017 Ford Fusion traveled off the left side of the road and hit a barrier, an Illinois State Police report said.

Clark's vehicle caught fire in the crash. He was fatally injured, state troopers said. The crash closed I-255 for about two hours.
At first glance, the subway car into which a displaced Ukrainian family has moved looks like an apartment, its long seat covered with a light pink throw, a folding chair nearby converted into a small table on which a coffee cup filled with a beverage has been placed.

And the laughing face of a pigtailed little girl peering out a bus window could almost be that of a young child going on an exciting vacation with her family.

But the subway car in the besieged northeastern city of Kharkiv is being used as a bomb shelter and is a poor substitute for the home the family had to flee amid bombardment from Russian forces.

In most of Ukraine, the reality of war is impossible to ignore. In the conflict's 30th day, it was confirmed that about 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter -- the war's deadliest known attack on civilians yet.

Keep reading for live updates, a recap of today's coverage, and photo gallery from the subway car and elsewhere.
Newly revealed text messages from Ginni Thomas to a top Trump administration official show the conservative-activist wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wasnt merely rooting for former President Donald Trump to win reelection. She inundated Trumps chief of staff with frenzied post-election texts offering direct advice on how they might overturn the results  and infused that advice with crazed conspiracy nonsense worthy of Q-Anons most feverish followers.

All this as Trump was desperately trying to get the justices, including Justice Thomas, to review the election outcome. The whole episode further casts a shadow upon a Supreme Court already falling from grace with much of the American public.

It has long been problematic that Justice Thomas consistently declines to recuse himself from cases in which his wife is deeply involved as an activist. But the airing last week of the texts between Ginni Thomas and Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, adds a whole new layer to the issue: They indicate the justices wife is in thrall to some of the most extreme, outlandish and potentially dangerous conspiracy theories out there regarding the election.

The texts also contain at least a hint that  contrary to the couples credibility-straining denials  they do in fact discuss these matters privately.

The texts are part of materials Meadows turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. They show that in the days and weeks after the 2020 election, Ginni Thomas frantically pressed Meadows to get the election overturned by any means possible. This war is psychological, she wrote, and Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down. She referred to President Joe Bidens legitimate win as a coup and lamented: I cant see Americans swallowing the obvious fraud. She quoted right-wing websites predicting that the Biden crime family will face military tribunals for sedition, adding: I hope this is true.

In a tweet after the Jan. 6 insurrection, she embraced the bonkers notion that Vice President Mike Pence was empowered to overturn the election, writing: Most of us are disgusted with the VP.

How much of this is discussed over the Thomases dinner table, only the Thomases know  though in the texts themselves, Ginni Thompson makes reference to discussing these issues with her best friend. In an unrelated profile from February, a family acquaintance describes the couples relationship with that very phrase.

Justice Thomas has already shown himself to be unusually tolerant of MAGA nonsense, as in January, when he sided with Trump to cast the sole vote against allowing the House committee to subpoena White House records regarding the insurrection. For the sake of the courts very credibility, its past time for Chief Justice John Roberts to impose rules requiring justices to recuse themselves in cases with clear conflicts of interest.
Courage in the face of tragedy

But for the courage and honesty of Ryan Crecelius family, his death at age 41 might have been written off as just another person passing prematurely from some unknown health issue, with his obituary playing up a life well lived. Instead, the family stated it forthrightly: Crecelius was an addict who died of an overdose. Everything about the obituary, published in Thursdays Post-Dispatch, suggests a loving family that has been through the wringer of stress and heartbreak that typically accompanies a loved ones addiction.

Two years ago, he declared, Im tired of living this way! went cold turkey, and remained clean until a few days ago. He once remarked, These have been the best two years of my life. He lost this last battle, the obituary stated.

Crecelius is survived not just by his immediate family but also the adopted family of his Wednesday night AA support group. The familys willingness to remember his life this way, we hope, will give others the strength to persevere. They need not struggle in silence.

Dolly Parton, class act

Film star, songwriter and country music legend Dolly Parton certainly deserves accolades for her many contributions to music over the decades. She also has the class to acknowledge that her portfolio doesnt include enough rock hits to merit induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There are others more deserving, she says, so she has withdrawn her name from consideration. I dont feel that I have earned that right, she explained.

In an era where everyone seems compelled to put themselves first, feed their egos and dominate the spotlight as much as possible, Parton seems content to go the exact opposite route. I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out, Parton said in a statement. I do hope that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again  if Im ever worthy.

Its not that country music stars are never to be allowed to cross that boundary. Johnny Cash did it with ease. But there are plenty of nominees  serious, full-time rockers  who have yet to receive the credit theyre due. Partons gesture helps clear the way, even though her withdrawal came too late to have her name removed from ballots sent out earlier this month.

Thanks, but no thanks

Grammy Awards producers say they will quite deliberately not be including one of the industrys most famous stars in this years ceremonies as a live performer, mainly because the star in question behaves like an ass. That would be former presidential candidate Kanye West, the same guy who walked up on stage in 2009 and yanked an award from Taylor Swifts hands because he felt it deserved to go to Beyonce.

Organizers cited numerous examples of Wests mercurial behavior and indicated he couldnt be trusted not to do something embarrassing, insulting, rude, crude, obscene or obnoxious during the April 3 show. Through an animated video, he has recently hinted at a threat to Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson for daring to date Wests ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. He also has gone after Trevor Noah, the Daily Show host who is serving as emcee for this years awards.

His brothers keeper

Former CNN host Chris Cuomo, ousted from the network for secretly advising his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is seeking $125 million from his former employer, alleging his firing was illegal because the network knew of and even participated in the advice he gave to his brother.

In fact, CNN came under scrutiny long before Cuomos firing for letting him interview the governor on-air. Cuomos demand is ridiculous but should provide the impetus for some soul-searching at CNN.

Normal journalistic standards would prevent an anchor from giving advice to a politician, even a relative, as Chris Cuomo did for Andrew Cuomo, regarding sexual harassment allegations against the latter. Chris Cuomo doesnt deny giving such advice but says the network actively encouraged it and even provided its own advice in an effort to use the governors prominence to boost ratings.

That assertion is believable because CNN openly lifted its own ban on Cuomo interviewing his brother and allowed him to do it repeatedly at the height of the pandemic. Thats whats known as a slippery slope, folks.

Real journalists shun Russias fake news

Employees at Reuters, one of the worlds preeminent news services, are reportedly nearing rebellion over the companys continued partnership with Tass, Russias government-run wire service and a key source of lies about Russias invasion of Ukraine. The idea of Reuters effectively partnering with the Kremlins disinformation machine seriously risks the news agencys credibility.

In 2020, a Reuters special service for businesses called Reuters Connect added Tass to the list of media outlets that are available to subscribers through the service.

The move was somewhat controversial even then, since Tass has never been an independent information source. That questionable situation became intolerable with Russias invasion of Ukraine, which has been aided by a Kremlin disinformation campaign to mask the true horror of Vladimir Putins unprovoked attack on a sovereign democracy.

One of the Reuters reporters who talked to Politico called the arrangement just wrong and said the companys management has remained stubbornly silent about it. Getty Images, a global photograph distribution service, is among other media organizations that have taken responsible steps to end their relationship with Tass for the invasion.
Instead of consistently bemoaning the population decline in St. Louis, city and regional leaders must join the business community in identifying why so many people are packing up and leaving. Before trying to figure out how to restore growth to the region, the first job should be to stop the exodus. Key to this effort will be deploying the massive infusion of federal dollars and Rams settlement money as strategically as possible without wasting another dime.

It doesnt require an expert to identify some of the biggest culprits behind the population decline. People dont feel safe on the streets or in their homes. Infighting among top elected leaders leads to frustrating stalemates and too little progress. Visitors first impressions upon arrival are of disintegrating buildings and abandoned neighborhoods.

Evidence of dysfunction abounds, and no one can blame residents for being fed up. A simple exercise can help leaders pinpoint the causes: Conduct the equivalent of an exit poll among those who are leaving or have already left. If respondents say they found a better job, the obvious follow-up question should be: Are pay scales in St. Louis too low? If so, employers need to step up. If crime and public safety are cited, ask for specifics and recommendations on what would have made them feel safer. Find out what it would take to convince them to come back.

But continuing to sit and watch the regional decline, doing little or nothing to stop it, is tantamount to leadership malfeasance. As the Post-Dispatchs Jacob Barker reported Friday, the citys population is now estimated to have dipped below 300,000, while St. Louis County has fallen below 1 million. The total population for the metro area, which includes Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties as well as suburban counties in Illinois, is estimated by the Census Bureau to have dropped by 10,954 residents from a 2020 level of 2.82 million.

Touting St. Louis as a welcoming place for immigrants might help, but even refugees from war-torn nations might balk when they look at the areas violent crime statistics.

Even growing and prosperous areas are at risk of being dragged into the vicious cycle of decline, says St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann. Whatever short-term advantage [the population shift has] given us, long term its a real potential problem, he said. Thats because when outsiders hear the name St. Louis, they dont differentiate between the suburbs and the city. The entire region suffers from a serious image problem characterized by high crime, blight and sharp income disparities.

Other thriving cities like Dallas and Charlotte, North Carolina, have their share of these same problems. But theyre addressing them while ensuring that their national reputations point more toward success than failure. For the St. Louis region to do likewise, leaders will have to stop dithering while their collective ship continues to sink.
Regarding the editorial Greitens is accused again of abuse. Will Republican voters finally reject him? (March 22): No use worrying about Eric Greitens losing votes over accusations of physically abusing his wife or striking a 3-year-old. It may be money in the bank for him.

Republicans dominate Missouri government. Our attorney general sues school districts for trying to keep students safe; the Legislature ignores the will of the people concerning Medicaid expansion and the right to petition for ballot initiatives. Missouri is like many other GOP-dominated states that seem to deliberately deny health care to the underprivileged.

In St. Charles County, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, proposes to eliminate the personal property tax, claiming it will result in savings for working and middle-class families (Missouri Senate advances bill to phase out St. Charles County personal property taxes March 21). But actually, it just defunds fire protection, ambulance service and other city services. It would be a windfall to McMansion owners not having to fret over the tax bite on their limousines and yachts.

So it shouldnt be hard to understand Greitens behaving as a bully and a tyrant. He runs with a hard-case lot, a gang displaying a sociopathic need to punish wives, children and those with low incomes, especially if they are ill, hungry or pregnant.

However, what is hard to understand is how this lot got to be the choice of a majority of voters, who otherwise seem to show more caring and compassion when responding to political polls.

Fred Tilinski  St. Peters
Regarding EU imposes sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich (March 15): It appears Russian billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich is sailing freely around the Mediterranean Sea on his superyacht and able to dock and dine in Israeli restaurants. Western European countries, but not the U.S., have frozen his assets. Yet, Israel has not acted to enforce the sanctions that have been placed on him.

Abramovich has been closely allied politically to Russian President Vladimir Putin for years and yet still enjoys safe access in Israel. He has Israeli citizenship, but the reaction by Israeli leaders is unacceptable in my opinion. Its a statement to the world that even after the U.S. defeated the Nazis in World War II and secured the homeland they now occupy, Israel has not demonstrated it is on the side of democracy.

We sacrificed blood and treasure and provided Israel the ability to exist as a nation, yet this is what we are seeing from them, even now, after all our continuing aid of defensive weapons and money. I say no more to this until they are willing to say no to Putins slaughter in Ukraine.

Karen Glaub  Wentzville
Economic disruptions created by the current Russian invasion of Ukraine had some beneficial effects. Two examples are the accelerated demise of the American ULA (United Launch Alliance) monopoly and the elimination of Roscosmos, the Russian government organization controlling all space program activities, as a major competitor.

ULA was already in trouble before the invasion. In 2006 veteran space program suppliers Lockheed Martin and Boeing formed a legal cartel that monopolized satellite launch services for the U.S. government. After 2006 all this business was to go to a government-approved monopoly called the ULA which gets Atlas 5 SLVs (Satellite Launch Vehicles) from Lockheed Martin and Delta 4 SLVs from Boeing. These two firms have dominated U.S. space launches for over half a century and in 2006 they monopolized it. But not for long, as the future arrived unexpectedly in the form of SpaceX, a new firm that required no guaranteed government contracts or any government subsidies and did what ULA did but faster and cheaper.

Roscosmos became a monopoly in 2015 when it absorbed the few remaining space program entities it did not already control. One item Roscosmos and ULA had in common was the Russian RD-180 rocket engine, which is used for both the Atlas and Delta SLVs. The Atlas SLV is retiring in a few years and the ULA already received all the RD-180 rockets to handle the remaining Atlas SLV launches. This was demanded by Congress after the 2014 Russian attack on Ukraine.

The ULA monopoly is not absolute. Since 2013 NASA has been using the Antares SLV from Northrup-Grumman, a veteran aerospace firm that is getting back into the SLV business via this medium sized rocket. Antares uses RD-181 rockets, which consist of components made in Russia and Ukraine. Russia is now banned from supplying its RD-181 components while the two Ukrainian firms that build RD-181 components have been attacked by Russian missiles during the current invasion and may undergo more such attacks. One of those Ukrainian firms also produced the RD-843 rockets for upper stages of European Vega SLVs. Russia has threatened to cease all cooperation on supporting the ISS, but quietly suggested that a deal was possible if adjustments were made to the economic sanctions recently inflicted on Russia because of its current Ukraine invasion.

Russian threats have accelerated efforts by American and European firms to build supply and crew capsules to replace the Soyuz capsules. SpaceX has already developed a cargo capsule that has been in regular use since 2010 and its crew capsule was recently approved for regular use.

Roscosmos has long provided regular deliveries of supplies and transport of crew to and from the ISS (International Space Station). Russia uses its Soyuz SLV to put the Russian cargo and passenger capsules into orbit where they maneuver to and dock at the ISS. Russia and the United States are the major suppliers of new components to the ISS and use their own SLVs to get these components into orbit.

Despite the tension between Russia and the other nations responsible for operating the ISS, Russia is trying to maintain its duties up there. The latest (March 18) Soyuz crew capsule to arrive at the ISS carried three Russians, all wearing yellow and blue (the colors of the Ukrainian flag) flight suits. Russia insisted this had nothing to do with the Ukraine fighting. These three Russians will serve on the ISS for about 30 weeks as part of the seven people who operate the ISS. Most Roscosmos personnel support continued participation in maintaining the ISS until its retirement in 2030. Some Roscosmos personnel also oppose the invasion of Ukraine but expressing that opposition openly is now a felony in Russia and at least 15,000 Russians have been arrested for demonstrating their opposition. So the Russian ISS crew members went with their governments explanation that the colors of the flight suits were a coincidence.

Despite the professionalism and dedication of many Roscosmos personnel, key officials continue to cause problems with mismanagements and corruption. This causes problems with the contracts it already has. For example, in 2018 a Soyuz rocket failed as it was attempting to take two men (a Russian and an American) to the ISS. The two passengers survived because of the emergency recovery system that is part of the manned rocket. The failed Soyuz rocket was another example of the continued management and quality control problems in the Russian space program. Previously there had only been two failures of a Soyuz manned capsule, in 1975 and 1983. The 1983 failure involved a rocket catching fire on the launch pad and the crew rescue system saved the passengers, as was the case during the 2018 failure. As in the past, the Russians recovered and carried out a successful launch to deliver three people to the ISS.

There have been over 1,900 launches of a Soyuz SLV since 1966 and the success rate has been 98 percent. The failures include the inability to reach the correct orbit. The Soyuz FG SLV, used to carry passengers, has been used 65 times since entering service in 2001 and all were successful until the 2018 failure. The Soyuz FG is a more advanced and, until the recent failure, more reliable version of the Soyuz SLV design. There have been some recent problems with the Soyuz models used to launch satellites. Russia insisted that Soyuz FG was different but the personnel and management problems in the Russian space program could not be completely avoided.

Cheaper and more reliable Chinese SLVs are taking business away from Roscosmos. Russia lacks the cash to compete with the much more affluent China. There is also the entrepreneurial approach that China and the U.S. share. This is why China is working on an SLV design that can duplicate SpaceX innovations. Russia prefers not to risk scarce funds on duplicating SpaceX tech.

Since 2010 SpaceX has been gradually eroding the Roscosmos monopoly on taking crews and cargo to the ISS. This became more urgent since a Soyuz passenger capsule that reached the ISS in 2018 was later found to have a tiny leak, which was apparently created during manufacture and not detected by quality control. The growing number of manufacturing defects in Russian spaceflight equipment is compounded by the growing failure to catch and repair defects. The problems with two Soyuz passenger capsules in 2018 were not just rare events but part of a trend that has gotten worse. The Soyuz SLV and crew capsule problems also reinforced the belief that more than one nation must be able to get people to and from the ISS.

The SpaceX Dragon passenger capsule had its first test flight in 2019. Boeing also had a manned capsule design (Starliner) but it is more expensive than Dragon, which has already been replaced by Dragon 2, which can be used to carry cargo or up to seven passengers. That means the Soyuz monopoly as a crew transport to ISS ends in 2022 when Dragon 2 begins regular trips to the ISS with passengers. Dragon 2 costs a third less than Soyuz per passenger going to the ISS.

Russians have looked on with growing dismay as their space program, once a close competitor with the Americans, slips into bankruptcy and insignificance. But the Russians were already falling way behind when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and since then the government has, with increasing frustration, sought to revive Russian space efforts and restore that program to its former fame and glory. The latest major move towards that goal occurred at the end of 2015 when Russia abolished its government federal space agency and transferred all the assets and responsibilities to the newly created Roscosmos. Over the next two years, it became obvious that the problems remained, seemingly beyond solution. To make that failure obvious, by the end of 2017 Russia had fallen to third place, behind the Americans and Chinese in space efforts. This was not a surprise because over the last decade Russian space efforts have struggled to meet military space needs, often at the expense of the more profitable civilian market.

Russia recently made it illegal to publish details of Roscosmos problems without government permission. The ban included the Internet, where the bad news can still be found despite its disappearance from state- controlled media. The latest bad news involves the extent to which the new economic sanctions will prevent Roscosmos from freely importing foreign technology and the declining role Roscosmos plays in supplying commercial SLV services.
RENO, Nev., March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA), a leading geothermal, energy storage, solar PV and recovered energy power company, today announced that the Company will host its investor day event on March 30, 2022. The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, in New York City.



The event will include presentations from members of the executive leadership team. Ormat executives will present the Companys long-term strategy, multi-year growth framework, and financial objectives. The prepared remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation.

A live webcast, along with the accompanying slides, will be available on the day of the event. The link can be found in the News & Events section of the Ormat Investor Relations website. A webcast replay will also be available on the website following the event.

ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

With over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG), with robust plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the U.S. energy storage market. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter  a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,200 MW of gross capacity. Ormat leveraged its core capabilities in the geothermal and REG industries and its global presence to expand the Companys activity into energy storage services, solar Photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage plus Solar PV. Ormats current total generating portfolio is 1.1 GW with 1,012 MW of geothermal and Solar generation portfolio that is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe, and 83 MW energy storage portfolio that is located in the U.S.
TROMSOE, Norway  The bodies of four Marines killed during a NATO training accident in northern Norway last week have arrived back in the United States, the Marine Corps said Saturday.

Their bodies were placed aboard a military plane at Bodoe Air Station on Friday, as hundreds of American and NATO troops gave them a final salute, the Marine Corps said in a statement.

Members of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 escorted the bodies on the flight to Dover Air Force Base, Del., which landed Friday, the statement said.

Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27; Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, were killed on March 18 when their MV-22B Osprey crashed just south of Bodoe Air Station while they were participating in the Cold Response military exercise.

All four Marines 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 accident occurred during bad weather, but an investigation to determine exactly what caused it is ongoing, according to U.S. and Norwegian officials.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed condolences to the Marines families and loved ones on Friday during a visit to troops participating in Cold Response.

The exercise has brought together some 30,000 NATO and partner troops for drills primarily above the Arctic Circle. Roughly 3,000 Marines and soldiers are among the participants.
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WASHINGTON - With mask mandates in the Washington region lifted for most settings and attitudes about social distancing more relaxed, health officials are cautiously monitoring the behavior of the latest subvariant of the coronavirus.

BA.2, the more contagious cousin of the omicron variant that has spread through Europe and other parts of the world, now represents about 30% of new infections in the Mid-Atlantic region that includes the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's tracker for variants.

Public health experts say BA.2 will likely become the dominant strain in the Washington region over the next several weeks, driving another uptick in new infections after a steady decline since the peak of the omicron surge in early January.

On Friday, the region's weekly average for new cases was 1,131, the lowest rate since July.

The tens of thousands of people who were infected by omicron may have some level of immunity to BA.2 because of the similarities between the two strains, health officials said.

Those who haven't been infected by omicron or who are immunocompromised are more vulnerable, though being fully vaccinated will help guard against serious illness.

"We think we're going to see much fewer breakthrough reinfection cases with people who've already had BA.1," said Brandy Darby, an epidemiologist with the Virginia Department of Health, using the scientific name for the original omicron variant.

"But for people who were infected with alpha or delta or some of these previous lineages and have not been infected yet with omicron, they could experience reinfection with BA.2," Darby said.

Health officials are watching for signs of an outbreak as even more prevention measures fade away, including pandemic workplace safety requirements in Virginia that the state's Worker Safety Board voted earlier this week to remove.

Local health departments say they are preparing to again ramp up vaccinations and testing if new infections begin to sharply increase.

"We're very much focused on what's coming next," said David Goodfriend, health director in Loudoun County, Va., which is encouraging residents who have pre-existing conditions or are otherwise vulnerable to wear masks in crowded areas.

"If there is enough of a concern where mitigation strategies make sense to implement, we want to be able to provide our local leaders with that information as quickly as possible," Goodfriend said.

Costi Sifri, director of hospital epidemiology for the UVA Health system of health care facilities in Virginia, said it's still too soon to know how BA.2 will affect the region.

Community transmission remains low. But it appears that the drop in infection rates has begun to level off, Sifri said, adding that he also doesn't believe a dramatic spike in infections akin to the omicron surge is likely to occur.

Nonetheless, it's vital for local and state health departments to be equipped with the resources they need to deal with a surge if it happens, Sifri said, expressing concern over $15 billion in proposed new coronavirus aid that has been stalled in Congress during federal budget negotiations.

Earlier this week, the Biden administration said it doesn't have enough money to buy a possible fourth shot for everyone after Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna filed for emergency authorization for another round of inoculations - for those 65 and older for Pfizer and BioNTech, and all adults for Moderna.

"Hopefully, Congress will recognize that we're not out of this pandemic yet," Sifri said. "We still need the resources to battle this."

With testing numbers down and, in particular, fewer people seeking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that are publicly reported, officials are monitoring the virus using different data sets.

In Maryland, the state Department of Environment is analyzing the concentrations of coronavirus found in local wastewater systems, a process that can detect an outbreak five days earlier than clinical testing data would show.

Mark Shaffer, the department's spokesman, said the tool is more critical now that testing has mostly transitioned to at-home tests that are typically not publicly reported.

The state's genomic surveillance shows that BA.2 represents about 21% of new cases in Maryland. But the wastewater monitoring system has not signaled a serious outbreak ahead so far, Shaffer said.

Even so, reports of new infections are steadily trickling in.

In Montgomery County, Md., Councilmember Andrew Friedson, D-District 1, announced Thursday that he had tested positive for the virus.

"I have mild symptoms, thanks to being vaccinated and boosted," Friedson said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Though 86% of Montgomery County residents are fully vaccinated - the highest rate in the region - county health officials said they are working to do more in advance of another coronavirus wave.

Of particular concern are Latino and Black children in the county who've received booster shots at lower rates than White children, health officials said.

James Bridgers, the county's interim health director, said the health department is working with Montgomery County Public Schools, which dropped its mask requirements at the beginning of March, to get all students boosted before spring break begins on April 6.

Students must be tested before being allowed back into classrooms, officials said.

Montgomery has continued to offer free testing to residents who are uninsured. To avoid the testing crunch that characterized the early weeks of the omicron surge, the county is also distributing at-home rapid test kits to residents, officials said.

Sean O'Donnell, the county's emergency preparedness manager, said Montgomery would reinstate precautionary measures in some higher-risk areas of the county, such as nursing homes or schools, if cases of new infection dramatically escalate.

"This wouldn't be a universal mandate," he said, but a "focused implementation" likely involving guidance rather than regulation.

A District of Columbia health official said during a call with the D.C. Council Friday that there are no imminent plans to reinstate the city's indoor mask mandate that was lifted last month, even though cases have begun trending slightly upward in D.C. during the past week.

"We're carefully watching case rates, understanding if there's a time and place to insert mitigations," Patrick Ashley, a senior deputy director with the D.C. Department of Health, told the council. "[People] need to make sure they're continuing to engage in safe practices, social distancing, being aware of their specific medical conditions."

Ashley said the city is focusing more on "syndromic" surveillance - noting if residents are increasingly buying medications like cough syrup to treat themselves.

D.C. health officials have also begun analyzing concentrations of the virus in wastewater, he said.

Some of the closest scrutiny is inside the region's schools, which have been reporting a stream of new cases since students have had the option of not wearing masks inside the classroom.

Arlington County Public Schools recorded about 193 new cases since March 1, officials said. The district is encouraging mask-wearing and vaccinations for students and staff, along with asking families to get tested and keep students at home when they're sick.

Meanwhile, the mask mandate for the Prince George's County school district remains in place.

The Maryland district has said it doesn't plan to drop its mask requirement until the county - one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus in the region - reaches a full vaccination rate of at least 80%. As of Thursday, about 73% of Prince George's residents were fully vaccinated, said Meghan Gebreselassie, a school district spokesperson.

Goodfriend, Loudoun County's health director, said the unpredictable nature of the pandemic over the past two years shows that local officials need to stay flexible about doing what it takes to prevent the virus from spreading further.

"The hope is that this becomes a seasonal issue," where prevention measures can correspond with periods when people are interacting more indoors, Goodfriend said. "But covid has surprised us before."

___

The Washington Post's Michael Brice-Saddler, Hannah Natanson, Nicole Asbury and Perry Stein contributed to this report.
James Madison's Montpelier estate drew national attention last year when the board that manages the historic Virginia home announced plans to share authority equally with descendants of people who were once enslaved there.

But that unique arrangement appeared in tatters Friday afternoon as the board voted to strip power-sharing status from the Montpelier Descendants Committee, a group representing African Americans who trace their roots to the community.

The vote caps at least two years of rising tensions between the board and the committee, even as Montpelier's reputation has grown as a pioneer in empowering groups who were traditionally marginalized by the telling of history.

"It is a complete reversal of their public commitment that was made on June 16, 2021," said James French, head of the committee and a member of the Montpelier Foundation's board. "It's a rejection of the principle of equality of descendant voices and it's very unfortunate, because it is a missed opportunity for Montpelier to make history."

Five descendants of enslaved people serve on the board, three chosen by the committee and two by the foundation. The change in bylaws approved Friday strips the committee of its ability to name future members, giving the foundation more control over the makeup of the board.

Foundation chairman Gene Hickok said in an interview that the change is not an effort to back away from the commitment to fully represent descendants on the board, a concept called structural parity. Instead, he said, the board has found the committee difficult to work with and wants the ability to choose descendant members from a wider pool.

"This is an effort to reset the process," Hickok said. "It certainly doesn't have the board backing away from parity. We are very committed to parity. The challenge has been organizationally getting there."

The conflict and the proposed bylaws change have outraged many staffers who work at the estate, including curators, historians and archaeologists. They say the committee of descendants has been an integral partner in interpreting the complicated history of Madison, his family and the roughly 300 enslaved people who lived and died there over the span of 140 years.

A majority of the site's roughly 40 full-time employees wrote an unsigned resolution urging the board not to approve the change. "We request" the Montpelier Foundation "respect its well-publicized commitment to immediately implement its bylaws and provide 'at least equal representation' on the board to" the committee, they wrote before the vote.

The employees supplied their names to The Washington Post but most asked that they not be published for fear of retaliation. They called on the foundation to "end the intimidation of staff," which they said included restrictions against contacting members of the descendant community that have made it impossible to complete several costly restoration projects.

On Thursday evening, the head of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns Montpelier, wrote Hickok and urged him "in the strongest possible terms" not to go ahead with changing the bylaws.

"We believe this change would undermine decades of important work that led to the formation of" the committee "in the first place, and in turn would set back Montpelier's efforts to continue the necessary work of uplifting descendants' voices, and repairing the relationship between the broader African American community and Montpelier, the former site of generations of enslavement," trust chief executive Paul Edmondson wrote.

Several staffers and board members say they believe the institution's leaders are not willing to relinquish control over the portrayal of the fourth U.S. president and his legacy as the father of the Constitution.

"After more than twenty years of partnership with descendants, Montpelier staff members have since 2020 been threatened with termination for contacting colleagues and friends in the descendants' community," Elizabeth Chew, Montpelier executive vice president and chief curator, said in an email to The Post. "At the same time, important research and interpretation projects for which we have funding in hand and that depend on the relationship" with the committee "remain on hold."

Matt Reeves, the director of archaeology, who has worked at Montpelier since 2000, said he fears the effort to cut off the committee is aimed at undoing years of progress in conveying a more honest and complete view of history. "They really want a narrative that's restricted to nothing that's negative about James Madison," he said. "What the board is doing is tearing down Montpelier brick by conceptual brick and having one story remain."

Montpelier gained special status in the world of historic preservation when a 2018 conference there on teaching about slavery produced a document widely known as "the rubric." Guided by Michael Blakey, a professor at the College of William & Mary and leader in the effort to involve descendant communities in historic preservation, the document, titled "Engaging Descendant Communities," set standards for guiding institutions toward more complete representation.

Sara Bon Harper, executive director of Highland, the home of former president James Monroe, said she has watched from afar as Montpelier has struggled to live up to its own example. "They've been the leader and I think they will be again. This is a hard time, but they've got a lot of thoughtful people who are really committed to figuring out how to best interpret difficult history that still impacts us," she said.

French said tension with the board began brewing after Hickok became chairman in 2019 and hired Roy Young as president in 2020, then broke into the open after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. The Montpelier Foundation issued a statement lamenting Floyd's death, but the descendant committee felt it didn't go far enough in condemning systemic racial inequities and submitted stronger language.

Hickok said he found the language "unduly inflammatory toward James Madison." The committee rejected his edits, he said, so the statement never went out. Another sticking point, French said, was Hickok's insistence on drawing up a memo of understanding to govern the committee's interactions with the foundation board.

"They were essentially calling us outside agitators, instead of the descendants of the people buried in the fields," French said. "We always insisted our legitimacy should be, to any fair-minded person, self-evident, and not a matter of regulatory debate."

Hickok said the committee has resisted basic efforts to structure its relationship with the board. "I just think it's the dynamics of two organizations that are trying to chart a path through relatively new and difficult waters that are somewhat wary of each other, and that makes it difficult to develop the kind of spirit and trust that are essential in any kind of partnership," he said.

Hickok said his proposal to change the bylaws to remove the committee as the sole official representative of the descendant community was an effort to break the impasse. There are other descendants who are not affiliated with the committee, he said, and the board needs the authority to control its own membership.

"We're very, very committed to telling the whole story of Montpelier. It is as much a story of the slaves as it is James and Dolley Madison," Hickok said. "We are not backing at all away from that commitment to the whole truth."

But to French and other committee members, the effort is an attempt to maintain control over the descendant community. The struggle at Montpelier is not only what history to tell its visitors, but who should do the telling, said Bettye Kearse, a board member who was put forward by the committee.

The board "wants to continue telling the public a whitewashed narrative about the Constitution and its chief architect and deciding what should be said about the 300 people Madison owned," Kearse said in an email.

Edmondson cast the dilemma starkly in his letter to Hickok. The descendants chose the committee as their formal voice, he said, and the original commitment to give them equal seats on the board "acknowledged the right of the descendant community to define itself, rather than to be defined by the foundation. The newly proposed revisions to the bylaws would do the opposite."

Greg Werkheiser, a lawyer for the committee, said he tried to broker a truce, submitting a list of 40 names of prospective board members backed by the committee, but the foundation declined. It wasn't the first time negotiations broke down. Outside mediators brought in last year eventually quit, criticizing the foundation for taking actions "entirely inconsistent" with a commitment to seek board parity in a letter obtained by The Post.

Hickok acknowledged the board's actions could be interpreted as cutting off the descendant committee but said that's the opposite of his intentions. "The goal here is to work together. That's the whole point. It's not supposed to be we versus you," he said.
MANILA - Chinese fishing vessels frequently appear in the South China Sea off the Philippines, apparently with a menacing purpose, a year after more than 200 such vessels were reported to have massed in the waters off the country last March.

Ignoring the protests of the Philippine government, China has been repeating its provocative actions.

Southeast Asian diplomatic sources told The Yomiuri Shimbun in mid-March that Chinese fishing vessels were still intermittently coming and going in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

The vessels in question appear to conduct no actual fishing activity.

The Philippine government announced on March 20 last year that it had found about 220 Chinese fishing vessels massing off the coast of Palawan Island, within the Philippine EEZ in the South China Sea. After that, it claimed that the fishing boats had "maritime militia personnel" aboard, consisting mainly of Chinese veterans, and declared that the boats were violating the sovereign territory of the Philippines.

Manila has repeatedly protested to Beijing through diplomatic channels.

But there is no sign that the boats will stop entering the EEZ, as the Chinese side merely offers flimsy explanations such as that the boats were gathering to avoid bad weather.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China are developing a Code of Conduct to prevent conflicts in the South China Sea. The Philippines, a member of ASEAN, hopes that the code will regulate China's behavior. However, at present, ASEAN and China have not yet reached an agreement on how far the code will be applied, and it is unknown when the code will be completed.

China is escalating its aggressive actions in the South China Sea. In November last year, Chinese Coast Guard ships blocked the path of Philippine ships, and in January and February this year, a Chinese naval vessel entered the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines near Malaysia without permission.

On March 20, U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. John Aquilino patrolled the South China Sea in a reconnaissance aircraft. He told The Associated Press that China has militarized three artificial islands it built in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, stating that the "buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region."

There is widespread belief in the Philippines that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could further increase China's powerful activities in the South China Sea.

The Philippines' former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a March 8 statement, "A successful Russian invasion of Ukraine would further embolden China to likewise use force to seize the West Philippine Sea from the Philippines."

Lauro Baja, a former foreign affairs undersecretary, similarly emphasized at an online event, "What happened in Ukraine will give them the opportunity or the chance or whatever to do the same in Taiwan." He also cautioned against the possibility of a similar operation in the South China Sea.

The Philippine presidential election scheduled to be held in May is also likely to influence China's actions. In the election campaign, former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has the highest approval rating, but the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos is generally considered to be close to China. He has expressed the idea that he will not take seriously a 2016 ruling issued by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague that totally rejected China's unilateral sovereignty claim in the South China Sea.
KHARKIV, Ukraine (Tribune News Service)  In the night sky over what was once a vibrant European metropolis, the stars blaze down. So little light is emanating from Ukraines second-biggest city that the constellations above are, like they were centuries ago, vivid in the blackness.

Kharkiv, home to nearly 1.5 million people before the war, has suffered the most relentless Russian bombardment of any Ukrainian city other than the battered southern port of Mariupol. Hundreds are dead; the living  the third or so of the population that remains  are hungry and terrorized.

Whole city blocks have fallen to ruins, lined with burned car husks. The sheared-off facade of a shelled apartment building reveals a tableau of life interrupted: charred books, stuffed animals, coffee cups. The golden spires of a landmark Orthodox cathedral are scarred by shrapnel.

Sometimes, the air raid sirens dont start until after the thunderous explosions have already begun. Huddled in basements and subway stations, mothers soothe their little ones, and people wait for fitful sleep to come.

It cant go on like this, said Oksana Kabachenko, a 27-year-old mother of two who has been hiding for days in a makeshift subterranean shelter in the city center. We are Ukrainians. We are civilians. We just want to live in our homes.

Even now, more than a month into Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion, an air of disbelief hovers like smoke. This is a largely Russian-speaking city, only 25 miles from the border; one of Putins main pretexts for the invasion was that Ukraines Russian speakers needed protection.

Instead, the city became a prime target, among the first areas in the country to be subjected to large-scale bombing of densely populated civilian neighborhoods, a tactic that is now a dominant component of the Russian military campaign.

Its not just a war, this is a massacre, Kharkivs mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on Telegram after Russian forces began savaging the city with missiles and artillery fire.

So vast is the scope of the destruction that Ukrainian officials have likened it to Stalingrad (now Volgograd), the Soviet city that was besieged by the Germans in 1942-43. The citys defenders prevailed, though at a cost of 40,000 civilian lives, and the battle remains a source of immense pride to Russians.

In Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials like to posit, it is the Russians who will face a humiliating defeat. Ukrainian troops and volunteers have managed so far to repel feints by Russian ground forces  leading to fears that the invaders will attempt, from a distance, to simply pulverize the city into submission. In a single 24-hour period ending Friday, city officials counted 55 hits by rockets and missiles.

Lying at the confluence of three rivers, Kharkiv has for centuries been a hub of industry and transport. But it is also a center of science, education and culture, a city that cherishes its poets and artists, as well as its museums and monuments.

And its musicians. A concert cellist, Denys Karachevtsev, has been staging elegiac performances among the ruins  a Bach cello suite, Ukraines national anthem  and posting videos of them online, saying he wants to inspire his fellow citizens to imagine Kharkiv rebuilt.

I love my heroic city, he wrote on Facebook.

In homes fortunate enough to have power, residents conceal their lights at night behind makeshift blackout curtains. Metal hedgehogs  tank obstacles constructed of angled beams  glimmer in the beams of dimmed car headlights. The darkness can be filled with deafening blasts or eerie silence.

Every dawn illuminates weeks-old wreckage, as well as fresh destruction.

On Friday, gruesome scenes marked the aftermath of an airstrike the day before in the citys east-central Moskovskyi district. Outside a post office-turned-aid distribution center, which was struck Thursday as dozens of people waited in line for supplies, a frozen pool of blood, part of a severed human hand and a bloodied cigarette could be seen. Plumes of smoke filled the sky.

In another eastern district, Nemyshlianskyi, a nine-story building was still standing after being hit by bombardment some days earlier. Neighbors said the four who were killed there included an 8-year-old; people were still living in units that escaped major damage.

Inside one of the burned-out apartments, a childs bicycle leaned against scorched concrete. In the bedroom was a teddy bear; on the floor, the pages of a picture book were crisped and sooty. The kitchen was intact but blackened by flames. In the corner, a picture-tube TV was melted.

In another kitchen, a wall inscription read Morning loves Arina. A top-floor unit was filled with books, not all of them burned.

At the citys Hospital No. 7, near a neighborhood called Saltivka that has been under near-constant barrage, beds lined the corridors; an indirect hit had shattered windows. The 280 beds were dedicated to the war-injured; patients suffering other ailments were turned away.

One patient, 50-year-old Viktoria Rusanova, said she hoped to regain use of her shrapnel-pierced leg. She was walking near her mothers house in Saltivka when a Russian shell landed, wounding her and wrecking the structure. Her mother was pulled from the ruins alive.

Before the war, Rusanova worked in a grocery store, now demolished.

Nothing to go back to, she said.

Vitaliy Sukharev, 39, was also hospitalized. He was in a car when he was hit by gunshots. The power was out at the hospital when he arrived, so medical staff carried him up seven flights of stairs. He was one of the fortunate ones.

Luckily, we had generator for surgery! said Kozyryev Aleksandr, the deputy medical chief.

Sukharev liked fixing up cars before the fighting. Now he wonders if there will be anywhere to drive them.

We have to rebuild all the roads here in Kharkiv and in Ukraine, he said.

Kharkivs sprawling Barabashovo market once claimed to be the biggest in Eastern Europe. It was ravaged by bombardment, as if a swift, cruel storm had gusted through its alleys. A few fires smoldered Friday. Shattered shops were littered with damaged wares: cracked ceramics, burned teapots.

A few men were loading salvaged items into a beige Lada with two bullet holes in the windshield.

At Kharkiv National University  premier among the citys dozens of colleges  an administrative center was crushed. Only the front facade with three large window frames remained standing, offering a triptych-like view of the ruined interior. Firefighters were clearing the rubble.

In the subterranean world where many of those remaining in the city spend their nights, an overture of snores could be heard at a subway station on the citys western side.

Some slept on a platform as cold as ice. Others bedded down in subway cars and stretched out on benches where commuters once awaited trains, even nesting in piles of donated clothing. A windowsill held carefully arranged supplies: mouthwash, toothbrush, chewing gum, sanitizing wipes.

In the eastern district of Rogan, at least 50 people took refuge in a freezing cellar after their neighborhood was cut off from the rest of the city three weeks ago by heavy bombardment. A 64-year-old woman named Galina Dmitrievna Kuka said her home, and those of all her neighbors, had been destroyed.

My life is now divided into before the war and after war, Kuka said. I dont want another person to experience anything like this. I feel like I have lived half the life that I had before, in just this month alone.

Conditions in the cellar are primitive: People use tied-together tree branches as insulation on the bare floor, with salvaged bedding piled on top. They have only candles for light. They drink water from a leaky pipe.

I could never imagine this kind of war, Kuka said. I could never believe this. But it came true.

When the bombs fall, the walls shake. Sometimes gunfire rings out. From below ground, trembling families hear heavy vehicles moving above; whether their own or the enemys, they cannot know.

(Yam reported from Kharkiv and King from Washington.)

___

2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com .

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Tyler Jacob, a 28-year-old American who was teaching in Ukraine, has been released from Russian custody and reunited with his wife and daughter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Friday.

Jacob, a Minnesota native, was detained by Russian troops roughly two weeks ago while he was fleeing the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, his parents told CBS affiliate WCCO-TV. He was on board a bus evacuating people from the city to Turkey when he was taken away by Russian soldiers at a checkpoint in Crimea, his father said. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Jacob was the only U.S. citizen on the bus, according to his father, who said Russian state media had made a "heart-wrenching" propaganda video featuring his son. Jacob was later taken to Russia, where he was held for 10 days, Klobuchar said in a statement, adding that his release was secured with the assistance of the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

"While this is good news, my heart remains with all those separated from their loved ones or in danger," Klobuchar said. "As Vladimir Putin continues his senseless war, our commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine is steadfast."

A State Department spokesperson said the agency was aware of the reports of Jacob's release but declined to further comment due to privacy concerns.

Jacob's mother, Tina Hauser, said on CNN's "Don Lemon Tonight" that she spoke with her son on Friday. She said he was in a NATO member state, though she did not specify the country.

"It sounded like angels singing in my ear, hearing his voice," Hauser said. "It's going to be astronomical, the feelings that are going to flow through me, when I get to give my son a hug for the first time."

Jacob said he had been treated very well in Russian custody and had "no complaints," his father said.

Kherson, home to some 290,000 people before the invasion, is a vital port and Black Sea shipbuilding city. It was one of the first Ukrainian cities to come under heavy Russian shelling and, later, occupation, but the Pentagon said Friday that Moscow appeared to have at least partially lost control of Kherson.

Another U.S. citizen, WNBA star Brittney Griner, has been detained since February by Russian authorities. The two-time Olympic gold medalist was arrested after Russian officials said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

Griner is "is doing as well as can be expected," the State Department said after a U.S. consular officer was able to visit her this Wednesday.
Recently photos surfaced on social media of a roughly four-foot-wide tan, airplane-shaped drone that had fallen out of the sky in the Kyiv region, crashing into the sandy ground.

While that one failed to explode on impact, the images verified by The Washington Post provide some of the first evidence Russia is using a new and terrifying weapon in its war against Ukraine: a killer drone that can dive bomb into targets, destroying them with little notice.

The Russian kamikaze drones, also known as loitering munitions, will soon be joined on the battlefield by ones sent to Ukrainian forces by the United States, making the war the largest direct conflict between two countries in which they've been deployed on both sides. Researchers who specialize in the field say it shows that these drones are becoming the norm in modern warfare, and are likely to make the conflict more deadly and unpredictable.

"It's going to be more of a psychological effect," said Ingvild Bode, an autonomous weapons researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. "There's no place to hide."

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion and the ensuing war has already been a proving ground for high-tech weaponry. Ukrainian troops have used portable antitank missiles to destroy countless Russian vehicles, while social media has been used by Russia's government to try to muddy the facts on the ground with disinformation. On Twitter, regular people around the world have been verifying photos of Russian troop movements and reporting them to Ukrainian authorities to aid in the war effort.

Drones have also played a key role in the war. Ukraine's Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2, the size of a small airplane and equipped with laser-guided missiles, is wreaking havoc on Russian tanks and trucks and helping to stymie the invasion. There's some evidence Ukraine might also be using the Polish-produced Warmate drone - which can be reused as a surveillance drone or equipped with explosives to become a loitering munition - said Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone expert with Dutch arms control NGO Pax. Russia has used its Eleron-3 reconnaissance drones to scout out Ukrainian positions.

The smaller, exploding drones now in use by both Russia and Ukraine differ from older, more traditional drones. Instead of taking off, launching missiles and then returning to a base, they fly above the battlefield and turn into missiles themselves, divebombing vehicles or groups of soldiers and exploding on impact. Some can be carried in a backpack and launched in the midst of combat, making them especially deadly in urban or guerrilla warfare.

Generally they are cheaper and easier to use, too. The Russian KUB-BLA drones spotted in the Kyiv area can fly 30 minutes at 80 miles per hour before hitting a target. The Switchblades en route to Ukraine from the U.S. are even smaller, and can fly themselves while an operator looks through a video feed to choose a target.

Most loitering munitions are still human-controlled, but could be upgraded with software that allows them to pick their own targets. That's generated concern among arms-control experts who worry about allowing computers to make decisions about who to kill, something that could lead the world toward a future where deadly, autonomous weapons are the norm in both big and small conflicts.

Loitering munition drones have been used in previous wars. They've seen intermittent action in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars, and were instrumental in Azerbaijan's defeat of Armenia in the 2020 war between the two countries.

Russian forces likely deployed the same KUB-BLA drone that showed up in the Kyiv area in Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria to kill high-level targets and blow up pickup trucks carrying people of interest, experts said.

Russia's invasion started with long-range cruise missiles slamming into Ukrainian cities, power plants and military bases. Long columns of tanks and trucks rolled over the border, but were quickly slowed down by supply issues and stiff resistance from Ukrainian troops. Now, Russia has settled into surrounding Ukraine's cities, bombarding them with missiles and artillery guns.

Though both sides are using loitering munitions, they could be especially useful to Ukrainian forces, who are using smaller teams of troops moving quickly around the battlefield in vehicles to hit Russian tanks and defensive positions before pulling back to safety, the experts said.

The U.S.-made Switchblades that Ukraine will soon get are easier to hide and can be moved quickly, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. They also increase the range at which Ukrainians can target Russian enemies, allowing them to disable command and control vehicles in the field and target high-value Russian targets, like generals.

"All those things are very, very useful for insurgents," Lee said. "You can do a lot of really damaging stuff, especially if you use them smartly."

Those small, mobile squads have already proven adept at taking out Russian tanks and trucks with portable antitank missiles like the U.S. Javelin and British NLAW. The Switchblades will only make them deadlier.

Only a handful of Russian loitering munitions have been spotted so far, and the U.S. has only agreed to send 100 Switchblade systems, which come with 10 drones each. In comparison, NATO has sent more than 1,700 portable antitank missile launchers.

But increased use of loitering munitions could have an effect that goes beyond the specific instances that they're actually used, Bode said. There is evidence that some Russian troops, facing Ukrainians armed with deadly high-tech weapons and suffering staggering casualties, are losing the will to fight. Loitering munitions could make that worse.

"The Switchblade in particular is also specifically designed to engage targets in concealed locations," Bode said.

Bradley Bowman, a senior director at the hawkish think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said loitering munitions reduce the time it takes to identify, locate and kill a target, and they are hard for an enemy to detect, giving off little heat signature.

"In urban combat," he said, "where the distances are short and you're up close and personal with your adversary, closing that kill chain more quickly can be the difference between life and death."

As the war continues, it's likely bigger and deadlier loitering munitions will be deployed, too, Bode said. Russia also has the Lancet-3 drone, which like the KUB-BLA is launched by a catapult and is bigger than the Switchblade drones the Ukrainians are expected to receive. The Lancet-3 has been used in Syria, and experts expect it to show up in Ukraine sooner or later, if it hasn't already.

The widespread rollout of loitering munition drones has led some of the warfare experts to warn about the potential for these tools to fall into the wrong hands, like terrorists. They're particularly useful for assassination attempts, Lee said, pointing to when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was unsuccessfully targeted by two Chinese made DJIM600 drone's strapped with C-4 explosives.
Drew Friedman drew this terrific portrait of MAD publisher William M. Gaines to honor his 100th birthday earlier this month. The portrait is available as a limited-edition print.

Friedman also wrote a good short bio of Gaines:

WILLIAM M. GAINES (1922-1992) was studying to become a chemistry teacher when his father, Max, was killed in a boating accident in 1947. Bill's mother insisted that her 25-year-old son take on the family business, a floundering publishing company with the mundane name Educational Comics, or E.C. Bill had no interest in comic bookseducational or otherwiseso at first he came by the offices once a week just to sign payroll checks. But Bill was an avid reader, and he began to investigate his company's offerings, as well as those of other publishers. What he found delighted him, and he became intrigued with his father's business.

Taking control, he dropped lackluster titles and launched comics that followed popular trends, e.g., romance, westerns and crime. He also began recruiting a younger staff, including artist Al Feldstein, who became his editor, writing partner, and right-hand man, and artist/writer Johnny Craig. The company was officially renamed Entertaining Comics. Their new crime, horror, science fiction, and war titles (edited and written by another maverick hire, Harvey Kurtzman) transcended their competitors' fare, and the revitalized E.C., by hiring the finest writers and the most talented artists, became the gold standard of the industry. In 1952, Kurtzman introduced a new satirical monthly to the E.C. line: MAD.

E.C.'s horror comics were their biggest-selling titles, and Gaines and Feldstein gained notoriety with ghoulish, over-the-top depictions of monstrosity, depravity, and gore. These creepy periodicals were especially targeted at childrenwho became fanatical, bug-eyed buyers. In 1954, a crusading psychologist, Dr. Fredric Wertham, published a blockbuster expose, Seduction of the Innocent, which claimed that horror and crime comics had harmful effects on kids.

Much of the finger-pointing was aimed at E.C. To defend his work, Gaines testified at a Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, which led to him becoming the national poster boy for greedy New York comic purveyors who were inciting juvenile crime. The industry adopted a new standard, The Comics Code Authority, designed to quell the controversy. E.C. was compelled to jettison their most sensationalistic titles; ultimately, only MAD was left standing.

Soon, Kurtzman departed, taking with him MAD's artists, to launch a new publicationwhich soon failed. Gaines had the last laugh. He and his loyal editor Feldstein guided MAD (and its goofy mascot, Alfred E. Neuman) into becoming an American institution. The eccentric Gaines would evolve into the world's oldest and fattest hippie. He described his formula for success: "My staff and contributors create the magazine. What I create is the atmosphere."
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine - The theater in Mariupol was supposed to be a safe haven.

Its walls were thick and sturdy. People had packed into the basement, foyer and the dressing rooms backstage in the hope of escaping Russia's bombardment of Mariupol, Ukraine's coastal city that President Vladimir Putin appears set on seizing at any cost.

"We thought maybe they'd see there were kids there and not bomb it," said Alexiy, 34, who left with his wife and 7-year-old son the day before an apparent Russian attack March 16 left parts of the building in ruin, leaving some people badly injured and officials struggling to determine a possible death toll.

"They even tied a white flag to the top of the building," he said. Like many people interviewed by The Washington Post, he spoke on the condition that only one name be published because of security concerns.

The fate of the hundreds of civilians sheltering in the building has gripped the world since Ukrainian officials accused Russia of bombing the building. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referenced the theater - with the words "children" in Russian painted on the floor outside - when he accused Moscow of war crimes earlier this week.

The Post spoke to seven people who were in the theater building in the 24 hours before it was hit in what Ukrainian authorities said was a Russian strike.

Two of the three people present at the time of the blast said that the basement, crammed with families with young children, was unscathed and people were able to flee afterward. They also said that those in the three-level foyer at the front of the building survived. But concerns remain for those in the backstage area, the main hall and the kitchen, which were all heavily damaged.

The lack of communications in Mariupol has hindered the flow of information. Ukrainian forces also have lost control of the area around the theater, preventing any rescue efforts or evidence gathering that could aid in investigations for possible war crimes.

Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine's human rights commissioner, has said police records show 1,300 people were registered in the building. But in the 48-hours before the strike, evacuations had begun.

On Friday, as the first videos emerged from the aftermath of the strike, the Mariupol City Council said it believed that as many as 300 people had been killed, citing eyewitness accounts.

Eyewitnesses say they are only guessing. But amid an information vacuum, the accounts give some indication to the potential toll.

___

The main hall, which was obliterated in the attack, had been deemed too dangerous to sleep in because of its exposed roof and huge chandelier. A video posted to Telegram on Friday, and verified by The Post, showed a mound of rubble.

"Under this rubble there may be a lot of people," said the person filming.

One survivor, Mariia Rodionova, 27, who said she had been sleeping there despite the danger, said that around 50 people were in that part of the building. She said she went outside to get water for her dogs just moments before the strike.

She said she heard a whistling noise. The a man grabbed her and covered her, pushing her to the wall outside by the front entrance, she recalled.

"Debris was over us," she said in an interview after fleeing to Zaporizhzhia, about 135 miles northwest of Mariupol.

She thought she had ruptured an eardrum from the deafening sound. "There was a man with his face down in a pool of blood," she said. "Next to him was a woman trying to wake him up."

She said she desperately tried to find a way into the hall to get to her dogs and her first aid kit. "I went around a couple of times," she said. She said she became panicked.

"I didn't know where to go," she said. "To go into a bomb shelter, what's the point? It was a shelter. I just understood I had to leave."

She walked to Melekyne, 12 miles down the coast, and eventually got a bus out.

___

Bogdan Tymoshchuk, 17, who was staying in a dressing room backstage with his mother, estimated that there were around 100 people still there when he left in a convoy just an hour before the attack.

"It was families," he said.

They had been sleeping in the small dressing rooms. "We don't know what happened to them," he said by phone after fleeing to Lviv in western Ukraine.

Those staying at the theater describe a chaotic scene in the days leading up to the attack. The battle closed in and people started to risk escape, tying white flags to vehicles crammed with people and chancing it on the treacherous road out.

The theater had been one of three locations people had been told to gather. From here, they were to leave the city on humanitarian "green corridors" agreed with the Russians, officials said. The numbers swelled as word spread. At the peak there was barely space to lie down at the theater, survivors and others said.

But no help ever came. After the Ukrainian front lines collapsed - bringing the fight into the city - people began to self-organize to get out themselves.

"The explosions were getting closer," said Alexiy.

He said the first group of around 20 cars left the theater on March 14. Another left that evening.

"We were scared we'd get shot on the way," he said.

Finally, word came from the first group. They had made it safely. Alexei and others left early March 15.

Those without cars were desperate to get a ride out. Tymoshchuk had tried all day on March 15. He managed the following day, squeezing into a car with 10 people.

"There was constant fighting, constant bombing," he said.

___

As people left, others were still arriving at the theater.

Vladislav, 27, got there on the morning of the bombing to check if it would be a safer spot for his family.

"We knew there was food there," he said. Police and military dropped off supplies. There was a fire hydrant that people used for water. They cut down a nearby fence for firewood to cook on.

"I thought it wouldn't be possible for someone to bomb that place," said Vladislav. He said he was 30 feet inside the main door when blast hit at around 10 a.m.

"I just heard the bang," he said. He ended up on the floor - not sure if he instinctively took cover or was knocked down by the explosion.

"I followed people out," he said. A video posted online on Friday showed people covered in dust making their way a stairwell in the theater, including a woman carrying a young baby.

"We went into the basement from the other side," said Vladislav. "It wasn't damaged."

He waited 15 minutes in the basement before fleeing on foot to Melekyne.

Nadezhda, who had moved to the shelter on March 8 after her neighborhood was heavily shelled, was in the basement at the time of the attack.

"Saying the basement was filled to the brim, doesn't do it justice," she said. At first she slept on the third-floor of the foyer with her daughter. They moved to the basement March 15.

When the blast hit, her son-in-law and daughter had just been preparing to get some water. Her son-in-law was tying his shoe and was knocked over from the force of the blast. The air filled with dust. The basement door blew out.

"I was panicked," she said.

She ventured outside, where she was met with a scene of horror. She and others tried to help treat the wounded with makeshift bandages made from strips of material. She said that there were body parts scattered around. A man had part of the back of his leg ripped off.

She tried to make a tourniquet, and said she helped as much as she could but had to stop. "I heard screams constantly, you could go crazy for it," she said.

___

The Washington Post's David Stern in Mukachevo, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
RZESZOW, Poland - President Joe Biden traveled to this southeastern Polish city Friday to visit U.S. troops deployed along NATO's eastern fringe as a bulwark against Russian incursion, and to laud Poland's humanitarian role in welcoming more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees.

Biden, who met with members of the 82nd Airborne Division and Polish President Andrzej Duda, said he regretted that he could not cross the border into Ukraine, barely 60 miles away, to see the crisis firsthand.

But inside Ukraine, where Russia's brutal onslaught continued, a senior aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky said officials were "very disappointed" in the outcome of the series of summits Wednesday among NATO and European Union leaders in Brussels that brought Biden to Europe.

"We expected more bravery. We expected some bold decisions," Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, told the Washington-based Atlantic Council via live video Friday.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials believe that the Russian operation has already failed in some respects, given strong Ukrainian resistance and heavy Russian losses, and Russia signaled Friday its aims might be narrowing. But Yermak's remarks served as a reminder that Ukraine remains outmanned, outgunned and facing more destruction each day.

By issuing a general statement of ongoing military support, while continuing to deny Ukraine's requests to send it Soviet-era jet fighters, impose a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft over Ukraine, and speed the flow of more heavy weaponry, Yermak said, NATO "is just trying to ensure that it is not provoking Russia to a military conflict" with the West, calling the alliance's inaction "appeasement."

"We need very concrete things. But we still have to repeatedly remind you," he said.

Yermak said Ukraine needs NATO to "close our sky" to Russian air power and provide "intelligence in real time," as well as more anti-aircraft and antitank weaponry - some of which is now in short supply in the West. He also pleaded for more long-range artillery, rocket launchers and small weapons.

"Without it," Yermak said, "our war will not be able to stand."

Far from an anticipated rush toward full occupation of a country with a far weaker military, Russia appeared Friday to have at least partially lost control of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, on the Black Sea, according to defense officials, the first of a handful of midsized cities it has struggled to occupy in the five weeks since the invasion began.

Ukrainian forces, bolstered by armed civilians, have pushed back Russian advances in other parts of the country, as well. The Pentagon said Friday that Ukraine has made "incremental" progress against Russia outside the northern city of Chernihiv, and other offensives were underway in the western suburbs in Kyiv, the capital. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, said that Russian troops, stalled outside Kyiv for weeks, have begun to establish defensive positions instead of prioritizing an advance.

While Russia's objective in the invasion initially appeared to be seizing Kyiv, the Kremlin is now emphasizing its intention to control the Donbas region in the east, where Ukrainian troops have been fighting against two breakaway areas since 2014. Moscow has recognized the region as two separate "republics."

"The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which . . . makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbas," Sergey Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate, said in a speech Friday.

The renewed focus on Donbas could be a face-saving measure as the Russians fail to achieve their larger aims, such as the capture of Kyiv and decapitation of Ukraine's government. Russians have made modest gains in the east, and their focus now may be to enlarge territory controlled by separatists and declare victory. It could also be designed as a ruse to allow beleaguered Russian troops to rest.

It is not clear whether Russian troops will be pulled from elsewhere to reinforce Donbas, the U.S. defense official said, but there is evidence that they have shifted how they fight in other places.

"It appears the Russians are for the moment not pursuing a ground offensive toward Kyiv," the official said. "They are digging in. They are establishing defensive positions."

Rudskoy also issued the first Russian casualty assessment since the beginning of March, saying that 1,351 service members have died, and 3,825 have been injured. NATO estimated Wednesday that 7,000-15,000 Russian troops have been killed in four weeks of fighting in Ukraine, according to an alliance senior military official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under NATO ground rules, said the estimate was based on several factors, including information from Ukrainian officials, what the Russian side has released, and open sources. By comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over a decade of war in Afghanistan after it invaded in late 1979.

Among the most recent Russian casualties, according to a Western official and a Ukrainian journalist, was Col. Yuri Medvedev, commanding officer of the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade, who was attacked and injured by troops under his command after they suffered heavy losses in the fighting outside Kyiv. The troops ran a tank into Medvedev, injuring both his legs, after their unit lost almost half its men, according to a Facebook post by journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk.

Although Tsymbaliuk said the colonel had been hospitalized, a senior Western official said he believed Medvedev had been killed.

Russia's bombardment of Ukraine's population centers and other targets continued, with the senior defense official reporting Moscow is flying 300 sorties over Ukraine per day - an increase over a week ago. On Friday, Ukraine's air force also claimed that Russian missiles had hit a command center in Vinnytsia, in west-central Ukraine, "significantly" damaging some buildings.

The southern port city of Mariupol remained under heavy Russian attack and cut off from food, water and humanitarian assistance. Matilda Bogner, head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said at a news conference Friday that her agency had received "increasing information" and satellite images of mass graves in Mariupol.

One mass grave identified appears to hold some 200 bodies, she said, although it remained unclear how many of the deceased were civilian casualties of the war.

Bogner said the U.N. human rights office had also documented 22 cases of Ukrainian officials disappearing or being forcibly detained in Russian-controlled territories, 13 of whom have since been released. A number of journalists in areas under Russian occupation in the southeast have disappeared or been killed.

In his remarks Friday, Yermak expressed gratitude to the United States and other Western countries, as has Zelensky in the numerous video addresses he has given to Western legislatures and other audiences. But, as has Zelensky, Yermak emphasized that Ukraine is the West's front line against further Russian aggression that NATO must stop for its own security.

Biden, in Poland, touted an additional $1 billion he had previously announced to aid the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the violence into neighboring countries and beyond, as well as the millions displaced and suffering inside the country. The United States has also committed to provide more than $2 billion in military equipment under Biden, including Stinger man-portable anti-air defense missiles, and Javelin antitank weapons.

As Russia's offensive was getting underway in late February, the State Department appealed to countries to which it had sold those weapons in the past to share those they could spare with Ukraine. The United States, it promised, would quickly issue the necessary waivers to transfer them to another country, and would backfill their arsenals with weapons sent from its own stockpiles.

But as the need in Ukraine has grown, some of those weapons, in particular Stingers, have been in increasingly short supply. Production lines for the missiles, which first entered service in 1981, ceased some time ago and "we are exploring options to more quickly replenish U.S. inventories, and backfill depleted stocks of allies and partners," Defense Department spokeswoman Jessica R. Maxwell said.

"It will take time to revive the industrial base . . . to enable production to resume," Maxwell said in an email. Among the options to fast-track production, she said, were adding additional workers to the production line and developing alternatives for obsolete components.

Mike Nachshen, senior director for international communications of Raytheon Missiles and Defense, which produces Stingers, said that they "recognize the urgent need to bolster inventories" and are working with government and industry "to accelerate production timelines so that we can deliver additional units of this critical combat capability as soon as possible."

The administration is considering invoking the Defense Production Act, which gives the executive emergency authority to control domestic industries and speed up production of certain critical items. Both Biden and President Donald Trump invoked the act to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.

The U.S. promise to resupply U.S.-manufactured defense supplies sent from other nations to Ukraine is of particular importance to countries along NATO's eastern flank, concerned about defending their own front lines in a possible confrontation with Russia.

In particular, Ukraine has asked for supplements to the Russian-made S-300 air defense system already in its arsenal, whose missiles fly higher and farther than the short-range Stingers. Slovakia and Bulgaria - which, like Ukraine, are former members of the Soviet-era Warsaw Pact - also possess the system, as does Greece.

Bulgaria and Greece have declined. Slovakia has said it would transfer the system, as long as the aging S-300 is immediately replaced, an action that requires a host of down-line changes to other capabilities once an alternative has been identified. In a visit to Slovakia last weekend, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said officials are working on it.

Radovan Javorcik, the Slovakian ambassador to the United States, said in an email this week that his government was in "close consultation" with allies, but "until a concrete replacement of the S-300 system has been identified, Slovakia will not be able to decide on a possible donation of the system."

- - -

DeYoung and Horton reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Miriam Berger in Jerusalem; Liz Sly in London; Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia; and Dan Lamothe in Washington contributed to this report.
As search teams continued gathering wreckage and remains following Mondays crash of a China Eastern flight, the outgoing chief of the Federal Aviation Administration voiced confidence Friday in the type of Boeing plane that went down and in the ability of the international aviation community to learn what went wrong.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, a retired airline pilot and Trump appointee who is stepping down next week, pointed to the strong safety record of Boeings Next Generation fleet of 737 passenger planes in a television interview.

The 737-800 that crashed in southern Chinas Guangxi province is one of the safest aircraft ever produced in commercial operation. Its one of the most widely used aircraft around the world. By all indications, this was an airworthy aircraft, Dickson said on CNBCs Squawk Box. But well have to go where the facts take us.

Asked about skepticism that Chinese authorities will allow a transparent review of what happened, Dickson said, Im confident well get to the root cause of the crash.

Chinas official Xinhua News Agency said more than 500 family members have come to the nearby city of Wuzhou while awaiting word on the 132 people who were onboard, with many of those gathered having DNA samples taken to help with the grim work of identification.

The Chinese news agency said workers were excavating a broad area as they search for evidence, including the second black box, a digital flight data recorder that would hold a detailed digital record of the planes movements and systems as well as the actions of its pilots. The cockpit voice recorder, which can shed light on conversations among pilots and other crew, was found this week and authorities are working to retrieve its contents.

The state-run China Daily noted that the Civil Aviation Administration of China News initially reported Friday that the flight data recorder had been discovered, but local rescue leaders soon clarified that the second recorder had not been found.

Under international agreements, the United States, as the country where the China Eastern plane was designed and manufactured, has been invited to join the investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), led by senior aviation accident investigator Sathya Silva, has assembled a team that includes technical experts from the FAA, Boeing and engine manufacturer CFM International.

But the pandemic and Chinas strict controls on entering the country have slowed progress in getting the U.S. team on the ground, with negotiations on travel and logistics ongoing days after the crash.

A State Department travel advisory on China issued this month recommended that Americans reconsider travel to China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19-related travel restrictions.

It said travelers should be ready to quarantine at a government-designated location for at least 14 days, where they may be tested daily and arent allowed out of their rooms. If they test positive, travelers would be required to transfer to a medical facility chosen by the government, where standards of care may differ considerably from those in the United States, according to the advisory.

Travel to China is currently limited by visa and covid quarantine requirements, the NTSB said in a statement this week. We are working with the Department of State to address those issues with the Chinese government before any travel will be determined.

China has dramatically improved its aviation safety record over past decades, with experts pointing to improvements across the system and a modernized fleet of airplanes, many built by Boeing and rival Airbus, as homegrown airlines cater to a growing domestic and international market.

Chinas last major fatal crash was in 2010, when 44 of the 96 people onboard a Henan Airlines flight were killed when pilots missed a runway in heavy fog, according to the Aviation Safety Network, which tracks international accidents.

That years-long stretch is impressive to me, especially since the previous decades were fraught with accidents, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator with the FAA and the NTSB.

Within China, there is intense interest in Mondays crash, with videos circulating of the planes sharp descent into mountainous terrain, online photos of wreckage and rescue workers, and widespread speculation on the causes of the crash. The governments China Daily has also sought to tamp down some of the conjecture.
Robert Foster, a former GOP house representative in Mississippi and failed gubernatorial candidate there, has a new message he hopes will open doors for him: kill trans people and their supporters.

"Some of y'all still want to try and find political compromise with those that want to groom our school aged children and pretend men are women, etc," he wrote on Twitter. "I think they need to be lined up against wall before a firing squad to be sent to an early judgment."

The Mississippi Free Press contacted him; he doubled down:

"I said what I said," he wrote, adding to what he had tweeted. "The law should be changed so that anyone trying to sexually groom children and/or advocating to put men pretending to be women in locker rooms and bathrooms with young women should receive the death penalty by firing squad."

Foster runs Cedar Hill Farm, an "agritourism" venue in DeSoto County, and served as a state representative from 2016 until 2020 after a close-run GOP primary; the Democratic Party didn't bother to run a candidate in his blood-red district. He won 18% of the vote in the 2019 Republican primary for governor after refusing to allow women journalists to accompany him on the campaign trail, only men, for a third-place finish.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Tribune News Service)  The Vietnam War, known in Vietnam as the American War, left U.S. public opinion in tatters over more than a decade of American involvement in the 1960s and 70s.

On Thursday morning, Bakersfield National Cemetery tried to heal some of those old wounds by hosting its annual Vietnam Veteran Remembrance Ceremony at the peaceful, oak-dotted burial grounds in the Tehachapi Mountains.

Cemetery Director Cindy Van Bibber spoke before a small group of military veterans and veteran advocates who had gathered below rising green hills splashed with popcorn flowers.

Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration, Van Bibber said the event was focused on thanking and honoring the nations more than 6 million living Vietnam veterans and 9 million families of those who served during the Vietnam War period.

Since the birth of the United States, no single generation of Americans has been spared the responsibility of defending freedom by force of arms, she said. More than 44 million American men and women have sacrificed and served in time of war  many here counted among them.

Your collective service and individual sacrifices, Van Bibber said, have safeguarded the cherished concepts embodied in our Constitution.

All who served, have sacrificed, she said. Whether at war in a foreign nation, or stationed on home soil.

Van Bibber quoted then-President Barack Obama, who in May 2012 spoke at the commemoration ceremony of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

One of the most painful chapters in our history was Vietnam  most particularly, how we treated our troops who served there, Van Bibber said as she quoted the former presidents remarks.

You were often blamed for a war you didnt start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor. You were sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few, when the honorable service of the many should have been praised.

You came home and sometimes were denigrated, when you should have been celebrated, she said. It was a national shame, a disgrace that should have never happened. And thats why here today we resolve that it will not happen again.

Thursdays event was attended by several members of the all-volunteer Associated Veterans of Kern County Honor Guard. Following a rifle salute, two horn players with the guard performed a version of taps sometimes called shadow taps  in which one horns phrase is echoed by a second horn.

The annual ceremony also included remarks by Ben Palmer, a U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran who served two tours in Nam.

The families of those who didnt return, whose names that are etched on the ( Vietnam) Wall, experienced the painful loss of loved ones without the collective support of their nation, Palmer said.

So history makes crystal clear the importance of this commemoration, he said.  Vietnam was a long war, and so a long commemoration is planned. As mentioned earlier, its from Memorial Day of 2012 to Veterans Day of 2025.

Palmer said the national commemoration gives Americans a second chance to thank as many living Vietnam veterans as possible, veterans who may have never felt the collective gratitude of their fellow Americans.

As he wound up his remarks, Palmers emotion was evident in his voice  and he seemed to go off-script for a moment. As he looked out at the other Vietnam veterans in the audience, he paused, then spoke.

Thats about it, except you guys were there. You know what it was like, he said. It was crap being treated like that.

___

(c)2022 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.)

Visit The Bakersfield Californian at www.bakersfield.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
I was absolutely devastated to wake up Saturday morning and learn of the death of musician Taylor Hawkins at the age of 50. The Foo Fighters were a formative band in my youth, and Hawkins' passion, energy, and romance with Dave Grohl has always inspired me  both as a musician, and as a human.

Hawkins joined the band with the release* of their second album, The Colours and the Shapes, after several years as the drummer for Alanis Morrisette's band. While Dave Grohl is obviously the focal point of the Foo Fighters, I would argue that Hawkins' entry in the group is what truly cemented them as something special. There are some truly beautiful moments in the band's 2011 documentary Back and Forth in which Hawkins and Grohl reflect on the tensions between them circa 2000-2001. The band had shelved an album; Grohl joined Queens of the Stone Age for a while; Hawkins had a serious overdose; and the two of them almost came to blows. But hearing them talk about it a decade later feels like an epic story of true rock n' roll love conquering all.

The video above was filmed in Argentina at the Foo Fighters' last live performance before Hawkins' untimely death. Hawkins, who had previously taken the microphone on the band's single "Cold Day in the Sun" and a few other b-sides and covers, steps out from behind the drum set and absolutely slays while singing "Somebody to Love" by Queen.

Rest in peace, Taylor Hawkins.

*Hawkins didn't play on the album; Grohl had recruited William Goldsmith from Sunny Day Real Estate, and then re-recorded all of Goldsmith's drum parts without telling him, prompting Goldsmith to quit in an understandable rage. Grohl has since admitted that he did not handle that particular situation very well.
Te Arawa Fisheries has increased its total revenue by more than $10 million and posted a $9.3m surplus in the past 12 months, despite grappling with Covid-related challenges for a second year.

Chief executive Chris Karamea Insley puts the successful result down to sound investment decisions and a future-focused business strategy which is opening new doors for the iwi-owned fisheries group.

The 2021 Te Arawa Fisheries Annual Report, released ahead of this Saturdays virtual Annual General Meeting, highlights the groups impressive financial gains, as well as a number of significant new projects launched in the past year.

In the 2021/22 financial year, Te Arawa Fisheries achieved total revenue of $14.8m  a significant increase from the $4.4m posted the previous year.

While its total expenses were $1.7m higher than the previous year, Te Arawa Fisheries still posted a net surplus after tax of $9.3m  an $8.8m increase from the 2020/21 financial year.

Insley says Te Arawa Fisheries is incredibly proud to deliver a surplus for whanau in what has been another challenging year impacted by Covid-19.

The past 12 months have been defined by Te Arawa Fisheries ability to deliver and progress our ka pu te ruha strategy, creating an active, resilient business focused on growing and diversifying our assets.

Covid-19 has continued to challenge businesses worldwide  particularly in the export and retail sectors, however, our organisation has treated these obstacles as opportunities.

We have explored new ventures such as the development and distribution of our Hi mussels, invested in professional development and grown our work arm, Te Arawa Mahi, which helps whanau into employment.

Insley says the organisation is actively exploring new ventures to secure the business viability in the face of external pressures, such as climate change, over-fishing and new regulations.

We have made significant progress transitioning from a passive operation to an active one, from volume-based to value-focused and introducing a way of operating that reflects our four pou: Tangata, Taiao, Tikanga, and Tahua.

This includes identifying and moving into new markets  an avenue we are pursuing with the export of Hi into Australia, Europe and America, as well as securing meaningful partnerships with the right people, at the right time.

An example of this is the significant science-based partnership we have entered into, joining our Waiariki iwi with research and technology institutes to advance large-scale collective iwi aquaculture developments.

While many organisations are finding themselves in a holding pattern while Covid-19 runs its course, Te Arawa Fisheries is growing, adding its voice to high-level discussions and progressing exciting new products.

Te Arawa Fisheries is a living example of how we, as iwi organisations, can embody our values and harness our matauranga Maori to create enduring and successful business models.
Recent rumbles beneath Mt Ruapehu are a gentle reminder of the power of volcanoes and the importance of science, preparedness, and education, writes EQC Chief Resilience and Research Officer Dr Jo Horrocks.

Read what she has to day below:

Volcanoes never fail to surprise me, even after years working in and around them in New Zealand and overseas.

Although New Zealand has not experienced a damage-causing eruption like that seen in La Palma, Spain, last year, or recent lava flows from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, we know it can and will happen here.

The elevated volcanic unrest we are currently witnessing at Ruapehu reminds us why we need to understand our risk to the greatest possible extent, and plan and build capability and capacity for responding to such events.

New Zealand is at the forefront of volcanic resilience and recently my EQC colleague Annah Chisholm and myself were invited to explain EQCs volcanic risk management and insurance scheme to an international audience in the Spanish specialist media outlet Consor Seguros Digital.

Reflecting on the La Palma eruption, we feel that we are in a good position in Aotearoa thanks to our volcano science, risk assessment, planning, preparedness, and education. We have also had frequent small-scale reminders of the power of volcanoes over recent decades, which has ensured researchers, organisations, and communities have stayed engaged in such matters.

Our investment in science has helped us understand our natural environment, the ground beneath us, and the natural processes that can affect us. Plus, we continue to learn from others; all of which puts us in the best possible position to anticipate and manage any volcanic crises that come our way.

This weeks rumbles are not the first time Mt Ruapehu has provided a wake-up call to New Zealand.

The eruption of Ruapehu in 1995-96 was a huge reminder about what could happen, and it initiated a wave of research, planning, and preparedness by a range of agencies.

Sadly, New Zealanders have also seen how tragic volcanic activity can be after the devastating eruption of Whakaari/White Island in 2019.

Dr Jo Horrocks.

EQC invests over $20 million each year in natural hazard research and education to help communities understand and manage their risks.

It also provides natural disaster insurance cover for damage to residential properties caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal activity, tsunamis, and landslides, as well as damage to land from storms and floods.

Natural hazards are well known to us, especially earthquakes, and weve learnt some big insurance lessons over the years. Much of what weve learnt is transferable and can be applied to other natural hazards.

New Zealand is the envy of most other countries with active volcanoes because of our very high insurance coverage for volcanic impacts.

Yet it is because of our investment in science and research, as well as the continuous geohazards monitoring system we have in GeoNet that really matters; this is what aids the nation to be prepared.

It means we have a robust evidence base on which to inform our natural hazard risk management policy and practice. We also have an authoritative voice in international markets, particularly in the international reinsurance market. New Zealand volcanologists are sought out world-wide for their expertise and capabilities.

Going forward, EQCs focus is on the development of a national probabilistic volcanic hazard risk model  a model that tells us the chance of being impacted by any particular volcanic hazard, in any particular location, over a specified period of time.

While New Zealand has had a hazard model for earthquakes for many years, modelling for other hazards, including volcanic hazard, is not as well advanced. A national probabilistic model would be a game changer, and a first worldwide.

Our next step is to see that work on this continues and remains a priority.
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The Ministry of Health is reporting 14,175 community cases, 841 hospitalisations, 27 people in ICU and 20 deaths. One of the deaths is a person from the Bay of Plenty.

There are 878 new community cases in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board region, and 392 in Lakes. There are 35 people in Bay of Plenty hospitals with Covid-19, and 13 in Lakes hospitals.

Its encouraging to see the total number of cases in hospital dropping, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson. This is driven by a decrease in hospitalisations across Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty, some of the first regions to be affected by Omicron.

However, every hospitalisation is a reminder of the importance of getting vaccinated to prevent severe illness from Covid-19. Vaccine effectiveness for Omicron declines after your second dose, however, a booster restores it to about 90 per cent.

Our best protection both for ourselves, and for our whanau, is to be up to date with vaccinations  which includes a booster, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

Often those at the greatest risk of becoming sick with Covid-19 are older family members and those with co-morbidities such as asthma, diabetes, and other long-term conditions.

So, if youre due any dose of the vaccine, please get vaccinated this weekend to ensure you are well protected against Omicron.

COVID-19 deaths

Today we are sadly reporting the deaths of 20 people with Covid-19, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

These deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 254 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to 13.

Of these deaths we are reporting today, one person is from Northland, six people are from the Auckland region, five are from Waikato, one is from Bay of Plenty, one is from Tairawhiti, one is from Hawkes Bay, two are from in Mid Central, one is from the Wellington region, and one is from Nelson Marlborough.

One of these people was in their 40s, one was in their 50s, three people were in their 60s, five people were in their 70s, six people were in their 80s, and three people were in their 90s.

Twelve were men and seven were women.

Our thoughts and condolences are with their whanau and friends at this sad time. Out of respect, we will be making no further comment. 

The demographics for one of the deceased are currently unavailable and will be updated online.

Vaccinations administered in New Zealand

Vaccines administered to date: 4,025,287 first doses; 3,973,545 second doses; 34,205 third primary doses; 2,571,092 booster doses: 258,035 paediatric first doses and 61,880 paediatric second doses

Vaccines administered yesterday: 111 first doses; 244 second doses; 28 third primary doses; 3,332 booster doses; 220 paediatric first doses and 5,389 paediatric second doses

People vaccinated

All Ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 4,054,614 first dose (96.3%); 4,001,837 second dose (95.1%), 2,569,716 boosted (72.6% of those eligible)

Maori (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 520,203 first dose (91.1%); 502,513 second dose (88%), 227,669 boosted (57.9% of those eligible)

Pacific Peoples (percentage of eligible people aged 12+): 281,458 first dose (98.2%); 276,282 second dose (96.4%), 135,418 boosted (59.2% of those eligible)

5 to 11-year-olds all ethnicities: 256,593 first dose (53.9%); 60,520 second dose (12.7%)

5 to 11-year-olds - Maori: 40,149 first dose (34.7%); 6,812 second dose (5.9%)

5 to 11-year-olds - Pacific Peoples: 23,169 first dose (46.9%); 3,127 second dose (6.3%)

Note that the number for People vaccinated differs slightly from Vaccines administered as it includes those that have been vaccinated overseas.

Vaccination rates for all DHBs

Northland DHB: first dose (90.1%); second dose (87.9%); boosted (69.4%)

Auckland Metro DHB: first dose (97.2%); second dose (96.1%); boosted (71%)

Waikato DHB: first dose (95.1%); second dose (93.5%); boosted (68.3%)

Bay of Plenty DHB: first dose (95%); second dose (93.2%); boosted (68.1%)

Lakes DHB: first dose (93.3%); second dose (91.4%); boosted (68.5%)

MidCentral DHB: first dose (96.5%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (74.1%)

Tairawhiti DHB: first dose (93.2%); second dose (90.9%); boosted (68.7%)

Whanganui DHB: first dose (91.9%); second dose (90.3%); boosted (73.5%)

Hawkes Bay DHB: first dose (97%); second dose (95.3%); boosted (72%)

Taranaki DHB: first dose (94.6%); second dose (93.1%); boosted (70%)

Wairarapa DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (94.9%); boosted (74.8%)

Capital & Coast DHB: first dose (98.6%); second dose (97.8%); boosted (81.1%)

Hutt Valley DHB: first dose (96.6%); second dose (95.6%); boosted (76.8%)

Nelson Marlborough DHB: first dose (96.4%); second dose (95.2%); boosted (75.6%)

West Coast DHB: first dose (92.6%); second dose (91.1%); boosted (73.4%)

Canterbury DHB: first dose (99.6%); second dose (98.7%); boosted (75.8%)

South Canterbury DHB: first dose (94.9%); second dose (93.8%); boosted (76.4%)

Southern DHB: first dose (98.1%); second dose (97%); boosted (74.9%)

Partially and second doses percentages are for those 12+. Boosted percentages are for 18+ who have become eligible 3 months after having their second dose.

Percentages are based on 2020 HSU data - a health-specific population denominator. As the population continues to change over time, coverage rates can exceed 100%.

Hospitalisations

Cases in hospital: total number 841: Northland: 33; North Shore: 141; Middlemore: 187; Auckland: 144; Waikato: 51; Bay of Plenty: 35; Lakes: 13; Tairawhiti: 3, Hawkes Bay: 44; Taranaki: 12; Whanganui: 3; MidCentral: 20; Hutt Valley: 15; Capital and Coast: 38; Wairarapa: 3; Nelson Marlborough: 12; Canterbury: 57; South Canterbury: 1; West Coast: 1; Southern: 28

Average age of current hospitalisations: 58

Cases in ICU or HDU: 27

Vaccination status of current hospitalisations (Northern Region only, excluding Emergency Departments): Unvaccinated or not eligible (94 cases / 19.46%); partially immunised <7 days from second dose or have only received one dose (17 cases / 3.52%); double vaccinated at least 7 days before being reported as a case (160 cases / 33.13%); Received booster at least 7 days before being reported as a case (190 cases / 39.34%); unknown (22 cases / 4.55%)

The figures show that almost 4 per cent of people aged 12 and over in the Northern Region have had no doses of the vaccine, while of those aged 12 and over in Northland and Auckland hospitals with COVID-19 for whom we have vaccination status recorded, 17.8 per cent have had no doses of the vaccine and are more than four times over-represented in our hospitalisation figures.

Cases

Seven day rolling average of community cases: 16,943

Number of new community cases: 14,175

Number of new community cases (PCR): 330

Number of new community cases (RAT): 13,845

Location of new community cases (PCR & RAT): Northland (517), Auckland (2,652), Waikato (1,305), Bay of Plenty (878), Lakes (392), Hawkes Bay (770), MidCentral (707), Whanganui (322), Taranaki (513), Tairawhiti (196), Wairarapa (196), Capital and Coast (869), Hutt Valley (474), Nelson Marlborough (599), Canterbury (2,402), South Canterbury (215), Southern (1101), West Coast (52); Unknown (15)

Number of new cases identified at the border: 37

Number of active community cases (total): 118,592 (cases identified in the past 7 days and not yet classified as recovered)

Confirmed cases (total): 586,157

Please note, the Ministry of Healths daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO.

Tests
Changes to the traffic light system have taken effect from 11.59pm on Friday.

"From today, you no longer need to scan QR codes everywhere you go, and businesses no longer have to display a QR code or have mandatory record keeping," says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

"If a new variant appears, we may need to use contact tracing again so were asking businesses to be ready to put up QR codes again, and everyone else to be ready to start scanning."

The Ministry of Health says dont delete the NZ Covid Tracer app just yet.

"The app will stay active, so you can still use it to track your movements if you want to and Bluetooth tracing is still in use. This is a helpful way to get an early warning of exposure to Covid-19, and send anonymous notifications to close contacts if you have tested positive," says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

"Scanning and contact tracing have been a really important part of what weve achieved, thanks everyone for playing your part."

At the new red and orange setting, people do not need to wear a face mask outdoors. Other face mask rules for red and orange remain unchanged  masks are required in most indoor settings.

However, there are no limits on the number of people at outdoor activities, such as gatherings and events, while indoor gatherings and events will have a 200-person limit  My Vaccine Passes must still be used until 11.59pm on April 4.

Thousands of Kiwis are seeking support by local agencies through a welfare helpline set up by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). In the week ending March 20, MSD issued 9993 hardship grants to people in self-isolation. Of those, 8055 were for food.

Meanwhile, on Saturday the Ministry of Health reported 14,175 new community cases, 841 hospitalisations with the virus and 20 deaths.

More than 300 under 10-year-olds have been hospitalised so far due to Covid-19, with a public health expert saying measures to protect preschool children from the virus are inadequate. Another says early childhood education (ECE) centres are an environment where Covid-19 could spread quite easily and, if possible, under 5s should be kept at home.

Covid-19 vaccines totalling 76,000 doses and worth more than $800,000 will be dumped by the end of next week as AstraZeneca doses expire with officials signalling new courses are unlikely to be offered for much longer.

Vaccination rates

As of Saturday, 72.6 per cent of eligible New Zealanders had received their booster.

The number of children under 12 being vaccinated against Covid-19 has slowed right down, and data suggests the drop in demand may have predated the Omicron surge. Just over half of kids aged 5 to 11 have had a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine  257,404 out of an estimated 476,294 children in that age group.

A Kiwi vaccine for Covid-19 made in Wellington is expected to be ready to trial in people by the end of this year.

Global toll

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows more than 478 million people have been infected with Sars-CoV-2, and more than 6.1m have died.

Vaccination efforts are continuing with more than 10.8 billion doses administered around the world.

What should I do?

Anyone showing symptoms can order a test on the RAT requester site and collect it from 146 sites nationwide. A list of llocal testing centres can be found on the Ministry of Health website.

People are no longer required to use the Covid-19 tracer app.

If you are sick, call your GP before you visit, or Healthline on 0800 358 5453.

To avoid contracting and spreading the virus, wash your hands properly, cough and sneeze into the crook of your elbow and throw tissues away immediately.

Reach out, find support from people who care, connect with your community or help a neighbour in need.
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Douglas Jemal is snapping up his third industrial property in Buffalo, agreeing to buy the former King Sewing Machine Co. plant in the Riverside neighborhood from the Buffalo Urban Development Corp.

Fresh off the sale of yet another piece of the Crowley Street factory to Enterprise Folding Box Co., BUDC is now proposing to sell the remaining 3.63 acres and existing buildings to the Washington, D.C., developer, who continues to expand his real estate portfolio in Buffalo.

Jemal  who also owns industrial buildings on Rano and Sycamore streets  said he plans to "put the warehouse back again and get some industrial tenants in there," while taking advantage of its proximity to a residential neighborhood that once supplied the workers for the factory.

"Its a great location. It has folks you can hire in the neighborhood, with good jobs, that can just walk to work," Jemal said Friday. "What once was, could be again."

He's even eyeing one potential tenant in particular  Top Seedz, the grand-prize winner in last year's 43North business competition.

Founded four years ago by transplanted New Zealander Rebecca Brady, the Cheektowaga-based startup company makes hand-made artisan seed crackers and roasted seeds, and already sells its products in 350 stores, including Wegmans and Whole Foods. It produces about 50,000 boxes per month from its location near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, where it currently employs about 20 workers.

Brady is already exploring options for new or expanded space to accommodate the company's anticipated growth and her long-term vision. And Jemal  who hosts 43North and many of the incubator's businesses at his Seneca One tower  has pitched the property to her.

"She's a contestant for that space, and she'd hire people in that neighborhood, to walk to work and cook the seeds," Jemal said.

Brady confirmed that she's looked at the facility, and "the size would be good." But it's not final. "We haven't committed to anything," she said. "We haven't narrowed our search. We're looking at various properties."

Even if Top Seedz doesn't select it, though, Jemal said the property would be ideal as a logical next step for other 43North companies that need manufacturing space after their initial year, or as an incubator for other industrial tenants. "It's eight minutes away from Seneca One by car," he said. "It's a perfect vehicle for them to move into, after their one year, if they're manufacturers."

And, plenty of companies need more manufacturing and warehouse space, he noted. Enterprise  which makes pizza boxes and other consumer packaging  just completed its third purchase of part of the Crowley site, paying $60,000 for 2.1 acres adjacent to its own property, after previously buying 1.6 acres and a vacant two-story cinder-block building. The box maker's plant is next door, at 75 Isabelle St.

"There's a perfect example," Jemal said of Enterprise. "There's a lot of tenants like that for industrial space. There's a need for that."

Second Crowley Avenue parcel sold to Enterprise Folding Box A growing pizza-box maker in the Riverside neighborhood is expanding its facility.

Under the agreement with BUDC, which is subject to approval by the nonprofit agency's board when it meets on Tuesday, Jemal will pay $120,000 for the property, consistent with an independent appraisal. He also agreed to ensure that his reuse of the site "is compatible with the residential neighborhood in which it is located," according to a BUDC board memo.

City agency takes on cleanup, redevelopment of Riverside property Building on its past success with Riverbend and the Northland Corridor, the Buffalo Urban Development Corp. is taking another stab at cleaning up and creating a potential new industrial property primed for redevelopment  this time in Riverside. The city-affiliated agency purchased an abandoned former manufacturing facility with a century-old history, first as a sewing machine plant and later for

That would close out BUDC's involvement with the property, which it acquired in June 2018 for $50,000 through King Crow LLC. The goal was to remediate it and put the long-vacant property back to active use, while demolishing parts of the structures that could not be saved.

"We took the property on, and the angle always was to secure the property, to get it ready for future development that was consistent with the neighborhood," said Brandye Merriweather, BUDC president. "We're excited to see that property being put into better use. We definitely think it's positive and it's been a long time coming."

Originally a 7-acre site with a 300,000-square-foot complex on it, it's now down to half of the land, with significant portions of the deteriorating building remaining, which Jemal agreed to restore and retain, along with a historic clock tower that he intends to preserve.

Plan to demolish part of an old Riverside industrial complex hits a snag City plans to demolish and redevelop a seven-acre former industrial site in the Riverside neighborhood have hit an unexpected stumbling block, after state historic preservation officials notified the city and Buffalo Urban Development Corp. that it disagreed with their plans. BUDC and the city had planned to partially demolish the former sewing machine and television manufacturing plant at 308

He said he's not yet sure how much he would spend on repairs, maintenance and renovation, since it depends on the future tenants and their needs.

"Douglas Development reached out to us and we're looking to try to move this forward and hopefully we'll have something further to announce," Merriweather said. "We're happy to see their willingness to work with the community, to look at some of the preservation aspects of the project, and put it into a higher and better use than what's currently there."

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Re: Warranty void if car meets with an accident? Quote: GTO Originally Posted by . What an absolutely dumb non-customer friendly line to include. Don't these multi-crore companies have like a proofreader, or document auditor? First time I'm hearing of an accident nullifying warranty. Trust Skoda Quote: solaris007 Originally Posted by While there is usually a grey area with tyre upgrades (or downgrades) for any vehicle, the note also says that the warranty is void if the car meets with any accident. Surely that is not right. Quote: poloman Originally Posted by Can the manufacturer really continue with warranty for a car badly damaged in an accident? Also on full painting job, they are assuming that the vehicle will be stripped bare and fitted back. I think the policy does not violate any customer rights, but the definition of accident should be more clear.



What's bothering me is the Warranty limitations (if any) should be part of the user manual and not a Delivery note on the Dealer's Letterhead. This is not acceptable at all.



If the dealer had not agreed to remove it, our plan was not to take the delivery for the time being and involve Skoda India head office to see how their Customer Oriented 2.0 Strategy is working.



Shall update you guys here on how my delivery process goes. After spending close to 30+L we expect stable after-sales service from Skoda, but I am having my reservations now.



Quote: Maky Originally Posted by I would request you share this on twitter and tag Mr.Hollis along with various auto magazines, and perhaps others you think might think might help shed light on this. The important point to note here is that the Dealer is putting these warranty clauses in the delivery note. Even Skoda RM says they are not aware of this kind of issue from any customer before. Probably customers do not read before signing in the excitement to take delivery of their new vehicle?What's bothering me is the Warranty limitations (if any) should be part of the user manual and not a Delivery note on the Dealer's Letterhead. This is not acceptable at all.If the dealer had not agreed to remove it, our plan was not to take the delivery for the time being and involve Skoda India head office to see how their Customer Oriented 2.0 Strategy is working.Shall update you guys here on how my delivery process goes. After spending close to 30+L we expect stable after-sales service from Skoda, but I am having my reservations now.My uncle, who has been at the forefront of all negotiations, posted the same on Twitter and tagged Skoda, Mr. Hollis, etc. He is yet to receive any replies. I will update here on the same too.
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When Neil Papworth sent the first text message in 1992, it opened a new horizon in the communications industry. Instant messaging took off over the following decades, and audio or video calls on web-based messaging platforms like WhatsApp eventually replaced ordinary phone calls for many users.

But there's a catch. Messaging platforms typically leverage personal data for revenue and store the data on centralized servers, which are vulnerable to security breaches. In 2021, a WhatsApp vulnerability was found that could have exposed the data of 2 billion users. That year, the company was fined $266 million for failing to be transparent about how it shares user data with Facebook, and millions of users abandoned the messaging platform over privacy concerns.

There is now a growing demand for decentralized applications (dapps) that protect user privacy while providing alternatives to centralized tech giants. But while they hold potential, most dapps rely on companies like Infura and Alchemy that provide API access without verifying output responses, or their protocols depend on centralized, corporatized cloud services from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to run nodes and store data. This is typically because most blockchains are slow, expensive, and don't easily scale.

For messaging services to be truly decentralized, they need to run independently of cloud companies and API services on networks where storage costs are not exorbitantly high for state-altering applications. (Storage on Ethereum, for example, currently costs roughly $84 million for just 1 GB of data).

This is the model of OpenChat, a decentralized messaging app that runs on the Internet Computer blockchain, which shows how a web-based application like instant messaging can run end-to-end on a blockchain and deliver the online experience that users expect.

"As developers who were exploring and showcasing what can be built with this new technology, the idea to build a chat app came quite quickly," says Matthew Grogan, one of OpenChat's creators. "We could see it would be technically possible and have a unique set of properties and features."

The dapp allows users to send crypto via instant message, with ICP tokens already capable of being transferred and BTC soon to follow once the Internet Computer's direct integration with the Bitcoin network is complete. OpenChat will also soon be tokenized and directed via a user community DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization.

Secure Messaging on Blockchain

Anyone can create a free account on OpenChat at signup by registering an Internet Identity, which is a cryptographic system that allows users to anonymously authenticate themselves with smart devices like a laptop, smartphone, or YubiKey rather than a login and password. There's no need to manage private security keys or worry about theft. Because each user's Internet Identity is distinct to the dapp, there is also no way for them to be tracked as they navigate online.

Grogan explains that OpenChat is composed of a set of canister smart contracts, which contain code and data. Because state-altering transactions take 1-2 seconds on the Internet Computer, OpenChat also peripherally uses a peer-to-peer technology called WebRTC to support instantaneous messaging when available. The cost of storing 1 GB on-chain is about $5, he noted.

"Each canister runs on 13 replicas hosted by independent node providers that are geographically and jurisdictionally distributed," Grogan adds. "OpenChat is an application running on the IC that is natively decentralized. This means that all sorts of complexities around consensus and security are simply not the concern of the application - they are handled by the blockchain."

OpenChat has steadily added features since launching less than a year ago, and the team recently released a 2.0 version that assigns a single canister smart contract to each new user and group. This enables OpenChat to scale indefinitely, so that users can easily use the dapp to share audio, images, videos, and more.

"We want OpenChat to be fully featured and easy to use, and I believe we already compare well to other mainstream chat apps," says Grogan.

"We also have a long list of features in the pipeline, including audio/video calls, native apps, and end-to-end encryption, which are set to narrow the gap further," he adds.

A full-featured instant-message application is hardly revolutionary, but the fact that such an app can run completely on a blockchain could be a game-changing proposition for Web3.

Tokenized governance

Users will also soon gain sovereign control of OpenChat through decentralized governance. The OpenChat team is planning for the dapp to become a community DAO with the introduction of the Service Nervous System (SNS), an algorithmic tokenization system for dapps that is scheduled to roll out on the Internet Computer in the coming months.

The SNS will issue governance tokens for OpenChat that users and investors can use to vote on proposals that will determine the application's future.

"Soon OpenChat will become open source with deterministic builds, and it will be possible to trustlessly verify the version of any OpenChat canister and link it back to the actual GitHub commit," Grogan notes.

Once OpenChat becomes a community DAO, it will support tokenization with the SNS ledger holding a pool of governance tokens. Users can determine a portion of tokens to raise money for an endowment to support OpenChat's ongoing development. Similarly, users can designate a significant portion of tokens to reward engagement on the platform.

Crypto Transactions and the Road Ahead

OpenChat now allows users to send tokens as instant chat messages. Although the feature will initially be limited to ICP tokens, with a network transaction fee of 0.0001 ICP, it will include BTC after the Internet Computer completes its direct integration with the Bitcoin network this year. Any tokens hosted on the Internet Computer will be similarly available for sending via instant message.

Another major upgrade to the dapp in development is the addition of "communities," which would function similarly to Slack workspaces and Discord servers. While OpenChat currently supports groups within its global platform community, users will be able to create specific communities by inviting other global users, which would then have their own groups and settings. The OpenChat developers are also working on an optional view for replies that presents them in a separate panel rather than inline.

Regarding tokenization, users may receive OpenChat tokens by referring their friends, actively using the platform, or reporting bugs. There is also the potential to introduce moderators who would be able to review content flagged by users as abusive and take appropriate action. They might also be rewarded with governance tokens.

"Essentially the aim of tokenization would be to help encourage growth and participation in OpenChat," says Grogan. "The more users OpenChat has and the more they participate in a positive way, the more useful it becomes to all its users. Once OpenChat is integrated with the SNS and becomes a DAO, the community will decide what's in store for the future."

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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created a simulation of the universe's origins. It focuses on a happening that may have happened in the early days of when it started. The simulation is a groundbreaking technology for the researchers as it presents aground on the many happenings that other researchers may use for future studies.

MIT's Simulation Presents the Universe's Origins

There are multiple theories as to how the universe started, and what many people believe is the famous one about the "Big Bang" theory, which started 13.8 billion years ago. According to MIT News, a group of researchers devised a new simulation that aims to trace the beginnings of this universe down to the first atom that started it all.

The researchers said that a mathematical approach to the study used a Thesan simulation that focuses on the many happenings in the early days. The simulation talks about how radiation brought the world to where it is now, with the many gases and elements in outer space getting a coalition of events that formed the many things we see in outer space.

Read Also: Lettuce for Microgravity Threats? Studies Show How It Will Help Mars Astronaut in Future Missions

How Did the Universe Start?

The gravity that came from the Big Bang gathered the molecules and elements that formed the initial galaxies known to many. However, this is not the exact start of the universe as known to many. Still, the simulation is the most significant and most extensive simulation up to date, giving the public much information on a possible start of the universe.

The Universe and Space

The Earth is only a tiny speck in the universe and outer space, and humans have limited knowledge of the great beyond, with many missions aiming to focus on discovering what happened. Many attempts explain the universe's origins, but something close to Earth-like the Sun is still a massive question in human knowledge now.

The celestial heavens are complex, and it has limitless possibilities to the many things it may hold, and it cannot be something that a person can explain in one word. Missions in NASA focus on the many explorations of outer space, and the company does it one step at a time, with the return to the Moon in the coming years.

Of course, the Mars mission is also a part of this, as human exploration ventures on nearby systems.

The universe is a massive entity that does not have a simple explanation for all, and the great mystery of the great unknown focuses on the many possibilities and wonders out of this world. The simulation by MIT concentrates on giving the world an explanation of one of the many reasons for the start of this universe, but it is not yet an absolute answer to it.

Related Article: NASA Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Photo of a Spiral Galaxy Using Two Different Cameras

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Written by Isaiah Richard

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NASA is again hiring SpaceX for its next critical cargo resupply and delivery mission, hiring the Cargo Dragon for six more flights towards the International Space Station. The deliveries will focus on bringing the supplies for the astronauts that stay in the ISS, and it will not be long for that because NASA is retiring the space station soon.

NASA Hires SpaceX Dragon for ISS Resupply Missions

SpaceX announced via Twitter that NASA is yet again hiring the company for orders on six more resupply cargo missions towards the International Space Station for its astronauts above. The company aims to provide the wings that NASA needs for the missions, bringing the requirements for the many tasks and situations from the orbiting station.

NASA's order will run until 2026, meaning that SpaceX will have four years of guaranteed work with the national space agency using their Dragon spacecraft.

The space agency ordered 12 more missions in this new contract, and six of this will be for SpaceX, while the other half will be for Northrop Grumman. The previous missions' cargo resupply missions provide information beneficial for this space company as NASA said its development is for the Moon and Mars missions.

Read Also: NASA Artemis: Looking for Second Company to Create Moon Lander Apart from SpaceX

NASA has ordered six additional @space_station resupply missions from SpaceX! Dragon will continue to deliver critical cargo and supplies to and from the orbiting lab through 2026  https://t.co/HRhhDapsD9 pic.twitter.com/604UTJBynW  SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 25, 2022

NASA and SpaceX's Ventures

NASA and SpaceX have many ventures now, and both companies worked together for everything regarding space, focusing on their astronauts that stay in the space station. However, NASA is also partnering with SpaceX on the moon lander on the natural satellite for the Artemis mission.

The SpaceX Dragon

The SpaceX Dragon is one of the most reliable spacecraft that the company owns to bring passengers and supplies to the International Space Station, in partnership with NASA. Under the Commercial Crew program, SpaceX brings both astronauts and their needs to space, with the spacecraft mounting itself to the Falcon 9.

There are two types of Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX, and one of them is the Cargo Dragon, and the other is the Crew Dragon. The names of the spacecraft already specify the purpose or mission, focusing on the needs, research, materials, and other supplies when SpaceX uses the Cargo Dragon.

On the other hand, bringing astronauts to the space station and docking on one of its sides is what SpaceX carries out with Crew Dragon.

SpaceX is an essential company in the global space industry, and it is the only one that features numerous missions with NASA that the agency use from time to time. Dragon is always paired with the Falcon 9 rocket, and its combination brings the supplies and astronauts to the space station for all its needs under the Commercial Crew program.

Related Article: Elon Musk To Save ISS From Russian Space Agency's Threat? Here's How SpaceX Can Help





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Written by Isaiah Richard

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The US Department of Justice has charged four Russian government employees with cyber-attacks on the global energy sector.

The employees are accused of targeting hundreds of companies and organizations in 135 countries between 2012 to 2018, according to NBC News.

US Charged Four Russian Government Employees

The activities of the Russian government employees are said to have caused two emergency shutdowns at one facility in Saudi Arabia, according to the BBC.

The Russians then allegedly attempted to hack the computers of a company that managed the same critical infrastructure entities in the United States.

Some of the individuals are connected by the US indictment to the FSB, Russia's security service. The UK has also sanctioned a Russian defense organization said to be connected to the attack.

Also Read: Solarwinds Hack 2020: Russian Hackers Target 5 US Agencies Using 18,000 Software Users as Access Points-Report

US President Joe Biden warned of possible cyber-attacks connected to the Ukraine conflict, but these indictments involve activity dating back before it started.

Lisa Monaco, the US Deputy Attorney General, said that Russian state-sponsored hackers pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world.

Monaco said that even though the criminal charges were unsealed on Mar. 25 reflect past activity, there is an urgent ongoing need for American businesses to tighten their defenses and remain vigilant.

Allegations Against Russian Employees

The accused Russian employees are alleged to have installed backdoors and launched malicious software designed to compromise the safety of energy facilities. Two different groups are accused.

According to the indictment, between May 2017 and September 2017, one group is accused of hacking the systems of a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia and installing malware, which security experts have referred to as "Triton" on a safety system produced by Schneider Electric, according to BBC.

This caused a fault that led to the electric safety systems of the refinery to initiating two automatic emergency shutdowns of its operation in Saudi Arabia.

Between February 2018 and July 2018, the conspirators are said to have researched the same refineries in the United States and unsuccessfully attempted to hack the company's computer systems.

One Russian employee accused in this case is said to be an employee of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation FGUP Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics.

The United Kingdom said that the malicious software was designed to target the plant's safety override for the Industrial Control System, which ran its operations.

The UK Foreign Office said in a statement that the malware was designed to give the actors complete control of infected systems and had the capability to cause significant impact, including the release of toxic gas or an explosion, either of which could have resulted in loss of life and physical damage to the facility.

Liz Truss, the UK Foreign Secretary, has used the UK's cyber sanctions regime to designate the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics or TsNIKhM.

Another set of accusations is connected to three hackers who are linked to Military United 71330, or Center 16 of the FSB, according to Bloomberg.

It is also alleged that between 2012 and 2017, they engaged in computer intrusions of companies and organizations in the international energy sector, including gas firms and oil firms, nuclear power plants, utility companies, and power transmission companies.

In 2016, the US government accused Russia of hacking the presidential elections.

In the same year, the US government said that Russia made another attack after the presidential elections.

Related Article: SolarWinds' Russian Hack Also Affects Nvidia, Intel, and MORE wiith Potential Exposure of Corporate and Sensitive Data!

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Written by Sophie Webster

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Apple will feature sideloading apps and downloading from third-party app stores as part of its recent dispute with the European Union's (EU) law. The new rule is that the Cupertino giant would have to unrestrict the many developers that are not a part of its App Store to bring apps for the iOS platform and allow its installation.

Apple: Third-Party App Stores, Sideloading Now Available in the EU

The European Union released a new proposal that would force Apple to allow third-party apps and focus on sideloading to bring the external features from unverified developers. The venture is something that Apple cannot refuse or pass on, especially as it is a law under the EU region that aims to give a fair experience for developers.

Apple is known to gatekeep those that will present their apps in the App Store, and it is because the company aims to keep its service safe and secure. There have been many developers that attempted to enter the App Store, but the Cupertino giant carefully selects them and their showcase to the platform for peace of mind.

Read Also: New Apple Patent Highlights 'Ear-Free' AirPods | Could See it Sooner?

Cupertino Giant to Allow Installation of Unknown Apps to the iOS

EU's Digital Markets Act aims to bring fair trade for all. It allows different app developers and program companies to get a chance to showcase their work on the likes of Apple and Google's operating system for their respective software. However, it does not solely rely on giving the developers power, but users can choose where to source their applications and download from there.

Apple and its Sideloading Problems

Last November, Apple protested against the EU for its law about sideloading to enter smartphone devices and its software manufacturer to allow its entry and installation. Another thing that Apple opposed is that sideloading apps are a "gateway to malware," saying that most unverified games may bring something worse than good.

Netflix had a workaround on this issue with Apple, especially with the Netflix Games venture of the media streaming company that it launched last year to bring the titles for smartphone devices. The streaming company launched the apps in the App Store already, and its availability there helps it get downloads via the Netflix Games feature.

Apple's sideloading issue is massive. It includes allowing the third-party app stores to bring iOS apps to the devices, with the company saying that its unverified files may result in worse experiences. However, the Cupertino giant has to abide by the rules and regulations filed by the EU, especially as it is the law in the country.

Related Article: Apple 'Unlisted Apps' Now Available from the App Store but How is it Different from Sideloading?

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Written by Isaiah Richard

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Google Pixel 6 March update reduces the haptic feedback or the vibrations of the notifications of the flagship smartphone.

Google Pixel 6 March Update

The recent March feature update for the Google Pixel introduces tons of additional upgrades for the flagship smartphone, including functions like auto-transcribing during phone calls and the all-new battery widget, as per a news story by Tech Radar.

However, the massive March update, which brings new features to the smartphone, faced a delay before it reached the latest flagships of Google, the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro.

Tech Radar noted in the same report that the new Tensor system on chip of the latest Google smartphones might have had a major role in the update delay. The in-house chipset for the Pixel phones needed some software tweaks to fully optimize the March update.

But that's all water under the bridge. The March update is now out on the latest flagships of Google.

Read Also: Google Pixel 6 Update: Arrives After Delays, 5G C-Band Support to Boost Network Connections

Google Pixel 6 Update and Haptic Feedback

Although there are some welcome upgrades in the latest update for the Pixel 6 phones, according to a recent report by The Verge, it also comes with a new issue.

It is worth noting that previously the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro also faced some significant software issues, such as a wonky Wi-Fi connection and sluggish fingerprint sensor.

But this time around, the issue lies in the haptic feedback of the smartphone, making it significantly weaker, which decreases the strength of notification vibrations.

The Verge noted in the same story that the notification vibrations decreased than how they used to before the update, noting that it got even weaker when there is an incoming phone call.

What's more, the haptic feedback of the smartphone does change even after attempting to adjust it. So, it appears to be a bug that made it to the March update of Google Pixel.

It turns out that early users of the Android 12.1 beta have already encountered that same problem with haptic feedback, according to some Reddit users.

That said, the issue that some might be experiencing in the latest update for Pixel phones appears to have been here for a while now. In fact, the Reddit thread about it has been there for a month now.

Meanwhile, it is to note that Google has yet to release a fix for it.

Related Article: Google Pixel Watch to Add More Colors Than Just Black, Gray, and Gold? Renders Show Sky Blue, Orange, and More

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Written by Teejay Boris

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The US FCC says Kaspersky poses an "unacceptable" security risk, making it the first Russian firm added to the list of national threat risks.

US FCC vs. Kaspersky

As per a news story by Bloomberg, the United States Federal Communication Commission included AO Kaspersky Lab to the list of national security threat companies.

The news outlet noted that Kaspersky is the first-ever Russian firm on the list, which was primarily dominated by companies based in China. Some of the notable firms on the list are Chinese tech giants, namely Huawei and ZTE.

It is worth noting that the FCC also added two new Chinese firms to the threat list, namely China Telecom and China Mobile International.

The chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosen Worcel, said that its move to add the Russian cybersecurity firm, along with Chinese telecom companies, is part of strengthening "America's communications networks against national security threats."

On top of that, according to a recent report by Reuters, the commissioner of the FCC, Brendan Carr, said in a statement that the inclusion of Kaspersky "will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state-backed entities."

The FCC commissioner added that these "state-backed" firms from China and Russia might engage in espionage, which, in turn, could be detrimental to the security of the US.

But it is to note that the FCC announcement did not mention the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The move to list Kaspersky did not even cite the recent pronouncements of the President of the US, Joe Biden, saying that there are potential Russian cyberattacks as the country imposed sanctions in support of Ukraine.

Read Also: US Wireless Network Providers Request $5.6B from the FCC to Replace Chinese Equipment in America: No More ZTE and Huawei?

Kaspersky's Disappointment

On the other hand, the Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky, blurted out its disappointment with the latest move of the FCC.

Kaspersky said in a statement that the recent decision of the Commission was "made on political grounds" and the current geopolitical situation. The firm claimed that it is also not based on the evaluation of both its services and products.

Related Article: Kaspersky Antivirus Software as Russian Cyberattack Exploiter? Germany Suggests Replacing It

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Written by Teejay Boris

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NFTs have been increasingly reviled by a lot of people these days, despite their apparent popularity. But maybe this is one of the greatest things that would come out of these digital assets.

According to Engadget, Ukraine will be selling NFTs to fund its military in its fight against Russia. This was confirmed by the country's Ministry for Digital Transformation, after being first announced in early March.

Here is a tweet from Ukrainian government official Mykhailo Fedorov, the country's Vice Prime Minister and head of the aforementioned ministry:

While Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech. @Meta_History_UA NFT-Museum is launched. The place to keep the memory of war. And the place to celebrate the Ukrainian identity and freedom. Check here: https://t.co/IrNV0w54tg  Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 25, 2022

As per his tweet, the NFT project is called the "Meta History Museum of War." It contains non-fungible tokens, which are representations of the military conflict in the war-torn country. According to Fedorov, all tokens will be "created in chronological order" to help the world remember the history of the war from here on out.

The creation of the NFT project follows a wave of cryptocurrency donations that have been given to Ukraine, all in an effort to help fund the country's military. So far, anonymous donors have given away $13.7 million worth of Bitcoins, and over $100 million worth of cryptocurrency donations in total, as per the original Engadget report.

Around 4,000 donations have come in as of late February, with more expected to come in. That's because the Ukrainian Digital Ministry actually posted the addresses for cryptocurrency wallets, which donors can send their donations to.

Ukraine's NFT collection is also a replacement of a plan which involved doing an "airdrop" of free tokens to those who have already donated crypto to the country, writes The Verge. This planned "airdrop" was canceled because of a potential copycat scam.

Buyers of the tokens (54 of them) will get news items chronicling "every substantial event of the war," alongside an artist's rendition. Minister Fedorov considers this collection as a "place to celebrate the Ukrainian identity and freedom," and as a way of keeping the memory of the conflict.

Read Also: Polkadot Founder Gavin Wood Donates $5 Million to Ukraine After Requesting for DOT Address

How Do To Buy The Ukraine NFTs

The Ukraine NFT collection has a website where the tokens are displayed. On the website, you can see that each token corresponds to a major event in the war, presented in chronological order. Interested buyers can connect their wallets directly to the collection by scanning a QR code using a WalletConnect-compatible cryptocurrency wallet.

As for what kinds of assets buyers will be getting, the tokens include things like news of the first time Russia launched its full-scale invasion. It comes with a creative piece from artist Ivan Ponomarchuk, and is labeled as "Day 1, 5:58"---an indication of the date (February 24th) and time when the event happened. It also includes a tweet from foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba announcing the start of the Russian invasion.

The sale of the Ukraine NFT collection will start on March 29th, according to the website. Be sure to watch out for the start of the sale if you want to join in the relief efforts for the country.

Related Article: Ukraine President Zelensky Signs Crypto Bill That Legalizes it in the Country

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Written by RJ Pierce

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Ukraine MDT (Ministry for Digital Transformation) launched the so-called "Meta History Museum of War" to further help the country's military.

This NFT collection was first introduced by the agency in early March. At first, the crypto artwork collection was meant to be a documentation of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The Meta History Museum of War shows the events happening in Ukraine as the conflict continues. As of press time, the NFT collection of MDT contains 54 NFTs, which show the events that happened during the first days of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine MDT Sells NFTs To Support Military

According to Engadget's latest report, selling NFTs is now one of the major efforts conducted by Ukraine's Ministry for Digital Transformation to support the country's soldiers.

Also Read: Crypto Dystopia: Ethereum Founder Worries About Some Blockchain Trends, Including NFT's Rising Value

"The formula of each NFT is clear and simple: each token is a real news piece from an official source and an illustration from artists, both Ukrainian and international," said MDT.

The agency added that the NFTs are created in chronological order, allowing consumers to further understand the major events taking place during the conflict.

As of the moment, Ukraine already generated more than $100 million in crypto donations ever since the issue began. Recently, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky even signed a new bill that officially legalize the crypto industry within the country.

The Meta History Museum of War

MDT's official NFT museum website explains that the Meta History Museum of War NFT collection is expected to generate crypto funds, which will then go to the agency's official cryptocurrency accounts.

The money collected will be used to help the army, as well as the affected civilians in Ukraine. The actual NFT sale will start around Mar. 30. As of the moment, the only digital coin supported by the NFT project only supports Ethereum.

If you want to see further details about Ukraine MDT's new NFT museum, you can visit this link.

In other NFT news, Shiba Inu NFT Metaverse will soon bring some Shiba Cities, Shiba Pets NFT, and other crypto content.

On the other hand, LimeWire has returned. But, it came back as an NFT marketplace.

For more news updates about NFTs and other blockchain topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NFT Marketplace OpenSea Faces $1 MILLION Lawsuit After a Rare Bored Ape Was Stolen

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Written by: Griffin Davis

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China's Venus mission might really happen as the Chinese government shows intent in expanding its planetary exploration efforts.

China is considered one of the biggest competitors of the National Aeronautics Space Administration.

Because the China National Space Administration is not a partner of the International Space Station, it has been launching its own space missions to explore outer space further.

Now, a new space race is expected to happen as CNSA hints about its own Venus missions.

China's Venus Mission To Start New Space Race

According to The US Sun's latest report, China might be preparing for new space missions that will explore Venus. This is quite unusual that CNSA and NASA commonly conduct Mars missions instead of Venus explorations.

Also Read: The Universe's Origins Appears on a Simulation from MIT, Is it Close to Real Life?

But, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Chief Designer, Wu Weiren, recently announced that they are planning to include Venus space missions in their agendas.

Right now, the launch dates of China's upcoming Venus missions are still unpredictable, given that the Asian country is still busy with its current and upcoming spaceflights.

Just like Mars missions, China's Venus launches are also expected to explore and study the surface of Earth's neighboring planet for possible signs of life.

Meanwhile, NASA is the first one to announce its Venus mission. The upcoming DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions, which are expected to take off around 2027, will also explore the planet.

China's Other Space Activities

China is still focusing on exploring the Red Planet. It might take years while CNSA prepares for its upcoming Venus missions.

The Star reported that the Chinese Mars rover was able to capture some selfies. Based on the newly captured images, space authorities explained that there could be some dust storms on Mars.

If you want to see further details about the new Mars rover images of the China National Space Administration, you can visit this link.

In other news, NASA Hubble Space Telescope captured some new photos of a spiral galaxy.

Meanwhile, ESA's Gaia Observatory was able to take photos of NASA's JWST from 620,000 miles away.

For more news updates about China's Venus missions and other space topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: China Tiangong Space Station To Accept Tourists-Encouraging Commercial Spaceflights

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Written by: Griffin Davis

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Apple's new iPhone leasing program will soon change how you use the tech firm's advanced smartphone. Right now, people usually acquire an iPhone by purchasing the handset right away or buying it in installments.

But, the new effort of Apple is quite different since it will allow you to use an iPhone by subscribing to the new service.

This means that owning an iPhone will soon be comparable to how you own an account for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and other subscription services.

Some experts claimed that the new Apple service would not only be consumer-friendly, but it will also be an eco-friendly program.

Why Apple's New iPhone Leasing Phone is Beneficial

According to CNET's latest report, leasing iPhones will drastically change how smartphones are being sold to consumers across the globe.

Also Read: Apple Maps Brings 3D Buildings to Canada, Including Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto

Currently, the unused iPhones and other gadgets are just adding up to the e-waste that affects the environment. Once the new Apple leasing program arrives, it can change this scenario.

This can happen through recycled materials. If the tech giant manufacturer allows its consumers to rent an iPhone, they can easily upgrade their products without throwing their old models.

Since it will be a monthly subscription fee, having an iPhone will also be cheaper than buying them outright.

Why Apple Wants To Lease iPhones

Bloomberg reported that the new iPhone leasing program is a part of Apple's efforts towards subscription services.

Since it will change how people own gadgets, some experts consider the leasing service the tech firm's biggest activity as it automatically enters recurring sales.

The new iPhone subscription service will also be the first one to offer a hardware subscription experience. Currently, the giant tech manufacturer is still working on its upcoming smartphone leasing service.

Recently, the newly announced EU law is expected to allow Apple sideloading app activity.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone SE unit decrease will soon happen as a part of the company's effort to go more eco-friendly.

For more news updates about Apple and its upcoming activities, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: [RUMOR] Apple's iPhone, iPad To Be Hardware Subscription Services; Will This Affect Consumer Ownership?

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Written by: Griffin Davis

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New figures made public Saturday show that Covid-19 cases are stubbornly ticking upward in Erie County.

The county Department of Health reported 106 new Covid-19 cases for Friday, up from 89 the day before but continuing a recent run in which 100 new cases a day is not uncommon.

The county Health Department said Erie had 642 total new cases over the past seven days. That's 43% more than the weekly total from two weeks ago.

Erie County said its positivity rate  the percentage of people tested who test positive for Covid-19  ticked upward to 2.9% Friday, slightly above the states positivity rate of 2.4%. Western New Yorks seven-day aver average recorded Thursday was 1.94%. The figures do not include people who test themselves at home and do not report the results.

Other regions of New York are doing far worse than Erie and New Yorks four other western-most counties. The state Health Department said that on Thursday, Western New Yorks rate of cases among 100,000 people was at 8.47 when averaged over seven days. That was the lowest among the states 10 regions. The highest was in Central New York, 40.44, the state Health Department said.

While Covid-19 cases continue, the numbers are nowhere near the Omicron wave seen a few months ago when positivity rates topped 20% locally and statewide. Hospitalizations in Western New York are now at manageable levels.

We are seeing a little bit of a bump in cases over the last week or so, which is what we expected, said Dr. Thomas Russo, an infectious disease specialist with the University at Buffalos Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

People are venturing out more without masks, and St. Patricks Day brought more people together, he said. The temperatures are keeping people more indoors than out, and that will likely continue through Easter, another day when extended families will again gather inside.

Pandemic Lessons: As the Covid-19 decline slows, who do we still need to protect? 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.

Still, he said he was not overly concerned.

I dont think we are seeing anything like we saw with the previous wave, the Omicron wave, he said. We are in a different place now. We have a much greater immunity wall.

Russo said vaccinations are proving to be good protection against bad outcomes from Covid-19 and its variants, but vaccines are not perfect in protecting against infection. Unvaccinated people, those who are immune-compromised and pregnant women especially need to be careful, he said.

New cases are increasingly being attributed to an Omicron subvariant first detected in Europe, BA.2. While government officials have said they are not likely to reimpose restrictions, President Bidens administration intends to give Americans 50 and over the option of a second booster shot, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

In the middle of this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that all of the Covid-19 cases in the region of the country that includes New York were attributable to the Omicron variant. But by the end of the months, the CDC estimated that the BA.2 subvariant was responsible for more than half of the new cases.

2022 Covid-19 pandemic coverage Take a look at our daily coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, plus the latest map and statistics for Western New York.

Russo said BA.2 is proving to be more infectious than the most common Omicron lineage, BA.1. But the vaccines hold up just as well against it.

The state Health Department on Saturday said 92% of New York residents age 18 or older have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

"The best way to keep the numbers down is by using the tools we know work," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Saturday. If you feel sick, get tested and limit your exposure to others. If you test positive, talk to a doctor right away about treatments.

"The booster dose improves your protection against severe illness and hospitalization, so don't delay in getting one once you are eligible, she said.

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
(Photo : Unsplash/Mika Baumeister) hacker

For months now, a band of cybercriminals who call their group LAPSUS$ has been targeting the tech companies of Silicon Valley. The hackers had targeted Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Ubisoft, and Okta -- the most recent victim.

Who is the LAPSUS$?

LAPSUS$ has reportedly wormed its way deep into the tech companies' network, where it stole pieces of source code, which is the digital DNA of proprietary software.

After that, the hacking group always leaked the code online, exposing the vulnerable victims and spilling company secrets too.

Security experts that investigated the hacks done by LAPSUS$ said that the group is not composed of hardened cybercriminals.

The members of the infamous hacking group are allegedly minors. On Mar. 24, Bloomberg reported that the British authorities announced the arrest of 7 people allegedly connected to the group.

Authorities revealed that the suspects were 16 and 17-year-old teens. The leader of LAPSUS$ is said to be a 16-year-old British teen from Oxford, England, according to Gizmodo.

Also Read: Microsoft Likely Hacked by LAPSUS$! Tech Giant Investigates After Sensitive Leak

The hacker under the name "White," recently had his identity leaked to the internet by a rival cybercrime faction. In short, after a string of victories and a lot of notoriety, things did not go well for the group.

Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center researchers said that, unlike most groups that stay under the radar, LAPSUS$ does not cover its tracks.

The hacking group would announce their attacks online and would post about their intent to buy credentials from employees of tech companies.

LAPSUS$ Stunts

Before hacking the massive Silicon Valley companies, LAPSUS$ spent January 2022 pulling many juvenile cybercrime stunts, the likes of which seemed less about making money than having anarchic fun.

In one of its first hacks of the year, the group hacked a Brazilian car rental company, redirecting the business' homepage to a porn website for hours, according to ZDNET.

In another incident, the hackers took over a Portuguese newspaper's verified Twitter account and tweeted that LAPSUS$ is the new president of Portugal.

Early reporting on LAPSUS$ attempted to categorize the hacking group as a ransomware gang because of its habit of leaking stolen data. However, LAPSUS$ never really used ransomware.

The hacking group has operated purely through an extortionist model. Instead of encrypting the victims' data, the hacking group steals it, then threatens to leak it if its ransom is not paid.

The variation is seen as odd and clumsy on the ransomware industry's double extortion model, which uses the twin threats of data encryption and leakage to goad victims into paying.

In general, most ransomware gangs operate like the shadow versions of corporations deploying organized digital machinery towards theft and extortion.

LAPSUS's hack of Okta proves that the group did not do it for ransom, as the group posted screenshots of the incident online and did not ask Okta for any money in return.

On Mar. 22, Microsoft confirmed it was hacked by LAPSUS$ after the group released stolen data.

Related Article: NVIDIA Hackers Was Allegedly Hacked Back by NVIDIA: Data 'Un-Stolen?'

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
After allowing internet access through SpaceX's satellites to war-stricken Ukraine, Elon Musk decided to amp up his support through "quietly" sending Tesla Powerwalls, the company's solar battery systems.

Elon Musk Sends Ukraine Support Through Starlink and Tesla Powerwalls

According to the story by The Street, Elon Musk has already sent a number of shipments of terminals from Starlink, enabling them to offer satellite internet service to Ukraine. The terminals allowed Ukrainians to stay connected to the world through fast, secure, and independent internet.

In addition to his efforts to allow Ukrainians access to an internet connection, Elon Musk has extended his support by silently sending Tesla Powerwalls. The technology Elon Musk sent over, the Tesla Powerwalls, are integrated battery systems capable of storing solar energy.

US Intelligence Confirms Cyberattackers Preparing for Ukraine

In addition to physical attacks, Ukraine has also been hit with a line of cyberattacks, particularly targeting the country's communication infrastructures. US intelligence analysts gave the confirmation that spy hackers were attacking the country.

According to The Washington Post, the US intelligence analysts said that the military spy hackers were disrupting communications within Ukraine. This was through an attack on a satellite broadband service in Ukraine.

Cyberattackers Prepared to Penetrate Military, Energy, and Other Important Computer Networks

Before the invasion began, government hackers attempted to penetrate the military, energy, and other important computer networks of Ukraine to collect intelligence. This also allowed the hackers to position themselves to potentially disrupt the said systems later on.

On Feb. 24, along with the invasion of Ukraine, outages started happening as a result of hackers directly targeting satellite modems. The satellite modems reportedly belonged to tens of thousands of different individuals in Ukraine and Europe.

Elon Musk Assures Public that Starlink Satellites have Not Been Compromised

The information regarding the satellite modems reported to The Post reportedly came from the US firm Viasat official. In addition, the constant cyberattacks started to raise alarms regarding the vulnerability of broadband services that still use "poorly-maintained firmware."

However, despite efforts, the cyberattackers have not yet been able to penetrate Starlink stations, as per Elon Musk. In reply to a post by Slashdot on Twitter, Elon Musk announced that his company, Starlink, has since been able to resist hacking and jamming attempts from the hackers.

Read Also: US Charged Four Russian Government Employees for Years-Long Hacking Campaign

What are Tesla Powerwalls

Starlink, at least so far, has resisted all hacking & jamming attempts  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022

Based on the Tesla website, Powerwalls are devices that help users store solar energy for later use. With the choppy connection experienced by most Ukrainians, both in terms of internet and electricity, the Tesla Powerwalls aim to provide them with assistance in terms of consistent access to electricity.

Related Article: Anonymous' Alleged Russia Central Bank Hack To Release Thousands of Hacked Files!

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Even in the worst days  when Kateri Ewings son Kris van Huystee and his family could find no way to flee Ukraine, when Ewing would stay up almost until dawn to take in any shred of news about the war  she knew how to find her way to a mothers lasting comfort.

Every mom recalls the particular essence displayed by their children when they are small, when you crouch next to them and watch as they observe the world, and van Huystee  since he toddled  showed her a central quality.

He was single-minded in whatever he does, said Ewing, 57. As a little boy, when van Huystee fell in love with Matchbox cars, he wanted to somehow own and identify every one. It was the same way when he was entranced by trains: His devotion was such that Ewing would often take him to a train yard, where the child would happily stay until she said they absolutely had to go.

Will Buffalo see a Ukrainian refugee influx? Not for a while It's far too soon to know when, or how many. And it may not be a huge number, simply because Ukrainian refugees have options closer to home.

He remained that way years later, with his music and his work. Oh, for sure, hes very capable, Ewing said. That confidence is how she made it through some long winter weeks, while the light of her television fell across the living room in the middle of the night, her thoughts on one thing:

Van Huystee, his wife, Katya, and their 12-year-old son, Dima, were trying to get out of Ukraine. They had a flat in Kyiv, and Ewing said they left the capital city a few days before the war began to rent a place in Lviv, journeying there in the company of their cat Chewie and Porthos, the "big and scruffy dog" Katya rescued from the streets.

They left behind almost everything they owned, clinging to hope there would be no Russian invasion. But the attack began and they realized they had little choice except for joining the millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine, though they could not bear the idea of leaving without their animals.

When Katya found Porthos, he was sick and his hair was matted and they brought him back, Ewing said. Their bond with the dog and cat turned into devotion. If there was any way, they would all go together into Poland.

Ewing learned of those developments by text, often in the Ukrainian morning hours that were the dead of night in East Aurora. She said van Huystee left Western New York years ago to attend college in Texas before he made a living playing bass, as a jazz musician.

That work eventually put him on a cruise ship and led to the connections that brought him into Ukraine. He started out as an English teacher before settling into a job as a web-based programming specialist for an American company, but the most important moment in his life came down to this:

He met Katya, fell in love and was married. That was it, Ewing said. They ended up making a home there. Dima, her grandson, has grown up in Kyiv. Katya remains close to her Ukrainian parents. In a perfect world, a normal world, Ewing expects they would have spent the rest of their lives there.

A perfect world does not include bombs falling on hospitals, or civilians dying in the streets. The little family left for temporary refuge in Lviv, then looked toward Poland. When an attempt to catch a train caused their dog to panic on a claustrophobically crowded platform, they decided to hire a driver to take them as close as possible to the Polish border, though the drop-off point might demand a walk of 20 miles.

More than once, those plans seemed set, then fell apart. Their frustration grew when a friend told them he had stood in line near the border for two days in a place without access to restrooms or food, packed in with others trying to leave, and he still had yet to make it out.

Ewing, 57, could do little to help. In East Aurora, where she lives with her partner  writer and educator Rick Ohler  she would stay up almost until the dawn, time and again, to watch for any news from Ukraine, where it was already morning.

Her only outlets were the support of friends and neighbors, and her work. Ewing, a professional artist, sees the way she came to painting as a small miracle. In the early 2010s, she was just past treatment for breast cancer and was coming out of a divorce. She began reading John Ruskin, a brilliant 19th century philosopher and critic whose words inspired her to begin painting for no reason beyond the solace of the art.

I fell in love with it, Ewing said. She started off by copying birds out of field guides, and a friend suggested she take part in a church art show. Ewing was sitting alongside a few of her paintings when a woman stopped and asked:

Who did these?

Sean Kirst: Beyond words for shared pain, Burmese community turns to music At 10 a.m. Saturday at Bidwell Parkway and Elmwood Avenue, a small group of violin-playing Burmese children from Buffalo String Works is set to lead a yet-to-be-determined number of local musicians in a performance of "Do You Hear the People Sing?"

It was Grace Meibohm of Meibohm Fine Arts, a 120-year-old East Aurora institution. Meibohm said she realized quickly that Ewing is "a very special person" with extraordinary observational skills. "She can translate what she sees into precious images," Meibohm said.

Ten years later, Ewing makes a living from her work. She has a presence and a voice on social media, where her cover shot on Facebook is a painting she did a few years ago of sunflowers, offered now as tribute to Ukraine. Every morning, she gathers her followers on Instagram for a different kind of peace vigil, in which she asks them to lose themselves in their art, whatever it might be.

She sees that time as prayer, built around one theme:

May the people of Ukraine be protected, Ewing said.

A few weeks ago she was exactly where you might expect  glued to the news in the middle of the night  when she received the text that allows her to sleep again. Van Huystee began it with two words:

In Poland.

A friend from work had made all the difference, flying from Boston to Poland to see how he could help from the far side of the border. His key decision was to trade an expensive watch for a battered car. The friend drove into Ukraine, packed the van Huystees and their animals into the vehicle, and managed to get out.

They are all safe, Ewing said, but they have no peace. Katyas parents, in a distant part of Ukraine, were also forced out of their home. Fueled by such worry, van Huystee has taken his familiar intensity and turned it toward helping dozens upon dozens of other refugees, mainly women and children, an effort his Western New York family ihas organized an GoFundMe page.

If there is anything to find in this expanse of suffering, Ewing sees it as simply this: We read every day about refugees whose lives are torn apart amid bedlam around the world, people whose loss and pain leads to exodus of such a scope that it is hard to fully grasp before we click onto another page.

It becomes different when it is your son, his wife and your grandson fleeing from the Russian armies of Vladimir Putin  a madman, Ewing said, bent on restoring an empire. It becomes different when your son and his family leave behind people they love and so much of what is precious yet still tell you, despite it all, they are among the lucky ones.

Once a mother has spent long nights awaiting word, once it has been your own family at risk, then you hope and pray you never forget how millions of others, every day, are walking that same road  or something worse.

As for the future of the nation that to her son became home?

I dont know, Ewing said. I just know its very wrong.

Sean Kirst is a columnist with The Buffalo News. Email him at skirst@buffnews.com.

The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Joseba Arguinano: "My father is not a tough boss, he is rather an encourager so that we do things well"
NEW YORK (AP)  "Senator," she said, letting out an audible sigh.

In that singular moment, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson spoke for countless Black women who have had to gather all the patience, strength and grace within to answer insinuating questions about their credentials, qualifications and character.

It was Day One of questioning at the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Harvard-educated Jackson, the first Black woman to be nominated for the nation's highest court, was making history.

At the end of this story is a gallery of photos from this past week's historic Supreme Court confirmation hearings

The federal judge had to endure hours of public scrutiny from skeptics, namely the Republican senators who are erecting a wall of opposition to her landmark nomination, the first in the court's 233-year history, and may vote en bloc against her confirmation.

"It was really traumatizing to watch," said Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women's Roundtable.

From questioning of Jackson's view of books on critical race theory that drew her exasperated sigh  "They don't come up in my work as a judge," she said  to the loaded suggestion that the sentences she imposed on child pornography defendants were too lenient, the questions from the Republicans tapped into long-standing American grievances over race, class and public safety.

The insinuations that Jackson, a distinguished jurist and mother of two, is a secret radical liberal or poses a danger to the safety of children felt to some supporters as yet another example of highly qualified Black women having to endure indignities and distortions of their credentials, even as they shatter racial barriers in American society.

Campbell told The Associated Press that "the othering of her, in a sense, like she's against our children," seemed like a tired political tactic.

"My spirit feels it was to bring this Black woman down because she's about to break the glass ceiling that, once broken, opens the door to more."

Democrats praise President Joe Biden's choice of Jackson as long overdue, a chance to start making the court more reflective of the diverse nation it serves. But they have been slow to bolster the judge's nomination against the unrelenting attacks and instead allowed them to linger.

Over and over during her hearings, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Josh Hawley of Missouri hammered Jackson on a handful of the many cases she handled as a judge, asking if she regretted having a record that, in their view, is soft on child pornography defendants.

No matter how many times Jackson asserted, for example, that the child pornography cases were some of "the most difficult" of her career or tried to explain the particulars of the law, the GOP senators talked over her, past her and pushed onward in their attempt to portray the nominee as they wished.

"I can only wonder what's your hidden agenda," asked Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pointing to one of the judge's earlier writings. "Is it to let violent criminals cop killers and child predators back to the streets? ... Is it your personal hidden agenda to incorporate critical race theory into our legal system?"

These senators insisted their questions were not about race. In fact, Graham opened with a warning that the questioners would be framed as racist. "We're all racists if we ask hard questions. It's not going to fly with us."

Yet Republicans ignored analysis that shows Jackson's sentencing record on such cases is on track with other judges appointed by both Democrats and Republican presidents, and that in some cases she went beyond recommendations to come down harder on defendants.

"What I regret," Jackson told the senators, "is that in the hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we've spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences."

For many supporters of Jackson, the Republicans' cherry-picking of her record tarnished a momentous occasion.

Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who was a prominent surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, criticized Democratic members on the committee for not defending Jackson more vigorously.

"She should not have had to endure what she endured," Turner told the AP. "The Democratic senators should have used their authority and positioning to show the requisite outrage necessary for that moment."

Overall, during her time on the district court bench, Jackson presided over 14 total cases of child sexual abuse, interstate travel for child sexual abuse cases and child pornography.

The American Bar Association's standing committee on the federal judiciary said in its survey of some 250 judges, attorneys and academics that words such as "brilliant," "beyond reproach," "fair" were used to describe Jackson, who earned the panel's highest rating.

"They uniformly rejected any accusations of bias," said Jean Veta of the ABA committee.

In a letter to the Senate committee, Fred Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and former federal prosecutor, spoke of his dismay at the thought Jackson was somehow "soft" on these crimes. His letter was signed by other experts in the field.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates blasted the Republican line of questioning as an "embarrassing conspiracy theory" that "has been conclusively debunked by fact check after fact check."

But alone before the panel, Jackson had difficulty convincing the Republican senators as she worked to explain the rules judges adhere to and the nuances of the wrenching cases they face. The GOP senators rarely accepted the judge's answers and interjected or just ignored her explanations altogether.

At one point, Jackson simply stopped answering: "Senator," she said to Cruz, "I've said what I'm going to say about these cases. No one case can stand in for a judge's entire record."

By Thursday, as the hearings concluded, Republican leaders in the Senate were using the issue  and her refusal to repeat earlier answers  as justification for opposing her confirmation.

Throughout the four days of testimony, Black women filled many of the seats in the committee room. Those women included some of the leading civil rights figures and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which ran its own "war room" to back up Jackson's nomination.

LaTosha Brown, cofounder of the group Black Voters Matter, said she had received numerous text messages from Black women who were both outraged by Jackson's treatment from senators and heartened by her clear determination to endure the process.

"I just got texts that said, 'Persevere.'"

It was a reference to Jackson's own words of advice delivered at the hearing to young people who may have watched what the nominee endured and felt discouraged.

"Black people in America," Brown said, "if we don't know anything else, we know what that word means."

***

PHOTO GALLERY

Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.
In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, people rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to Ohio's voter roll purges in Washington. The Supreme Court is allowing Ohio to clean up its voting rolls by targeting people who haven't cast ballots in a while. The justices are rejecting, by a 5-4 vote on June 11, 2018, arguments that the practice violates a federal law that was intended to increase the ranks of registered voters.
After a brief respite because of the COVID pandemic, legislative attention has circled back to the 62 death row inmates living on the backside of Angola.

Since 2000, nine death row inmates have been exonerated and two executed. Partially thats because a federal court in 2014 barred Louisiana from killing convicts after the state couldnt obtain the proper drugs for lethal injections.

Nationally, states have been pulling back from capital punishment. In 2000, courts around the country rendered 223 death sentences and by 2021, only 18 were granted, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.

Two bills are proposing that Louisiana abolish the death penalty. Legislators have been down this road before.

In 2017, a bill sponsored by then-Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia and a former State Police superintendent, and then-Rep. Steve Pylant, R-Winnsboro and a former sheriff, was defeated by one vote in the Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice. Pylant voted no, saying what he really wanted was to bring attention to how taxpayers were spending $10 million a year on legal costs but executing nobody. A Senate bill by Republican Baton Rouge Sen. Dan Claitor of Baton Rouge, a former prosecutor in New Orleans, advanced out of committee but was shelved when it became clear the House criminal justice panel would vote no.

In 2018, Landry and Claitor pursued the issue again. The Senate bill cleared committee but the House measure did not.

Legislators came closest in 2019. Both bills made it to the floor of their respective chambers. Claitors was defeated. Landry pulled his measure after two hours of House debate.

House lawmakers debate Louisiana's death penalty, but cast no votes The Louisiana House fell quiet as state lawmakers laid out their views on the death penalty, weighing the brutal crimes of those condemned to 

The argument this time, as it was the last few times, will be about the number of inmates who were exonerated and about cost-effectiveness.

The money would be better spent funding counsel for defendants too poor to hire their own lawyers or to augment funding for early childhood education, said Rep. Kyle M. Green Jr., the Marrero Democrat sponsoring House Bill 106. He also noted that about a third of current lawmakers took office for the first time in 2020 and havent had an opportunity to debate the issue.

Prosecutors and law enforcement will counter, as they have in the past, that the prospect of death is a valuable tool used to leverage defendants for pleas and testimony. They also will say capital punishment helps bring closure to the families of murder victims.

But the debate transcends the partisanship that dictates much of what happens in the Legislature. Perhaps religion is why party labels arent as important.

James Gill: Are Louisiana Republicans having a change of heart on the death penalty? Sometimes it seems that capital punishment is an issue that will split the country, and the Louisiana Legislature forever, but though the pros

Thirty-one percent of Louisianas population is Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center.

A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil, said Pope John Paul II in 1999.

Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 formalized the position, asking the church to encourage the political and legislative initiatives that would eliminate the death penalty. In 2021, Pope Francis said the church would not be stepping back" from its opposition.

Many Protestants support the death penalty, particularly those among the evangelical congregations who make up about 27% of the states 4.7 million residents.

But Sen. Katrina Jackson, the Monroe Democrat behind Senate Bill 294, says many in Protestant churches want to see an end to the death penalty. She expects to see Protestant ministers standing beside Catholic priests when they come to rally at the State Capitol, hopefully on Tuesday, in support of her SB294 and Greens HB106.

+3 Meet the anti-abortion Louisiana Democrat at the heart of the Supreme Court's abortion debate WASHINGTON  State Sen. Katrina Jackson seems like an unlikely general to lead the anti-abortion movement into a U.S. Supreme Court battle.

Jackson has been on the front line of passing anti-abortion laws supported by both Catholics and evangelical Protestants. Doing so, she has worked closely with the Louisiana Family Forum, a Baton Rouge-based coalition of conservative pastors seeking to influence public policy.

The Rev. Gene Mills, who leads the group, offered Jackson little support. Its not a persons right to take another persons life. The death penalty plays a role in government punishing evil, Mills said in an interview last week.

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone, on the other hand, has been quietly phoning GOP legislators.

As a businessman, he said he believes capital punishment isnt practical financially, adding, And morally, the Christian side of me says maybe, just maybe, they would repent over time.
The sound was alien. Repetitive. Guttural. It was coming from Mums bedroom. I was on the couch, watching Wimbledon on late-night television. Mummy? No answer. Only the strange noise. It drowned out the polite clapping and the soft pock-pock of the tennis balls.

Jason with his parents Narong and Patricia in the early 1980s. Credit:Courtesy of Jason Om

Normally, Mum kept me company at night because at age 12 I was still easily spooked. Stay with me, Mummy, Id beg her, tugging on her arm like a bellringer. Why? Are you afraid of the bogeyman? shed tease. Of course I was. There were shadows moving under the trees along our dimly lit Melbourne street.

Mum was usually my protector on the lonely nights when Dad was working in the city or out with friends. Snuggling up to her warm body was a comfort, but on this night shed gone to bed early. The noise from her bedroom continued.

I crossed the polished floorboards and ran down the darkened hallway. Mums door was open but the room was pitch-black. My fingers searched for the light switch. The brightness revealed Mum flailing about in the double bed, the covers shrink-wrapped around her body. She was reaching out as though trying to grab me.
It would be no surprise to most K-6 school teachers that many childrens basic skills improved during COVID-19 (Students shine at the basics during Covid, March 20). During that time most parents, and indeed online learning provided by schools, probably concentrated on the basics, reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. For many years, even decades, the curriculum in primary school has been overcrowded. In particular, it is imperative that the K-2 curriculum goes back to those basic skills so that the childs future success in school is ensured. - Mary Lawson, Marrickville

A Newcastle University study found that certain low-achieving students unexpectedly improved their numeracy and literacy during lockdown. This occurred when these students were home-schooled and were not interacting with other students in a normal classroom. Apart from the studys insignificant sampling, and the neglect of these students other education, the study suggests better methods of handling this type of student cohort. These students would obviously benefit from receiving more attention in computer-aided small groups, rather than large conventional classes. - Geoff Black, Caves Beach

Among the many possibilities for the continuing success of students through COVID-19 is the influence, close interaction and development of home tutoring by caring parents. The close interaction between parents and teachers (albeit over the net) for the benefit of children must be recognised as one of the keys to successful strategies over COVID-19 and possibly into the future. - Janice Creenaune, Austinmer

Wilful neglect of R&D

By continuing to protest in the media (A sorry specimen, March 20) are we simply banging our heads against a brick wall? Successive Coalition governments in Australia have failed to make the connection between basic research in universities, and invention, innovation and productivity gains in the real world. They conflate elites and experts in ivory towers with their opponents and apparently want to send a message via savage funding cuts. But they are either oblivious to, or obstinately ignoring, the long-term harm being done to our nation. So are they dimwits, penny-pinching misers with our taxes (though profligate elsewhere) or just captive to tedious ideological hang-ups? The past 28 years cant be made up in a hurry and, sadly, a generation or more of researchers may have been lost to us. - Margaret Johnston, Paddington
Kim Carr, the longest-serving Victorian senator in history and a pillar of federal politics, will bow out of public life after three decades of campaigning for local manufacturing, science funding and trade unions.

The 66-year-old former minister stared down threats to his preselection for months, but suggested the death of his friend and colleague Kimberley Kitching, whose senate position was also uncertain, had changed his mind.

Senators Kim Carr and Kimberley Kitching in discussion during debate in March 2018. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The Labor Partys mission to create a fairer Australia never ends and while I would have liked to have continued to pursue it in the Parliament, issues with my health have made that inadvisable, he said in a written statement to be released on Sunday.

In light of recent tragic developments, and following determined urgings from my children, I concluded that it was time for me to reassess my priorities.
The seaside village of Cape Paterson is bracing for big change. If development proceeds as expected, about 800 new homes will be built in open farmland to the towns north, more than doubling its present size.

Cape Paterson, on the Bass Coast south-east of Melbourne, is among many coastal communities facing immense development pressure as more Victorians seek a sea change.

The coastal hamlet of Cape Paterson. Credit:Joe Armao

This month the state government proposed tighter boundaries in several Bass Coast towns that will reduce land available for future development to protect their character, environment and agricultural activities.

Many Cape Paterson residents hoped their village boundaries would also be reined in, but they were dismayed to learn it would not gain those stronger protections.
A Victorian Supreme Court judge has labelled the conduct of Australias national security agency a disgrace for missing deadlines and disregarding court orders over the ongoing detention of terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth chided lawyers acting for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation during a February hearing over evidence they had been instructed to provide to Benbrikas legal team.

Jailed terror cell leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika.

The comments were made during an annual review of Benbrikas detention order, which keeps him in prison despite the fact he completed his 15-year sentence in November 2020.

Government lawyer Justin Davidson apologised to Justice Hollingworth during the hearing for ASIOs failure to meet deadlines in the case.
During lockdown, Phoebe Tan rolled out of bed at 7.30am before enjoying a leisurely breakfast with her husband and two sons and logging onto work at home.

She didnt have to worry about packing lunches or school bags, and prepped dinner and did household chores at lunchtime or between meetings.

Phoebe Tan, with husband Adrian and their sons Aiden-James and Lucas. Credit:Eddie Jim

Now that Ms Tan is in the office three to four days a week, she gets up an hour earlier and scrambles to get her sons, aged 6 and 4, to school and daycare, before driving in traffic for an hour to work.

She often forgets important tasks, such as making lunch orders or dressing her older son for casual clothes day.
Both factions continue to ignore basic facts: English is a notoriously non-phonetic language, full of pitfalls, and, reading is an art, not simply of decoding words, but of conveying meaning.

Both strategies, therefore, must go hand-in-hand, but it is important that they be couched in contexts of significance to the learner. Literacy is an astounding human accomplishment of written communication and storytelling. We owe it to our students to experience its joys as they are learning to read.

Rose Marie Crowe, McKinnon

This lifts all of us

I agree with your correspondents comments (Please forgive me, Letters, 25/3). I am a Liberal voter and also support government funding of housing, across all suburbs of Melbourne (and Australia).

This is imperative now, more than ever, given the steep property price hikes over the past 20 years and population growth. A home (like health, education and food) is essential to a persons wellbeing and dignity.

Government-funded housing is needed for a range of people, from young to old, sick, disabled and healthy and those running from trauma. All of them will be in financial trouble, which may not be of their doing, and need help.

Spreading housing across all suburbs lifts all of us up. Secure homes give anyone who has suffered adversity the opportunity to live closer to existing support networks (people in Bayside communities can and do become homeless), inspire dreams for greater achievement, enable the young to become productive and integral citizens and will give peace and security to those who are old, disabled or sick.

Cheryll Thelan, Sandringham
London: Australia has helped broker a guarantee of a free and fair election in Kenya in a closed-door bid to avert an outbreak of the ethnic and political violence that has characterised past votes in the African nation.

Kenya goes to the polls on August 9. The leading presidential candidates are current Deputy President William Ruto and former prime minister Raila Odinga.

From left to right: Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland, Australias High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis and Kenyas presidential candidate Raila Odinga at Marlborough House, London.

Outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta has endorsed his long-term rival Odinga over his own deputy, Ruto.

The international NGO Saferworld, which works on preventing conflict, says the months before and after elections have been the most violent periods in Kenyas post-independence history. Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in election cycles since 2007.
The robot-chef cooks and serves contactless burgers made from scratch in about 6 minutes

JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 25, 2022 -- RoboBurger, the world's first fully autonomous robotic burger chef, launched today with a ribbon cutting at the Newport Centre, a Simon Mall in Jersey City, NJ.

This restaurant in miniature cooks restaurant-quality freshly grilled burgers from scratch, and it will soon be heading to airports, malls, colleges, offices, factories, and military bases across the country.

RoboBurger is an artificially intelligent, self-operating, patented kitchen designed to include all the processes of a restaurant at a fraction of the size. It measures 12 square feet, plugs into a traditional wall socket, has a refrigerator, an automated griddle and cleaning system.

The robot uses a five-step cooking process similar to what chefs use in quick service restaurants. The robo-chef grills the patty, toasts the bun, dispenses the selected condiments, assembles the burger, and delivers it piping hot in about six minutes, for only $6.99.

RoboBurger is the first hot food vending machine approved at the gold food standard for safety by the National Sanitary Foundation at the standard NSF/ANSI 25.

"I started RoboBurger in my garage 17 years ago, and now there couldn't be a better time to bring it to life and have everyone experience it," said Audley Wilson, RoboBurger co-founder and CEO. "RoboBurger gives everyone freshly grilled, delicious burgers - while ensuring a safe, contactless experience. RoboBurger always comes out piping hot and is never pre-cooked and kept warm."

About RoboBurger:

Founded in 2019, RoboBurger is the world's first fully autonomous robotic burger chef that creates restaurant-quality burgers from scratch. Headquartered in Newark, NJ, the minority-owned business (MBE) is led by CEO and Partner Audley Wilson, CTO and Partner Dan Braido and CMO and Partner Andy Siegel.

Learn more at www.theroboburger.com .

Media Contacts:

[email protected]

[email protected]

SOURCE Roboburger
New Mazda CX-60 Crossover SUV Makes Its Appearance in Europe

First Mazda Large Product group model, significantly enhanced driving pleasure, outstanding environmental and safety performance-

 On March 8, Mazda Motor Europe unveiled its new crossover SUV, the CX-60. It is the first of Mazda's Large Product group models, offering significantly enhanced driving pleasure and environmental and safety performance. This is also the first time the vehicle's full appearance has been made public.

Mazda plans to introduce four models from our Large Product group to the in-high-demand global SUV market by the end of 2023. With both existing and new addition models, Mazda aims to meet diverse market and customer needs with the aim to further grow our business and brand.

Having outstanding environmental and safety performance that meet the strict standards of modern society, the CX-60 is a two-row, mid-sized SUV that allows the driver to enjoy not only everyday driving but also long-distance drives on the expressway. Furthermore, the team at Mazda took on the challenge of taking Kodo-Soul of motion design to new heights, expressing toughness and sophistication in its form utilizing Japanese sense of design that values harmony with nature.

The CX-60 (European specification model) is equipped with e-Skyactiv PHEV, Mazda's first plug-in hybrid system featuring a 2.5-liter in-line four-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. Mazda dealerships in Europe started accepting pre-orders for the model on March 8 and sales are due to begin in summer 2022.

Mazda will begin production of the CX-60 at Hofu Plant No. 2 in Yamaguchi prefecture on March 11, 2022. The Japanese specification CX-60 is due to be introduced in early April.

Mazda aims to become a brand that creates strong bonds with customers by focusing on the pure essence of cars  the joy of driving  and committing ourselves to preserve our beautiful earth, enrich people's lives and make a bountiful society that lifts everybody's spirits.
The New York State Legislature is considering an innovative approach to increasing access to adult literacy services by creating a Community Literacy Fund to support volunteer literacy tutors.

Literacy Buffalo Niagara stands in strong support of a Community Literacy Fund for numerous reasons. An additional 35,000 New York residents will receive affordable literacy assistance. Only 3% of those seeking help for literacy are able to get it right now, according to Assemblywoman Jennifer Lunsford, D-Penfield. The fund allocates a much-needed, dedicated stream of money for child care and transportation  the two biggest obstacles for adult education students.

Additional funding for adult education will impact the trajectory of our region for generations. The City of Buffalo in particular already suffers from low adult literacy rates. If we dont act now, we cripple the future of todays youth, their families and the regions overall economy. When parents struggle to read, it is likely that their children will as well. The organization Literacy for All says children of parents with low literacy skills have a 72% chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves. These children are more likely to get poor grades, display behavioral problems, have high absentee rates, repeat school years, or drop out.

Literacy Buffalo Niagara works every day to change these grim results.

Without better adult/parental literacy, the region is relegating tens of thousands of children to lives devoid of success. Through no fault of their own, these kids are doomed. And it gets worse: Low literacy and poverty go hand in hand. Some 70% of welfare recipients have low literacy levels. There is a clear correlation between reading levels and earning power.

Thousands of children in the Buffalo Public Schools are at tremendous risk, seriously exacerbated by the low adult/parental literacy in Buffalo. In the 2018-19 school year, the last year that data was available, New York State testing showed that about 75% of Buffalo students could not read, write and perform math at grade level. In the past two years, it has worsened, with even more students falling behind. Well-intentioned parents are unable to help their children.

We can change that. By helping parents, we help students.

Adult education programs foster essential skills, improve family literacy and advance workforce development, ensuring that our students can work and contribute to the economy. Literacy Buffalo Niagara uses volunteer tutors, making our services very cost effective, to strengthen families and better the lives and futures of children  but we need increased, steady and ongoing funding to make a difference.

We also need community support and welcome new volunteers. Please call us at 876-8991 or visit literacybuffalo.org.

Tara Schafer is executive director of Literacy Buffalo Niagara.
In aid of its failed Anschluss, Vladimir Putins neofascist regime relentlessly murders and maims innocent Ukrainian civilians. Paul Kindlons hand-wringing in The Buffalo News over Western Russophobia amounts to disingenuous, hypocritical whining.

One need merely Google, then skim Kindlons contributions to a U.S.-based pro-Putin site  which features a section called The Jewish Question  to reveal his own deep phobias. While Russia hurls missiles to kill women and children in a maternity hospital, Kindlon complains about sanctions on Russian athletes.

As Russia criminally bombs Mariupol into the stone age, he bemoans Tchaikovsky becoming some victim of cancel culture.

Putin declared that Ukraine is a made-up nation and a fake country, but Kindlon claims that Westerners are racists. Against Russians. Russian is not a race.

Kindlons tired tropes about Western Russophobia are not easily reconciled with his June 2019 article claiming an economic crisis would soon destroy Zionist power in America. That particular screed is only missing a cite to the Elders fake Protocols.

Putins lust for power and Ukrainian vassalhood is sated only by the blood of innocent civilians, yet Kindlon blames the decadent West while excusing Putins crimes. Like all propagandists, Kindlon lazily falls back on illogical whataboutism.

Simply put, the West has chosen to help Ukraine defend herself, hastening her integration into the broader community of pluralist European democracies. Mineral-rich Russia, by contrast, exposes herself as a weak mafia state masquerading as a superpower, too afraid to let its citizenry speak freely.

Alan Bedenko

Clarence
$400 Rebate Doesnt Address High Gas Taxes in California

Commentary

While serving as a state senator, I can still remember working at my district office on a state holiday, one where governmental offices are closed, but the private sector does not observe it and continues to stay open and do business. The phone rang and I decided to answer it.

I just drove from Arizona to California. Gas is one dollar less per gallon across our border. What is the senator going to do about it?

I didnt tell him who I was but indicated that we shared his frustration. I explained that we were hoping to put a module on our senate website to explain the components of the cost of gasoline in California.

He called back a few hours later.

Ive been calling all my elected officials and your office was the only one to answer the phone. It took me awhile to figure out that today is a government holiday. Thanks for working and answering the phone. The senator needs to give you a raise!

Setting the humor aside, it turns out that the super-majority in the state legislature does not want you to know the components of the price of a gallon of gas. So, I authored SB 1074, the Transparency In Fuel Taxes Bill in 2018.

I worked with Ronald Stein, founder and ambassador for energy and infrastructure at PTS Advance, headquartered in Irvine. Here are some of the costs we wanted to point out to consumers while they were acquiring gasoline, explaining the one-dollar additional cost at the pump for every gallon purchased:

Federal tax

Excise tax

State tax

Local sales tax

Cap and trade program compliance costs

Low-carbon fuel standard program compliance costs

Renewable fuels standard program compliance costs

Refinery winter and summer reformatting costs

The bill was killed by the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, where it fell two votes shy of passing, due to the committees Democrat majority.

Now the governor and the super-majority in Sacramento have two embarrassing problems. The first is gas prices are rising too high. The second is that with rising stock market and real estate prices, the capitol is floating in higher personal income tax revenues generated by capital gains from the sales of these appreciated holdings.

Since Gov. Newsom has been the governor, he has been told by the senator from Bakersfield, Shannon Grove, that it is wiser to drill oil in this state than to have it shipped from the Middle East. I guess Gavin believes importation by massive, fossil fuel operated oil tankers generate less greenhouse gases. Wake up, governor. Its time for an intervention, as Newsom needs another lets be real moment.

Something has to be done about the rising cost of gasoline, as it impacts not only the poor, but those who drive until they qualify for cheaper housing and have lengthy commutes, including many with toll road costs.

What is awkward about having too much in revenues? Let me acquaint you with what is known as the Gann limitation, instituted with Proposition 4 in 1979. California municipal spending cannot rise more than the cost of living combined with population growth. The Golden State has hit this threshold for the upcoming fiscal year of 2022-2023. The excess amount is $2.6 billion.

What to do? Instead of lowering gasoline taxes, which the super-majority has already refused to do, a proposed $400 rebate for car owners makes more sense.

Dont think that Gov. Newsom is being Santa Claus because he is magnanimous. Hes doing it because he has the option to refund excess revenues back to the taxpayers, which is a remedy when this ceiling is hit.

He knows this is a much better technique for calming the masses and looking like a benevolent candidate who wants to be reelected in November.

Besides, hes learned from a critical mistake made by former Gov. Gray Davis. When Gov. Davis had a similar Stata Appropriations Limit issue, he reduced the Vehicle License Fee for all car owners. When tax revenues declined shortly thereafter, he raised the annual DMV renewal fee back to prior levels.

What happened? Enough registered voters signed recall petitions that resulted in Davis being the second governor in United States history to be recalled.

How to kill two birds with one stone? The governors press release title of March 23rd says it all, Governor Newsom Proposes Relief Package for Californians Facing Higher Gas Prices. Brilliant.

Newsom didnt blame the states taxes, making gasoline the most expensive here in California than any other state. He didnt mention President Bidens mismanagement of the economy and the attack by Russia on Ukraine. He found a perfect but unjustified scapegoat. As oil and gas companies continue to rake in record profits, Newsom unveiled his proposal to deliver relief to Californians facing record-high gas prices.

Why does it feel like a thief is returning your wallet? But with most of the money removed from it?

The super-majority is not reducing your gas tax. You may receive a one-time payment to salve your anger. Newsom will be reelected. And the nonsense of high taxes will continue for the next four or more years. Enjoy the sugar high. But be prepared for the sad and expensive reality your future holds.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Ken McDonald is the Liberal MP for Avalon. He says he and the other MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador are pushing for the Bay du Nord project to move forward. (Darryl Murphy/CBC - image credit)

Avalon Member of Parliament Ken McDonald says he and the province's other MPs will continue to fight for the proposed Bay du Nord oil project, as losing the project would be "horrendous" for the province.

The proposed project, located about 500 kilometres east of Newfoundland, is currently in limbo after Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault asked for a maximum of 40 additional days to decide if the project could cause significant effects to the environment earlier this month.

The project has reportedly caused a divide within the Liberal cabinet, according to Radio-Canada, which reported in February that several Liberal ministers from Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia want to reject Bay du Nord after committing to climate objectives that include capping emissions from the oil and gas industry.

"I think it would be horrendous if Bay du Nord don't get the green light," McDonald told CBC News Friday.

"There are members of the Liberal caucus who probably don't want Bay du Nord to go ahead. But my argument is that if this doesn't go ahead, what [does]? Like it's the cleanest oil in the world, and the tap is not going to be shut off tomorrow or the next day. I think if we can put cleaner oil on the market, it is a good thing for everyone."

MPs call project crucial to province's future

While speaking with reporters Friday, St. John's South-Mount Pearl MP and federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan refused to say if he supports Bay du Nord, citing cabinet confidentiality, but said the decision of the fate on the project is "very live" to the federal government.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey has said the project will play a key role in helping the province meet a global demand for responsible oil, while Conservative MP Clifford Small and the province's other MPs have called the project crucial to the province's future.

Equinor

"All seven of us are fighting hard and speaking up loudly and clearly that we want to see this project move ahead. Not just for the cleanness of the oil that's out there, but for the jobs and the economic benefit that it will bring to this province," McDonald said.

Story continues

"I think we have to get cleaner and greener, but we still have to provide good well-paying jobs. And if that's in the oil and gas industry that's making a difference in the type of oil that's getting refined, I'm certainly in favour of that."

Despite the partnership between the federal Liberals and NDP, which will pursue a series of commitments including phasing out federal government support for the fossil fuel sector beginning in 2022, McDonald said he believes Bay du Nord will play a key role in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's responsibility to oversee the Canadian economy coming out of COVID-19.

"We want to see the economy come roaring back as we get out of COVID. Well one of the things that will help it roar back is obviously the oil and gas industry in Newfoundland and Labrador," he said.

If the project were to be rejected, McDonald said he believes it could impact the Liberal party's ability to have candidates elected in the province.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks at the United Conservative Party annual meeting in Calgary, Alberta, on Nov. 20, 2021. (Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press)

Albertas Kenney Defends Calling Party Opponents Lunatics

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he wont apologize for comments he is heard making in recordings in which he compares political opponents in his party to insects and calls them lunatics.

Kenney says the United Conservative Party is under siege from extremist elements, including homophobes and religious bigots, seeking a hostile takeover by toppling him in an upcoming leadership review.

I am determined to ensure that such hateful, extreme and divisive voices do not find a home in this mainstream broad conservative party, Kenney told reporters in Calgary on Friday.

That is an issue that is very much at play here and I will not apologize for calling out these kinds of voices of division.

The private remarks he made to his staff were secretly recorded earlier this week, then leaked to the media.

In the remarks, Kenney is heard characterizing the fractious leadership review as a fight for the soul of his mainstream bigtent party.

The lunatics are trying to take over the asylum. And Im not going to let them, Kenney says on the recording, as reported by CBC and Global.

These are just kooky people generally, he added.

He said the fight is a natural consequence of success, noting a bright light attracts a few bugs. Well, theres more than a few bugs attracted to us, this party, right now.

Kenney said Friday he stands by his plan to listen to the will of the party in the leadership review, but he will otherwise stay in place to keep the UCP from fracturing.

Kenneys comments cap a week of upheaval and anger within party ranks after UCP executive cancelled the April 9 leadership review and replaced it with a provincewide mailin ballot.

The executive said with 15,000 members expected to vote, the process had become unwieldy for the planned oneday, inperson vote in Red Deer.

Two UCP backbenchers have called the change blatantly unfair and urged Kenney to resign. Some party constituency presidents representing thousands of members have also demanded the old rules be reinstated.

Segments of the party and Kenney rival Brian Jean, who recently won a byelection to rejoin the UCP caucus, had been selling memberships for months with the aim of getting Kenney turfed as leader at the review.

Kenney needs majority support or a race is called to pick a new leader.

Critics say Kenney was poised to lose the vote, so pressure was applied and the mailin change was made to drastically expand the voter pool and boost his chances.

Jean lost the UCP leadership to Kenney in 2017 in a race marred by allegations of collusion and voting irregularities.

He said hes heard again of possible membership mining to harvest favourable ballots for Kenney.

It doesnt matter how he tries to cheat or how he tries to manipulate the system, and how his team tries to do things to stay in power, said Jean in an interview. If (Kenney) stays in power, the UCP is gone.

In Edmonton, Jeans spokesman Vitor Marciano and David Parker of the citizens advocacy group Take Back Alberta said they will be asking the provincial election commissioner to investigate the membership drive.

They told reporters they are concerned UCP membership rolls may have been improperly inflated by Kenney supporters just prior to the Saturday cutoff.

They said the membership list was at about 29,000 before almost doubling to 55,000 in the space of a few days.

The two allege an estimated 18,000 names may have been added without the registrants knowledge and with the $10 fee for each registration paid in bulk by credit card or through a cheque. Adding those names and bulkpaying the fee, they said, would violate provincial election laws.

Harrison Fleming, a spokesman for Kenneys leadership review campaign, dismissed the allegations.

While Mr. Jean might want to spend his time suing the UCP to prevent members from voting, we are encouraged by the widespread interest from UCP members to remain engaged and active in this bigtent conservative movement, said Fleming.

Marciano and Parker also said some of the ballots in question were paper ones while the rest were added electronically and shipped via a web portal set up by the party.

UCP spokesman Dave Prisco, when asked about the party setting up a web portal for Kenney, said such portals are routine and legal.

Their purpose is to get candidates to do the data entry work for us. They still must still follow all rules outlined on our website, said Prisco in a statement.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei is seen on a television set in Beijing, China, in this still image taken from undated video footage. (Australia Global Alumni-Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Handout via Reuters)

Australian Foreign Ministry Confirms Journalist Cheng Lei Will Face Trial in Beijing

Australias foreign ministry has confirmed that Australian journalist Cheng Lei will face trial in China on March 31, after media outlets reported on March 26 on the upcoming trial date, citing their own sources.

The Australian Government has regularly raised serious concerns about Ms. Chengs welfare and conditions of detention. Our officials have visited her regularly, most recently on 21 March, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a March 26 statement.

We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness, and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms. We have asked also that Australian officials be permitted to attend Ms. Chengs hearing on 31 March, in line with Chinas obligations under the AustraliaChina bilateral consular agreement.

Cheng was formally arrested in China on Feb. 5, 2021, on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, after being detained for six months without charge.

Australian Embassy officials have visited Cheng a number of times since her detention in accordance with their bilateral consular agreement with China, with Australian officials having previously expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding her case.

Paynes ministry has consistently raised the Australian governments serious concerns with the Chinese regime about Chengs detention regularly at senior levels, including about her welfare and her detention conditions.

Cheng was a news anchor for CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese regimes state broadcaster, CCTV, before being detained in Beijing in August 2020 amid testy relations between Canberra and Beijing.

The Australian government was first formally notified of Chengs detention on Aug. 14, 2020.

She was the second Chinese Australian to be detained by Chinese authorities since 2019, as bilateral tensions escalated over issues such as trade, Beijings tightening control on Hong Kong, and the Chinese regimes handling of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak from Wuhan, China.

After graduating from the University of Queensland, Cheng returned to China to become a business analyst for a SinoAustralian joint venture in 2001, then started her journalism career at Chinas state broadcaster CCTV a year later, according to her CGTN profile page. The profile has since been removed from the website, along with videos featuring Chengs previous reports.

After working as a CNBC China correspondent for nine years, she started working at CGTNs office in Beijing in 2012.

Since July 2020, Australia has warned its citizens that they run the risk of arbitrary detention if they travel to mainland China, noting that Chinese authorities have detained foreigners for endangering national security.

Cheng will be tried in the Beijing No.2 Peoples Intermediate Court at 9 a.m. on March 31, two sources told Reuters earlier this week.
Flood-damaged items and debris are left outside a house in Brisbane, Australia, on March 6, 2022. (Dan Peled/Getty Images)

Australian Insurer Calls for Disaster Control Funding

Insurers in Australia are calling for urgent disaster mitigation funding as the industry faces a bill of nearly $750 million from the New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland floods.

It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology warns of further flooding risk in NSWs Northern Rivers and Hunter regions, while flood warnings have been issued for parts of southern Queensland.

Sydney is looking at another week of rain after heavy storms hit parts of the city late this week.

NRMA Insurance says the country has just been through an unprecedented summer of extreme weather, including floods in South Australia and high heat resulting in bushfires in Western Australia.

There was a 53 percent increase in home insurance claims compared to last year with the largest proportion in the ACT, Queensland, and NSW.

Group executive Julie Batch said the benefits of investment in mitigation were clear.

Now is the time to get the necessary funding into communities and allow mitigation projects to get underway, Batch said.

The Insurance Council of Australia says there have been about 98,000 insurance claims in flood-affected parts of NSW and Queensland, with 60,000 outstanding and a bill of $742 million.

NRMAs call comes after the ruling Coalition government under Prime Minister Scott Morrison was criticised for the lack of spending from its disaster mitigation fund set up in the wake of the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

The $4 billion fund has accrued more than $800 million in interest since it was started but had only spent $50 million before Februarys devastating and deadly floods.

By Finbar OMallon
Back to the Future: Two Weeks to Flatten the Curve Was a Dangerous Mistake From the Beginning

Commentary

Editors note: COVID lockdowns and restrictions for two weeks to flatten the curve began two years ago in late March 2020. At the time, many pundits called it a dangerous mistake, one of whom was law professor Bruce Pardy. Two years later, as restrictions finally begin to ease, the federal government and many workplaces still maintain vaccination mandates. Below are prognostications (edited) from Pardy from April and May 2020.

Lenin once said that there are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen. In this new era of the past few weeks, Canada has become less free. Lockdowns will eventually ease, but we have crossed a threshold. Canadians now want government to keep them safenot just from foreign threats and violence, but from viruses and the vicissitudes of life. Authorities have enthusiastically seized the moment. Politicians have assumed unprecedented powers not subject to legislative oversight and have suspended civil liberties. For the first time ever, officials have confined citizenswith their approvalto their homes. Municipalities issue citations for walking through the park, police enforce rules that do not exist, and health authorities surveil the sick.

The situation that we are now in may be a shock, but it should not be a surprise. We have long been headed down this road. COVID restrictions may seem like an extreme change to daily life, but it is a difference of degree, not of kind. We were not a free country on March 22 that suddenly became unfree on March 23. We have an expansive administrative welfare state, which for a long time has driven the bus. It regulates everything. It subsidizes, taxes, supervises, and directs. The degree of infringement on civil liberties is more extreme now than it has even been for the general population in this country, but COVID rules are not differently intrusive, just more so. The lockdowns will ease, but the mandate that the government now has will remain. It will be difficult to put this genie back in the bottle.

It has worked like this: In Stage One, which we passed through a long time ago, the populace becomes convinced that it is the states role to keep them safe. In Stage 2, which began with the onset of the virus, they become fearful. Stage Three is necessity: if the virus is to be feared and the job of government is to keep us safe, then government must do whatever is necessary to protect us from the virus. Necessity provides the excuse for control, and control exacerbates dependence. What we have now is a dependent population, economically and psychologically.

There will not be rational debate about these policies. Governments do not adopt policies for logical and rational reasons. It is a mistake to believe that it is possible to engage in a civil conversation with the public and with government officials to figure out what works best. What has worked for governments in this circumstance is the promotion of fear. Concentrating on making rational policy recommendations based upon the premise that we are engaging in a good faith dialogue would be to miss the plot.

There will be court challenges, but the courts will not say that these policies are unconstitutional. The government can do what it is doing because the Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not provide the lines in the sand that we think that it does. Courts like to pretend that they are immune from public opinion, but they follow the culture as much as anybody else. The charter will not protect us from the culture, and the culture now is one that demands safety, provided by the state.

Governments will be allowed to do indirectly what they could not do directly. Take the vaccine for example. If a vaccine is developed, they will not make the vaccine mandatory. Instead, they will say, make your own choice but if you do not have a vaccine you cannot come inside the building. You cannot come and renew your drivers licence unless you can show us you have been vaccinated. Technically that is not mandatory, but practically it is. Contact tracing means that they are imposing upon you a requirement without admitting that what they are doing is locking you down if you decide not to do it. Governments will use means by which to achieve their objective without being so authoritarian that you cannot move.

The most disturbing thing about the COVID regime is not that governments are putting it in place, but that citizens support it, and indeed demand it. COVID madness will not stop until a critical mass of people say that they have had enough. The way to turn this around is to get the population to reject the authority of experts, health officials, and governments to tell them what to do. Until we get to that, efforts to reverse these policies may prove to be a waste of time. Until people perceive that the purpose of government is to protect liberty instead of safety, everything else is fiddling around the margins.

Crises are an ideal time for the state to advance into territory from which it will not wish to retreat. In time, controls will loosen but old expectations have been swept away. In this new era, we will discover that leaders of all political stripes have more than a little Lenin in them.

This column is an edited version of comments from an online panel in April 2020 for the Canada Strong and Free Network, combined with comments published in the Financial Post in May 2020.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Then-Chinese vice chair Xi Jinping unveils a plaque at the opening of Australia's first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing Largest National Security Risk in University Research Sector: Aussie Senate Report

Australias taxpayer-funded university research sector has long been targeted by authoritarian regimes resulting in the transfer of sensitive research, with a new government report specifically identifying the Chinese regime as the largest, but not the only, culprit of foreign interference.

In the report, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) found several instances where staff and students were subject to sustained campaigns of intimidation, harassment, and censorship when they were outspoken on campus.

This resulted in the transfer of sensitive research to authoritarian regimes and their militaries and threats to the safety of domestic and international students, Committee Chair Sen. James Paterson said.

The committee presented 27 unanimous and bipartisan recommendations to address the threats posed by foreign interference on the nations critical research institutions.

Paterson wrote in News Corps The Australian that universities needed to face the ugly reality that many academics and students, both domestic and international, were fearful of their safety on campus.

The committee said more needed to be done to protect students, academics, and safeguard sensitive research.

We cannot allow Australian research and technology to be weaponised to surveil and oppress Uyghur and other minoritiesas has tragically been the case, Paterson said.

The committee recommended a risk-based audit for Australian Research Council grants approved over the past decade to determine any exposure associated with talent recruitment programs, of which the Thousand Talents Program is just one amongst many.

Taxpayers should have confidence that Australian-funded research is not being unlawfully and unethically appropriated, Paterson said.

The committee received evidence of foreign interference activity stemming from Confucius Institutes (CI), noting examples provided by Human Rights Watch (HRW) where Chinese students and staff critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would be pressured into self-censorship.

I come to Australia, and still Im not free, Lei Chen, a mainland student using a pseudonym for safety, told HRW.

Sophie McNeill, author of the HRW report, said the new efforts to counter self-censorship caused by state-backed harassment were long overdue.

We look forward to working with Australian universities to ensure these recommendations are adopted and implemented as soon as possible and that students and staff feel a new sense of protection and freedom moving forward, McNeill said.

The report also pointed out that the CCP-funded CIs were but one avenue the CCP used to spread influence in Australian universities through soft power.

Protesters demonstrate outside the Toronto District School Board, urging the board not to implement a Confucius Institute program in Toronto schools, in Toronto, Canada, on Jan. 11, 2014. (Allen Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, who defected to Australia in 2005, previously said Beijing had been very successful in infiltrating Australian tertiary institutions.

China sees the CI as its agent of soft power, an exporter of Chinese culture and influence, and an important element of the global Grand Propaganda strategy, Chen said.

The committee called on Foreign Minister Marise Payne to exercise her powers granted through the Foreign Relations Act, under which she previously tore up the Victorian state governments Belt and Road deal, to determine the national interest of the countrys 13 CIs.

Paterson noted that many European universities were closing their CIs after re-evaluating the compatibility of the institutes and their own national values.

Thats why were calling on host universities and the foreign minister urgently to mitigate these threats by protecting academic freedom, free speech, and university autonomy, he said.

Payne was also called on to determine whether the agreement between Monash University and COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) was in line with the national interest.

COMAC already has been sanctioned by the U.S. government. Despite this, Monash University has refused to re-evaluate its relationship with it. If Monash is unwilling to do so, it falls to the foreign minister to scrutinise the arrangements in the national interest, Paterson said.

The Group of Eight (Go8), comprised of universities that undertake 70 percent of Australias university research, said their commitment to Australias national security was unwavering.

Go8 Chief Executive Vicki Thompson said the geopolitical situation in Australia had changed significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and noted several recommendations.

We are committed to protecting that which must be protected and being proactive to any potential threats, while safeguarding our place as world research leaders, she said.

Paterson said the report was just the beginning of addressing significant threats to Australias higher education sector.

There remains significant work to be done to safeguard our research institutions as well as the thousands of students who benefit from studying at Australian universities every year, he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the White House complex in Washington, on March 18, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Biden Is Giving Ethics Waivers to Top Officials at a Quicker Pace Than Trump Did: Watchdog

The Biden administration is doling out more waivers meant to excuse public officials from violating ethics regulations than the preceding administration did.

Federal ethics law prohibits government officials from participating in matters in which they have a financial interest. They are also expected to recuse themselves from matters that would give the appearance of partiality and are not allowed to accept bribes or supplement their federal salary. However, there are some exceptions to ethics laws that can be granted though a waiver when it is deemed to be in the publics interest.

President Joe Bidens administration has granted at least 50 such waivers during his first 14 months in office, compared to 73 ethics waivers granted during the first 32 months of former President Donald Trumps tenure, according to a report from the government watchdog group Protect the Publics Trust (PPT).

At the pace it set during its first 14 months, the Biden administration would far exceed the number of waivers and decisions awarded during the Trump administration, PPT Director Michael Chamberlain told the Washington Examiner. These are also spread out much more widely among agencies, meaning more of the people making the decisions that affect the American public are being given hall passes on their ethics obligations.

While the Biden administration has made a number of these waivers publicly available on its Office of Government Ethics (OGE) website, 19 of the waivers were discovered through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests by PPT. The group says that several of its FOIA requests have gone unanswered and the existence of some of the waivers has not been made public, but instead has been disclosed in other records.

PPT says it has filed lawsuits against The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Transportation (DOT).

This is despite the repeated assertion from Biden and his top officials that his administration is the most ethical in history.

Upon taking office, Biden issued an Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, requiring appointees to pledge a commitment to conduct that will restore and maintain public trust in government. The order includes several vows to abstain from accepting gifts, lobbying and working with former employers.

We have the highest ethical standards of any administration in history, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a briefing in June of last year. A number of ethics officials have conveyed that, and were proud of that.

The PPT report notes that even more disconcerting is the fact that the Biden ethics waivers are being granted at the leadership level in federal agencies where the most significant decisions of the federal government are typically made. The report says senior Biden appointees are working with their former employers, clients, and on otherwise prohibited matters at an increasing rate.

The officials to receive these waivers include CIA deputy director David Cohen, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, according to PPT.
President Joe Biden meets service members from the 82nd Airborne Division, who are contributing alongside Polish Allies to deterrence on the Alliances Eastern Flank, in the city of Rzeszow in southeastern Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Visits Poland to Express Support Amid Refugee Crisis Due to RussiaUkraine War

President Joe Biden visited Poland on Friday in an expression of support for the NATO member nation amid the RussiaUkraine war, and to thank Poles for having welcomed Ukrainian refugees who fled after Russias invasion.

More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Feb. 24 invasion, of which over 2.2 million have entered Poland, according to the United Nations.

The Democrat president made a surprise visit to the Polish town of Rzeszow, about 60 miles (96.5 km) or an hours drive from the Ukrainian border. There, he met with several service members of the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne Division at a barber shop, and later met more of the divisions soldiers at a dining facility, where he ate some pizza with the soldiers for lunch.

The elite division specializes in parachute assault operations. Almost 5,000 soldiers from the division have been in Poland since Feb. 6, and were deployed at the time amid fears of a Russian invasion.

They are now assisting with the humanitarian emergency there while continuing to bolster the U.S. military presence on NATOs eastern flank, serving alongside thousands of other NATO troops, including from Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania.

Biden praised the soldiers, saying, You are the finest fighting force in the world and thats not hyperbole.

He later addressed the soldiers in more formal remarks, telling them the nation owes you big.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech during a visit to service members from the 82nd Airborne Division, who are contributing alongside Polish Allies to deterrence on the Alliances Eastern Flank, in the city of Rzeszow in southeastern Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Later in the afternoon, Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the two received briefing from Samantha Power, the director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other NGOs about the situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and what will be needed to mitigate the crisis. The leaders were also updated on the humanitarian response to help people sheltering from attacks inside Ukraine.

Duda had planned to welcome Biden earlier on Friday at the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, but his plane turned back en route to Rzeszow and made an emergency landing in Warsaw. Duda later boarded a different aircraft and headed back to the airport.

Biden said he had hoped to get even closer to the border but was prevented because of security concerns.

Im here in Poland to see first hand the humanitarian crisis, he said at the start of a meeting with NGOs, U.S. and Polish officials and Duda. Quite frankly part of my disappointment is I cant see it first hand like I have in other places. They wont let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at whats going on in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden meets with the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda in Rzeszow, Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden and President Andrzej Duda are pictured receiving an overview of the Combined Operations Integration Cell in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Duda, through an interpreter, thanked Biden for his support. He said the Poles see the Ukrainians they are receiving as their guests.

This is the name we want to apply to them, Duda said. We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation.

On Friday evening, Biden landed in the capital Warsaw. He is scheduled to have further talks with Duda on Saturday, meet with other Polish leaders including the Polish prime minister and the mayor of Warsaw, and also deliver what the White House described as a major address.

Poland hopes that Bidens two-day visit to the country will underline the security assurances already made by the United States that it will defend every inch of NATO territory.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
People take pictures as the motorcade with President Joe Biden arrives at the Marriot hotel in Warsaw, Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

Bidens Speech in Warsaw to Urge Western Unity and Resolve in Face of Russian Offensive

President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a speech in Warsaw on Saturday, with the White House saying the president will issue a call for Western unity and determination in the face of Russias military campaign in Ukraine.

Biden is now in Poland, where at the time of reporting he was in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Later in the day, Biden will meet with other Polish officials and Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, to get a first-hand look at U.S. humanitarian efforts in the face of a massive wave of refugees fleeing the war.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House press briefing on Friday that Biden plans to give a major address on Saturday in Warsaw, where hell speak to the stakes of the moment and the urgency of the challenges that lie ahead for the Western alliance as it responds to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Sullivan said Bidens speech will outline what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world stay in unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks in Washington, on March 22, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The president will also address his administrations expectations for where the conflict in Ukraine will go from here.

Asked by reporters whether its the assessment of the administration that Russia will move against other Eastern European countries, Sullivan said Russias actions in Ukraine show a willingness to disregard international borders and the basic rules of the road of the international community.

Sullivan said that Bidens support for the deployment of additional forces in Eastern European countries is meant to send a clear message to Moscow that the United States and its NATO allies stand ready to defend every inch of NATO territory, and to deter any thinking that Putin might have about further Russian aggression into NATO.

U.S. soldiers walk in Poland near the border with Ukraine, on March 3, 2022. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)

A significant development from the perspective of security considerations along NATOs eastern flank is the fact that Belarus is being used as a staging ground for Russian attacks into Ukraine and that the Russia-allied country has changed its constitution to make it easier for Russian troops and capabilities to further mobilize on its soil.

The threat of Belarus potentially getting more involved in the conflict is an additional reason why NATO forces that are postured along the eastern flank must show strength and resolve, Sullivan said.

Sullivan added that a diplomatic process between Ukraine and Russia continues, with some NATO allies playing roles in negotiations, though the United States is not directly involved.

NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has good ties with both, and has offered to mediate the conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels following an extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said a key goal in Turkeys mediation effort was to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian presidents for peace talks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gives a statement after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on May 17, 2021. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)

In a video address on Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said he had spoken to Erdogan by phone and they discussed efforts that could bring peace closer to Ukraine and end this senseless Russian invasion of a foreign land.

Erdogans office said Friday that the Turkish president supports Ukraines territorial integrity, something Zelenskyy said in his address must be a condition of a negotiated settlement.

Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed, Zelenskyy said. Ukraines territorial integrity must be ensured. That is, the conditions must be fair. And the Ukrainian people will not accept others.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a video address in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 22, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Zelenskyy, who said that 16,000 Russian servicemen had lost their lives in the conflict, once again called for meaningful peace talks with Russia.

Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay, Zelenskyy said.

Analysts and officials have called into question Russias sincerity in participating in the peace talks. Some have argued that only if Moscow senses that its chances of securing a military victory in the campaign have all but vanished will the Kremlin engage in earnest negotiations.

Britains foreign secretary Liz Truss has been an outspoken critic of the talks, expressing concern that theyre being used as a smokescreen by Russia to regroup ahead of a renewed offensive.

Im very skeptical, Truss told The Times of London newspaper in a recent interview. What weve seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion isnt going according to plan, she said.

I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I dont think were yet at a point for negotiation, she added.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at Admiralty House, in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2022. (Bianca De Marchi/Pool/Getty Images)

British intelligence has painted a picture of a Russian advance that has had difficulty meeting campaign aims, being slowed by logistic issues and fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralise defending forces, UK intelligence said in a March 26 update.

It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties, it added.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner said in a March 25 update that a total of 1,081 civilians have been killed and 1,707 injured in the fighting in Ukraine.
A file photo of the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District board of trustees in Yorba Linda, Calif., on Oct. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

California School Board to Vote to Ban Critical Race Theory

FULLERTON, Calif.The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified school board held a special meeting on March 23 to discuss a resolution to halt the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Trustee Leandra Blades, who has been advocating for the ban, calls CRTa theory that divides society into oppressors and oppressed based on racea divisive theory that pins races against each other.

A lot of people are leaving and going to charter schools and private schools for traditional learning curriculum that doesnt teach CRT, Blades told The Epoch Times.

The attempt to ban CRT from the curriculum began late last year as Blades said she received complaints from high school students that were assigned to write papers based on their teachers political beliefs. Students who dont share the same opinions as their teachers get marked down, she added.

While Blades said she is wary about the teaching of CRT, she said this doesnt mean she is against teaching about the history of the Jim Crow Laws, displacement of Native Americans, segregation, and slavery.

Trustee Shawn Youngblood said at the meeting that students need to be given the tools they need to determine answers themselves rather than being told what to think based on a teachers opinion through CRT.

The school board went through a draft of multiple CRT teaching points and definitions that are sought to be banned, including one claiming that a persons race determines their moral character and makes them responsible for past transgressions of that race.

However, a few of the board members were confused about the concept, including board president Carrie Buck and Trustee Karin Freeman.

Ive never seen anywhere in CRT where it says that or even alluded to that a persons race determines their moral character, Buck said during the meeting.

The pair were also taken aback about another CRT teaching point that claims traits such as a work ethic or devotion to duty and obligations are inherently racist, according to the school board.

Ive never heard anything associated with work ethic and race, Freeman claimed.

The resolution reviewed by the board on Wednesday afternoon, March 23, needed more clarity on what would occur if a teacher encouraged a CRT discussion or materials within the classroom, attorney for public school districts Todd Robbins said during the meeting.

What is the overall intent of the resolution, Robbins questioned, while suggesting its lack of clarity regarding enforcement could cause it to be declared unconstitutional in court.

Robbins told the board it was obligated to ensure the guidelines on what teachers can and cannot teach inside the classroom and is clear and whether disciplinary actions would be put into place.

Robbins further questioned the multiple teaching points discussed and shared he had never come across those definitions to CRT.

The board will vote on the resolution to ban CRT on April 5.
In an era of partisanship and polarization, compromise can be hard to come by. Bills that can garner enough support to clear the U.S. Senates 60-vote threshold for legislation are the exception, not the norm. It is even more rare to find a bill that all 100 members of the Senate can get behind, but we recently did just that when the Senate voted unanimously to pass my Data Mapping to Save Moms Lives Act.

I introduced this bill last year, along with one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Senator Jacky Rosen. In both Nebraska and her home state of Nevada, there are large areas where expectant mothers do not have access to the maternal care they need. In Nebraska, for example, more than 4,000 babies are born each year to parents who live in counties with no OBGYN or certified nurse-midwife. In these mostly rural parts of our states, health outcomes for moms and their children often suffer as a result.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as many as 40 percent of women do not visit their doctor for a checkup after giving birth, often because they live too far away. And women who give birth in rural areas suffer from higher rates of life-threatening complications during or after childbirth than mothers in urban cities, reported a 2019 study by the University of Michigan.

All women should have access to the health care they and their babies need, no matter where they live. Thankfully, innovative new technologies can bring potentially life-saving health care and checkups into the homes of even the most isolated patients  but you need a reliable internet connection.

The Data Mapping to Save Moms Lives Act would direct the FCC to map the areas in our country that both lack broadband service and have high rates of poor maternal health outcomes. After incorporating this data into a broadband health mapping tool they already use, the FCC will be able to see which communities stand to benefit most from expanded access to broadband. Congress and the FCC will then be able to target resources for broadband deployment with this in mind.

Telehealth services have surged in popularity in the past few years, partly as a result of the pandemic, but we have only scratched the surface of their potential. Beyond checkups for expectant moms, the future of telehealth is allowing doctors to look at x-rays, diagnose illnesses, and monitor their patients vital signs, all from hundreds of miles away. But for those who live in areas without a reliable broadband connection, none of this is possible.

More than 50,000 women suffer from severe complications related to pregnancy each year, and those who live in rural areas are especially at risk. During pregnancy and postpartum, minor symptoms can turn into life-threatening situations if they are not caught soon enough. When something as basic as broadband access can make the difference between life and death for these mothers, it is clear that we need to do something to help.

This bill is just common-sense, and it would make a real difference for so many women who dont live near their doctors. I look forward to working with Senator Rosen to make sure the Data Mapping to Save Moms Lives Act is signed into law soon.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.

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A general view of the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on April 23, 2020. (Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images)

CDC, Other Health Agencies Wont Provide Employee Vaccination Data From 2022

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and three other top federal health agencies are refusing to provide employee COVID-19 vaccination data for 2022.

The CDC and the other agencies, including the one that is forcing virtually all health care workers to get a vaccine, say their most current employee vaccination data is from Dec. 3, 2021.

The Epoch Times asked the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through media requests and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, to provide vaccination data current through March 2022, including the number of unvaccinated workers and the number of workers who received an exemption to President Joe Bidens federal worker mandate, which is blocked by courts as of January.

The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccination for virtually all Americans 5 and older. Its guidance has been used to justify mandates across the country, including on the federal level.

An official at the agency, which has 12,045 employees, pointed to the December 2021 figures. At that time, 96.4 percent of the CDCs employees had gotten vaccinated and another 3.2 percent were in compliance with the mandate, or had pending or approved exemption requests.

Please note that this is the most recent and most complete data available and some data elements that you requested are not available, Roger Andoh, the CDCs FOIA officer, told The Epoch Times in an email.

The CDCs FOIA public liaison, Bruno Viana, did not return a voicemail. The CDCs media office did not respond to a request for the information.

An appeal questioning whether the CDC properly responded to the FOIA request was lodged and is pending.

Several senators tried getting vaccination figures in November 2021 when CDC Director Rochelle Walensky testified on Capitol Hill before the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions. Walensky twice dodged questions about the matter.

Its been two years, and federal agencies and employees are still not back to work. The CDC refuses to be transparent. It is past time for the government to reopen and start serving Americans again, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a member of the panel and a doctor, told The Epoch Times via email after reviewing the FOIA response.

The other three agencies, also part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), also declined to provide figures current from this year or list how many exemption requests were approved.

The FDA, which authorized the COVID-19 vaccines, pointed to the same press release in response to a FOIA request. We do not have more recent information, Sarah Kotler, director of the administrations Division of Freedom of Information, told The Epoch Times in an email. She said the agency stopped collecting the information after the latest update but declined to say why, directing queries to the FDAs media office. That office, in turn, referred queries to the White House Office of Budget and Management, which did not respond to a request for comment.

A CMS spokesperson, meanwhile, pointed to a different release, issued Dec. 9, 2021, which said approximately 97.1 percent of HHS employees had gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while another 2.5 percent had a pending or approved exemption but didnt provide updated data for offices within HHS.

The spokesperson for the centers, which is in charge of one of the few federal mandates that havent been blocked by courts, said the information is the latest publicly available data.

About 96 percent of workers at NIH are fully vaccinated, 1 percent are partially vaccinated, and 3 percent have either filed a medical or religious exception, are not vaccinated, or have not reported their vaccination status, an NIH spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

Those were the same percentages given in December 2021.

The NIH and CMS have not provided responses to FOIA requests seeking the most up-to-date information. HHS didnt respond to an inquiry.

Fully vaccinated means a person has received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab. Partially vaccinated refers to people who have only gotten one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or who have gotten a full regimen but two weeks have not elapsed since their final shot.
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City (L) in Beijing on May 22, 2020. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)

China in Relentless March for Influence in Latin America: US General

China and Russia are expanding their influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, and challenging the United States ability to deter conflict, according to two U.S. generals who spoke at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 24.

The Chinese Communist Party is working to erode the international order in a grand effort to replace it with a system more favorable to the Partys interests, said Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command.

The PRCs [Peoples Republic of China] ambition to fundamentally revise the world order to serve its authoritarian goals and expand its global influence has triggered a new era of strategic competition with the United States, she said.

Richardson said that China is expanding its footprint throughout South America as a part of that effort and is making strategic investments in the United States own neighborhood in a manner similar to the economic takeover it began throughout Africa nearly two decades ago.

PRC activities include investments in strategic infrastructure, systematic technology and intellectual property theft, disinformation and propaganda campaigns, and malicious cyber activity, all with the goal of expanding long-term access and influence in this hemisphere, Richardson said.

The PRC continues its relentless march to expand its economic, diplomatic, technological, informational, and military influence in [Latin America and the Caribbean] and challenges U.S. influence in all these areas.

Richardson said expansion through Latin America presents a unique threat insofar as civilian infrastructure built in the Americas could later be used for military purposes. New observation platforms, for example, could be used to track U.S. satellites over the region.

When asked if she believed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to be an adversary of the United States, she responded affirmatively.

They are definitely competitors, and I do look at them as adversaries, Richardson said.

Missile Threats

The difficulty of the regional expansion is compounded by other recent developments in Chinese missile technologies, including the rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal and the testing of a hypersonic weapon system in July.

Meanwhile, the United States lacks the capability to defend against such technologies with any degree of reliability, according to Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Hypersonics and cruise missiles significantly challenge my ability to conduct my NORAD mission of providing threat warning and attack assessment, he said during the hearing.

What you cant see, you cant deter, and you cant defend from.

VanHercks remarks echoed comments made in October by Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador for disarmament, when Chinas hypersonic test was first revealed.

We just dont know how we can defend against that technology, Wood said. Neither does China, neither does Russia.

To that end, VanHerck cautioned that the challenge presents a unique threat to the U.S., a statement also corroborated by recent testimony from Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who warned that a future war in the Indo-Pacific would reach the U.S. homeland.

Our commands continue to face multiple simultaneous challenges from capable, highly advanced competitors who have openly declared their intent to hold our homelands at risk in an effort to advance their own strategic interests, VanHerck said.

Quite bluntly, my ability to conduct the missions assigned to [my commands] has eroded and continues to erode, he said. Our country is under attack every day in the information space and cyber domain.

The stark assessment is in line with other comments made by Gen. David Thompson, the U.S. Space Forces second-in-command, who said that China and Russia were launching cyber-attacks on U.S. satellites every single day.

Russia and China continue to aggressively pursue and field advanced offensive cyber and space capabilities, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, and delivery platforms designed to evade detection and strike targets in our homeland from multiple vectors of attack and in all domains, VanHerck said.

Like Russia, China has begun to develop new capabilities to hold our homeland at risk in multiple domains in an attempt to complicate our decision making and to disrupt, delay, and degrade force flow in crisis and destroy our will in conflict.
A man walks past a store advertising cargo shipping to Russia and other countries, along a street in Beijing on March 4, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Ambassador to Russia Calls on Small, Medium-Sized Chinese Enterprises to Seize Russian Market

As international companies are withdrawing from Russia, the Chinese ambassador to Russia openly encourages small and medium-sized Chinese companies to fill the gaps in the Russian market.

According to a recent news release from the Russian Confucius Culture Promotion Association on its WeChat account, Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Russia, convened a meeting in Moscow on March 20, telling the attendees, who were executives of Chinese companies in Russia, that they should seize the current major opportunity in a time of crisis and take over the market that others have left behind.

Russia is currently under unprecedented sanctions by the international community because of its aggression toward Ukraine. Major Russian banks have been kicked out of the SWIFT international payment system. As a result, international buyers avoid doing business with Russian companies, international shipping giants refuse to transport commodities made in Russia, and many international companies have withdrawn from Russia under the pressure of public opinion.

Zhang, however, urged Chinese companies in Russia dont wait and adapt to the new situation as soon as possible.

The current international situation is complicated. Large-scale enterprises are prone to encountering great difficulties due to payment methods and supply chain disruptions. This is precisely the time for private companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to play a role, Zhang said.

Mike Sun, a senior investment consultant in North America, told The Epoch Time that after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Biden administration has repeatedly warned Beijing that China will be sanctioned if it helps Russia. As large Chinese enterprises, usually state-owned, can easily become the target of U.S. sanction, the Chinese regime is now encouraging SMEs to do business with Russia and occupy the Russian market.

Zhang also mentioned at the meeting that Chinese authorities are planning to build a new platform to help resolve such issues as payment, logistics, and others.

There are two methods of payment for China-Russian trade. One is the exchange of RMB and rubles, a method that has been used for years; the other is barter trade.

According to Sun, Russias economic structure is relatively simple and uniform. Its fiscal revenue mainly relies on mining, but much less on light industry. In the years before and after the fall of the former Soviet Union, Russia needed everything, and barter was very active. Chinas Nande Group shipped thousands of train cars of canned food and light industrial products to Russia in exchange for four Tu-154 aircrafts in the late 1980s. If the blockade on Russia continues, we will likely see this type of transaction again.

In terms of logistics, the China-Europe Railway Express, that runs through Russia, connects more than 50 cities in China with 168 cities in 23 countries, many of which are participants in Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The sanctions on Russia have caused the suspension of European trains, which means Chinas BRI that took years to build was cut off, and a major transportation line between Russia and China was also cut off.

This is an important achievement that the West has gained this time, Sun said.

China is one of Russias largest trading partners. According to data from China Customs, China-Russias bilateral trade was close to $147 billion in 2021, an increase of about 36 percent from 2020.

Sun said that that the United States is trying to prevent China from helping Russia, and sanctions against Russia are likely to be long term. However, the border between Russia and China is very long, the two countries may still find ways to continue bilateral trade.
Containers are seen on a container ship at Port Botany in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 4, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Climate Protester Suspended From Bridge Near Sydney Coal Terminal Arrested

Climate change activists blockaded a Sydney shipping terminal used to transport coal for the fifth consecutive day, with seven people now charged by police over the incidents.

New South Wales (NSW) Police announced an operation was underway early on Saturday morning, around 6.40 a.m., after a 29-year-old man suspended himself from the Botany Road bridge, disrupting road and rail traffic.

Police said they removed the man who had suspended himself over freight rail lines within 20 minutes of arriving at the scene, but two city-bound lanes of Botany Road remained closed to traffic until the operation concluded.

A police operation is underway in response to an unauthorised protest at Banksmeadow at 6.40am. A man  who had been suspended over freight rail lines  was removed within 20min. by Police Rescue. Two citybound lanes of Botany Rd will re-open once the operation concludes.  NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) March 25, 2022

Seven protesters, not including the man arrested on Saturday, have now been charged for their involvement in the protests, which have been taking place on a daily basis since Tuesday.

On Thursday, Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke cancelled the visas of two German climate change activists for their involvement in a similar incident.

In making this decision, I carefully considered information provided to me by the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Border Force, Hawke said in a statement obtained by Sky News Australia.

Families going about their business, driving to school or work, do not deserve to be disrupted by the attention-seeking stunts of unlawful protesters.

Australians expect guests in our country to comply with our laws. Under the Morrison government, non-citizens who violate our laws will be considered for visa cancellation, he said.

Three protesters will face Parramatta Local Court on Saturday after being arrested and charged on Friday for their parts in the protests.

NSW Police have launched a strike force to deal with further unauthorised protests, which have caused millions of dollars in lost economic value thus far.

The Strike Force will also carry out visible patrols around significant infrastructure in Sydney and will work with NSW Ports, and the port authority to prevent further disruptions.

In a statement from the group organising the protests, Blockade Australia, Saturdays protester, identified only as Wenzel, said the only way to address the climate crisis was by hindering commercial operations.

The activist said other methods of protest didnt work but that direct action did, expressing his anxiety about taking collective action on climate change.

The protests have sparked a beefed-up response from the NSW government, with the threat of two years in jail and $22,000 fines for disrupting traffic.

NSW Acting Premier Paul Toole on Thursday dubbed the protests disgraceful, while Greens MP David Shoebridge said the governments response was a politically motivated crackdown on legitimate political expression.

AAP contributed to this report.
A decision to end the China Initiative met with strong backlash.

But why is the China Initiative getting scrapped? And what are the accusations?

Beijing has pushed back on the program, but what does the initiative really aim to counter? And what will happen without it?

In part 1 of this special report, we talked about how the Justice Departments China Initiative helped reveal a series of espionage crimes quietly driven by Beijing. Thats as it seeks to catch up to the United States and the Westand get an edge in the global technology race.

In part 2, we explore how its not just stolen trade secrets the DOJ uncovered. It also dug out other threats that were previously undisclosed. Among them are Beijings methods for trying to shape American public opinion, and how the Chinese regime is siphoning away American technology in a perfectly open and legal manner.

Have other topics you want us to cover? Drop us a line: chinainfocus@ntdtv.org

And if youd like to buy us a coffee: https://donorbox.org/china-in-focus

Subscribe to our newsletter for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit us on Gettr and Twitter.
Convict Grateful to Supreme Court Nominee for Light Sentence for Child Pornography

A man convicted of child pornography distribution is grateful that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gave him a sentence lower than that recommended by prosecutors and sentencing guidelines.

Wesley Hawkins said he was displeased when Jackson sentenced him in 2013 but later reconsidered his view.

I wasnt very happy that she gave me three months, though, after reflection when I was in jail, I was hearing from other people who said it was their first time arrested and they got five years, six years, Hawkins told the Washington Post.

I feel that she chose to take into consideration the fact that I was just getting started and she knew this was going to hold me back for years to come regardless, so she didnt really want to add on to that, he added.

A clerk at the appeals court Jackson serves on didnt pick up the phone or return a voicemail seeking comment on the remarks. The White House didnt return an inquiry.

President Joe Biden chose Jackson, who he previously selected as an appeals judge, to serve on the nations top court after Justice Stephen Breyer decided to retire.

When sentencing Hawkins, Jackson was a district judge. She was nominated to that position by President Barack Obama.

Hawkins, a District of Columbia resident, was arrested and charged with distributing over 600 images of child porn in 2013. He pleaded guilty and faced up to 20 years in prison. If sentencing guidelines were followed, Hawkins would been jailed for between 97 and 121 months. Prosecutors recommended 24 months behind bars, based in part on the age of the defendant, who was 19 at the time.

Jackson opted to sentence Hawkins to just three months in prison, as well as three months of home confinement and 73 months of probation.

During the hearing where the sentence was handed down, Jackson called sentencing guidelines outdated because they do not adequately distinguish more serious child pornography offenders from the less serious child pornography offenders, adding that she believed the collection of images was not actually as large as it seemed because it consisted of 16 digital images and 17 digital movie files.

That number did not signal an especially heinous or egregious child pornography offense, she said. She also said that the case is different because the children in the images were not much younger than you and opined that Hawkins was fascinated by sexual images involving what were essentially your peers. At the end of the hearing, she said she felt sorry for Hawkins and his family members for the anguish that this has caused all of you and that she felt terrible because sex offenders are truly shunned in our society.

Hawkins wanted images of children as young as 11, according to messages he sent an undercover agent. He told the agent he had images of kids as young as 8.

I recall that I found that case, like all child pornography cases, to be difficult, really difficult. And his case, I recall, was, in many ways, an outlier in terms of the various considerations that congress required me to take into account, Jackson told senators during her confirmation hearings. As in every child pornography case that I sentenced, I considered all of the evidence, all of the relevant factors. It is not the same exercise to look at a transcript, to think about guidelines, to not have in front of you the individuals, the victims, the pictures, the circumstances that trial judges have to review in these cases or any cases.

A number of senators have questioned the lenient sentencing.

You had an 18-year-old who possessed and distributed hundreds of images of 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds and you gave him frankly a slap-on-the-wrist-sentence of three months, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told the judge.

According to a court document signed by Jackson in 2019, Hawkins was ordered to check in to a residential facility for 180 days and have his computer searched regularly. It remains unclear what happened. Jackson said during the hearings she didnt remember, which Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said wasnt credible given how much shed been questioned on the case by him and his colleagues.

Hawkins told the Post that what I did was a bit monstrous but said he was just a young man when he committed the crimes. He also did not dispute the Posts description of sealed material that says he searched for images of males as young as 13 after he was released, prompting the 2019 order. According to the treatment I was in, they felt I was at a high risk of reoffending, he said.

Eleven Republican senators wrote to Jackson on Friday, asking for transparency about what occurred in 2019.

Our review of your nomination requires that the committee fully understand the circumstances that informed your actions in this case, they wrote.
A smart phone screen displays the logo of Facebook with a Facebook website background in Arlington, Va., on April 7, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

EU Regulators Draft New Rules to Rein in Big Tech

Officials of the European Union reached an agreement on Friday for the wording of the Digital Markets Act, a new proposal that would crack down on Big Tech and limit the powers of these companies in the region.

France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Commission, announced via a tweet on Friday that a deal had been reached on the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark package addressing technology companies operating in the EU.

The tweet includes a video embedded of European Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager in which she celebrates the regulatory breakthrough.

I think that everyone sees that we have achieved something which is unprecedented: the legislation that paves the way for open, fair, contestable digital markets, so that everyone has a fair chance of making itbecause the gatekeepers, they will now have to take their responsibility, says Vestager in the video.

What we have been deciding about yesterday will start a new era in tech regulation, European Parliament member Andreas Schwab said at a press conference on Friday.

The DMA specifically targets gatekeepers such as Apple, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Amazon, as well as several smaller companies. The legislation obliges these companies to allow users to install third-party apps on personal devices and prohibits bundling services and self-preferencing practices. The DMA also includes a requirement for interoperability among messenger applications, compelling major platforms such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and iMessage to maintain cross-compatibility with each other and with smaller messenger apps.

The DMA includes provisions for its own enforcement, including fines of up to 10 percent of annual worldwide turnover for first offenses and as much as 20 percent for repeat offenses.

Despite the triumphalist tone of E.U. policymakers such as Vestager and Schwab, the reaction has been predictably unenthusiastic from the tech companies affected by this legislation.

Apple expressed concerns that parts of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users while others will prohibit us from charging for intellectual property in which we invest a great deal.

A spokesperson from Google echoed these concerns, saying: We support many of the DMAs ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability. We remain concerned that some of the rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans.

The European Commission is now responsible for staffing the services necessary for the enforcement of the new rules, which will take effect in 2023.
Former President Donald Trump just officially filed a federal lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele (who is the former British spy behind that infamous dossier), as well as about 30 other people. And his lawsuit alleges that these individuals carried out a national plot to weave a false narrative that Trump somehow colluded with Russia.

Now, of course, that all took place about five years ago. However, with the most recent developments in John Durhams investigation, we now have a clearer picture of what really took place behind the scenes. And perhaps now with this lawsuit, more of the facts will come to light.

Meanwhile, while I was in Florida about two weeks ago, I took the opportunity to sit down and speak with Brady Duke, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, and I asked himbased on his experience in the Middle Eastwhat kind of defense we can expect the Ukrainian civilians to put up against a Russian organized military.

Stay tuned for our newsletter so you wont miss out on our exclusive videos and private events.

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U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on July 15, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal Pressure on Big Tech to Censor COVID-19 Misinformation Violates Constitution: Lawsuit

The public government campaign to pressure Big Tech platforms such as Twitter to crack down on supposed misinformation violates the U.S. Constitution, according to a new lawsuit.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has repeatedly pressed Twitter and other platforms to suppress COVID-19 misinformation, while White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said President Joe Biden thinks its the responsibility of social media companies to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation, and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations, and elections.

Those and similar statements made clear the government was demanding action and was contemplating penalties against platforms that did not ramp up censorship, the 65-page suit asserts.

Murthy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and other Biden administration officials are not simply colluding with, but instrumentalizing Twitter and other technology companies to effectuate their goal of silencing opinions that diverge from the White Houses messaging on COVID-19, it says, adding, That commandeering transforms the Surgeon Generals initiative into government action.

Alleging the government effort led directly to their suspension from Twitter, three critics of lockdowns and other harsh policies imposed in response to COVID-19 sued HHS, Murthy, and HHS Director Xavier Becerra.

Scientist Mark Changizi, attorney Michael Senger, and stay-at-home father Daniel Kotzin want a federal court in Ohio to declare that the effort violated the First Amendment of the Constitution; that Murthys campaign against misinformation lacked statutory authorities; that a request by the government for Twitter and other companies to turn over information about sources of misinformation violates the Fourth Amendment since no warrant has been granted; and that Twitter and other companies are under no obligation to censor content and will not be penalized if they choose not to do so.

According to the suit, Changizi, of Ohio, was permanently suspended in December 2021 for a post stating influenza is more deadly than COVID-19 to children, that the vaccines have not been studied in the long-term, and that COVID-19 vaccines do not slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

All of these views are shared by some scientists, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who remarked in August of 2021 that the vaccines do not stop transmission, the suit notes.

Kotzin, of Colorado, was suspended for posting that the pandemic would end when most people have been infected by COVID-19, a widely held view given vaccines rapidly wane in protection against infection and provide little initial shielding from the Omicron virus variant.

Senger, of California, was permanently suspended for alleging mitigation measures did not work against COVID-19. That belief was based on research, including a study published in January.

Its difficult to overstate the federal governments cynicism in pretending to respect the First Amendment rights of American citizens while explicitly working with a company whose CEO says it is not to be bound by the First Amendment in silencing American citizens on the most widely-used platform for political discourse, Senger said in a statement.

Twitter and HHS did not respond to requests for comment.

Changizi, Kotzin, and Senger are being represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group.

The Surgeon General apparently believes he can do whatever he wishes, even going so far as to commandeer technology companies to stifle the perspectives of those who differ from the government on COVID policies. But Congress has not given him the authority to coerce social media platforms into censoring the voices of those with whom he disagrees, and in fact it could not have given him this power, Jenin Younes, litigation counsel at the group, said in a statement. The Surgeon Generals demand has turned Twitters censorship into government action. Thus, this viewpoint-based suppression of speech violates our clients First Amendment rights to free speech.
RaDonda Vaught, a former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse charged with in the death of a patient, listens to the opening statements during her trial at Justice A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, Tenn., on March 22, 2022. (Stephanie Amador/The Tennessean via AP)

Former Nurse Guilty of Homicide in Medication Error Death

NASHVILLE, Tenn.A former Tennessee nurse is guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient who was accidentally given the wrong medication, a jury found Friday. She was also found guilty of gross neglect of an impaired adult in a case that has fixed the attention of patient safety advocates and nurses organizations around the country.

RaDonda Vaught, 37, injected the paralyzing drug vecuronium into 75-year-old Charlene Murphey instead of the sedative Versed on Dec. 26, 2017. Vaught freely admitted to making several errors with the medication that day, but her defense attorney argued the nurse was not acting outside of the norm and systemic problems at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were at least partly to blame for the error.

The jury found Vaught not guilty of reckless homicide. Criminally negligent homicide was a lesser charge included under the original charge.

Assistant District Attorney Debbie Housel shows a nurse pin to the jury, a symbolic pin for newly graduated nurses during the opening statements in the trial of ex-Vanderbilt nurse, RaDonda Vaught, at Justice A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, Tenn., on March 22, 2022. (Stephanie Amador/The Tennessean via AP)

As Vaught waited for the verdict on Friday morning, she was continuously approached by local nurses who had come to the courthouse to support her. Vaught was calm after the verdict was read, but several of the nurses who surrounded her in the courthouse hallway were in tears.

Interviewed after the verdict, Vaught said she was relieved to have a resolution after 4 1/2 years and hopes Murpheys family is relieved as well.

Ms. Murpheys family is at the forefront of my thoughts every day, she said. You dont do something that impacts a family like this, that impacts a life, and not carry that burden with you.

Chandra Murphey wipes her tears while giving her testimony about her mother in law, Charlene Murphey, during the trial of RaDonda Vaught, at Justice A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, Tenn., on March 22, 2022. (Stephanie Amador/The Tennessean via AP)

Murphey had been admitted to the neurological intensive care unit on Dec. 24, 2017, after suffering from a brain bleed. Two days later, doctors trying to determine the cause of the bleed ordered a PET scan to check for cancer. Murphey was claustrophobic and was prescribed Versed for her anxiety, according to testimony. When Vaught could not find Versed in an automatic drug dispensing cabinet, she used an override and accidentally grabbed vecuronium instead.

An expert witness for the state argued that Vaught violated the standard of care expected of nurses. In addition to grabbing the wrong medicine, she failed to read the name of the drug, did not notice a red warning on the top of the medication, and did not stay with the patient to check for an adverse reaction, said nurse legal consultant Donna Jones.

Leanna Craft, a nurse educator at the neuro-ICU unit where Vaught worked, testified that it was common for nurses at that time to override the system in order to get drugs. The hospital had recently updated an electronic records system, which led to delays in retrieving medications from the automatic drug dispensing cabinets. There was also no scanner in the imaging area for Vaught to scan the medication against the patients ID bracelet.

Assistant District Attorney Chadwick Jackson told the jury in closing arguments, RaDonda Vaught acted recklessly, and Charlene Murphey died as a result of that. RaDonda Vaught had a duty of care to Charlene Murphey and RaDonda Vaught neglected that.  The immutable fact of this case is that Charlene Murphey is dead because RaDonda Vaught couldnt pay attention to what she was doing.

Vaught said she is concerned that the verdict with cause other providers to be wary about coming forward to tell the truth. I dont think the take-away from this is not to be honest and truthful.

Patient safety expert Bruce Lambert, in an interview before the verdict, said it was extremely concerning that Vaught was being criminally prosecuted for a medical error.

This will not only cause nurses and doctors to not report medication errors, it will cause nurses to leave the profession, said Lambert, director of the Center for Communication and Health at Northwestern University.

Prior to the sentencing, Vaught said that she didnt regret honestly admitting her mistake. She felt she was being scapegoated after Vanderbilt became the subject of a surprise inspection by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Someone has to pay a price, and its really easy to say, Just let her do it, she said. Nurses see that. Medics see it. Radiology technicians see it.

Prosecutors speaking about the verdict said it was not a precedent-setting case that would result in further criminalization of medical errors.

This is not a case against the nursing community, said Assistant District Attorney Chadwick Jackson. This is a case against one individual.

Janie Harvey Garner, who founded the nurse advocacy organization Show Me Your Stethoscope, disagreed.

Whats happened here is that health care has been completely changed, Garner said in a phone interview. Now when we tell the truth, were incriminating ourselves.

Garner, who has been helping to raise money for Vaughts defense, said ordinary people dont understand how difficult and stressful working as a nurse can be. She said errors are common and what happened to Vaught could have happened to anyone.

A jury of her peers would have all been ICU nurses, Garner said.

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 13. Vaught faces three to six years in prison on the gross neglect conviction and one to two years on the criminally negligent homicide conviction. Vaught has been free on bail and remains free until after she is sentenced. She said she had not considered whether she would appeal.

By Travis Loller
A Colorado jury awarded $14 million to protesters who were injured by Denver cops in 2020 demonstrations against police brutality.

Jurors deliberated for four hours on Friday before reaching a verdict that found police used excessive force against protesters and violated their constitutional rights, The Denver Post reported.

Protests swept the country in 2020 following the police murder of George Floyd, a Black man from Minneapolis who was killed when a white cop, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyds neck for nearly 10 minutes.

In Denver, racial justice protesters were met with pepper spray and police projectiles, including a Kevlar bag filled with lead shot fired from a shotgun in the case of one plaintiff. The 12 protesters who sued the city were awarded between $750,000 and $4 million apiece.

Denver police fire tear gas canisters during a protest outside the Colorado state Capitol over the death of George Floyd, in this file photograph taken on May 30, 2020. (Photo: AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Attorneys for the victims successfully argued police werent properly trained, leading to numerous injuries. Protester Zach Packard was hit in the head by the lead shot shotgun blast and ended up hospitalized, CBS News reported. Other injuries included a skull fracture, pepper spray used at close range on protesters eyes, and bruises and cuts from other projectiles.

Attorneys for the city failed to show evidence that the 12 plaintiffs acted violently during the protests.

Theres such a balm on my soul right now from that verdict, Elisabeth Epps, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told The Denver Post following the verdict.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
I am presently in the throes of producing my fourth classical music album. Even over the relatively short span of years that Ive been making them, the process has changed dramatically. First of all, we used to say we were making a CD, but now we call it an album because so many consumers obtain music as a digital download and no longer even own a compact disc player. Album covers both possibilities, or even vinyl records now back in fashion.

Without attempting to list exactly 10 lessons, I will try to explain in easy language several aspects of todays recording scene.

Changes in Recording Music Today, Demystified

When I first used a commercial recording studio in the late 1990s, it happened to be the famous RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee. I was there recording my classical harp concerto with a symphony orchestra, using the same massive mixing boards and tape recorders with 15-inch-wide reels used by the country music legends. By then, though, the big recorders were using digital tape rather than the old kind of magnetic tape, but they still took up a lot of space and had to be kept in a cold room off to the side of the recording booth and controlled remotely from the booth because they put out so much heat.

A few years later, I dropped in on a friends session at one of the other big Nashville studios and noticed that people had thrown their jackets over some of this multimillion-dollar kind of equipment, and the engineer was recording all the tracks of the session on a computer. The computer screen had a picture of a mixing board, with virtual sliding knobs that you could move up and down with a mouse. I was told they really didnt know what to do with all the now-obsolete physical equipment, so it sat there gathering dust, and jackets.

Eventually, this obsolete equipment was mostly sold off at a discount to someone who could still use it and then to another, and eventually it reached the end of its useful life or was dismantled for parts. The same would happen in succeeding years with a few more generations of early digital equipment until the top studios had migrated to todays latest software. Audio engineers still do like the hands-on feel of a physical (but now digital) mixing board, in combination with computer screens. Older microphones, for their part, did not go away but became even more prized for their realism in capturing sound. My third album was recorded in 2017 with a vintage (1969) stereo pair of German microphones that now sell online for a whopping $7,500.

What Happens Before a Classical Recording Session?

A great deal of preparation, sometimes comparable to planning a wedding, must be done before the recording session, especially for classical music. Of course, the music must first be composed, which can take months. My new album will have on it my new symphony that took me around two years to compose, with a conductors score of over 200 pages. Imagine writing a novel with thousands of notes instead of words, not to mention writing it on 11- by 17-inch paper.

Someone must play the music, once it is composed, and in fact the idea of making a recording may come from the performers or ensemble themselves. They may be the ones who recruit or commission the composer to write it so they can have something original to record. Or a composer may first write music and then go out looking for an orchestra or chamber musicians to record it, and that typically involves finding the money to pay them.

If it is a recording played by union musicians, they get a higher fee (recording rate) than their normal performance rate. There are also special rules in a union session, like a certain amount of break time the musicians must be given during the session. A small cartage fee must be paid to players of larger instruments, like the string basses and tubas, to cart those instruments to the session. This originated, I am told, in New York, when those players had to pay for an extra ticket for a bus seat on which to transport their instrument. Here in Nashville, the fee is still required, though they usually drive up to the door in their own car with that instrument.

In the United States, union recording fees can amount to a cost of a hundred thousand dollars just to pay the musicians of a full orchestra to play the music for a classical album. That is why you may increasingly notice new classical recordings being made by Eastern European orchestras, in particular, because their fees can be a fraction of that. Wherever it may be recorded, an album requires a full budget to be planned in advance to pay not only the musicians but also the studio rental and recording engineers and later post-production fees. Nowadays, record companies will not risk advancing this money and then recouping it from album sales, because classical recordings rarely even come close to breaking even through sales. So they must be paid in advance, typically through grants or private philanthropy, which must be applied for or raised far in advanceand that can take months.

Cover of The Sea Knows composed by Michael Kurek. (Courtesy of Michael Kurek)

When and How Is Classical Music Recorded?

A classical orchestra recording often entails a public performance first, since the musicians often learn and rehearse the music first, anyway, so they might as well put it on their season of concerts. To save money on recording sessions in a rented studio, the orchestral concert itself is typically recorded live in its regular concert hall with an audience, and also at the dress rehearsal the day before, without an audience. The concert recording may have coughing or other disruptive noises from the audience, and so those spots in the music, excerpted from the clean dress rehearsal, can be edited in with surgical precision to remove the coughs. Or if the musicians made mistakes like playing wrong notes in the same spot in the music, both at the dress and in the concert, there can be a third spotting session where they play only those passages again and get them right so that those corrections can be edited in.

Typically, there will be a main center pair of microphones placed over the conductor that capture the rooms natural mixture of the full orchestra. Additional spot mics will be placed on certain instruments or sections of the orchestra so that those can be turned up or down later. Even so, the ideal is to capture the natural blend of the orchestra in the room as much as possible. This differs from some popular music, where the parts might be separately recorded in isolation booths or even on different days, and then mixed together later.

A professional recording studio with large side window to allow a view of the musicians below. (Timur Kulgarin/Shutterstock)

Not only are the best moments from multiple playings of the music edited seamlessly together into a near perfect performance (something like Photoshop in sound), the post-production engineers can use artificial, digital reverb to make the recordings sound as if the musicians are playing in a great concert hall or even a haunting cathedral, perhaps, with some instruments sounding more distant than others, for depth, and the sound can be moved further to the left or right of the stereo field. Then, the finished recording must have a CD booklet created and the album marketed for sale in both physical and digital versions, even as books now are.

These have been, at least, the 10 easy lessons in my title, so what is the hard one? Im torn between answering that the hard one is the years of learning to skillfully compose beautiful music, or the years of practicing to perform it beautifully, or sometimes hardest of all, finding the funds to record it!

American composer Michael Kurek is the composer and producer of the Billboard No. 1 classical album, The Sea Knows, and a member of the Grammy Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy. He is Professor Emeritus of Composition at Vanderbilt University. The most recent of his many awards for composition was being named in March, 2022 Composer Laureate of the State of Tennessee by the Tennessee State Legislature and governor. For more information and music, visit Michaelkurek.com
In this photo provided by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar's Twitter handle, Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi greet the media before their meeting in New Delhi, India, on March 25, 2022. (Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar's Twitter handle via AP)

India Says Ties With China Cant Be Normal If Border Tensions Remain Unresolved

India-China relations will remain strained due to Beijings large deployment of troops at their shared Himalayan border, which violates the 199396 agreements, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Friday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Jaishankar and the national security adviser in Delhi on Friday, the first high-level visit to India by a Chinese official since the border stand-off in Ladakh happened in June 2020.

Speaking at a press briefing, Jaishankar said that the talks with Wang focused on expediting the disengagement of troops in friction areas and deescalation between the two nations.

He noted that Wang had expressed Chinas intention to restore normalcy with India during their discussion, to which Jaishankar responded that normalcy would require the restoration of peace and tranquility on the border.

I was very honest in my discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister, especially in conveying our national sentiments on this issue, Jaishankar said.

The frictions and tensions that arise from Chinas deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship between two neighbors, he added.

Jaishankar said that India wants a stable relationship with China, but the restoration of normalcy is impossible as long as the border situation remains abnormal, with the large deployments of Chinese forces in border areas.

If we are both committed to improving our ties, then this commitment must find full expression in ongoing disengagement talks, he remarked.

Both nations have deployed thousands of troops on the high-altitude border since hand-to-hand fights have reportedly killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers northern Himalayan region of Ladakh in June 2020.

Talks between senior military officers have made little progress, though there have been 15 rounds of talks between the two countries senior commanders.

Beijing has repeatedly said that the border standoff does not represent the entirety of China-India relations, while New Delhi has maintained that peace along the frontier is essential for the two countries to work together.

The two leaders also spoke of their nations approaches to tackling Russias invasion of Ukraine during their meeting and agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire, as well as the return to diplomacy.

Both India and China consider Russia as an ally and have ignored Western calls to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine, which Russia describes as a special military operation.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A U.S. Marine Corp Osprey comes in to land next to soldiers from Japans 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade during an exercise with the U.S. 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Gotemba, Japan, on March 15, 2022. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

Japan Approves Budget to Host US Military Amid Stronger Cooperation

Japans parliament on Friday approved a new agreement with the United States to spend 1 trillion yen ($8 billion) over five years to host U.S. troops, as both countries seek to bolster military cooperation amid threats from China and North Korea.

Under the agreement, Japan will spend 1.05 trillion yen through March 2027 on the advanced arsenals used in joint military exercises, and on expenses to run facilities used by the U.S. forces and the Japanese employees working on American bases in the country.

The budget also includes a new funding category of up to 20 billion yen ($164 million) for the acquisition of advanced virtual combat training systems that will be used for joint exercises between their military forces.

The United States has stationed about 54,000 troops in Japan under the 1960 Japan-U.S. security treaty. Japans government now describes the host-nation support budget as necessary for strengthening the alliance, rather than for kindness as it used to be considered.

The country has ramped up its joint exercises with the United States and other allies, including Australia, Britain, India, France, and Germany, in response to North Koreas series of ballistic missile launches and Chinas increased military assertiveness in the region.

Japan and the United States strongly condemned North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile test on March 24, which is deemed to be Pyongyangs biggest-ever missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States and beyond.

Japan said that the missile landed about 93 miles (150 kilometers) west of the Oshima Peninsula within its exclusive economic zone, Kyodo News reported.

U.S. President Joe Biden met with Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Group of Seven summit in Brussels on Thursday, during which they discussed North Koreas long-range ballistic missile launch, according to the White House.

.@POTUS met with Prime Minister Kishida of Japan at the G7. They discussed North Korea's launch of a long-range ballistic missile, which both leaders strongly condemned, stressed the need for diplomacy, and agreed to continue working together to hold the DPRK accountable. pic.twitter.com/lhgsGree6P  The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 24, 2022

Both leaders strongly condemned, stressed the need for diplomacy, and agreed to continue working together to hold the DPRK accountable, the White House said in a tweet, using the official acronym for North Korea.

The two leaders have previously vowed to push back against Chinas attempts to alter the status quo in the South China Sea, where China has been ramping up military presence, and the East China Sea, where the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands are located.

The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have mostly been administered by Japan since 1895, but Beijing began asserting its rights over the islands in the 1970s. In China, the islands are called the Diaoyu Islands.

The White House said on Jan. 21 that Biden has reaffirmed the United States unwavering commitment to the defense of Japan, using its full range of capabilities, including the application of the 1960 Japan-U.S. security treaty.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Judge Tosses Maryland Congressional Map Over Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering

A Maryland judge on March 25 threw out a congressional map lawmakers recently enacted, ruling that it was a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Anne Arundel County Senior Judge Lynne Battaglia, an appointee of former Democrat Gov. Glendening, found that the map unconstitutionally was aimed at reducing the power of Republican voters because it shifted the only GOP member of Congress representing Maryland, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), into a different district, where he was likely to lose.

The new map, approved by Democrat state lawmakers in Maryland in late 2021, left Democrats with an estimated advantage in every single one of the eight congressional districts, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

Further, Sean Trende, an elections analyst tapped by plaintiffs, found through voting simulations that Democrats would likely win all eight districts.

Trende testified in the case that the map was drawn with an intent to hurt the Republican partys chances of letting anyone in Congress and dilutes and diminishes the ability of Republicans to elect candidates of choice.

Allan Lichtman, another analyst, told the court that Trendes analysis was lacking and that he believed the map was actually tilted towards Republicans compared to previous maps, which would lead to the GOP gaining seats in the 2022 midterm elections. But he drew criticism from the judge when he falsely said the map did not pit Harris against Rep. Kewisi Mfume (D-Md.) in Marylands Seventh Congressional DistrictHarris moved to Cambridge after the map was enacted so he could defend the seat he holdsand he acknowledged under cross-examination that Democrats did not lose seats during midterm elections during former President Barack Obamas time in office.

Battaglia said she found Trendes testimony and analysis compelling and ruled that the map is an outlier and product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.

She ordered the General Assembly to develop a new plan that is constitutional.

The ruling came after voters represented by Fair Maps Maryland and Judicial Watch sued over the map.

Judge Battaglias ruling confirms what we have all known for yearsMaryland is ground zero for gerrymandering, our districts and political reality reek of it, and there is abundant proof that it is occurring, Doug Mayer, spokesman for Fair Maps Maryland, said in a statement.

This key court victory against abusive partisan gerrymandering by Democrats in Maryland could set a national precedent, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Members of the legislature on the General Assembly commission that was in charge of making the map did not respond to requests for comment.

Maryland Sen. Bill Ferguson and state Del. Adrienne Jones, both Democrats and members of the panel, said in a joint statement after the map was enacted that it provides cleaner lines and more compact districts while keeping a significant portion of Marylanders in their current districts, ensuring continuity of representation.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, has not decided on whether an appeal will be lodged, his office told The Epoch Times in an email.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who formed a body that recommended a different map, said the ruling puts in plain view the partisan, secretive, and rigged process that led to the legislatures illegal and unconstitutional maps and called on lawmakers to adopt the map drawn up by the body.
Police tape is seen in this stock photo. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

Man Charged in Fatal Shooting of 7-Year-Old Girl in Detroit Area

PONTIAC, Mich.A 19-year-old man is facing murder charges in a drive-by shooting that killed a 7-year-old girl outside her Detroit-area home, authorities said Friday.

Justin Rouser was arraigned Friday on first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and other charges, according to the Oakland County sheriffs office. He was ordered held without bond in the county jail.

The Associated Press was unable Friday afternoon to determine if Rouser has an attorney.

On March 18, Ariah Jackson was in the rear seat of a car stopped in the driveway of her Pontiac home when shots were fired at the car from an SUV, authorities said.

The girls mother, 30, and three other children also were in the car. Ariah was struck once in the back of her head. Her mothers head was grazed by a bullet. Ariahs sister and two cousins were not wounded.

Ariah was rushed to a hospital, where she later was pronounced dead.

Her mother told deputies that she was waiting at a school bus stop for her two children and two nieces when she noticed an orange SUV with two males inside drive by. Once the children were off the bus, she drove home. Thats when a male passenger in the SUV fired shots at the car.

The sheriffs office has said the shooting was gang-related and there is no known connection between Rouser and the victim or her family.

Rouser was arrested Wednesday during a traffic stop after leaving a home in nearby Troy where authorities believed he was hiding, the sheriffs office said.

Police were continuing to seek the SUVs driver who has been identified as a 17-year-old Pontiac resident.

Pontiac is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
Memory Issues Plague Long COVID Patients

Memory and concentration problems haunt 7 in 10 patients with long COVID, a pair of new studies indicate.

The findings suggest that COVID-19 has a notable impact on brain health, even if the precise underlying mechanisms remain unclear, British researchers said.

We set out to explore whether some of the long-lasting issues in COVID  things like inflammation and abnormal blood clottinghad an impact on peoples ability to remember and make decisions, explained senior study author Lucy Cheke.

This was because we know from previous work that when theres a lot of inflammation in the body, and when blood forms lots of clots, this can often have an impact on the brain, added Cheke, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. [And] our main finding was that people with ongoing symptoms  with long COVID  had measurable reductions in memory ability.

About 10% to 25% of all COVID patients are believed to be at risk for developing long COVID, the research team noted.

In the March 17 issue of the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Cheke and her colleagues discuss the work they did following patients who were infected with the original Alpha variant of the coronavirus.

All the long COVID participants first enrolled in the study sometime between October 2020 and March 2021, while Alpha was still circulating. (None of the patients had been infected with later coronavirus strains Delta or Omicron.)

Most had been infected at least a half year prior to enrollment, and only a handful had been so sick at the time of infection that they needed to be hospitalized.

Patient symptoms were tracked for about a year and a half, on average.

In the end, the team found that 78% reported difficulty concentrating, while 69% reported experiencing brain fog. About 68% indicated suffering from routine forgetfulness. Meanwhile, 60% said they struggled to identify words when speaking.

When compared with men and women who had never had COVID, long COVID health issues translated into notably lower scores on thinking tests gauging the ability to recall words, remember images and/or make decisions.

The worse a long COVID patients symptoms, the worse he or she performed on such tests, the research found.

The team also observed that long COVID patients who had initially struggled with certain symptoms when first infected were more likely to develop chronic thinking problems. Those initial symptoms included fatigue, dizziness and/or headaches.

Lyn Curtis, a member of Chekes team, experienced this firsthand as a patient.

Having been fit and active all my life, after catching COVID-19 during the first wave, my sonthen 13and I didnt seem to recover, she said in a Cambridge news release. We were left with debilitating fatigue and a confusing mix of strange and life-changing symptoms. I was also left with significant neurological symptoms, including speech and language issues, which had a huge impact on my life.

Given that such symptoms impacts the most on my quality of life and ability to work, Curtis thinks that studies such as these are essential, to get a better handle on whats actually going on and develop effective treatments.

Dr. Colin Franz is a physician-scientist at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. He agreed that the research is still murky when it comes to pinpointing the cause of these thinking problems.

We dont know for sure what causes these issues with brain function and health from long COVID, said Franz, who wasnt involved with the studies.

The reasons may vary from person to person, he said. For example, one person may have poor sleep and breathing difficulties that lead to chronic fatigue and indirectly affect brain health and function. In other people, there may be persistent levels of inflammation in the body.

Still, Franz said long COVID patients should stay hopeful.

Look for a comprehensive post-COVID clinic in your community, which can connect you with a multitude of clinicians who can help address all lingering impairments of COVID in a more holistic fashion, he advised. For example, some people need to see a cardiologist or pulmonologist for breathing treatments, others a rheumatologist or physiatrist for painful joints.

Most of our patients improve with a structured approach, yet the improvements are gradual, Franz said. You dont have to struggle through this by yourself.

More information

Theres more on long COVID at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Lucy Cheke, PhD, associate professor, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England; Colin K. Franz MD, PhD, physician-scientist, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago; University of Cambridge, news release, March 17, 2022; Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, March 17, 2022.

Alan Mozes has been a medical journalist for 20 years, having previously reported for Reuters Health and Gannett News. He is also an accomplished photographer, whose work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Canon Europe, and Business Insider. A New Yorker born and bred, hes a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

This story was originally published on the HealthDay site.
Black smoke billows after authorities said a missile attack hit an industrial area of Lviv, Ukraine, on March 26, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Missiles Hit Lviv in Major Air Attack, Injuring 5 People: Ukrainian Officials

LVIV, UkrainePowerful explosions rocked Lviv, in western Ukraine, on March 26, creating plumes of thick black smoke and causing at least five injuries, according to Ukrainian officials, with the air attack occurring as U.S. President Joe Biden was on a state visit to neighboring Poland.

Maksym Kozytskyy, the governor of Lviv, confirmed three powerful explosions caused by what he said were two missile strikes at around 4:30 p.m. local time.

He said preliminary reports indicate five people were injured, and urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.

The explosions sent smoke billowing into the sky in the northeastern part of Lviv and triggered air raid sirens, according to Epoch Times journalists, who couldnt immediately verify the cause.

Locals said that a large fuel storage depot had been struck, since the amount of smoke suggested that it was something with a massive amount of combustible material.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyy later confirmed that a fuel storage facility had been hit and that no residential buildings had been damaged.

Emergency crews responded to the scene as a fire burned and smoke billowed.

Plumes of smoke are seen after what officials said was a missile strike in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 26, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/Epoch Times)

Ukrainian Member of Parliament Lesia Vasylenko said in a tweet that multiple Russian rockets hit a big commodities supermarket and that civilian casualties were likely.

Unconfirmed footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be a cruise missile in the air above Lviv.

Lviv is around 50 miles east of the border with Poland, where Biden is on a state visit to reassure NATO allies that the United States stands ready to defend any Russian attacks on NATO territory.

Biden met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in the Polish capital Warsaw on March 26, in his first face-to-face meeting with top Ukrainian officials since the start of the war.

Your freedom is ours, Biden told Polands President Andrzej Duda earlier, echoing one of that countrys unofficial mottos. At the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, the two leaders spoke of their mutual respect and shared goals to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Duda said, Although times are very difficult, today PolishAmerican relations are flourishing.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Polish President Andrzej Duda receive an overview of the Combined Operations Integration Cell in Rzeszow, Poland, on March 25, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden called the collective defense agreement of NATO a sacred commitment, and said the unity of the Western military alliance is of the utmost importance.

Before leaving Poland, Biden is scheduled to deliver an address expected to focus on the difficult path ahead, as U.S. and Western allies continue to assist Ukraine and prod Russia to halt its invasion.

More than 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began, and more than 2.2 million Ukrainians have crossed into Poland.

Intense fighting was reported in a number of locations in Ukraine on March 26, suggesting there would be no swift letup in the conflict.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Tom Ozimek Reporter Follow Tom Ozimek has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education. The best writing advice he's ever heard is from Roy Peter Clark: 'Hit your target' and 'leave the best for last.'
An Orange County Sheriff's Department vehicle is parked at the Saddleback Station on Sept. 14, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Mission Viejo Cracks Down on Fentanyl, Catalytic Converter Thefts

MISSION VIEJO, Calif.Mission Viejo is cracking down on crime after its city council passed two ordinances to support the countys stance against fentanyl and to reduce thefts of catalytic converters.

The city council voted unanimously on Mar. 22 to approve a resolution supporting Orange Countys own resolution that commits to eliminating the threat of fentanyl in the community.

Fentanyl deaths have increased dramatically in recent years, with deaths from ingesting the drug jumping 1,100 percent over the last five years. Statewide, the deaths increased by 1,600 percent over the same time period.

We are finding fentanyl is adulterating numerous drugs, some of them even legal drugs out there, Orange County Supervisor Don Wager said while attending Mission Viejos council meeting. Stories of young people may be studying for an exam, taking something to stay awake, and finding that it is laced with fentanyl and dying as a result.

The numbers are staggering and extraordinarily depressing.

While the resolution is mostly symbolic, it gives support to the Orange County Sheriffs Department, which the city contracts for police services, in its efforts to reduce the prevalence of fentanyl in the community.

The sheriffs department seized 388 pounds of fentanyl from 2017 through 2020a whopping 88 million potentially lethal dosesthe department announced.

A Drug Enforcement Administration chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. (AFP via Getty Images/Don Emmert)

Councilors also unanimously passed an ordinance that will make it unlawful to possess a catalytic converter that is not attached to a vehicle without proof of ownership.

Catalytic converters are a component of a vehicles exhaust system that helps reduce harmful emissions and airborne pollutants from going into the environment. The converters contain a variety of precious metals, making them worth at least hundreds of dollars, though it can cost thousands for a vehicle owner to replace.

The number of converters stolen in Mission Viejo increased from 11 in 2019 to 70 in 2020, according to the sheriffs department. Additionally, there were 8,000 stolen statewide from January to May 2021 and 26,000 stolen nationwide during the same period.

Unfortunately, unless youve done extra modifications to your vehicle, [converters] can be removed in just minutes with battery-operated reciprocal sawsin a minute or two yours is gone, Mission Viejo Sheriffs Department Cpt. Quyen Vuong said during the meeting.

Traditionally, police have had difficulties with these thefts due to it being very difficult for officers to prove its a theft. Since converters do not have anything on them identifying who they belong to, officers who catch criminals with cut converters usually cannot prove they are stolen.

If you get pulled over and youve got a couple [converters] in the back seat, and the deputy says Are those yours? you say Yes, they have no way to dispute it, Vuong said.

With the new ordinance, police officers will be able to arrest suspects caught with cut converters, which they were not able to before.

What this does is create an obligation of proof of ownership, Vuong said. Its not perfect, but its a large step forward in ensuring those who do get caught cant just plead ignorance and claim [the converter] is theirs.

The City of Irvine passed a similar ordinance last November.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department told The Epoch Times in February that it has observed a 650 percent increase in catalytic converter thefts throughout the past year. (Courtesy of The Orange County Sheriffs Department)
Conservative member of Parliament Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 30, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Poilievre Vows to Ban Oil Imports From Dirty Dictators Within 5 Years If Elected Prime Minister

Saudi Arabia was Canada's second-largest crude oil exporter after the US in 2020, says Canada Energy Regulator

Conservative MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre vows to end imports of overseas oil within five years if elected prime minister.

During a campaign stop on Friday in Saint John, N.B., Poilievre said he will do so by banning imports from polluting dictatorships, doubling Newfoundland and Labradors oil production, and supporting projects that move western Canadian oil to eastern Canadian markets.

We will ban oil from polluting dictatorships, he said. Overseas countries that are run by dictators that use money from their sales to fund terrorism or abuse their citizens rights and fail to meet our high environmental standards here in Canada, will no longer have the privilege to sell oil into the Canadian marketplace.

Though most Canadian crude oil comes from the United States, nearly 25 percent was imported from other countries, according to the Canada Energy Regulator in its latest update on April 14, 2021.

In 2020, Canada imported roughly 73,600 barrels (13 percent) of crude oil a day from Saudi Arabia, over 23,000 barrels per day from Nigeria (4 percent), and about 16,000 barrels (3 percent) per day from Norway.

Notably, the last time Canada imported Russian crude oil was in 2019 with almost 18,000 barrels per day. The same year, over 8,300 barrels a day came from Azerbaijan.

Poilievre said importing oil from polluting dictatorships is contradictory to the environmental policies pushed by the federal government in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

No matter where its produced around the world, there will be impacts, he said.

You think that Nigeria has higher standards than Canada? Right now, were importing oil from Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and other overseas countries. I would rather bring that production here to Canada, where we can ensure that the upstream production is at the highest environmental standard.

He argued that the consumption of oil in Canada will continue no matter which party is in power or what environmental policies are in place, so the issue is not about having oil or no oil, but how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has increased our reliance on foreign oil.

Justin Trudeau supports oilas long as its foreign oil. Every time Trudeau kills a Canadian energy project or pipeline, dictators like [Vladimir] Putin and [Nicolas] Maduro do a victory dance because it means they can dominate the international energy market, Poilievre said.

Here in Canada, meanwhile, we see our energy workers suffering, left behind. Welders, pipe fitters, energy workers, all suffering from the governments attack on their sector.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in Parliament on March 22, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

In October 2017, Calgary-based pipeline company TC Energy scrapped its Energy East project that sought to move crude oil from Alberta to East Coast refiners, under the watch of the Trudeau government.

In its withdrawal letter to the National Energy Board (NEB), the company said there remains substantial uncertainty around the scope, timing, and cost associated with the regulatory review of the project. There is also the question of jurisdiction that arises from the NEBs Decision.

The ending of the Energy East project means Atlantic Canadian refineries have no pipeline access to crude oil from western Canada, making them reliant on imports from other countries.

Canada Action, a non-partisan organization that advocates for the development of Canadas natural resources, says on its website that the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John relies heavily on Saudi Arabia and the United States for oil supply.

Poilievre said if he becomes prime minister he will support the 2018 plan by Newfoundland and Labradors government to double the provinces offshore oil production from 244,000 barrels a day to 650,000 barrels a day by 2030.

Thats an extra 400,000 barrels of Canadian petroleummore than enough to replace the 128,000 barrels a day that Canada has been importing from overseas, he said. It will also mean that more jobs are created here in Atlantic Canada.

To double the output, Poilievres campaign promised to repeal the anti-energy law Bill C-69, and remove government gatekeepers and quickly approve environmentally responsible expansions of Newfoundlands offshore sector.

Poilievre also called upon the Trudeau government to immediately approve the 200,000 barrel-a-day Bay du Nord project, which would use a floating production unit for storage and offshore offloading to develop an oil field in the Flemish Pass.

That one project alone would be enough to displace all of the overseas oil Canada is importing, he said.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has twice delayed ruling on the project due to opposition voiced by climate activists. He is expected to release a decision by mid-April.

Poilievre said he would support west-to-east energy projects like pipelines or rail construction to maximize the success of moving western oil to eastern markets, and displace dirty dictators.

Were going to take back control of our energy, our people are going to take back control of their lives, and we will make Canada the freest country on earth, he said.

In other words, no more dollars for dictators. Instead, lets have more paycheques for Canadian workers.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Kate Middleton is making her Caribbean Royal Tour with Prince William an especially fashionable affair.

Kate Middleton in a green Philippa Lepley green gown paired with glass slippers at Nassau int he Bahamas on March 25, 2022. - Credit: News Licensing / MEGA

News Licensing / MEGA

More from Footwear News

Kate Middleton in a green Philippa Lepley green gown paired with glass slippers at Nassau int he Bahamas on March 25, 2022. - Credit: News Licensing / MEGA

News Licensing / MEGA

Yesterday was no exception in the Bahamas, where Middleton went with a blue satin dress that featured a plunging neckline for a sophisticated edge at a soiree. The garment also had ties on the shoulders and included an intricately wrapped bodice. The skirt of the gown was bell-shaped and incorporated a pleated hemline.

It was reminiscent of the color of Cinderellas ball gown from Disneys beloved character.

Kate Middleton in a green Philippa Lepley green gown paired with glass slippers at Nassau int he Bahamas on March 25, 2022. - Credit: News Licensing / MEGA

News Licensing / MEGA

An iconic part of Cinderellas outfit was her pair of glass slippers. Middleton channeled the look with see-through heels. Although her shoes got covered up by her billowing dress, some shots revealed that Middleton wore sheer pointed-toe pumps from Gianvito Rossi, adorned with crystals for an extra touch of fairytale glitter.

As for accessories, Middleton went with a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace that incorporated the brands signature chrysanthemum flower pendants that had a sparkling pearlescent effect paired with matching earrings for a regal finish.

The Duchess of Cambridge, along with Prince William, is on an eight-day tour that includes visits to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. The occasion  notably similar to the Queens first visit to Jamaica in 1953  will also be a prime opportunity for the pair to champion causes like the Earthshot Prize.

When it comes to her red carpet style, Middleton wears beautiful creations from brands like Jenny Peckham, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Catherine Walker and Ralph Lauren.

Story continues

Flip through the gallery to see Middletons best shoe looks through the years.

Launch Gallery: Kate Middleton's Best Shoe Looks Through the Years

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People work on new housing at North Lakes in Brisbane, Australia, on June 10, 2016. (Glenn Hunt/Getty Images)

Queenslands Housing Shortfalls Cause No End of Troubles to Regional Employers

A severe shortage of housing is causing businesses in the Australian state of Queensland to run with insufficient staff and shorter operating hours, according to chambers of commerce across the state.

The scant supply of accommodation has a disproportionate effect in regional areas, resulting in employers having to offer wage incentives or taking up the task of finding housing themselves.

Terri-Ann Crothers, president of the Goondiwindi chamber of commerce, said that in her local area, employers were trying to deal with the lack of housing in the agriculture, education, hospitality, and engineering sectors.

However, there are not enough accommodation options, to buy or rent, available to house current residents, let alone new residents, Crothers said. Its difficult to offer a job when theres nowhere for the new employee and their family to live.

In Kilcoy, just four hours of driving away from Goondiwindi, larger farming, manufacturing, and construction businesses are using much higher pay rates to recruit qualified workers.

Then, in many cases, [they] have to find them accommodation, Kilcoy chamber president Bronwyn Davies said. There is an accommodation crisis every direction.

Meanwhile, in the town of Kingaroy, the situation has become more desperate as some workers have to pay to stay in motels.

We are seeing more people sleeping rough in our region, which is something that has never really been visible before, Kingaroy chamber president Damien Martoo said.

A general view of properties at North Lakes in Brisbane, Australia, on June 10, 2016. (Glenn Hunt/Getty Images)

On North Stradbroke Island, one of the worlds largest sand islands and a holiday getaway, housing problems are hurting local businesses, including those of chamber president Colin Battersby.

Not only is there a lack of accommodation options for seasonal staff needed to service the tourism sector, but permanent rental options have dried up for existing residents, and many have been forced to leave the island altogether, Battersby said.

His holiday rental management business and fish and chip shop are facing serious staffing pressure.

With the upcoming school holidays, we will not be able to operate and open the cafe the hours we would normally due to a lack of staffing options, he said.

Earlier in the week commencing March 21, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland and eleven peak bodies submitted a joint letter to the federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar and opposition spokesman Jason Clare, asking for a national housing summit to address the crisis facing Queensland.

The minister did not directly respond to the call for a national housing summit but said on March 23 that the current policy of the Australian government was designed to reduce pressure.

The Local Government Association of Queensland, which is the peak body for local governments in the state and a co-signatory to the joint letter, said on March 24 that it was bitterly disappointed with the rejection of the housing minister.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and deputy security council chief Dmitry Medvedev attend a meeting with members of the government in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 15, 2020. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters/File Photo)

Russia May Use Nuclear Weapons in Conventional Arms Conflict, Medvedev Warns

Dmitry Medvedev, a former president of Russia and current deputy head of its security council, says Moscow could resort to a nuclear strike even in a conventional arms conflict, in remarks that came just days after he warned of a nuclear dystopia if Washington pressed on with what he claimed was a plot to destroy Russia.

Medvedev revived the specter of a nuclear strike in an interview published March 26 with state-backed media RIA Novosti, in which he outlined Russias military doctrine that allows for the use of atomic weapons if a conventional arms conflict posed an existential threat to Russia.

We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the grounds on which the Russian Federation is entitled to use nuclear weapons, he said.

No. 1 is the situation when Russia is struck by a nuclear missile. The second case is any use of other nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies. The third is an attack on a critical infrastructure that will have paralyzed our nuclear deterrent forces.

A rocket launches from missile system as part of a ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile test launched from the Plesetsk facility in northwestern Russia on Dec. 9, 2020. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

And the fourth case is when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies, which jeopardized the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons, that is, with the use of conventional weapons.

Medvedev was presumably citing a Russian presidential directive on nuclear deterrence, published in June 2020, which specifies situations under which Russia could use nuclear weapons. The decree allows for the use of a nuclear strike in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy.

His remarks come as tensions between NATO and Russia are running high over Russias invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has warned that it considers NATO arms convoys to Ukraine legitimate targets and, several days after hostilities broke out, Russian President Vladimir Putin put his countrys nuclear forces on high alert.

One of Putins closest allies, Medvedev earlier warned of the potential for nuclear armageddon.

He claimed in a March 23 statement that Washington had engaged in a primitive game to destroy Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It means Russia must be humiliated, limited, shattered, divided, and destroyed, Medvedev said.

The United States has repeatedly said that it doesnt want the collapse of Russia and that its own interests are best served by a prosperous, stable, and open Russia.

Medvedev warned that if Washington managed to accomplish what he characterized as its destructive aims with respect to Russia, the world could face a dystopian crisis that would end in a big nuclear explosion.

Former Russian President and current Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev speaks at a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 22, 2022. (Yekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP)

The destruction of the worlds biggest country by area, Medvedev said, could lead to an unstable leadership in Moscow with a maximum number of nuclear weapons aimed at targets in the United States and Europe.

Russia has the largest number of nuclear warheads of any country, according to the Arms Control Association, which puts the figure at 6,257.

Medvedev said that Russias collapse would lead to five or six nuclear-armed states across the Eurasian landmass run by freaks, fanatics and radicals.

Is this a dystopia or some mad futuristic forecast? Is it pulp fiction? No, Medvedev said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on March 25 that the United States is contingency planning for the possibility of a Russian attack on NATO territory.

The President has been about as clear as one can be about his absolute determination to respond decisively alongside the other members of our alliance if Russia attacks NATO, Sullivan said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Russian Central Bank to Restart Gold Purchases From Banks

Russias central bank plans to restart its purchase of gold from banks beginning March 28 in a bid to balance supply and demand in the domestic precious metals market, and bring back a semblance of normalcy to the countrys economy.

The central bank will pay a fixed rate of 5,000 rubles ($49) per gram of gold between March 28 and June 30, the institution said in a March 25 press release. This is below the value of gold in the international market where a gram costs around $62.96 as of March 25, according to KITCO. The Russian central bank argues that the established price level will ensure a stable supply of gold and the smooth functioning of the gold mining industry in the current year.

After June 30, the purchase price of gold would be adjusted, taking into account the emerging balance of supply and demand in the local market.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a law on March 9 that exempted individuals from paying the 20 percent value-added tax when purchasing physical gold. Demand for gold from households consequently increased, and the Russian central bank halted gold-buying from banks in mid-March to meet demand.

Russia is estimated to hold over 2,000 metric tons of gold valued at around $140 billion. This represents the fifth-largest stash of gold in the world. Gold makes up roughly 20 percent of Moscows total reserves. However, $300 billion of Russias reservesroughly 50 percent of total reserveshave been frozen as part of Western sanctions.

G7 nations recently announced that they will be restricting the Russian central banks ability to use gold in transactions but Moscow is trying to circumvent the restrictions.

There is evidence that the Russians may be trying to get roundthe Russians are obviously going to try to get roundthe sanctions on their gold, and were taking steps to try to make sure that theres no leakage, no sale of bullion into markets around the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said to reporters on March 24.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury issued a notice on March 24, stating that gold transactions with Russia are banned by citing executive orders signed by President Joe Biden. U.S. entities must make sure that they do not engage in such prohibited transactions as violations can result in criminal or civil penalties, the Treasury warned.
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)

Russian Oligarchs Are Welcome in Turkey for Legal Activities: Foreign Minister

Turkey is open to Russian oligarchs as long as theyre conducting legal activities, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saturday.

Whatever their activities in Turkey, it has to be legal. We will allow any legal and legitimate activities and we will not allow any illegal activities in Turkey whatever it is, he said at the Doha Forum international conference.

Cavusoglu also clarified that Turkey will not enforce other countries sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

In principle, we implement U.N. [United Nations] approved sanctions, he added.

Superyacht Luna owned by Russian billionaire Farkad Akhmedov is docked at Port Rashid in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 28, 2019. (Christopher Pike/Reuters)

Ukraines allies imposed sanctions against Russia and people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the oligarchs.

The United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain have seized several superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs.

The French government announced on Wednesday that they have frozen Russian oligarch assets worth about 800 million euros ($879.2 million).

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich reportedly docked near Bodrum, a city in southwest Turkey, and in the Turkish tourist resort of Marmaris.

Cavusoglu refused to confirm the reports when asked by CNBCs Hadley Gamble.

The Epoch Times can not verify the reports independently.

Ukraine Has No Luxury to Choose Between East or West

Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, which was described by Russias government as a special military operation.

The United Nations said that as of March 25, it had recorded 1,081 deaths and 1,707 injuries of civilians in Ukraine because of Russias military actions, mostly caused by shelling and airstrikes.

Nearly 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began, United Nations data show.

Ukrainians who are fleeing war-torn eastern cities wait at the Lviv train station for onward travel, in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 24, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Cavusoglu also shared his thoughts about Ukraines pursuit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership and the future relationship between the former Soviet Union country and Russia.

He straightforwardly said Ukraine will not be accepted in NATO.

I think Ukraine understood that the NATO membership will not happen. It was not going to happen anyway. And many European allies will [be] against the NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia, he said.

Instead of seeking membership in NATO and turning to a pro-western stance, Ukraine should maintain a balanced foreign policy.

Ukraine has no luxury to choose between east or west, between Russia and Europe, between Turkey and Russia. Ukraine, Turkey, as countries in our region should have balanced foreign policy with everybody, he added.
The Bed Bath & Beyond sign in Westbury, N.Y., on March 20, 2020. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Ryan Cohen and Bed Bath & Beyond Reach Agreement

Bed Bath & Beyond has named three new independent directors to the Board of Directors.

The agreement comes after it was announced earlier this month that Ryan Cohen and RC Ventures had acquired 9.8 percent of the company and were pushing for changes.

By refreshing the Board with shareholder-designated individuals who possess capital markets acumen and transaction experience, the company is well-positioned to review alternatives for buybuy BABY, Cohen said. I appreciate that management and the Board were willing to promptly embrace our ideas and look forward to supporting them in the year ahead.

The new board members are:

Marjorie L. Bowen: previous director for Centric Brands, Genesco, Navient, Sequential Brands, and Talbots.

Shelly C. Lombard: experience with capital allocation, corporate governance, and strategic reviews.

Ben Rosenzweig: experience in capital allocation, mergers & acquisitions, and serving on public company board of directors.

The board will expand to 14 members temporarily with the three newly appointed members standing for election at the companys 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The board will go back to 11 members after the annual meeting.

The three new directors collectively bring deep expertise in capital allocation, corporate governance, strategic planning and transactions, the company said.

Along with the new appointees to the board, the company also announced a four-person committee to explore alternatives for the Buy Buy Baby brand to unlock shareholder value.

The Strategy Committee has the ability to retain independent advisors to support the development of recommendations that it will ultimately make to the full Board.

Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Mark Tritton called Buy Buy Baby a tremendous asset.

Cohen argued the Buy Buy Baby brand could be worth several billion dollars if spun off or sold. Bed Bath & Beyond has a market capitalization of around $2 billion, which could make the asset sale a significant move to boost shareholder value.

Why Its Important

Bed Bath & Beyond laid out a transformation plan over the last two years. With Cohen now pushing for additional changes, shareholder value could be unlocked.

The Board is highly committed to fundamentally reshaping Bed Bath & Beyond for our customers while driving growth and profitability across its banners, the company said.

Cohen owns a 9.8 percent stake in Bed Bath & Beyond and the company could be the latest large e-commerce bet by the investor.

Cohen sent a letter to the board in early March pushing to streamline operations and to sell or spinoff the Buy Buy Baby brand.

Cohen is the founder of Chewy Inc, a pet specialty e-commerce company that was sold to PetSmart in 2017 for $3.4 billion. Chewy is now publicly traded and commands a market capitalization of $19.2 billion.

Many investors now know Cohen as the face of the turnaround of video game retailer GameStop Corp. GameStop shares soared in 2021 in an intense David vs. Goliath of retail traders versus hedge funds that came as Cohen was transitioning the company from physical to e-commerce in the background.

GameStop has a market capitalization of $10.9 billion. Cohen recently increased his stake in the company to 11.9 percent.

By Chris Katje

 2022 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Ontario MPP Sheref Sabawy at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont., on March 25, 2022. (NTD)

MISSISSAUGA, CanadaOntario member of provincial parliament (MPP) Sheref Sabawy was so impressed with Shen Yun Performing Arts after seeing its performance at the Living Arts Centre that he said hell come back the next day to see it again.

The beauty of the color and the beauty of the music is amazing.  The synchronization, the rhythm.  Its amazing, Mr. Sabawy said at the theatre on March 25. Im so impressed.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company that showcases an all-new program around the world every year in carrying out its mission to revive the rich traditional culture of China.

Mr. Sabawy said Shen Yun allows Canadians to learn more about the Chinese culture and is something Canadas Chinese community can take pride in.

[It allows Chinese-Canadians] to be proud of their culture, he said.

Ontario MPP Rudy Cuzzetto and his wife, Marie, at the Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont., on March 25, 2022. (Kisa Ou/The Epoch Times)

Fellow MPP Rudy Cuzzetto was delighted to see Shen Yun, saying that the production elevates the spirit.

Your spirit does elevate once you watch this performance, he said.

Mr. Cuzzetto added that its a pity Shen Yun cant perform in China and the Chinese people cant see the performance live.

Its unfortunate that they cant perform in China, which would be great for the Chinese community to see how talented [Shen Yuns dancers] are, he said.

Shen Yuns website explains that the companys mission is to use performing arts to revive the essence of Chinese culturetraditionally considered a divinely inspired civilization.

However, since the current communist regime in China is officially an atheist regime, it is afraid of the freedom of expression this arts company enjoys in the West, the website says.

I wish they would be able  to see this, because even at the  scene where the young lady was dead, and she came back to life, that is so spiritual, and theres no words to say anything here at this present time, Mr. Cuzzetto said.

His comments were in reference to the dance story Insanity During the End of Days, which shows organ harvesting by the Chinese communist regime from adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual practice in todays China.

Reflecting on Shen Yuns portrayal of Chinese history and culture, Mr. Cuzzetto said its important to be aware of the past.

You always have to go backward to go forward, he said. Its always good to look at the past, and improve going forward in the future, to make things much better.

Mr. Cuzzetto said hed like to tell others to come and see Shen Yun.

Its outstanding, he said. The talent is unbelievable.

Shen Yun Performing Arts Global Companys curtain call at the Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, on March 25, 2022. (The Epoch Times)

Reporting by NTD and Lisa Ou.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
A member of the Navy receives a COVID-19 vaccine at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, South Korea, on Dec. 29, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Erin Conway)

Supreme Court Sides With Pentagon Over COVID-19 Vaccination Status in Navy SEALs Deployment

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Pentagon on March 25, temporarily granting the departments request to let U.S. Navy commanders consider COVID-19 vaccination status when deciding whether to deploy Navy SEALs or other Navy Special Warfare personnel.

The 63 ruling overturns a district court order in January, and is in place until ongoing litigation is resolved in other lower courts.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote in a concurring opinion (pdf), In this case, the District Court, while no doubt well-intentioned, in effect inserted itself into the Navys chain of command, overriding military commanders professional military judgments.

His statement parallels an argument the Biden administration made to the Supreme Court in early March (pdf), which reads, in part: By requiring the Navy to deploy and assign respondents without regard for their vaccination status, the district court effectively inserted itself into the Navys chain of command.

Kavanaugh also wrote that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not justify judicial intrusion into military affairs in this case. He said: That is because the Navy has an extraordinarily compelling interest in maintaining strategic and operational control over the assignment and deployment of all Special Warfare personnelincluding control over decisions about military readiness. And no less restrictive means would satisfy that interest in this context.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Alito, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, called the ruling a great injustice in a dissenting opinion.

I agree that the Navy has a compelling interest in preventing COVID19 infection from impairing its ability to carry out its vital responsibilities, as well as a compelling interest in minimizing any serious health risk to Navy personnel.

But the Navys summary rejection of respondents requests for religious exemptions was by no means the least restrictive means of furthering those interests.

Alito also said he dissented due to the language of the Biden administrations application to the Supreme Court and the high courts order, which he said allows the Navy to use respondents unvaccinated status as a reason for directing them to perform whatever duties or functions the Navy wants, including sitting alone in a room pushing paper or reading manuals for the duration of the appellate process.

He said the Biden administration has not shown a compelling interest in obtaining the level of relief it sought from the Supreme Court.

I would not rubberstamp the Governments proposed language, he wrote. While I am not sure that the Navy is entitled to any relief at this stage, I am also wary, as was the District Court, about judicial interference with sensitive military decision making.

The ruling comes amid a legal challenge to the Pentagons COVID-19 vaccine mandate, brought by a group of unvaccinated 35 Navy Special Warfare service membersamong them 26 Navy SEALswho sought religious exemptions to the mandate.

Mike Berry, general counsel for First Liberty Institute, the nonprofit law firm that filed the suit on behalf of the Navy Special Warfare service members, said in a statement to Fox News: The Courts narrow partial stay will not deter our mission to ensure Americas service members do not lose their religious freedom. As Justice Alito said, this is a great injustice.

Back and Forth Legal Battle

In the lawsuit filed in 2021, the Navy service members argued that the Biden administrations religious exemption process was a sham because none had been granted. They also said they had a right to a religious exemption under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

A federal judge in January said the group had a right to refuse the vaccine based on their religious beliefs and granted them a preliminary injunction that barred the Pentagon from taking any action against themsuch as disciplining or discharging themfor refusing the vaccine, while litigation plays out.

Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect, U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor, a George W. Bush nominee, wrote in his order (pdf).

Defendants in the suit are President Joe Biden, the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. They subsequently asked the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to partially stay the January order so Navy commanders can still consider vaccination status in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions.

They argued that forcing the Navy to deploy plaintiffs while they are unvaccinated threatens the success of critical missions and needlessly endangers the health and safety of other service members.

The Biden administration didnt seek to block the other aspect of the federal judges ruling that barred the Pentagon from taking actions against the service members for refusing the vaccine.

The New Orleans-based appeals court on Feb. 28 denied the request (pdf). The three-member panel said the defendants hadnt proven paramount interests that justify vaccinating the plaintiffs in violation of their religious beliefs.

They also said: Partially staying the preliminary injunction pending appeal would substantially harm Plaintiffs.

The Biden administration later filed an emergency application in early March, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case, so that the Pentagon can potentially avoid deploying COVID-19 unvaccinated service members.

Forbidding the Navy from considering respondents unvaccinated status in making deployment decisions or other assignments will jeopardize the success of any missions to which they are assigned, Elizabeth Prelogar, solicitor general, said in the application (pdf).
Charles Leone has served as executive director of Temple's public safety for six years and the 115-officer department for 35. (Heather Khalifa/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

Temple Police Chief Resigns Amid Surge of Violence in the Campus Neighborhood

By Susan Snyder

From The Philadelphia Inquirer

Temple Universitys public safety executive and police chief, who has been at the school for more than 36 years, has resigned amid a surge of violence in the campus North Philadelphia neighborhood.

Charles Leone will step down effective April 29, according to a source close to the university. It wasnt immediately clear why Leone is leaving now.

Deputy director Denise Wilhelm, also a member of the department for more than 30 years, is stepping in as interim chief. The university plans to launch a national search and hire a consultant to help, the school said.

The move comes a day after the university announced new measures to try and improve safety, including offering nearby landlords with student tenants up to $2,500 grants to install lighting and cameras on their properties. It also is opening up on-campus residences to any off-campus students who want to move in for the rest of the semester.

The new measures followed two more shootings that occurred on and near the campus last Friday night, increasing angst among parents and students.

In one, two teenage girls in a car were shot during an altercation at the corner of North Broad and Cecil B. Moore, which is on campus. The other shooting was at a house at 1826 W. Diamond St., which is outside the university police patrol zone. Both Temple students and nonstudents attended the party there, but Temple students were not involved in the shooting, Leone had said on Wednesday. At the party, a fight started and a male was kicked out, Leone said. He came back inside shooting, and the security hired for the party fired back, he said. Two people were shot.

The campus has been on edge since November when student Samuel Collington was shot to death in the middle of the day during a carjacking as he returned to his off-campus residence after Thanksgiving. His death followed the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Ahmir Jones, who was not a Temple student, within three blocks of the campus.

The university at that time promised to increase security, including establishing more city police patrols in nearby student residential areas and boosting the 115-officer campus police force by 50 percent.

The school also said it would upgrade lighting, cameras, and emergency phones and increase the availability of shuttle service and its walking escort program. And in January, the university announced that it had hired former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to conduct a campus safety audit. That audit is to begin next month, the school said Wednesday.

The university said in addition to 10 new officers hired in January, several others are undergoing background checks and the department hopes to place 12 more in an upcoming police academy class.

Even though the department has unfilled openings and has lost some officers, the university maintains that since Collingtons death, it has more than doubled the number actively patrolling through the use of overtime and supplemental Philadelphia police, whom the university is paying to patrol the area around campus.

2022 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
President Joe Biden prepares to shake hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to the U.S.Russia summit at the Villa La Grange, in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

Kremlin Responds to Biden Suggesting Regime Change in Russia

The Kremlin brushed aside President Joe Bidens remarks that clearly suggested regime change in Russia.

Thats not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters on Saturday.

Earlier that day, Biden suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin should be removed during a speech in Warsaw, Poland, before he concluded his visit to Eastern Europe.

For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, he said.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2022. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Biden met with Ukrainian officials and refugees and Polish President Andrzej Duda in Poland during his visit.

He framed the war against Russia in Ukraine, which is fought by Ukraine but supported with weapons from its allies including the United States, as part of a war between the democracy and autocracy.

It will be a long fight, he said.

A White House official walked back Bidens fiery remarks against Putin right after his address.

The Presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change, the official stated.

This is not the first time the White House officials denied supporting regime change in Russia.

We are not advocating for killing the leader of a foreign country or regime change. That is not the policy of the United States, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on March 6 after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called for someone in Russia to take this guy out, referring to Putin.

The aftermath of the airstrike on the Mariupol Drama theater, Ukraine, and the area around it, on March 19, 2022. (Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, which was described by Russias government as a special military operation.

The United Nations said that as of March 25, 1,081 civilians were killed in Ukraine because of Russias military actions and nearly 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began.

Biden launched fiery attacks against Putin, recently labeling the latter as a war criminal, butcher, and dictator.

The Kremlin warned on Saturday that Bidens personal insults to Putin will damage the relationship between Washington and Moscow.

Still, a state leader should keep their temper, Peskov told Russian state media TASS on Saturday after Biden labeled Putin as a butcher.

And, of course, each time such personal insults narrow the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current [Biden] Administration. It is necessary to be aware of this, Peskov added.

Reuters contributed to the report.
UK Detains P&O Ship Deemed Unfit to Sail After Company Sacked and Replaced Crew

A ship operated by P&O Ferries has been detained in Larne, Northern Ireland, on Friday night after it was deemed unfit to sail.

It came after the UKs Transport Secretary Grant Shapps ordered very detailed inspections of all P&O vessels following the companys abrupt dismissal and replacement of 800 seafarers.

Shapps on Friday night announced on Twitter that a ship was detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for being unfit to sail, adding he would not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training.

An MCA spokesperson confirmed that it had detained the European Causeway in Larne due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation, and crew training.

The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected, the spokesperson said.

The MCA also confirmed that no passengers or freight were on board the P&O European Causeway vessel when it was detained.

P&O Ferries, which was bought by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World in 2019, sparked outrage when it fired 800 seafarers without any prior notice on March 17 and later replaced them with cheaper agency workers, citing 100 million ($132 million) year-on-year loss.

Chief Executive Peter Hebblethwaite said the new crews were being paid an average hourly wage of 5.50 ($7.25), lower than the UKs minimum wage of 8.91 ($11.74) apart from on domestic routes, but said it is allowed under international maritime rules.

The European Causeway vessel operated by P&O Ferries, which has been detained for being unfit to sail, is docked at Larne Port, Northern Ireland, on March 25, 2022. (Liam McBurney/PA Media)

Cabinet ministers including Prime Minister Boris Johnson have called on P&O Chief Executive Peter Hebblethwaite to resign after he acknowledged to a select committee of MPs that the company knowingly broke the law by deciding not to consult the unions.

The government is also racing to bring new legislation to Parliament next week in a bid to close every possible loophole and force a U-turn of P&Os decision.

Shapps told media on Friday that the proposed new laws will force companies to at least pay the minimum wage and stop them [from] using loopholes like flagging their ships in Cyprus to avoid and evade British law and not give notice of what they were doing, and not talk to the workers and the unions.

Asked about calls to revoke P&Os license, Shapps told BBC Breakfast that the government couldnt directly do that, adding, but Ive already asked the Maritime Coastguard Agency to carry out very, very detailed inspections of the ships.

The Rail, Maritime, and Transport (RMT) union, whose talks with P&O on Friday ended after 20 minutes without any agreement, demanded the government seize the entire fleet of P&O vessels.

The seizing of the European Causeway by the MCA tonight shows that the gangster capitalist outfit P&O are [sic] not fit and proper to run a safe service after the jobs massacre, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said.

This mob should be barred, their ships impounded, and the sacked crews reinstated to get these crucial ferry routes back running safely.

Stewart Dickson, Alliance Party lawmaker for East Antrim, Northern Ireland, said he was absolutely delighted with the news, adding that he believes the decision wasnt vengeance against P&O, but was about passenger safety and the safety of the crew.

Dickson said it seemed to him that it would be very difficult for new staff to be ready in a short period of time because every control will be in a different place, but particularly all those health and safety drills that have to be gone through, everything from lifeboat stations to how each item of equipment operates.

A P&O Ferries spokesman said: European Causeway has undergone an inspection by the MCA in Larne, during which it was deemed not sufficiently ready for entry into operation.

We shall review the findings, make any changes required, and continue to work closely with the MCA to return the ship to service.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Ukraine army Chaplain Mikola Madenski walks through debris outside the destroyed Retroville shopping mall in a residential district, after a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on March 21, 2022.

Ukraine needs boots on the ground to survive. So will the United States and NATO reconsider its decision and confront Russia?

For months American intelligence knew of the possibility that Russia was planning to attack Ukraine without justification. President Joe Biden warned Russia that if it attacked it would suffer sever sanctions that would impair the Russian economy. But at the same time Biden promised the American public that we would not put boots on the ground or planes in the air.

Our threat of sanctions did not deter Russia; it attacked Ukraine.

Ukraine is putting up a valiant fight  it is suffering death, casualties and destruction while attempting to protect its very existence. But there is no end in sight and as Ukraine pleads for military assistance, the decision to rely on sanctions without a military presence is now under question.

Those who question the decision believe it gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pass to attack. They believe it reflected the weakness of America and other NATO nations. And they believe it could lead to more Russian aggression.

This view has been voiced by Natan Sharansky, the legendary human rights activist who fought for the right of people in the Soviet Union, and particularly those in Jewish communities, to emigrate from that repressive country during the 1960s and 1970s. For his actions Sharansky was convicted in 1977 of treason and espionage, and he was sentenced to 13 years of forced labor  much of which was spent in solitary confinement.

In 1986, Sharansky was released and allowed to go to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange, and he later became a member of that country's parliament and governing cabinet. He is a statesman in the true sense of the word.

In a recent interview with Tablet magazine, Sharansky said this: From my time among criminals in prison, I know (that everybody) has his knife, but not everybody is prepared to use it. Putin believes that he is willing to use his knife and the West isnt, that the West can only talk, even if it is physically stronger.

Story continues

Sharansky added that Putin is "especially feeling the weakness of America"  in large part because the United States has shown its distaste for military engagement by withdrawing from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"(Putin) really believes he is the strongest leader," Sharansky said, "because he is ready to threaten nuclear war and his enemies are not. He is willing to use his knife.

The fear of the United States and the West that a world war with nuclear weapons will ensue if they fight alongside Ukraine has left Ukraine alone to fight for not only itself, but also for the whole free world. If the war continues, and if Ukraine is unable to defend its independence, the United States and NATO may need to get off the sidelines.

Failing that, Putin may feel free to attack Estonia, Latvia and/or Lithuania  all of which, like Ukraine, are former Soviet republics that only secured their independence upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

During a mission to some Baltic states in 2017, I and 10 others met with then-President Kersti Kaljulaid of Estonia, a small country that borders Russia. During our meeting, Kaljulaid asked us this question: Will the United States honor its obligation to defend us, a tiny nation, as provided in Article 5 of the NATO agreement?

That question is sure to be raised again if the United States and the West dont protect the independent sovereignty of Ukraine, which is a large and vital democracy.

Harold Halpern is a retired attorney who resides in Lakewood Ranch. He is a board member of the American Association of Retired Lawyers and Jurists. Halpern is also a board member of the West Coast chapter of the American Jewish Committee.

Retired Sarasota attorney Harold Halpern is a board member of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Harold Halpern: US, West must get off the sidelines, help Ukraine
A truck passes by China Shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles, in Long Beach, Calif. on Sept. 1, 2019. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine War Fallout Could Trigger Significant Shift Away From China, Analyst Says

The world could begin to see a significant shift away from China as companies and governments reevaluate their business ties with the regime in the aftermath of the RussiaUkraine war, according to economic analyst Christopher Balding.

Balding, who specializes in Chinese economy and technology as a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a UK trans-Atlantic foreign policy think tank, made the suggestion after the head of BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager, said the Russian invasion has marked the end of globalization, with nations and businesses opening an economic war against Russia, and more generally, reconsidering their dependency on other nations.

And if they do, one obvious nation would be China, Balding told NTD, sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

Now, people are absolutely in the back of their mind thinking of what happens if China starts killing people in Xinjiang, what happens if they impose a naval blockade around Taiwan? And theres all kinds of scenarios at play there, he said.

All of a sudden, people are going: Wait a minute, this would mean my supply chain in China, my business dealings with a university in China  And people are already looking at the degree of support that Russia is receiving from China and asking a lot of uncomfortable questions about China. And I think if you take China out of that question, thats basically going to be a monumental shift in global politics and economics.

The COVID-19 pandemic that first erupted from China two years ago has created a focus on the worlds dependence on China to manufacture much-needed supplies, from pharmaceuticals to critical minerals and medical equipment.

A worker transports and handles boxes with masks for export at Yangluo container port on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on April 12, 2020. (Getty Images)

Outrage over Chinas repressive campaigns in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and elsewhere has also spurred callsfrom both activists and Western officialsfor international businesses to unplug from China.

On March 17, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) sent an open letter to business leaders commending them for ceasing operations in Russia and urging them to replicate their approach with respect to China, highlighting the risk of Beijing following Russias suit and invading self-ruled Taiwan, as well as the regimes human rights abuses.

No respectable organization in the United States should be doing business with a murderous regime. Every dollar spent in communist China supports its economy and Xis genocidal government, Scott said, referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It is time to place human rights and democracy above profits.

Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) sees ending manufacturing reliance on China as a national security issue.

China is an adversarial nation, and were relying on them for 90 percent of our medications or active pharmaceutical ingredients and our finished products, she recently told NTD. We need to make those things in America or use our allies.

Chinas recent mass lockdowns over a spike in COVID-19 cases have again renewed worldwide concerns of supply chain disruptions.

Global crises such as the pandemic have made reshoring the supply chain back home all the more urgent, Harshbarger said.

If the pandemic rises, or another one [comes along], are we going to be self-sufficient?
The State Department has placed new visa restrictions on Chinese officials for their role in repressing human rights fighters around the world. Im joined by Laura Harth to discuss Chinas overseas long arm policing. She explains whats at stake, and what to do next.



We then discuss how China established and continues to protect its control, including using its overseas United Front, also known as pro-CCP establishments, as bases to influence Western societies. Now the United States seems to be aware, but what must be done next?

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U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks to reporters during a briefing in Washington on March 22, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

US Contingency Planning For Potential Russian Attack on NATO: Official

The United States says its contingency planning for the possibility of a Russian attack on NATO territory, a top White House official said Friday.

Prompted by a hypothetical scenario posited by a reporter Friday asking what the United States would do in the event of a Russian attack on a NATO supply convoy destined for Ukraine, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said: We are doing contingency planning for the possibility that Russia chooses to strike NATO territory in that context or in any other context. And the President has been about as clear as one can be about his absolute determination to respond decisively alongside the other members of our alliance if Russia attacks NATO.

One Russian official said two weeks ago that convoys transporting arms into Ukraine could be considered legitimate targets.

President Joe Biden has said that there is evolving intelligence that Russia is exploring options for potential cyber-attacks against U.S. infrastructure and that the potential Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine is a real concern that would be met with a response from the United States.

Biden and other top officials have repeatedly said throughout Russias war with Ukraine that the United States commitment to Article 5 of the NATO defense agreement is iron clad.

Biden has also said repeatedly he will not send American troops to fight in Ukraine and wants to avoid escalating tensions to the point of a broader war with Russia.

The White House confirmed that stance Friday after there was some confusion around comments from Biden addressing troops stationed in Poland.

Journalist Andrew Feinberg wrote in a tweet and shared a video of the president telling troops: Youre going to see when youre there, youre going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying Im not leaving.

Feinberg later tweeted: UPDATE: A @WhiteHouse spokesperson tells me: The President has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position.

Biden also repeated on Friday his labeling of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.

Also on Friday, Ukrainian officials said that about 300 people were killed in the Russian airstrike last week on a Mariupol theater that was being used as a shelter.

Sullivan called the attack shocking and a brazen disregard for the lives of innocent people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Excavators work at Atlantic Gold Corporation's Touquoy open pit gold mine in Moose River Gold Mines, N.S. on June 6, 2017. A public rally critical of open-pit mining practices is going on today as the mining industry meets in Halifax to promote Nova Scotia's growing gold industry. Demonstrators planned to gather over the lunch hour during the Nova Scotia Gold Show at a hotel at the Halifax airport. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

US Security Requires Ending Chinas Monopoly on Rare Earths: Experts

The United States will not be able to hold a competitive advantage or protect its national security as long as China maintains its dominance in rare earths production, according to experts.

Washingon must also do a better job of educating professionals for careers in the mining sector, three experts told EpochTVs China Insider program.

The three sources were Chadwick Hagan, an economist; Ann Bridges, author of the book Rare Mettle; and Rich Trzupek, a chemist and environmental consultant.

Their call to action came after President Joe Bidens recent remarks raising concerns about Chinas control over a very large part of the global market for rare earth minerals, such as lithium. Speaking from the White House last month, Biden said that we cant build a future thats made in America if the United States remains dependent on China for the raw materials on which so many components of daily life run, from iPhones to military planes.

Hagan affirmed that rare earth minerals are, like energy, a strategic industry and acknowledged that a majority of the mining and exportation of substances like lithium takes place in China, though he also noted that Chinas dominance of this market has eased slightly in recent years.

The good news is that the China market share has gone from about 80 percent in 2014 to a little over 50 percent in 2020, Hagan said. But then, China has also recently made some moves to increase that market share and get back up to the leader that they were in 2014, he added.

In Hagans view, Bidens firm stance on the issue arises from the reality that Chinas dominance in this area is a security risk. In the event of a conflict, or a scenario where the United States and other nations impose strict sanctions on China, Beijing could make the importation of precious metals ruinously expensive or not allow the United States to import them at all.

I dont know if they would necessarily do that with lithium-ion and rare earth minerals, but weve yet to see, he said.

Growing tensions with China over Taiwan or another issue would not only result in a tremendous supply-chain issue, but would also mass panic as consumers long accustomed to buying computers, televisions, and iPhones suddenly could not do so, he said.

Dominance by Default

In Bridgess analysis, China has come to achieve such a position of dominance in these industries over the last twenty to thirty years because much of the Western world simply decided it was easier to let China handle the mining and processing of substances like iron ore in Mongolia and other regions. Hence Western nations are no longer competitive or even especially active in this sector.

For Canada, its still about 10 percent of their GDP, Australia does some, but the U.S. really has been getting out of the mining business, she said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have led the charge by processing enormous quantities of earth and refining its expertise in the extraction and purification of ore, which they then shape into precious metals. These metals, Bridges said, provide the components for our 21st-century high-tech lifestyle.

Im talking about smartphones, MRI, medical, resonance imaging, aerospace, defense, batteries. Anything that really contributes to smaller, faster, lighter mobile requires some sort of rare earths. And that is where we are today. China is the dominant producer and manufacturer of components using these minerals, she said.

At the same time, China does a much better job of turning out graduates with expertise in minerals and mining. According to her estimates, Chinese graduates in the field of geology and manufacturing number some 100,000 per year, while the United States produces only a small fraction of that number.

As Chinas large consumer-oriented middle class continues to grow, Bridges said, the producers of these minerals could simply decide that there is no reason they have to continue exporting to United States at such high levels as that their own citizenry needs the products more. Without imports of the minerals, Bridges said, Americans are kind of stuck, and some Chinese have given signals that they may undertake just such a shift.

Breaking the Mold

Deposits of rare earth substances exist in many corners of the globe, Bridges said, but that does not mean that achieving independence from China in this area will be easy.

Any move toward rare earth independence on the part of the United States will require a concerted effort to take on environmental lobby groups and thwart regulations that restrict the expansion of mining and processing. It will also be important to educate citizens who believe certain kinds of mining to be environmentally irresponsible.

The perception, of course, is that is going to be toxic. The reality is that there are new technologies, and new ones coming every day, that are doing it cleaner, better, faster. But if were blocked at every step along the way, the investors will just throw up their hands and say, never mind, just let China do it, she said.

Trzupek concurred with Bridges that it is entirely possible for United States and is allies to achieve independence in this sphere.

We have the resources, we know where they are, we know how to recover them, he said. The reason efforts to do so have stalled is due to what Trzupek described as environmental hysteria.

While extraction and processing of rare earth minerals do generate waste, environmental activists have latched onto this point, emphasizing the toxicity and lethality of waste. But Trzupek characterizes this as misleading.

The lefts message on the environmental side is that anything that generates waste is bad and is going to kill babies. In fact, we know how to handle and manage waste, from all types of refining, better than anybody in the world. We can do it more cleanly than anybody, he said.

The failure to overcome such environmental objections has led to the outsourcing of this production to China, where standards around cleanness and environmental responsibility are markedly lower, he added.

Trzupek said the ideal scenario would be for the U.S. Congress to find the courage to pass legislation favorable to rare earth refining in America. This measure could abolish permitting requirements that prevent the country from realizing its potential. But such broad federal action may be a longshot, he acknowledged.

Another route would be for states to streamline the process for their extractors and refiners. Here is an approach far more tailored to the idiosyncrasies of different states.

Youre not going to build a rare earth manufacturing plant or refining plant in California, because they are way over the top with their permitting rules. But in some of the red states, I think you probably could, he said.

It might take a couple years, you might have to spend a few more dollars than if you did it overseas, but I think it is double in certain states.

Michael Washburn China Reporter Follow Michael Washburn is a New York-based reporter who covers China-related topics. He has a background in legal and financial journalism, and also writes about arts and culture. Additionally, he is the host of the weekly podcast Reading the Globe. His books include The Uprooted and Other Stories, When We're Grownups, and Stranger, Stranger.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, at a briefing in New York City on March 1, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

US Seeks to Strengthen Sanctions After North Koreas Biggest Missile Launch

The United States would propose a resolution to update and strengthen U.N. sanctions in response to North Koreas increasingly dangerous provocations, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Friday.

North Korea confirmed Thursday that it test-fired its biggest-yet intercontinental ballistic missile, Hwasong-17, as leader Kim Jong-un ordered the hermit nation to prepare for a long-term confrontation with the United States.

Speaking at a U.N. Security Council briefing, Thomas-Greenfield said that the launch posed a threat to the entire international community and warrants an immediate response from the council.

It is clear that remaining silentin the hope that the DPRK would similarly show restraintis a failed strategy. We must pivot to a successful one, she said, using the official acronym for North Korea.

Thomas-Greenfield said that Washington would propose a resolution to tighten Security Council sanctions against North Korea, though she did not specify what the new sanctions would be.

The sanctions regime has undeniably restricted the DPRKs unlawful weapons advancements. So now is not the time to end our sanctions. Now is the time to enforce them, she added.

North Korea has been subjected to U.N. sanctions since 2006, which the U.N. Security Council has steadily stepped up over the years in a bid to cut off funding for Pyongyangs nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

China and Russia, however, have urged for an easing of U.N. sanctions to improve North Koreas humanitarian situation and to encourage Pyongyang to resume denuclearization talks.

Russian deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva told the council that further sanctions would only harm North Korean citizens, while Chinese ambassador Zhang Jun suggested that Washington should make an attractive proposal to get Pyongyang back to dialogue.

The United States has been urging for a return for a dialogue, but Pyongyang accused Washington of pursuing hostile policies that it must withdraw before any talks can resume.

Offering sanctions relief, without substantive diplomatic progress, would only funnel more revenue to the regime and accelerate the realization of its [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic weapons goals, Thomas-Greenfield added.

Pyongyang has conducted 13 missile tests since the start of the year, with the most recent on March 24 involving the Hwasong-17, which experts described as a monster missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States and beyond.

The Hwasong-17 was fired from Pyongyang International Airport and flew 681 miles (1,090 kilometers) to a maximum altitude of 3,905 miles (6,248.5 kilometers) before hitting a target in the sea, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Japan and South Korea both detected the missile on March 24. Japan said that the missile landed about 93 miles (150 kilometers) west of the Oshima Peninsula within its exclusive economic zone, Kyodo News reported.

KCNA reported that Kim personally directed the missile launch to make the whole world clearly aware of the power of his strategic forces. He vowed to acquire formidable military and technical capabilities unperturbed by any military threat and to be fully ready for a long-standing confrontation with the U.S. imperialists.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A U.S. Postal Service logo is pictured on a mail box in the Manhattan borough of New York on Aug. 21, 2020. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

USPS to Buy 50,000 Delivery Vehicles in $2.98 Billion Initial Order

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Postal Service said on Thursday it placed an initial $2.98 billion order for 50,000 next-generation delivery vehicles from Oshkosh Corp. and will double its initial planned electric vehicle (EV) purchases.

U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy said that based on USPSs reform efforts and our improving outlook, we have determined that increasing our initial electric vehicle purchase from 5,000 to 10,019 makes good sense from an operational and financial perspective.

USPS still plans to buy about 80 percent gasoline-powered models.

Previously, DeJoy committed to buying at least 10 percent EVs as part of a multibillion-dollar plan to retire 30-year-old delivery vehicles.

USPS in February rejected a bid by the White House and Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its plans to buy mostly gasoline-powered vehicles and hold a new hearing.

USPS said it expects the vehicles will begin appearing on carrier routes in late 2023.

In February 2021, the USPS announced an initial $482 million contract for Oshkosh and said it could order up to 165,000 vehicles over 10 years in a deal that could be worth $6 billion or more.

The modern vehicles will replace many older USPS vehicles that lack air bags and other safety equipment as well as air conditioning.

USPS estimates its total costs for buying and operating 75,000 new delivery vehicles over 20 years including fueling and maintenance at $9.3 billion for gasoline-powered vehicles compared with $11.6 billion for electric models.

In 2019, USPS operated 217,000 vehicles that traveled approximately 1.2 billion miles and spent about $706.2 million in maintenance costs for its fleet of 140,000 older delivery vehicles.

U.S. lawmakers have asked Oshkosh if it sought to avoid using union workers by deciding to build the vehicles in South Carolina and asked the Postal Service Office of Inspector General to review USPSs vehicle purchase plan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seen in a photo provided by the Presidents Office, on March 25, 2022. (Office of the President of Ukraine)

Zelenskyy Calls for Urgent Peace Talks With Russia as War Drags On

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday called for urgent and meaningful peace talks with Russia that would deliver a negotiated end to the war on terms that are fair to Ukraine.

In a video address to the nation, Zelenskyy said that, to date, 16,000 Russian servicemen had been killed in the fighting as Ukrainian forces continue to mount staunch resistance.

By restraining Russias actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary, Zelenskyy said. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay, he added.

Some analysts and Western officials have called into question whether Russia has been sincere in its engagement in peace talks.

Britains foreign secretary Liz Truss has been an outspoken critic of Moscows engagement in the talks, expressing concern that theyre being used as a smokescreen by Russia to regroup ahead of a renewed offensive.

Im very skeptical, Truss told The Times of London newspaper in a recent interview. I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I dont think were yet at a point for negotiation, she said.

Zelenskyy said in Fridays address that a conversation between the two sides must be meaningful, that Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed, and that the countrys territorial integrity must be ensured.

The conditions must be fair. And the Ukrainian people will not accept others, he said.

Zelenskyy said earlier hes given up on the idea of joining NATO but hes insisted on putting other compromises, including any potential territorial concessions, to a referendum.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Kyiv and Moscow were inching closer to putting an end to the conflict, with almost a consensus on topics like Ukraines NATO membership and security arrangements but still major differences to bridge over territory.

Moscow has demanded that Kyiv recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk, the two pro-Russia separatist-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, and acknowledge Russias ownership of Crimea.

Erdogan told reporters in Brussels after a NATO summit that both propositions are impossible for Ukraine to consent to without being first being put to a popular vote by the people of Ukraine.

NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has good ties with both, and has offered to mediate the conflict. Erdogan said that a key goal in his countrys mediation effort was to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian presidents for peace talks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gives a statement after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Turkey, on May 17, 2021. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters)

On his way back to Turkey on Thursday, Erdogan told reporters onboard a plane that he plans to call Putin soon and urge him to be the architect of the moves for peace and find an honorable exit from the war, according to Turkish media.

Zelenksyy said Friday he had spoken to Erdogan by phone and they discussed efforts that could bring peace closer to Ukraine and end this senseless Russian invasion of a foreign land.

Erdogans office said Friday that the Turkish president told Zelenskyy that he supports Ukraines territorial integrity.

Saturday marked the 31st day of the Ukraine war. In an operational update, British intelligence said that Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Mariupol.

British intelligence said Russian forces are reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, preferring instead to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in a bid to demoralize defending forces.

The assessment said that Russian forces would probably continue to use heavy firepower on urban areas as they look to limit their own already considerable losses, at the likely cost of further civilian casualties.

Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operation to degrade Ukrainian military capacity and topple its government, said 1,351 of its service members have been killed in the hostilities so far.
Attorneys representing the families of victims of the Sandy Hook shooting have requested that Alex Jones be found in contempt of court and face incarceration.

The motion filed Friday in Connecticut Superior Court comes after Jones, a controversial talk show host, skipped his scheduled deposition two days in a row this week, ahead of a jury trial to determine damages in a defamation lawsuit that he lost by default last year. His attorneys had cited an unnamed medical condition that prevented him from appearing.

It is impossible to overstate the level of contempt that Mr. Jones has shown for the Courts authority throughout this litigation, the families motion states. It is also impossible to overstate the contempt he has shown for the plaintiffs. With dignity and courage, the plaintiffs subjected themselves to hours and hours of painful questioning by Mr. Joness lawyers  and Mr. Jones plays sick when it is his turn to tell the truth under oath.

Jones attorney, Norm Pattis, could not be immediately reached for comment Friday evening. Neither the court nor Jones attorneys had responded to the filing by Friday evening.

Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, the firm representing the families, requests Jones be incarcerated until he sits for his deposition and pay conditional fines beginning at $25,000 per day  escalating to $50,000 per day  until he completes his deposition. The attorneys want Jones to pay the families fees and costs incurred in connection with the deposition he didnt attend.

The firm requested the deposition be held at its offices in Bridgeport by April 15. If not, he shouldnt be allowed to offer evidence contrary to particular facts about the shooting, attorneys said.

If Mr. Jones does not sit for deposition, it will be necessary for the Court to find multiple facts established and to preclude Mr. Jones from offering a range of evidence, the motion states. The most significant directed factual findings will concern Mr. Jones subjective intent, including his motives for broadcasting lies about the plaintiffs and the Sandy Hook shooting, his intent to harm the targets of those lies, and his malicious subjective intent.

The families sued Jones after he called the shooting staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors.

Jones attorneys have provided two doctors notes recommending that Jones stay home, rather than attend his depositions this week, but did not publicly say his medical issues.

The families attorneys claim Jones said on his InfoWars show on Friday that his medical condition turned out to be a blockage in his sinus, but that the blockage has cleared and he feels like a new person.

It is no coincidence that Mr. Joness sinus cleared as soon as plaintiffs counsel cleared Texas airspace, the attorneys wrote.

A remote hearing is scheduled for March 30.
Helping patients who continue to have symptoms following a bout of COVID-19 is complex and a new bill from Sen. Tim Kaine could help equip doctors on the frontline with more information and resources.

A host of UVa Medical Center leaders and physicians were on hand Friday morning to share their insights with Kaine, who recently introduced a bill to improve research on the syndrome known as long COVID and provide more resources for people experiencing its impacts.

Kaine, who had COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, said he had mild symptoms  like a blizzard of allergic reactions all at once  but still experiences constant nerve tingling. Hes been vocal about his symptoms in order to shed light on what other people are going through. Those who have whats now considered long COVID have said the long-term consequences of the virus werent taken seriously at first.

Kaines CARE for Long COVID Act would create a central database to gather long COVID patient experiences, expand research into the disease to better improve the health care systems responses as well as improve patient and physician education.

The bill also would provide for better coordination among different government agencies in order to educate employers and schools on the impact of long COVID and develop partnerships so that people with long COVID can access other services such as legal assistance or social workers.

The Biden administration has said that long COVID could be a disability, but recognizing that is the beginning, Kaine said.

Hes also working on a bill regarding pandemic preparedness.

On Friday, in a board room at the medical center, the UVa physicians said figuring out how to fund the complicated and interdisciplinary care needed for long COVID patients was essential along with determining eligibility for the care and providing a range of resources for those affected. One doctor worried that people who never took a COVID test but have long COVID might not be able to access to the needed care.

The traditional service centers that weve had in place for many years dont always work and that suggests to me that theres a lot of research that needs to be done, said Dr. K. Craig Kent, the CEO of UVa Health.

Kent supports the long COVID bill.

UVa has established a clinic to care for patients who are recovering from COVID-19; however, theres no insurance structure that makes it fundable for the physicians, said Dr. Kyle Enfield, director of intensive care at the medical center.

This ends up being a labor of love because were very interested in doing that, Enfield said.

Enfield added that about half of the patients at the post COVID clinic come from disadvantaged communities and are at risk for complications

Im glad that your bill will support social work and other ways to support those patients who dont have the resources that maybe the rest of us do to seek some of the care that we need because those patients really struggle just to come to the clinic to be seen, he told Kaine.

Anywhere from 5% to 25% of those who had COVID-19 could develop some degree of post COVID symptoms. That would be about 450,000 people in Virginia, said Dr. Alexandra Kadl, pulmonologist at the medical center.

What you see is really just the tip of the iceberg, Kadl said.

At the clinic, Kadl said they are seeing patients with insomnia, depression or PTSD.

Things that need a lot of attention and a lot of care that currently are really hard to provide, she said. So thats where we really lagged behind and where we really could emphasize and strengthen the system.

What exactly long COVID looks like in a particular patient can vary. Typical approaches for rehab or physical therapy dont seem to work as well for this group. Helping those patients will require a paradigm shift in medicine, said Dr. Talia Pollok, a physical therapist for the medical center.

We have to educate our physician colleagues and then our entire profession that they are going to have to think very differently about how to treat these patients, Pollok said.

Donna Broshek directs the Neurocognitive Assessment Lab at UVa and said long COVID patients need advocates. She shared the story of a woman who was forced to go back to work before she was ready  a return that didnt go well for the woman.

You cant have somebody whos tired and exhausted and has cognitive issues advocate for themselves, Broshek said.

Kaine, at the end of the discussion, said theres a lot more to do and learn regarding long COVID.

We dont have all the answers yet, but we are devoting significant research to it, he said. By really focusing on long COVID, well learn some answers that will help people who have had other long-term consequences from different viruses. So if we all share our experiences and learn from one another, were going to not just help people who have long COVID, were going to help other people too.

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Nigeria's first female Vice Chancellor, Professor Grace Alele-Williams is dead. She died on Friday at the age of 89 years.

Although information about her demise was still sketchy as of press time Friday evening, her death was posted on a WhatsApp group having prominent Itsekiris as members.

The education icon and great Mathematician, Prof. Grace Alele Williams, has gone to be with the Lord. May her soul rest in peace, a post by one Femi Uwawah, read.

Ex Delta State governor, Chief Ibori, mourned her passing, saying she influenced him while he (Ibori) was an undergraduate.

Ibori in a statement issued yesterday by his Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, said: Alele -Williams life imparted greatly on mine as she was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin while I was a student there. I remember her as an outstanding woman of integrity and one of those who showed my feet the way to follow.

The former governor sent his condolences to the Itsekiri nation and Delta state, whose histories Alele-Williams decorated with her trail-blazing life; as the first Nigerian woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics and the first female Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian University.

I regret her passing even as I thank God for the pace-setting life she lived as a high -achiever, he said.

The professor of Mathematics Education, was born on December 16, 1932.

She made history as the first Nigerian female vice-chancellor at the University of Benin and first Nigerian woman to receive a doctorate.

Alele-Williams was born in Warri, Delta state. She attended Government School, Warri, Queens College, Lagos and the University College of Ibadan[8] (now University of Ibadan). She obtained a masters degree in mathematics while teaching at Queens School, Ede in Osun State in 1957 and her PhD degree in mathematics education at the University of Chicago (U.S.) in 1963, thereby making her the first Nigerian woman to be awarded a doctorate. She returned to Nigeria for a couple of years postdoctoral work at the University of Ibadan before joining the University of Lagos in 1965.

Her teaching career started at Queens School, Ede, Osun State, where she was a mathematics teacher from 1954 to 1957. She left for the University of Vermont to become a graduate assistant and later assistant professor. From 1963 to 1965, Alele-Williams was a postdoctoral research fellow, department (and institute) of education, University of Ibadan from where she was appointed a professor of mathematics at the University of Lagos in 1976.

She was appointed the first female Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian university in 1985, and she believes her appointment at the University of Benin, which ended in 1992, was a test case to demonstrate a womans executive capability. Among her honors are Fellow of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education, merit award winner of Bendel State in Nigeria, and regional vice-president for Africa of the Third World Organization for Women in Science (Science in Africa: Women Leading from Strength AAAS, Washington, 1993, p.174). It may be added that professor Alele-Williams was chairman of the African Mathematical Union Commission for Women in Mathematics.

Alele-Williams married Babatunde Abraham Williams December 1963, not long after returning to Nigeria from the United States. Williams was a political scientist who, at the time of their marriage, was a senior lecturer at the University of Ife, Osun State. As of 2017, Alele-Williams had five children and ten grandchildren.

The Nation. Babatunde Abraham Williams


Elderly get COVID shots in Thalang, Rawai

PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO) is continuing its province-wide vaccination campaign to provide third-dose booster injections to senior citizens and other people in the Group 608 classification.

CoronavirusCOVID-19health

By The Phuket News

Saturday 26 March 2022, 01:48PM

Group 608 is officials preferred term for higher at-risk patients, comprising people over 60 years old along with those suffering from any of the seven recognised medical conditions that place patients at higher risk of developing serious signs of infection, plus women more than 12 weeks pregnant.

On Thursday (Mar 24) PPHO Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon visited Rawai Sub-district to witness the launch of Save 608 by Booster Dose in the southernmost past of the province. 24 people received their shots on that day, PPHO reported in a Facebook post.

On Friday (Mar 25) Dr Kusak went to Srisoonthorn in the central part of Phuket to launch the campaign in Thalang. 61 residents were vaccinated there on that day.

Phuket health officials are specifically concerned with the elderly being exposed to greater risk of infection during the upcoming Thai New Year Songkran festival, when many people return to their family homes to visit their relatives.

As of Mar 26, no less than a half of 10,000 people in Group 608 received their booster shots and the campaign is ongoing. According to Dr Withita Jangiam, deputy director of Vachira Phuket Hospital, receiving two doses of vaccine reduced the chances of death by six times, a statistic that decreased by 41 times after having received a third booster shot.

Dr Withita urged those within the 608 group to register for their third booster vaccination shots, if they had not already done so. Alternatively, walk-ins are permitted for those within the 608 group at their nearest hospital.

SONGKRAN PRECAUTIONS

On Friday (Mar 25) Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha instructed provincial governors and health officers to devise measures to contain COVID-19 over Songkran.

Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana stressed that vaccination of elderlies is considered one of the key measures. Other precautions include refraining from group activities, working from home, delaying non-essential travel, practicing the VUCA (Vaccine, Universal Prevention, COVID-19 Free Setting, ATK) and DMHTT (Distancing, Masks, Hand washing, Temperature checking, Thai Chana) measures.

The Department of Disease Control (DDC) said the most optimistic outlook for Songkran is one where these precautions are fully implemented, in which case daily infections would taper off to around 20,000 from the middle of this month.

In the worst-case scenario, with precautions used sparingly, infections may spike to 100,000 a day until the middle of April, said the DDC.

The country registered 26,234 more COVID-19 cases and 67 new fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced this morning (Mar 26).

Bangkok had the highest number of new cases at 3,739 yesterday, followed by 1,645 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, 1,090 in Chon Buri and 902 in Samut Prakan. Phuket marked 269 new COVID cases and one death.
Navy assists injured Vietnamese crewman

PHUKET: A Vietnamese crewman was taken to Phuket by the Royal Thai Navy after having sustained a head injury while working on board.

marine

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 26 March 2022, 04:29PM

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam sustained an injury while working on board of PHU AN 368 cargo ship. Photo: Royal Thai Navy 3 Area Command

At 2.50pm last Thursday (Mar 24), the Third Area Command of the Royal Thai Navy, based in Phuket, received an emergency call from the Ship and Aircraft Incident Coordination Center which informed the command about an incident on board of PHU AN 368 cargo vessel.

The Vietnamese ship was on its way from Myanmar to Philippines when a crewman  Dinh Quan, 35, from Vietnam  fell of some structure and hurt his head.

The captain asked for assistance by taking the injured to a hospital. The point of rendezvous with the navy was set some 12 nautical miles west of Phuket.

At about 1pm yesterday (Mar 25) HTMS Laem Singh with medical personnel arrived at the agreed location and took Mr. Quan on board. Later on the same day he was admitted at Dibuk Hospital for proper treatment.

The incident report did not have any detailed information on what exactly happened to Mr. Quan and how bad his injuries were. Yet it can be seen in the picture that the man required some help to walk.
Rhino bond charges onto markets to save endangered species

WASHINGTON: Critically endangered black rhinos in South Africa will get help from an unusual source in the guise of Wall Street, where institutional investors have expressed a willingness to buy a new type of bond being issued by the World Bank that will pay for efforts to save the animals.

animalswildlife

By AFP

Saturday 26 March 2022, 10:15AM

A US$150 million bond will provide resources to two parks in South Africa to help increase the population of black rhinoceros. Photo: AFP

In this pilot project that will be judged on whether the population of horned animals in two parks in the country increases, the Washington-based development lender will issue a US$150 million (B5 billion) bond on Mar 31.

Rather than paying annual or semi-annual interest to investors, the proceeds instead will go to the staff in the parks to invest in the battle against poachers, and to improve conditions for the animals.

The funds will benefit the Addo Elephant National Park and the Great Fish River Nature Reserve, the World Bank said.

Officials hope the bond, two years in the making, will offer a new model to leverage private funds to finance conservation efforts or other projects. The catch is they must have benchmarks that can be objectively measured.

The Rhino bond is a groundbreaking approach to enabling private sector investment in global public goods - in this case biodiversity conservation, a key global development challenge, World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement.

The pay-for-success financial structure protects an endangered species and strengthens South Africas conservation efforts.

The five-year bond, which priced Wednesday (Mar 23), will be sold at 94.84% of face value, and will provide investors a guaranteed minimum return once it matures.

But they also can receive a share of $13.8mn from the Global Environment Facility if the number of rhinos increases.

Spreading the risk

The return would be based on a sliding scale, and if growth reaches or exceeds 4%, investors receive the entire success payment.

What were looking to do here is really change that risk allocation and say is there a way that we can pass some of that project performance... (and) risk to someone else other than governments and donors, said Michael Bennet, head of market solutions and structured finance at the bank.

The parks will receive about $10mn total, with about half arriving in the first year. These funds, which usually go to bondholders, can be used for things like increasing drone and aircraft surveillance against poachers and creating water holes, Bennet told AFP.

The rhino population growth rate will be independently calculated by Conservation Alpha and verified by the Zoological Society of London.

Black rhinos are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered, though in the wild their population has doubled to more than 5,000 from a historic low three decades ago.

The animals are slaughtered for their horns, which are smuggled into Asia, where they are mistakenly believed to have medicinal benefits.

The South African government last month issued hunting permits that would allow 10 of the animals to be killed, along with 150 elephants.

The bond issue comes at a time when more investment funds are under pressure to invest in environmentally-friendly or socially-conscious ventures, a category known as ESG.

While boosting the rhino population is the primary goal of this bond, there are many positive benefits to the community, bank officials said.

The nickname is the Rhino bond, but its about so much more than that. It also has real tangible benefits to the communities and incentives to protect land, said Heike Reichelt, head of investor relations and sustainable finance at the World Bank Treasury.

And the project can help create more jobs, including for women, she told AFP.
Songkran to test COVID-19 curbs

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed provincial governors to devise measures to contain COVID-19 over Songkran as health officials warned daily caseloads could top 100,000 after the festival unless precautions are taken.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthcultureSafety

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 26 March 2022, 10:54AM

A woman takes a rest while waiting for her bus home at Mor Chit terminal in Bangkok on April 9, 2021, ahead of the Songkran festival. Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill

Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said yesterday (Mar 25) Gen Prayut ordered provincial governors and public health officers to prepare for the inter-provincial movement of people returning to their home provinces as daily infections continue to soar.

People have been urged to strictly follow precautions particularly when they visit their elderly relatives and take part in family gatherings, reports the Bangkok Post.

Family activities should be held in well-ventilated areas and participants should take an antigen test before participating.

Most importantly, elderly people must be fully vaccinated ahead of the festival to avoid the risk of getting infected, the spokesman said, adding public festivities must be held in line with COVID-19 Free Setting guidelines.

Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Department of Health (DOH), said the Public Health Ministry has forecast that daily infections could hit 100,000 after Songkran unless measures are taken.

According to the Department of Disease Control (DDC), this milestone could be reached by the middle of next month in the worst-case scenario.

Precautions include refraining from group activities where possible, working from home more, delaying non-essential travel, maintaining a high vaccination rate and practicing the VUCA (Vaccine, Universal Prevention, COVID-19 Free Setting and ATK) measures.

The DDC said the most optimistic outlook is one where these precautions are fully implemented, in which case daily infections would taper off to around 20,000 from the middle of this month.

In a less optimistic outlook, daily caseloads may rise to 50,000 ahead of Songkran.

In the worst-case scenario, with precautions used sparingly, infections may spike to 100,000 a day until the middle of April, said the DDC.

Somchai Tukaew, director of the DOHs health impact assessment division, said Songkran will be allowed to proceed partly because more than 70% of Thais have been vaccinated while the symptoms caused by the virus are becoming less severe.

Restrictions have been gradually relaxed under a plan to downgrade the COVID-19 pandemic to endemic status, he said.

However, the DOH has advised at-risk groups including the elderly and those with underlying health problems to get booster shots at least seven days ahead of Songkran.

Participants in festivities should take an antigen test 72 hours in advance, Mr Somchai added.

After Songkran, returnees from their home provinces are advised to monitor themselves for up to 10 days.

If they develop any suspicious symptoms, they must take an antigen test and avoid meeting people, Mr Somchai said.

The country registered 26,234 more COVID-19 cases and 67 new fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced this morning.

Yesterday, there were 26,050 confirmed new cases and 69 more COVID-19 fatalities.

Bangkok had the highest number of new cases at 3,739 yesterday, followed by 1,645 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, 1,090 in Chon Buri and 902 in Samut Prakan.

This was followed by 831 in Samut Sakhon, 655 in Roi Et, 647 in Nonthaburi, 576 in Rayong, 556 in Buri Ram and 535 in Pathum Thani.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. A few storms may be severe. High 88F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 61F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early. Skies will become mostly clear late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early. Skies will become mostly clear late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Scranton, PA (18503)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 56F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
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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Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low around 55F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, it is the time of year described by Langston Hughes in his poem In Time of Silver Rain:  when spring and life are new.

This year, in this particular springtime, spring and life are vividly and inextricably intertwined with death. While daffodils and forsythia bloom here, buildings and bodies are blown apart elsewhere. In the space of a breath  inhale and exhale  both are true. How then shall we live?

Almost every morning I spend time in contemplation and prayer. Every day this month I have also been reading prayers for peace, letting each one settle into me, among thoughts that come and go. As I inhale, as I exhale, I think of people  persons  persons living and dying, one life by one life, one breath by one breath.

It has been two years since we entered into pandemic living. Two calamitous and fractious years in the human world. So many people have died, have lost their breath. Person after person, millions. And now this  the human horror of war, of murder for power. The greatest of human failings. The greatest of sins.

There are those who are trying to set fire to the world. We are in danger. There is time only to work slowly. There is no time not to love. I remember these words of Diana Metzger  not simple, not easy.

And from Oscar Romero: Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.

One of the guiding principles of my Unitarian Universalist tradition is We covenant to affirm and promote  respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part. It is a reminder that we are not unaffected by nor separated from the lives of all others. The pandemic has been a long and hard effort toward respect for interdependence, with limited success. We must keep trying.

Stanley Kunitz said: The universe is a continuous web. Touch it at any point and the whole web quivers. If we accept that we are affected, that quiver includes paying higher prices for food and fuel, that quiver includes giving humanitarian aid both here and abroad, and that quiver includes allowing ourselves to stop and breathe in with wonder and thanksgiving for each moment of springtime beauty that unfolds around us.

How shall we live in this season of life and death? How shall we let ourselves be moved? Breath by breath, with awareness, with compassion, with gratitude and with courage to make peace real. We must finally learn, beginning right where we are, that peace is the tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.

The Rev. Jill McAllister is senior minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the School of History, Philosophy and Religion at Oregon State University, teaching comparative religion.

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Rebellious Tigrayan forces in Ethiopia have said they will respect a ceasefire proposed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds government as long as sufficient aid is delivered to their war-scarred northern region within reasonable time.

The government in Addis Ababa declared the cessation of hostilities on Thursday, saying it was to allow aid to flow into Tigray.

However, it was not immediately clear how it would enforce this on the battlefield, where a mix of regional fighters and volunteer militias have been fighting the Tigrayan forces.

The government of Tigray will do everything it can do to make sure this cessation of hostilities is a success, the regional Tigrayan government said in a statement late on Thursday.

War broke out between Tigrays rulers  the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF)  and the central government led by Abiy, in November 2020.

The conflict, which later engulfed the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions across northern Ethiopia and into neighbouring Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the restoration of public services in Tigray, including banking, electricity and telecommunications, a U.N. spokesperson said.

Our teams, humanitarian supplies and trucks are ready to deliver as soon as safe and unrestricted access is guaranteed by all parties, the U.N.s World Food Program said in a statement.

The United Nations has said more than 90% of the 5.5 million people in Tigray need food aid.

Food distribution in the mountainous region fell to a new record low this month, due to depleted food stocks, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest weekly bulletin.

The previous record low was in March last year. Only about 68,000 people received food aid in March 10-16, OCHA said.

Tigray and Amhara regions were relatively calm during the week of March 15, but armed clashes were reported in parts of Afar region, OCHA said. It did not say who was involved in the fighting.

The federal government has always said aid is allowed to enter Tigray but only a small amount has gone in since Ethiopian troops withdrew from Tigray at the end of June last year.

Tigrays leaders have blamed federal authorities and authorities in the Afar and Amhara regions for blocking aid going into Tigray, accusations they deny.

The central government has accused Tigrayan fighters of blocking aid because they have invaded Afar, which is on the only land route currently open into Tigray.

The United Nations and the United States welcomed Addis Ababas declaration of a ceasefire, which followed a visit by the U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, to Addis Ababa this week.

SOURCE. REUTERS
Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol.

After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east.

However, intense fighting was reported in a number of places on Saturday, suggesting there would be no swift let-up in the conflict, which has killed thousands of people, sent some 3.7 million abroad and driven more than half of Ukraines children from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Russian troops seized the town of Slavutych, which is close to the border with Belarus and is where workers at the Chernobyl plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said.

He added that the soldiers had occupied the hospital and kidnapped the mayor. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Slavutych sits just outside the so-called exclusion zone around Chernobyl  which in 1986 was the site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster  where Ukrainian staff have continued to work even after the plant itself was seized by Russian forces soon after the start of the Feb. 24 invasion.

On the other side of the country, in Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said the situation in the encircled city remained critical, with street fighting taking place in the centre.

The city has been devastated by weeks of Russian fire.

In an address on Saturday to Qatars Doha Forum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy compared the destruction of Mariupol to the destruction inflicted on the Syrian city of Aleppo by combined Syrian and Russian forces in the civil war.

They are destroying our ports, Zelenskiy said, warning of dire consequence if his country  one of the worlds major grains producers  could not export its foodstuffs. The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.

Speaking via video link, he also called on energy producing countries to increase their output so that Russia cannot use its massive oil and gas wealth to blackmail other nations.

NEW RUSSIAN GOALS

Zelenskiy late on Friday pushed for further talks with Moscow after the Russian Defence Ministry said a first phase of its operation was mostly complete and that it would now focus on the Donbass region bordering Russia, which has pro-Moscow separatist enclaves.

Breakaway Russian-backed forces have been fighting Ukrainian forces in Donbass since 2014.

Reframing Russias goals may make it easier for President Vladimir Putin to claim a face-saving victory, analysts said.

Moscow has until now said its goals for what it calls its special military operation include demilitarising and denazifying its neighbour. Ukraine and its Western allies have called that a baseless pretext for an unprovoked invasion.

In what officials billed as a major address, U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday will underscore the Wests commitment to support the people of Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for the conflict, the White House said.

Biden is visiting Poland, which has taken in many of the refugees streaming out of the country.

The United Nations has confirmed 1,081 civilian deaths and 1,707 injuries in Ukraine since the invasion but says the real toll is likely higher. Some 136 children have been killed so far during the invasion, Ukraines prosecutor general office said on Saturday.

Russias defence ministry said 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday. Ukraine says 15,000 Russian soldiers have died. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

LAID WASTE

Footage from Mariupol, home to 400,000 people before the war, showed destroyed buildings, burnt out vehicles and shell-shocked survivors venturing out for water and provisions. Residents have buried victims in makeshift graves as the ground thaws.

Ukraines deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said an agreement had been reached to set up 10 humanitarian corridors on Saturday to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots.

Speaking on national television, she said civilians trying to leave Mariupol would have to travel by private cars as Russian forces were not letting buses through their checkpoints. Reuters could not independently verify this information. read more

More than 100,000 people still need to be evacuated from the Mariupol, Vereshchuk said.

To the north, battle lines near the capital Kyiv have been frozen for weeks with two main Russian armoured columns stuck northwest and east of the city.

A British intelligence report on Saturday said Russian forces were relying on indiscriminate air and artillery bombardments rather than risk large-scale ground operations.

It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties, the latest British assessment said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said agreement has been reached on the establishment of 10 humanitarian corridors on Saturday to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots in Ukrainian towns and cities

Speaking on national television, she said civilians trying to leave the besieged southern port of Mariupol would have to leave in private cars as Russian forces were not letting buses through their checkpoints around the southern port city.

Reuters could not independently verify this information.

Ukraine and Russia have traded blame when humanitarian corridors have failed to work in recent weeks.

SOURCE. REUTERS
The Daily News reported on Friday evening that grants sponsored by Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin when he was a member of the state Senate are being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

One aspect that Daily News did not touch on: In 2019, according to records maintained by the Empire Center, a $50,000 grant was steered by the state Senate to a nonprofit called Friends of Public School Harlem, Inc. for "educational programing."

The grant was part of "bullet aid," an annual school funding resolution where members of the Senate can seek grants for individual projects in their districts. And at the time, Benjamin was a member of the state Senate representing Harlem.

What's notable is that the president of the nonprofit that received the $50,000 was Harlem developer Gerald Migdol. That's the same person who was indicted last November on federal charges alleging he gave a series of "straw donations" to Benjamin's campaign in 2019, while he was running unsuccessfully for New York City comptroller.

The federal office that is pursuing the Migdol case is the Southern District of New York, which is now reportedly investigating Benjamin-sponsored grants in his Harlem district.

According to tax returns, Friends of Public School Harlem, Inc.'s treasurer in 2019 was Michael Murphy. Murphy was also wrapped up in the straw donor matter: He was the "bundler" of 23 donations for Benjamin's campaign that were at the center of the case against Migdol. Murphy has not faced any charges, while Migdol faces up to 20 years in prison.

Among the recipients of a subpoena, according to Daily News, were the state Senate, Dormitory Authority and Division of Budget.

The Times Union reached out for comment earlier Friday to the Dormitory Authority, whose spokesman declined to comment. Benjamin's government office did not have a comment. Gov. Kathy Hochul's office referred a request for comment to the agencies that have reportedly been subpoenaed, and a Senate spokesman did not immediately have a comment.

Benjamin's campaign declined to answer questions about the grant and had no comment on the subpoenas, instead referring back to a statement from his campaign on Nov. 19, the day Migdol was indicted in the straw donor case.

That statement had said that, Neither Lieutenant Governor Benjamin nor his campaign are being accused of any wrongdoing and they are prepared to fully cooperate with authorities" and that as soon as the campaign "discovered that these contributions were improperly sourced," they were donated the board that oversees New York City elections.

According to Friends of Public School Harlem's website, it provides "badly needed basic resources to Harlem's public schools and its students."

The website says that to date the nonprofit, in partnership with the Migdol Family Foundation, has donated over $500,000 and given over 15,000 school supply kits for kids, 500 computers and iPads and college scholarship funds to top performing students at local Harlem public schools. The website says that "every dollar received in donations goes directly to the purchasing of educational resources for students and public schools in Harlem."
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ALBANY  Since the summer of 2020, I've talked to Assemblywoman Pat Fahy more than a dozen times, I would guess, about a range of topics that included the future of Interstate 787, her burning desire to bring a children's museum to downtown Albany and, recently, her legislation to protect the night sky from light pollution.

Fahy is a dedicated and conscientious lawmaker, a rebuke to the negative stereotypes the Legislature, more broadly, has earned over the years. That was true before June 2020, and, somehow, she seemed as committed to her work afterward. I don't know how she did it.

That June nearly two years ago was when Fahy's son, Brendan Fahy Bequette, was diagnosed with an aggressive, rare mediastinal germ cell cancer, beginning an ordeal that ended late last month when he passed away in New York City at the age of 25.

This is where words fail. There is no adequate way to describe the tragedy of a young death, the unfulfilled promise. Every phrase feels deficient or cliche, including the obvious truth that no parent should know the loss of a child.

"He was a kid who really wanted to live," Fahy said. "We're just devastated."

Brendan, born in Chicago, was a 2014 graduate of Albany High School, an introverted soul who initially figured he'd have a career focused on engineering and science. But his life changed course when he discovered filmmaking and photography, leading him to transfer from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to study cinema at Ithaca College.

His path wasn't always easy to understand for his mother, a committed policy wonk most comfortable with good, hard facts.

"I don't have an artistic bone in my body," she said. "But when he started getting into arts and photography, I started to see the world differently. He changed how I saw the world."

That's what art, at its best, is supposed to do for all of us, and certainly the visual work Brendan made was both challenging and lovely. He'd chosen a tremendously difficult career path, though, and Fahy said he was just beginning to find his footing in the industry  and life more broadly  when chest pain led to the terrible, shocking diagnosis.

Brendan and his family  including Fahy's husband, B. Wayne Bequette, and their daughter, Eileen Fahy Bequette  were told from the start that his long-term prognosis was not good, Fahy said, yet the 20 months that followed included times of belief and optimism, periods when all the worrying and the painful treatments and the endless hours in hospitals and the late-night calls with doctors seemed like they could stave off the worst.

Early last year, Brendan's cancer was in remission, providing hope that the nightmare was at an end.

"And then it came back again with a vengeance," Fahy said. "Life throws you curve balls."

Having a son with cancer was a full-time job unto itself, and Fahy thought about quitting the Assembly. Juggling the Legislature and her son's disease could feel impossible and overwhelming, given how there was always too much to do. (Fahy once Zoom called into a committee meeting from her son's hospital room.)

But the Albany Democrat kept at it, perhaps because her work was a welcome distraction, a reprieve from the pain. It was also a reminder, as if she needed one, of just how trivial the Legislature's partisanship and rancor could be. Important things happen in its chambers, of course, but sometimes in the silliest of ways.

When we talked last month about her legislation to combat light pollution, Fahy sounded relatively hopeful about Brendan  optimism was something she worked hard at, she said. But his health turned suddenly and went south rapidly. Brendan died on Feb. 28.

Decades earlier, when Fahy moved to Albany from Chicago with her husband and her infant boy, she felt like a new mom without a support network. They were outsiders in a new town, far from home.

The outpouring after Brendan's passing, including at a wake and funeral held at St. Vincent De Paul Church on Madison Avenue, showed how much that had changed. The sharing of sorrow, support and love was staggering and comforting, Fahy said. It was a light amid the darkness.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life saying thank you to people," she said.

Fahy, first elected in 2012, said she expects that the loss of her gentle, sensitive child will change her Assembly work in ways she can't predict. She has already become more engaged in medical issues, keenly aware of how frightened families are forced to engage with a bewildering system.

But Fahy will go about her work with a hole in her heart that can't be filled. Her life, she said, will never be the same. Brendan, her beautiful Brendan, has gone.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
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KINGSTON - U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is throwing his full support behind a plan to revitalize Kingston's waterfront and protect it from climate-change induced flooding.

Schumer said the project would allow residents to enjoy the scenic waterfront, and wove the city's plan into the larger picture of Kingston's resurgence as a destination spot during an appearance in the city Friday afternoon.

"This downtown waterfront revitalization is key to achieving equity in the city, creating jobs, bolstering economic development and helping one of the true gems of Kingston  its waterfront  finally shine to its truest potential," Schumer said.

Kingston's shorelines on both the Hudson River and the Rondout Creek were once industrial, but were vacated as the cement plants and other industries dried up. The city is now in the process of putting the brownfields to use, including developing its riverfront on the Hudson into the Sojourner Truth State Park.

The city now wants to redevelop its Rondout Creek riverfront while addressing the increasingly common flooding caused by sea level rise.

Kingston is seeking two separate federal investments for the Rondout waterfront, according to Kingston Mayor Steve Noble. The first is an investment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to re-work the bulkhead along the creek to stabilize the shoreline and prevent flooding.

Schumer set the stage for this investment by securing a $100,000 grant for the Corps of Engineers to analyze the bulkhead and plan for improvements.

A new bulkhead would protect businesses and residences along the Rondout Creek from flooding, as well as protecting the city's wastewater treatment plant, which sits on the water and has been a particular concern for the city.

Improving the bulkhead would cost somewhere between $30 million to $40 million, according to Noble.

The second investment is a $20 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to develop the Rondout waterfront with the "Weaving the Waterfront" project, a five-part plan to protect the area from flooding while crafting accessible promenades integrating different parts of the Hudson and Rondout shorelines.

Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter.

Kingston applied for the DOT grant in 2020, according to Noble, but was denied. However, the mayor said he was more confident this time around due to tweaks in the project, a larger pot of DOT grant money, and a change in the presidential administration.

Weaving the Waterfront is based on "complete streets"  a way of integrating pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles  and the Trump administration was focused on cars, according to Noble. Current DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is more focused on environmentalism and embraces complete streets, according to Noble, who said the project "aligns more with Buttigieg's vision."

The two projects  improving the bulkhead and Weaving the Waterfront  are not dependant on each other, and one could move forward without the other one getting funding, according to Noble.

Schumer penned a letter to Buttigieg supporting the grant application, mentioning the plan's complete streets design, pedestrian routes and electric vehicle chargers, writing that the project "will deliver much-needed infrastructure improvements to the city while also advancing equity and economic opportunity for its residents."

Detailed designs for Weaving the Waterfront were still being finalized for the grant application and were not yet available, according to Noble. The grant is due in April, and the city should hear back in June.
SATURDAY

Pigs on the Wing in concert, 7 p.m., Whiteside Theatre, 361 SW Madison Ave., Corvallis. This Pink Floyd tribute band will perform the album "Wish You Were Here," followed by a second set of Roger Waters-era Floyd songs.

MONDAY

Benton County Republican Women, 11:30 a.m., New China Buffet, 1720 NW Ninth St., Corvallis. Lunch at 11:30, followed by speakers at noon. Benton County Sheriff Jef Van Arsdall will talk about home and car safety, and the proposed new jail and taxes. John Sarna, a director for Linn-Benton Community College, will talk about LBCCs bond measure. Information: 541-745-5374.

"Stories for a Changing World with Author and Activist Rivera Sun," 6:30 p.m., Zoom. The Coast and Corvallis chapters of Willamette Writers will present Sun, a speculative fiction writer. Information: 530-640-2459.

TUESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 9:30 a.m., online. The Rev. Jill McAllister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis will present "Practicing for a Change." Change is inevitable, constant, a part of every life and every society. It is possible to become skillful at change  at making necessary changes and adapting to changes that come our way, whether or not we welcome them. Wisdom traditions and teachers have offered lessons for millennia. It's never too late to learn. Registration: 541-737-9405.

"American Strings: An Evening with Taj Mahal," 5 p.m., online. Bob Santelli of Oregon State University will host an evening of conversation and live performance with an international music legend. His honors include a Grammy, Blues Hall of Fame membership and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association. Free and open to all. Registration: erin.sneller@oregonstate.edu.

Live music by Teenage Halloween, Postrich Bear and Skeleton Boy, 7 p.m., Westminster House, 101 NW 23rd St., Corvallis. Queer power pop ensemble from New York City.

WEDNESDAY

Academy for Lifelong Learning, 9:30 a.m., online. Dave Eckert of the Marys Peak Alliance will present "Marys Peak: Our Iconic Treasure at a Tipping Point." Registration: 541-737-9405.

THURSDAY

U.S. Senate Republican candidate forum, 6 p.m., Corvallis Elks Lodge, 1400 NW Ninth St. Candidates attending are Chris Christensen, Robert Fleming, Darin Harbick, Sam Palmer, JoRae Perkins and Ibrahim Taber. Questions will be taken at the door. Julia Wegner will moderate.

Items for this calendar are pulled from the user-generated calendar that runs on our websites. For further information, write to jane.stoltz@lee.net.

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ALBANY  Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, schools offered breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. During the initial lockdown, districts utilized school buses to deliver prepackaged meals to designated sites and even to students' homes when necessary.

The federal waivers and subsidies that enabled districts to offer meals free of charge are set to expire in June and now advocates are calling for the establishment and funding of a permanent, statewide program to ensure students have access to a healthy breakfast and lunch each school day.

The New York School Nutrition Association  along with more than 300 state education associations, anti-hunger groups, child nutrition advocates, and school districts  has launched a Healthy School Meals for All campaign to urge state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the funds in the state budget due April 1.

We bus children to school, we provide them with technology to learn; nutrition is another important factor in their success, NYSNA Executive Director Jennifer Martin said in a statement. We need to ensure that our students are ready to learn by providing them with free nutritious meals. Not doing so is a real disservice to our children."

The program, which is not currently included in budget proposals put out by the governor and the legislative houses, is estimated to cost the state $200 million annually. California and Maine became the first states to create universal free school meals last year.

School meals are among the most effective anti-hunger programs and are proven to reduce food insecurity, improve mental and physical health and academic performance, anti-hunger groups said.

Free school meals also are linked to better academic performance, fewer absences and reduced behavioral issues.

Such programs also reduce stigmas associated with free or reduced-price meals, according to Martin.

In a hunger-free school, kids come through their lunchroom doors as equals, with everyone entitled to the same meal and no one needing to prove that they are paid up or sufficiently poor to eat for free, she said.

This legislation builds on existing policies and funding streams established to reduce student hunger and stigma around school meals. Schools with high poverty rates already provide free meals to all students regardless of income.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

The proposed state investment would help schools by eliminating school meal debt, which can be a burden on school district finances.

Streamlining the administration of school meal programs would also enable schools to provide more nutritious foods, as increased participation allows schools to benefit from economies of scale.

Megan Bates, food service director at Guilderland Central School District, said the free meals program has boosted revenues for food service providers while providing comfort to students during the pandemic.

"That vulnerable population that may not necessarily qualify for free meals but definitely needs them, it's really taken away that worry for them," Bates said.
The Ulster Volunteer force (UVF) is suspected to be behind a security alert which led to the Minister for Foreign Affairs being evacuated from a peace and reconciliation event in north Belfast.

Simon Coveney had been addressing the event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation when he was ushered from the room.

The Houben Centre, on the Crumlin Road, was evacuated and a funeral service at nearby Holy Cross church was also disrupted.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said the driver of a van was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive a device which he believed to be a live bomb to Holy Cross church.



Simon Coveney being ushered from the room

He condemned the disgraceful actions which caused more than 25 homes to be evacuated, disrupted local schools and also a funeral.

Addressing media at police headquarters on Friday evening, he said detectives believe loyalists paramilitaries were responsible, and that the UVF was the primary line of inquiry.

This morning, some time between 9am and 10am, a van was hijacked in Sydney Street West off the Shankill Road, Belfast, he said.

The van driver was threatened by two gunmen and forced to drive his white Vauxhall van a short distance to another street and a device was then placed in the van.



Officers from the PSNI looks across at Holy Cross church where emergency services are attending a security alert

The victim was then forced to drive the van to Holy Cross chapel.

Just think about this, the victim believed at this point he was driving a van containing a live bomb and that his family were being threatened.

The local community were also impacted. Over 25 homes were evacuated, local schools were affected and vulnerable residents in a local nursing home had to be moved to another part of their home.

Most shamefully, a funeral taking place in the chapel was also disrupted, causing further grief to that family.

This evening upon further examination, the device has been declared a hoax. It was clearly designed to cause maximum disruption to the local community.

At this early stage of the investigation, our assessment is that these crimes were carried out by loyalist paramilitary groups.

Were keeping an open mind but one of the primary lines of investigation is the UVF.

Mr McEwan also issued an appeal for information about anyone with any information about the event, gun men or movements of the van, to come forward to police.

Mr Coveney has previously been targeted in sinister graffiti in a loyalist area of Belfast.

Asked whether Mr Coveney had been the target of the incident, Mr McEwan said he would not speculate on motivation at a very early stage of the investigation.

The incident has been condemned by politicians.

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis described the actions as reprehensible.

Todays incident at the Houben Centre in North Belfast is a reminder that there is a small minority willing to use violence to advance their goals, he said.

My thoughts are with the driver who faced a terrifying ordeal, the family that was holding a funeral, as well as with Simon Coveney and everyone else who was impacted.

These actions are reprehensible. I utterly condemn those involved and give my thanks and reiterate my full support to the PSNI and security partners and urge anyone with any information to contact the police.

Earlier, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed the widespread condemnation, adding most people want to get on with their lives and have no truck with those who cling to violence.

Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle ONeill also condemned those involved, adding: Those determined to cause instability and disruption will not succeed. Those of us committed to peace will not be deterred.

Church of Ireland Archbishop the Rev John McDowell described the incident as shameful.

Good to see widespread condemnation of those behind the hijacking and security alert in North Belfast. Most people want to get on with their lives and have no truck with those who cling to violence.  Jeffrey Donaldson MP (@J_Donaldson_MP) March 25, 2022

Peace and stability in Northern Ireland are maintained and advanced through good relationships at all levels within Ireland and across these islands, and there is no place for violence or the threat of violence in our society, he said.

Mr Coveney had been speaking about the importance of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

He told the event: The patient work of reconciliation and deepening of relationships does need to continue on our own island.

A spokesperson for Mr Coveney said: The minister and team are safe, have been taken to a secure location and the PSNI are doing their work.

In a tweet afterwards, the Foreign Affairs Minister thanked the efforts of the PSNI.

I condemn the actions of those involved in a security alert at an event focused on peace, reconciliation and finding common-ground. Those determined to cause instability & disruption will not succeed. Those of us committed to peace will not be deterred.  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) March 25, 2022

In Belfast with the Hume Foundation to honour John & Pats legacy of peace for all communities.

Saddened & frustrated that someone has been attacked & victimised in this way and my thoughts are with him & his family.

Tim Attwood, from the foundation, told the PA news agency that the security alert is a reminder to everyone that there is no role in our society for violence.

He added: A suspect device will not stop the work of the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

Local priest Fr Gary Donegan also spoke at the event.

He told BBC Radio Ulster that Mr Coveney was about five minutes into the speech when it was interrupted.

I saw the close protection team, beckoning towards me, and I was wondering what are they asking me for?

They turned around and said to me that someone had been hijacked at gunpoint and had driven a van with an alleged device into the ground and we need to get the minister out of there and get the place evacuated.

So immediately, we had to get the minister away.

He described evacuating the building, which he said was a local community hub, and said a funeral had been cancelled by the evacuation.

Whatever mindless people did what they did today, forget about the actual event itself, but theres a family grieving who now didnt even have a funeral.

Worrying situation in Belfast today at the Building Common Ground event. These mindless thugs wont deter the John and Pat Hume Foundation from carrying out their work to further peace.  Colum Eastwood (@columeastwood) March 25, 2022

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie described the incident as simply shocking.

At a time when most of the world is joined in solidarity to oppose the brutal oppression of the people of Ukraine, it is simply shocking that a working man, going about his business driving a van for a living, should be traumatised by terrorists insisting he drive what he is told is a device into a carpark, he said.

Apart from the irony that Mr Coveney was speaking about the suffering in Ukraine as part of his speech on reconciliation, a speech he can deliver again, a grieving family burying a loved one had to hold their funeral mass outdoors, something that cannot be undone. Relatives were denied their right to pay their respects as planned.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described it as a worrying situation.

He tweeted: These mindless thugs wont deter the John and Pat Hume Foundation from carrying out their work to further peace.

Earlier this week, the level of terrorism threat from dissident republicans in Northern Ireland was lowered from severe to substantial for the first time in 12 years.

The assessment, announced by Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis but made independently by the security service MI5, was praised by Mr Coveney when he appeared alongside Mr Lewis after a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in Dublin.

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle tweeted: This is appalling news and deeply disturbing.

I had the privilege of meeting the Hume Foundation last week, their work is based on reconciliation and is important.

I hope Simon Coveneys presentation resumes safely and soon.
Dublin Airport has said it is still trying to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic, amid some complaints about lengthy queues.

Some passengers have taken to social media in recent days to vent about long queues and lengthy waits at security.

A spokesperson for Dublin Airport said that staff were trying to ramp up the service provided to travellers but returning to full capacity after Covid-19 would take time.

As the recruitment, training and background security checks for all staff working at an international airport take several weeks, not days, we apologise in advance but queues for security will be experienced at peak hours, the spokesperson said.

To minimise the impact, we encourage all passengers to check in bags where they can and to carry the minimum amount with them when presenting at security.

We would also encourage all passengers to be at the airport a minimum of two hours before boarding a short haul flight and three hours prior to boarding a long-haul flight.

Airlines and the travel industry were badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought international travel largely to a halt when it first struck.

While the tourism industry has rebounded somewhat, visitor numbers in Ireland remain below pre-pandemic levels.

The spokesperson said that over 100 new security staff were recruited since the start of the year.

There have been delays in bringing some of these people into the operation because of the requirement for enhanced background checks for aviation workers that came into effect since January 1.

This logjam is now easing, and we hope that more new staff can begin working on the frontline in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers as we work to restore customer service levels to 2019 levels.

The spokesperson continued: Around 1,000 staff left Dublin Airport under a voluntary severance scheme because of the pandemic and while there is an ongoing recruitment drive to replace frontline staff in areas such as security and retail, all companies who operate at airports across Europe are experiencing similar challenges as we approach the start of the busy summer season ahead.
Musician Jim Self is pictured with his tuba. Self will be a guest artist in residency at IUP from March 27 through March 30.
Nationally renowned "hot date" Eric Greitens casts blame for his recent troubles on Republican leadership and crafts another conspiracy.

More to the point . . . If ANY of this really moves the dial for Missouri Republicans then they're in more trouble than we realize.



Still, the former political tough guy crying crocodile tears provides just a bit of amusement for tonight.

Take a peek . . .



"Anybody who's thought about this for 20 seconds recognizes that if there were a shred of truth to any of this, there is no way my ex-wife, the mediator, and the court would have agree to years ago, that the very best thing for the boys was to spend their free time with me," said Greitens, referring to the custody arrangement he and his wife have had for two years.



Still, Greitens was met with a chorus of calls for him to drop out of the Senate race, partially due to the nature of the allegations. Greitens consistently responds to those calls with accusations that political figures like Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, and George Soros are working behind the scenes to undercut his campaign.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Greitens blames political rivals for allegations from ex-wife in FOX4 interview KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The embattled Missouri Senate Candidate Eric Greitens broke his silence about his ex-wife's allegations of abuse in an interview with FOX4 on Friday. It comes after Sheena Greitens said that her ex-husband was physically abusive and demonstrated such "unstable and coercive behavior" that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms when they were together.

Eric Greitens claims Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell's staff behind latest charges leveled against him U.S. Senate candidate and former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens said a top GOP consultant, Karl Rove, knew in advance his ex-wife was going to accuse him of abuse.

Developing . . .
While most of us we have only seen pictures of the new BMW 4 Series, Chris Harris was a little bit more lucky. He was invited to Portugal where he had the chance to test the new 435i. Yes, a 306-horsepower, rear-wheel-drive Bimmer  sadly, its not the one that included the M Performance Parts.

A little refresher course on the 435i for those of you who do not remember; the 435i is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter in-line-six engine with 306 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque. The 435i hits 60 mph in about 5 seconds with the standard eight-speed automatic and 5.3 seconds with the six-speed manual. Top speed is limited to 155 mph.

After testing it, Harris reviewed the 435i as a "very good performance car, but a little bit ordinary." Do you agree with him?

When BMW handed Harris the keys to the 435i the representatives said "No drifting, please." So, do you think did Harris resist the temptation? Check the video to find out!
Ontarios wastewater signal is down markedly from its recent spring peak last month, meaning infections are also declining.
Todays coronavirus news: Ontario hospitals seeing rise in staff testing positive for COVID; U.K. sees a million new cases in a week

Meanwhile, Chinas economy faces its worst downward pressure since the spring of 2020 when it was hit by the first wave of COVID-19.
Two of the four green-band-maxi-taxi routes yet to implement a fare increase will be doing so, come Monday.

Meantime discussions are underway with respect to raising fares on a third route, but the Route 3 Maxi-Taxi Association is giving its clients the opportunity to suggest a reasonable increase. Rynessa Cutting has more.
The number of NATO members supporting the deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Ukraine is growing.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this during his visit to Brussels, Ukrinform reports, referring to RMF24.

"We already know from the media from the previous few days that there was a positive reaction from Denmark and Lithuania. Today I can say that other member states have expressed their approval, but they also expect some support and a common voice from NATO," he said.

According to Morawiecki, there were representatives of countries at the European Council who are skeptical about the prospect of introducing peacekeepers in Ukraine. He advised them to imagine that "all of Ukraine is becoming Mariupol, a bombed-out place where people are running away."

Morawiecki also called the actions of Putin and Russian soldiers barbaric. He stressed that this allows "presenting the worst-case scenarios, so the presentation of this concept is finding more fertile ground." He added that otherwise, EU member states will have to receive "tens of millions of refugees."

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying infrastructure, residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
Since February 24, the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraines largest children's hospital located in Kyiv, Okhmatdyt, has been conducting surgeries non-stop. Instead of planned operations, doctors try to save Ukrainians suffered from Russian shelling.

According to Okhmatdyt, wounded children and adults are now admitted here. Seriously ill patients remain in bomb shelters for days.

"Wounded children, who saw how their parents were killed, are brought to us. Elderly people, whose homes were destroyed in rocket attacks, are brought to us. Injured civilians are brought to us, the report says.

13-year-old Vova war brought to Okhmatdyt on February 26. He and his family were trying to leave Kyiv in the car that came under fire. The boy's father and his 6-year-old brother died on the spot.

Vova has gunshot and explosive injury of the right half of the face, gunshot-fragment open fracture of the lower jaw, fragmentary fracture of the right chin-orbital complex. The boy underwent a number of complex surgeries. He will need a long rehabilitation to fully recover.

6-year-old Milana saw her mother was killed on February 28, as a Russian rocket hit their house near Hostomel.

The fragments damaged the girl's lower extremities.

7-year-old Varia from Irpin and her family tried to leave their hometown, which is constantly being shelled by the Russian military. The occupiers began attacking civilians with mortars.

Varia and her mother received severe shrapnel wounds. Their legs were severely injured.

In early hours of March 18, a family of wounded Kyiv residents was brought in Okhmatdyt. Dmytro and Olha were feeding their one-month-old daughter Viktoria when an enemy shell landed near their five-storey residential building. The kids managed to survive and were not injured, because their mother covered them with her own body. As a result, Olha got numerous shrapnel wounds. Legs of her husband were seriously wounded.

On March 17, 14-year-old Yura and his father went to the center of occupied Bucha for humanitarian aid and medicines.

"We were riding bicycles when the Russian military came out of the house. We stopped, raised our hands, said we had no weapons. But the soldier started shooting at my father. He fell. Then the military started firing at me, two bullets hit my hand. I fell to the ground. The soldier still fired into the hood, but the bullet did not hit my head," Yura said.

According to data provided by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, as of the morning of the 31st day of full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation, 136 children were killed and 199 children were injured in Ukraine. The highest number of child casualties was recorded in the Kyiv region - 64, the Kharkiv region - 44, the Donetsk region - 50, the Chernihiv region - 38, the Mykolaiv region - 28, the Luhansk region - 25, the Zaporizhzhia region - 17, the Kherson region - 20, Kyiv city - 16, the Zhytomyr region - 15, and the Sumy region  14.

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.

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Three people were killed and six were wounded in artillery shelling by Russian invaders in the Kyiv region, and a wooden church built in the second half of the 19th century was destroyed.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office reported this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

District prosecutor's offices in the Kyiv region are conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on violations of the laws and customs of war (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

"According to the investigation, three civilians were killed and six were wounded in artillery strikes by the troops of the invaders on the villages of Tarasivka, Trebukhiv and Shevchenkove in the Brovary district and on the town of Bucha," the statement said.

Russian troops opened fire with artillery and automatic weapons on apartment buildings and private houses in the village of Andriyivka, the Bucha district, Bucha, Irpin, Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, as well as the villages of Tarasivka, Trebukhiv, Lukianivka and Shevchenkove in the Brovary district. Enemy shells damaged or completely destroyed the homes of citizens.

Invaders also shelled settlements in the Fastiv and Vyshgorod districts.

"Russian enemy troops are destroying architectural monuments. In the village of Lukianivka, the Brovary district, the occupiers destroyed the Church of the Ascension - a monument of Ukrainian wooden architecture of the second half of the 19th century," the Prosecutor General's Office said.
The military leadership of the Russian occupying forces is conducting covert mobilization and has increased the air transportation of military cargo from Russia to Belarus.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this in a statement published on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"Due to the urgent need to replenish losses, the occupiers are carrying out covert mobilization and removing equipment from long-term storage. In order to replenish individual units of the 4th tank division from the 1st tank army, T-72 tanks were removed from long-term storage. According to available information, the equipment is in extremely unsatisfactory technical condition and disassembled," the statement reads.

According to the statement, Russian invaders continue to actively use the transport network of Belarus. An increase in the amount of military cargo transported from Russia to Belarus by air was recorded. The enemy mostly uses An-124 aircraft to transport missiles of various types and ammunition. This method of delivery is used due to the blocking of railways in some directions.

The people of Belarus do not support the involvement of their country's armed forces in the war waged by Russia against Ukraine. At the same time, a group of high-ranking officials and generals from the Belarusian Security Council is lobbying for providing military support for Russian aggression and sending Belarusian troops into Ukraine.

The General Staff also said that in the settlements of the Kherson region the invaders are strengthening terror against the local population. The occupiers are searching homes to identify those who participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation and Joint Forces Operation, servicemen, volunteers and members of their families. There are numerous cases of women being abducted and local residents being tortured.

In addition, in some settlements in the Chernihiv region, the occupiers are forcibly distributing "humanitarian aid" to the local population in order to create propaganda reports in the Russian media.

In the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy continues to build a system of checkpoints to prevent the movement of local people.

The General Staff also stressed that sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the enemy located in the Kyiv region are still attempting to penetrate the capital. The saboteurs dress into civilian clothes and use stolen cars.

At the same time, the enemy continues to suffer losses in all directions, and Ukrainian defense forces are methodically destroying Russian invaders, the statement said.
U.S. President Joe Biden held a meeting with the foreign and defense ministers of Ukraine to discuss recent developments in Ukraine, increasing pressure on Russia and holding Putin accountable for war crimes.

The White House said this in a statement following Biden's meeting with the Ukrainian ministers in Warsaw on Saturday, Ukrinform reports.

"The President updated the Ministers on U.S. efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression, including through the President's meetings this week in Belgium, and the significant military and humanitarian assistance the United States is providing to Ukraine," the statement said.

The parties discussed "further efforts to help Ukraine defend its territory" and "the United States' ongoing actions to hold President Putin accountable for Russia's brutal aggression, in coordination with our allies and partners, including through the new sanctions actions announced by the President in Brussels on March 24."

On March 26, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov met with their U.S. counterparts Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin in the 2+2 format in Warsaw.

Biden joined the talks. It was his first face-to-face meeting with high-ranking Ukrainian officials since Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba expects that Israel will strongly condemn the shelling by the Russian troops of a menorah monument in Drobytskyi Yar in Kharkiv region.

He wrote about this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

This Menora in Drobytskyi Yar near Kharkiv never threatened anyone. It commemorates the memory of over 15.000 Jews murdered by Nazis. Damaged by Russian shelling today. Why Russia keeps attacking Holocaust Memorials in Ukraine? I expect Israel to strongly condemn this barbarism, he wrote.

This Menora in Drobytskyi Yar near Kharkiv never threatened anyone. It commemorates the memory of over 15.000 Jews murdered by Nazis. Damaged by Russian shelling today. Why Russia keeps attacking Holocaust Memorials in Ukraine? I expect Israel to strongly condemn this barbarism. pic.twitter.com/m7AiT4zlBg  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 26, 2022

On March 26, Russian forces damaged a menorah monument at the Drobytskyi Yar Holocaust memorial complex, near Kharkiv.

Drobytskyi Yar was the site of executions in 1941-1942 by Nazi troops of civilians, most of whom were Jews, in Kharkiv and Kharkiv region. About 20,000 people were killed in there.

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German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen has assured that Germany could continue to help Ukraine with armaments.

She stated this during a national Ukrainian telethon, Ukrinform reports.

Germany is working to strengthen its support for Ukraine in all areas, the ambassador said, adding that this also includes arms supplies.

She noted that little is being elaborated on the issue because Ukraine has asked the German government not to provide any details publicly, but this is just one among many areas of assistance Feldhusen said.

The ambassador stressed that Germany can continue supplying weapons to the country.

Earlier, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and Vice Chancellor and Federal Economy Minister Robert Habeck told German media that the Bundeswehr no longer had weapons that could be handed over to Ukraine, but Berlin was looking for the relevant sources to buy them from.
The United Nations must be reformed, while Russia, as an aggressor power, cannot be blocking discussions of war it is waging against Ukraine.

This was stated in a comment to Guildhall by Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Czech Senate, ex-presidential candidate Pavel Fischer.

"The Russian Federation violates all norms of international law and breaches the UN Charter with its military aggression against Ukraine. It is absolutely necessary to prepare for UN reform  it was created to avoid war in Europe. Today, the aggressor has no right to block the discussion of such an extraordinary military conflict, where many civilians die for no reason. The city of Mariupol has become a symbol of the apocalypse," the politician said, according to a report delivered in Russian.

According to the senator, the Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine and will appear before the International Tribunal.

"The behavior of the Russian army does not comply with the mandatory rules of warfare, while military units are committing war crimes. I consider attacks on civilians unacceptable, outrageous, and unforgivable. For them, as well as for the attacks on nuclear power plants, committed by Russian troops, the perpetrators will be brought before the International Tribunal," he said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 24, Russian President Putin announced the launch of a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been destroying key infrastructure and residential neighborhoods.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
Staff members of UNHRC and partner organization NEEKA are helping an internally displaced woman to enrol into the UNHCR cash assistance programme in Mukachevo town in Zakarpattia oblast. Photo UNHCR/Oleksandr Radysh

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, joined forces with Ukrposhta to launch a cash assistance programme to reach  as an initial target  360,000 displaced people across Ukraine with 2,220 Hryvnia per person per month, for the duration of three months. Families will be able to collect their cash through Ukrposhta branches in all regions of Ukraine.

The program is aiming to serve as a complement to the national social protection system and social assistance and to support people who have fled the military offensive meet their immediate basic needs, including temporary accommodation, food and hygiene items in their place of displacement. This cash assistance complements other ongoing support being provided by UNHCR and partners.

The consequences of the war are devastating for many millions of people in Ukraine who had to flee, leaving behind friends and communities and their homes, belongings, and jobs, said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine. Around one quarter of Ukraines population has already been forcibly displaced and the ongoing hostilities are pushing people to the edge. While humanitarian assistance cannot take away the trauma caused by these losses, it can help alleviate some of the pressure on families by contributing to their ability to meet basic needs like accommodation, transport, food and hygiene items.

Enrolments for cash assistance started in Lviv oblast on 17 March and have since continued in Zakarpathia oblast while preparations are ongoing for roll-out in six additional oblasts across Ukraine. So far, UNHCR and its partners R2P and CrimeaSOS have enrolled 2,920 individuals of whom 1,700 are having their cash transfers processed at this moment, with the first payments scheduled for 25 March. The programme benefits people in Ukraine who are forcibly displaced and do not plan to leave the territory of Ukraine.

For more information on the enrolment sites, please visit UNHCR website.

Our partner UNHCR has chosen Ukrposhta for the direct disbursement of funds to Ukrainians in need, because we have vast experience in delivering money to people during wartime, and can provide various formats of payment: delivery to the branch or address delivery. Ukrposhta has the widest network, and our branches have been operating since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, even in Sumy, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, Kherson and other cities where the situation is critical and where the population needs help the most, said Ukrposhta Director General Igor Smilyansky.

A month into the military offensive, Ukraine faces a dire humanitarian crisis. Intensified attacks have led to a surge in casualties and humanitarian needs across the country. Around a quarter of the population has been forcibly displaced and some 13 million are directly affected by the hostilities.

As part of an inter-agency response under the leadership of the UN Crisis Coordinator, UNHCR is working in close cooperation with local authorities and humanitarian partners to provide protection information and counselling, distribute essential items and cash assistance, increase reception and accommodation capacity and deliver emergency shelter kits to people with damaged homes.

The project is implemented through UNHCR NGO partners in Ukraine: R2P, NEEKA, CrimeaSOS, Nehemia.

For more information, please contact: 0800307711 or [email protected]

Information for editors:

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people. Since 1950, UNHCR has led international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and prosecution. The organisation provides them with life-saving assistance, including shelter, food, as well as water and also helps safeguard their fundamental human rights. In Ukraine, UNHCR has been working since 1994 to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons. More information: https://www.unhcr.org/ua/en

Ukrposhta is the national postal operator in Ukraine, which has the biggest network with coverage of 100% of the localities in Ukraine and about 11 000 post offices across Ukraine. Ukrposhtas key activities are postal and logistics services, which account for 55.9%, financial services  40.9%, trade  3.2%. The company provides more than 50 services for individuals and corporate clients. Ukrposhta has been operating since the first days of the war  the company delivers domestic and international shipments, pensions, humanitarian aid from abroad, accepts payments and also sells basic necessities. Current list of branches is available under this link.

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The Florida Highway Patrol reports the arrest of two men that were occupants of a stolen vehicle last Saturday, March 19.

In a press release, officials say an agency trooper initially pursued the vehicle on U.S. 231 in Bay County because the driver of the red Kia Forte was speeding. When the trooper contacted dispatch to report his pursuit, he learned that the car had been reported stolen.

The car was tracked as it turned onto Interstate 10 at the 130-mile marker. Another trooper positioned himself at the 123-mile marker to intercept the Kia and clocked it at 105 mph in a 70 mph zone, officials say.

Authorities report that the trooper saw the car enter the emergency lane and force other vehicles to the shoulder. The trooper activated emergency lights and siren in an attempt to pull the car over. As he was catching up to it, officials say, he saw it crash into the median near the 121-mile marker. At that point, authorities say, both of the occupants got out and started to run. The trooper was able to detain and arrest the driver, while passenger ran into the woods on the south shoulder.

A trooper and K-9 came to the scene and tracked the passenger, arresting him.

The two occupants were medically cleared and taken to the Washington County jail, both charged with multiple offenses.

The driver was identified as 18-year-old Alabama man Shaughneysy Mingnon Brown.

The passenger was identified as 19-year-old Alabama man Rodricous Antonio Martin.
Lockey reports surplus land; plans aired for public auctionTax Assessor Herbert Lockey appeared at this weeks county board meeting to explain that the county owns about 80 parcels of land, 65-70 of which can be auctioned for a return to private ownership. The remaining plots accommodate local government facilities. Lockey compiled the list after the county board became hard-pressed to find sites on which to locate garbage pits and to use as borrow pits for landfill operations. Lockey said the plots, which area scattered from Sneads to Graceville, range in size, from normal building-sized lots to about five acres. Circuit Clerk Raymond Bruner explained the procedure by which lands that have reverted to the county by tax default are sold. Lockey asked for interested buyers to be patient while a map that pinpoints the parcels is developed. Jackson County Floridan, Thursday, March 15, 1973

Andreasen requests crews for work in MariannaIn the aftermath of Marianna City Commissions inquiry into the fairness of the apportionment of tax revenue collected by the county, County Commissioner Elton Andreasen, whose district is Marianna, put in his bid for use of county men and machinery on a regular basis. Andreasen complained that the recent realignment of the county into two major work districts left Marianna short-changed. Commissioner Fred Williams of Grand Ridge pointed out that Andreasen didnt have 200-300 miles of unpaved road to maintain as did other board members. Nevertheless, after further discussion, board members approved a motion that crews be scheduled in the Marianna district on Fridays, but released from that obligation if not needed. Jackson County Floridan, Thursday, March 15, 1973

Askew testifies in campaign probe

In an unprecedented appearance, Gov. Reubin Askew Wednesday testified before a grand jury probing charges the Florida Democratic Party violated campaign spending laws in 1970. Allegations have been made that party officials failed to report $25,000 contributed to Askews campaign. State Attorney Harry Morrison said Askew had not been subpoenaed but came voluntarily. The unannounced appearance before the Leon County panel is said to be the first by a Florida governor. Morrison said Askews testimony was secret and that the grand jury would issue its recommendations, if any, on Friday. Jackson County Floridan, Thursday, March 15, 1973

Follow @JCFloridanNews on Twitter.
Moscow, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2022 ) :Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing "fake" information about Russia's actions abroad, as Moscow's troops continue their military operation in Ukraine.

The bill, adopted by Russia's parliament this week, sets out jail terms and fines for people who publish "knowingly false information" about actions abroad by Russian government agencies.

If the false information "caused serious consequences", it is punishable by up 15 years in jail.

The new bill expands on a law passed earlier in March that allows for up to 15 years in jail for publishing false information about the Russian army.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said on Saturday that Islamabad public meeting would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of the mafia as millions of party workers were moving towards Islamabad on the call of Prime Minister Imran Khan

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2022 ) :Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said on Saturday that Islamabad public meeting would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of the mafia as millions of party workers were moving towards Islamabad on the call of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

In a statement, he said that Islamabad's public meeting would differentiate between good and bad as the people considered Imran Khan a true leader. The opponents could not harm PM Imran Khan, he said and reaffirmed that the people were standing beside the captain.

He said that Imran Khan had come out from every crisis successfully and put the country on rightdirection. He said people were supporting Imran Khan and remain to do so in future as well.

Islamabad public meeting would prove to be a public referendum against the opponents, he added.
US President Joe Biden took part in a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Warsaw on Saturday to discuss Russia's military operation in Ukraine, journalists from the White House press pool said

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) US President Joe Biden took part in a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Warsaw on Saturday to discuss Russia's military operation in Ukraine, journalists from the White House press pool said.

"The president was seated at a long white table between Secretaries (of state and defense, Antony) Blinken and (Lloyd) Austin, facing Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov," the pool said in a statement.

According to journalists, other officials were also present at the meeting.

"Kuleba was telling the president how he learned how to sleep 'under any conditions' during the war.

Biden also spoke about sleep," the press pool added.

Biden is currently on a two-day visit to Poland. Earlier in the day, he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in the city of Rzeszow.

The US leader arrived to Warsaw straight from Brussels, where he took part in an extraordinary NATO summit, a summit of G7 leaders and a meeting of the European Council. All events were also focused on Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation to "denazify" Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.
China decides to provide 2,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to Sri Lanka, Chinese media reported

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2022 ) :China decides to provide 2,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to Sri Lanka, Chinese media reported.

The donation, which was valued at about US$ 2.5 million (including freight cost), was made at the request of the Sri Lankan government upon its current difficulty of food shortage in the island country, according to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.

As the continuously raging COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatically changing international situation have further worsened the global food shortage and shipping capacity, the technical teams from both countries will work closely to finalize the production and shipment arrangements, and deliver the aid to Sri Lanka at an early date, said the embassy.

Noting that this year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Sri Lanka and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact, the Chinese embassy said the two countries have traditionally helped each other and shared weal and woe.

China will continue to support Sri Lanka's social and economic development within its capacity, it added.
North Korea likely has "more in store" after successfully test-firing its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile this week, a top White House official said Friday

Seoul, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Mar, 2022 ) :North Korea likely has "more in store" after successfully test-firing its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile this week, a top White House official said Friday.

Thursday's launch was the first time Pyongyang has fired Kim Jong Un's most powerful missiles at full range since 2017.

It was conducted under Kim's "direct guidance", and ensures his country is ready for "long-standing confrontation" with the US, state media outlet KCNA reported Friday.

"We see this as part of a pattern of testing and provocation from North Korea... we think there is likely more in store," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on board Air Force One.

The missile appears to have travelled higher and further than any previous ICBM tested by the nuclear-armed country -- including one designed to strike anywhere on the US mainland.

State media photographs showed Kim, wearing his customary black leather jacket and dark sunglasses, striding across the tarmac in front of a huge missile, with other images of him cheering and celebrating the test launch with uniformed military top brass.

- 'Monster missile' - Known as the Hwasong-17, the giant ICBM was first unveiled in October 2020 and dubbed a "monster missile" by analysts.

It had never previously been successfully test-fired, and the launch prompted immediate outrage from Pyongyang's neighbours and the United States.

"The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km and flew a distance of 1,090 km for 4,052s before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters" in the Sea of Japan, KCNA said.

South Korea's military had estimated the range of the Thursday launch as 6,200 kilometres (3,900 miles) -- far longer than the last ICBM, the Hwasong-15, which North Korea tested in November 2017.

The missile landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, prompting anger from Tokyo, but KCNA said the test had been carried out "in a vertical launch mode" to ease neighbours' security concerns.

Following Thursday's test, Washington imposed new sanctions on entities and people in Russia and North Korea who are accused of "transferring sensitive items to North Korea's missile program".

The North is already under biting international sanctions for its weapons programs, and the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting over the launch on Friday.

The European Union added to the chorus of condemnation on Friday.

"This is a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions and a serious threat to international and regional peace and security," the bloc said in a statement, calling on Pyongyang to "refrain from any further action that could increase international or regional tensions".

- 'Important progress' - The test is a clear sign North Korea has made "important qualitative progress" on its banned weapons programmes, said US-based analyst Ankit Panda.

"What's important about this ICBM is not how far it can go, but what it can potentially carry, which is multiple warheads," something North Korea has long coveted, he told AFP.

"The North Koreans are on the cusp of significantly increasing the threat to the United States beyond the ICBM capability demonstrated in 2017." Multiple warheads would help a North Korean missile evade US missile defence systems.

The North had carried out three ICBM tests prior to Thursday, the last being the Hwasong-15 in 2017.

Long-range and nuclear tests were paused when Kim and then US president Donald Trump engaged in a bout of diplomacy which collapsed in 2019. Talks have since stalled.

Thursday's launch, one of nearly a dozen North Korean weapons tests this year, marked a dramatic return to long-range testing.

It came just days after one last week, likely also of the Hwasong-17, failed, exploding after launch.

- Compensation - "This test also appears to 'compensate' for last week's failed projectile launch -- handsomely so," Soo Kim, RAND Corporation Policy Analyst and former CIA analyst, told AFP.

"The regime appears quite pleased with the outcome of the test," she added.

The country's new ICBM launch comes at a delicate time for the region, with South Korea going through a presidential transition until May, and the US distracted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a photograph of a haggard-looking Kim signing papers at his desk, with an image of a handwritten "I approve the test launch" scrawled over a report.

"Kim Jong Un wants to ultimately establish himself as a leader who has successfully developed both nuclear weapons and ICBMs," Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean studies scholar, told AFP.

"He is almost desperate as without such military achievements, he really hasn't done much," he added, pointing to the isolated country's Covid- and sanctions-battered economy.
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) Thales Defense and Security and L3Harris Technologies will compete for each order of a more than $6.1 billion US Army contract to modernize Single Channel Ground and Airborne radios to align with National Security Agency (NSA) crypto modernization requirements, the US Defense Department said in a press release.

"Thales Defense and Security (of) Clarksburg, Maryland and L3Harris Technologies (of) Rochester, New York will compete for each order of the $6,108,734,590 hybrid contract to modernize Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) radios," the release said on Friday.

The modernized system will align with the NSA's crypto modernization requirements, the release added.

Work on the contract will be carried out over the next decade with an estimated completion date of March 24, 2032 under the authority of the US Army Contracting Command based at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the state of Maryland, according to the release.
(@FahadShabbir)

Turkey discussed the discovery of what turned out to be an obsolete mine in the Bosphorus Strait with both Russia and Ukraine, and continues to coordinate with the countries on the issue, Turkish Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar said on Saturday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) Turkey discussed the discovery of what turned out to be an obsolete mine in the Bosphorus Strait with both Russia and Ukraine, and continues to coordinate with the countries on the issue, Turkish Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar said on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Turkish newspaper Star reported that fishermen had seen a mine-like object in the area of the Sariyer-Turkeli anchorage at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait. The Turkish Ministry of National Defence said it had taken all necessary measures to neutralize the mine-like object.

"We talked about this with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities. Our coordination continues," Akar told reporters.

The minister added that the object, which turned out to be an obsolete mine, had been successfully neutralized. According to Akar, currently, there are no obstacles for shipping in the Bosphorus Strait.

"The relevant units and teams of our navy continue to work," the minister added.

Last week, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that the Ukrainian military had installed about 420 mines at the entrance to the ports of Odesa, Ochakiv, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne since the beginning of the Russian military operation in the country. The FSB did not exclude the possibility of the drifting of mines to the Bosphorus Strait and further into the seas of the Mediterranean Basin.

According to the Hurriyet newspaper, the Turkish navy urged ships to track drifting mines following the FSB statement. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the defense ministry was taking all necessary measures in connection with the information about drifting mines in the Black Sea.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defence said it had taken all necessary measures to neutralize a mine-like object found in the Bosphorus Strait on Saturday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) The Turkish Ministry of National Defence said it had taken all necessary measures to neutralize a mine-like object found in the Bosphorus Strait on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Turkish newspaper Star reported that fishermen had seen a mine-like object in the area of the Sariyer-Turkeli anchorage at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait,

"Following the discovery of a mine-like object by a civilian commercial vessel, on the morning of March 26, 2022, in the coastal zone of the Bosphorus, units of the underwater defense (SAS) were promptly sent to the scene. The mine-like object in question was placed under guard by the SAS teams and an intervention was carried out to neutralize it," the ministry said in a statement.

In addition, Turkish broadcater TRT Haber reported that the strait was closed to navigation until further notice.

Last week, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that the Ukrainian military had installed about 420 mines at the entrance to the ports of Odssa, Ochakiv, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne since the beginning of the Russian military operation in the country. The FSB did not exclude the possibility of the drifting of mines to the Bosphorus Strait and further into the seas of the Mediterranean Basin.

According to the Hurriyet newspaper, the Turkish navy urged ships to track drifting mines following the FSB statement. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the defense ministry was taking all necessary measures in connection with the information about drifting mines in the Black Sea.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The United States has cancelled planned talks in Doha with the Taliban after the hardline Islamist rulers of Afghanistan shut girls secondary schools, US officials said

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Mar, 2022 ) :The United States has cancelled planned talks in Doha with the Taliban after the hardline Islamist rulers of Afghanistan shut girls secondary schools, US officials said.

"On Tuesday, we joined millions of Afghan families in expressing our deep disappointment with the Taliban's decision to not allow women and girls to return to secondary school," a State Department spokesperson said.

"We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha around the Doha Forum, and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement," the spokesperson said.

The Taliban, which seized power in August and is eager for international recognition, shut down girls schools this week just hours after reopening them.

"This decision by the Taliban, if it is not swiftly reversed, will profoundly harm the Afghan people, the country's prospects for economic growth, and the Taliban's ambition to improve their relations with the international community," the spokesperson said.

"We stand with Afghan girls and their families, who see education as a path to realizing the full potential of Afghanistan's society and economy." In a joint statement Thursday the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Norway and the US, plus the high representative of the European Union, said the Taliban's decision will harm the group's prospects for legitimacy.

The Taliban's decision to keep schools shuttered for girls came after a meeting late Tuesday by senior officials in the southern city of Kandahar, the movement's de facto power center and conservative spiritual heartland.

It followed months of work by the international community to address the issue of supporting teacher stipends, and came just as Afghan girls were eagerly heading back to school for the first time in seven months.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) The United States condemns the Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure and facilities in several Saudi Arabian cities, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

"We condemn the Houthi attacks launched against Saudi Arabia's civil infrastructure earlier today.

Unprovoked Houthi attacks against Saudi Aramco's oil storage facilities in Jeddah as well as attacks against civil facilities in Jizan, Najran, and Dhahran are acts of terrorism aimed to prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people," Sullivan said in the statement on Friday.

The United States stands fully behind efforts to de-escalate the conflict through the UN and will continue to support partners in defense of their territory from Houthi attacks, Sullivan also said.

The attacks were clearly enabled by Iran in violation of UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting the import of weapons into Yemen, Sullivan added.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) The Biden administration is postponing its environmental assessment of SpaceX's new Starship complex until the end of April, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) announced in a press release.

"The FAA intends to issue the Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy project on April 29, 2022," the release said on Friday.

"The previous target date was March 28, 2022."

The FAA is currently reviewing the Final PEA and completing consultation and coordination with agencies at the local, State, and Federal level, the release added.

The completion of the environmental review will not guarantee that the FAA will issue a license to SpaceX to launch its Starship/Super Heavy vehicle. SpaceX's license application must also meet FAA safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements, according to the release.
Burundi today is a different place. We will not succumb to conflict, which only distracts us from our goal for peace, reconciliation and national unity. Burundians have only one enemy: Poverty. These were the sentiments of the country's President after meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican. He spoke to Vatican News on Saturday.

Stanislas Kambashi, SJ - Vatican City.

Pope Francis received the President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Saturday.

Collaboration between the Church and the Burundian State, social commitment of the Church in Burundi, national reconciliation and reconstruction, and the fight against poverty. These are some of the themes President Ndayishimiye of Burundi discussed with Vatican News soon after visiting Pope Francis on 26 March.

Gratitude to Pope Francis

Later the President met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's Secretary of State. He also met Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States.

Burundian President exchanges gifts with Pope Francis

After meeting with Vatican authorities, President Ndayishimiye gave an exclusive interview to Vatican News. The Burundian President began by expressing his gratitude to Pope Francis, "who is also committed to the efforts that Burundi is making for its development," he observed,

Commendable efforts to reconcile Burundians

President Ndayishimiye told Vatican News that he presented to Pope Francis Burundi's national projects and the country's socio-political situation. The Pope was particularly pleased with the reconciliation efforts underway among the Burundian people.

The Holy Father also appreciated the cordial relations of the churches in Burundi. The President explained that Burundi organises an assembly that brings together all Church representatives of the country twice a year. These spend the week praying and discussing together in a spirit of ecumenical and interreligious fraternity. The Pope encouraged Burundian Churches to stay this unique course of the dialogue.

Pope Francis presenting gifts to President Ndayishimiye

The Burundian President also indicated that he counts on the Catholic Church for the reconciliation process currently underway in his country. After long years of conflict, Burundians are now ready and poised for persons who will inspire their march towards reconciliation. "We need the Church to reconcile our people," the President said.

The Catholic Church, very involved in Burundi

In presenting the country's socio-political situation, the President noted that Burundi is a country where most of the population is young. He especially praised good relations and the collaboration between the State and the Church, which supports the country in various developmental efforts such as education, health and other socio-cultural areas.

In Burundi, Mr Ndayishimiye continued, the Catholic Church has taken the lead on many fronts. He narrated how since the early days of the missionaries, Catholics have always worked for the country's development. For example, Caritas Burundi -the humanitarian arm of the Catholic Church, is very involved in various poverty alleviation projects. The President commended Catholic parishes for being involved in the country's development agenda. "As relations are good, I hope that we will continue to develop this sense of partnership with the Church," said the Burundian President.

Pope Francis in discussion withe President Ndayishimiye at the Apostolic Palace.

Overcoming a painful past

Having come from a painful past, Burundi is set and determined to work towards rebuilding itself.

"Burundi is a country with a very painful history, littered with massacres, killings, social conflicts and violence, of which the people truly tired. In 2005, we started our journey towards restoring our society. We did not completely overcome these challenges because post-electoral tensions persisted even after 2005. But, in 2020, the transparent and democratic elections we held indicate our resolve to build a new democratic state. Those elections had no tensions and inspired a huge turnout of voters. Today, everyone says they are tired of the tensions. Everyone feels that it is time to fully rebuild our nation," emphasised President Ndayishimiye.

Burundian delegation with Pope Francis

Ensemble tout est possible- Together, everything is possible

"Burundians are now working hand in hand as expressed in the country's slogan, " Together everything is possible" (Ensemble tout est possible). We have created cooperatives where citizens work together. This also creates great social cohesion. The President said the country will not allow politics to get in the way." He added, "The common enemy we have now is poverty. There is no more time for distraction," Mr Ndayishimiye reassured.

Burundi Carmel Youth Festival

Visitors will find a changed country

The Burundian President concluded with a word of hope to the international community, inviting visitors not to hesitate to visit his country. Burundi today is not the same as it was before, he repeated.

"We are a country that is starting to develop and will no longer be distracted by conflicts. We want to live in peace with our neighbours and all other countries. I invite tourists to come and visit Burundi to see how this country that was in conflict is now a destination country," said the President.

Mr Ndayishimiye closed the interview with Vatican news by appealing to his compatriots to unite as one and conquer poverty.
Pope Francis consecrates all humanityespecially Russia and Ukraineto the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and says the act expresses our complete trust in the Virgin Mary in the midst of the cruel and senseless war in Ukraine.

By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis presided over the annual 24 Hours for the Lord Lenten penitential service in St. Peters Basilica on Friday evening, as the Church marked the feast of the Annunciation.

Toward the end of the liturgy, the Pope prayed the Act of Consecration of humanity, especially of Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

He prayed the Act in communion with all Catholic Bishops across the globe, as the Papal Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, did the same at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, in Portugal.

The Popes renewal of the Consecration came in response to the war in Ukraine and at the request of the Blessed Virgin Mary made in an apparition at Fatima on 13 July 1917.

Spiritual act of trust

In his homily at the Celebration of Penance, Pope Francis reflected on humanitys need for Gods forgiveness and on the meaning of the Consecration.

He said the renewal of the Act of Consecration is meant to consecrate the Church and all the whole of humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, to Marys Immaculate Heart.

This is no magic formula but a spiritual act. It is an act of complete trust on the part of children who, amid the tribulation of this cruel and senseless war that threatens our world, turn to their Mother, reposing all their fears and pain in her heart and abandoning themselves to her.

The Pope added that we place all that we have and are into pure and undefiled heart, where God is mirrored.

Helplessness in face of vicious war

Pope Francis lamented the vicious war in Ukraine, which has killed many and caused immense suffering.

In these days, news reports and scenes of death continue to enter our homes, even as bombs are destroying the homes of many of our defenceless Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

The war, added the Pope, reminds us of our helplessness and our inadequacy, as well as of our need for the closeness of God and the certainty of His forgiveness.

God alone, he said, can eliminate evil, disarm resentment, and restore peace to our hearts.

Pope Francis recalled that God chose the Virgin Mary to change history by beginning a new story of salvation and peace.

If we want the world to change, then first our hearts must change.

Pope Francis with his crozier

Sacrament of joy

The Pope went on to reflect on Marys encounter with the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, in which God invites her to become the mother of the Son of God.



The angel Gabriel gave Mary the only true reason for joy, said the Pope, with his words that the Lord is with you.

Pope Francis said Catholics experience something similar in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, since God draws near to us when we present ourselves with humble, repentant hearts.

Confession is the sacrament of joy, he said. The Lord enters our home, as he did that of Mary in Nazareth, and brings us unexpected amazement and joy.

The Pope also urged priests to always express Gods forgiveness in Confession, and never project an air of rigidity or harshness.

If a priest doesnt possess this attitude with the proper sentiments in his heart, he said, then it would be better he not act as a confessor.

Pope Francis receives the Sacrament of Confession

Weakness turned into resurrection

Pope Francis also said the angel Gabriel tells Mary: Do not be afraid.

God, he added, already knows our weaknesses and failures, but that He invites us to lay them at His feet in the person of the priest when we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Our weaknesses can then become opportunities for resurrection.

Mary, in turn, now invites us to return to the source of our life, to the Lord, who is the ultimate remedy against fear and emptiness in life.

Pope Francis concluded that Marys response to Gods invitation was a lively desire to obey God.

May she now take our own journey into her hands. May she guide our steps through the steep and arduous paths of fraternity and dialogue, along the way of peace.

Pope Francis receives absolution
Evariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi and his entourage with Pope Francis (Vatican Media)

Pope Francis welcomed on Saturday morning the President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, who later met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

By Vatican News staff writer

On Saturday morning, Pope Francis met with the President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, at the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. The two leaders held private discussions, and following their meeting President Ndayishimiye went to meet with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

The Holy See Press office noted that during the cordial discussions in the Secretariat of State, "satisfaction was expressed for the good relations between the Holy See and Burundi, and for the contribution of the Catholic Church to the life of the country in various sectors of society." The delegations also dicussed the political and social situation in the country, and other themes concerning the African region.

Exchange of gifts

During the customary exchange of gifts following the discussions between Pope Francis and President Ndayishimiye, Pope Francis gave the President an "Angel of Peace" bronze medallion and copies of the papal documents: "Message for the World Peace Day 2022," "Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together," and the Vatican Publishing House book featuring the "Statio Orbis of 27 March 2020."



President Ndayishimiye gave Pope Francis traditional musical instruments of Burundi, and a certificate confirming contributions towards the building of a Church in Burundi.

After this morning's audience, the President of Burundi stopped by the media offices of the Dicastery for Communication for an onsite interview with Vatican News in French.
Music Time in Africa is VOAs longest running English language program. Since 1965, this award-winning program has featured pan African music that spans all genres and generations. Ethnomusicologist and Host Heather Maxwell keeps you up to date on whats happening in African music with exclusive interviews, cultural information, and of course, great music -- including rare recordings from the Leo Sarkisian Library of African Music.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Norway  known as the Troika  have condemned the South Sudan Peoples Defense Force (SSPDF) for attacking SPLA-In Opposition military bases in parts of the Upper Nile region.

Incidents such as these and the resulting cycles of revenge attacks risk greater violence in the country. They also illustrate the destabilizing and pernicious effects of incentivized defections, as these are often followed by armed clashes, said Tom Carter, a British Embassy spokesperson in Juba, reading from the Troika statement released by the U.S. Embassy.

The three countries said they are also concerned about reported attacks against cantonment sites and training centers for a unified South Sudanese army. They say the violence betrays a lack of political will to create a unified force, one of the key aspects of the 2018 peace agreement.

The Troika said it regrets the decision by the SPLM/A-IO to withdraw its participation from the security mechanisms and urged all parties to recommit to the peace deal, Carter said.

We call on the government of South Sudan to exercise leadership and oversight of the nations security forces to maintain discipline and compliance with the peace agreement, Carter said, quoting from the Troika statement.

On Tuesday, the SPLM/A-IO (South Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-In Opposition), a principal signatory to the peace deal, declared it had pulled out from security mechanism talks as well as the Revitalized Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC).

The decision came following repeated military attacks by SSPDF forces on the groups military bases in parts of Upper Nile state and inconsistencies in attending mechanism meetings and implementing resolutions, according to Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel, the SPLA-IO spokesperson.

Gabriel said the SPLM/A-IO sees little reason to participate in non-productive meetings where issues are raised but not resolved.

What we are seeing is really war which is being put on our table, yet we are here to implement a peace agreement. We cannot continue to be attacked every single day, yet we are here in Juba implementing peace together. It doesnt show any meaning, Gabriel told South Sudan in Focus.

SSPDF spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai Koang Wednesday denied the SSPDF launched attacks on SPLA-IO military bases. He said the fighting in Upper Nile erupted after SPLA-IO forces killed an SSPDF officer on March 20.

[The officers] colleagues responded to the gunshots, and they discovered it was their colleague that was shot dead and then skirmishes started towards the direction of Jekou and while they were fleeing, they were being engaged in running battles, so fighting started at Turouw and spread to Jekou, General Koang told South Sudan in Focus.

Koang said the SPLA-IO was totally responsible for starting it."

The Troika called on peace monitors to investigate those who orchestrated such attacks.

Wednesday, R-JMEC expressed concern with the SPLM/A-IOs withdrawal from the meetings of the security mechanisms for the peace deal, which it called an integral component of the deals transitional security arrangements. The body also raised concerns over the reported clashes between the factions.

Carter said that with less than a year to go before the end of South Sudans transitional period, whole-hearted commitment is critical to getting key agreement provisions past the finish line.
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On this special edition we take a look at U.S. President Bidens trip to Europe where he attended NATO, G-7, and European Council meetings; and traveled to Poland where he met officials, U.S. Troops, and discussed the toll of war on Ukrainian refugees. Plus, a look at Russias war on Ukraine one month in and the challenges in prosecuting alleged war crimes.
Nguyen Hai Ninh at M Village in HCMC. Photo courtesy of Ninh

M Village, an accommodation startup in co-living spaces, has received funding of US$1.7 million led by Singaporean venture fund Simple Tech Investment.

The money will be used for expanding the number of rooms the startup has in Ho Chi Minh City from the current 300 to 1,000 this year.

Its founder, Nguyen Hai Ninh, is also the founder and ex-CEO of The Coffee House, a HCMC-based coffee chain that has over 140 stores across Vietnam.

He said: "The fund-raising process started late last year and it has worked out pretty well. Simple Tech Investment agreed on investing after a month of getting to know each other".

Simple Tech has previously invested in digital transformation by some Vietnamese businesses, including online advertiser 24h, human resources service SieuViet Group, and leading barbershop chain 30Shine.

M Village has also received funding from Singapores Vulpes Venture, Japans Genesia Ventures and some angel investors.

Founded in October 2020, M Village operates five locations in Ho Chi Minh City with their occupancy rates exceed 90 percent.
Ethiopia has declared a conditional truce, and its rebel opponents in Tigray have agreed to cease hostilities if certain terms are met.

Does this bring Ethiopia any closer to peace?

Why now?

There has been sustained diplomatic pressure to end the conflict between the federal government and rebels aligned to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that has raged since November 2020.

Diplomats have been shuttling back and forth between the two sides for months. The new U.S. special envoy to the region, David Satterfield, was in Ethiopia earlier this week.

"I think international pressure has played a part in this decision," Awet Weldemichael, a Horn of Africa security expert at Queen's University in Canada, told AFP.

"Ethiopia is facing economic challenges due to the war, meanwhile negotiations have been going on behind the scenes."

The U.S. has not imposed sanctions so far but legislation making it possible has been advanced. Limits on financial assistance from international lenders and U.S. development agencies has also been considered.

It comes as Ethiopia faces "one of its worst food crises in decades" with nearly 30% of its 110 million people in dire need of assistance, said Rene Lefort, an independent researcher on the Horn of Africa.

"Yet, Ethiopia cannot face a food crisis without international aid," Lefort said.

The TPLF has also been forced to reconsider its position. Their stronghold of Tigray reels from what the U.N. says is a de facto blockade on the region where famine looms.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, meanwhile, has abandoned his quest to recapture Tigray to the displeasure of allies in the Amhara region, while confronting a simmering rebellion from an insurgent group in Oromia, Lefort said.

"In recent months, there has been a change in priority for Abiy Ahmed."

Will it work?

The government said it hoped the truce would hasten aid delivery to Tigray, where food, fuel and medicine are desperately needed.

But at present, road convoys would need to pass through the Afar region, where the TPLF is present and local authorities have refused aid passage to Tigray until the rebels withdraw.

"It is not certain that convoys would be able to resume quickly," just because a truce was declared, a humanitarian source told AFP.

Ethiopia made the truce conditional on the TPLF withdrawing from Amhara and Afar.

The TPLF, in turn, agreed to cease hostilities only if food aid reached Tigray.

The TPLF may be willing to make concessions on Afar but would not likely withdraw from Amhara, analysts say.

But the impasse in Afar posed a particular challenge on its own, Lefort said.

"The Afar government has little control over Afar territory. It will be difficult to prevent the population, which is also hungry, from blocking convoys," he said.

Observers said it was also unlikely the TPLF's opponents in Amhara would open their region to allow aid convoys to travel onward to Tigray.

Is peace near?

The Eurasia Group said both sides continued to see military pressure as a means to extracting concessions ahead of any talks, even if outright victory was no longer the objective.

"The 'truce' effectively acts as a trust-building exercise between the TPLF and federal government, yet a comprehensive and sustainable cease-fire remains unlikely in the short term given both sides' hardline stances on outstanding issues," the think tank said.

The quick restoration of basic services denied to Tigray for months  electricity, communications and banking chief among them  would be a test of the government's goodwill, observers said.

The truce "could be a turning point, but it will depend on whether it's genuinely intentioned," said Awet.

"I hope this is a starting point for peace talks but it's not very promising.

What hurdles remain?

Even if a lasting cease-fire was brokered with the TPLF, the rebels are not the only armed actor in northern Ethiopia.

Abiy faces increasing pressure from hardliners in the Ahmara elite unhappy the TPLF is not being pursued in Tigray.

The Amhara have territorial disputes with the TPLF in western Tigray, where they have militias that do not fall under federal control.

"For some within the Amhara, you have to go all the way to Mekele to crush the TPLF," said Lefort, referring to the capital of the Tigray region.

"But authorizing humanitarian convoys to Tigray means giving up this military conquest, and leaving the TPLF in place."
Dozens of Afghan women, including students, teachers, parents and civil society activists, demonstrated in Kabul Saturday against the Talibans decision to keep schools shuttered for teenage girls.

The protesters were carrying books and chanting, Open the schools! Justice, justice, as they marched through the streets of the capital of Afghanistan. Education is our fundamental right, not a political plan, read banners held by rally participants.



The Islamist Taliban reopened secondary schools after the winter break on March 23, which also marks the start of the school year for most Afghan provinces.

But the hardline group abruptly reneged on its decision to allow girls above the sixth grade to return to the classroom, citing a lack of arrangements for them, including school uniforms, in accordance with Sharia or Islamic law.

Secondary schools for girls across most of Afghanistan have been closed since August when the Taliban seized power from the now-defunct Western-backed Afghan government.

The move swiftly drew international condemnation of the Taliban for backtracking on their commitment that all Afghan girls around the country would be allowed to resume their education.

The United States condemned the Taliban for reneging on the commitment and called off planned talks with the Islamist group that were to be hosted by Doha, the capital of Qatar.

We have canceled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha around the Doha Forum, and have made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement," State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters Friday in Washington.

"This decision by the Taliban, if it is not swiftly reversed, will profoundly harm the Afghan people, the country's prospects for economic growth, and the Taliban's ambition to improve their relations with the international community," Porter said.

The U.S. and other Western donor countries have made girls education a key demand before directly engaging with the Taliban or even considering whether to grant recognition to their interim government in Kabul.



In a joint statement Thursday, the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, the United States, and the European Union, said the Taliban's decision will harm the group's prospects for legitimacy.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement about the Talibans decision, expressing deep disappointment and deep frustration.

Afghan people, boys and girls, need to see their fundamental rights, including but not limited to education, fully respected in a bid to ensure that Afghanistan wades its way toward stability and economic prosperity, the OIC said in its statement.

When the Taliban returned to power, they promised a softer rule compared with their first regime from 1996 to 2001, which became notorious for banning women from education and work among other human rights abuses.

The Taliban have recently reopened universities to all male and female students under a newly introduced gender-segregated system in line with their strict interpretation of Islam, making it compulsory for women to wear hijabs.

The Taliban have rolled back nearly 20 years of gains made by the women in Afghanistan, barring most of them from returning to government duties and ordering them not to undertake long road trips unless accompanied by a close male relative.

Some female Afghan activists initially pushed back against the curbs and held small protests, but the Taliban rounded up the leaders of those rallies and detained them for weeks before setting them free under international pressure. Taliban officials, however, denied security forces had detained the activists.
More than 10 million Ukrainians, nearly a quarter of the population, have been displaced since Russia invaded the country a bit more than one month ago, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR says.

An estimated 3.7 million people have fled to neighboring countries, while more than 6.5 million have been displaced inside Ukraine since the Russian invasion began February 24. U.N. refugee officials say another 13 million are stranded in conflict areas, unable to leave because of the danger.

From the western city of Lviv, UNHCR Ukraine representative Karolina Lindholm Billing says everything has changed for Ukraine in the past month. She says development projects, homes, and social structures have been turned into rubble under the relentless Russian bombing.

She says the past month has reversed and set back the many development gains that have been achieved for disabled children, the elderly, and many other vulnerable people over the past eight years.

We are today confronted with the realities of a massive humanitarian crisis, which is growing by the second. And the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine cannot be overemphasized. Overnight, lives have been shattered and families ripped apart. And today, these millions of people in Ukraine live in constant fear of indiscriminate shelling and heavy bombardment, she said.

Lindholm Billing says UNHCR staff is working around the clock to deliver as much humanitarian aid as it can to wherever possible.

Russian forces have become bogged down around the capital, Kyiv, and have suffered setbacks elsewhere in the country. Media reports suggest Russian President Vladimir Putin is changing tactics and plans to concentrate on the so-called liberation of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Russian-backed rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been fighting a war of separation from Ukraine for eight years.

Matilda Bogner, who heads the U.N. Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, says Russian bombers do not distinguish between people living on either side of the 500-kilometer contact line separating government- and rebel-held territories.

People are dying on what was before both sides of the contact line. Now, there is no clear contact line. There is a sort of front of fighting there, but people are dying in the areas that are controlled by the Russian-affiliated armed groups and they are dying in the areas of the East that are controlled by the government, she said.

Bogner says all civilians in this area are victims.

Putins justification for waging war in Ukraine was to stop the alleged mistreatment and so-called genocide of Russian speakers in the Donbas.
The Solomon Islands has confirmed it is negotiating a security deal with China, which has caused alarm in neighboring Australia and New Zealand.

The Solomon Islands is located in the southwestern Pacific, about 2,000 miles northeast of Australia.

A draft official document emerged on social media Thursday. It details plans that could allow Beijing to send armed police and soldiers to the Pacific archipelago to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in Solomon Islands.

In Australia, there are fears that the agreement could lead to Beijing establishing a permanent military presence or bases in the Pacific Island country.

Australia and New Zealand have been the Solomon Islands traditional defense partners and aid donors.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said she respected the Pacific island's right to make sovereign decisions but was concerned by any actions that undermine the stability and security of our region.

New Zealand said the plan threatened to destabilize regional security.

Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister and president of the Asia Society, an international nonprofit organization, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the possibility of a Chinese base in the Solomon Islands was worrying.

In the history of Australias engagement with the Pacific Island states I think this is one of the most significant security developments that we have seen in decades. It is one which is adverse to Australias national security interests. When you have got a country as close to Australias own territorial shores as the Solomon Islands, this is a big change in Australias immediate strategic environment, Rudd said.

The Solomon Islands government said it was "expanding" its security agreements with more countries and diversifying  [its]  security partnership including with China.

In 2019, authorities in Honiara, the Solomon Islands capital, set up formal diplomatic ties with Beijing after severing official links with Taiwan.

Australia has become increasingly wary of China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region and has increased its aid spending in recent years.

In February, the United States said it planned to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands because of concerns about China's plans in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed Sunday it is not the Biden administrations policy to seek the overthrow of Russian President Vladimir.

His comments came a day after President Joe Biden said during a speech in Warsaw that Putin cannot remain in power.

I think the President, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else, Blinken said Sunday in Jerusalem. As you know, and as youve heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else.

During his Saturday remarks in Poland, Biden also declared that the Wests defense of Ukraine against Russias invasion is vital to protect democracy worldwide for generations to come.

Its nothing less than a direct challenge to the rule-based international order established since the end [of] World War II, Biden said of Russian aggression.

But it was Bidens comments about Putin that drew surprise around the world.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters, Thats not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians.

French President Emmanuel Macron told France 3 TV channel Sunday, I wouldnt use this type of wording because I continue to hold discussions with President Putin.

U.S. envoy to NATO Julianne Smith told CNNs State of the Union Bidens comments were a reaction to spending the day with hundreds of Ukrainian refugees.

In the moment, I think that was a principled human reaction to the stories that he had heard that day, Smith said. But no...the U.S. does not have a policy of regime change in Russia. Full stop.

The U.S. presidents comments in Warsaw came shortly after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and other Polish officials to discuss Russias invasion of Ukraine, as Russia appears to have shifted its military offensive away from Ukraine's capital of Kyiv and toward the countrys east.

Biden listed many of the crippling financial sanctions Western nations have imposed on Russia in response to its invasion and did not rule out a military response if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine.

On CNNs State of the Union, Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, echoed those concerns.

There's four game changers here. That could happen. No.1, if the Russians tried to trespass on one square inch of NATO ground, obviously, chemical weapons, biological weapons, or nuclear weapons, all four of those would be game changers. I think that if Russia does that, there's going to be some very difficult decisions that are going to have to be made by the NATO alliance, Risch said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the West Sunday to do more to support Ukraine to defend against the unprovoked Russian invasion that now entered its second month.

In a video address, Zelenskyy said the West is "afraid to prevent this tragedy. Afraid to simply make a decision." Referencing the confusion and delay over giving Ukraine fighter jets, Zelenskyy said, "So, who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it still Moscow, thanks to its scare tactics? Our partners must step up their aid to Ukraine."

Addressing Zelenskyys Sunday comments about Western assistance, Smith said on CNNs State of the Union, The United States since January of last year has already provided $2 billion worth of legal assistance to Ukraine. We've talked with them regularly about their defense needs. We are working with them each and every week to determine how we can continue to help them with anti-air assets, anti-armor, we've offered stingers, we've provided javelins and many other members of the NATO alliance are doing the same thing. I think about two-thirds of the NATO alliance are now providing legal assistance to Ukraine.

Smith said the particular proposal for Poland to supply Ukraine with MiG fighter jets was untenable but said it was up to each sovereign country to decide how to supply Ukraine for the effort to fight off Russia.

Ukraine and Russia are set to begin a new round of talks for a cease-fire this week, according to Davyd Arakhamia, the leader in parliament of Zelenskyys Servant of the People party. Arakhamia said on Facebook the talks would be held in Turkey beginning Monday. Russia said in-person talks would begin Tuesday.

Olga Stefanishyna, the deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, said Sunday on ABCs This Week that Ukraine will never step up for any element of discussions which would anyhow legitimize all the war crimes which has been committed in Ukrainian territory.

In call with Russian journalists Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was open to adopting neutral status as part of a peace deal, if it came with third-party guarantees and was put to a referendum. He did not address if Ukraine was prepared to accept demilitarization as part of that status.

Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson, Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information for this report also came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
U.N. human rights officials warn a deepening crackdown on civil society in Libya is creating a chilling effect on human rights defenders and other activists, who are subject to arbitrary arrests and other forms of government intimidation.

Human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell says the trend of a shrinking civic space in Libya has been going on for many months. She notes it reached an apex in the run-up to planned presidential elections last December 24.

She says election-related hate speech and smear campaigns attacking the freedom of expression in Libya were at an all-time high during that period.

The U.N.-sponsored election was meant to end a decade of conflict. It was subsequently delayed because of bitter arguments about divisive candidates. However, Throssell notes the hate speech campaigns have not stopped.

We noted that there are attacks against human rights defenders, journalists, civil society actors and members of social movements, as I said. And these attacks appear aimed to silence movements, such as youth movements, social, cultural, peaceful movements. So, it is a broader concern, she said.

Throssell says members of the Internal Security Agency and state-affiliated armed groups have arbitrarily detained, tortured, and intimidated human rights and civic activists. That was justified under the pretense of protecting so-called Libyan and Islamic values.

She says videos were posted of seven young men arbitrarily arrested between November and March in the capital, Tripoli. They were seen seemingly confessing to being atheist, areligious, secular, and feminist.

We have received allegations that these confessions were obtained by coercion, raising serious concerns regarding the use of torture, which is absolutely prohibited. These confessions also implicate several other men and women, many of whom have now gone into hiding after receiving death threats, she said.

Throssell says the Facebook videos have sparked a wave of hate speech against human rights defenders. She says there have been calls to prosecute activists as apostates under Sharia law and for death sentences. She says some campaigners for gender equality and social and cultural rights have fled overseas fearing for their safety.

The human rights office is calling on Libyan authorities to stop the aggressive campaign against Libyans defending their human rights and to release those arbitrarily detained. It says perpetrators of alleged torture and other violations should be prosecuted, including members of the Internal Security Agency.
The European Unions top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Saturday that Iran and world powers were "very close" to an agreement to revive their 2015 nuclear deal, which would curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting tough sanctions.

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the pact, and about a year later, Tehran began violating its nuclear limits. About 11 months of on-and-off talks to revive the pact paused in Vienna earlier this month after Russia presented a new obstacle.

Russia later said it had received written guarantees that it would be able to carry out its work as a party to the deal, suggesting Moscow could allow it to be resuscitated.

"Now we are very close to an agreement, and I hope it will be possible," the EUs Borrell said in an address to the Doha Forum international conference. Borrell later told reporters that he believed a deal could be reached "in a matter of days."

The failure of efforts to restore the pact could carry the risk of a regional war or lead to more harsh Western sanctions on Iran and continued upward pressure on world oil prices that are already high because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, analysts say.

Enrique Mora, the EU coordinator for the nuclear talks, is to meet Iran's chief negotiator Saturday.

There are several difficult issues pending. Iran wants the removal of a U.S. foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designation against its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saturday that the lifting of U.S. sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards was among Iran's top demands but added that senior Guards officials had said that the deal should not be held up over the issue of sanctions against the Guards if the accord serves the interests of the people.

"But the Guards are among the main institutions in the country... and despite the permission of the Guards officials, this is one of our main issues," Amir-Abdollahian told state TV.

Amir-Abdollahian said this week that a nuclear deal can be reached in the short term if the United States is pragmatic.

But U.S. officials have been more cautious in their assessment of efforts to revive the accord, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Tehran has also been seeking guarantees that the United States will not unilaterally withdraw from any agreement. The extent to which sanctions would be rolled back is another sensitive subject.
It's really just a case of wine-wine diplomacy. South African vineyards, buoyed by the trade row between Beijing and Canberra, have seen their exports to China more than double and are even producing wines specifically for the Chinese palate.



After China slapped a 212% tariff on Australian wines following a diplomatic spat over the origins of COVID-19 in 2020, winemakers in the rolling green vineyards of the bucolic Western Cape knew they could take advantage of the gap in the market.



"Australia was exporting $1 billion worth of wine to China in 2019, with a dominant market share of around 40% of all imported wine, there is obviously a big gap to fill and the South African category has benefitted," Marcus Ford, Asia market manager for Wines of South Africa, which represents all local wine exporters, told VOA.



"So our exports to China have doubled over that period and the momentum looks to be strong," he added, noting that last year South Africa shipped 458 million rand ($31 million) worth of wine to China, a 59% increase on the previous year.

Catering to the Chinese palate

Matthew Karan, who is South Africa's biggest beef exporter, is now also exporting wines, which, as he noted, go well with a good steak. Karan's AM Vineyards make their own blend, catering specifically to Chinese appetites.



"We go through a rigorous to and fro with China to make sure our product is for their taste," Karan told VOA, adding that the Chinese prefer their wine low in tannins and usually favor red wines, red being a lucky color in Chinese culture.



Morne Le Roux, general manager for Swartland Winery, which also exports to China, agreed, saying Chinese wine connoisseurs prefer mainly dark red wines like "Pinotage, Merlot, Cab Sauv and Cab Sauv/ Merlot," in an email to VOA.



"They do not like screw caps, only wine with corks in," he added, also noting the packaging is of great importance with "red, black, gold and silver in the labels" preferred and green to be avoided.



However, tastes are changing, and the Chinese market is still quite young, according to Shanghai-based Ford, who said the country went from importing six million 9-litre cases of wine in 2001 to 60 million in 2018  a tenfold increase in less than two decades.



"In the north of China, which has a relatively robust appetite for alcohol and strong alcohol, there's a preference for rich heavy red wines, and in the south there's more openness to lighter styles and white wines  and there's a younger generation who've embraced white wines, sparkling wines," he said.

But Yang Lu, China's first and only master sommelier, said it is hard to generalize about a "Chinese palate" for a country of over a billion people.



"I don't think there's actually a Chinese palate exists, China is so huge, you know the taste of people, just like the Chinese food are so diverse," he told VOA from Shanghai.



As for the future for South African wines on the market, "one of the really positive things that has happened in the past six months is some of the really big international retailers like Sam's Club and Walmart have taken on new South African listings," Ford said. That means they are being stocked more widely and smaller retailers may copy the bigger ones.



Chinese wine market trends

There are two main demographics of Chinese who are now getting into South African vintages, Ford explained. First, a very wealthy elite that started drinking only the most expensive Bordeaux and Burgundy for about $1,000 a bottle but are now exploring wines from other countries and looking for less expensive bottles of around $100.



"Then you've got curious consumers who've started on inexpensive French wines and had their experiences with Chile and Australia, and you know South Africa is very much on the radar for their next port of call," he added.

It's not all smooth sailing for South Africa though, le Roux of Swartland Winery said. "The potential in the market is very big, but building a brand is not easy. Most Chinese clients want their own label and want to be selling exclusively."



"In China specifically, South African (wine) doesn't command the respect we think it's due," Karan noted.



The pandemic and the future

The pandemic has also caused difficulties, Ford admitted, though prices have stayed much the same. Restrictions and lockdowns mean there has been less demand, with restaurants and supermarkets shuttered and people staying home.



"I think the biggest impacts in the short term at least will be supply chain problems with ports and customs facilities and those sorts of things being impacted, so there'll be some disruption, from a logistics perspective," said Ford.



Despite some hurdles ahead, sommelier Lu thinks the popularity of South African wines will continue to grow.



"We just reached a stage that the  general public were looking for more diversity and naturally being one of the most important wine-producing countries in the world, South Africa came into the picture," he said.



But also, he noted, wines from the Cape are not only high quality, they're also affordable.



"The wine consumer now they've become more savvy, they're looking for a wine that can really give a bang for their bucks."


The spectacular defection in Washington of the Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States while denouncing his country's "dictatorship" has revealed cracks in the leadership of President Daniel Ortega, say analysts.

Arturo McFields' shock move on Wednesday during a Permanent Council session at the regional body is "a confirmation that there are disagreements in the dictatorship's circles of power," economist and opposition analyst Enrique Saenz said on Twitter.

"Unfortunately, one must expect the regime to begin a witch hunt against the family members or allies of the ambassador McFields and any other officials that helped him," warned Juan Pappier, an Americas investigator at the Human Rights Watch NGO.

Since former leftist guerrilla Ortega, 76, returned to power in 2007 he has maintained an iron grip over his Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party.

According to the opposition, no one within the party dares disobey or criticize the government's policies.

Those that did are now either in prison or exile.

The government "cruelly pursues those that criticize it and gets angry with those seen as traitors to the governing family," said Pappier, referring to Ortega and his vice president wife, Rosario Murillo.

McFields stunned the OAS session by "denouncing the dictatorship of my country" and hitting out at the holding of "177 political prisoners."

He later told the press those detainees were "rotting" in prison.

He said he was speaking "on behalf of thousands of officials at every level, civilian and military, who are forced to support the Nicaraguan regime."

He insisted that many figures in government share his view but are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals.

'Political blow'

"The pressure at the heart of the government makes sure no one raises their voice," Ligia Gomez, a former high-ranking official at the central bank, told the press.

She went into exile in 2018 after refusing to support the bloody crackdown on street protesters that rocked the government.

The heavy-handed response from security forces left 350 dead, hundreds in jail and tens of thousands fleeing abroad.

Starting in June 2021, 46 opposition figures, including seven presidential hopefuls, were jailed ahead of the November elections where Ortega won a fourth consecutive term.

The United States and European Union branded the poll a "farce" and toughened sanctions first imposed against Ortega's inner circle following the repression of protesters.

"McFields has been very brave and needs the support and protection of the international community," said Pappier.

Saenz said McFields' defection was a "political blow" to the Ortega regime that could "encourage" other officials to follow suit.

But he warned of a potential "witch hunt" within the government in response.

"We hope many others will follow his example," said the auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Baez, from exile.

Around 150,000 officials work for the Nicaraguan government, most of whom are members of the ruling party.

The FLSN guerrilla group was created in 1961 to fight against the Somoza family dictatorship that was backed by the United States.

They successfully ousted Anastasio Somoza in 1979, with Ortega assuming power before winning an election in 1985.

Defeated at the polls in 1990 by Violeta Chamorro, Ortega turned the FSLN into the main opposition force until his return in 2007.

Disagreements quickly appeared under Ortega's leadership of the FSLN in opposition and a group of dissidents founded in 1995 what is today the opposition Renovating Democratic Union, whose leaders are currently in jail accused of "betraying the homeland" due to their criticisms of Ortega and his government.
Federal immigration authorities announced Friday that they would stop housing detainees at an Alabama jail with a history of problems and would limit the use of three other detention centers.

The decisions reinforced a commitment by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to review detention facilities to determine whether they are humane, meet applicable standards and are a responsible use of funding, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release.

ICE said it would stop using the Etowah County Jail in Gadsden, Alabama, as soon as possible, taking into account a 30-day notification requirement. The jail has "a long history of serious deficiencies," the release said.

Advocates who have long sought the end of ICE detention at the Etowah County Jail hailed the news as a victory, but they urged federal authorities not to just transfer people from one facility to another.

"The Etowah County Detention Center exemplifies everything that is wrong with immigration detention and why the detention system must be abolished," Detention Watch Network advocacy director Setareh Ghandehari said in a news release. "The administration can and must do more to completely phase out the use of immigration detention by continuing to terminate contracts, shut down additional facilities and free people from detention."

'A bombshell'

Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton told The Gadsden Times that the decision to stop sending detainees to the jail "was just a bombshell," and that he was working with members of Alabama's congressional delegation to get more information.

Just this week, the center was notified that 135 detainees would be coming next week, he said.

"No one has canceled that," Horton said.

ICE said it would also limit its use of the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida; the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana; and the Alamance County Detention Facility in Graham, North Carolina.

ICE has reduced its use of the Glades County facility in recent years, in part because of "persistent and ongoing concerns related to the provision of detainee medical care." But it was still paying for a minimum number of beds and has now decided not to extend that guaranteed minimum bed provision.

'Huge steps'

Rebecca Talbot of the Immigrant Action Alliance credited organizing and resistance for ICE's policy change regarding the Glades County facility.

"Emptying Glades, ending the guaranteed minimum, and requiring Glades to fully address conditions that do not meet detention standards are all huge steps in the right direction," Talbot said in a news release. "Now it's time for the Biden administration to commit to closing Glades fully and forever, and to release those who have been transferred from Glades to other facilities."

ICE had been using the Alamance County facility for long-term detention but said it would now use it only for stays of less than 72 hours if applicable standards were met. The agency said it was concerned about conditions, including a lack of outdoor recreation.

ICE plans to reduce the guaranteed minimum at Winn Correctional Center to match the facility's staffing constraints, the release said. ICE will also assign a custody resource coordinator to provide an assessment and will monitor conditions and take actions as needed, the release said.

ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson has told staff to begin preparations, including relocating ICE staff and detainees as needed. The agency said it planned to continue to review other detention centers and adjust its use as appropriate.
Minh Chau and Quang Lan beaches, both tourist destinations in Vietnams northern Quang Ninh Province, are typically strewn with trash.

Considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Quang Ninh, Minh Chau, which is less than 40 kilometers east of world-renowned Ha Long Bay, is currently buried under various types of garbage, including plastic bags, plastic bottles, and pieces of foam boxes.

Garbage covers beaches near Ha Long Bay Rac bua vay hai bai bien ep nhat Quang Ninh Garbage washes up on Minh Chau Beach in Van Don District of Quang Ninh Province, March 2022. Video by VnExpress/Minh Cuong

Tuan, from Quang Ninh Province, said: "Im really upset to see so much garbage along the beach. Though it is not yet the peak travel season, the beach still needs to be cleaned up."

The peak season lasts from April to September, during which Minh Chau normally lures thousands of beachgoers every day.

Hoang Tri Dung, chairman of Minh Chau Commune in Van Don District, said garbage flows onto the beach almost every day.

The commune has so far allowed vendors to operate along the beach and clear up the trash too.

"However, under the Covid-19 impact, the beach has not received many tourists lately, causing vendors to lose customers and as a result, stop cleaning the beach."

But he said as the pandemic has been brought under control in Vietnam and tourism activities have been resumed, "the beach will definitely be cleaned ahead of the upcoming holiday in late April."

April 30 is Reunification Day and May 1, International Labor Day, both falling on a weekend this year, which means a four-day break.

More than six kilometers away, Quan Lan Beach in Van Don Districts Quan Lan Commune has been suffering a similar plight.

Luu Minh Duc, the communes chairman, said the "garbage washes up onto the beach constantly."

He added that so far, the commune has relied on youth volunteers and local residents to clean up the beach because it has no budget to pay for cleanup services.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand for Europe to pay for gas in rubles as he accused Moscow of trying to sidestep sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

Macron told journalists after an EU summit in Brussels that the Russian move "is not in line with what was signed, and I do not see why we would apply it."

Putin made the demand this week as Moscow struggles to prop up its economy in the face of debilitating sanctions imposed by the West over his invasion of Ukraine.

Macron said that "we are continuing our analysis work" following the Kremlin's maneuver.

But he insisted "all the texts signed are clear: it is prohibited. So European players who buy gas and who are on European soil must do so in euros."

"It is therefore not possible today to do what is requested, and it is not contractual," he said.

The French leader said he believed Moscow was using the step as "a mechanism to circumvent" EU sanctions against it for the assault on Ukraine.

Major gas buyer Germany has denounced the move and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday reiterated that the contracts clearly stipulated how the gas should be paid for.

Europe is scrambling to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. It continues to funnel hundreds of millions of euros each day to Moscow in energy payments, which are currently outside the scope of the sanctions.

Some EU nations have called for the bloc to ban Moscow's key energy exports, but the move has so far been stymied by countries including Germany that remain too wary of the cost of cutting the cord.
Relatives of Nigerian students trapped in the besieged Black Sea port city of Kherson are calling on authorities to do more to return them home safely. Over the past three weeks, some of the estimated 80 students trapped in Kherson have tried to reach safety in neighboring countries. But not everyone got lucky. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. Camera - Emeka Gibson.
President Joe Biden aimed squarely at Vladimir Putin in an impassioned address in Warsaw directed at Ukrainians, Europeans and the global community, blaming the Russian president for the monthlong siege on Ukraine and saying, for Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power.



By doing so, Biden drew a red line  but not militarily, as his administration did by denying Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyys desperate requests for a no-fly zone Over his country, a move Biden said would lead to World War III.



Such strong words by the U.S. president Saturday effectively end any further chance of U.S.-Russia diplomacy, and they set the U.S. and Russia again on opposite sides in an ideological divide that Biden warned would not be won in days or months, invoking the painful struggles of former communist nations  including Poland  to separate from the former USSR.

Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said Biden's words were striking.

"Biden invoked a common civilized purpose in fighting the tyrant and he called for his explicit removal," he told VOA. "A president has never used this language for Russia, even during the Cold War."

He said that the speech echoed language used by U.S. presidents against leaders such as Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.

"This is strong stuff," Suri said. "We are now on the side of overthrowing Putin -- regime change."

But just minutes later, Bidens administration walked back some of his rhetoric, with a senior administration official telling reporters: The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change.



The Kremlin was dismissive of the presidents remarks when asked about them after the speech. Its chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russians would decide who their leader should be.



Thats not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians.

Biden also praised the Ukrainian people, who have conscripted every able-bodied adult male to the fight, which recently passed the one-month mark.



Their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for essential democratic principles that unite all free people: the rule of law; fair and free elections; the freedom to speak, to write and assemble; the freedom to worship as one chooses; the freedom of the press: these principles are essential in a free society, Biden said to the crowd of nearly 1,000 people. It included Ukrainian and Polish officials, ordinary citizens and diplomats who crowded in the courtyard in the biting cold at Warsaws Royal Castle, which was lit in the colors of the Ukrainian and Polish flags, blue and yellow, red and white.



Biden also appealed to the Russian people, saying, This is not who you are. This is not the future reserve you deserve for your families, and your children. I'm telling you the truth. This war is not worthy of you, the Russian people.



The speech comes at the very end of a whirlwind diplomatic tour, in which Biden met with NATO, European and G-7 leaders in Brussels and then headed to southeastern Poland, where Patriot missiles were prominently parked near a temporary U.S. base, within easy range of western Ukraine.



The city of Lviv, just 50 miles from the Polish border, has come under increasing attack in recent days and was struck by rockets in two attacks Saturday. When asked earlier in the day if Putin has adjusted his bold, all-fronts conventional warfare strategy on Ukraine, Biden replied, I dont think he has.
Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate from their homes near a Philippine volcano Saturday after an eruption sent ash and steam hundreds of meters into the sky.

Taal volcano, which sits in a lake south of Manila, exploded with a "short-lived" burst at 7:22 a.m. (2322 GMT), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.

It warned further eruptions were possible, which it said could trigger dangerous, fast-moving volcanic flows of gas, ash and debris, as well as a tsunami.

The seismological agency "strongly" recommended residents living in vulnerable communities around the lake be evacuated, as it raised the alert level from two to three.

The initial eruption was followed by "nearly continuous phreatomagmatic activity" that sent plumes stretching 1,500 meters into the air.

A phreatomagmatic eruption happens when molten rock comes into contact with underground or surface water, said Princess Cosalan, a scientist at the agency, likening it to pouring "water on a hot pan."

Cosalan told AFP that ash and steam emissions had quietened in the hours after the initial burst but said the institute's on-site sensors continued to detect volcanic earthquakes and another eruption was "possible."

"There is magmatic intrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions," the agency warned.

Residents of five villages were ordered to leave their homes, regional civil defense spokesperson Kelvin John Reyes told AFP.

More than 12,000 people live in the settlements, according to the latest available official data.

Police have been deployed to stop people entering the high-risk areas.

Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in a nation hit periodically by eruptions and earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- a zone of intense seismic activity.

Access to the volcano island, which was once home to a community of thousands, has been prohibited since January 2020.

That was when an eruption shot ash 15 kilometers high and spewed red-hot lava, crushing scores of homes, killing livestock and sending tens of thousands into shelters.

Last July, the seismological agency raised the alert level to three after Taal burst to life again.

It belched sulfur dioxide for several days, creating a thick haze over the capital and surrounding provinces.

The alert level was lowered back to two before Saturday's eruption.
The United Nations says more than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started a month ago, and Thursday the Biden administration promised to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by the war in the United States. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Tijuana, Mexico, where many Ukrainians are arriving to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. They welcome the news but are worried about family members left behind. Camera: Mike OSullivan; contributors: Vicente Calderon and Ihar Tsikhanenka
West Africa's regional bloc on Friday said it would maintain sanctions on Mali over the military rulers of the Sahel country delaying a return to civilian rule after a coup.

At the end of a summit in Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States also issued warnings to the juntas that recently seized power in Guinea and Burkina Faso.

ECOWAS said military leaders in Guinea should provide "an acceptable timeline for transition" by the end of April, or it would slap punitive measures on the government and the National Transition Council.

The bloc added in a statement that if Burkina Faso's junta did not free former president Roch Marc Christian Kabore from house arrest by Thursday, "individual sanctions" would also ensue.

The talks in the Ghanian capital, Accra, came three months after the bloc placed tough sanctions on Mali.

They had opened "behind closed doors between heads of state," Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop tweeted earlier in the day.

The leader of Mali's junta, Assimi Goita, was invited to the summit, according to an ECOWAS document seen by AFP.

But it was unclear at the opening if he was in attendance, physically or virtually.

The summit came about a week after an ECOWAS envoy for Mali traveled to Bamako, but the talks on restoring civilian rule were inconclusive.

The 15-nation bloc is pushing for Mali's military, which seized power in 2020, to stage elections within 12-16 months.

But strongman Goita has so far defied international pressure to hold elections.

Four coups since 2020

On Thursday, the court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) ordered the suspension of the Mali sanctions.

It was unclear whether the ruling would lead to the immediate lifting of the sanctions.

ECOWAS and UEMOA both applied economic and diplomatic sanctions on Mali in January after the junta had proposed staying in power for up to five years.

Mali's junta views the sanctions as illegal and vowed to challenge them in international courts.

Much of Mali, a vast nation of 21 million people, is plagued by a jihadist conflict that first emerged in 2012 and spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Goita seized power in Mali in August 2020, then installed an interim government led by civilians.

But in May 2021, he deposed those civilian leaders  in a second coup. He was later sworn in as interim president.

In September last year in Guinea, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya ousted elected president Alpha Conde, who had provoked mass protests by seeking a controversial third term in office.

And Burkina Faso's Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba toppled Kabore in January following two days of army mutinies amid frustration with the jihadist conflict.

ECOWAS has suspended the membership of the three countries.
WARSAW, POLAND  Western defense officials say Ukraine has been employing agile insurgency tactics to disrupt Russia's invasion, and in the suburbs northwest and east of Kyiv, to push their adversaries back.



Hitting and ambushing Russian forces behind the contact lines with fast-moving units, often at night, has proven among its most effective field tactics and is adding to the logistical missteps the Russians still have not been able to overcome, military strategists say. They add that the tactics are also demoralizing Russian troops.



"They're doing a tremendous job," said Colonel John Barranco of the Atlantic Council, a New York-based think tank.

"The Ukrainians have developed a very competent military with good leadership at the lower level and they're motivated. And this is why, when I looked at the Russian forces deployed for the invasion, I thought, this doesn't seem like a well thought-out effort."

Barranco, who oversaw the U.S. Marines' initial operations in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq, said Russia miscalculated the resilience and capability of Ukrainian ground forces and the determination the Ukrainians would show in defending their territory. He said when he analyzed Russian forces arrayed along Ukraine's borders in February, before the invasion, he discounted the likelihood of a full-scale offensive.



"It seemed like the Kremlin attack plan might have been written in 2014. The Ukrainians have spent eight years building up their military and training," he said. Barranco credited training the Ukrainians have received since 2014 by U.S. National Guard units from California and other states in small-unit tactics for some of Ukraine's battlefield successes.

n the past 48 hours, Russian forces have struggled to maintain offensive actions northwest and east of Kyiv and have lost ground, with Ukrainian ground forces reoccupying territory they had lost, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces. Ukrainians say they have now managed to encircle the Russian-occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and the village of Hostomel northwest of Kyiv.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainians retook the strategically located village of Makariv outside Kyiv. Much of the success rests with the Ukrainians targeting Russia's already challenged supply lines.



Britain's Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians will likely continue to target logistical assets in Russian-held areas, forcing the Russians to "prioritise the defence of their supply chain and deprive them of much needed resupply."

British defense officials also confirmed Friday that Ukraine has reoccupied towns east of Kyiv. "Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv," they said in a public intelligence update.



"In the south of Ukraine, Russian Forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west toward Odesa, with their progress being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance," they added.

Russian forces also appear to be preparing defensive positions around Kyiv, ready for a war of attrition. Earlier this week VOA reported that satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies, a space technology and earth-observation company, appeared to show Russians soldiers building protective dirt berms near the villages of Ozera, Zdvyzhivka and Berestyanka, northwest of Kyiv, and around Antonov Air Base.



The berms are likely being built to guard against Ukrainian counterattacks, Western officials said.



"The Ukrainians know their territory  they know their ground. They've thought about this for a long time, and they are outperforming the Russians at the small-unit level," Barranco told VOA.

He and other military analysts said the Ukrainians are using a variety of tactics to push the Russian forces onto the back foot.

Among them are setting up so-called kill boxes, or defined target areas, and then drawing their foes into them; unleashing highly focused and ferocious attacks on isolated Russian troops; creating fallback routes after ambushes as they set up a subsequent attack; and striking mechanized units when they are stalled.



Another advantage the Ukrainians are exploiting is competent leadership by noncommissioned officers (NCOs), the officials say, which is also consistent with U.S. military doctrine and training.



"The U.S. puts a lot of focus on building a professional, noncommissioned officer corps of corporals and sergeants who understand the big picture and are given the delegated authority to make decisions on the battlefield as they lead their units," Barranco said.



"Junior officers are also taught to work closely with professional NCOs. The Russian military has acknowledged they have a problem with poorly trained NCOs and have started an NCO academy because they realize they do not have good leadership at the lower levels," he added.
GENEVA  U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine are condemning the use of explosive weapons and indiscriminate attacks by Russian military forces on civilians and civilian infrastructure as a probable violation of international humanitarian law.



Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago the United Nations human rights office reports at least 1,035 civilians have been killed and some 1,650 injured. It says it is difficult to get an accurate count on the number of casualties during a brutal, ongoing war.



However, what is certain is that the death toll and human suffering in cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine is increasing day after day. The head of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, says the biggest area of concern is the wide use of explosive weapons in populated areas.



Speaking on a video link from the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, Bogner says Russian military forces have widely used missiles, heavy artillery shells, rockets, and other explosive weapons, as well as airstrikes in or near populated areas.



Private houses, multi-story residential buildings, administrative buildings, medical and education facilities, water stations, electricity systems have all been destroyed on a massive scale, with disastrous effects on civilians and their human rights, including their rights to health, food, water, education and housing.



Bogner confirms the use of cluster munitions by Russia and says monitors are looking into allegations of their use by Ukrainian armed forces. She says the attacks cause immeasurable suffering and may amount to war crimes.



Since the 24th of February, we have received allegations of Russian forces shooting at and killing civilians in cars during evacuations, without taking feasible precautions or giving effective advance warning. We are also following up on other allegations that Russian forces have killed civilians, including during peaceful assemblies.



Bogner says monitors are looking into allegations that thousands of people who have fled the city of Mariupol and other areas have been forcibly deported to the Russian Federation and, supposedly, are being held hostage by Russian authorities. She says U.N. monitors so far have not been able to verify whether Ukrainian civilians who have gone to Russia have been forcibly moved there.
Columbus Mavhunga

Three years after Cyclone Idai devastated parts of Zimbabwe, officials and aid groups are still counseling victims of gang rapes they say were committed by soldiers deployed to help trapped citizens.

In Chimanimani, about 400 kilometers from Harare, a group of women recently attended a meeting organized by the international charity Voluntary Service Overseas to learn about their legal rights under Zimbabwe's constitution.

A 17-year-old girl who attended told VOA she was gang raped by six soldiers and still feels the pain of the attack.

"The Cyclone destroyed our house," she said. "So we were moved to temporary shelters  tents. I was then raped by soldiers. After that they give me some food. I did not report [to police]. It was during the night and they were six. My mother had visited and that's the time they came."

Rudo Maputire, a worker from Zimbabwes ministry of health, said the government was told about many cases of women being raped after Cyclone Idai.

"After Cyclone Idai there were so many rape cases in the area, we helped those that came out to talk about it," Maputire said. "But others kept quiet and there was nothing we could do about it as village health workers. But we sent others to the hospital and asked them to report to the police. But our situation is very hard because the police camp is very far, the hospital is very far away, yet there is HIV and AIDS. We also had a case of a 14-year-old boy who was sodomized. He reported to us late after the person had left the area. It's difficult because we are very far from services."

No one has been prosecuted for the alleged rapes. When some victims said they had been raped by soldiers, a group of soldiers were lined up for identification. However, the victims could not identify the suspects.

Tugwell Chadyiwanembwa, a volunteer mentor with Voluntary Service Overseas, said many of the post-cyclone rape victims are still tormented by their experience.

"The effects of Cyclone Idai are still on going, especially the emotional bit," he said. "Women are still traumatized, women are still in a state of shock. We are continuously working with these women, to provide mental health services. During Cyclone Idai, young girls, particularly young women were vulnerable to sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, where they were involved in activities in selling sex."

Some of the women said they thought they had recovered from the trauma they went through after Cyclone Idai -- but say it comes back every time they see army trucks.
BRUSSELS  U.S. President Joe Biden praised Polands response to the refugee crisis sparked by Russias invasion of Ukraine during a visit to Poland on Friday, as the United States said Russia appeared to have shifted its military offensive away from Ukraines capital of Kyiv and toward the countrys east.

Biden met Friday with Polish humanitarian workers and American troops near the border with Ukraine.

You are in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs, Biden said as he met in Rzeszow with members of the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne Division, which is supporting thousands of other NATO troops in eastern flank countries that include Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Bidens first visit with U.S. service members in Poland on Friday was in a makeshift barbershop at the divisions temporary headquarters. He then stopped at a dining facility for the troops, where he sat and shared pizza with them.

You are the finest fighting force in the world and that's not hyperbole, Biden said before sitting down to eat with the troops.

Change in strategy

In contrast, U.S. and Western officials said Friday that despite their superior numbers, Russian forces continued to struggle in Ukraine, prompting a change in strategy.

We think they're trying to cut off the Donbas area, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence.

We've been talking about this for weeks now, the official said of the shift in Moscows military priorities. That's where still there remains a lot of heavy fighting, and we think they are trying to not only secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.

Russias deputy chief of the general staff, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, all but confirmed the change in focus, saying that the first stage of Russias operation  focused on reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity  has "generally been accomplished. He said Russian forces were now focusing on the main goal, liberation of Donbas.

Western intelligence estimates, however, noted the shift in strategy might be, in part, an effort to salvage a Russian war plan that has failed to topple Ukraines government as quickly as hoped.

Ukrainian counterattacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv, Britains defense attache to the U.S., Air Vice Marshal Mick Smeath, said in a statement Friday.

Russias attempted drive toward the southwestern seaport city of Odesa is being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance, Smeath said.

Western officials further confirmed Ukrainian forces have made progress in the town of Makariv, west of Kyiv, and that there are indications Ukrainian troops are pushing the Russians back in Chernihiv, to the north.

The senior U.S. defense official also said Russian forces were no longer in full control of the southern city of Kherson, the first major Ukraine city to fall to Moscows forces.

The series of setbacks appear to have been enough to prompt Russias military to call for reinforcements, with indications that Russian troops are being brought in from Georgia, though their ultimate destination is unclear.

But there are questions as to whether more troops will be enough to help a Russian military that has not yet been able to overcome logistics and communication issues, as well as significant failure rates with its precision guided missiles that a senior U.S. defense official said could be as high as 60% on some days.

Fighting in other parts of Ukraine was being described as vicious, sparking concerns about the fate of civilians.

Biden, after visiting with U.S. troops in Poland, was briefed on the humanitarian situation at the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport and said that he was disappointed that he could not see the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine firsthand.

They won't let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what's going on in Ukraine," he said. Poland, a NATO ally, has taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees.

Biden referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal," adding, "and I think we'll meet the legal definition of that as well." Biden has previously referred to Putin as a war criminal, sparking anger from Russia.

Also attending the briefing at the airport was Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was initially scheduled to greet Biden earlier Friday in the eastern town of Rzeszow, nearly 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

The meeting was delayed because of a problem that forced the Polish presidents plane to return to Warsaw shortly after takeoff. Duda then switched to another aircraft for the flight to Rzeszow.

Biden later traveled to Polands capital, Warsaw, where he was greeted by thousands of people in the city. The U.S. president is expected to meet Polish leaders on Saturday and give a speech on the stakes of this moment, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Bidens arrival in Poland came hours after a meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after which they announced formation of a joint task force to reduce Europes dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Biden said Putin had used the profits from Russias energy sales to drive his war machine in Ukraine. Biden said he wanted to make it clear that the American people would not be part of subsidizing Putins brutal, unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.

We are determined to stand up against Russia's brutal war, von der Leyen said. This war will be a strategic failure for Putin.

The United States is providing Europe with 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas this year.

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Many Vietnamese who fled war zones in Ukraine expect to return soon when the conflict ends.

Lan, a woman who refused to reveal her surname, came to Vietnam on March 10 through Poland with her husband and their six-year-old son.

Her family is living in her parents' house in the northeastern city of Hai Phong.

She has been living in Kharkiv for nine years, selling clothes in a market to earn a living. Before Russia launched its attack in late February, she had imported goods for a new season, and so has lost all of it in the conflict. She only has around US$1,000 left.

Lan is not aware of job opportunities in Vietnam, but has to find one to survive.

"I am confused, I don't know what to do next."

Her son has to go to school, and she is worried since she has been told that their residence registration might be difficult.

Lan is among many people who were brought back to Vietnam by rescue flights in a huge evacuation operation.

As of March 17 Vietnam had organized five flights and brought back nearly 1,400 Vietnamese. In all, an estimated 4,600 Vietnamese nationals had left Ukraine and reached neighboring countries.

Some of them have chosen to find a new life in European nations such as Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Austria.

Before the conflict began, there were around 7,000 Vietnamese nationals living in Ukraine, mainly in Kharkiv, Odessa and Kyiv.

Vietnamese people coming back from Ukraine carry out immigration procedures at Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, on March 8, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Tran Trang, who has temporary accommodation in a relative's house in Hai Duong Province, around 60 km from Hanoi, says she and her husband have not figured out what kind of job they could do in the coming time.

She spent a decade in eastern Ukraine, and had a clothes shop in Barabashova, the country's largest market.

"I want to find a job but I cannot do it at this moment because I have to take care of my four-month-old baby."

Le Thang, who has lived in Kyiv for nearly 20 years, returned to Vietnam in early March and is living in the house of his parents, who have passed away, in Ninh Binh Province to the south of Hanoi.

He was a contractor in the furniture sector, providing jobs for workers from central Asia and the Middle East.

When the conflict erupted, he considered going to other countries to settle down but finally decided to return home. He plans to consult friends in Vietnam about what job to seek.

"I have no idea because things are new here after [all these years]."

Hoa, who came aboard a rescue flight on March 19, says she and her husband fled to Poland and took refuge in a temple until they left for Vietnam.

She is sick after several days of travel from Ukraine, where she has lived for 12 years, and the resultant stress.

She is living in a house belonging to her husband's parents in the northern Thai Binh Province. The only good thing so far is that she gets to reunite with her son who has been living in Vietnam with his grandparents and studying here.

Hoa and her son reunite in Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, on March 19, 2022. Photo courtesy of Hoa

Hoa says she is like the majority of Vietnamese in Ukraine, who sell things in various markets for a living and do not have any other professional experience, and so needs time to find a suitable job in Vietnam.

"I hope I can find one to start over."

Looking forward to Ukraine return

Lan says she and others in her community had never imagined they would one day have to flee as refugees. Kharkiv has been one of the hardest hit cities in the Russian attack.

She is very anxious and impatient because all her properties are there.

"I'm counting the days, waiting for the fighting to end, so that I can return."

Hoa and Thang are not sure when they can pick up the pieces and return to their old life.

Thang has an added worry: his Ukrainian wife and daughter have not left the country.

Trang says she will definitely return to Ukraine.

"It is my second hometown."
WARSAW  U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting in Warsaw Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda and other Polish officials to discuss Russias invasion of Ukraine, as Russia appears to have shifted its military offensive away from Ukraine's capital of Kyiv and toward the countrys east.

Poland, a NATO member, has accepted more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. Biden, accompanied by Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, is expected to meet some refugees Saturday to discuss humanitarian relief efforts.

Later Saturday, Biden will deliver an address at Warsaws Royal Castle concerning the stakes of this moment, according to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Friday in Poland, Biden praised Polands response to the refugee crisis and he met with Polish humanitarian workers and American troops near the border with Ukraine.

You are in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs, Biden said as he met in Rzeszow with members of the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne Division, which is supporting thousands of other NATO troops in eastern flank countries that include Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Bidens first visit with U.S. service members in Poland on Friday was in a makeshift barbershop at the divisions temporary headquarters. He then stopped at a dining facility for the troops, where he sat and shared pizza with them.

You are the finest fighting force in the world and that's not hyperbole, Biden said before sitting down to eat with the troops.

Change in strategy

In contrast, U.S. and Western officials said Friday that despite their superior numbers, Russian forces continued to struggle in Ukraine, prompting a change in strategy.

We think they're trying to cut off the Donbas area, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence.

We've been talking about this for weeks now, the official said of the shift in Moscows military priorities. That's where still, there remains a lot of heavy fighting, and we think they are trying to not only secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.

Russias deputy chief of the general staff, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi, all but confirmed the change in focus, saying that the first stage of Russias operation  focused on reducing Ukraine's fighting capacity  has "generally been accomplished. He said Russian forces are now focusing on the main goal, liberation of Donbas.

Western intelligence estimates, however, noted the shift in strategy might be, in part, an effort to salvage a Russian war plan that has failed to topple Ukraines government as quickly as hoped.

Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian Forces falling back on overextended supply lines, has allowed Ukraine to re-occupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 kilometers east of Kyiv, Britains Defense Attache to the U.S., Air Vice-Marshal Mick Smeath, said in a statement Friday.

Russias attempted drive toward the southwestern seaport city of Odesa is being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance, Smeath said.

Western officials further confirmed Ukrainian forces have made progress in the town of Makariv, west of Kyiv, and that there are indications Ukrainian troops are pushing the Russians back in Chernihiv, to the north.

The senior U.S. defense official also said Russian forces are no longer in full control of the southern city of Kherson, the first major Ukraine city to fall to Moscows forces.

The series of setbacks appear to have been enough to prompt Russias military to call for reinforcements, with indications that Russian troops are being brought in from Georgia, though their ultimate destination is unclear.

But there are questions as to whether more troops will be enough to help a Russian military that has not yet been able to overcome logistics and communication issues, as well as significant failure rates with its precision guided missiles, that a senior U.S. defense official said could be as high as 60% on some days.

Fighting in other parts of Ukraine is being described as vicious, sparking concerns about the fate of civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address late Friday that efforts by Ukrainian forces have dealt Russia "powerful blows." He said Ukraines resistance should encourage Russia to seek a negotiated solution.

"Our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: we must talk, talk meaningfully, urgently and fairly," Zelenskyy said.

Humanitarian situation

Biden, after visiting U.S. troops in Poland on Friday, was briefed on the humanitarian situation at the Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport and said that he was disappointed that he could not see the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine firsthand.

They won't let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what's going on in Ukraine," he said.

Biden referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal," adding, "and I think we'll meet the legal definition of that as well." Biden has previously referred to Putin as a war criminal, sparking anger from Russia.

Earlier Friday, Biden met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. After their meeting, they announced formation of a joint task force to reduce Europes dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Biden said Putin has used the profits from Russias energy sales to drive his war machine in Ukraine. Biden said he wanted to make it clear that the American people would not be part of subsidizing Putins brutal, unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.

We are determined to stand up against Russia's brutal war, von der Leyen said. This war will be a strategic failure for Putin.

The United States is providing Europe with 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas this year.

Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says the countrys council and parliamentary by-elections are going on smoothly despite complaints by some political parties that the electoral management body is biased and unprofessional.

ZEC spokesperson Jasper Mangwana told journalists that all polling stations opened on time and everything is currently going on well with no notable incidents of political violence nationwide.

But opposition Citizens Coalition for Change leader, Nelson Chamisa, said his polling agents are being tormented by Zanu PF supporters in some parts of the country where ruling party activists, including some chiefs, are assisting people to vote.

CCC said in a tweet,  Zanu PF thugs have badly attacked our polling agent at Mbizo Youth Centre, Ward 1, Kwekwe Central. Police report is being filed. The Citizens have stopped Zanupf supporters who were campaigning outside a polling station in Kwekwe Central ward 9.

The party added that 249 assisted voters were recorded in Mt. Darwin ward 4. This is a tired & primitive rigging tactic, the people shall govern. Total people voted 1188 Assisted 249 Turned away 98.

CCC also claimed that some polling stations were set up in bushy areas and Zanu PF supporters were campaigning in several regions.

In Harare Wests Ward 14, CCC claimed that a polling station was located in a corn field.

 The polling station is right in the middle of a maize field yet we've several spaces in the area ZEC could have used for a key national process.

Paurina Mpariwa, secretary general of the MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora, told journalists that the election is going on well despite the presence of some marauding political activists outside polling stations.

Zanu PFs director of communications, Tafadzwa Mugwadi, praised ZEC for doing a great job even if some polling officers were given a hard time by CCC in Mutasa Central, Manicaland Province.

CCC dismissed the claims as wishful thinking.

One hundred and thirty three council and parliamentary seats are up for grabs.
According to Dan Cohen of MintPress News, more than 150 public relatons companies are involved in the war propaganda campaign against Russia. NATO is coordinating them from London via PR Network, a firm co-founded by Nicky Regazzoni and Francis Ingham.

As was the case during the First World War, the British appealed to artists, but this time they enlisted graffiti designers instead of acclaimed writers.

PR Network puts out daily guidelines on the messages to be relayed, the expressions to be avoid and churns out an inspiring story about Ukraine or one detrimental for Russia.

Russian-speaking journalists taking part in this network were convened, from 19 to 21 July 2021, to be given a training course titled Media Network 2021+.

The NGO Reporters Without Borders pitched in with its specialized branch, the Institute for Mass Information, headed by USAID war propaganda specialist Oksana Romaniuk.

The speech by the Ukraine Permanent Representative to the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, was written by Stephen Krupin (SKDKnickerbocker), Joe Bidens former speechwriter during his presidential election campaign.

Former US ambassadors to Moscow and Kyev Michael McFaul and John E. Herbst, respectively, are in constant touch with the Ukrainian government.
The National Pulse revealed that a subsidiary of the foundation founded by Hunter Biden (son of President Joe Biden) and Christopher Heinz (step-son of John Kerry) has played a key role in the Pentagons biological research programs in Ukraine.

Russia uncovered the breadth of these programs after laying hold of about 15 Ukrainian bioweapons research laboratories funded by the Pentagon, in breach of the Convention prohibiting biological weapons.

In September 2020, the daily tabloid New York Post disclosed that the FBI had laid its hands on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, which contained evidence of his involvement in illegal business dealings in Ukrainia and China. All US intelligence agencies in chorus accused Russia of spreading rumors with a view to destabilizing the State. However, on 16 March, the New York Times finally confirmed the authenticity of the laptop [1]. Many Republican officials have since been asking to know more.

Hunter Biden (photo) is a junkie serving as figurehead for the interests of the Straussians. The Democratic majority of the US House of Representatives had launched an impeachment procedure against President Trump (Ukrainegate) because he had attempted to shed light on these Ukrainia affairs.

In calling out the gang of drug addicts in power in Kyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin was referring to Hunter Biden and his gang of cohorts.
Photo: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Film-awards season is all about peaking at the right time. And now, less than a week out from the Oscars, all eyes are on COVID-19 after a surprise showing at the March 13 BAFTAs. The virus hadnt been much of a presence earlier on the awards circuit, despite high hopes from last years Cannes. But now, it seems to be picking up at the right time. COVID got at least four nods from the BAFTAs, with Belfast director Kenneth Branagh and star Ciaran Hinds, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller all testing positive for the virus in the days after the London show.

With the news coming out in the days after the awards  Belfasts Jude Hill confirmed Branagh and Hindss diagnoses on March 19, while The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Lord and Miller  industry insiders now seem to be scrambling. People are going to show an abundance of caution, one said of a pre-Oscars reluctance to give COVID any more room to take the lead. Per Variety, the Academy announced on March 25 that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 five or less days before the Oscars will not be allowed to attend. Those who test positive in a six to 10-day window will be allowed to attend only if they provide proof of two negative test results taken on separate days.

But as odds-watchers also know, things can play differently across the pond than they do in Hollywood. Londons current COVID numbers look to be exponentially worse than Los Angeles, which couldve given way to the viruss good BAFTAs showing. Never mind that the Oscars will have even stricter pandemic protocols than the BAFTAs in place, requiring not one but two negative tests for entry, per THR. Even though COVID-19 may be outpacing Belfast at the moment, if the virus wants an Oscars sweep, itll have to go through season-long front-runner Power of the Dog and fellow late challenger CODA as well. And unlike usual Oscars Night upsets, this surprise wont come til days after the ceremony.

This post has been updated throughout.
Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Taylor Hawkins, the energetic drummer of the Foo Fighters, died in Bogota, Colombia, Friday night. He was 50. Almost immediately upon news of his death, tributes came pouring in through social media. Over his career in music, first supporting Alanis Morissette then joining the Foo Fighters, Hawkins impressed fans and peers alike with his full-throttle style and rambunctious energy. Twitter user David Saadia posted a clip of what he believes is Hawkinss final show in Mexico City on March 15. In the clip, Hawkins sings a cover of Queens Somebody to Love, while Dave Grohl replaces him on the drums. The front-man-drummer switcheroo was a highlight of their shows.

Taylor Hawkins  Somebody to Love pic.twitter.com/guZyahvyLG  Monsters Of Rock (@MonstersOfRock) March 26, 2022

Messages of tribute came from all corners of the music world. Hawkinss death was mourned by Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks, Questlove, and more. Fans also fondly remembered the time the Foo Fighters Rickrolled the Westboro Baptist Church. Nandi Bushell, the young drummer who challenged Grohl to a drum-off, only to wind up performing Everlong with the band in 2021, thanked Hawkins for his mentorship. Thank you for looking after me, thank you for being so kind and loving, thank you for being the most awesome drummer ever, she wrote, thank you for bringing so much joy to the world, thank you for being you!

Our love, thoughts and support are with all who knew Taylor. Thank you for looking after me, thank you for being so kind and loving, thank you for being the most awesome drummer ever, thank you for bringing so much joy to the world, thank you for being you! With love, Nandi x pic.twitter.com/JAxo6N844a  Nandi Bushell (@Nandi_Bushell) March 26, 2022

God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend. pic.twitter.com/AkiRLF2L3e  Tom Morello (@tmorello) March 26, 2022

So incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Taylor Hawkins. My thoughts are with his family and the band at this time. pic.twitter.com/wueydCu5gw  Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) March 26, 2022

. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side - Ozzy  Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022

Throwback to when Taylor Hawkins and the Foo Fighters rick rolled the bigots of Westboro Baptist church...I'm fucking devastated man rip Taylor Hawkins pic.twitter.com/jjL8sqo4Ym  Cory Landel (@CoryLandel) March 26, 2022
Photo: Rafael Rautha/Upright Citizens Brigade

The Upright Citizens Brigade plans to reopen theaters and training centers under new management in coming months, Deadline reports. The renowned comedy brand has been bought by Mike McAvoy, the Onions former CEO and owner, and Mosaic talent-management company founder Jimmy Miller. McAvoy will reportedly serve as CEO of the new UCB entity, while Miller will serve as chairman. Elysian Park Ventures, a private investment firm led by the owners of the L.A. Dodgers, also provided financial backing for the acquisition.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, UCB laid off all of its theater staff on both coasts in a move that many performers and staffers felt was handled poorly by co-founders Amy Poehler, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, and Ian Roberts. In April 2020, the UCB theater in Hells Kitchen and the UCB Training Center on Eighth Avenue shut down, marking the end of an official space for UCB in New York. Eight months later, in December 2020, the co-founders announced the closure of the Sunset Theater in Los Angeles. In a letter addressed to the UCB community, they said that the organization was pursuing nonprofit status for its theater and school. The letter also stated that UCB would be working with Project Rethink, an initiative launched by a group of veteran BIPOC performers; community members had also raised general concerns about mismanagement and systemic racism within UCB.

McAvoy told Deadline that there are many great plans for the relaunch of UCB. Our first priority is to reopen theaters and training centers in Los Angeles and New York with diversity, equality, and inclusion front and center, he said. The additional resources at our disposal will enable us to pay performers for stage time and enhance the UCB 4 Scholarship Program, which will continue to aid underprivileged students. Reportedly, UCBs new management will work with the Arts Consulting Group, a third-party firm that has consulted the UCB community on diversity initiatives, including the creation of an HR department and the formation of a committee to oversee and execute diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Project Rethink said in a statement that it encouraged UCB4 to hire the Arts Consulting Group in order to help UCB become a safer and more inclusive theater. The group added that over the past year, it made significant progress toward creating a sustainable business model, but said that the landscape changed significantly once the offer of a sale was on the table. According to Project Rethink, Elysian Park Ventures expressed interest in collaboration. We met earlier this year to discuss what a partnership might look like, the statement said. But after a lot of consideration, Project Rethink has decided to dissolve and step away from consulting with this new business venture. Best of luck to the new owners.
Nguyen Dieu Mo, general director of the An Binh Air Services and Tourism Trading Company Limited, is at a police station. Photo by the Ministry of Public Security

A tourism and aviation company general director has been arrested pending investigation for bribery regarding repatriation flights to bring Vietnamese home over the past few years.

Nguyen Dieu Mo, 42, general director of the An Binh Air Services and Tourism Trading Company Limited in Hanoi, was arrested due over allegations she had paid bribes, To An Xo, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, said Friday.

The arrest was part of an ongoing investigation of bribery accusations regarding the organization of flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Xo said.

In January, general director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Consular Department, Nguyen Thi Huong Lan, and three other ministry officials were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes.

They were suspected of "seeking personal gain" in licensing some companies to organize flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home. More specific information about the case has not been released by the authorities.

Since the Covid-19 outbreak began, Vietnam has organized nearly 800 flights to bring home more than 200,000 citizens from more than 60 countries and territories, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Some had to buy very expensive tickets to board such flights and complete complicated procedures.
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GSA approves sale of Trump's D.C. hotel Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The General Services Administration has approved the sale of former president Donald Trumps D.C. hotel lease to Miami investment fund CGI Merchant Group, the agency said Friday. The agency said it approved CGI as a buyer after reviewing the companys agreement with Hilton Worldwide, which will turn the hotel into a Waldorf Astoria, as well as the companys financial capabilities and ability to secure bank financing.

While the GSAs decision was largely perfunctory, it moves Trumps business one step closer toward unloading a hotel that became a center of controversy during his presidency  and which has recently drawn interest from New York prosecutors looking into whether he misled the government in his initial application for the lease.

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Trumps lease only required the GSA to perform a limited review, including whether a prospective buyer has the experience and financial assets to manage and operate the property. The deal is expected to close in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with the transaction, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private business dealings.

Although the hotel struggled financially during most of Trumps time in office due to his controversial brand, the lease is expected to sell to CGI for $375 million. A sale at that price would deliver Trump an estimated profit of more than $100 million, according to analyses by industry analysts.

 Jonathan O'Connell

U.S. plans wind power auction for Carolinas

The Biden administration on Friday announced it will hold a wind energy auction for two areas off the coast of North and South Carolina in May as part of its plan to ramp up a nascent clean energy industry.

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The move is the latest in a broad government effort to put wind turbines in federal waters along every U.S. coastline, with a goal of generating 30 gigawatts of power from offshore wind by 2030. President Biden has said the new industry will serve to create good-paying jobs and combat climate change.

On the heels of a record offshore lease sale in New York, that drew a record $4.37 billion in high bids, the Interior Departments Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer two areas covering 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that could generate as much as 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy  enough to power a half million homes.

Environmental group Oceana praised the announcement, saying offshore wind is a critical piece of the puzzle when confronting the climate crisis.

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A fishing industry group, however, said the sale notice lacked important protections for fisheries, including a buffer area between leases.

BOEM is repeating several mistakes its made in other regions, Responsible Offshore Development Alliance Executive Director Annie Hawkins said.

Offshore wind power in the United States has lagged European nations in deploying the technology. Currently, the United States has just two small offshore wind facilities, off the coasts of Rhode Island and Virginia, along with two additional commercial-scale projects recently approved.

 Reuters

General Motors said Friday it will idle for two weeks in April an assembly plant in Indiana that builds pickup trucks, over ongoing semiconductor chip shortages. The Detroit automaker said it will halt production at its Fort Wayne assembly plant, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, for two weeks starting April 4.

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Tesla is recalling 947 vehicles in the United States because the rearview image may not immediately display when they begin to reverse, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The automaker told NHTSA the recall covers some 2018-2019 Model S, Model X and 2017-2020 Model 3 vehicles equipped with Autopilot Computer 2.5 and operating certain firmware releases.

Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years in February, weighed down by a persistent shortage of properties, and activity could remain sluggish amid increasing mortgage rates and high house prices. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that its Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, fell 4.1 percent last month to 104.9, the lowest level since May 2020.

 From news services

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A Maryland judge has thrown out the states congressional map, calling it an extreme partisan gerrymander in what is a victory for Republicans who said Democrats in the state General Assembly sought to silence their votes. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The ruling Friday by Anne Arundel County Senior Judge Lynne A. Battaglia marks the first time in Maryland history a judge has found a congressional map violated the state constitution. Battaglia ruled that the map ran afoul of rules laid out in Maryland law traditionally applied to legislative districts, requiring them to be compact and to give regard to political subdivisions. She also ruled that the map violated the state constitutions equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses.

The weight of the evidence, she said, yields the conclusion that the 2021 Congressional Plan in Maryland is an outlier, an extreme gerrymander that subordinates constitutional criteria to political considerations.

Battaglia enjoined the map from being used in this years primary and general elections in Maryland and ordered the General Assembly to redraw the map by Wednesday  a furious deadline for what has often been a weeks-long process.

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A spokeswoman for the Maryland Attorney Generals Office said the office is still reviewing the decision and that it had not made a decision about whether to appeal.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) called the ruling a monumental victory for every Marylander who cares about protecting our democracy, bringing fairness to our elections, and putting the people back in charge.

The governor encouraged the General Assembly to the adopt the maps drawn by his citizen advisory committee, which the legislature previously rejected.

This is a historic milestone in our fight to clean up the political process in our state, and ensure that the voices of the people we are elected to serve are finally heard, he said.

Legislative leaders who crafted and shepherded the map to approval defended it Friday evening, saying in a joint statement we believed then, as we do now, that the new districts upheld the letter of the law.

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House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said in their joint statement that the judges order establishes brand new legal standards for the drawing of the Maryland Congressional map.

Battaglia had anticipated during the trial that the case would likely head to the Maryland Court of Appeals, as this summers primary elections fast approach. And its final outcome could have big consequences in the midterm elections both for Maryland and nationally as Democrats majority in Congress hangs by a thread.

Marylands congressional map  passed on an overwhelming party-line vote in December  created seven safe Democratic seats and put the states sole Republican incumbent in Congress, Rep. Andy Harris, in jeopardy by making the 1st district competitive.

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Fair Maps Maryland, an anti-gerrymandering group aligned with Hogan, said Battaglias ruling finally moves the state closer to ending partisan gerrymandering that has long favored Democrats.

To call this a big deal would be the understatement of the century, the statement read. Judge Battaglias ruling confirms what we have all known for years  Maryland is ground zero for gerrymandering, our districts and political reality reek of it, and there is abundant proof that it is occurring. Marylanders have been fighting for free and fair elections for decades and for the first time in our states shameful history of gerrymandering, we are at the precipice of ending it.

Battaglia joins a growing cohort of state judges across the country who have been willing to take on partisan gerrymandering after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 said federal courts were not the proper avenue for those challenges. In the battle for control of Congress this November, both parties have used partisan gerrymandering to try to maximize their chances of winning the majority. But in high-stakes legal challenges, some state judges have put up roadblocks. State high courts in North Carolina and Pennsylvania have thrown out maps they found impermissibly advantaged Republicans, while several other cases are pending.

In this case, Republican plaintiffs had argued that the congressional map  which passed the General Assembly on an overwhelming party-line vote in December  violated the Maryland Constitutions protections of free speech, free and frequent elections and its equal protection clause by suppressing the strength of Republican voters.

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Throughout the trial, witnesses for the Republican plaintiffs presented evidence that they said showed partisanship was the dominant consideration of map-drawers. Sean Trende, an elections analyst at RealClearPolitics, said the trend that he observed is that map-drawers apparently intended to crack the strength of Republican voters by spreading them out in heavily blue districts, where they are not likely to affect the outcome of an election. For example, map-drawers took Republican voters in Harford County out of the 1st District and put them in the blue 3rd District  while carving out blue Harford precincts near the Chesapeake Bay and keeping them in the 1st.

It was plainly drawn with an intent to hurt the Republican Partys chances of electing anyone in Congress, said Trende, who most recently served as a special master tapped by the Virginia Supreme Court to redraw its congressional and legislative maps.

Battaglia found Trendes testimony convincing, agreeing that Republican voters and candidates are substantially adversely impacted by the 2021 Plan. But she said Maryland did not show it had any compelling interest to rationalize those adverse effects on Republicans.

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The Maryland Attorney Generals Office repeatedly argued that the state constitutions provisions laying out criteria for legislative districts  that they should be compact and give regard to natural boundaries and political subdivisions  only applied to state legislative districts, not congressional. They also pointed out that there is nothing in the Maryland Constitution that forbids map-drawers from making political considerations when drawing maps, and that there is no way to determine if partisanship in a map is extreme.

Battaglia acknowledged on numerous occasions that this was the heart of the case  how much partisanship is too much?

But she ultimately still applied the states requirements for drawing legislative districts to the congressional districts to find the map unconstitutional, noting nothing in the constitution explicitly says those rules shouldnt apply to congressional districts.

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She was not persuaded by the states expert witnesses who argued legislators were free to make political considerations and that this map was not a partisan gerrymander.

Battaglia, citing a past ruling, noted that political considerations are valid but cannot trump constitutional requirements  and in this case, she said, that is what happened.

The process of redrawing district lines to give an advantage to one party over another is called "gerrymandering." Here's how it works. (Video: Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)

Republican state lawmakers who are plaintiffs in the case hailed the judges ruling, saying the strongly worded decision rights a wrong that has been perpetrated by the Democratic-controlled legislature for far too long.

This is a victory for every Marylander, Del. Kathryn Szeliga (R-Harford) said during a news conference in Lawyers Mall outside of the State House on Friday. It is a victory for the representative democracy our founders envisioned.

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Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington), who is seeking the Republican nomination in Marylands 6th Congressional District, said the decision marks a watershed moment for Maryland elections.

This decision, should it stand, will not just impact this map, but maps for decades to come because this says you will follow the Maryland Constitution and the rules in the Maryland Constitution when you draw congressional maps,  he said. The state said we can draw a line across the state and that would be an equal map as long as the population was equal.  They declared they could do any map they wanted as long as the population was the same and Judge Battaglia said no, youre going to follow the Maryland Constitution.

If the state does appeal and Battaglias ruling stands, that could upend how the Democratic-controlled General Assembly draws congressional maps in the future, possibly imposing new restraints that have never existed before.

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Maryland Democrats have often used their partisan advantage in the State House to draw maps favoring Democrats, and have admitted in past litigation to drawing the 2011 map to make it hard for a Republican to be elected in Marylands western 6th Congressional District. A federal judge famously remarked that the 2011 maps 3rd Congressional District resembled a broken-winged pterodactyl lying prostrate across the state. But partisan-gerrymandering challenges to that map did not ultimately succeed.

The state argued its 2021 congressional map is more compact than the last and that it should be credited for that  though attorneys for the Republicans scoffed that it was only better because it could not possibly be worse. Battaglia called the states argument a fictitious narrative.

Battaglias short deadline for the General Assembly to redraw the map crams a huge legislative lift into the final two weeks of the Maryland General Assemblys session, when lawmakers are scrambling to figure out how to dole out $350 million in tax cuts, legalize marijuana, address rising crime statewide and pass an omnibus climate change bill.

Szeliga said she doesnt trust the legislature to redraw the map. Look what they did, she said. I argued it in committee.  Ive argued it on the House floor and they assured us what they did was constitutional.

Battaglia scheduled an April 1 hearing on the General Assemblys new proposed map.

The nonpartisan government transparency group Common Cause urged legislators not to leave out the public as they rush to draw a new map, reminding state lawmakers the map is not meant to serve political parties.

The congressional map belongs to the voters of Maryland, not the politicians, Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said in a statement. Its time for the General Assembly to do right by the voters and lead a fair, open, and transparent process that results in fair maps.

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Spreading wildfire forces evacuations Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Authorities issued an evacuation order for 19,400 people Saturday near a fast-moving Colorado wildfire in the rolling hills south of Boulder, not far from the site of a destructive 2021 blaze. The wildfire was fueled by wind earlier in the day and had grown to 122 acres with no containment, Boulder Fire-Rescue spokesperson Marya Washburn said. The Boulder Office of Emergency Management said an overnight shelter was opened after evacuation orders covered 8,000 homes and 7,000 structures. No structures had been damaged.

Winds and temperatures have died down, Washburn said. Officials expect to be dealing with the fire for several days due to heavy fuels, said Boulder Fire-Rescue Wildland Division Chief Brian Oliver.

The fire is in an area where a blaze destroyed 1,000 homes last year in unincorporated Boulder County and suburban Superior and Louisville. Superior town officials told residents in an email that there were no immediate concerns for the community.

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1 killed, 1 injured in mall shooting

A masked gunman opened fire in a suburban Chicago shopping mall Friday, leaving one man dead and wounding a teenage girl.

The gunman began firing just after 7 p.m. Friday near the food court at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont, just northwest of the city, Rosemont police Sgt. Joe Balogh told the Chicago Tribune on Saturday. Police said it was a targeted attack.

The gunman fled in a car with other people, he said.

More than two hours later, police stopped the vehicle on an expressway in Chicago, Balogh said. The cars owner was taken into custody and was being questioned as a person of interest, he said. A gun was seized.

The Cook County Medical Examiners Office identified the victim as Joel Valdes, 20, of Skokie. A 15-year-old girl who was shot in the wrist was in stable condition, Balogh said.

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Ex-candidate out on bail in child porn case: A former gubernatorial candidate in Maine was bailed out of jail on Saturday after his arrest on charges of possession of child pornography. Officials with the Hancock County Jail said Eliot Cutler, 75, was released in the afternoon after a day in custody. He had been held on $50,000 bail. The Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit arrested Cutler on Friday at his home. He twice ran for governor as an independent, using his personal wealth to pay for the unsuccessful campaigns.



Bodies of Marines flown to U.S.: The bodies of four Marines who died in a military aircraft crash during a NATO exercise were transferred to Dover Air Force Base on Friday, U.S. Marine Corps officials said. Officials said an Osprey aircraft crashed on March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, killing the four Marines: Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Mass.; Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Ky.

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DC9, an eaglet born in late March, at the U.S. National Arboretum in D.C. (American Eagle Foundation)

Experts drew blood, took a feather sample and measured the baby eagle this week. Based on its size, they believe its a boy.
The U.S handed over Covid-19 equipment and vaccine administration supplies worth $1 million to Vietnam's Ministry of Health in Hanoi Friday.

The equipment and supplies, funded by USAID and delivered through UNICEF between November 2021 and February 2022, include 2.5 million syringes, 125,000 N95 face masks and 250 portable patient monitors, a UNICEF press release said.

Marie Yastishock, Vietnam Mission Director of USAID, said the U.S. and Vietnam have built on decades of collaboration and friendship, drawing on each others strengths and capacities, to jointly identify and address the highest priorities when responding to Covid-19.

UNICEF Country Representative Rana Flowers said UNICEF continues to work hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health of Vietnam and key partners, focusing not only on the roll out of safe vaccines but also supporting in every way it can access to medical equipment and medicines that are critical to saving lives from Covid-19.

UNICEF, as the primary COVAX partner in Vietnam, has worked to bring in U.S. government-supported Covid vaccines totaling more than 33 million doses to-date.
The reason politics is so unpleasant is that its so, well, damn political. At its best it is a contest of ideas, but at its worst it is a seething vipers nest of ambition and betrayal. In order to champion a policy idea, it is necessary to descend into the pit with the snakes.

The controversy around Kimberley Kitchings untimely death is not going to go away, much as Labor leader Anthony Albanese might want it to this close to an election, because it is about more than bullying or factional chicanery. It is also about more than the hypocrisy of accusing political opponents of bad behaviour while engaged in similar.

Athony Albansese and Kimberley Kitching: questions over the alleged bullying of the senator arent going away, Credit:Dominic Lorrimer/Alex Ellinghausen

The point has been repeatedly made that these things happen all the time in politics and Kimberley Kitching participated in her fair share. That is uncontested. What makes Kitchings case different is that her politicking was in the service of policy ideas and ideals that she was unwilling to sacrifice to further her career.

There are two things to acknowledge in this discussion. First, that the colleagues Kitching called mean girls may have believed they were engaged in a battle of ideas with the Labor-right senator rather than bullying her.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size His Royal Highness was a happy His Royal Highness. The interview, he thought, had gone great. His decision to subject himself to interrogation had been vindicated. The fears of his chief spin doctor, who had stepped down in protest at the decision to go ahead with the interview, were unfounded. When the questions came to an end, Prince Andrew even gave the production team a tour of Buckingham Palace  a regal version of a victory lap. He seemed to be experiencing an adrenalin buzz, and was extraordinarily chatty. Pointing to a statue of the 19th centurys Prince Albert, he said: next time you come, we should talk about him. What a wonderful entrepreneur. Clearly, he thought he had acquitted himself with gentlemanly aplomb. Viewers of the BBC interview would surely accept his explanation for maintaining his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, even after the American billionaire had been convicted of sex offences involving underage girls: that it was because of a tendency to be too honourable. This was Andrew unfettered, Andrew raw and Andrew as himself, says Peter Hunt, the BBCs former Royal correspondent. Thats why he thought it had gone well, because he presented himself as he is. The problem was that viewers didnt like what they saw. During the interview, Prince Andrew claimed not to recall ever meeting Virginia Giuffre, his Australia-based accuser, who alleges that he sexually assaulted her on three separate occasions starting when she was just 17  accusations he continues to deny. But viewers thought his answers tested the bounds of plausibility. There were the claims about being at the restaurant chain Pizza Express in Woking, south-west of London, which would have meant slumming it for a royal; and of not being able to perspire, when pictures immediately emerged showing him wearing shirts drenched with sweat. Then there were the plummy soliloquies that made him sound like he had stepped from the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Do I regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? he asked in relation to Epstein, a serial paedophile. Unbecoming? replied the BBCs Emily Maitlis, in an incredulous voice that instantly transported us back to the 21st century and the era of #MeToo.

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Finally, there were the words left unsaid. At no stage did the Prince express any sympathy for Epsteins victims. Though he affected the air of a powder-wigged aristocrat being carried through the streets in a sedan chair, he had been at the wheel of his own car crash, a head-on collision with himself. From that moment on, to many of her subjects if not yet the Queen, he was royal roadkill. Even though he was only second in line to the throne for the first 22 years of his life  in the royal pecking order, he had displaced his older sister with his first gulp of air  Prince Andrew never had to worry about status anxiety when it came to his mother. Whereas the Queen was distracted by her new monarchical duties when Prince Charles and Princess Anne were infants  they were aged just three and 17 months old when she ascended to the throne  Her Majesty decided to take a step back when Prince Andrew was born on February 19, 1960. By now, she was eight years into her reign, and although a lot of everyday parental duties were outsourced to a governess, the Queen spent more time with her second son than her first. Whereas Charles could often seem tortured and tormented  the curse of the heir as opposed to the spare, to use the patois of primogeniture  Andrew was far more fun and straightforward. He also came along when the Queen and Prince Philip were thought to have rebooted their relationship, and thus became the happier son of a happier marriage. From an early age, he was seen as her favoured son. For his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, Andrew was a royals kind of royal. Rather than doing anything quite as namby-pamby as studying archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge, the academic path that Charles decided to take, Andrew enlisted in the armed forces. Like his father, he went on to become an officer in the Royal Navy. Like his father, he became a full and enthusiastic participant in military life. Like his father, he became a playboy Prince, quickly earning the tabloid moniker Randy Andy for a string of dalliances, including one with the American actor Koo Stark, whose work included the semi-erotic film, Emily. Not only was Andrew a family and Fleet Street favourite, in the early 1980s, he became a national hero. Adhering to the heraldic principle that the crown and people should fight alongside each other at times of war, Prince Andrew joined the British task force that set sail for the South Atlantic in April 1982, to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina.

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Piloting his Sea King helicopter from the flagship of the flotilla, the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, the 22-year-old flew three to four hours a day, acting mainly as a decoy for Exocet missiles, the Argentinians most dangerous weapon. In what he described afterwards as his most frightening moment of the war, an Argentinian shell came perilously close to blowing up his helicopter. Not only was Andrew a family and Fleet Street favourite, in the early 1980s he became a national hero. When the Argentinians surrendered, and the Union flag was again hoisted over the Falklands, Prince Andrew made it to the capital, Port Stanley, found a phone, and managed to patch through a call to Buckingham Palace. She was quite surprised to hear from me, he said of the 15-minute phone call with his mother. She asked to pass on how proud she was of everyone, and to say how marvellously all the troops had done. The conflict showed that the Royal Navy could still dispatch gunboats to successfully defend far-flung outposts of what remained of the British empire, and that Britannia still ruled at least some of the waves. When HMS Invincible returned to Portsmouth in September, amid a sea of Union flags and a bevy of bare-chested women bobbing around in boats, the Queen joined thousands of her subjects to greet him. With her she brought a camera, so she could take snapshots of the reunion, and also a basket of red roses, which she handed out to the sailors. Andrew joyfully clenched the flower between his teeth, as if he was about to perform the tango. This happy moment demonstrated both the love of the monarch for her favourite son, and the adoration of the nation towards its favourite prince. Nobody called him Randy Andy, a prince whose only claim to fame was his preference for blue-eyed blondes, wrote a reporter at the time. Now its Andrew the Warrior Prince, a hero home from the wars. More cheers and celebrations were in the offing. At an event at Windsor Castle during Royal Ascot in 1985, Princess Diana introduced her brother-in-law to a childhood friend, a bouncy redhead called Sarah Ferguson. Fergie, the daughter of the Duke of Edinburghs polo manager, Major Ronald Ferguson, was an immediate hit not just with Andrew, but the family as a whole. Unlike Diana, who hated holidays at Balmoral, Fergie mucked in and joined in the family fun, whether it was riding, shooting or open-carriage driving, Prince Philips favourite pastime. For a Sloane Ranger, she also had a usefully populist touch. Soon even commoners in Britain were mimicking Fergies trademark expression: Absolutely. There was much royal rejoicing, then, when the couple announced their engagement in 1986, with a photoshoot on the lawns of Buckingham Palace that involved none of the cufflink-twiddling awkwardness of Charles and Dianas coming out five years hitherto. From Andrew, there was no equivalent of his elder brothers angst-ridden whatever in love means moment when asked about his feelings by reporters. Instead, he displayed the same horsey grin as the day he returned from the Falklands.

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More than 500 million viewers tuned in for the couples wedding at Westminster Abbey that summer, a day that offered further proof of the Queens favouritism towards her second son. As a wedding gift, she bestowed upon him a new title, the Duke of York: the dukedom of her beloved father, George VI, and also her grandfather King George V. Andrew and Fergie were beloved of the monarch, beloved of her British subjects, and beloved of the Fleet Street tabloids. The trifecta. What could possibly go wrong? Of the Queens 70 years on the throne, 1992 was surely her worst. Her annus horribilis, as she called it, included the publication of Andrew Mortons tell-all biography of Princess Diana (essentially a thinly veiled autobiography), the separation of Charles and Di, the divorce of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips and the fire at Windsor Castle that destroyed more than 100 rooms, during which Prince Andrew heroically helped save precious artwork from the flames. But the first scandal out of the royal gates that year came in January, and centred upon the Duchess of York. Compromising pictures were published of Fergie with her American paramour, the Texas millionaire Steve Wyatt, while her husband was away at sea. Not long afterwards, with the BBC famously reporting the knives are out for Fergie at the palace, the Yorks announced their separation. The public low point of their marital breakdown came later that year, when photographs were published of a topless Fergie having her toes sucked by another Texan, her financial adviser John Bryan, as she stretched out on a sun lounger at a villa in St Tropez. Fergie Toe-Job, screamed The Sun, a headline that took the press coverage of the Royals into an entirely new realm. Increasingly, the Windsors were being viewed through a telephoto lens. With every gaudy tabloid splash, the mystique of the monarchy was being trashed. Disastrously for Fergie, the toe-sucking pictures were published while she was staying with the Royal family at Balmoral. The redheads in trouble, paged Princess Diana to one of her favourite Fleet Street hacks.

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One lesson that Andrew might have drawn from the Fergie imbroglio was to avoid rich Americans. But just as his wifes public fall began with her relationships with two wealthy Texans, the seeds of Andrews demise were sown when he met a Florida-based financier called Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew says they were introduced by his friend Ghislaine Maxwell in 1999, and that Epstein was initially her plus one. The trio spent time together at Windsor Castle, at the Queens Norfolk retreat in Sandringham, and at Balmoral. During her trial in New York  at which Maxwell was found guilty of five out of six charges, including sex trafficking a minor  a photo emerged showing her and Epstein relaxing in a log cabin on the Scottish estate. In June 2000, Epstein was even invited to the Dance of the Decades, a mother of all parties hosted by the Queen to celebrate the 40th birthday of Prince Andrew, the 50th birthday of Princess Anne, the 70th birthday of Princess Margaret and the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother. Loading It was during this heady phase that Virginia Giuffre claims Epstein sex-trafficked her to Prince Andrew, and that the Duke raped her. The first assault allegedly took place at the Belgravia flat of Ghislaine Maxwell in March 2001, after the socialite allegedly told her: Youre going to dance with a prince tonight. Further sexual assaults took place, she claims, at Epsteins mansion close to Central Park in New York and his private island, Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands. The Prince vehemently denies this. For years, there were rumours about Epsteins predilection for underage girls. His Caribbean island was dubbed Orgy Island. His private jet, with a passenger manifest that included luminaries such as Bill Clinton, was called the Lolita Express. But the police only started to investigate him in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl claimed he had molested her at his Palm Beach mansion. Around the same time, the FBI mounted its own investigation, which culminated in a sweetheart plea agreement with ludicrously lenient terms. Epstein avoided a federal indictment, which could have put him behind bars for the rest of his life, and pleaded guilty to two lesser charges, including soliciting a minor for prostitution. During his 18-month prison sentence, he was allowed out on work release for 12 hours a day, six days a week. After his spell in prison and his inclusion on the sex offenders register, Epsteins powerful friends tended to give him a wide berth. But in December 2010, Prince Andrew made a four-day unofficial visit to New York during which he stayed throughout at Epsteins mansion (despite availing himself of so much of the billionaires hospitality, Prince Andrew told the BBCs Emily Maitlis that the purpose of his trip was to end their friendship). When a team of British tabloid journalists got wind of his whereabouts, they staked out the residence. On the third day, they finally got their reward. From behind the giant oak doors of the French neoclassical townhouse, out stepped the Prince and the disgraced billionaire. Then, accompanied by royal protection officers, they went for a walk in Central Park, where they were snapped having what looked like a solemn conversation.

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The way she tells it, she turned her body away from the lens and said she refused to be filmed. The most senior of the Iranians reacted angrily. Through an interpreter, he declared the meeting finished and asked Biggs to leave. At which stage, something inside Moore-Gilbert snapped.

Everyone has a tipping point, and one day in April 2019, after about seven months incarceration, Moore-Gilbert reached hers. It was like an out-of-body experience when it was happening, she says. That morning, a guard had collected her from her cell and taken her to a meeting room within the prison. Awaiting her there, along with Iranian officials, was Ian Biggs, then Australias ambassador to Iran. Moore-Gilbert had found Biggs formal and detached during their previous encounters, but nonetheless was pleased to see him. What concerned her was the presence of a video camera mounted on a tripod. Her jailers had previously pressured her into making statements in front of a camera. She didnt want her conversation with Biggs recorded.

To meet Moore-Gilbert, now 34, is to be struck by her composure and affability. She is warm. Polite. Looks you in the eye when she speaks to you. Eats her cake with a fork. It is a matter of some satisfaction to her that despite the cruelties and indignities heaped on her in jail, she didnt completely fall apart. Most of the time, she managed to keep her act together.

Moore-Gilbert went to Iran in late August 2018 to attend a seminar on Shia Islam. After checking in to her return flight to Australia three weeks later, she was arrested and charged with being a spy. Despite her protests that she was merely an academic, employed by the University of Melbourne as a lecturer in Islamic studies, she was thrown into a high-security hellhole run by Irans feared Revolutionary Guard Corps. Thus began an ordeal that lasted more than two years and often felt like a waking nightmare.

For afternoon tea, Kylie Moore-Gilbert has made a Middle Eastern treat known as Persian Love Cake. The ingredients include rosewater, cardamom and lemon zest. She has scattered the icing with crushed green pistachios and dried rose petals. Slices of this fragrant confection sit before us on the table as she talks about the psychological impact of languishing in a notorious Tehran prison. In short, it seriously messes with your head. Luckily, Im a strong person, she says. Some people would have been extremely damaged for life.

Shortly before going to Iran , Moore-Gilbert had bought an old weatherboard house in the Dandenong Ranges, an hours drive east of Melbourne. It has polished timber floors and a calm, uncluttered feel. A wide deck overlooks a forested slope. She had intended to return to live here with her husband, Russian-Israeli university student Ruslan Hodorov, but that isnt the way things worked out. When she was released in November 2020 after 804 days in captivity, she learnt that Hodorov was having an affair with her close friend and Melbourne University colleague, Kylie Baxter.

I confess to her that I laughed out loud when I read that remark in her book, The Uncaged Sky, to be published next week. Poor Ian Biggs, she says, smiling ruefully. It was so surreal. He laughed too.

To his credit, Biggs tried to answer her question despite the Iranians increasingly strident insistence that he depart. Ignore them, said Moore-Gilbert, who could feel through the trousers of the diplomats dark suit that his calves were surprisingly well-muscled. He must have been a runner or something, she tells me, adding that she still cant believe what she said to him next: Nice legs!

As she recalls, Biggs made a tentative attempt to rise from his chair, but she maintained her grip and he sat down again. Please ignore these fers, she said to him. Tell me, what is the government doing to get me out?

This meeting isnt over! she shouted, launching herself at the startled ambassador. Its not over until I say its over! Diving to the floor, she wrapped her arms around Biggss calves in a decent approximation of a rugby tackle. Mr Biggs, she said, please continue. What did you come here to tell me?

The first intimation that she was in trouble came from the receptionist at her Tehran hotel. A group of men  like police  had come to the desk and asked about her while she was out, he said. Unnerved, Moore-Gilbert thought perhaps she should call the Australian embassy, but on its website she could find no phone number. She was leaving Iran the next day anyway, and she figured she had no real reason to worry: If someone wants to ask questions, thats fine because I have nothing to hide.

What Moore-Gilbert doesnt want to do is paint her now ex-husband as a villain. Life is complicated, as the last few years have brought home to her. Even in her captors she saw redeeming features: a few showed her kindness at risk to themselves. My proximity to the Revolutionary Guards taught me that sometimes good people do bad things, she writes in her book. It occurs to me that theres a flip side, equally pertinent to her story. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Motherfers! she remembers yelling as a female guard tried to prise her off the ambassadors lower limbs. Arseholes! Dont you fing touch me! By contrast, she speaks to me of Hodorov with studied indifference. Im happier without him, she says. So, you know, good riddance.

Which doesnt mean she is letting him off the hook. As Moore-Gilbert demonstrated at the meeting with Ian Biggs, when her bottled-up rage at the Revolutionary Guards boiled over, her tolerance extends only so far.

The last damned straw, you would imagine. It was a shock to me, the affair, she concedes. For some time, though, she had sensed that Hodorovs commitment to their marriage was waning. When she first spoke to him from jail, he was highly emotional, but in later calls he seemed distant and distracted. In his defence, she says, he did go through a hard time, too. He did care about me in the beginning, and he was quite traumatised.

At Evin, she learnt that it wasnt physical assault she needed to fear. In the womens unit of the prison, mental torture was the preferred method of punishment. Moore-Gilbert spent a cumulative total of 12 months in solitary confinement, most of it in a space only slightly larger than the first cell. Its sensory deprivation, essentially, she says, and it puts so much pressure on your brain that you have to develop a coping mechanism, like slowing everything down and closing your eyes and just inhabiting your memories.

Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was formed after the countrys 1979 revolution, to defend the new Islamic republic from both internal and external threats. The IRGC has its own army, navy and air force, independent of the regular military. It wields immense political and economic power. Moore-Gilbert now believes she was brought to the attention of the IRGCs intelligence branch by a dual citizen of Iran and Bahrain she had met and interviewed while at the conference. (Shed written her PhD thesis on Bahrains Shiite community and was doing follow-up research.) That her husband was from Israel  Irans arch-enemy  was enough to convince the men in black that she was a spy. Or that her husband was a spy. Or that they were both spies.

Moore-Gilberts flight left without her. She was interrogated at a hotel for a week, then blindfolded and driven to a walled compound she later learnt was Tehrans Evin Prison, infamous for its brutal treatment of political prisoners. Her windowless cell measured two metres by two metres. The terror of it all, she says quietly. I didnt know where I was, or whod arrested me, or what the hell was going on. I was afraid they would rape me, or physically torture me.

At the airport, she was plucked out of the passport-control queue and taken to a room filled with men wearing black. They demanded to know her reason for visiting Iran. Moore-Gilbert fought to keep her voice steady as she explained that an Iranian university had invited her to a seminar. Melbourne University had agreed she could go, and the Iranian embassy in Canberra had approved her visa application. Trying not to panic, she told herself the whole thing was a ridiculous mistake and she would soon be strapping herself into an airline seat, homeward bound.

After school, Moore-Gilbert headed for the UK  she has dual citizenship, courtesy of her father  and spent several years working casual jobs to finance backpacking holidays. She then enrolled in Asian and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in 2013.

Sporty, studious, creative, pretty, Moore-Gilbert was a kid who seemed destined to go far. Her mother, Jenny, was a secretary, and her father, Lindsay, worked in a factory. The oldest of their three children, she was dux in her final year at Bathursts All Saints College. In her favourite subject, art, she got the highest marks in the state. There was a gentleness about her. Even from a very young age, she was kind and understanding and full of empathy, says her old friend, Yasodai Selvakumaran.

In her experience, solitary confinement causes selective amnesia. If someone asked you what songs were on your Spotify list last year, what movies you saw at the cinema recently, anything like that, you would have no idea. But your long-term memory is suddenly sharpened and you can remember stuff from your childhood. For her, that meant being transported back to the regional NSW city of Bathurst, where her family lived from the time she was nine. In her head, she was no longer in a fluorescent-lit cubicle, staring at chipped grey tiles and peeling paint. She was in the backyard with her sister, Belinda, climbing gum trees under a clear Australian sky.

Day after day, she lay on the floor in a trance-like state, letting her mind roam through her past. She knew this survival technique didnt work for everyone: Some people just cant switch off and they do go crazy. You can hear them screaming; banging themselves against the walls. When youre in your cell listening to that, its traumatising.

During the course, she lived for 12 months in Israel, where she met Hodorov. He accompanied her when she returned to Australia in 2014 to do her PhD at Melbourne University. (Kylie Baxter was her PhD supervisor.) Moore-Gilbert converted to Judaism and married Hodorov in 2017, less than a year before

her trip to Iran. When she was arrested, her phone and computer were confiscated, but during the week of interrogation in the hotel she furtively borrowed a laptop and fired off some emails. I love you very much. I love you ridiculously! she wrote to her husband, adding, Please dont worry,

I have my wits about me and I am strong. She also wrote to her mother, Jenny, saying she hoped to be home in a few days, but if not, and Jenny hadnt heard from her, to please call the embassy.

Her grandmother, Marjorie Cameron, who lives in a retirement village at Laurieton, on the NSW Mid North Coast, vividly remembers getting the news that she was being held in Iran. Jenny came up to see me and she told me, says Cameron, now 97. And look, I was absolutely shocked. I couldnt believe that could happen. Like other family members, she was sworn to silence. Jenny said, The government doesnt want us to let anybody know that Kylie has been detained in prison, because if it gets into the press, it might interfere with the negotiations.  Cameron, a devout Anglican, asked if she could at least confide in her minister. I just had to have somebody to talk to, she tells me, and I needed somebody else to pray for Kylie.

Moore-Gilbert with Gran Marjorie and mum Jenny, just after her release. Credit:Courtesy of Kylie Moore-Gilbert

In the beginning, Moore-Gilberts despair and confusion were compounded by her inability to understand the orders her jailers barked at her. She had studied two Middle Eastern languages, Arabic and Hebrew, but not the Iranian language, Farsi. Not knowing what they were saying to me, not being able to communicate, that was just horrible, she says. Nevertheless, she resisted making any serious attempt to learn. I didnt want to study Farsi because that would mean acknowledging to myself that I would be there for a long time. When after six months she finally bit the bullet, and Ian Biggs brought her an English-Farsi dictionary and grammar book, it became a reason to get up in the morning. It gave me a goal, and something to do.

The battle to hold on to a sense of purpose was ongoing, because everything about life in the political prisoners section of Evin was designed to crush the inmates spirits. Whenever Moore-Gilbert stepped out of her cell, she had to put on a blindfold. For a trip to the clinic inside the prison grounds, she would be handcuffed. She wasnt permitted to wear a bra under her prison uniform of a pink knee-length coat and baggy pink pants. It was a deliberate strategy of humiliation, she says. Dehumanisation, also.

Whenever Moore-Gilbert stepped out of her cell, she had to put on a blindfold. For a trip to the clinic inside the prison grounds, she would be handcuffed.

Each prisoner was assigned a number. To Moore-Gilberts chagrin, guards often addressed her as 97029 rather than use her name. Id always say, Im a human being! Im not a number.  As proof of her existence, she sometimes sang at the top of her voice, belting out the collected works of Destinys Child, say, or the entire Amy Winehouse album Back to Black. Inevitably, the wretchedness of her situation gradually wore her down. She didnt attempt suicide, as was later reported, but she certainly thought about it. My understanding of myself as a unique human being with a personality and a character, with likes and dislikes, with talents, with a moral compass, with dreams and ambitions, slowly diminished, she writes in her book. I was losing myself. I was becoming 97029.

The food was barely edible and the squalor deeply disheartening. Moore-Gilbert tells me she never got over her horror at the filthy, disgusting, squat toilet that hadnt been cleaned for god knows how many months, if ever. They said, We cant give you cleaning chemicals because youll drink them and kill yourself. I said, You clean it then. My first hunger strike, that was one of my demands: I want someone to pour bleach into the toilet. 

She went on seven hunger strikes in all. The first 48 hours were usually the hardest, she says. After that, the stomach cramps subsided and her blood pressure fell to the point where she passed the time dozing. She realised she was risking permanent damage to her health, but starving herself was quite an effective way of getting the prison bosses attention. Also, the strikes gave her a feeling of empowerment, as if she had some measure of control over her fate. Deep down, she knew that this was an illusion. In truth, her fate was in the hands of the man she knew as Qazi Zadeh. He had complete and utter power over me.

Ibrahim Qazi Zadeh  which shes sure wasnt his real name  was an enigmatic figure. Though he was wholly in charge of Moore-Gilberts case, she never completely understood his larger role in the regime. He was head of legal affairs in the IRGCs intelligence branch, as far as she knew, but seemed to have his finger in many pies. Moore-Gilbert describes him as tall, broad-shouldered and completely bald, with striking blue-green eyes. He had a deep, melodic voice, and unlike most Revolutionary Guards, wore good suits.

The other thing about Qazi Zadeh? He was a psychopath. A 100 per cent, genuine, bona fide psychopath. Extremely intelligent. Always operating on multiple levels, playing multiple games, manipulating everybody, including his own colleagues.

He would taunt Moore-Gilbert, telling her, for instance, that Australian embassy staff knew she was guilty, or assuring her that she would be buried in Iran. At other times he would play good cop, claiming he was on her side and that he would organise her release if only she agreed to switch allegiances and spy for the Islamic Republic. It was this weird relationship, says Moore-Gilbert, who came to realise that he had a crush on her. More than that, actually. He was in love with me. It was clear to everyone, not just me.

The knowledge was useful to her: I was always trying to leverage that weakness in him  his partiality for me  to benefit myself. But her response wasnt entirely cold-blooded. She admits she felt a real connection with him.

On his frequent visits to the prison, We had a lot of intellectual conversations, and flirty banter was going on as well, she says. It was probably Stockholm syndrome. Loneliness no doubt came into it, too. I was in solitary. I had nobody else to talk to.

Qazi Zadeh was appalled by Moore-Gilberts behaviour during the meeting with Biggs. In Iran, women arent supposed to shake hands with men to whom theyre not related, much less seize them around the legs. Neither are they supposed to hurl sweary abuse at Revolutionary Guards. As retribution, he cut her off from the outside world, stopping consular visits and prohibiting phone calls. Books that Biggs had delivered were withheld from her. The crackdown was a strategic error, in Moore-Gilberts view. Rather than have a chastening effect, it made her more defiant. I wasnt afraid of them any more, she says. They couldnt take anything away from me: Id already been banned from everything. I had nothing to lose.

A couple of months later, during an exercise period in a prison courtyard, she scaled a two-metre-high corrugated-iron fence and climbed onto the roof of the interrogation building. It was exhilarating to feel the breeze in her hair and the sun on her face. She took in the panoramic view of the sprawling city.

Salaam, Tehraaaaan! she shouted jubilantly. When guards appeared, she said she would jump off the roof unless access to her books, consular visits and phone calls was restored. She also demanded that she have her day in court. The verdict was a foregone conclusion  she knew she would be found guilty  but she wanted to get the trial behind her.

Abolqasem Salavati, who presided over Moore-Gilberts case, is known in Iran as the hanging judge. (Dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, convicted of spreading corruption on earth and executed in December 2020, was among those hes sent to the gallows.) Though Moore-Gilbert expected no mercy from Salavati, she was knocked for six when in August 2019 he sentenced her to 10 years jail, the maximum term possible, for cooperation in espionage for the tyrannical Zionist regime. In the custom of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, she was handed a piece of paper and invited to write a response. I am still free, she wrote, because freedom is an attitude, freedom is a state of mind.

By this time, Moore-Gilbert had acquired two cell-mates  Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani who, with six other members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, had been arrested on espionage charges while filming and researching endangered animals. Moore-Gilbert had grown close to the pair and knew they would support her when she returned from court after the sentencing. What she didnt predict was that the cell would erupt in a strange kind of celebration. We were dancing and singing and crying, just an explosion of emotion, she says. The three women laughed until tears rolled down their cheeks, overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of their shared plight. Freedom is an attitude, freedom is a state of mind! Bayani whooped. Isnt that the slogan of one of those luxury watch brands? (Moore-Gilbert has dedicated her book to Bayani and Kashani, who are still in prison.)

Moore-Gilbert in Iran before her arrest: My proximity to the Revolutionary Guards taught me that sometimes good people do bad things. Credit:Courtesy of Kylie Moore-Gilbert

The longer she was in Iran, the less Moore-Gilbert allowed herself to pine for home. I told myself, This is your new life,  she says. I taught myself not to think about Australia and not to think about my life before I came to Iran, including not thinking about my family, not thinking about my job, just trying to focus on the here and now. In a way, the ban on phone calls had been a blessing. Her irregular, rushed conversations with her parents always left her distressed, she says, because they drew me back to my old life. I preferred to keep the wall up and pretend none of it existed.

As the first anniversary of her arrest approached, Moore-Gilberts family was still being told not to talk about it. Marjorie Cameron struggled under the strain: Going about the day as if everything was okay  it was really hard.

When people asked after her granddaughter, she kept her answers vague. Id say, I havent heard from her for a while or something like that. Moore-Gilbert tells me her sister took calls from some of her friends, baffled that she no longer responded to their messages and emails. Belinda would say something really ambiguous, like, Shes going through a really hard time at the moment and cant be in contact, but shes still your friend. 

I understand how quiet diplomacy is supposed to work. But the fact was, it had not produced results. Was Kylie home? Was she being treated well? The answer to both questions was no.

Word had spread quite fast in academic circles, says Australian National University lecturer Jessie Moritz. But as soon as you found out, you were told to be quiet. Moritz, based at ANUs Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, initially accepted the need for discretion, given that delicate diplomatic manoeuvring was said to be going on behind the scenes. But as time went by, she and others started wondering whether it mightnt be better for Moore-Gilberts predicament to be publicised. I understand how quiet diplomacy is supposed to work, she says. But the fact was, it had not produced results. Was Kylie home? Was she being treated well? The answer to both questions was no.

Moore-Gilbert herself was increasingly frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the case. What her colleagues didnt know was that she had started urging her parents to go to the media within a couple of months of her arrest. Marjorie Cameron understands why they were reluctant to take that step: It was all so foreign to them. They had no idea. They could only be guided by what the government said was the best way to do it.

The story of Moore-Gilberts incarceration finally broke in September 2019, a year after shed been arrested. That December, the US-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran published letters shed managed to have smuggled out of Evin, in which she said her physical and mental health were deteriorating. She said, too, that she felt abandoned and forgotten. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, she wrote: Please, I beg you to do whatever it takes to get me out.

Individuals sprang into action. In Wales, a man called Phil started a change.org petition calling for Moore-Gilberts release, and more than 250,000 people signed it. A Free Kylie website and Facebook group popped up. As the pandemic took off in early 2020, Victorian film and television special effects supervisor John Sanderson found himself part of an online coalition intent on helping Moore-Gilbert in any way it could. Says Sanderson: We were total strangers to each other, stuck in different countries and time zones in a locked-down world, with nothing but an encrypted group chat and a common objective.

Lobbying parliamentarians was one method of putting pressure on the Australian government to bring Moore-Gilbert home. Keeping her name in the news was another. When her supporters learnt she had been transferred in mid-2020 to Qarchak womens penitentiary, a grim establishment in the desert east of Tehran, and was running in a tiny prison yard to keep up her morale, they organised a #WeRunWithKylie event to mark the second anniversary of her arrest.

We had people running in Canada and Qatar and South Africa  just all over the place, says Sanderson. On her 800th day in prison, the campaigners attached bamboo sticks to 800 blue cardboard butterflies and planted them in the lawn of St Pauls Cathedral, in the Melbourne CBD. It was such a huge number of sticks, says Sanderson, who had bought tomato stakes at Bunnings and cut them into the right sized pieces. I thought, My goodness, each one of these is a day in somebodys life that they can never get back. 

To mark Moore-Gilberts 800th day in prison, campaigners placed 800 cardboard butterflies outside Melbournes St Pauls Cathedral. Credit:John Sanderson

Three days later, Moore-Gilbert was abruptly removed from her cell and driven to the Revolutionary Guards grandiose Tehran headquarters. She walked into the room understandably looking a little dazed, remembers Nick Warner, then director-general of Australias peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Intelligence. Since soon after Moore-Gilberts arrest, Warner had led a team trying to stitch together a deal that would secure her release. A former Australian ambassador to Iran, he still had high-level contacts there. This was the first time he had met Moore-Gilbert. I gave her a long hug, he tells me, and whispered in her ear, Im taking you home. 

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After one more night in prison, she was free. Her first stop was the residence of the current Australian ambassador, Lyndall Sachs, where she had a slap-up lunch and her first glass of wine since 2018. Offered coffee, she threw back two cups in quick succession. She was bubbly, happy, chatty and focused, Warner recalls. Says Moore-Gilbert: I was probably tipsy, and high on caffeine.

At the beginning of that week, an Airbus A319 chartered by the Australian government had flown from Canberra to Tehran, then on to Qatar, where it parked for a day. The next stop was Bangkok, where it picked up three Iranian prisoners  men who had been convicted of the attempted 2012 bombing of Israeli diplomats in Thailand. The Airbus returned them to Tehran. A few hours later, Moore-Gilbert boarded the plane with Warner for the trip home to Australia. She tells me that, even after take-off, she half-expected to be snatched back by the Revolutionary Guards. Qazi Zadeh had actually said, If youre on a plane, I can make a call and re-route that plane, force it to land. Until we left Iranian airspace, I had that nagging fear at the back of my mind.

Former intelligence boss Nick Warner who helped secure Moore-Gilberts release. Credit:Louie Douvis

Iran has a history of hostage diplomacy  arbitrarily arresting foreign citizens on trumped-up charges and exacting a high price for their release. Moore-Gilberts freedom had been granted as part of a prisoner swap: she was exchanged for the three convicted terrorists. The Australian government stands by its handling of the case. Moore-Gilberts release was achieved through careful and considered diplomatic engagement, says a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In the governments opinion, a public media campaign would not have offered the best chance of a positive outcome.

Moore-Gilbert disagrees. Though she cant say definitively that public campaigning helped get her out of jail, she strongly suspects it gave new urgency to the negotiations, which she gets the impression had been moving at a glacial pace. She has no doubt the campaigning was responsible for an improvement in the way she was treated in prison. There was a direct benefit to me of having a spotlight on my conditions, she says. I saw that the Revolutionary Guards were responsive to public pressure, even though they claimed they werent.

To Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Centre for Human Rights in Iran, there seems no advantage to a hush-hush approach to hostage negotiations. I have never seen it work, he says. Ghaemi knows that, for Moore-Gilbert, the story is not over. We are seeing a lot of innocent lives ruined through these imprisonments. The healing process is very challenging.

Moore-Gilbert at home in the Dandenong Ranges. She says she has no bitterness towards Iran. Its a beautiful country. And ordinary Iranians are wonderful people. Credit:Josh Robenstone

The house in the Dandenong Ranges is Moore-Gilberts haven. She tells me as we drink tea and nibble Persian Love Cake that she worried, while in Iran, about whether her mortgage payments were being made. Everyone kept saying, Youre in prison! Who cares about finances? But this was a life I had been building for myself. I saved for a decade to buy this house. I had a scholarship for my PhD but I worked two or three jobs sometimes, to pay for my living expenses during my studies, so I could save all my scholarship for a house deposit. She runs daily in the surrounding forest, breathing the clean air and savouring the sensation of being embraced by nature.

Nick Warner is hugely impressed by Moore-Gilbert. An amazing person, he says. So strong. So smart. How do you teach yourself Farsi in solitary confinement? She tells me that another of her mental exercises was committing to memory the events of each day from the time of her arrest. She would pace up and down in her cell for hours, going over and over the details of incidents and conversations. Memorisation was an intellectual challenge and a way of keeping my brain occupied, she says. On the plane home, she started jotting it all down. This was the raw material for The Uncaged Sky.

Writing the book has forced her to re-examine some painful experiences, but the process has had a cathartic side. Ive been thinking a lot about what happened to me, she says. Sometimes even dreaming about it. Now I would like to put it to one side and move on. Moore-Gilbert has no bitterness towards Iran. Its a beautiful country, she says. And ordinary Iranians are wonderful people  so hospitable and friendly and warm. Her interest in the Middle East is undiminished. If anything, Im more interested in the Middle East.

Moore-Gilberts ex-husband Ruslan Hodorov with his new partner Kylie Baxter. Credit:Media Mode

Imprisonment has made her reassess her priorities, though, and she has quit her job at the University of Melbourne. Im cynical about academia. I love teaching, and I love research. But teaching isnt valued, and nobody really cares about research. Its all about chasing the grants, the money. Higher education is just in a terrible state.

She says in her book that Iran profoundly changed her: Some of these changes have been positive. I am more confident and assertive, and I am more of a risk-taker. I back myself. But prison has also made me a lot more guarded and emotionally cautious. I am slow to trust, and slow to let people in. Not that she has turned her back on romance. Im dating someone and Im happy in that new relationship, she tells me.

Her friends insist she is still the Kylie they have always known. Shes probably sick of us saying, Are you sure youre okay? Because she actually is doing really well, says Jessie Moritz. Long-time friend Hannah Kunert is slightly more cautious: If anyone can get over something like this, shes the one. But I think it will take time. Moore-Gilbert hasnt decided what she will do with the rest of her life. Im not particularly worried, she says. I feel like Ill just go with the flow and Ill find something. Before I leave, she packs the rest of the cake into a plastic container. She insists I take it home with me.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert will feature on 60 Minutes on Sunday, March 27. She will speak at the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne on March 29 and at the Sydney Writers Festival on May 21.

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.

The best of Good Weekend delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Sign up here.
The economic recovery has added $20 billion to budget forecasts by driving federal payments down by the biggest amount in five decades, clearing room for an election pitch that offers help to households to deal with the rising cost of living.

The gain to the bottom line will underpin a federal budget on Tuesday night that also promises spending on health, hospitals, aged care, mental health, schools, transport and infrastructure.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the lower forecast for government payments was due to the stronger economic recovery as well as the planned withdrawal of emergency COVID-19 assistance. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

With the economy bouncing back from coronavirus pandemic restrictions, the budget will show a historic decline in total payments without the need for spending cuts to core services.

The budget on Tuesday will see the government realise the biggest fall in payments in more than 50 years of records  a drop in payments approaching $20 billion, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said.
A Boeing 787-9 aircraft of Vietnam Airlines in the U.S. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Airlines

The Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant closures of Russian and European airspace have hit Vietnamese carriers, who have to make a detour.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said on Friday that the alternative routes add to operating costs and travel time.

Due to the escalation of the war, many European countries, the U.S., the U.K. and Canada have closed their airspaces to Russia which has had similar moves with these countries.

Therefore, flights from Vietnam to Europe could not transit in Russia and Vietnamese carriers were forced to change their routes to avoid Russian airspace by flying over China, Kazakhstan or North Africa to reach Europe.

Earlier, Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways have operated long-haul flights to Europe transiting through Russian airspace.

The detour adds one to two hours to the flight time, leaving Vietnamese carriers to bear increased costs from $10,600 to 21,200 for each flight to Europe.

Vietnam Airlines is operating six weekly flights between Vietnam and Europe, incurring increased costs of $70,000 to 130,000 per week while Bamboo Airways operates three flights to Europe a week and the detour costs it $35,000-65,000 a week.

In addition, Vietnam Airlines has adjusted its routes to the U.S. to avoid Russian airspace, increasing the flight time by 20-30 minutes per flight.

The carrier is operating four weekly flights to the U.S., which is estimated to bear increased costs of about $20,000-40,000 per week.

The escalating war between Russia and Ukraine has pushed up fuel prices, adding to the burden on airlines, CAAV said.

On Friday, Vietnam Airlines suspended its regular flights between Hanoi and Moscow, saying it needs to "review procedures and regulations related to aircraft insurance and flight operations to Russia."

Russian forces launched its attack in Ukraine nearly a month ago and bombarded many parts of the country with artillery and cruise missiles.

Vietnam resumed international commercial flights after nearly two years of suspension in January and lifted all restrictions on international flights on Feb. 15.
The federal government will splash another $365 million on tradies apprenticeships in a pre-budget pitch to voters it must woo to win the looming federal election.

And about 1900 Australians with cystic fibrosis will soon have subsidised access to a life-changing drug, Trikafta, in a promise that will save people with the genetic disease each about $250,000 annually, costing about $475 million a year in total.

Minister Michaelia Cash and Prime Minister Scott Morrison with tradies in April 2019. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The pair of promises come as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg prepares to hand down his fourth budget on Tuesday, which will play a crucial role in determining whether the Coalition can retain power in the federal election, expected in May.

The extension of the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements scheme, which was launched in the October 2020 budget, will create another 35,000 apprenticeship places where 50 per cent of the apprentices wages are subsidised by the federal government in the first year, capped at $7000. There are smaller wage subsidies in the second and third years.
Jeddah: The Saudi Arabia Formula One Grand Prix is going ahead despite an attack by Yemens Houthi rebels on a fuel facility near the racetrack, the sports chief executive said.

Yemens Iran-backed Houthis acknowledged they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday. The Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in a war with the group since 2015, said the state-owned oil giant Aramcos petroleum products distribution station was hit, causing a fire in two tanks but no casualties.

Fire from an oil depot lights the sky over Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after the attack. Credit:AP

F1 said it had received safety guarantees to enable the event to proceed on Sunday (Saturday 4am AEDT).

We have received total assurance that the countrys safety is first, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told reporters after a meeting with drivers, teams and local authorities, adding that senior Saudi figures were at the track with their families.
Washington: Joe Biden has amplified warnings of looming global food shortages as the Ukraine war upends wheat supplies and forces the West to find ways to overcome potentially devastating shortfalls.

As the war enters its second month, the US President went to Poland on Friday (Saturday AEDT) to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda, highlight the refugee crisis sparked by Russias violent incursion, and thank American troops who are bolstering NATOs eastern flank.

US President Joe Biden poses for a photo during a visit to the 82nd Airborne Division in Jasionka, Poland. Credit:AP

Earlier, he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a joint task force designed to negate Europes dependence on Russian oil and gas, which is a key source of income for Russian President Vladimir Putin and is effectively helping to fund his war.

Under the plan, the US and other nations will boost liquified natural gas exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic metres this year, with expected further increases in years to come.
After years of discussions about starting a mining education center at Elkos Great Basin College, it looks like the idea is moving forward to becoming a reality this year.

Were all excited about it, Great Basin College President Joyce Helens said this month.

Helens said the Nevada Mining Center for Excellence, which is being planned for the National Guard Armory building across the street from the college in Elko, is the result of a fruitful collaboration between Great Basin College and the University of Nevada, Renos Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, formerly the Mackay School of Mines.

The ball got rolling on the process of the college acquiring the Armory building from the National Guard when the Elko City Council recently approved a letter of intent on the property transfer involving the Board of Regents, the Nevada Division of State Lands, the state land registrar, and the National Guard. The city council was the first to sign the letter of intent, and council members expressed their enthusiasm for the Armory building becoming a Nevada Mining Center for Excellence.

State Land Registrar Charles Donohue was at the council meeting and said he is in support of the property transfer. Troy Miller, the director of real estate for UNR, said the National Guard is in full agreement for it to move forward.

Miller agreed with a comment that for a transaction that involves a bunch of government entities, the Armory property agreement seems to be happening quite quickly.

Its good that we can all work together for such a good use of the property, he said. Great Basin College has been a really good partner to work with to bring this forward for the community.

The letter of intent says the Nevada System of Higher Education will pay up to $190,434 to cover the Guards debt for improvements they made to the property, plus up to $10,000 to cover transfer and closing costs.

Sonja Sibert, the vice president for business affairs at GBC, said I anticipate by the end of 2022, hopefully sooner, the acquisition will be completed.

The Amory building is 10,404 square feet. The property also has two storage buildings; one is 2,160 square feet, and the other is 252 square feet.

The building is the right size for the Mining Center for Excellence, Helens said. There are rooms that can be used as classrooms and offices, and there is a large open area that will be ideal for training sessions or other uses.

Its just very well suited, she said.

The building is ready to be used as-is but there may be renovations and modernizations in the future as the needs of the new mining education center come into focus.

Sibert said they are looking at potentially a $500,000 investment in the renovation work.

The letter of intent includes a description of the mission of the new mining education center:

The Nevada Mining Center for Excellence would seek to further collaborative engagement, innovation, research activities, and educational activities, for the future of mining in Nevada. Through such activities, GBC and UNR intend to provide opportunities for skills enhancement for the current employed workforce in Elko County, in the form of contract training or other professional development with classes, seminars and workshops, as well as business, finance and computer software training. GBC and UNR would also utilize the real property for GBC professional development classes and seminars (for both mining and non-mining professional development), with STEM community interactions and workshops, as well as teacher development and K-12 student educational opportunities.

A collaborative effort

Helens said the Nevada Mining Center for Excellence is the result of a collaboration that has been growing in recent years between Great Basin College, UNR and the Mackay School. When she arrived at GBC as president about five years ago she saw the potential for what could be accomplished.

Even though we had been a leader in tactical training with the mining industry for decades  very successfully  I didnt see that we had any close relationship or tie-in with the research and development of the Mackay School of Mines, Helens said. I found that interesting, because that would be a natural collaboration.

She met with Marc Johnson, who was president of UNR at the time.

We talked about what we do, in terms of our missions, and our overlapping mission, Helens said. And I told him that I really didnt feel like a competitor, because I never felt that there were your students and my students, they are our students in the state of Nevada. That really set us off, I think, on a great pathway. Because he said, I am all for collaboration; lets do it.

They started out with some relatively small collaborations, like a shared phone system. But even that saved lots of money for GBC.

When Brian Sandoval became president of UNR, Helens said, the focus on beneficial collaborations stepped up even more.

He has such an intimate knowledge of the state, and an appreciation  I would even call it a dedication  to our rural and frontier areas. There was no explanation needed. He got it.

When we sat down together with our executive teams  and we meet regularly  we were able to say, OK, what has worked, and how can we continue to expand, and move to academic and student affairs, and collaborate there, and then also, what other areas are natural for us?

And I brought up the Nevada Mining Center for Excellence idea. He was so supportive.

Helens said the new director of the Mackay School, Annie Huhta, also became involved in the planning.

We started getting together with other partners and saying, what can this be? It was going to be a collaboration to improve services and add value to the mining industry. It wasnt about us telling the mining industry what they need. It was listening and then being able to adapt to that. And not only have the research and development thats needed, but also tactical training.

For me this was a natural marriage. There was no competition, it was the best kind of collaboration.

I think when we see this real deep collaboration between the university and Great Basin, that tells the industry something. We are not competing; were saying together were going to serve you better. And it doesnt mean that anybody is less. Its not like UNR is taking over, or anything like that. Its just that UNR has a strong history in the Mackay School of Mines of developing people who are out there in the industry successfully. And Great Basin College has over 50 years of producing a well-skilled workforce with technical training for the industry. So if we get together and talk to each other as well as talk to the industry, it can only be better.

Nobody is taking over. We are saying, were working for our students; its still GBC and its still UNR.

But to me, it all started here back in 1800s in Elko. And for me its coming full circle. Its bringing everything back together so that were not disparate, were unified.

Helens also commented that the best time for the college to make adjustments to its business plan is when it is experiencing success.

Were successful. Were sustainable now, even after a terrible recession, even after a terrible pandemic and budget cuts. We were cut 12% that we have not gotten back. But we still are on an upward trajectory and were solid. But this is still the time to look at what alterations in our business plan need to happen. And thats why collaborations with UNR are so important.

Meeting with the industry

Helens said they considered several possible sites for the Nevada Mining Center for Excellence, including the colleges satellite centers at Winnemucca and Battle Mountain. But GBC has had its eyes on the possibility of acquiring the Armory building in Elko for a long time. Getting the property was a somewhat complicated process, because of the involvement of the National Guard, the state, and the city. But the acquisition of the property recently became feasible.

A couple of months ago, Helens said, people from GBC, UNR and Nevada Gold Mines toured the Armory building, and they agreed it would be the perfect place for the colleges new mining center.

As the people from GBC and UNR were discussing the possibilities, Helens said, they had dinner with Barrick Gold President Mark Bristow and others on the Nevada Gold Mines executive team.

And they said, Were right here with you for that. We will contribute and help make this happen. So that was really important to us, obviously, Helens said.

In April well have our listening session with the industry, and then well sort through ideas with them and say, what is it you need there? What were looking at is a one stop shop for any kind of training or education thats necessary for the mining industry.

Having the new mining education center at Great Basin College may help inspire more people who are native to rural Nevada decide to get the training they need to join the mining industry. Sometimes when people from urban areas come to work in mining, its not a good fit and they leave, and that can be costly to the mining company.

When you have a rural population that loves working here and understands it, and to be able to continuously provide opportunities for growth, thats part of building healthy communities, Helens said.

A dynamic industry

Helens said when she talks to legislators and others around Nevada, she often has to explain to them the realities of the rural areas of the state, and the importance of mining to the entire state.

She said sometimes economic development people in the urban parts of the state say that rural areas need to get more economic diversification rather than just focusing on mining.

What I told legislators is, Im not apologizing for wanting to serve mining, or even upping the ante here with a Mining Center for Excellence, because this is a thriving, dynamic industry that is changing all the time. And I said, for example, you now have rooms full of coders, you have the development of autonomous vehicles bigger than any room were sitting in. And these require very specialized skills, and we can help provide the well-skilled workforce for that.

So its nothing to be apologetic for. We realize mining is here, and when its done right and were part of that, it provides healthy communities.

I think the Mining Center for Excellence, if its in Elko, it just supports this and says we are on board with the mining industry and the suppliers, and were going to be right there, not just after the wave, reacting, but well be there developing along with it.

Im pretty passionate about it, Im excited about it, and it matters.

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Weber State Brings Awareness to Sexual Assault with Month of Events

March 28, 2022

OGDEN, Utah  Starting April 1, Weber State Universitys Womens Center will host a month of events designed to bring awareness to issues related to sexual assault. Events include Start by Believing Day and the Take Back the Night rally.

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, educating people on the importance of consent, healthy relationships and believing survivors, takes top priority, said Paige Davies, Womens Center director.

We know that societal norms support sexual violence, such as strict adherence to traditional gender norms, but we also know that there is much that can be done to prevent violence by supporting and believing victims and having open, honest conversations about relationships and sexual health, Davies said.

Events begin with the Take Back the Night rally and march on April 1 at 6 p.m. The event aims to unite community members in the fight against sexual violence, domestic and dating violence, harassment and stalking. The march will begin at The Monarch (455 25th St., Ogden), after a speech from keynote speaker Jo Blake, WSU assistant professor of performing arts. Following the march, a speak-out will allow survivors and the community to share their experiences and messages of support. Take Back the Night events have been held on campuses and in communities around the globe for more than 30 years.

On April 6, the Womens Center will host Start By Believing Day, which provides an opportunity for communities across the world to unify with a single voice for those who have been victims of sexual violence. From noon to 3 p.m. in the Shepherd Union Atrium, participants are invited to take a photo with the Start by Believing Day '' graphic, and share that photo to their social media accounts using the hashtag #startbybelieving. For more information and ways to get involved with the global campaign, visit this link.

On Start By Believing Day, the Womens Center wants to show survivors the faces of people who believe and support them, Davies said. We know domestic and interpersonal violence have risen over the course of the pandemic, and we, as educators, friends and family, can show survivors that we care, that we believe and that everyone should feel Safe@Weber whether thats on campus, in virtual spaces or in their homes.

On April 20, the Womens Center will host the monthly Sister Circle event focusing on self care. Participants will have the opportunity to make a pre-finals self care kit with a variety of items to choose from, including bath and body care, affirmations, craft kits, study snacks and more. This event will take place from 2 to4 p.m. in Shepherd Union 320 and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Stewart Wasatch Hall in Wildcat Village.

Survivors of sexual and interpersonal violence can face disbelief, victim blaming and criticism when they come forward about their experiences, Davies said. However, we are all capable of displaying compassion, affirmation and assistance to the survivors in our lives.

For a complete calendar of events, visit this link.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
In the history of the Comstock Lode, hundreds of anecdotes could be related; tragic, pathetic and comic. Typical of these is the story of Lemuel S. Bowers, commonly known as Sandy Bowers. This is the story of an uneducated, easy going frontiersman who fatefully was blessed with extraordinary wealth.

In 1859 when the fabulous Comstock Lode was discovered, Bowers happened to be mining for gold in Gold Canyon using the simple rocker process of washing the mineral-bearing earth. It just happened that his 10-foot claim covered a portion of the Comstock Lode.

Adjacent to Sandys claim was another of the same size belonging to Mrs. Cowan, otherwise known as Eilley Orrum. She had been running a boarding house in nearby Johntown. The two of them decided to combine their claims into one and soon were married. As it turned out, the combined claims quickly provided extraordinary richness for the couple. Within a few years, they were overwhelmed with amazing wealth.

Both Sandy and Eilley were totally ignorant about business matters. They knew nothing about making prudent investments and became the tools of harpies and charlatans. One thing they did seem to understand early on was how to spend a great amount of their fortune.

In 1861 work began on the fabulous Bowers Mansion in nearby Washoe Valley. Mrs. Bowers decided it should be fitting to travel to Europe to shop for furnishings for the new mansion. Sandys friends jokingly advised him to see the sights and become polished in accordance with the station they were in the future to occupy.

Before leaving for Europe, Sandy was told that the proper thing do was to give a banquet. Sandy thought this was a splendid idea, so the International Hotel in Virginia City was engaged for the occasion. Every obtainable luxury was ordered that Virginia City or San Francisco could furnish. Champagne was to be free as water in a spring flood. Everyone in town was invited. Toasts were drunk and Sandy Bowers was called upon to reply. He arose and delivered the following speech:

Ive been in this yer country amongst the fust that come here. Ive had powerful good luck, and Ive got money to throw at the birds. Thar aint no chance for a gentleman to spend his coin in this country, and thar aint nothin much to see, so me and Mrs. Bowers is agoin to Europe to take in the sights. One of the great men of this country was in this region awhile back. That was Horace Greeley. I saw him and he did not look like no great shakes. Outside of him, the only great men Ive seen in this Country is Govenor Nye and Old Winnemucca. Now me and Mrs. Bowers is goin to Europe to see the Queen of England and other men of them countries, and I hope youll all jine in and and drink to Mrs. Bowers health. Thars plenty of champagne, and money aint no object.

Sandy and Eilley spent several years abroad. They purchased much elegant furniture, laces and pictures for their mansion in Washoe Valley. This mansion was completed during their absence and was erected at a cost of more than $400,000.

Sandy still had money to throw at the birds, but it was not long before the hawks, vultures and other birds of prey got the greater portion. Sandy Bowers died not long after the couple returned from their European tour. Eilley lived on for several years, but her existence was nothing like the former glory of the Comstock days. She did the best she could by telling fortunes to pour souls who would never experience the Glory she had seen. Eilley built a third story on the mansion to use as a boarding house so she could bring in some extra money.

This edited article is from Dennis Cassinellis book, Chronicles of the Comstock Being in short supply, it is now available from Amazon as an e-book

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Director (Gender, Equity, Diversity and Rights for Health), Geneva, Switzerland

Organization: World Health Organization (WHO)

Country: Switzerland

City: Geneva

Office: WHO Geneva, Switzerland

Closing date: Monday, 4 April 2022

Director (Gender, Equity, Diversity and Rights for Health)

( 2201592 )

Grade : D2

Contractual Arrangement : Fixed-term appointment

Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days) : Two years

Job Posting: Mar 14, 2022, 8:04:44 AM

The Gender, Equity, Diversity and Rights for Health Department in DGO/GEH/HQ is responsible for leaving no one behind, both institutionally working closely with the department of Human Resources, and externally working across the 3-levels of WHO to promote action in countries to establish an enabling policy environment and proactively address key challenges. The Department aims to advance WHOs mission to serve the vulnerable and Leave No One Behind (LNOB), working across the three levels of the Organization, in collaboration with HQ technical programmes, Regional Office and Country Office focal points, while leading WHOs contribution to cross-UN platforms and relevant external stakeholder initiatives. The department catalyzes, supports and coordinates programmatic and institutional mainstreaming at the three levels of WHO through development of trainings, technical products, tools,research and normative standard-setting guidance and their application at country level. In addition, it spearheads WHOs contribution to wider UN interagency initiatives to ensure the concept of leaving no one behind is fully integrated into normative guidance and tools across the UN development and humanitarian communities to drive impact at country level.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Leads the Department in providing senior technical expertise and direction on issues related to gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion, within the context of LNOB, to Member States and other Stakeholders with guidance and technical data required for the development, implementation, and monitoring of national and/or global policies and programmes.

Provides the overall leadership, management accountability, and direction of the Department in delivering its objectives through managing and galvanizing a diverse workforce and financial resources to optimize the department deliverables and mandate.

Provides supervision for the Departments technical leads, ensuring provision of adequate financial and human resources, giving strategic guidance, supporting efforts to enhance the uptake and visibility of the work, and creating an optimal enabling environment for the advancement of the Departments contribution within and beyond WHO.Provides senior level technical advice and expertise to WHO Senior Management in the area of assigned responsibilities in order to position the Department and Organization as a leader in the respective area.

Directs and leads overall establishment and development of the Departments evidence- based agenda, policies and strategies, working closely with members of the Global Network at regional and country levels and supports HRT to institutionalize global norms, guidance and best practices. Identifies opportunities for fundraising for gender, equity and human rights mainstreaming work and diversity, equity and inclusion corporate work across the three levels of WHO. Leads global liaison with donors and coordinates the drafting of fundraising proposals, drawing inputs from the technical leads working on those areas, as well as from Regional Office focal persons and other parts of the Global Network.

Oversees the monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the Departments area of work to ensure improvement on key performance indicators and liaises with the Global Network for reporting requirements and mechanisms to ensure optimal performance of mainstreaming initiatives, including leading the Output Delivery Team (ODT) for GPW Output 4.2.6. Serves as the scientific/technical reference among UN agencies and other key players in the respective areas and positions WHO as a global leader in LNOB for health.

Promotes the integration of Regional and Country Office perspectives and operational capacities into the programme of work, in close collaboration with the Global Network.

Builds strong partnerships and fosters consensus building with External Partners, Member States, UN Agencies, Donors, Non-State Actors, Civil Society, research institutions and other stakeholders in the subject area to politically position the technical area of work and implementation into national and/or global policies.

Represents the Organization and Department area of work in a diverse array of global fora to position WHO as a leader in the global health and global cross-sectoral gender, equity, and human rights communities.

Performs all other related duties as assigned.

Specific duties: Provides direction and support to HQ Divisions and Regional and Country Offices to mainstream gender, equity, human rights in relation to health, and to mainstream diversity, equity and inclusion in WHOs corporate functions and technical programmes, as integral components of strategic planning and operations, in gathering and analyzing relevant data, and in producing evidence-based publications, normative guidance and technical tools as well as corporate policies.

Coordinates with the Department of Human Resources and Talent Management to develop appropriate policies, approaches and guidance related to diversity, equity and inclusion for the WHO workforce; with the WHO Academy Secretariat for training of all staff on gender, equity and human rights; with Planning Resource Coordination and Performance Monitoring (PRP) for the gender, equity and human rights dimension of the output scorecard and integrating a focus on gender, equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights in program budget planning across the Organization; and with the Country Strategy and Support (CSS) for gender, equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights integration in support for WHO Country Cooperation Strategies, among other entities across WHO for programmatic mainstreaming.

Convenes and coordinates a 3-level network of gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion focal points in above areas to optimize organization-wide coherence and implementation.

Coordinates the work of the Organization on diversity, equity, inclusion, gender and human rights with that of other UN organizations, funds and programmes and strengthens partnerships with these organizations.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: An advanced level university degree in a field relevant to gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion (e.g., human rights law, gender studies, economics,social sciences, political sciences) and/or public health with a specialty on gender,equity and/or human rights issues.

Desirable: A PhD in one of the above-mentioned fields. Knowledge and application of public health concepts.

Experience

Essential: A minimum of 15 years of professional experience in the management in at least one of the specific areas of gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion, including experience providing senior level advice and guidance to Senior Management/Decision makers, managing human and financial resources, as well as experience in the area of developing and establishing policies and strategies, mainstreaming approaches and organizational change processes. Demonstrated experience at the international level on gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion.

Desirable: Extensive experience working on gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion in multiple country contexts. Experience working with a relevant UN agency or other inter-governmental body on issues related to gender, diversity, equity, inclusion and/or human rights.

Skills

Strong skills in the area of developing and establishing polices and strategies within the UN system, particularly for mainstreaming and organizational change.

Excellent skills and ability in managing diverse teams and cross-organizational functional networks.

Proven resource mobilization capacity for large multi-level, multi-year, multi-country grants; operationalizing their delivery through matrix management approaches; and managing relations with bilateral donors, foundations, etc.

Strong understanding and skills in building partnerships with Member States, civil societies and other stakeholders.

Technical working knowledge in the fields of gender, equity, human rights in relation to health and diversity, equity and inclusion corporate functions.

Ability to engage, build consensus and communicate effectively and diplomatically with Member States, partners and media, including on politically sensitive issues.

Commitment to collaborate effectively with other key partners on these issues.

Proven leadership skills in integrating/mainstreaming gender, equity, human rights, diversity and inclusion in the planning and coordination of multidisciplinary public health programmes, which may include the implementation of a public health/disease control programmes.

Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to lead a diverse team.

Demonstrated understanding of major international legal and other instruments and policy-making bodies relevant to gender, diversity, equity, inclusion and/or human rights.

WHO Competencies

Teamwork

Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

Communication

Promoting innovation and organizational learning

Driving the Organization to a Successful Future

Creating an empowering and motivating environment

Use of Language Skills

Essential: Expert knowledge of English.

Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French.

REMUNERATION

WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars. The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 114,666 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 7912 per month for the duty station indicated above. Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level.

This selection may be subject to special selection procedures. Further details of these procedures shall be made available upon request to Cecile Morfin, morfinc@who.int.

Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

A written test may be used as a form of screening.

In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.

Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual. dAE2vIg Dh7qKS

Staff members in other duty stations are encouraged to apply.

For information on WHOs operations please visit: http://www.who.int.

WHO is committed to workforce diversity.

WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.

WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.

WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.

WHO has a mobility policy which can be found at the following link: http://www.who.int/employment/en/. Candidates appointed to an international post with WHO are subject to mobility and may be assigned to any activity or duty station of the Organization throughout the world.

Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.

Link to the organizations job posting: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1647278988188
Headlines

- The so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic plans to hold referendum to join Russia

- President Biden says that Putin "cannot remain in power"

- Anthony Blinken clarifies that the US has no intention of regime change in Russia or anywhere

- One month into the war, reports show that Russia will withdraw troops from Kyiv to boost fighting in the Donbas region.

- Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue, no agreements made on a ceasefire, security guarantees, no compromises on territorial integrity reports, says Ukraine''s Minster of Foreign Affairs

- Ukrainian forces retake the city of Kherson from Russian control

- EU signs gas deal with US to reduce reliance on Russian exports

- India is working on currency exchange with Russia so that the countries can continue trade

Russia-Ukraine: Conflict Background

- Foreign fighters like "Wali" are targets of the Russian army

- How many casualties has Russia suffered?

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Audrey Dwyers Calpurnia decisively opens up several cans of worms  race, class, gender and privilege among them  guaranteed to send theatre-goers into the night buzzing with more questions than answers.

Audrey Dwyers Calpurnia decisively opens up several cans of worms  race, class, gender and privilege among them  guaranteed to send theatre-goers into the night buzzing with more questions than answers.

The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre mainstage production is provocative and bold, but too many of the worms in those open cans wriggle away without proper examination.

Theatre review Click to Expand Calpurnia

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre mainstage

 To April 16

 Tickets at royalmtc.ca

 out of five

Calpurnia opens on Julie Gordon (Emerjade Simms) at the dining room of her familys well-appointed home, laptop open. A novice screenwriter, shes penning a script that flips Harper Lees venerated 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird to reflect the perspective of the Finches Black family maid, Calpurnia.

Shes received notes from her agent informing her rewrites are necessary, as she hasnt captured the voice of the character.

The familys Filipina housekeeper, Precy Cabigting (Rochelle Kives), arrives  on her day off, Mothers Day Sunday, no less  to get the house ready for a dinner guest, a senior partner at a law firm Julies father Lawrence (Ray Strachan) is hoping will hire her brother Mark (Kwaku Ado-Poku).

Julie offers her a copy of Mockingbird to read in her "downtime," hoping to interview her about her experiences as a domestic to flesh out her potrayal of Calpurnia.

Mark, meanwhile, thinks Julies on a fools errand. Not only does he love Mockingbird (both book and film), he believes his sister  an affluent Jamaican Canadian who still lives at home with her father  cant have any real insight into the experience of a Black woman in 1930s Alabama; he points out that she doesnt even know any Black men other than him and Lawrence.

Dylan Hewlett photo RMTC Calpurnia - by Audrey Dwyer Cast of Calpurnia THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Mark Gordon - Kwaku Adu-Poku Christine Charte - Ellie Ellwand Precy Cabigting - Rochelle Kives James Thompson - Arne MacPherson Julie Gordon - Emerjade Simms Lawrence Gordon - Ray Strachan

His girlfriend Christine (Ellie Ellwand), who is white, is more supportive, if at comical pains to prove it.

Lawrence, meanwhile, coddles both his children, perhaps in reaction to the death of their mother when they were small.

In the second act of this intentionally uncomfortable comedy (two hours with intermission) the family squabbles are magnified into a true cringefest with the arrival of glib dinner guest James Thompson (Arne MacPherson) and Julies audacious choice of action that shall not be spoiled here.

Julie is tough to like, petulant and entitled, but Simms gives her a compelling energy. The character of James, however, feels less like a real person than an archetype designed to tick off boxes illustrating problematic behaviour.

Here she (Rochelle Kives) is aided by Rachel Forbes spectacular set, which emulates the Gordons modern upperclass home in the Forest Hills suburb of Toronto.

Although Kives seems too young for the role, she deserves kudos for her very present non-presence as Precy. Stage busywork can often be distracting, but she goes about the business of "cooking" and "cleaning" with the economical movements of someone who is used to being unseen in a room while other people talk around her.

Here she is aided by Rachel Forbes spectacular set, which emulates the Gordons modern upper-class home in the Forest Hills suburb of Toronto. The open-concept space  kitchen, dining area and living room  allows for multiple planes of action that director Sarah Garton Stanley puts to good use. However, with dialogue thats rapid-fire and often overlapping, a lot of lines are inaudible.

Ellwand does great things with what could be a largely expository role, bringing a daffy physical aspect to her well-meaning attempts to be a good ally.

Gordon has a lot of plates spinning here, and while most are worthy of attention, some distract from the action (Lawrences string-pulling for his kids and Christines insistence on a girls trip to St. Barts chief among them), while others feel piled on to a story already rife with complications. Mammy culture, microaggressions, allyship, privilege, white supremacy: its a lot to pack in and the pace to unpack it all feels frantic.

And what one assumes is the central plot  Julies failure to recognize the hypocrisy in her treatment of Precy while raging about the fictional portrayal of Calpurnia  gets oddly short shrift. Precy has her moment, but the action then spins in less-satisfying directions and sputters out.

jill.wilson@winnipegfreepress.com

If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more.

Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.
Its a puzzler why its taken nearly 30 years to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballets latest incarnation of its once annual popular Fast Forward showcase of cutting-edge, contemporary choreography, last offered live during the 1990s, with a digital version presented last spring.

Its a puzzler why its taken nearly 30 years to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballets latest incarnation of its once annual popular Fast Forward showcase of cutting-edge, contemporary choreography, last offered live during the 1990s, with a digital version presented last spring.

Presumably, COVID-19 related lockdowns and the lack of touring opportunities since March 2020 have allowed these dancers the kind of hothouse experience required to create new works inspired by each other "off the clock."

The three-performance run being held at the RWB Founders Studio until Sunday features five eclectic works, including four company world-premieres; the Free Press was invited to a sneak peek Thursday night.

The program also includes a moving performance of Verbovaya Doshechka by RWB principal conductor Julian Pellicano on accordion, joined by his violinist wife Momoko Matsumura. All proceeds from the show are being donated to the Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal, established by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, in light of the current crisis in Ukraine.

Daniel Crump / Royal Winnipeg Ballet RWB company dancers perform a work by Cameron Fraser-Monroe.

The 90-minute program blasts off with the world premiere of Guillaume Cotes Phi, the RWB choreographic debut of this acclaimed National Ballet of Canada principal dancer/choreographic associate. The dazzling, hyperkinetic combustion of movement exploring the "beauty of fractals" is heightened further by Antoine Bedards driving, percussive score.

Not since the company threw sparks during Twyla Tharps white-hot In the Upper Room in 2011 have we seen these dancers really move like this, as if releasing all the pent-up energy of being sidelined from live performance. In fact, this show marks the first time the RWB has performed publicly in this intimate venue since November 2017 with Our Story.

Performing en pointe and in skin-tight bodysuits, the company fearlessly executes Cotes intricate, angular movement vocabulary, including flashes of breakdancing  choreographed entirely via Zoom from the artists Toronto studio  with poker-straight limbs, in this dizzying kaleidoscope of mercurially shifting patterns.

The RWB, like most arts organizations these days, is expanding its programming to highlight greater cultural diversity. From RWB School alumnus and a member of Tla'amin First Nation in B.C. Cameron Fraser-Monroe, also currently working with Moncton's Atlantic Ballet comes his work ajmt, formerly titled Pine Needle in the River. The ballet was inspired by the Indigenous story Why the Ravens Feathers Are Black and set to Jeremy Dutchers Pomok naka Poktoinskwes.

The dancers, wearing pedestrian skirts, trousers and ankle socks, with the womens buns now released into long single braids, bring the evocative tale to life with movements influenced by Indigenous grass and hoop dance. Principal dancer Alanna McAdie artfully embodies her character as "poho" or "Raven," with the more episodic ballet creating many moments of textural beauty that deserve a second viewing.

Daniel Crump / Royal Winnipeg Ballet Proceeds from RWBs Fast Forward will go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

RWB School resident choreographer Gabriela Rehaks Adieu pays heartfelt tribute to her friend and former dance partner, the late, great Canadian artist Dan Wild, who died tragically in 2020. Set to Vladimir Martynos The Beatitudes, her ensemble piece is infused with tender longing, underscored by its eight dancers reaching their arms out to each other  also handily maintaining physical distancing requirements during this work created in the COVID-19 era.

However, the piece is ultimately about human relationship, and the general lack of physical connection also unwittingly creates emotional distancing. Only during its final moments, and especially when soloist Elizabeth Lamont waves farewell to RWB apprentice Logan Savard as he rolls away into the darkness, does the piece reverberate with the gut-wrenching loss felt by so many in todays challenging world.

Stephan Azulays Bolero, admittedly an easy sell, thanks to Ravels propulsive score of the same name, is an ambitious work that displays the flourishing of an intriguing choreographic voice. The full company, appearing in natty tuxedo trousers, vests and socks, performs the second soloists cleverly synchronized movement with straight-backed wooden chairs to striking effect. A return to these highly effective set/prop pieces, after they are ultimately abandoned upstage, would have been welcome.

Naturally, pacing is critical in this slow-burn ballet, and the choreographer wisely weaves together larger ensemble sections with smaller groupings to create dramatic tension and forward thrust. A highlight is principal dancer Yue Shis compelling solo, in which he twists like a top, or an all-too-brief later male pas de trois including lifts that left this viewer wanting more.

Last but not least, a pair of excerpts from the late Brian Macdonalds comedic Pas DAction becomes a curious, ironic interloper for its strong  albeit still satirical  classical ethos in the otherwise fiercely contemporary show. Nevertheless, soloist Yosuke Mino, second soloist Peter Lancksweerdt, and corps de ballet members Liam Saito and Parker Long bring the requisite bravura and levity to the stage despite a few ragtag moments, as a nod to the RWBs illustrious past.

The production runs through Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets (physical distancing maintained with masks required) or further information, visit rwb.org.

Holly.harris@shaw.ca
Attention next week will be focused on the long-awaited meetings in Rome between Pope Francis and representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Attention next week will be focused on the long-awaited meetings in Rome between Pope Francis and representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

The meeting of Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and residential school survivors was originally scheduled for mid-December, but postponed due to the Omicron wave.

While in Rome, members of the three groups hope the Pope will say he is coming to Canada to apologize on behalf of the church for how it treated Indigenous people physically, spiritually and culturally, especially through Roman Catholic-run residential schools.

But while attention is rightly focused on that important event, Canadian Anglicans are quietly preparing for special meetings of their own with Indigenous people from April 29 to May 3.

Thats when Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will be visiting Canada to highlight that churchs desire to pursue reconciliation with Indigenous people.

The Archbishop  head of the Church of England and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion  is coming in response to an invitation from Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Mark MacDonald.

While here, Welby will meet with Anglican Indigenous people and Indigenous leaders in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and at the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario  site of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School, which was founded by the Anglican Church in 1832 and operated until 1970. He will also visit urban Indigenous ministries in Toronto.

In making the invitation, Nicholls and MacDonald say Welbys visit will recognize the role the Church of England played in Canadas colonial history with Indigenous people.

This includes how representatives of that Church were present during treaty negotiations with Indigenous people, and also the Churchs involvement in running residential schools.

While here, they hope Welby will apologize on behalf of the Church of England and offer repentance for damage done to Indigenous people by it.

The Anglican Church of Canada has apologized twice to Indigenous peoplein 1993, for its role in residential schools, and in 2019, for the spiritual harm it caused them.

For Nicholls, Welbys visit is significant because the presence of Church of England representatives at treaty signings gave the treaties a sense of sacred obligation, which makes the breaking of the treaties all the more egregious.

In the making of the treaties, the presence of clergy indicated a spiritual covenant, not just a legal covenant she said. For some Indigenous people, the breaking of those treaties is a breaking of a sacred obligation.

While Welbys visit is important for Indigenous people, it is also important for Canadian Anglicans since it will allow them to once again acknowledge this part of our history, Nicholls said.

Macdonald, who represents an estimated 65,000 Indigenous Anglicans in Canada, also is happy to see Welby coming to Canada.

His position as Archbishop of the Church of England represents a living connection to the past, he said. The Church was a very significant actor in colonization. His physical presence is important.

His coming to Canada also proclaims the Church has a moral responsibility for what happened to Indigenous people in this country and be a spark for Anglicans to repair relationships and pursue reconciliation with and justice for Indigenous people.

An apology on behalf of the Church of England while Welby is here will be significant, MacDonald said.

The Church failed, and I think the Archbishop of Canterbury understands that, both here in Canada and around the world, he said, adding that to this day many Indigenous people look to the Crown and the Church of England as a guarantee of the treaties and of their ongoing rights in the Canadian project.

MacDonald also hopes his visit will remind Canadians of the full scope of the catastrophe that was the residential schools and the evil that was done to Indigenous people, and what needs to be done to repair that evil.

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

As for the Anglican Church itself, it suffered a severe moral wound because of its involvement in residential schools, he said, adding the visit could be a major step for Anglicans to fully incorporate reconciliation into the life of the church.

For Geoff Woodcroft, Bishop of the Diocese of Ruperts Land, which takes in half of Manitoba and parts of northwestern Ontario, the visit will be a message to Canadian Anglicans that the Archbishop of Canterbury gets this. He understands the need for reconciliation.

It will also put the eyes of the worldwide church on Canada, he said, reminding us we need to act to heal relations with Indigenous people.

A statement from Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, noted the presence of the Church of England at treaty negotiations and subsequent partnership with the federal government are part of the legacy of colonialism that contributed to residential schools and to abuse and cultural deprivation.

Welby last visited Canada in November 2018, to meet with the primates of North and South America.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
A journey that started four years ago  interrupted twice by the COVID-19 pandemic  takes an important step next week when delegations from the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami meet Pope Francis in Rome.

A journey that started four years ago  interrupted twice by the COVID-19 pandemic  takes an important step next week when delegations from the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami meet Pope Francis in Rome.

The meetings, which will take place at the Vatican, run March 28 to April 1.

Each delegation will get an hour with the Pope, with a final combined audience with him at the end of the week.

While there, the delegations intend to ask for the Pope to come to Canada to apologize to Indigenous people on the churchs behalf and, especially, to survivors of Roman Catholic-operated residential schools.

They also want the release of all records on residential schools, along with the return of Indigenous artifacts held by the church.

The AFN delegates will also ask the Pope to revoke the Doctrine of Discovery, a papal bull (or edict) issued in 1493 that gives all new lands discovered by explorers to their home countries.

The Metis delegation is seeking the church to provide reparations to the Metis Nation, including financial support for community-led healing and community rebuilding initiatives.

The reality is we have broken relationships with Indigenous people here in Canada, said Winnipeg Archbishop Richard Gagnon. (Sasha Sefter / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Winnipeg Archbishop Richard Gagnon, who has been part of the discussions about the visit since 2018, expects the Pope to be a sympathetic listener.

"The Holy Father very much wanted to have these meetings," Gagnon said, adding he expects him to be open to hearing about the pain and suffering many Indigenous people have experienced.

The archbishop also knows the main thing people want to know is when the Pope will come to Canada. While Gagnon didnt want to speculate, he indicated it could "be in the near future," perhaps as early as this summer.

"It wont be in wintertime," he added.

Gagnon also doesnt know what the Pope will say to the delegations. However, he said, people can look to what the Pope said in Bolivia in 2015, when he apologized to Indigenous people in South America, asking forgiveness "for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America."

As for what any such final statement will be, or where in Canada the Pope will visit, "that will need further discussion," the archbishop said.

The most important thing now, he said, is how the visit will advance the churchs goal of reconciliation with Indigenous people.

"St. Paul says all Christians are to be ministers of reconciliation," Gagnon said, adding the ultimate picture of reconciliation for Catholics is the mass, which shows Gods reconciliation with humanity through Jesus.

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

"The reality is we have broken relationships with Indigenous people here in Canada," he said, and that affects how the Catholic Church understands and participates in the role of reconciliation between God and humans.

In order to have true reconciliation with God, Catholics in Canada need to see reconciliation with Indigenous people "as part of the mission of the church."

For Gagnon, this reconciliation is best pursued at the local parish level, where many such efforts are already occurring.

For that reason, the Indigenous delegations visit to the Vatican and meetings with the Pope could be "a motivation and spark to draw attention to this mission of reconciliation for Catholics. It is another step along the way."

John Longhurst is in Rome this week to cover the papal visit by Indigenous people for the Free Press. See coverage of the visit at winnipegfreepress.com/papalvisit

faith@freepress.mb.ca
For Assembly of First Nations Northwest Territories regional chief Gerald Antoine, this weeks trip to Rome to meet with Pope Francis has been a long time in coming.

For Assembly of First Nations Northwest Territories regional chief Gerald Antoine, this weeks trip to Rome to meet with Pope Francis "has been a long time in coming."

"We asked for it for many years," Antoine said at a Thursday news conference, adding the gathering will provide "dignity and respect" for residential school survivors and their families.

Delegates from the AFN will be in Rome Sunday through April 1; their meeting with the Pope is March 31.

Delegates from the Metis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami meet with the Pope on Monday.

The AFN delegates intend to ask the Pope to come to Canada to make an apology for how the Roman Catholic Church treated Indigenous people; to return Indigenous land given to church bodies; to go beyond the initiatives promised by the $30-million healing fund promised by Canadian bishops; to return of all artifacts held by the Vatican or other Roman Catholic bodies; and to repudiate Doctrine of Discovery that gave European countries full title to all lands discovered during the so-called Age of Exploration.

The meeting is an opportunity to "create a path forward," Antoine said, adding the group will be "demanding justice for the innocent children whose lives were stolen."

"We ask all Canadians to stand with us as we undertake this painful work," he added.

Delegation member Cree Nation Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty recalled the meeting between Indigenous people and Pope Benedict in 2009, when he expressed sorrow over residential schools but did not apologize.

Gull-Masty "expects a different message" this time, adding the AFN delegation has "prepare a strong message for the Pope."

There is "a lot of work to be done beyond an apology," she said, adding she hopes the meeting "will set the tone" for future work with the Roman Catholic Church to "release people from the hurt, harm and trauma they continue to carry."

Chief Rosanne Casimir of Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation said she hopes the meeting will show the Pope the real impacts of residential schools. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press files)

Chief Rosanne Casimir of Tkemlups te Secwepemc First Nation echoed those sentiments, adding her acknowledgement the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops "is committed to a process of healing and acts of contrition."

Reconciliation is "not one-sided. Its something we all have to do together," Casimir said.

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

Her hope from the meeting is the Pope will "walk with us on a journey toward healing" as he gets a "real understanding of how residential schools impacted survivors, families, everyone."

For youth delegate Taylor Behn-Tsakoza of Fort Nelson First Nation, it will be important for the Pope to hear from younger people, so he realizes they also "feel the impact" of residential schools every day, even though they didnt attend them.

The older generation of survivors "really did the hard part," she said. "Its up to our generation to carry on that legacy."

A total of 11 AFN members make up the delegation, including former AFN grand chief Phil Fontaine of Manitoba.

John Longhurst is in Rome this week to cover the papal visit by Indigenous people for the Free Press. See coverage of the visit at winnipegfreepress.com/papalvisit.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

War is hell; news headlines demonstrate hourly these days.

And so, you too may be mad as hell about what were witnessing in Ukraine  daily crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Russian armed forces  and wondering what you can do.

One place to look may be your portfolio and divest from companies with interests in Russia. That said many North American companies may have beat you to it.

Yale University has compiled a list of companies that have ceased or suspended operations, and those that havent.

Firms that have stopped, at least temporarily, are a whos who of multinational companies from Coca-Cola to McDonalds to Apple and Visa.

"Its been really interesting watching the developments through this lens of divestment because we are seeing the impact of a coordinated movement the world has never seen," says Tim Nash, founder of Good Investing in Toronto, and author of The Sustainable Economist blog.

Many of his clients have also been asking recently  often for the first time  about exposure to Russian companies.

Nash says most Canadians have minimal exposure unless they own emerging market funds.

Even then exposure would have been minimal before war broke out.

Now, their Russian allocations would likely be zero, given leading index providers like MSCI have removed Russian assets from their emerging market indices. In fact, in a recent press release, MSCI declared Russias stock market "uninvestable." MSCIs benchmark, by the way, is used by many emerging market exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, which are likely to follow its lead.

Even before the invasion, Russian investments made up just four per cent of MSCIs index, falling from a 10 per cent share in 2008, the year Russia invaded Georgia.

Another tool investors can use is engagement, voicing their concerns to large Canadian and U.S. companies, says certified responsible investment specialist Stephen Whipp with Leede Jones Gable Inc. in Victoria.

"Investors have a lot of power to direct their activism and their retirement money, telling companies not to turn a blind eye to the atrocities going on in Ukraine."

Companies these days are indeed sensitive to issues beyond revenues and profits. ESG  environmental, social and governance  issues are increasingly on the radar with most North American companies reporting annually on progress in these areas. Yet much of the focus for investors had been on the environment.

With the invasion of Ukraine, the calculus has changed. More investors are questioning how their capital could be complicit, and now just with respect to Russia.

China, India, Vietnam, South Africa and others, while not explicitly backing Vladimir Putins blood-soaked ambitions, have largely given their tacit approval by abstaining from a United Nations vote condemning the invasion.

Chinas support of Russia is most troubling. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Putin met prior to the Olympics, posing for a photo-op  twinning in near identical suits and ties  and declaring their relationship had "no limits."

At the same time, other nations like India  the worlds largest democracy  continue to trade with Russia, ignoring sanctions, buying discounted weapons and oil instead.

Their actions, or lack thereof, should give investors pause.

"There are real fundamental concerns," says Vancouver-based Jamie Bonham, director of corporate engagement at NEI Investments  one of the largest responsible fund firms in Canada.

Human rights have long been a concern of NEI. Like many responsible investors NEI faces the dilemma between the benefits of economic engagement, and how their investments in these countries could be indirectly funding and emboldening authoritarian tendencies of their governments.

The war in Ukraine has brought this to the forefront even though these issues did not happen overnight. Hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investment flowed into Russia over decades, according to World Bank data, enriching oligarchs and strengthening Putins grip on power.

Even more investment has poured into China.

The worlds second largest economy may not have the same track record of engaging in crimes against humanity as Putins Russia. But the Chinese government has often tossed aside human rights of Uyghurs and Tibetans, and increasingly uses cutting-edge surveillance to censor freedom of speech.

Now Chinese leadership appears to be quietly backing Russias war, raising fears among some observers that Xi may want to do to Taiwan what Putin has done to Ukraine.

Of course, selling emerging markets funds and similar investments is one way to express our concerns about human rights and the sovereignty of democratic nations however infinitesimal this act may be.

Yet detangling from authoritarian regimes "is more complicated" than it seems given how economically entangled we are, Bonham explains.

"China is a question unto itself because of the important role in so many supply chains."

For decades, the West  by no means an innocent actor in world affairs, though arguably a lot more democratic  has sought economic engagement to promote better relations with Russia, China and other emerging markets.

"Its based on the idea that we are less likely to go to war with our trading partners," Nash explains.

Certainly the strategy has worked until Putin literally blew it up.

Now more than ever investors should rethink this notion of economic engagement for change  for the better  in their portfolios.

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"This is an opportunity to put more pressure on companies to do the right thing regarding where and how they operate," Whipp says.

That could lead to change in how these nations governments behave.

Or maybe companies will move operations back to the U.S, Europe and Canada, or emerging market nations with better human rights records.

There is a choice  though not without consequence, Whipp says.

"If were moving businesses out of these countries and bringing operations here, the costs of goods are likely to be higher."

Then again, maybe its a price worth paying for a cleaner conscience.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Marijuana aficionados and entrepreneurs across New Mexico are bracing for the April 1 start of state-regulated retail marijuana.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Marijuana aficionados and entrepreneurs across New Mexico are bracing for the April 1 start of state-regulated retail marijuana.

New Mexico joins 17 other states that have legalized recreation marijuana without significant legal challenges.

The start date for sales ushers in a new era for cannabis as big business with implications for law enforcement, scarce water resources, economic opportunity and cannabis tourism along the state line with Texas. Here are a few things to know.

OPENING DAY

Starting at midnight on April 1, all adults 21 and up will be allowed to buy up to 2 ounces (57 grams) of marijuana at retail outlets throughout the state. Its enough pot to stuff a sandwich bag or roll about 60 joints or cigarettes.

The changes take effect 15 years after the state first began offering medical marijuana to help people endure afflictions including cancer, and a portion of future supplies are being reserved for cannabis patients.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and allied lawmakers hope that broad legalizing of marijuana will stamp out black markets, boost employment and provide a stable new sources of government income.

Growing pains are guaranteed as retailers stock new shelves and cannabis cultivators scale up production to meet uncertain demands that include tourists from Texas, which still mostly prohibits marijuana.

OPPORTUNITY KOCKS

So far, the state has licensed more than 500 business premises  outdoor farms, greenhouses, retail outlets and manufacturing facilities for extracts and edibles.

The new cannabis control office also licenses marijuana consumption lounges and a private network of testing laboratories to ensure products are free of contaminants and to verify drug potency as listed on labels.

Already, there are 225 licensed retail outlets  though not all will open on Day 1.

Were going to have some nice balloons and we might get some catering, said Logan McIlroy, a director at Hobb-based Bryans Green Care, a family-owned cannabis business that began business in 2015 with CBD sales.

The business spent months negotiating access to city water supplies as it prepares to stock its own cannabis stores in Hobbs, Roswell, Ruidoso and soon in Santa Teresa  a short drive from El Paso, Texas, and the U.S. border with Mexico.

Josh McCurdy, a contract grower and consultant for upstart marijuana producers, has warned wannabe pot entrepreneurs in New Mexico to be conscious of the financial risks and competitive pressures. He says he witnessed novice pot farmers going bankrupt in Oklahoma.

They think its a weed, but technically its a flowering herb, said McCurdy, owner of Knarly LLC that manages cannabis cultivation for fledgling marijuana operations including Sunland Park Cannabis Farms. Its not as easy as it looks to grow high-quality cannabis. It is a lot of work.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

New Mexicos legalization laws seek to reverse some of the harm inflicted disproportionately on minority communities and poor households.

Emily Kaltenbach, a senior director at the Drug Policy Alliance that supports decriminalization of drugs, said the state hopes to help those communities gain a foothold in the industry with easy access to licensing, state subsidized loans and even product-certification logos that steer consumers toward cannabis from minority-owned businesses.

The New Mexico Finance Authority is preparing a $5 million line of credit for entrepreneurs that found cannabis micro-businesses along the lines of craft breweries, with average loan size of about $100,000.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

In a sea change for law enforcement, police can no longer cite the smell of marijuana as a cause for searching vehicles or private property.

Efforts are underway to expunge cannabis infractions from criminal records that can hurt people's prospects for employment or standing in society.

The state Department of Public Safety has identified about 155,000 instances or arrests or convictions that are eligible for automatic expungement and dismissal. Prison terms may be shortened in some instances.

Prosecutors have until July 1, 2022, to raise objections to deleting records and dismissing sanctions. Individuals can accelerate the process without paying standard court fees.

TAXATION

The state will levy a 12% excise tax on the sale of marijuana that eventually increases to 18%. Thats before standard taxes on sales of 5-9%.

Medical marijuana will remain tax-free for patients with qualifying medical conditions that include post-traumatic stress. More than 6% of the state population participates in the medical cannabis program.

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By conservative estimates, state and local tax income from recreational cannabis will surpass $45 million annually within three years. A two-thirds share goes to the state general fund, with one-third for local governments.

Lawmakers havent decided yet how to spend the money.

CONSUMPTION

Indoor and outdoor venues for consuming cannabis are being licensed might resemble bars or lounges. Those cannabis consumption areas will be licensed by the state for a fee.

Pot consumption also will be allowed in designated hotel rooms, casinos, cigar bars and tobacco stores. In other public places, marijuana consumption will be treated much like alcohol or cigarettes.

At home, hobbyists also have the right to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal consumption and 12 per household.
TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (22,005.94, up 68.05 points.)

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up $1.20, or 2.9 per cent, to $42.41 on 16.4 million shares.

TC Energy Corp. (TSX:TRP). Energy. Up $1.31, or 1.8 per cent, to $72.37 on 16.2 million shares.

Hexo Corp. (TSX:HEXO). Health care. Up seven cents, or 8.1 per cent, to 93 cents on 10.1 million shares.

Tilray Inc. (TSX:TLRY). Health care. Up $1.93, or 22 per cent, to $10.72 on nine million shares.

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Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED). Health care. Up 90 cents, or 9.1 per cent, to $10.83 on 8.7 million shares.

Power Corp. of Canada (TSX:POW). Financials. Up five cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $39.14 on 8.1 million shares.

Companies in the news:

Molson Coors Beverage Co.  The union representing about 420 workers at the Molson Coors brewing plant on the South Shore of Montreal are on strike. Teamsters Canada says nearly 320 workers voted 99 per cent on Sunday against the company's last contract offer and gave the union a strike mandate. The union says the two parties do not agree on salary increases and on the establishment of a new layoff system that would not take seniority into account. Molson Coors spokesman Frederic Bourgeois-Leblanc says it is disappointed that employees walked off the job before it made a final offer because it is offering a "more than competitive wage and has a history of providing well-paying jobs" in Quebec. Bourgeois-Leblanc adds that the company has turned to an unspecified contingency plan as it works to meet consumer demand.

BRP Inc. (TSX:DOO). Up $8.27 or 9.3 per cent to $96.84. BRP Inc. is entering the electric motorcycle business. The maker of Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Sea-Doo personal watercraft announced Friday that it will launch a family of electric two-wheel motorcycles, with the first models expected to be available by mid-2024 under the Can-Am brand. This is a return to motorcycles for Can-Am, which introduced its first product in 1973. Can-Am stopped its two-wheel motorcycle production in 1987, although it launched the three-wheel Can-Am Spyder in 2008. The initial models will target the North American and European market first,the company said. The announcement came as BRP reported Friday a fourth-quarter profit of $209.6 million as its revenue rose nearly 30 per cent compared with a year earlier. The company said its profit amounted to $2.50 per diluted share for quarter ended Jan. 31, down from $264.2 million or $2.95 per diluted share in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totalled $2.35 billion, up from $1.82 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2022.
Taxes in most states are due on 18 April, giving those in the US a little under a month to complete and submit their return. In both 2020 and 2021, the IRS offered a federal extension to the tax deadline because of the pandemic and associated stimulus bills which altered the tax code. Last year, the extension gave the IRS more time to adjust to changes to the tax code made through the American Rescue Plan. These changes led to many households receiving larger refunds last year. As no further stimulus packages have been passed, refunds, on average, will not be as large.

The IRS has offered some extensions to residents in places that have been victims of natural disasters.

Victims of severe storms, straight-line winds, and tornadoes in parts of Tennessee will have until May 16, 2022 to file various #IRS individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. Learn more: https://t.co/dYvRT5ifJF pic.twitter.com/K15586cIa3  IRSnews (@IRSnews) March 26, 2022

What fees and penalties are applied if taxes go unpaid?

The amount applied in fees and penalties will depend on how late a taxpayer is in submitting their return or how long they have waited to pay the penalty. If you are given a penalty the IRS will "send you a notice or letter by mail [which] will tell you about the penalty, the reason for the charge and what to do next." Starting on 1 April, the IRS will charge four percent interest on underpayments.

How do I apply for an extension?

The IRS has offered some extensions to residents in places that have been victims of natural disasters. However, if you need more time for what ever reason you can apply for an extension through 17 October 2022. There are no penalties for this option, but you should make sure that you pay and state income tax you owe because the federal one may not apply.

To apply for your extension you will need to fill out and submit a 4868 form. Those who are interested in requesting an extension the IRS recommends that taxpayers estimate and pay any owed taxes by your regular deadline to help avoid possible penalties.
LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Just days ago, Artem Gorelov was trying to survive in one of the most brutal parts of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Now he stands in a quiet room in the late afternoon sunlight, hand-making hats for a local fashion brand worn by Madonna and Ukraines first lady.

Ukrainian co-founders of high-end hat designer brand Ruslan Baginskiy 'RB', from left, public relations director Petro Yasinskiy, designer and creative director Ruslan Baginskiy and Victoria Semerei, whole sale director, pose for a photograph, inside a college classroom turned into a workshop they have been working from after fleeing Kiev, in Lviv, western Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022. Daily bombings led the company's co-founders to make the decision to flee. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Just days ago, Artem Gorelov was trying to survive in one of the most brutal parts of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Now he stands in a quiet room in the late afternoon sunlight, hand-making hats for a local fashion brand worn by Madonna and Ukraines first lady.

Gorelov has joined Ukrainians' massive migration west to the city of Lviv, near Poland. And, unusually, the 100-employee company he works for arrived with him. Searching for safety but determined not to leave Ukraine, the brand Ruslan Baginskiy is among the businesses that are uprooting amid war.

Two months ago, first lady Olena Zelenska was in the hat-makers showroom in Kyiv. Now the company operates in two borrowed classrooms of a school, its workers delicately piecing together materials near students decades-old sewing machines.

It is a slower process, but clients like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's have expressed support, said co-owner Victoria Semerei, 29.

Ukrainian hat maker for high-end designer brand Ruslan Baginskiy 'RB', Artem Gorelov, works inside a college classroom turned into a working space for the company in Lviv, western Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022, after fleeing Kyiv. Searching for safety but determined not to leave Ukraine, the brand Ruslan Baginskiy is among the businesses that are uprooting amid war. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

She was among the Ukrainians who didnt believe Russia would invade. She recalled being in Italy the day before the invasion and telling partners that war wasnt possible.

Two hours after her plane landed back in Kyiv, the bombardment began.

Daily bombings led the companys three co-founders to make the decision to flee. While some employees scattered to other parts of Ukraine or to other countries, about a third moved the company's essentials to Lviv two weeks ago.

Normal life will resume one day, Semerei said. We need to be prepared.

The company threw itself into the national wartime effort that has seized Ukraine, donating money to the army and turning its Instagram feed from brand promotion to updates on the war.

Ukrainian hat makers for high-end designer brand Ruslan Baginskiy 'RB', work inside a college classroom turned into a working space for the company after fleeing Kiev, in Lviv, western Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022. The hat with silver stones was worn by American celebrity singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

This is not the time to be shy. Not anymore, co-founder and creative director Ruslan Baginskiy said. The company once had Russian clients, but that stopped long before the invasion as regional tensions grew. Its not possible to have any connections, he said. Its all political now.

As part of that spirit, Semerei rejected the idea of moving the company to a safer location outside Ukraine. We have our team here, the most precious team we have, she said. Talented, all of them.

Past brand campaigns for the company have identified closely with Ukraine, photographed in placed like Kherson, now under Russian occupation. Cities that the hat-makers employees once called home have been torn apart.

So many Russian troops, said Gorelov, who fled Bucha near the capital. It was not even possible to defend.

His arrival in Lviv, where life goes on and fashionable shops remain open, was surreal. It took days to adjust. Now I feel relaxed doing this, he said, a new hat under construction on the table before him.

In another corner of the makeshift workspace, Svetlana Podgainova worried about her family back in the separatist-held territory of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting for control for nearly eight years. It was already difficult to visit with family even before the invasion. Now her brother can't leave the region.

She feels horrible seeing her colleagues from other parts of Ukraine pulled into the war and wishes that normal life would return for them all. Until then, I wanted to come back to work so much," she said. It occupies her mind and makes her feel less alone in a new city, and she calls her colleagues a big family.

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The hat-maker's employees are among the estimated 200,000 displaced people now living in Lviv, with the co-founders now sharing an apartment with several other people.

Considering the challenges, this year probably will be the worst in the company's six-year history, Semerei said. But this is something well go through and hopefully be even stronger.

__

This story corrects spelling to Neiman Marcus in 4th paragraph.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
OTTAWA - Canada and the European Commission will spearhead an international fundraising campaign to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the leaders of the European Council during their summit in Brussels from Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

OTTAWA - Canada and the European Commission will spearhead an international fundraising campaign to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

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The fundraising effort, called "Stand Up For Ukraine" will engage politicians, artists and businesses, among others, and is to culminate with an April 9 pledging event to be hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

They are partnering with the international advocacy organization Global Citizen to raise funds for the humanitarian crisis spawned by the worst fighting in Europe since the Second World War.

A statement from Trudeau's office says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is inviting musicians, actors, athletes, business leaders, politicians and anybody else so inclined to take part in a large-scale social media rally to help his besieged country.

The goal is to raise money to help the millions of refugees and internally displaced Ukrainians forced to flee their homes following the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of their country.

Trudeau and von der Leyen met this week in Brussels on the prime minister's second trip to Europe in two weeks to confer with allies on the Russian attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2022.
OTTAWA - Tamara Lich is appealing her bail conditions as she awaits trial on charges related to her role in organizing a protest that saw large trucks create gridlock in downtown Ottawa for several weeks.

Tamara Lich, organizer for a protest convoy by truckers and supporters demanding an end to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, delivers a statement during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Counsel for convoy organizer Tamara Lich says she will appeal the bail conditions imposed on her. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Tamara Lich is appealing her bail conditions as she awaits trial on charges related to her role in organizing a protest that saw large trucks create gridlock in downtown Ottawa for several weeks.

Diane Magas, a lawyer representing Lich, filed an appeal of the bail conditions, including restrictions on use of social media, in an Ontario court.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which is helping with the challenge, says the conditions violate her guarantees of free expression, association and peaceful assembly.

In February, the organization set up and funded a network of criminal defence lawyers helping Lich and others related to the trucker convoy, said John Carpay, the centre's president.

The court-ordered ban on Lich's expression on social media, including comment on COVID-19 health measures, lacks a "rational connection" to a risk to public safety or committing further offences, the centre says.

Lich was arrested Feb. 17 and initially denied bail, but that decision was reversed March 7 following a review.

She faces charges including mischief and counselling to commit mischief, and was notified Thursday that she now faces additional charges, including counselling to commit intimidation.

Pat King, another central figure associated with the blockades, was also notified that he faces additional charges as he appeared before an Ontario court on Thursday.

King connected virtually to the hearing from an Ottawa jail, where he has been in custody since being arrested and denied bail last month.

The new charges King faces include intimidation, counselling intimidation, obstructing police and disobeying a court order.

He was originally charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to obstruct police and counselling to disobey a court order.

Lawyer Cal Rosemond said in court that he expected to officially represent King in the near future, and cited "extreme difficulties" in being able to reach King at the detention centre.

King and Tyson George Billings, also arrested in February, are now listed as co-accused.

Billings, nicknamed "Freedom George" by fellow demonstrators in Ottawa, livestreamed his participation in the protests over several days.

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He was initially charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to disobey a court order, obstructing police and counselling to obstruct police.

Billings had been expected to appear virtually in court along with King to face the joint information, but was rescheduled for the following day. However, he did not appear in court Friday.

Both King and Billings are expected to appear again in court on April 4.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2022.

---

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, families often face a long list of difficult challenges and emotions, including shock, denial, fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief, sadness and isolation. Coping with all of that can be overwhelming.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, families often face a long list of difficult challenges and emotions, including shock, denial, fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief, sadness and isolation. Coping with all of that can be overwhelming.

For those longing for connection with others who understand, the volunteer-run Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Support Group (CCCSG) was created to assist with navigating these hard times.

Brenda and Eddie Marion-Gerula know the hardship of having a child with cancer.

At a routine ophthalmology appointment, one of our sons who is now 12 [but almost 7 at the time] was told to read the letter chart, says Brenda. He was a good little reader, and recognized his letters, but when one of his eyes was covered, he was not able to read the chart. The doctor was concerned and sent him for an MRI. He had a type of tumour behind his eye called an optic nerve glioma. The tumour was big and blocked his pathway to his vision causing vision loss. He trained his other eye to see for both, and didnt notice that he wasnt able to see in his other eye.

They met with an oncologist to discuss a 68-week chemotherapy treatment plan.

His vision was recovered. Hes such a positive kid, and takes everything in stride, explains Brenda. While in treatment, another type of tumour was detected. That meant an additional 68 weeks of treatment. Since beginning that second course, initial results didnt seem promising, so he has now been on a different oral chemotherapy for over a year.

The couple had more than enough to cope with when the news came that another one of their sons had the same type of tumour behind his eye.

Thankfully it was caught quicker, wasnt as big, and didnt impact his vision as much as his younger brother. He did his 68-week treatment plan, and that was all, for him. Through all of this there has been tears, confusion and fears, but we as a family have tried to be positive and have strength to have the best attitude possible.

It was during an appointment that Brenda picked up a Candlelighters newsletter.

It had some interesting information, contact numbers for support, and an upcoming event to go to the movies, so I signed our family up for that event, and that was the beginning. My husband and I wanted to be able to help other families. Eddie and I both work full-time but still enjoy being a part of Candlelighters, and helping in ways we can.

I am thankful for the support of Candlelighters. The fun events have been enjoyed by our family, and meeting other incredible families has really helped connect in ways not everyone can relate to, says Brenda, who has since delivered packages and gifts to the hospital, and shopped for events.

From the first event they attended, the couple felt welcomed, but it was at one event in particular that led the pair to join the board and become more involved.

We were at a family camp weekend at a hotel. We had an opportunity to meet other parents, connecting in a small group, hearing other parents sharing their own journeys with their child. We all shared similar experiences with medical appointments, oncologists, chemotherapy and MRIs. Hearing their stories and having that emotional connection was truly very special.

CCCSG has been a registered charity since 2010. Established in the mid-80s by two mothers to help parents of children with cancer, it was then named Jeffreys Folks, after Jeffrey the puppet, used by Cancer Care to teach kids about their treatment.

Since then, countless volunteers have made it possible for families to attend events and have access to resources integral to support and well-being. Something as simple as a phone call or meal can make all the difference during difficult times.

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CCCSG also supplies parking passes and food gift cards to families on the childrens cancer ward. Newly diagnosed families are given information packages and a hope blanket for their child. Gift card scholarships are offered to childhood cancer survivors at their high school graduation. The organization arranges events throughout the year, including a family camp. Additionally, CCCSG offers help with bereavement costs for families who have lost a child. Quarterly newsletters offer resource material and updates on upcoming events.

This past February on CK5 (the ward where children with cancer can stay for longer periods of time), our board heard that there was a lockdown, which meant a parent that was staying in the room with their child could not leave that room to go get a meal for themselves. We provided daily meals for those families; word spread and others also wanted to donate funds or meals.

Brenda takes comfort in the work of CCCSG.

When we deliver Christmas gifts to the families, being able to see the kids smiling faces, or photos sent to us of the children with their gift, showing us they really appreciated it, makes everything worth it. From holding the virtual events, giving a new family a comfort package, showing them they are not alone, to giving a grad a special gift, they overcame cancer, graduated from high school, and now they move on to choosing a career path accomplishing so much already. Its all amazing to me.

An auction will be held from April 1-10 to raise funds for families. More information is available at manitobacandlelighters.org.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
BRANDON  Animal rights groups are applauding the end of the piggy and calf scrambles at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

BRANDON  Animal rights groups are applauding the end of the piggy and calf scrambles at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba pulled the events four days before the fair is set to begin, on Monday. It runs until April 2.

The scrambles involve children between seven and 11 years old chasing piglets or calves in a race to capture one for cash prizes. Animal welfare groups in Brandon and Winnipeg called the events unsafe for the animals and children.

The health and welfare of our animals is important to us and has always been a top priority, said Kathy Cleaver, president of the provincial exhibition, in a statement. No further comment was given.

Concern about the scrambles is not new but a March 15 letter from Animal Justice, a Canadian animal law advocacy organization, formally called on organizers to cancel the activities. The letter was co-signed by the Winnipeg Humane Society and supported by the Brandon Humane Society.

No one involved in this campaign is against the fair, said Brandon Humane Society director Tracy Munn.

I say good on them for putting the pigs (welfare) first, and I think its good kids dont have to see that growing up, she said. Its been a long time coming and Im glad its done. Theres enough violence in the world.

Winnipeg Humane Society animal welfare consultant Brittany Semeniuk was surprised the scrambles were cancelled, and on very short notice, too. She did not receive any notification from fair organizers and only learned about it when told by the Brandon Sun. The fair had submitted a safety plan for the scrambles, she said, so she didnt expect them to be cancelled.

This move brings the fair one step closer to aligning with a progressive society and how modern-day society views and treats animals.

There could also be legal issues with calf and pig scrambles, said Kaitlyn Mitchell, the Winnipeg-based staff lawyer for Animal Justice.

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In an email, she said the organization is thrilled fair organizers took their concerns seriously.

Encouraging youth to chase and grab at frightened, helpless pigs and calves is antiquated and completely inhumane, and would have also violated federal and provincial animal cruelty laws, she said.

We hope that the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair will cancel its pig and calf scrambles for good, just as fairs across Canada have done.

The provincial exhibition didnt say whether the scrambles will be gone for good.

Fairs in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have cancelled animal scrambles over cruelty concerns.

 Brandon Sun
At this point, in a long and haphazard reckoning with prominent men who exploit their power over women, its impossible to avoid the deja vu, the way the broad strokes of each incident are carbon copies of the others. Its only the details that change: fill in the name, fill in the dates. Fill in the organizational structures that protected the person with the most power.

At this point, in a long and haphazard reckoning with prominent men who exploit their power over women, its impossible to avoid the deja vu, the way the broad strokes of each incident are carbon copies of the others. Its only the details that change: fill in the name, fill in the dates. Fill in the organizational structures that protected the person with the most power.

The arc of each incident, though, is almost uniformly predictable. Theres always a history of improper behaviour, known in close circles but mostly lurking below the surface, where the broad public cant see. Theres always that first person to come forward, and then there are others, and then comes an awkward denial, often combined with a vague pledge to be better.

Above all, there is always a missed turnoff. A crossroad where, in retrospect, something might have been done sooner.

Its too soon to say where that first turnoff might have been with Arlen Dumas. We dont have enough information, not yet. But we do know that long before Dumas was suspended from his role as grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs on March 18 amidst an allegation of sexual violence, there were points where the AMC sailed past red flags.

Certainly, one such crossroad came in 2019, when Bethany Maytwayashing stepped forward to say that Dumas had sent her inappropriate messages after meeting her at the restaurant where she worked. At the time, Maytwayashing was 22, while Dumas was in his mid-40s. The messages shed received were flirtatious, and asked her to "meet up."

Dumass response to those allegations was conflicting. He admitted texting Maytwayashing to offer "advice and guidance," but denied sending the specific messages that most creeped her out, which had been sent from a pseudonymous Facebook account claiming to be him, and then from his own phone number.

Those were fakes, Dumas claimed, created by some unknown person as a political smear to damage his reputation.

At the same time, he would take two weeks away from his job to "heal" from recent personal grief, and that he had an "open and informal communication style" that "may not be suited" to his role as grand chief. He said he understood Maytwayashing didnt "appreciate" his messages, which seemed at odds with his insistence that all hed done was offer advice.

Back then, there were pledges of investigations to get to the bottom of things, but the AMC largely stood by its man. In a release, the organization called reporting of the incident  which had been led by Indigenous-run APTN  a "media circus" and a "distraction" from the issues facing Indigenous people, and ran ads warning of digital impersonation.

Whatever happened with the promised investigation is unclear. No outcome was ever made public, and Maytwayashing says she never heard from anyone. The only person, it appears, to face any sort of actual repercussion was Maytwayashings then-boyfriend, who was served with legal papers warning him against making "salacious accusations."

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has suspended Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, pending investigations into allegations of sexual assault and harassment. (Winnipeg Free Press files)

While Maytwayashing may have been the first to go public, she was not the last. Around the time that she spoke out in the summer of 2019, other Indigenous women opened up about incidents in which Dumas had appeared to leverage his status seeking what were, at the very least, inappropriate connections.

Now, Dumas is facing even more serious allegations. Though the details of the report that forced his suspension have not yet been made public, we know that an AMC staff member told that organization she had been subjected to "harassment, sexual harassment, and sexualized violence" by Dumas, since nearly the beginning of her employment.

A criminal complaint has been filed and Winnipeg police are investigating.

In the wake of this accusation, the whispers about Dumass behaviour  which multiple local Indigenous advocates say has long been an open secret in their circles  appear to finally be getting enough amplification to be heard. On Monday, a rally in front of AMC offices drew about 50 people, led by Indigenous women, demanding action.

"Whos protecting us?" they chanted.

A councillor from Fox Lake Cree Nation, Sophie Lockhart, holds a sign saying Arlen Dumas must go, at a rally on Monday. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files)

That is, above all, the critical question. Many details are not yet publicly known and, as far as the criminal complaint goes, Dumas is, of course, innocent until proven guilty. But some facts are clear: the AMC had been aware for at least 2 1/2 years that there were multiple concerns about his behaviour with women, and it appears the organization did nothing.

Needless to say, that inaction is especially heartbreaking, coming from an organization with an obligation to be a voice for Indigenous people at the most risk of exploitation and gender-based violence; but it is nothing new. It is just a new face of that terrible deja vu, that periodic reminder of how power works, and how it conspires to elude being held accountable.

But in this bleak news, perhaps there is hope. It comes in with the sun. Because in Manitoba, there are powerful voices for Indigenous women, and a wealth of ideas about Indigenous-centred healing and justice processes; there is a chance now, with the stage of broad public attention, for those voices to be lifted and most fully heard.

How is AMC making decisions (that are) more genderbalanced?  Hilda AndersonPyrz, chairwoman of the National Family and Survivors Circle

After the latest allegation surfaced, Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chairwoman of the National Family and Survivors Circle and one of the nations most tireless advocates for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, called for an independent council of elder women to be part of the investigation, and asked some other pointed questions.

"How is AMC making decisions (that are) more gender-balanced?" she said. "How is AMC reclaiming roles for women, girls and (LGBTTQ+) people and supporting them in the workplace and making it safe? What is AMC doing to support all First Nations women in communities who have experienced sexual violence or any form of gender-based violence?"

These are the questions AMC must now answer to its own community, above all. Because we know  have known for a long time  that the status quo is no longer good enough. No longer is it enough to fill in the names or fill in the dates. No longer will people accept the deja vu of watching these incidents unfold, wondering when they will truly change.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Robson Halls community legal clinic is expanding so lawyers-in-training can now provide low-cost counsel to clients with minor family law and prison law cases, as well as Indigenous legal services.

Robson Halls community legal clinic is expanding so lawyers-in-training can now provide low-cost counsel to clients with minor family law and prison law cases, as well as Indigenous legal services.

The University of Manitoba and Legal Aid Manitoba recently signed a memorandum of understanding to both renew their partnership, which is marking its 50-year anniversary in 2022, and bolster the U of M Community Law Centre.

TREVOR HAGAN / FREE PRESS FILES Robson Halls community legal clinic is expanding.

Since 1972, the so-called UMCLC has been staffed by law students seeking experiential learning opportunities, primarily in relation to criminal law, and course credit.

One thing that people worry about is the quality of service that students can provide. The fact is a student is able to devote a lot more time to legal research, to speaking with their clients, and to generally working on their files  and we receive really good supervision and advice. We carry on the file from start to close, said Patrick Gutowski, a third-year law student who began volunteering at the centre in December 2020.

Students handle, under the supervision of working professionals and faculty members, between 400 and 600 criminal cases on a typical year. As many as 100 volunteers at a time have received and reviewed disclosures, undertaken interviews, provided advice, and represented clients in court in the past.

Small claims cases and petty offences out of the scope of legal aid and thus, unlikely to see anyone face jail-time have typically been referred to the UMCLC. Now, students will also be able to advise clients on everything from uncontested divorces to appeals to the Court of Queens Bench to status applications under the Indian Act.

The affordable legal service, funded primarily by the Manitoba Law Foundation, provides eligible Manitobans with assistance for under $100.

Hiring a lawyer is expensive and its a complicated process, no matter what area of law youre looking at, so I think the more that we can help, the better, said Gutowski, 27.

The UMCLC student supervisor spends several hours a day working on cases. He said key takeaways from the ongoing experience are the importance of trauma-informed practice and relationship-building with clients.

Law dean Richard Jochelson touted the importance of experiential learning at Robson Hall. Jochelson also noted there is growing recognition access to justice should go beyond criminal law advice to people in need of it.

Both of the above factored into the decision to expand the UMCLC.

Robson Hall is designating a team of four full-time faculty members, an Indigenous support co-ordinator, and a director of career services to support clinical upscaling work. Legal aid will also continue to provide the expertise of a handful of supervising lawyers.

Simply put, the initiative will ensure students assist more low-income people and learn about different areas of the law in a hands-on manner, said Michael Walker, UMCLC director.

Walker indicated the past few years have been quiet, owing to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on court visits limiting referral opportunities, a drop in police charging minor offenses, and an increase in restorative justice decisions, among other reasons.

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Meantime, Legal Aid Manitobas executive director said the bolstered partnership will ensure students are trained to consider truth and reconciliation principles as they assist Indigenous clients.

It will turn law students minds to the practical application of this whole new area of law (Indigenous law) that is really changing as Canadians begin to learn what it really means to be treaty people, said Peter Kingsley.

An added bonus of the expansion, he said, is more students will be exposed to legal aid and may become interested in providing it once they are licensed.

The UMCLC operates primarily out of the basement at Robson Hall, but volunteers will start working at 287 Broadway as face-to-face operations resume.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
When Winnipeggers heard 74 million litres of diluted sewage spilled into local rivers this week, it was difficult to summon an accurate image of such a large quantity. How much is 74 million litres? To put it another way, to bring it home so to speak, the spilled sewage amounted to 88 litres for every one of the 833,000 residents of Winnipeg.

When Winnipeggers heard 74 million litres of diluted sewage spilled into local rivers this week, it was difficult to summon an accurate image of such a large quantity. How much is 74 million litres? To put it another way, to bring it home so to speak, the spilled sewage amounted to 88 litres for every one of the 833,000 residents of Winnipeg.

Sewage spill into Assiniboine to end Saturday More than 52 million litres of sewage has now spilled into the Assiniboine River due to a pipe repair, which the city appears to be having trouble fixing. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) Posted: 4:49 PM Mar. 24, 2022 The City of Winnipeg now expects to end a multi-day sewage spill on Saturday, which has already dumped at least 52 million litres of diluted wastewater into local waterways. Mayor Brian Bowman told media the incident is under review, with further details expected to be made public. Read Full Story

If the image is repugnant, such a strong reaction is understandable and shouldnt be disregarded.

"We need to maintain our disgust at stuff like this; it cannot become par for the course," said environmental scientist Alexis Kanu.

Such disgust can be beneficial if it prompts demands for action. The City of Winnipeg has made steps in the right direction but the cost of upgrading the long-neglected sewage system to an acceptable level is beyond the budget of a municipality. The onus rests with the provincial and federal governments that have the financial resources to improve the system to a level that adequately protects rivers and Lake Winnipeg.

In a city like Winnipeg where sewage spills are shamefully commonplace, it should go without saying that everyone agrees something must be done. Just ask the people who found a frozen river trail in Wolseley was covered by raw sewage on Feb. 23. The issues are what can be done, and who should pay what portion of the bill.

This weeks spill is blamed on a temporary pump that couldnt keep up with the flow as the city replaced a Portage Avenue interceptor sewer pipe. While tests results from this week are not yet available to determine danger to the environment and the health of humans, a spill in 2021 led to levels of E. coli and fecal coliform that were above the laboratorys testing level, literally off the charts.

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Coun. Brian Mayes, head of environment committee.

Unlike this weeks discharge, most sewage problems in Winnipeg are attributed to a structure called the combined sewer system, which services about one-third of Winnipegs developed areas. Household sewage is mixed with stormwater runoff as it goes to sewage treatment plants. When there is substantial runoff from rain or melting snow, a safety valve stops sewage from backing up into homes and, instead, directs the excess discharge of wastewater into Winnipegs rivers at one of 76 locations.

The Environment Act licenses the provincial government to regulate the combined sewer system, and different provincial governments have advised the city to clean up its act, but the advice has not been accompanied by enough financial support for the city to comply.

Coun. Brian Mayes, head of the citys environment committee, noted the city plans to increase its annual investment to reduce combined sewer overflows from $30 million to $45 million per year between 2024 and 2027. Unfortunately for aquatic life in waterways around Winnipeg, the solution to Winnipegs sewage problem is much larger than the city can afford alone.

The incentive for provincial and federal governments to step up can be heightened considerably if citizens are to share with their elected representatives, in voices loud and persistent, their ongoing disgust that sewage is dumped into Winnipeg rivers dozens of times a year.

Upgrading the sewage treatment plant in the northern part of the city will cost $1.8-billion, while the plan to reduce combined sewer overflows will cost $2.3-billion.

The only way for such work to be completed is for the provincial and federal governments to offer the city matching funds.

The incentive for provincial and federal governments to step up can be heightened considerably if citizens are to share with their elected representatives, in voices loud and persistent, their ongoing disgust that sewage is dumped into Winnipeg rivers dozens of times a year.

As unappealing as it is to ponder the image of sewage, the repugnance is worthwhile if it prompts governments to recognize Winnipegs rivers must not used as a toilet.
Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday signed two bills supporting hospitals and health care workers, including one that imposes legal ramifications for those who threaten or harm employees.

During the Wisconsin Hospital Associations (WHAs) annual Advocacy Day event, Evers took the final steps in enacting Assembly Bills 960 and 679. The former, which has been advocated for by local hospitals, will make threatening or committing acts of violence against those working in health care a Class H Felony.

Health care workers are better protected under this new law, said WHA President and CEO Eric Borgerding. WHAs members across the state express appreciation to Speaker (Robin) Vos and Senate Majority Leader (Devin) LeMahieu for authoring this important law...WHA is also grateful to Governor Evers for signing Assembly Bill 960 into law today, showing health care workers that they are vital to our state and important to protect.

Both Mayo Clinic Health System and Gundersen Health System in La Crosse have experienced incidences of verbal or physical harassment towards staff, with pandemic related tensions and longer wait times leading to increased incidents.

Tia Meyer, operations administrator at Mayo Clinic Health System SW Wisconsin, says staff receive training to address belligerent or violent patients or visitors and security is onsite, but the bill will offer peace of mind that perhaps people will rethink their (behavior) to avoid any sort of felony.

Stresses are at an all-time high...caregivers understand people come to us with heightened states of agitation and they try to de-escalate a situation before it becomes physical, but if it does its good to know there may be some restitution that could occur, Meyer adds.

Meyer expressed appreciation for the advocacy of WHA, calling the bill a testament of how (health care workers) are valued in the state, and also now protected by law. Our staff have a right to do their jobs without fear of physical or verbal abuse. This was really a move in the right direction.

Also signed by Evers was Assembly Bill 679, which permanently allows hospitals to provide in-patient level care in the home. The bill is a continuation of current authority given to hospitals that would have expired without legislative action.

Emily Pyrek can be reached at emily.pyrek@lee.net.

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The two leaders informed each other about their respective countrys recent situation, and discussed directions and measures to further strengthen the fraternal friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the Parties, National Assemblies and people of Vietnam and Cuba.



NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stressed that Cuba always holds a very important position in the heart of each Vietnamese person and that Vietnam supports the request for ending embargo policies against Cuba.



Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue (left) held online talks with President the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez on March 25 night. (Photo: VNA)



Hernandez affirmed that Cuba gives the top priority to cooperative relations with Vietnam and wants to enhance economic, trade and investment ties as well as exchanging experience in parliamentary activities with the Southeast Asian country.



Cuba highly evaluated Vietnams efforts in implementing the dual goal of combating COVID-19 and boosting economic development, he said, adding that Cuba desires to cooperate with Vietnam in the fight against the pandemic based on its current capacity.



Both leaders asserted that despite their geographical distance, Vietnam and Cuba have been and will be backing each other in the process of national construction and defence. The Vietnam-Cuba special fraternal friendship and solidarity are a valuable asset that the two Parties, States and people need to preserve, nurture, develop and pass to future generations, they stressed.



They held that the bilateral relationship has continued to witness positive development steps in the recent past despite adverse impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The two nations have maintained high-level phone talks and meetings and cooperation mechanisms in the online form, and built mechanisms to remove difficulties in economic-trade-investment ties. Vietnam and Cuba have assisted each other in coping with the pandemic, showing their special sentiments.



NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed that Vietnam has attached great importance to and will continue working closely with Cuba to deploy high-level commitments and contents of bilateral cooperation, including cooperation in health care, pharmaceuticals and COVID-19 prevention and control, reached by the inter-government committees.



The two leaders expressed their wish to bring economic-trade-investment ties to be on par with the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Cuba.



They agreed to continue increasing the exchange of delegations at all levels in suitable forms; and organising seminars, talks and exchange of experts to share experience in renewal, especially in law-making, supervision, building and perfecting the rule-governed socialist State and deciding important issues of each country.



The top legislators pledged to create more favourable conditions in terms of mechanism and policy for Vietnamese businesses investing in Cuba, and continue promoting economic and trade relations as well as cooperation in the fields where both nations have advantages and potential such as agriculture, fishery, biotechnology and tourism.



On this occasion, he informed that the Vietnamese NA will soon donate informatic equipment to help its Cuban counterpart improve the operational efficiency.



NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue invited Hernandez to pay an official visit to Vietnam, and the Cuban leader also extended his invitation to the Vietnamese NA Chairman to visit Cuba at an appropriate time./.
After the success of the mental health mural in the youth section of the Winona Public Library, the project is spreading its message outside the library and into the community. This time around, the project has a more narrowed down theme: resilience.

The expansion of the project was largely due in part to the overall success of the mural project that was unveiled in December. Tricia Wehrenberg, the Youth Services librarian at the library, also noted that another crucial part of the new project were the youth they worked with on the mural.

We noticed that the three groups that we were working with were really receiving what we were doing well and that we thought there was an opportunity to expand on that work and to expand on the mental health side of it, Wehrenberg said.

Wehrenberg, along with Sarah Johnson, a community engaged artist, will be working with the same youth groups that they worked with on the mural which are OurVoices, the Gender Spectrum Alliance at Winona Senior High School, and students from the Alternative Learning Center.

Not only are there students returning from the mural project to work on this new project, but there are new students joining to help with the project, which is really fun for both of them to see as the students from the mural have helped the new students get involved.

They were ready to jump right back in the ones, that had done it last time. And I think that helped to get the new students excited and kind of influenced them to be like, Hey, these people are cool. They did something great the last time, we can trust them and get rolling, Wehrenberg said. And I think within 10 minutes they were like throwing out all these things that were just amazing to experience.

With this project, Wehrenberg and Johnson wanted to focus on a more specific topic and came to the conclusion of focusing on resilience. One thing that Johnson emphasized was the definition of resilience that this project is the ability to cope and react to difficult situations.

In order to help the youth learn more about what it means to fit into that definition of resilience, Johnson is holding planning sessions with the students to not only plan out what their pieces will be about, but to teach them about resiliency. Johnson added that one of the things she hopes the youth take away from those sessions are that its OK to reach out to people that you can trust if youre struggling with your mental health.

While they may have just had their first planning session and things are still in the early phases, both Wehrenberg and Johnson are very excited to take this message out of the library and into the the community by way of the East Recreation Center. There, youth from across the community are invited to join sessions on Tuesdays starting June 28 at noon to make community pieces.

Each group will have their own individual pieces on this endeavour, with OurVoices holding a gallery as part of their Juneteenth celebration and the library holding a reception in July.

Overall, Johnson and Wehrenberg hope that with this project, they are able to help the youth build off of the message of the mural and let them know that its OK to reach out to someone they trust.

I think we all need resilience, thats always true, but especially we know these past two years have really been experienced as traumatic by a lot of young people, and a lot of people in general. Its had a real impact on mental health,  Johnson said. And so I think were helping people know, especially young people know, there are things we can do to to nurture our resilience and other peoples resilience.

These projects will be taking place starting in March with the culmination of all the artwork being completed and displayed in August.

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The Lake Delton Police Department has identified the two suspects involved in an armed robbery at the Outlets of the Dells on Wednesday afternoon.

Adam A. Lujano, 39, and Javanni Murjan Esteves, 41, are both wanted by the police for the robbery as well as other incidents in Lake Delton and Mauston.

Police said in a release anyone who sees either suspect should not approach them, as they are believed to be potentially armed and considered extremely dangerous. Any sightings should be reported to local law enforcement immediately.

According to the release, a temporary felony warrant has been issued for Lujano. Esteves is wanted for questioning.

Lujano also has outstanding felony warrants in Illinois, as well as in Columbia and Juneau counties, the release said. The Lake Delton Police Department said it received information that the suspect vehicle, a blue Ford F-250, had been spotted in Illinois after the robbery.

Both suspects have ties to the Juneau County and Chicago areas, police said.

Police are also still searching for Maybel, the 16-month-old tan cavapoo, which is a mixed-breed dog, whose disappearance is linked to another break-in involving these two suspects.
JUNEAU  Network. Resources. Support.

Those are just a few of the vital things provided over 23 years by the Dodge County Dementia Concerns Coalition (DCC). Although the group is no more, its work continues through the Aging and Disability Resource Center and through other resources.

A retirement party was held Friday, March 18, at the Dodge County Center for the Arts, 205 Maple St., in Beaver Dam. The purpose was to share DCC memories, indulge in a snack and acknowledge all the work that the coalition has done since it was formed in 1999.

In DCCs inaugural year, there were few assets for those with dementia and those caring for them. The Dodge County Dementia Concerns Coalition was a pioneering step in addressing an often hidden and misunderstood condition.

Some of the things that they were able to accomplish were dementia awareness and being to be able to offer training and presentations on many different topics involving dementia, said Dementia Care Specialist Rob Griesel. They were able to bring awareness with the 20 walks that they did throughout the years. They also were able to help financially with different things such as respite care, transportation, household modification, conferences and whatever else might be needed. They completed many, many projects over time.

Their mission changed as government discovered that it could address dementia and other challenges more efficiently with a paid dementia care specialist. Griesel joined the Dodge County staff in 2018 following another dementia care specialist who began work in 2014.

The Dementia Concerns Coalition was one of the few resources available prior to that time.

They just saved my life, said Jean Hayden, who attended the retirement party. My husband had dementia and I was desperate for any kind of help I could find. The Dementia Concerns Coalition did that for me and I have been involved in it ever since.

She went from finding out about resources or help to becoming part of that change and making sure that others knew that there are resources and help, Griesel said. There are things that can make it easier and youre not alone. She was able to give back some of the support that she received.

The annual walk raised awareness community-wide, and only ceased because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since that time education kits have been distributed to inform small groups of dementia and the many aspects of care, coping and even thriving.

The DCC involved area health care providers, individuals, businesses and organizations. Dementia Friendly Dodge is an example of the next phase, where training is provided by volunteers to businesses, employers and others to help the whole population navigate challenges in their own environments.

People with low vision have challenges as well. We all have challenges that can be addressed no matter where we are, Griesel said. Every environment can be made better with improved wayfinding, consistency, language and more. Those sorts of challenges not only relate to those with dementia, but to people in general. Everyone is aging. There are people who have dementia who are young. Its not an age specific condition.

He added, The DCC accomplished what it set out to do and that work they started continues today. We have more supports and when those pieces were falling in place they were instrumental in making it happen. They brought many people together which was a huge accomplishment. To be able to get other groups and organizations together it was key to support having an ADRC representative as part of the coalition.

While dementia care specialists and Aging and Disability Resource Centers were once limited across the state, theyve expanded to include all 72 Wisconsin counties as well as a tribal dementia care specialist.

Twenty three years ago many of the things that we have now were not in place, Griesel said. Were not yet where we need to be but weve come a long, long way. Theres always work to be done.

He added, I think its important for people to realize that theyre not alone. There are support groups. There are engagement groups. There are resources. Other people are going through similar things. People can live a good life with dementia if they are supported properly. There are things out there that allow them to shine. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

For more information call the ADRC at 920-386-3580 or 1-800-924-6407, visit the Dodge County website or email rgriesel@co.dodge.wi.us.

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BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday afternoon held a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and Britain, Xi said that the bilateral relationship in the past half century has witnessed continuous growth on the whole despite some ups and downs.

The trade volume between the two countries has increased from 300 million U.S. dollars to 100 billion dollars, and the two-way investment stock has risen from almost zero to 50 billion dollars, Xi said.

Last year, bilateral trade reached a new high, and China's investment in Britain more than tripled, Xi said, adding that British-funded enterprises have actively participated in China's reform and opening up, and London has become the world's largest offshore RMB trading hub.

The two countries have coordinated and cooperated in such fields as global development and climate change, and have made positive contributions to tackling humanity's common challenges, Xi said.

Noting that China and Britain have different domestic conditions and development paths, Xi said the two sides should take a strategic and long-term perspective, respect each other, keep an open and inclusive mindset, promote dialogue and communication, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation.

Xi said that China is willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with Britain in a frank, open and inclusive manner, and hopes that the British side would view China and China-Britain relations in an objective and impartial light, and work with China in promoting a continuous development of bilateral ties.

For his part, Johnson said that Britain-China relations are of great importance. Trade between Britain and China has been growing rapidly, and Chinese students in Britain outnumber those in any other European countries, of which, he said, Britain is very proud.

Britain and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, share common interests on many issues and can work with each other on many things, he said.

He also said that Britain is willing to have candid dialogues with China, strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation, expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and deepen communication and coordination on such global issues and regional hotspots as climate change and bio-diversity.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.

Xi expounded China's principles and position, stressing that the international community should truly promote peace talks, create conditions for the political settlement of the Ukraine issue and push for Ukraine's return to peace at an early date.

The Chinese side is ready to continue to play a constructive role in this regard, he added.

(Source: Xinhua)
A worker operates a robot at a passenger car workshop of Ningde base of SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd. in Ningde, east China's Fujian Province, Sept. 15, 2020. [Xinhua/Song Weiwei]

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua)  Over 30 years ago, Xi Jinping was Party secretary of Ningde, then an impoverished prefecture in China's eastern province of Fujian. When some local officials suggested more taxes on enterprises to boost fiscal revenue, he immediately rejected the idea, comparing it to "draining the pond to get all the fish."

As Chinese president, Xi has been dedicated to helping businesses grow. Now, a campaign to reduce the burdens on businesses is in full swing.

An array of measures rolled out over the past years, including reforms on the value-added tax (VAT) and reduction of administrative fees, have already been fruitful.

Thanks to the tax and fee reduction initiative, over 8.6 trillion yuan (1.3 trillion U.S. dollars) of taxes and fees were saved for enterprises nationwide from 2016 to 2021.

As the economy faces the triple pressure of shrinking demand, supply shock, and weakening expectation amid the pandemic, helping struggling businesses is more pressing than ever.

Citizens are on their way to work at an industrial park in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, March 21, 2022. [Photo by Li Weiwen/Xinhua]

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Xi has chaired key meetings and made inspection tours to make sure relief measures are more targeted and effective.

In February 2020, he called for the roll-out of more targeted interim policies to cut taxes and fees to help micro, small and medium-sized firms tide over difficulties.

During an inspection tour in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in June that same year, Xi said policies designed to reduce tax burdens on companies should be implemented fully.

Yuchen Building Materials, a small manufacturer in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, struggled to cover the pay for its over 30 employees when the pandemic hit business. But thanks to a tax cut worth 350,000 yuan for 2021 and another 130,000-yuan tax payment deferral at the beginning of this year, the company's prospects took a turn for the better.

Yuchen's experience, not an isolated case, has played out across the country. With massive tax and fee cuts, the cash flow of businesses, vulnerable small ones in particular, has significantly increased. Their confidence has improved and new market vitality has been unleashed.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 27, 2020 shows the science and technology park along the bank of the Dasha River in Nanshan District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. [Xinhua/Mao Siqian]

The efforts to support businesses will continue.

In the annual government work report, China announced plans for a record 2.5 trillion yuan in tax refunds and cuts this year, including VAT credit refunds worth around 1.5 trillion yuan. Nearly 1 trillion yuan of VAT credit refunds will go to micro and small enterprises and self-employed individuals, according to a State Council executive meeting on Monday.

Market entities support the employment and entrepreneurship of hundreds of millions of people, according to the annual Central Economic Work Conference in December, where Xi delivered a key speech.

"We will continue to implement new tax and fee cuts to help them, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed individuals, ease their burden and restore their vitality," a statement released after the meeting said.

(Source: Xinhua)
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Participants at a debate in the framework of the IPU-144 (Photo: VNA)

According to Thai Quynh Mai Dung, standing member of the NA's Committee for External Relations, Vietnam has made five proposals on enhancing parliaments role in climate change-related issues at the plenary debate.

The proposals focused on promoting stronger and more effective implementation of policies to respond to climate change and developing roadmaps towards achieving net-zero emissions as committed at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26); strengthening cooperation on the basis of the principle of fairness and responsibility sharing but with distinction, in accordance with the capacity and condition of each country.

Vietnam underlined that parliaments should strengthen law making, monitor and allocate funds to ensure implementation of national climate commitments.

It also suggested the IPU to coordinate with the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to build a mechanism for monitoring, sharing information, experience and good models in implementing national commitments.

At a debate on emergency issues within the IPU-144, the Vietnamese delegation stressed that all international conflicts must be settled through peaceful measures in respect of basic principles of international law and the UN Charter as well as sovereignty equality and political independence and territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs of states and not using or threatening to use forces.

In particular, in the context that Tuvalu could not assume the role of the Asia-Pacific geopolitical group (APG)s President due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on the basis of the proposal of the IPU Secretariat and the approval of the Vietnamese NA Chairman, Vietnam successfully chaired the APG meeting, contributing to strengthening solidarity and parliamentary cooperation within APG.

In the framework of the IPU-144, the head of the Vietnamese delegation - Chairman of the NA's Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha - met with the President and the General Secretary of the IPU; joined a tripartite meeting with his Lao and Cambodian counterparts on activities to strengthen parliamentary cooperation between the three countries. He also had bilateral meetings with heads of delegations of the Republic of Korea, China, Thailand, and Indonesia to strengthen bilateral and multilateral parliamentary relations; discuss issues of post-pandemic sustainable recovery, and solutions to respond to climate change.

Dung stressed that the Vietnamese delegations active participation at the IPU-144 conveyed three important messages, affirming the joint efforts of the Vietnamese NA and Government in implementing climate change adaptation and sustainable development goals in the future; the importance of parliamentary diplomacy to world peace and security; and the active participation of Vietnamese young and female NA deputies in activities of the IPU./.
President Biden meets with soldiers from the U.S Army's 82nd Airborne Division stationed in southeastern Poland as part of NATO's protection of the alliance's eastern flank.
In his remarks, Minister Bui Thanh Son recalled the seventh Francophone Summit in Hanoi 25 years ago, the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific, which adopted the Charter of La Francophonie and elected the first OIF Secretary General.



At the celebration (Photo: VNA)



The Francophone offered a door for Vietnam to boost its international integration during the initial stage of Doi moi (Renewal), while the summit was the first biggest multilateral event hosted by Vietnam since the country embarked on the reform process, he noted.



The summit demonstrated Vietnams sound foreign policy of being a trustworthy friend, an active and responsible member of the international community, and together striving for peace, national dependence, democracy, development cooperation and social progress, he continued.



Vietnam drew experience from hosting the summit to successfully organise many events of major multilateral forums like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the minister stressed.



Apart from creating an impulse for equal, mutually beneficial cooperation between Vietnam and member countries of the Francophone community, the summit helped to promote cultural values associated with French and boost the development of the language in Vietnam.



Son attributed achievements Vietnam has recorded over the past 25 years to the timely support of the international community, including Francophone member countries.



Emphasising the need for Francophone countries to pay more attention to youths in terms of employment, startup and innovation, OIF Secretary-General Louise Mushikiwabo said Vietnam is an example for its support to young people, especially in startup, and the OIF would like to contribute to these efforts.



With its development pace and huge technological potential, Vietnam plays an important role in the implementation of the Francophone Economic Development Strategy, she affirmed.



On this occasion, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam was honoured with the annual award of the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Institutions in Vietnam (GADIF)./.
We have prefilled the results for the eight uncontested wards where no election took place, as there was only one candidate.



Good morning Wrexham!

We have switched the site over to our live election coverage for todays count. Ballot boxes arrived at Glyndwr University sports hall from just after 10pm last night  video below  and have been securely held overnight.

Today will see the verification process start some point shortly after 9am of ballots made yesterday and postal votes, and then a count will take place for each ward.

There is no firm timetable due to the nature of counts, but we guess this could take all of this morning and into the early afternoon to complete for every ward in Wrexham.

A day time count means there is no wait for boxes to turn up and so we think we could see the first ward result as early as just before 10am.

This page should auto update, and hopefully the video feed will appear as the count process begins.
The Save P&O Jobs campaign by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is shorn of any appeal to the working class to mobilise against the mass firing of 800 workers by P&O Ferries.

It is pitched to Boris Johnsons Conservative government, based on the nationalist appeal that they stand up for British workers against P&Os parent company, Dubai-based DP World. The supposedly militant union has not organised any industrial action to prevent the ferries leaving port with a replacement crew, hired on a fraction of the wages paid to the sacked workers.

Nautilus International and the RMT, representing Officers and Ratings respectively, have collaborated in silencing workers over their brutal mistreatment. They have advised their members that speaking out publicly would risk a reduction in their severance package, which contains a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Mick Lynch (WSWS Media)

Unite, which represents 160 P&O shoreside workers, has not organised any solidarity action, claiming that the overnight sacking by the company of almost a third of the workforce does not immediately affect its members.

The RMTs response to P&Os mass firings is a continuation of its rotten record of class collaboration and nationalism, which has laid the groundwork for the trampling under-foot of workers rights.

DP World could be confident that its latest act of corporate thuggery would go unanswered by the trade unions, given their acceptance of the previous round of mass redundancies at P&O Ferries less than two years ago.

In June 2020, the company announced the elimination of 1,100 jobs, including 300 port workers. The RMT recalls this sacking, organised after consultation with the union, with barely concealed nostalgia: P&O made 600 UK seafarer redundancies during the pandemic. Whilst we completely opposed this, the full redundancy process required under UK law was observed by P&O Ferries and DP World.

RMT tweet dated March 17, 2022 recalling that it collaborated in 600 workers losing their jobs in 2020 at P&O. It states, "the full redundancy process required under UK law was observed by P&O Ferries and DP World." (screenshot: RMT/Twitter)

The RMT and Unite did not mobilise any opposition to the slashing of more than a thousand jobs in the middle of a pandemic, even as DP World picked up 10 million from the Johnson government to furlough 1,400 staff.

For the unions, the only principle at stake is whether they are recognised as partners in the restructuring and cost-cutting exercises of the corporations.

At the time, the RMT doubled down on its nationalist appeals to the Johnson government, pitting British seafarers against overseas crew. An RMT petition addressed to the prime minister emphasised Britains position as an island nation and P&O having been established in 1840 by Royal Charter: Successive Governments have failed to prevent UK seafarers from being replaced by cheaper foreign crews on ferries and other ships working from UK ports, to the extent that UK seafarers held under a quarter of over 67,000 jobs in 2019.

All the flag waving accompanying the unions Save our Seafarers campaign down through the years has not defended a single job of a UK seafarer. Instead, the divisive nationalist campaign has facilitated the super-exploitation of overseas crew. The petition outlined the draconian working conditions these workers confront, including wages well below the National Living Wage of 8.72 per hour and on contracts that demand 12 hour days, 7 days a week for 6 months.

Save Our Seafarers 2020 was the RMTs means of ingratiating itself further with the government during the pandemic. The union took the vulnerability of global supply chains and the resurgence of the class struggle as a cue to step up calls for a partnership to secure critical freight routes in the national interest. Discussions were held on new legislation to set a common poverty-level wage for domestic and overseas workers.

In October 2020, the RMT lauded a proposed government amendment to legislation on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to extend its remit over a range of maritime operations in UK territorial waters. The union claimed in an October 1 press release, A number of ferry, offshore supply chain and coastal trade routes between UK ports are crewed with seafarers recruited and domiciled outside the UK on contracts for basic rates of pay well below the RMT collectively bargained rate and the NMW. Paying crew below the NMW on these routes will be illegal from 1 October 2020.

This followed roundtable talks between the RMT, ministers and officials from the Departments of Business and Transport in September 2020. The RMT stated that all that was necessary was to await subsequent guidance from the government about how the new arrangement would be enforced.

Had the government followed through, the RMT would have succeeded in setting the pitifully low minimum wage (9.50 from April 1, 2022) as the benchmark for British seafarers to be lined up in an internecine conflict over jobs with overseas crews. As the union stated, UK seafarers are now in a better position to compete for these jobs and RMT will be demanding full recognition for all Ratings on all merchant ships working on these routes.

Even this turned out to be hot air. The amended legislation on the NMW included major loopholes, including that it did not apply for ferry services between the UK and continental Europe and Ireland, which P&O Ferries mercilessly exploited by replacing 800 employees with agency staff hired on slave wages.

After falsely claiming victory two years ago, the RMT is cynically using the plight of the sacked P&O workers to push for the implementation of its mercenary agreement with the government to act as a gangmaster of cheap labour. A March 21 press statement reads, RMT has called on Boris Johnson to meet a delegation of sacked P&O workers as it emerged the government have delayed taking action on legislation that would have protected workers for over two years.

The Union has pointed to commitments made in 2020 in a parliamentary debate by [Tory hereditary peer] Minister Viscount Younger of Leckie on the need to introduce legislation to stop shipping companies paying below the minimum wage.

The RMTs response to the brutal actions of P&O Ferries has been toxic nationalism and political deceit. The trade unions are joint architects of the race to the bottom conducted by the shipping and ferry companies owned by transnational corporations such as DP World.

Peter Hebblethwaite speaking at Parliament's transport select committee (screenshot-ParliamentTV)

Its disastrous consequences were underscored by the appearance of P&O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite (base pay, 325,000) before parliaments transport select committee Thursday. He told MPs the replacement staff were being paid an average of 5.50 an hour, with lowest on 5.15, meaning the company had been able to halve its labour costs overnight.

This is only the beginning. According to the rates set by the International Transport Workers' Federation (which claims 677 member organisations in 149 countries representing a combined membership of 19.7 million) and the International Labour Organisation, an Ordinary Seaman can legally be paid as little as $1.99 an hour. Agency staff brought on at 5 to quickly re-crew the ships can be easily brought onto lower wages or replaced in future.

This is why Hebblethwaite, hypocritically criticised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, felt confident to declare before MPs, Id do it again. He added, We weren't viable before, and I know that if we hadn't made radical changes the business would have closed.

Meanwhile, the sacked 800 are being left to their fate. RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch admitted to Thursdays transport committee that workers had been given until that day to accept the companys payoff, agree a nondisclosure and forfeit future legal action. The company claimed Wednesday that 575 workers were in severance discussions.

As the WSWS has explained, What is required is a struggle based on the historic clarion call of the revolutionary working class, Workers of the world, unite! Workers can only oppose the joint offensive of government and corporations by uniting their collective strength in Britain and internationally based on a socialist programme that puts the livelihoods of workers above the profits of the super-rich.
New Zealands left identities have recently swung into action to promote one or other right-wing, pro-business candidate for mayor of Auckland, the countrys largest city. With local elections due in October, the contest is under way to replace incumbent mayor Phil Goff, a former Labour Party leader, who is retiring.

Auckland is New Zealands major urban centre with a large working class. The region covers over 1.66 million people, about 33 percent of the countrys population. As a result, Aucklands affairs occupy a major role in the countrys social, political and economic life. It is also ethnically diverse: 28 percent identify as Asian, 15 percent are of Pacific background and 13 percent Maori.

The region has been at the centre of NZs COVID outbreaks and, with the Omicron variant surging, its schools and hospitals are completely overwhelmed. On Tuesday there were 7,844 active cases in Auckland and 10,561 in the south in Counties Manukau. Over 600 people are in hospital in the region. The nationwide toll this week reached the grim milestone of 200 deaths.

Auckland, New Zealand (Pedro Szekely/Flickr)

The Ardern Labour government, which is responsible for the escalating disaster, will not want it impinging on the mayoral campaign. The party has endorsed as its candidate, Manukau ward councillor Efeso Collins, who has nine years experience as a local Labour politician.

Initially Collins was reportedly not favoured by the party hierarchy; his past statements opposing abortion and gay marriage were considered problematic. His stocks rose through the critical role he played promoting the governments COVID vaccination program in South Auckland, in the face of opposition by some Pacific Island church leaders.

Pseudo-left figures reacted to Collins endorsement with delight. In the style of a religious revival meeting, Daily Blog editor Martyn Bradbury wrote on March 1: REJOICE! OH HOLY DAY! OH BLESSED DAY! Collins is depicted as an anti-establishment outsider who will put the poor first, akin to Bernie Sanders [sic] populism.

Unite union leader Mike Treen posted that Collins would have his vote. Unions Auckland, representing the citys unions affiliated with the NZ Council of Trade Unions, bestowed its endorsement, in a statement shared without comment by the pseudo-left group Socialist Aotearoa. The Green Party is also backing Collins.

A Collins mayoralty is being promoted as historic by Labour and the media on the basis of racial identity politics. He is of Samoan and Tokelauan descent, and if successful will be the first Pacific Islander leader of the city. After the 2020 national election, much was made of the number of Maori and Pacific Island MPs in Labours diverse caucus. This has not prevented it from engineering the biggest transfer of wealth to the rich in New Zealands history.

Collins is being brought forward amid deepening social and economic tensions. In response to the pandemic, Goff imposed an emergency budget in 2020, and by mid-2021 the council had slashed 643 jobs. Collins supported the austerity measures, telling the Pacific Media Network on June 2, 2020, Unfortunately, theres going to be cuts to our services, possibly cuts to jobs, and a whole range of things.

Collins last year supported the councils so-called Recovery Budget, which over the next decade will lift the average rates bill from $2,810 to $4,018 and water from $1,069 to $2,261a 62 percent increase for a typical Auckland household. The budget only passed through the council by a single vote.

Several councillors, excluding Collins, raised concerns over the dire outlook for community assets like libraries, halls, community centres, arts venues and playgrounds where there could be no money to upgrade or replace them. In 2017, Auckland City Libraries axed 194 jobs in a restructure affecting all 55 libraries, part of the councils agenda to reduce social spending.

Working class people in Auckland face a worsening crisis. Charities have reported soaring demand for food parcels, as working families are unable to cope with sharply rising costs, especially food prices and rents. Aucklands housing is among the least affordable in the world, due to rampant speculation in the property market. None of the mayoral candidates, or the Labour government for that matter, has any intention of addressing the crisis.

Composite image showing Efeso Collins and Leo Molloy. (Pictures sourced from their Facebook mayoral campaign pages)

A stream of glowing media profiles is promoting Collins as a man of the people. In one puff piece, Collins told the New Zealand Herald that the moment he decided to run was when, getting off a bus, the Samoan driver put his hand on Collins head, saying: Go for it, son. You talk for our people.

Collins does not speak for the working class, but a privileged social layer whose political advance is based on the promotion of race and gender. He was the first Polynesian to become Auckland University Students Association president in the late 1990s and was then employed as the universitys Pasefika liaison adviser. His student leadership programs were based on the conception that first and foremostyoure Samoan, youre Tongan and youre my brother, youre my sister.

Collins has reassured wealthy residents and investors they have nothing to fear, boasting on the Spinoff about his close working relationship with conservative National Party-aligned councillor Desley Simpson. I represent the poorest ward in the city, and she represents the wealthiest, and we can sit there while other discussions are going on and thrash things out, he said.

In 2018 Collins voted with other South Auckland councillors against a regional fuel tax of 10 cents per litre on petrol because of the impact it would have on their constituents. He has promised to introduce free public transport, while making clear that this would be funded by cost cutting in other areas. With petrol prices skyrocketing, the policy is also being promoted by the Greens and Collins main opponent, businessman Leo Molloy.

Molloy, a restaurateur, has been a leading opponent of public health restrictions on business operations during the pandemic. Last November he provocatively announced his own Freedom Day, declaring he would open his bar on December 1, regardless of COVID-19 restrictions.

While in favour of vaccinations, Molloy promotes the lie that the Omicron variant is essentially harmless. He demands that people live with the virus and has savaged prominent scientists such as Michael Baker and Siouxsie Wiles for their warnings about COVID. Molloy is a friend of fundamentalist Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki and supported his anti-lockdown protest last October.

Molloy bases himself on right-wing populism. Were going to support small business and return it to the glory days of years gone by, he declared and bluntly advocates a bloody good clean-out at Council, targeting the jobs of middle-layer administration staff, about 20 percent of the total workforce.

In an online video posted this week, Molloy proposed installing a system to spray cold water on homeless people, who he called losers, to prevent them from congregating in the city at night.

Joining Molloy as campaign manager is Matt McCarten, who is variously described as a socialist activist or social justice advocate. McCarten has been promoted for decades by pseudo-left groups including Socialist Aotearoa, the International Socialist Organisation and Fightback.

McCarten told Waatea News he joined Molloys campaign because people are angry with professional politicians. McCarten praised Molloy for donating to charities and raising money for Maori initiatives. Speaking as a trade unionist, he said Molloy was a good employer.

McCarten claimed Molloy has a clear plan to deal with the housing crisis, by establishing partnerships to attract a lot of investors, in other words, a pro-business plan to boost investors profits. He has made no comment on Molloys vocal opposition to public health policies or his connections with far-right figures such as Tamaki.

Beginning in the Labour Party in the 1980s, McCarten has dedicated himself to defending capitalism by establishing a series of political safety valves to divert unrest in the working class. He played a central role in leading a split from Labour in 1989, after Prime Minister Lange launched a major assault on the working class, including privatisations and mass redundancies, and co-founded NewLabour.

There followed a succession of positions with fake left formations, including the Alliance which, as a coalition partner in Helen Clarks Labour government, voted in 2001 to commit NZ troops to Afghanistan. He became director of the Unite union, instrumental in corralling highly-exploited young workers in the fast-food industry, and then played a key role in Maori nationalist politics with the openly pro-capitalist Maori Party, then its off-shoot Mana. In 2014, McCarten returned to the Labour Party as chief-of-staff to then opposition leader, David Cunliffe, until 2016.

McCartens shift into his new venture puts him at odds with Collins backers. What unites the pseudo-lefts, however, is their rightward trajectory propping up the increasingly discredited political establishment. The Ardern government, who they all support, faces a growing rebellion from the working class in response to the crisis triggered by the pandemic, economic crisis and war. Whatever their tactical differences, what drives them above all is the need to establish new avenues to defend capitalism.
Over the past week, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine on at least two occasions. Payne has not raised this charge as an allegation that must be investigated, but as a statement of fact.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne [Credit: Australian National University]

Her comments underscore the extent to which the Australian political establishment is marching in lockstep with the US administration of President Joseph Biden. Paynes declarations came immediately after Biden told a reporter that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.

As the WSWS noted in a perspective responding to Bidens remarks:

The accusation tossed off by Biden is among the gravest possible. Raised against the president of a country, the charge encompasses not simply culpability for acts of criminality during the conduct of the conflict, but rather the far greater crime of launching a war of aggression, a crime against peace. The launching of such a war is the ultimate cause of all ensuing bloodshed and war crimes.

Payne made no greater effort than Biden to substantiate her charge against Russia. During an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio interview on Thursday, she merely stated: The intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Payne listed, in the most general terms, instances in which this had purportedly occurred in Ukraine.

Labors shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has not made direct statements on the matter of Russian war crimes this week, but has made similar comments since the invasion of Ukraine.

On March 10, Wong declared: Russia is bombing women and children. This was part of an illegal and immoral war waged against innocent peopleall countries should condemn President Putins actions and support Ukraines sovereignty.

All these statements are aimed at deepening the tensions with Russia and preventing any diplomatic resolution to the crisis. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has invoked Bidens allegation of Russian war crimes to demand that Putin be banned from the G20 meeting in Indonesia later this year.

This is part of a broader war campaign. The US provoked Putins reactionary invasion by overseeing a decades-long eastward expansion of NATO, and by transforming Ukraine into a garrison state on Russias border. Now, it is exploiting the conflict to intensify longstanding plans for war against Russia, aimed at ensuring the hegemony of American imperialism over the Eurasian landmass.

Australia is involved in these efforts, including through the provision of more than $100 million of weaponry to the right-wing, US-backed Ukrainian regime. Australia is playing a key political role, echoing every provocative statement made by Biden, and using the conflict in Ukraine to ratchet-up pressure on China, which is also in the US crosshairs.

As with Bidens declaration that Putin is a war criminal, the most striking aspect of the statements from Wong and Payne is their staggering hypocrisy.

Australia has joined every military intervention launched by the United States since the end of the World War II, from the bombing of Korea in the 1950s, through the rape of Vietnam to the neo-colonial invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and everything between those illegal wars. Millions were killed in these operations, waged for profits, markets, resources and geo-strategic dominance.

These are hardly distant questions of history. As they denounce alleged Russian war crimes, the Liberal-National government, Labor and the entire political establishment are engaged in an ongoing cover-up of Australia war crimes in Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Australian published this morning, Russian envoy to Canberra Alexey Pavlovsky noted Australias role in the illegal invasion of Iraq, a war based on false pretexts that destroyed a sovereign country. Pavlovsky added: As to the Australian politicians supporting these baseless allegations made by the US, Im a little bit surprised with the record the ADF [Australian Defence Force] have in Afghanistan.

Atrocities were undoubtedly committed throughout the two-decade occupation of Afghanistan by the US and its allies, including Australia. They flowed from the character of the war, as a neo-colonial operation directed at the subjugation of an entire population.

Pavlovsky was referencing specific, well-documented and corroborated war crimes by Australian troops. They all occurred under a Labor government, between 2009 and 2013. Many of the killings occurred as a result of the Gillard Labor governments support for a major troop surge by the Obama administration. Australian forces were involved in US-led kill and capture raids, purportedly targeting Taliban representatives and others fighting against the US occupation.

For years, the war crimes, while discussed within military and government circles, were publicly denied and covered up. In June 2019, the Sydney headquarters of the ABC were raided by the Australian Federal Police over stories exposing details of the killings. One of the ABC journalists, Dan Oakes, was threatened with charges under national security laws. The Coalition government, with Labors full support, is continuing with the prosecution of David McBride, a former army lawyer and the source of some of the revelations.

In 2016, the ADF and the government commenced a secretive, in-house review of the allegations. Its heavily-redacted findings were published in the Brereton Report, released in 2020.

The report found evidence of at least 39 murders of Afghan civilians and prisoners by 25 ADF personnel in special forces regiments.

The inquiry established that special forces troops routinely killed people, and then placed a throwdown radio or gun next to their corpse to legitimise the murder. Senior troops engaged in blooding, whereby they supervised a younger soldier murdering a detainee. ADF troops inflicted severe pain on Afghan captives, indicating the use of torture. One episode, though not elaborated, was described as possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australias military history.

The report was a continuation of the cover-up, absolving the military command and governments of any knowledge of the crimes or responsibility for them.

Other evidence has indicated that the war crimes were far more extensive than those documented in the Brereton Report. Figures provided to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission by civilians in Uruzgan Province, when it was primarily occupied by Australian troops, indicate a far higher death toll. The commission received 38 claims of killings and abuse, with a total of 122 killed, including 28 women and children, and 40 injured.

An earlier in-house Australian inquiry into the war crimes, moreover, had received reports that after Australian troops entered occupied villages on a number of occasions, many of the male inhabitants, including boys would be found with their throats slashed.

The government and Labor responded to the findings of the Brereton Report with hand-wringing, and vague statements about a dark day for the military. Their primary concern was that no one be held to account, and that the atrocities not hinder the ability of the ADF to participate in future wars, including the stepped-up US preparations for conflict with China.

In December 2020, when a mid-ranking Chinese official tweeted a condemnation of the war crimes, he was met with a firestorm of condemnation. Prime Minister Morrison, together with Labor leader Anthony Albanese and the entire corporate media, denounced the social media post as offensive. This was a signal for the issue of the war crimes to be dropped from most public discussion.

While the Brereton Report recommended prosecutions, there is no indication that any are planned. The handful of media reports over the past two years on the activities of a federal task force supposedly investigating the prospect of charges, have reported that little progress has been made.

This is all the more extraordinary, given that one killing was captured on video and has repeatedly been aired on national television. It shows an Australian soldier executing a prone and unarmed Afghan youth.

Australian Special Air Service (SAS) soldier murdering unarmed Afghan civilian [Screenshot from video leaked to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in March 2020]

The record demonstrates the utter hypocrisy of the Australian allegations against Russia. Workers and young people must reject the official attempts to cultivate a militarist, wartime atmosphere, and turn instead to the construction of an international anti-war movement, based on a socialist program. One aim of such a movement must be to bring the war criminals, above all in Washington, London and Canberra, to justice.
A growing number of public health experts in Europe and the United States predict that the US will see a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks due to the spread of the highly infectious and immune-resistant Omicron BA.2 subvariant. These assessments are based on the current wave of COVID-19 infections now impacting 18 countries across Europe, where surges have consistently proved a harbinger of another wave in the US.

It is necessary to place the immune evasive characteristics of BA.2 into context, as it will have significant implications for the US. In the UK, despite high levels of population antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, believed to be roughly 9799 percent from vaccinations and previous infections, the Office for National Statistics indicated that between 69 percent of the population tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

Following the explosion in infections in the UK, hospitalizations across England have accelerated upwards again, approaching the highs seen during the last Omicron wave when there were 14,256 admissions in one week in mid-January. After dramatically falling in February, admissions have clawed back up to 12,576. As expected, many of these patients are the elderly and most vulnerable, but there has also been a sharp rise in hospitalization among children, who remain the least vaccinated age group.

Emergency medical technician Thomas Hoang, left, of Emergency Ambulance Service, and paramedic Trenton Amaro prepare to unload a COVID-19 patient from an ambulance in Placentia, Calif., Jan. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The death toll due to COVID-19 in the UK has swung upwards by 22 percent over the previous week. The seven-day average of daily new deaths has doubled since the first day of March, with 128 deaths per day.

Though population immunity in the US from previous infections and vaccinations remains considerable, vaccinations and booster uptakes have been much more stagnant, with less than 3 percent of the population receiving a booster shot in the past two months. This means that the American population can expect a more pronounced impact when the momentum from the surge accelerates.

There is a growing body of evidence of the impending BA.2 surge in the US. First, the number of sequenced cases of the BA.2 version in the US has doubled in the last two weeks and now accounts for 34.9 percent of all new infections. In Europe, COVID-19 cases began to turn upwards when BA.2 sequences surpassed the 50 percent mark, which will likely happen by the end of next week. In New England, half of all sequenced COVID-19 infections are now BA.2.

In Boston, daily cases have jumped almost three-fold in recent days to nearly 200. Former New York City Council Member Mark Levine recently tweeted, Manhattan is driving the current increase in cases in NYC, where test positivity rates are soaring. The 14-day change in daily new cases in New York is up by 44 percent, the highest increase in the country. Twelve states, including six in the Northeast, have reported upward trends, despite overall decreases in population testing and a shift towards home-based rapid antigen test kits that go unreported.

Presently, the national average of daily new cases has started to rise and is now just over 30,000 COVID-19 infections per day. The last time the number of daily new cases across the US were at the current figure was in the early summer months of 2021. Numbers had plummeted to under 13,000, leading President Joe Biden to infamously declare on July 4 that the US had gained its independence from the coronavirus.

Within weeks of this short-sighted gaffe, Delta swept across the country, leading to record hospitalizations and deaths, which was then followed by the even more disastrous Omicron surge. Almost 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in the last nine months, while the cumulative death toll in the US exceeded 1 million this week, according to Worldometers.

Presently, an average of 735 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day. However, the Biden administration has squandered the time provided from the natural ebb of the BA.1 wave to put into place the necessary measures to ensure the country is prepared against future variants. Instead, the White House claims there is no more funding for pandemic preparedness, while refusing to invoke the Defense Production Act to requisition the needed supplies and resources.

The refusal of the entire political establishment to address the pandemic will have devastating consequences for the American population.

Last week, the White House issued a fact sheet noting that without $22.5 billion in immediate emergency funding, the government will not be able to secure sufficient booster doses. Health care providers will no longer be able to submit claims for testing, treating and vaccinating the 25 million uninsured. There is no further funding for monoclonal antibodies or antivirals once existing stockpiles are used. Programs to rapidly identify and assess emerging variants of the virus will be dismantled. The nearly 10 million immunocompromised Americans will be left in the lurch.

One source of essential data on the pandemic state that is infrequently referenced and threatened by a loss of funding is wastewater analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. Wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 has proven effective and reliable and has demonstrated it can detect early surges of cases in communities, acting as an early warning of the need to implement mitigation and containment measures.

Currently, wastewater data reports from California, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and other states have seen a rise in levels of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in their samples, yet no significant warning is made about the dangers of another surge.

Because both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals shed viral fragments in their feces after infection, wastewater is ideal in identifying early community outbreaks. Community outbreaks can be detected weeks before many infected individuals are diagnosed and test positivity rates begin to increase.

Under a rational plan, this would give ample time for public health officials to begin their investigation and end outbreaks before they escalate into uncontrolled community spread. Several studies have demonstrated the accuracy and feasibility of wastewater surveillance and have previously predicted the onset of new waves. However, throughout the pandemic these invaluable tools have been stymied and are not comprehensive, formalized or integrated in the pandemic response guidelines.

CDC leadership, top national public health figures and the political establishment as a whole are entirely disregarding all of these developments with BA.2. After having lifted all mitigation measures nationally during the downturn of the Omicron BA.1 surge, they are now actively downplaying the dangers posed. At most, they acknowledge the inevitability of the BA.2 wave and then minimize the risks it poses to the population with a wave of a hand and false assurances.

Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White Houses chief medical advisor, told ABCs This Week, The bottom line is well likely see an uptick in cases, as weve seen in the European countries, particularly the UK. Hopefully, we wont see a surge. I dont think we will.

Contrary to Faucis dismissal of BA.2, SARS-CoV-2 has repeatedly been shown to be a dangerous virus. There is overwhelming evidence that infections, besides death, lead to the populations sickening.

Recent studies have demonstrated that all-cause mortality among the previously infected increases considerably even with mild COVID-19 infection. Prior infection increases the risk of developing diabetes. The effect on the brain, pulmonary and cardiovascular system will leave hundreds of thousands and potentially millions of people chronically disabled. The dangerous long-term impact is only beginning to be understood.

Fundamentally, the concerns behind allowing BA.2 to rip across the globe are not just for the immediate impact on the populations welfare, which is considerable. Viral evolution will spawn newer variants that constantly adapt to the population immunity, breeding more immune-evasive and contagious versions of themselves. Faucis assumption that this wave will not have the same impact is not borne out by evidence. The new round of mass infection sets the conditions necessary for the following variant that will continue to endanger communities worldwide.

A COVID-19 elimination strategy remains practical and feasible, and is the only strategy that assures a permanent end to the pandemic. It will end the repeated cycle of devastation once and for all, and the lives and well-being of billions will be spared.
To Dinh Quan, a 35-year-old sailor of the ship named Phu An  368/17 TV, met an accident and got injured while the ship was en route to Thailands Phuket island. The ships captain asked for emergency aid for the sailor at Phuket port.



As of 5pm on March 25, Quan was picked up by Thai naval forces and taken to hospital, with entry procedures to be completed later. (Photo: VNA)



The embassy sent a diplomatic note to the Thai Foreign Ministry and competent agencies in Phuket province, asking them to provide relief aid and create all possible conditions to help him access medical services as soon as possible.



As of 5pm on March 25, Quan was picked up by Thai naval forces and taken to hospital, with entry procedures to be completed later.



The embassy said it will continue to coordinate closely with local competent agencies to provide emergency aid for the sailor, and take citizen protection measures when necessary.



Meanwhile, 37-year-old Ho Hoang Hung, from Tan Thanh commune, Can Duoc district, Long An province, arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok on March 2, and travelled to Phuket.



He set off from Phuket on a rubber dinghy on March 9, planning to sail across Andaman to India to look for his wife, whom he has not seen for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



Hung was found by Thai fishermen near the Similan Islands, about 80 kilometres off the Thai mainland on March 23, and taken to the shore by competent forces of Thailand.



The embassy said it contacted Thai naval forces on March 24 and talked to Hung over phone.



According to the embassy, the man is now under medical monitoring at the Phuket hospital, and in stable condition. However, he still needs further mental health checkups.



An official in charge of citizen protection at the embassy told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)s correspondents that Hung had never gone to the embassy for marriage procedures.



He has no intention of returning to Vietnam, but wants to ask for visa extension in Thailand as his visa will expire on March 31, to seek ways to travel to India, the official said.



The embassy has given consultations to Hung regarding legal regulations in Thailand, and asked him to observe local law.



It will continue to coordinate with local competent agencies to deal with emerging issues (if any) and take citizen protection measures when necessary./.
The Teamsters union sabotaged the struggle by 3,000 engineers, conductors and yardmen at CP Rail by agreeing to binding arbitration earlier this week. The terms of the arbitrators ruling have effectively been dictated by the company. Initial statements from both sides indicating that no consideration will be given in the rigged process to the railroads brutal scheduling regime, which forces workers to drive heavily loaded trains unrested, or the draconian disciplinary system, under which workers can be fired for the tiniest of infractions.

The World Socialist Web Site is assisting rail workers to build the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee to organize a rebellion against the Teamsters union and fight for what workers actually need to ensure safe working conditions. As part of this struggle, we spoke to a British Columbia-based rail worker who was victimized and fired by the company under its arbitrary disciplinary powers. We encourage other CP Rail workers to contact us at cpworkersrfc@gmail.com to share your own experiences and help build the rank-and-file committee.

I have recently been dismissed for alleged drug use, the worker told a WSWS reporter. This has been a major issue I have seen in the 10 years I worked in this industry and has only gotten worse with the Canadian governments legalization of marijuana.

Canadian Pacific Railway yard, Port Coquitlam, BC (Roy Luck/Flickr)

Almost exactly two years prior to my dismissal, CP brought out a new drug and alcohol policy that had a zero tolerance for THC use and gave the company the ability to do urine tests. They test for 28 days for any reason they feel meets the criteria, which was common in most safety sensitive workplaces before legalization.

I watched 5 of my coworkers lose their jobs over this new policy. CP made the commitment that if an employee with a drug or alcohol issue came forward, they would be supported by the company and not be punished as long as this self-disclosure came before an incident.

I had been struggling with alcohol for years, so this presented me with an opportunity to get sober and not only improve my work, but also my life. So, I took the opportunity and was instantly pulled from service, put through rigorous questioning and consultation as to be expected. I went to a treatment centre for a month to learn how to deal with this disease. And when I came out, CP allowed me to come back to work on the condition that I stay sober for 2 years and engage in counselling once a month.

The company held me accountable by taking 2 hair samples every 3 months for 2 years. One was for alcohol and one for a pallet of drugs. I went through these tests for 2 years and performed my work well during this time. After 2 years and my last test, I get a call pulling me out of service for a failed drug test. The issue here is I do not touch THC. The positive amount was so incredibly low that it would not even remotely cause intoxication.

The company wasnt buying it. So, the day after getting my results, I went to an established workplace testing facility and got another hair sample taken on my own dime which came back negative for THC. This still was not enough proof for the company, and they had their minds made up to get rid of me for whatever reason. If they followed their own policy, they should have treated it as a relapse and offered me help after 2 years of sobriety. But no, they fired me and left me with nothing.

The worker believes that the company uses these disciplinary measures to get rid of employees who refuse to accept the dangerous working conditions produced by CPs operating procedures. I was H&S (Health and Safety) co-chair for 4 years and just got voted back into the position, he told us. I had no prior incidents with the company. I feel like what got me fired was my H&S position that held them accountable for safety. Sad to see that they could be that petty as to fake a positive drug test to oust an employee for doing his job for his union, the company, and the employees.

I think I was getting on managements nerves because I represented employees and held them accountable. They didnt like the safety concerns I brought forward. They are always trying to bend and supersede safety rules.

Its crazy the way they view it. I was fired for something I didnt do, and CP said I was guilty right away. The union did nothing about it. Its always the employees fault. The only way they could get rid of me was through a false drug test.

He went on to explain that his experience is far from unique. When I first started at CP, they treated employees reasonably, they treated us good, he said. They werent punishing people constantly like they are now. But, three years into my career, Hunter Harrison stepped in and ran CP into the ground. From that point on, Ive seen 15 people get fired for ridiculous and petty things. I agree with serious safety procedures, but they are totally overloading the arbitration with more incidental safety violations. Due to the backlog, youre waiting two years while they do an investigation. So, the company just keeps hammering people with unreasonable things.

When theres an incident, CP reviews the time youve missed, and youll be viewed as a certain level of employee, and the investigation is not going to go in your favour. Regardless of how much time youve put in, the company and management treat you like trash. If you dont do what they say, they will fire you.

Managers are responsible for proficiency testing [a kind of failure quota], and if they dont make the fail quota, they get penalized. So, they are constantly on the lookout for worker failures that only exist so they can blame the workers when accidents happen.

He detailed how this oppressive climate creates the conditions for unsafe working conditions and accidents to proliferate. CP uses fear tactics to keep workers from filing complaints, commented the worker. They say, Safety first, but in reality, the railway is go, go, go. Were not allowed time to stop. We get rushed to do anything.

There is less air brake testing nowadays, and were expected to move more grain, faster. There is less equipment testing, less maintenance, and the government allows it.

Nothing is ever done after the accidents. In fact, they do less, which was proved during the Field accident. And the government is all for it.

This one old guy I know hurt his arm, and CP claimed he was lying about it to get at the company. So, they intimidated and harassed him until he took early retirement. Its disgraceful. HR did nothing about it because theyre in bed with CP and they support CPs side and not the worker with the complaint.

He continued, The Field accident was a perfect example of rushing. Its totally disgusting on CP Rails part. Lucky it was grain being transported and not something else, or it could have been even worse. All this because guys are being rushed by management and unable to follow proper procedures and do proper maintenance.

In my opinion, the Field accident occurred because the train wasnt tied down (securing the parked train with handbrakes). But I still see trains not tied down, so CP is not following its own policies because theyre rushing to move crews on and off these trains. Theyve got to get them off after 10 hours of work, so they run them to the brink and then rush them off so theres no time to tie down the train.

I think it was a holiday and so there was a big push to get the crew out of there, so they were rushed off the train. The train was left with no handbrakes set, and nobody to monitor airflow for the air brakes. They didnt get a new crew out on the train for a long time, long enough so that the cars bled off their air and the locomotives were shut down and not pumping air into the cars. So, there was just a complete lack of air in the reservoirs that you need to maintain a stable braking pressure.

When the new crew came on, the train started to roll, despite the independent brakes being on. You have to remember that they had fully loaded grain cars on a steep grade. As the air started to leak off, the train started to move. At that point you cant do anything. Theres no air and no control. Once the momentum gets going, theres no stopping it. The engineer tried his best to stop it, but you cant with no air. He should have jumped off right away, but they stayed on and tried to save the train.

That accident spot is the worst in Canada. That spot should have had specific protocols, especially in cold weather conditions. Rushing up there shouldnt be any excuse for that to happen. Its unacceptable.

Turning to the current struggle, the worker noted that CP has raked in massive profits during the pandemic, while it has exposed its workforce to the risk of infection with a potentially deadly virus. The company has done extremely well, he said. Throughout the pandemic, theyve had the best quarters theyve ever had! CP is just making crazy money. Why are they not willing to keep employees happy? They are the ones keeping the economy running.

CP just chips away at each contract. They wanted to keep the contract hush hush because they knew it would piss-off members. Before, the pension was never capped. But now, its capped off, so you cant boost your pension past a certain amount. By the time someone at my age retires in a few decades from now, that pension is not going to be enough to live on. You need that open pension. Its really disheartening to see the company take away the pension for employees. This work is not as good as people might think.

He added, The companys goal is to have just one guy in the cab and the train run itself. But a lot of times you have to walk the train. Thats a big part of having two people. If the train goes into emergency mode, it instantly brakes and stops. The conductor has to get out and figure out what the issue is, and they have to remedy it. Its always good to have a pair of people to protect each other. To take away that second person to save money...come on!

You tell the union about contract breaches and they just tell you to grieve it, but meanwhile you keep working and the process could take up to two years or longer.

Theres so much money and collusion with government and union officials that its turned into a giant cluster.

Asked what he thought the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee should fight for, he responded, More reasonable hours, better train lineups. Youre expected to drive a train at 12pm, you plan your day around that and then all of a sudden you dont get called for 6 hours. Or youre called in the middle of the night and now youre driving a train for 10 hours unrested. Guys should be rested when theyre hauling millions of tons of goods through the mountains.

Your life is the company. Your actual life is secondary to the job. You spend more time on the job, or waiting for a phone call, or planning around their schedule, than in your actual life. The union does nothing. They say, If you dont like it, dont work.
The current spread of COVID-19 cases in China is continuing, driven by the highly infectious Omicron strain and even more contagious BA.2 variant of Omicron. The public health measures taken by Chinese authorities appear to have largely contained multiple outbreaks in major cities over the past three weeks, with the national total of daily infections running at around 4,000 and 5,000. These are by far the highest figures since the initial COVID outbreak in the city of Wuhan in 2020 was suppressed.

A health worker in protective suit takes a throat swab sample from a resident at an outdoor coronavirus testing site, Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

The latest report from Chinas National Health Commission recorded 1,366 new cases of confirmed infections and another 3,622 new asymptomatic cases on March 24 nationally. While the focus of attention has been on a major outbreak in the northeastern province of Jilin, the latest concerns are with Shanghai, which by some estimates is Chinas largest city, and a major manufacturing and financial centre.

According to the National Health Commission, Shanghai identified only 27 new symptomatic cases on March 24 but a large number of asymptomatic cases1,582across a number of the citys districts, the highest being 489 in Minhang district. Two weeks ago, the total number of cases in Shanghai was less than 100. As in other cities where outbreaks have occurred, authorities have rapidly instituted mass testing, contact tracing and the isolation and treatment of confirmed cases, as well as the lockdown of neighbourhoods most at risk.

The US and international media are responding to the latest surge in China with a deluge of propaganda aimed at blackening Beijings dynamic zero-COVID measures and pressing for China to adopt the criminal let it rip policy that has led to a million deaths in the United States alone.

An article published yesterday by the British-based Guardian entitled Frustration with COVID response grows in China as daily cases near 5,000 was typical. It drew together a series of disparate complaints and criticisms expressed on Chinese social mediafrom concerns over access to food and other essentials and frustration over testing, to a trending topic on Weibo, Chinas equivalent of Twitter entitled, Why cant China lift safety measure just like foreign countries?

The Guardian failed to make the obvious distinction between criticisms over deficiencies in the overall zero-COVID policy, which is overwhelmingly supported by the population, and those who are pushing for its complete overturna relatively small social layer of sections of business and the upper-middle class.

The article highlighted the death of a nurse who attempted to gain treatment for acute asthma, claiming that she had gone from hospital to hospital only to be turned away. In fact, the tragedy occurred when the nurse went to the hospital where she worked, only to find that the emergency department was closed for disinfection due to the pandemic. She was taken to a nearby hospital and later died.

The central focus of Western media coverage, alongside adding another prong to the demonisation of China, is an underlying concern about the economic impact of pandemic lockdowns on global supply chains and the global economy more broadly. As the worlds largest manufacturer and second largest economy, China not only produces goods for many of the worlds largest corporations but its economic growth is a significant driver for global economic growth.

CNN for instance last week cited estimates by Goldman Sachs analysts that a four-week lockdown of 30 percent of China could reduce its gross domestic product (GDP) by around 1 percentage point. It also referred to Nomura analysts who predicted that the zero-COVID strategy would make it hard for Beijing to achieve its 5.5 percent growth target for 2022. Lower growth in China would only contribute to the economic turmoil produced by the pandemic globally, now compounded by supply chain disruptions caused by the escalating war in Ukraine.

The Chinese Communist Party leadership (CCP) has adhered to its zero-COVID policy for more than two yearssuccessfully suppressing the initial Wuhan outbreak and subsequent outbreaks, which have all been associated with infections that have entered from outside China, including the latest Omicron variants. The strategy stems in large measure from widespread popular support rooted in the sentiment arising from the 1949 Chinese revolution that peoples social needs should take priority. The CCP, which has presided over four decades of capitalist restoration, is deeply fearful of any social opposition and continues to promote itself as the defender of peoples welfare.

The CCP regime, however, is undoubtedly under considerable pressure to dispense with its zero-COVID policy not only from the Western media, global investors and corporations, but from powerful sections of business within China, as well as upper-middle class layers who regard public health restrictions as an intolerable imposition on their lifestyles.

Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the first indication that the government could shift its policy when he reportedly told a meeting of the CCPs Politburo Standing Committee that China must strive to achieve the maximum prevention and control at the least cost, and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development. The committee is Chinas top decision-making body.

While deliberately vague and ambiguous, Xis comments appear to have opened up a broader public debate among the countrys health experts, including in Shanghai. Unlike other cities previously hit by significant COVID outbreaks, Shanghai has not implemented a city-wide lockdown at this stage, even though infection numbers continue to climb.

Wu Fan, a member of the Shanghai government expert panel on COVID-19, is cited on a South China Morning Post twitter video as saying on March 20 that the city did not have the luxury of imposing a full lockdown. Shanghai is irreplaceable to Chinas economy If the whole city stood still for a week or 10 days, it could be beneficial to curbing the pandemic. But the loss would be unbearable for small businesses and ordinary people, he stated.

On Tuesday, the chief government epidemiologist Liang Wannian insisted China must not waver and stick to its plan, while waiting for a range of things to happen: outbreaks to ease overseas, the virus to mutate to become less dangerous, and better treatments and vaccines to become available.

In a Weibo post on Thursday, Shanghai epidemiologist Zhang Wenhong said maintaining a normal life should be stressed as much as the dynamic zero-COVID policy. He called on authorities to ensure peoples livelihoods, alleviate the pressures on hospitals and protect private businesses while fighting the COVID outbreak.

These problems exist and we should not avoid them, Zhang said. In the future fight against the epidemic, we must solve these problems one by one. Otherwise, success against the outbreak will mean less. Zhang last year came under fire for comments hinting that China needed a long-term strategy for coping with the pandemic.

The public discussion in China, however, is a far cry from the homicidal herd immunity policy adopted by governments around the world. Commenting last week on the huge COVID surge in Hong Kong where public health restrictions have been eased, Zhang declared that an opening up approach would be disastrous for China. He called for a moderate and sustainable lasting strategy once the current outbreaks have been contained.

The Western media commentary is pressing China to adopt the live with the virus policy that conservative estimates suggest would mean the death of over a million Chinese citizens this year alone. While media pundits speculate on why China has not adopted such a policy, the real question is why governments around the world have not learnt from the methods successfully employed in China to suppress the pandemic. Putting profits ahead of lives has led to the preventable death of millions and the emergence of more infectious and dangerous variants that now threaten an even greater catastrophe.
As NATO continues to recklessly escalate the war in Ukraine, it is high time that President Biden be asked two questions: 1) When in your campaign for the presidency did you state that you would risk a nuclear war with Russia? 2) Based on intelligence information provided to you by Pentagon and CIA advisers, how many hundreds of millions, or billions of people, do you expect will die in the United States, Europe and throughout the world in a nuclear exchange with Russia?

First launch of a Trident missile on January 18, 1977 at Cape Canaveral, Florida [Credit: U.S. Navy file photo]

In the media and the discussions among capitalist politicians, it appears that not only a political, but also a psychological Rubicon has been crossed. The real danger that the NATO-Russia war may lead to the use of tactical nuclear weapons and, from there, develop into the firing off of strategic nuclear weapons is now acknowledged widely. But rather than warning that this must be avoided at all costs, the use of nuclear weapons is being openly viewed as a legitimate option.

Nuclear weapons have only been used once, and that was by the United States. In August 1945, President Harry Truman authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The combined loss of life is estimated to have been 200,000 people. Truman later stated that he didnt lose a nights sleep over his decision. This monstrous crime was justifiedand is justified to this day by the US governmentwith the long-discredited claim that the dropping of atomic bombs was necessary to compel the surrender of Japan. But this claim aside, the significance of this act as an exposure of the ruthlessness and brutality of which American imperialism is capable was explained by the noted historian Gabriel Jackson:

In the specific circumstances of August 1945, the use of an atomic bomb showed that a psychologically very normal and democratically-elected chief executive could use the weapon just as the Nazi dictator would have used it. In this way, the United Statesfor anyone concerned with moral distinctions in the conduct of different types of governmentblurred the difference between fascism and democracy.

In 1950 General Douglas MacArthur argued for the dropping of atomic bombs on China during the Korean War. But by then the Soviet Union had developed its own nuclear bomb. Truman was not willing to risk escalating the war to the point that it could develop into a conflict with a nuclear-armed power.

Sections of the Washington establishment, represented most notoriously by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, insisted that the United States willingness to use strategic nuclear weapons was a critical element of foreign policy.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s the world was haunted by the specter of nuclear war. It provided the nightmarish background for countless novels and films. As both a novel and a film, Nevil Shutes On the Beachthe story about the last weeks of life in Australia after a nuclear war, which produces deadly radioactive fall-out that encircles the globehad a profound impact on international public opinion.

The scale of the danger became all too clear during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Two weeks of tense negotiations between Washington and Moscow narrowly averted disaster. In two important films that were released in the aftermath of the crisis, Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove, disaster was not averted.

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world came to a nuclear war during this period. It was followed by the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and a number of other arms control treaties, as the United States pursued a policy in relation to the Soviet Union of detente. The generally accepted doctrine was that of mutually assured destruction, that a nuclear war was unthinkable because it would involve the annihilation of the population of all countries involved. The uniquely appropriate acronym for this policy was MAD.

In recent years, the possibility of using nuclear weapons has emerged as a subject of debate among war planners in Washington. A central element of this debate is the counterpoising of tactical to strategic nuclear weapons, which is based on the assumption that tactical weapons are low-yield bombs whose effect is geographically limited (to a specific battlefield or industrial facility), and whose consequences can be controlled.

In 2017, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments published a report declaring, As opposed to the global apocalypse envisioned in the wake of a superpower nuclear exchange during the Cold War, there will very likely be a functioning world after a war. A separate report by the organization was titled Rethinking Armageddon.

This week, the New York Times wrote, Today, both Russia and the United States have nuclear arms that are much less destructive  their power just fractions of the Hiroshima bombs force, their use perhaps less frightening and more thinkable.

This dangerous assumption has been challenged even within the foreign policy establishment and military. In an article on tactical nuclear weapons published in 2019, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warned:

[T]he distinction between a strategic and non-strategic nuclear weapon or mission is inherently fuzzy and will probably remain so, given that strategic nuclear weapons can be used in a tactical manner and that any use of a nuclear weapon, no matter how small the yield or short the range, would have far-reaching strategic consequences. This sentiment was echoed by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis in February 2018, when he testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee that he does not believe that there is any such thing as a tactical nuclear weapon. Any nuclear weapon used any time is a strategic game changer.

Nevertheless, the outbreak of NATO-instigated war with Russia has witnessed the further erosion of restraints on the use of nuclear weapons.

Over the past week, the US and NATO powers have held a series of meetings that amount to war councils, organizing a vast further militarization of its Eastern Flank, including the deployment of tens of thousands of troops. They also discussed a proposal from Poland to send a NATO peacekeeping force into Ukraine, which Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, said Friday would mean World War III.

As the logic of the war unfolds, the possibility of a direct conflict between the two most heavily-armed nuclear powers is not taken as a warning for the necessity of bringing it to a conclusion as rapidly as possible. There are no proposals for organizing a cease fire, for emergency discussions and negotiations.

The statements of NATO leaders, and particularly Biden, are deliberately provocative and incendiary. Denunciations of Putin as a thug and a war criminal can only be understood by Putin as a personal threat. There is a strange contradiction to the Biden administrations policy. On the one hand, they proclaim Putin to be the next Hitler, and on the other hand they assume that he will behave in a rational manner without resorting to more extreme measures.

The world is being taken to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe by the US and other major NATO power governments whose leaders are making decisions in secret while concealing the real geopolitical and economic interests in whose behalf they are acting. The Russian capitalist government, having launched its desperate and reactionary invasion of Ukraine, has also engaged in provocative nuclear saber rattling.

The New York Timeswhich is leading the propaganda campaign for escalating the warpromoted an AP poll Thursday purporting to find that 56 percent of the population think that Bidens response to the Russian invasion is not tough enough. The question was phrased by the pollster to produce the desired answer. A very different answer would have been given if those questioned had been asked: Do you agree that Ukraines right to join NATO is worth nuclear incineration and the extinction of life on this planet?

The staggering recklessness, the nonchalant way in which the ruling class risks nuclear war, can only be understood in relation to the environment created by the pandemic. All of the governments making decisions upon which the fate of mankind rests have demonstrated over the past two years their total disregard for human life.

UK Prime Minster Boris Johnsons statementNo more f**cking lockdowns, let the bodies pile high in their thousandsonly expressed in the most crude form the policy adopted by all the major capitalist countries, Russia included. The result has been the needless death of 20 million people. If 20 million deaths are an acceptable cost to advance the interests of the oligarchy, why not 200 million in war?

The extreme recklessness testifies not only to imperialist ruthlessness in the pursuit of its geostrategic interests, but also to the crisis and desperation of a ruling elite in confronting intractable domestic crises.

The American ruling class believes that it can blast its way out of every problem. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was the cult of precision guided munitions, which would supposedly ensure that the US could conquer the Middle East and Central Asia. With every one of these wars ending in catastrophe, the turn is to tactical nuclear weapons. It is a logic of a ruling class that has driven humanity to a dead end.

Whatever the immediate outcome of the current crisis, one conclusion is clear: Political and social control must be taken out of the hands of the capitalist oligarchy, and the future development of society placed in the hands of the international working class.
Yesterday, thousands of Australian school students, along with workers and other young people attended rallies across the country to protest the inaction of governments on climate change.

More than 20 School Strike 4 Climate events were held in Australia yesterday, as part of a global youth demonstration with rallies in more than 600 locations worldwide. Some 2,000 took part in Sydney, with similar numbers in Melbourne. Several hundred attended in the regional working-class city of Newcastle in New South Wales.

A section of the Newcastle rally [WSWS Media]

The young people expressed grave concerns, about not just climate change, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the growing threat of nuclear war and the overall social crisis caused by capitalism.

By contrast, the official speakers at the rallies raised none of these broader political questions. Instead, the organisers attempted to channel the protesters anger and frustration into criticisms of Prime Minister Scott Morrison as an individual. Futile appeals to Morrison were combined with the promotion of illusions in Labor and the Greens. This was sharply expressed by a last minute change of venue for the Sydney demonstration to the prime ministers residence, Kirribilli House.

International Youth and Students for Social Equality campaigners at the rallies raised with the young protesters that the climate crisis, along with the pandemic and drive to war, are products of the capitalist system. None of these issues can be addressed through appeals to the official capitalist parties. Instead, students and youth must turn to the construction of a revolutionary and socialist movement of the working class (read the IYSSE statement distributed at the rallies: To end climate change, war and the pandemic, take up the fight for world socialism!).

****

IYSSE campaigners spoke to students in Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne and attended a Brisbane protest that was affected by heavy rains.

Elodie and Robbie, high school students in Melbourne, said the approach of Australian and international governments to climate change was a disgrace. Elodie said, I wouldnt even call it action, theres been no action.

A section of the Melbourne rally [WSWS Media]

Both agreed capitalism was responsible. Robbie said: Capitalism is about corporations that want profit. That includes building factories, using fossil fuels, fracking, all of those things which are horrible for the environment but its about making a profit, not about caring about the people whose communities theyre destroying. I think thats largely the fault of capitalism.

They pointed to the necessity for an international response to climate change. Robbie said: Just because some countries arent specifically affected by climate change as we are or as much as other areas are, it doesnt mean it doesnt matter. Its a global effort to stop climate change.

Elodie agreed: All countries have to come together to battle this problem. Its a global issue. We cant do this alone. I think money shouldnt be going to the military. I think money should be going to tackling climate change. Militarisation is never the answer to anything.

Robbie said: I think that when we fund the military too much, we give the impression to other countries that we want to be in a war, that we want to engage in violent activities just to claim whats ours or fight over nothing. And I think that we shouldnt be spending money on that. We could be spending money on much more useful things, like climate change, giving better help to indigenous communities, all of those things that matter more than militarisation.

Yasmyn and Mackenzie

Students Yasmyn and Mackenzie also attended the Melbourne rally. Mackenzie said: The governments are not doing enough about climate change and its a big issue. They dont care about our future, they only care about money.

Speaking about the escalating conflict in Ukraine, Yasmyn said: If nuclear weapons start coming into the mix, then no ones going to win.

She raised the brutal role of the US over the past two decades: 9/11 happened and the US thought it would be a good idea to retaliate and theyve been bombing the Middle East for decades. They had no reason. They killed more people in the Middle East than were killed in 9/11.

The US government wouldnt care [if millions died overseas from nuclear weapons] because, at the end of the day, they dont care about the people. They care about money and power. Thats been clear with the whole COVID crisis and the Middle East. Its all about money.

Rosie

Rosie, a Year 10 student, said she had come to the Melbourne rally because: I just want to get my voice out there.

In our generation, everyone is stepping up and I think thats such a great thing. Its great the crowd were seeing today, all different ages. Theres women and men in their sixties speaking up for the world.

Rosie formerly lived in California, and told WSWS reporters about her experience with major bushfires. She said: Oh my god it was awful, especially where I lived, every day you had to wear a mask for the smoke and it affected day to day life. Theres no funding for firefighting. Communities were destroyed, it was awful.

Zoe

Zoe, also in Year 10, said: Nothing is being done to help the environment. Our earth is changing and its being destroyed by what we are doing. Im here to protest because we need to stop this. We need to cut back on fossil fuels, move to renewables and save the earth before its too late.

The government no longer has a duty of care over our generation. They are against helping the climate, and theyre hardly doing anything to help people that are affected by the bushfires or by the floods. They have the money, but theyre putting it towards war.

Audrey

Audrey, a Sydney high school student, said she had come to the rally because, I think this is one of the only ways I can make a difference as a young person. I dont have any political power; I cant vote.

The Morrison government, with the floods, the bushfires, the vaccine rollout, the lockdowns, theyve handled it poorly because they dont care about the Australian people. Their main interest is not the wellbeing of citizens but their own profit. Its the same with the environmental crisis.

All the major political parties in Australia are just concerned with profit. Environmentalism and stopping global warming is not going to be profitable. Anything that is going to cost money, they ignore.

I dont think climate change is going to be solved by all the countries working separately. I think we can only really, truly, make a big difference if everyone works together.

A section of the Sydney rally [WSWS Media]

Chloe, another high school student at the Sydney rally, said: Scott Morrisons attitude to climate change is disgusting. I dont think he believes in it, and if he does, he doesnt care. Thats just insane to me because it will really harm all of humanity in the next few decades. Already weve seen bushfires like in 2019 which were amplified by climate change.

But the major parties are all kinda sucky when it comes to action on climate change. Theyre all focussed on money. They dont want to do anything because Australias economy relies heavily on coal. But money doesnt matter in the long run if were all dead.

In Australia, you can see that the capitalist parties are ignoring the climate and other issues our society faces in order to keep powerful people and companies wealthy. Its disgusting.

My friend actually spoke at one of these rallies a couple of years ago, but she cant be here today because of COVID. Its been pretty bad. Most people in my year at school have had COVID. The Year 7s couldnt come to school for a few weeks, because around a third of their year got sick.

So many people passed away because the government was focussed on opening back up. The lockdowns could have been handled a lot better. They could have kept small businesses afloat, while also making the public more safe, especially immune-compromised people, who still risk their lives coming outside.

COVID is still so prevalent right now and it is still taking so many lives. This could definitely have been avoided.

Bee

Bee, a 17-year-old student in Newcastle, said: Ive been part of climate strikes in Newcastle for a couple of years now. I think its important to be rallying for things we believe in. The prioritisation of society somehow needs to change towards peoples wellbeing and general health.

I think theres a relationship between capitalism and climate change. Theres a hesitancy to stop using fossil fuels, theyre worried about massive profit losses.

Ive actually started reading some Marxist theory, I have a somewhat loose understanding. I wanted to know what it was about. I saw a copy of the Communist Manifesto in a bookstore and thought I would give it a go.
An email from the Department of Education obtained by National Public Radio (NPR) indicates that the Biden administration may extend the freeze on student loans, started under the Trump administration, for a fourth time. The email directed loan servicing companies not to reach out to borrowers about the May 1 deadline, despite these companies being required to give a month's notice before repayment begins.

The email follows on the heels of an appearance by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on the podcast Pod Save America where he hinted that it was possible the repayment pause could be extended beyond the May 1 deadline.

There is no doubt that the motivation behind the delay in restarting the debt payments is a cynical political calculation. The Democratic Party is planning to use the delay to posture as proponents of some form of debt forgiveness in the midterm elections.

President Joe Biden speaks from Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol to mark the one year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

While campaigning for president Biden declared repeatedly that we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues.

However, those who hold student loan debt must be warned, the current proposal under consideration for forgiveness is actually a restructuring of student debt, a far cry from Bidens original pledge.

The magnitude of the proposed relief pales in comparison to the mountain of student debt.

Even if his campaign promise was applied to all the 43.4 million federal student loan borrowers, it would entail $434 billion in forgiven loans, only a little more than a quarter of the $1.61 trillion in federal student loans. Outstanding private student loans, which stand at $136.31 billion according to Nerdwallet, would not be canceled under this arrangement. Moreover, Total Parent Plus debt, where parents take on debt on behalf of their student children, constituting $103.6 billion in debt and 3.6 million borrowers, would be untouched.

Even more importantly, there is no plan to reduce, let alone eliminate the astronomical education costs that currently prevail. This means that the one-time forgiveness would not do anything for future borrowers. Students would still go into massive amounts of debt because of the astronomical cost of college. Loan companies and the federal government would continue to profit off of student loans, and higher education would continue on its trajectory towards being a privilege afforded to the wealthy instead of a public good for all.

Despite this reality, the mainstream media has sought to portray Bidens actions on student debt as somewhat progressive. Forbes recently reported, for example, that Biden has forgiven $15 billion in debt. Not only does this figure represent a drop in the bucket of the total debt, but it also covers up more devious actions. The figure cited by Forbes includes people involved in public service loan forgiveness, which has existed for decades. Nerdwallet accurately described it as a federal program designed to encourage students to enter relatively low-paying careers, forgiveness of now-defunct ITT Tech student loans (ITT is a private university that abruptly closed in 2016), and Borrower Defense to Repayment, which covers loans to defunct institutions.

Tweet from Biden in 2020 where he promised student debt forgiveness

That is, a small section of student loan borrowers have become disabled and are unable to make repayments, been able to prove they were defrauded by either a scam or hold a degree from a non-existent institution, or work a low-paying job and have therefore been granted forgiveness.

Additionally, the Department of Education identified 100,000 borrowers with $6.2 billion in cancellable debt as part of an October 2021 change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness rules, which has also been touted in the media as a great victory for students. This figure constitutes a fraction of the total student loan borrowers and total debt (0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively). Moreover, this change mainly involves adjustments in how payments are counted towards forgiveness, such as counting prior student loan payments towards forgiveness, payments made before loans are consolidated, getting credit towards forgiveness if the wrong repayment plan was used, and similar matters.

Even the debt forgiveness plans that are presented as more radical, upon closer look, are incredibly limited and unserious. For example, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed student loan cancellation be limited to student loan borrowers who earn up to $125,000, with the possibility of Congress or the president setting an even lower threshold, much like the stimulus check for the COVID-19 pandemic which had a $75,000 income threshold.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who advocated extending the payment freeze to at least 2023 explained that her reason for continuing the freeze is to fix the broken repayment system. The Washington Post wrote at the time that Murray said she is pleased to see the administration considering another extension because there is plenty of work to do before payments resume.

Chief on the list is to finalize a new income-driven repayment plan. The fix consists of consolidating four income driven plans into one, a far cry from canceling student debt, let alone making higher education affordable.

Student loans are also on the government's balance sheet, meaning that any forgiveness would be paid for by a cut to social spending.

Just as the Democrats have removed all remaining pandemic protections amid mass death and infections so that big banks and corporations could continue to profit, they are moving to shift ever more money towards the military as part of the drive by US imperialism to war with Russia and China. The US military budget passed in the Senate stands at a whopping $782 billion. While both parties claim there is no money for student loan forgiveness or for making higher education free, trillions are expended on war and propping up Wall Street.

Biden himself holds a great deal of responsibility for the student debt crisis from his time as a US senator from Delaware. His home state is infamous as the location of choice for giant corporation headquarters seeking to evade taxes, regulations and scrutiny of all kinds, something which the president often brags about. In 2005, along with 17 other Democratic senators, he voted to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which tightened the bankruptcy code so that private student loans were stripped of bankruptcy protections.

Biden received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from credit card companies preceding the vote. The tightening of bankruptcy protections led to the tripling of debt over the course of a decade, locking student debtors in endless ruinous payments.

For the Biden administration, student debt forgiveness is a convenient slogan used to try to deceive a section of young voters.

Workers and youth looking for a solution to this crisis or any of the other major crises must take up the fight for socialism, independent from the parties and representatives of Wall Street.
Terry Telfer, 74, died March 23, 2022, at his home in Temperance, Michigan of natural causes. Terry was a member of the Socialist Equality Party and a writer for the WSWS for two decades. He is survived by his wife Ann; son Daniel; stepsons Jeremy, Jason and Joshua; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Terry was won to Trotskyism on the basis of the SEPs program during the time of the protests against the Iraq war in 2003. He was attracted by its internationalist perspective, its commitment to the interests of the working class, its fight against war, and its opposition to Democratic Party and pseudo-left politics.

Terrys contributions and presence will be sorely missed. Beneath a calm and patient demeanor, Terry possessed a fierce commitment to the liberation of the working class from exploitation. He remained dedicated to that struggle until the end of his life.

Terry Telfer

Terry taught at Monroe County Community College (MCCC) for 25 years. As a professor in the English department he taught English Composition, Introduction to Poetry and Drama, Introduction to Short Story and Novel, American Literature, Womens Writings, British Literature: Romantic to Modern, History of American film, Film and Society: 1920s to 1960s and Film and Society: 1960s to the Present, among other courses. Several of those courses were his own creation.

In a tribute at the time of his retirement from the college in 2017, granting him emeritus status, an assistant to the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences noted that Terry had motivated, inspired and guided thousands of students in their writing, reading, and analyses of cinema and literature. This was surely no exaggeration.

In an article published in the MCCC student newspaper, Agora, in 2017, devoted to Terrys teaching career, MCCC history professor Edmund La Clair observed that Terry was deeply interested in historyit was actually one of the fields he wanted to be in. His passion there has always been 19th Century American history and literature. We often talk about Herman Melville and Bartleby, the Scrivener.

Hes a brilliant enough man, La Clair continued, to have taught at a four-year research university, but he grew up as a working-class kid. He worked in factories before going back to college. Hes brought his love of learning here, and were lucky to have that.

Terry was born in Monroe soon after World War II, when the southeastern Michigan city was a significant industrial center. It was headquarters to the firm, founded in 1919, that eventually manufactured the Monroe Shock Absorber, the best known such product in the world, used by most American car manufacturers through the 1950s.

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1974, Terry worked for a publishing company in Cincinnati as a proofreader. In 1991, he received a doctorate in both Early American Literature and Early American History from Bowling Green University in Ohio.

Speaking of his childhood to Agora in 2017, Terry explained that on my dads side, they were what they used to call Roosevelt Democrats. My mothers side wasnt political, but they all came from down there in Appalachia. He went on, We had a lot of political talksmy mothers family didnt talk politics, my dads family lived for it. So every dinner was that, and when his brothers and uncle came over thats what they did for the weekend: drink and talk politics. Terrys mother came from northern Tennessee and his father from Illinois; they were married in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1946.

In one of the articles Terry wrote for the WSWS (under the name Charles Bogle) that must have had a special significance for him, Closing of Monroe, Michigan factory marks the end of a way of life (September 18, 2007), he noted that the closing of the Ford Motor Co. subsidiary Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) was particularly ominous in light of the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs during the past 30 years in Monroe.

A community that once offered hope, he wrote from personal experience, for generations of immigrants and transplants from the South is being gutted by the lethal combination of financial profiteering and a complicit, impotent union bureaucracy [in the UAW].

Monroe, Terry continued, was also once a thriving center for the manufacture of paper and paper-related products. River Raisin Paper Co. (est. 1911), Monroe Corrugated Box Co. (1917), Monroe Paper Products Co. (1921) [where Terrys father once worked] and Consolidated Paper Co. (1921) provided good-paying jobs to generations of Monroe citizens, but all of these plants and jobs are now gone. Furniture-maker La-Z-Boy once manufactured its products in Monroe, but only the headquarters remain in the Michigan city, as its furniture is now made largely in China. ...

In the early twentieth Century, immigrant Europeans found work in the paper mills; during the Great Depression and after WWII, both black and white workers migrated from the South, particularly Appalachia, to work in the steel and automobile factories.

In the same 2017 Agora article, Terry explained that hed had a grandmother who was a manic reader  Shed come over for Sunday dinner about once a month, and shed be reading in her chair. Then shed fall off to sleep for maybe five to ten minutes; then shed wake up and start reading again. All she did was read.

She gave me the collected works of Charles Dickens when I was about seven or eight. That had a big influence on me. This history, rich with politics, social struggle, economic convulsion and culture, indicates something important about Terryhe was a working class intellectual who devoted himself to educating others about critical political and artistic problems. Culture was critical to him, above all, because it meant the intellectual development and uplifting of his class.

Terrys background and interests attracted him to the Trotskyist movement when he encountered the World Socialist Web Site and met the SEP in 2003. In one of his last discussions with SEP members before his untimely death, he stressed that he was particularly drawn to the internationalist perspective of the International Committee of the Fourth International and its commitment to historical truth. Many of his early discussions with party members focused on what happened in the Soviet Union, the origins of Stalinism, and the continuity of the Trotskyist movement embodied in the ICFI.

Terry invited SEP members to speak at dozens of events over the years at MCCC. He presented a variety of films to his students and to the college community at large, including the Iranian film The Mirror (Jafar Panahi), Orson Welles Citizen Kane, Ken Loachs Land and Freedom and the indispensable documentary of the Russian Revolution, Tsar to Lenin (produced by Herman Axelbank). He also hosted discussions on postwar film noir and the media and social inequality. Terry did not shy away from difficult material or give an inch to political prejudices.

Terry helped campaign among striking Cooper Tire workers in Findlay, Ohio in 2011. He frequently brought students to University of Michigan International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) meetings in Ann Arbor. The SEP held meetings at MCCC on the Egyptian Revolution and the 2012 and 2016 SEP election campaigns.

His nearly 75 articles on the WSWS, dating back to 2003, cover a wide variety of subjects, including the state of the community colleges and cuts in education; poverty; American history and the Enlightenment; silent films and film noir; contemporary films and television (John Adams, 2008); film biographies and personalities (for example, Barbara Stanwyck, Nicholas Ray, D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Marlon Brando); the 75th anniversary of the historic Toledo Auto-Lite strike; the destruction of Yugoslavia by the US and NATO; the Hollywood blacklist and the censorship of American filmmaking; and labor history.

One of his early articles for the WSWS, Secularism and the American Constitution (July 18, 2005), was a response to the attack on the separation of church and state by politicians of both capitalist parties. Terry wrote: In the United States, the decay of democracy has taken the form, given the collapse of the trade unions and the political putrefaction of American liberalism, of an ultra-right minority, basing itself on the most reactionary religious ideologies, accumulating enormous power. Under conditions in which bourgeois democratic forms of rule are breaking down, and the working class has yet to understand its revolutionary tasks, this ultra-right minority has come to exercise a virtual veto power on the policies of the government.

Reviewing a collection of Hollywood films in Film noir and postwar America (July 1, 2008), Terry commented on the period and the society in which he grew up. During the years 1948 to 1955, the US underwent a striking political transformation. The real face of postwar American capitalism showed itself, and the illusion that the New Deal would lead to serious social reform was dashed. The US emerged as the dominant imperialist power in the world and for reasons of both foreign and domestic policy, launched the crusade against communism. Officially sponsored fear and suspicion attended the unfolding of the Cold War.

In one of his later articles, Early Women Filmmakers: An International AnthologyA largely untold story (August 17, 2017), Terry reaffirmed his commitment to the truth-telling and subversive possibilities of film and art. He noted that the anthology in question was an important contribution to our fuller understanding of the crucial role women directors played in the development of film as an art form. In the process, many of them wrote about the oppression of women as the result of capitalisms class divisions and the economic and social inequality that follow. Contemporary filmmakers, male and female, would do well to follow their example instead of remaining tethered to the gender politics spewed forth by academia and the media.

Terry was devoid of demagogy or the desire to show off or impress. His work and his personality were marked by honesty, sincerity, objectivity.

The 2017 Agora article ended on an appropriate note:

Telfer himself has been part of the Socialist Equality Party for the last two decades. He clarifies that it is very much different than the Socialist Party of America. Its recognized as the only actual Marxist party out there. Period, he says. For a lot of people out there, especially on what they call the Pseudo-Left, thats not good, but thats their problem.

Its a life-long thing. Thats what I do until I dont do anything anymore.
The Australian political and foreign policy establishment met with uproar a leaked draft memorandum of understanding on military cooperation between Solomon Islands and China. The draft agreement threatens to undermine one of the longstanding pillars of US and Australian imperialist strategy in the regionshutting rival powers out of the South Pacific.

The Solomons government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare switched the countrys diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China in 2019. Honiara and Beijing have since deepened their relationship, including on security issues.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (Photo: solomons.gov.sb)

China last month donated police equipment and has sent six police trainers to work with Solomon Islands officers. When this development was first mooted last December, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reporter stated that in Canberra privately officials are fuming. The Solomon Islands and China have nevertheless proceeded, and on March 18 signed a memorandum of understanding on police cooperation.

The draft framework agreement on security cooperation includes clauses potentially giving the Chinese military wide scope to operate within Solomon Islands.

Chinese police officer leading a training session in Honiara [Credit: Royal Solomon Islands Police Force]

The document outlines that Honiara can request a military intervention to assist in maintaining social order, protecting peoples lives and property, providing humanitarian assistance, carrying out disaster response, or providing assistance on other tasks.

In addition: China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of Solomon Islands, make ship visits to carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands, and the relevant forces of China can be used to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in Solomon Islands.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Sogavare government confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document, stating: Solomon Islands is working to broaden its security and development cooperation with more countries. [] Broadening partnerships is needed to improve the quality of lives of our people and address soft and hard security threats facing the country.

The draft memorandum was leaked on social media by officials working with Daniel Suidani, the premier of Malaita province, in an apparent effort to blow up the agreement.

Since 2019, Suidani has provocatively refused to recognise the diplomatic switch to Beijing. He has maintained separate ties with Taiwan and illegally barred Chinese personnel and investments from Malaita. Suidanis supporters in the now proscribed Malaita For Democracy (M4D) separatist group have issued pogromist threats against ethnic Chinese people in the province.

In November last year, M4D led a violent coup attempt in Honiara. Hundreds of people travelled from Malaita to the capital and attempted to storm the parliament and overthrow the government. After that failed, they spent three days looting and burning shops, schools, and police buildings in the city.

Suidani and his supporters have been financed and politically supported by Washington since 2019. USAID has funnelled tens of millions of dollars in so-called aid directly to Malaita, bypassing the central government. Suidani and his colleagues have received political training from personnel with the International Republican Institute, an organisation with close ties to the US intelligence agencies.

The prospect of a Solomons-China military agreement has exposed the democratic and humanitarian facade of US and Australian imperialist policy in the South Pacific.

As a sovereign nation, the elected government of Solomon Islands has every right under international law to enter into military agreements with any country of its choosing. As far as Washington and its ally Canberra are concerned, however, the South Pacific has been its patch since 1945 and must remain so. Any Pacific government that fails to abide by this is immediately targeted.

In Australia, the Labor Party has led the chorus of opposition to the Solomons-China deal. Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and numerous Labor parliamentarians have denounced the government for being asleep at the wheel and negligent in its foreign policy operations in the South Pacific. Ahead of a federal election, this forms part of the Labor Partys efforts to present itself as the more ruthless representative of Australian economic and geostrategic interests in the region, and the more reliable ally of the US.

Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd weighed in on developments in the Solomons in an interview with ABC Radio yesterday, describing the draft military agreement as one of the most significant security developments that weve seen in decades.

Rudd explained: The doctrine that Australia has adhered to for decades, under governments both Labor and conservative, going back to the end of the Second World War, is that our job under the ANZUS [Australia-New Zealand-US] treaty, was to keep the Pacific island countries as a part of the region which was basically consistent and compatible with overall American and Australian national security interests. Thats what our job was, thats what our core responsibility has been under the framework of the ANZUS alliance.

These remarks point to the high stakes involved for the Australian government, which is no doubt now under close scrutiny from Washington.

The Wall Street Journal issued an editorial on Thursday, Meanwhile, Watch China in the Pacific: With the world focused on Ukraine, bad actors in Asia are on the march. After referring to developments in the Korean Peninsula and South China Sea, the leading organ of American finance capital raised the alarm over the Honiara-Beijing military agreement. It concluded, in the style of a mafia don, Our advice to the Solomons and other smaller nations is to think twice before getting in bed with Beijing or Moscow.

Within Australian foreign policy circles there is now debate on how to respond, including open discussion on an illegal military intervention into Solomon Islands.

Jonathan Pryke of the Lowy Institute think tank declared that any Chinese military base in the South Pacific would represent a red line for Canberra. In the vocabulary of imperialist geopolitics, red lines represent triggers for military action.

In a piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald today, New Zealand academic and long standing anti-Chinese agitator Anne-Marie Brady called for a cull of sacred cows, including an over-emphasis on sovereignty, in other words, any even notional commitment to international law in the South Pacific.

Brady denounced the Sogavare government, labelled the Solomons a failed state, and declared: When war broke out in 1914 and 1939, governments in Canberra and Wellington knew immediately what to do. She did not explicitly elaborate what she meant by this referencebut in 1914 and 1939, Australia and New Zealand occupied strategically significant outposts across the South Pacific.

Bradys call for military intervention was detailed by another commentator, David Llewellyn-Smith, the former owner of the foreign affairs journal, the Diplomat. In a piece published on the MacroBusiness website, Australia must ready Solomon Islands invasion, and extensively cited in articles in the Murdoch-owned news.com.au as well as the Daily Mail, Llewellyn-Smith hysterically compared the situation in the Solomons to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. He declared: There is no way that Australia can allow this deal to proceed. If it must, the nation should invade and capture Guadalcanal such that we engineer regime change in Honiara.

Australia has a long record of imperialist interventions and regime change operations in the region. This includes East Timor in 1999 and 2006, and Solomon Islands from 20032017, when military and police were stationed in the country together with Australian officials who effectively took control of the state apparatus as part of the neo-colonial Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) operation.

The Australian government still wields considerable influence in Honiara, and around 50 Australian Federal Police office are working in the country. Canberra will no doubt do everything it can to sabotage the Solomons-China military agreement before it is finalised, including by working to destabilise and remove the Sogavare government.
Illustrative photo (Source: SGGP)

On March 23, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh signed and promulgated Decision 379/QD-TTg on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Government and the Vietnamese Government on supporting Vietnamese citizens in the agricultural work program in Australia.

Accordingly, the decision approved the draft content of Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Government and the Vietnamese Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on supporting Vietnamese citizens to participate in the Australian Agricultural Labor Program at the request of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

It also authorized MOLISA to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with representatives from the Australian Government.

Australia is expected to receive some 1,000 Vietnamese workers per year for the agricultural sector. With the income ranging from AUD3,200-4,000 per month, the income is assessed to be higher than some other markets receiving Vietnamese laborers.

The program benefits both countries. Australia has a developed economy, with modern agriculture. Labor cooperation with this country helps Vietnamese workers come to work not only with good income and secure working conditions, but also offers an opportunity for workers to learn knowledge, skills, advanced science and technology. Meanwhile, the program meets Australia's demand for human resources./.
Source: VNA

The fourth dose will be available to those who received a third dose (booster shot) more than three months ago.



Priority groups will be first in line to receive a fourth dose, including frontline workers, people above 60 years of age, and people with underlying health conditions, said the ministry.



It said that AstraZeneca and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines will be used for the first and second rounds of booster shots, and it is scheduled to be completed as soon as possible before the vaccines expire in March and April.



People who have been infected with COVID-19 can have the vaccine as a first, second, or booster dose two months after recovery, depending on their immunisation schedule.



So far, the Southeast Asian country has recorded 164,078 COVID-19 cases./.
AFU Command takes measures to ensure fulfillment of tasks even in conditions of possible use of chemical or nuclear weapons by Russia

The Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is taking measures to ensure the fulfillment of tasks even in the face of the possible use of chemical or nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Command of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Oleksandr Hruzevych has said.

"There is such a possibility, and the command of the Armed Forces, in particular the commander of the Ground Forces, is taking measures to fulfill tasks in these conditions. We cannot completely exclude this possibility, but we will not give a 100% guarantee that he will use them either," Hruzevych said at a briefing at the Ukrainian Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.

He also drew attention to the fact that there are cases when the Russians used chemical weapons in Syria.

"Russia has now passed the point of no return, and today, it is like a small child who has dangerous things and does not know what to do with them. The fact that they can use chemical or nuclear weapons cannot be ruled out. But are they ready for this themselves? The use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine will put a big cross on Russia, in my opinion, as a state in general, because no one needs a nuclear war all over the world," Hruzevych said.
Washington plans to discuss further relations with Russia with partners in the G20, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.

The President has made it clear that Russia cannot be a G20 member in good standing given what it has done, Sullivan said at a briefing. The United States also considered that Indonesia, as chair, may have a different opinion.

Therefore, the United States will discuss this issue with the rest of the G20 member countries, including Indonesia. The President made it clear that we want to respect the opinion of the presidency regarding how to consider the future path. At the moment, business with Russia in the G20 cannot be conducted as usual, Sullivan said.

The day before, US President Joe Biden said that he was in favor of expelling Russia from the G20, but at the same time he admitted that he might not achieve this goal.
MFA on Szijjarto's statement: Supporting Ukraine with one hand, financing Russian aggression with other means giving Russia more scope for attacks, killing

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the words of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto that the country would not allow the supply of weapons to Ukraine through its territory and would not refuse Russian oil and gas, calling on Hungary to reconsider its position for the sake of common peace in Europe.

"We have already heard these narratives, including from Russian officials. We hope that Hungary, as a neighboring state, will reconsider its position for the sake of common peace in Europe. Now we are talking not only about the interests and security of the Ukrainian people, but also about the fundamental principles on which Europe is based, including the Hungarian society," Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleh Nikolenko has said on his Facebook.

He said this is not a war of Ukraine, but a war of Russia against the entire democratic world.

"Supporting Ukraine with one hand and financing the Russian machine of aggression with the other by buying oil and gas is, in fact, giving Russia more scope to attack and kill," the Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier, Szijjarto said that Hungary does not want to risk the lives and safety of the Hungarian people and will not allow the supply of weapons to Ukraine through its territory, and will not refuse Russian oil and gas.
The Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., is seen on June 3





The General Services Administration (GSA) approved of the sale of former President Trump's D.C. hotel lease to the Miami investment fund ground CGI Merchant Group.

The agency said Friday that "the confirmation was based on an extensive and exhaustive due diligence review of the documentation provided in support of the proposed assignment."

Trump leased the federally owned Old Post Office building near the White House years ago, but the hotel has recently taken hits with the pandemic and partners pulling out due to the Capitol riot.

The hotel lease is in the process of being bought by the investment group, which includes former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez.

The hotel lease is expected to be sold for $375 million, with Eric Trump telling The Associated Press the approval by the GSA was the last step before the deal could be settled.

"GSA based this decision on the strength of the partnership between CGI and Hilton and the parties' commitment to ensuring the success of the future hotel, upon the closing of the transaction, through: (1) executing a long-term property management agreement; (2) providing significant equity; and (3) providing material credit support to assist with securing debt financing," the agency said.

After the deal occurs, Trump's name will be taken off the building and the group will work with Hilton to turn the building into a Waldorf Astoria, according to the AP.

The deal the investment group worked out with Hilton is separate from the deal with Trump.

The Hill has reached out to Trump's team for comment.

--Updated on March 27 at 12:24 p.m.
Upon taking the stage to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Publicists Guild on Friday afternoon, legendary auteur Francis Ford Coppola promptly announced a podium pivot. I am taking the unprepared speech I was going to unpreparedly give, and Im throwing that away, said the 82-year-old after giving a quick shout-out to longtime publicist Annalee Paulo on her publicist of the year nomination. Im going to speak of what I was like when I was a boy because so many formative things happened.

Coppola then gave a quick summary of what it was like to grow up in Queens in a diverse neighborhood filled with Polish, Armenian and Russian families, suggesting that it shaped his worldview as a global citizen. He used it as a segue to talk about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine that began when Russian forces invaded the country a month ago. My heart is so filled with love of Ukrainian Americans, he said, noting their wonderful dance and choral competitions. It breaks my heart what is happening in this absurd reality of this world today, and I cant not speak about that.

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That said, he kept the remarks brief and pointed, offering a simple solution for the war. I know of what I speak when I say if one word would just be said, one word with the force of meaning stop, it would stop, he said. Believe me, anyone who knows this, [knows] the difference between NATO and Russian forces is 25 times greater. And Putin is not an insane, deranged person; hes a calculating person, and if someone said stop and meant it, he would stop.

Coppola  feted by veteran industry figure Sid Ganis on a program that featured fellow honorees MGMs Michael DeLuca and Pam Abdy, and Reservation Dogs duo Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo  closed his speech by confessing that none of this is relevant to the event of his lifes work, but Im saying it to you because youre the publicists, and this is a word for the hope of the future.

Story continues

He concluded, To be an American is to be a global citizen, which is what we are, and let the world know that.

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola ditches prepared remarks to speak out on war in Ukraine. He urges someone to tell Putin (I confess I met Putin) to simply stop, saying that if they did and meant it, he would. pic.twitter.com/IlXuTcPwZo  Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) March 25, 2022

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kate middleton

getty (3) Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton debuted three of her most glamorous looks to date while on tour in the Caribbean this week.

From cool and modern to chic and classic, the Duchess of Cambridge, 40, covered all her style bases when she selected gowns for her and Prince William's eight-day royal tour.

For an epic party at the Mayan ruins of Cahal Pech in Belize on Monday, Kate wowed in a hot pink shimmering metallic gown with ruffled sleeves by the British brand, The Vampire's Wife.

Kate traded in her usual voluminous blowout for a sleek style with her hair parted down the middle. She accessorized her look with O'nitaa gold statement earrings and an embroidered Mayan clutch.

Prince William, kate middleton

Samir Hussein/WireImage Kate Middleton and Prince William

While in Jamaica on Wednesday, Kate wore a sparkling green Jenny Packham gown, paying homage to the color of Jamaica's flag (and Princess Diana!). She wore her hair in a chic updo and accessorized her look with emerald jewels on loan from the Queen.

RELATED: Kate Middleton Gives Special Shout-Out to George, Charlotte and Louis During Speech in The Bahamas!

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge

Samir Hussein/wireimage Kate Middleton and Prince William

Kate also wore her special insignia, the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victoria Order (GCVO) and the Royal Family Order badge, which she reserves for formal royal occasions such as state dinners and banquets.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

For her final glam night on tour, Kate channeled Cinderella in a shimmering turquoise bespoke silk duchess satin gown with hand-tied bows at the shoulder from British designer Phillipa Lepley for a reception in The Bahamas.

prince william and kate

Jane Barlow/getty Kate Middleton and Prince William

RELATED: Kate Middleton's Latest Gala Gown Honored Princess Diana in the Most Glamorous Way

William and Kate will depart from The Bahamas on Saturday evening and head back home to the U.K.
The Duke of Cambridge speaks at a reception hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith in the Bahamas (PA)

The Duke of Cambridge has suggested that if Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas were to decide to become republics, they would be supported with pride and respect.

Prince William made a speech on the penultimate night of his and Kate Middletons visit to the Bahamas to assure that friendship endures no matter what the future holds for the Caribbean countries.

It comes after the Duke and Duchess tour of the three countries in honour of the Queens Platinum Jubilee was marked by demonstrations.

Williams comments are expected to reverberate around the region, where five other countries also have the Queen as head of state.

Speaking during a reception, the Duke said: Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence  your Golden Anniversary.

And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this:

(PA Wire)

We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future.

Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.

Last November, Barbados took the historic move of replacing the Queen as head of state and elected its first president during a ceremony witnessed by the Prince of Wales.

Earlier this week, The Independent learned that the Jamaican government has already begun the process with the aim of seeing the nation transition to republic status.

Jamaicas prime minister Andrew Holness suggested to the couple during their visit there that his country may be the next to become a republic.

He told the Cambridges, when he welcomed them to Kingston on Wednesday, Jamaica was moving on and intended to fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country.

A few days after the royals left Belize, prime minister Johnny Bricenos government indicated the Peoples Constitutional Commission, a new body, will be consulting across the country on the issue of the continuing decolonisation process.

Story continues

Henry Charles Usher, minister for constitutional and political reform, reportedly told Belizes parliament on Thursday: Madame Speaker, the decolonisation process is enveloping the Caribbean region.

Perhaps it is time for Belize to take the next step in truly owning our independence. But it is a matter that the people of Belize must decide on.

The Duke and Duchess faced protests in each country they visited throughout their eight-day tour. In Belize, residents of a village the royal couple were set to visit staged a protest, resulting in a last-minute change in the Cambridges schedule.

When they arrived in Jamaica a few days later, at least 350 campaigners gathered outside the British High Commission in the capital, demanding reparations and apologies from the crown for slavery.

Later, the Bahamas national reparations committee issued a document calling on the Duke and Duchess to acknowledge the British economy was built on the backs of past Bahamians and to pay reparations.

Additional reporting by PA
In joining the Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins had the unenviable responsibility of taking over for Dave Grohl behind the drum kit, and rose to occasion time and time again. In the nearly 25 years since, Hawkins created a wonderfully rich musical legacy all his own, both with the Foos and other collaborators. Hawkins died suddenly on Friday in Bogota, Colombia, at the age of 50, just hours before Foo Fighters were scheduled to headline the Estereo Picnic festival. Variety looks back at 10 highlights from his remarkable career.

You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette, The Late Show With David Letterman, 1995)

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Hawkins big break was joining Alanis Morissettes live band just as her album, Jagged Little Pill, was exploding. Her national TV debut with David Letterman perfectly captures the proverbial lightning in an oh-so-mid-90s bottle. Hawkins signature bleached-blonde hair is about the only splash of color on the set as Morissette seethes her way through this arresting performance, turbo-charged by the drummers thunderous snare hits and total dynamic command.

Stacked Actors (Foo Fighters, There Is Nothing Left To Lose, 1999)

Hawkins first joined the Foos in the studio for their third album, following the departure of original drummer William Goldsmith in 1996. His power and versatility is instantly apparent on album opener Stacked Actors, as he shifts effortlessly from the light, cymbal-heavy swing of the verses to the huge, Zeppelin-y groove of the choruses. This is one of the more Nirvana-sounding songs in the Foos catalog from this early era, but Hawkins proves theres still plenty of fertile ground to explore in that vein.

Cold Day in the Sun (Foo Fighters, In Your Honor, 2005)

This breezy, acoustic guitar-led tune features Hawkins best lead vocal with the Foos  a winning combination of late period-Replacements and Dead Flowers-ish Stones. Hawkins had written the music several years prior to the album sessions and it wound up fitting perfectly on the second side of the half-loud, half-mellow In Your Honor. Cold Day in the Sun was also a staple of the Foos concerts, giving Hawkins the opportunity to play frontman for a few, smile-inducing minutes each night.

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Skin and Bones (Foo Fighters, Skin and Bones (Live), 2006)

There arent many mournful, country shuffles in the Foo Fighters canon, but in Hawkins capable hands, Skin and Bones conjures a refreshingly different side of the band on this live LP taped at Los Angeles Pantages Theatre. Rarely will you hear Hawkins playing this quietly and economically, until he cant resist kicking in with full force for the last 21 seconds.

Rock and Roll (Foo Fighters with Led Zeppelins Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, Wembley Stadium, 2008)

In a scene straight out of a rock n roll fever dream, Hawkins essentially fronted Led Zeppelin when that bands Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones joined the Foos for a cover of Rock and Roll in front of 85,000 at Londons Wembley Stadium. With Grohl living out his own childhood fantasies subbing in for John Bonham on drums, Hawkins more than credibly acquits himself vocally on this classic, hitting just enough vintage Robert Plant high notes and saving the biggest one for the very end, as the crowd loses its ever-loving minds.

Your Shoes (Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Red Light Fever, 2010)

Hawkins showed off his unabashed love for Cheap Trick-style power-pop and Queen-level arena rock pomp on the debut album with solo project the Coattail Riders. With its harmonized guitar leads, boogie rhythms and theatrical backing vocals, Your Shoes is the sound of a rocknroll lifer having a grand old time, on his own time.

Rope (Foo Fighters, Wasting Light, 2011)

As heavy of a hitter as Hawkins was, he also excelled on the Foos more left-of-center, rhythmically obtuse songs. Hes a swinging metronome on the verses of Rope, a ride cymbal artisan in the choruses and a hard-rock powerhouse on the wicked outro jam. This song also showcases Hawkins intuitive interplay with bassist Nate Mendel, their sturdy rhythm section the understated backbone of the band.

2112: Overture (Foo Fighters with Rush, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, 2013)

Hawkins was hugely influenced by The Polices Stewart Copeland and Queens Roger Taylor, but he was also happily indebted to Rushs Neil Peart, whose virtuosity and precision were key elements of Hawkins own style. When the Foos inducted Rush into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, Hawkins and Grohl donned 70s-era kimonos and wigs as they performed the Overture from Rushs legendary prog-rock opus 2112. One could easily imagine the pair in similar getups as they taught themselves how to rock in their teenaged basements, learning from the masters theyd one day come to call peers.

Run (Foo Fighters, Concrete and Gold, 2017)

Many fans wish the Foos would write heavier songs in the vein of the bands 1995 self-titled debut, so when infrequent moments like that pop up in their modern day work, its cause for celebration. Run has one of the more punishing metal grooves in the Foos catalog, a speaker-rattling, head-banging delight on which Hawkins positively astounds.

Holding Poison (Foo Fighters, Medicine at Midnight, 2021)

This cut from the Foos most recent, Grammy-nominated studio album is another showcase for Hawkins doing a little bit of everything in the name of a killer groove  arms aloft-worthy kick drum blasts to center the beat, snare fusillades to turn it upside down and even what sounds like a little sprinkle of cowbell for good measure. As always, Hawkins makes it look and sound almost effortless.

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This story recounts all that occurred Saturday in the war in Ukraine. For the latest news, see our latest live updates story.

In a sweeping and forceful speech concluding a four-day trip to Europe, President Joe Biden cast the war in Ukraine on Saturday as part of an ongoing battle for freedom and ended with a blunt call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be stopped.

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said during a visit to Warsaw, Poland, in his strongest comments to date about his desire to see Putin gone.

Shortly after the speech, a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity said Biden was not calling for Putin to be removed from office.

The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," the official said. "He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that its not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.

Only Russians, who vote for their president, can decide that, Peskov said.

US President, Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle Saturday in Warsaw, Poland. Biden arrived yesterday, meeting with the Polish president as well as U.S. troops stationed near the Ukrainian border. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Biden's speech was delivered hours after meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda during a historic visit Saturday where the allies presented a united front against Russian aggression and reaffirmed their commitment to the NATO alliance.

Biden later met with Ukrainian refugees, including children who asked him to say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother. Hes back there fighting.

Biden's visit comes as Moscow appears to be recalibrating its military strategies in Ukraine, even as several media outlets reported a Russian missile struck a fuel depot in the western Ukraine city of Lviv which has largely escaped the devastation other parts of the nation have suffered.

U.S. President Joe Biden, third from left, and Polish President Andrzej Duda shake hands during a military welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Russia's military goals in Ukraine have been hazy since it began its invasion more than a month ago, and new statements suggest Moscow may consider claiming victory without completely overthrowing the Ukrainian government or capturing Kyiv.

Story continues

Western analysts and leaders were skeptical of the Friday statements, where the deputy chief of the Russian general staff said his forces had largely achieved the "main objectives" of a first phase of the conflict. The power of the Ukrainian military has been "considerably reduced," freeing up troops to "focus on the main efforts to achieve the main goal, liberation of Donbas," said Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi.

The implications of the statement are difficult to determine, according to Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University who has studied U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

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"It's plausible that theyre basically trying to ratchet their perceived war aims down to something theyve already accomplished," he said.

Before the invasion, portions of the Donbas in southeastern Ukraine were already controlled by Russian-backed forces. Similarly skeptical, French President Emmanuel Macron said its too soon to say whether the Russians have changed their approach.

But what does appear clear: In the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, the progress of Russian forces has largely stalled. Kyiv  while battered  remains under the control of the Ukrainian government.

LATEST MOVEMENTS: Mapping and tracking Russia's invasion of Ukraine

NEWS COMES TO YOU: The latest updates on the situation in Ukraine. Sign up here.

WAR'S IMPACT ON FOOD: How Russia's war against Ukraine could make our food prices  from bread to beer  more expensive

Latest developments

In remarks from Warsaw, President Joe Biden slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "butcher" for the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and said the West "has never been stronger." Poland has been on the front lines of the refugee crisis, having accepted some 2 million Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Several media outlets reported that the western city of Lviv, largely spared from the bombardments in other parts of the nation was struck by a Russian missile Saturday. The mayor of the city says one of the targets was a fuel depot.

The U.N. human rights office said it has been challenging to confirm fatalities in Mariupol given the organization's strict methodology for counting the number of civilian deaths in conflict. The office says at least 1,035 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,650 injured, but acknowledges that is an undercount.

 The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych in northern Ukraine and seized a hospital there.

 Britain has seized two jet aircraft belonging to Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler as Western governments put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by targeting the luxury lifestyles of his closest supporters. The Times of London described the aircraft as a $45 million Bombardier Global 6500 and a $13 million Cessna Citation Latitude.

People living in a metro station used as a bomb shelter walk in a corridor in Kharkiv on March 26, 2022, during Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.

Governor of Lviv region says man detained on suspicion of espionage

LVIV, Ukraine  The governor of the Lviv region says a man was detained on suspicion of espionage at the site of one of the two rocket attacks that rattled the city on Saturday.

Maksym Kozytskyy said police found the man had recorded a rocket flying toward the target and striking it. Police also found on his telephone photos of checkpoints in the region, which Kozytskyy said had been sent to two Russian telephone numbers.

Rockets hit an oil storage facility and an unspecified industrial facility, wounding at least five people. A thick plume of smoke and towering flames could be seen on Lvivs outskirts hours after the attacks.

 Associated Press

Biden stirs concern with remark that Putin 'cannot remain in power'

After four days of alliance building, emotional interactions with refugees and stirring words about the need to fight for democracy, one sentence that President Joe Biden appeared to tack on to the end of his final speech in Poland threatened to overshadow all he had achieved as he deals with the most significant foreign policy crisis of his presidency.

For Gods sake, Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this man cannot remain in power.

The White House tried to quickly walk it back.

Biden was not promoting regime change, said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The point the president was trying to make in his remarks was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.

Biden may have been saying what he believes, but it was not smart policy to say it aloud, said Tom Schwartz, a historian of U.S. foreign relations at Vanderbilt University. Read more here.

Kremlin responds to Biden's condemnation of Putin

A spokesperson for the Kremlin on Saturday said President Joe Biden's statement that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" was "extremely negative" for U.S. relations with Russia.

Only Russians, who vote for their president, can decide that, Dmitry Peskov told The Associated Press. And of course it is unbecoming for the president of the U.S. to make such statements.

The White House walked back Biden's initial statements in Poland, claiming the president was not endorsing regime change, but meant that "Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region."

Peskov said that with Biden's statements, he was "narrowing the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current administration."

US giving $100 million for civilian security assistance in Ukraine

The U.S. will give Ukraine an additional $100 million in civilian security assistance, the State Department announced Saturday.

The funding will help pay for field gear, medical supplies, armored vehicles and other equipment for Ukraines police and border guards.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers are playing a key role in rescuing civilians, protecting convoys of fleeing refugees and providing security to civilian areas torn apart by Russias invasion, according to the State Department.

The administration repeated past warnings that it is helping document war crimes so those responsible can be held accountable.

 Maureen Groppe

Biden: Autocracy no match for liberty

President Joe Biden said he arrived in Europe with a message for NATO, the European Union and all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul.

We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come, he said.

It will not be easy. There will be cost, but its a price we have to pay Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty.

 Michael Collins

Biden to Russians: 'These are not the actions of a great nation'

Biden appealed to ordinary Russians, first telling them  if youre able to listen  that you ... are not our enemy.

The president said what they experienced at the hands of invaders in World War II is exactly what is happening to Ukrainians by the Russian military.

These are not the actions of a great nation, Biden said of the bombings of hospitals, schools and maternity wards. This war is not worthy of you, the Russian people.

Biden said Putins aggressions have cut his people off from the rest of the world and taken Russia back to the 19th century.

But Biden promised that the United States will stand with you and the brave people of Ukraine who want peace.

For Gods sake, Biden said at the end of his speech, Putin "cannot remain in power."

 Maureen Groppe

Biden: War in Ukraine 'strategic failure' for Putin

President Joe Biden said Saturday the war in Ukraine has been a strategic failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin thought Ukrainians would roll over and not fight, Biden said.

Instead, Russian forces have met their match with brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance, he said.

Russias actions have also strengthened NATOs resolve instead of pulling the alliance apart, Biden said.

The west is now stronger, more united than it has ever been, he said.

 Michael Collins

Biden: The ruble is turning into rubble

Biden said the sanctions imposed on Russia are having an impact.

The ruble has almost immediately reduced to rubble, he said.

More: 'It will be a lot harder on people.' How sanctions will impact ordinary Russians

Russias economy is on track to be cut in half in the coming years and will no longer be among the 20 largest, he predicted.

Thats sapping Russias strength and ability to reject power, Biden continued.

It is Vladimir Putin who is to blame. Period, he said.

-- Maureen Groppe

Biden warns against forces of autocracy

President Joe Biden warned Saturday that the battle for democracy did not end with the Cold War.

Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have lived all across the globe, Biden said in remarks from the steps of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.

Today, Russia has strangled democracy, and Vladimir Putin has sought to do so elsewhere  not only in his homeland but by invalidating neighboring nations, Biden said.

Let us resolve to put the strength of democracies into action to thwart the designs of autocracy, he said. Let us remember that the test of this moment is the test of all time.

 Michael Collins

Biden to Ukraine: 'We stand with you. Period.'

Biden praised the brave resistance of Ukrainians and said he was there to deliver a message.

We stand with you. Period, Biden said.

Biden spoke in the packed courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland where American and Polish flags waved in the background. When the president said he suspected Ukrainians were in the audience, a cheer went up.

Biden said Ukrainians resistance is part of a larger fight for essential democratic principles. Those principles, he said, have always been under siege and every generation has to had to fight democracys mortal foes.

 Maureen Groppe

Biden in Warsaw: 'Be not afraid'

In remarks concluding his four-day trip to Europe, President Joe Biden stood on the steps of the Royal Castle in Warsaw on Saturday and recalled the words of Pope John Paul II: Be not afraid.

The White House billed Bidens speech as a major address in which he would address efforts of the free world to hold Russia accountable for the war in Ukraine.

In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed, Biden said. This battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead.

 Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe

Russian missile strikes Lviv fuel depot

LVIV, Ukraine  Air raid sirens sounded Saturday afternoon in the western city of Lviv, and governor of the region Maxym Kozytsky reported three powerful explosions near Lviv without giving details of what was hit. Footage shot by The Associated Press showed thick plumes of smoke rising above the city.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadoviy, tweeted that one of missiles struck an industrial area that include a fuel storage depot, but that there was no indication residences were hit.

"All emergency services are working on the location," he tweeted. "Please stay in the shelters until the air alarm goes off."

Lviv, a city of over 700,000 roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Ukraines border with Poland, has been largely spared from major Russian attacks in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the Russian forces fired missiles on a military training center near Lviv, which at the time was the most westward target, and killed 35 people.

Since the beginning of the invasion, Lviv has become a safe harbor for some 200,000 displaced Ukrainians.

The explosions Saturday came as U.S. President Joe Biden was wrapping up a visit to neighboring NATO ally Poland in which he told Polands president that  your freedom is ours.

- Associated Press

Biden on Ukrainian refugees: You just want to hug them

President Joe Biden got a glimpse of the human toll of the war in Ukraine on Saturday when he visited with a group of Ukrainian refugees whose resilience he said demonstrated the depth and strength of the human spirit.

Theyre an amazing group of people, he said.

Biden mingled for several minutes with refugees and humanitarian officials who are providing assistance to them at a national stadium in Warsaw. The stadium serves as a processing center where refugees are issued identification cards allowing them to work, live, go to school and get social benefits.

Biden stopped in a courtyard that is serving as a distribution site for the World Central Kitchen, the non-profit organization founded by Chef Jose Andres. The group has set up a mobile kitchen and is providing hot meals to the refugees.

US President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war with Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Biden chatted briefly with Andres before walking over to a corner where families were gathered around tables with plates of hamburgers, fries, sausages and other food. Wearing a face mask and accompanied by an interpreter, the president picked up a small girl wearing a pink jacket and held her in his arms for several minutes.

Its so incredible to see all of those little children, Biden told reporters. You just want to hug them.

Biden said each of the children he spoke with asked him to say a prayer for my dad or my grandfather or my brother. Hes back there fighting.

I remember what its like when you have someone in a war zone, said Biden, whose late son, Beau, was a veteran of the war in Iraq. Every morning, you get up and you wonder. You just pray you dont get that phone call.

Asked what his visit with the refugees made him think of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden responded: Hes a butcher.

 Michael Collins

Biden stresses sacred obligation to defend NATO allies

President Joe Biden sought Saturday to reassure Poland that the U.S. would come to its defense if it should come under attack by Russia in an escalation of the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. considers its commitment to defend other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a sacred obligation, Biden told Polish President Andrzej Duda during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

You can count on that, Biden said.

The U.S. has sent thousands of forces to Poland to shore up NATOs eastern flank in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. Biden visited with members of the 82nd Airborne Division on Friday during a stop in Rzeszow, Poland, about 60 miles from the border of Ukraine.

In Warsaw, Biden and Duda sat across from each other at a long table beneath a crystal chandelier as the two leaders prepared to discuss the humanitarian crisis sparked by the month-old war. More than 2 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland to escape the war.

Speaking in Polish, Duda said Bidens visit strengthened the bond between the two countries.

Russias invasion has created a huge tragedy for the Ukrainian people and a great sense of threat for the Polish people, Duda said.

We know what Russian imperialism stands for, and we know what it means to be attacked by Russian armed forces, Duda said.

Biden stressed that stability in Europe is critically important to the United States and said the most important criterion is that NATO stay absolutely, completely, thoroughly united and that there be no separation in our points of view.

 Michael Collins

Ukraine official: Russia destroyed 4,500 houses, 400 educational institutions

During a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center, Ukraines development minister said Russian forces have destroyed about 4,500 houses and almost 400 education institutions since the war began last month, according to the Ukrainian news outlet Pravda.

These figures are growing every day, and perhaps every hour, said Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukraines minister of development of communities and territories, according to the report. At this time, when we say the bombing is going on, people are dying, infrastructure is being destroyed."

He added that about 100 factories and enterprises and 150 health care facilities were also destroyed and noted that not all damage can be assessed until the conflict has ceased.

The price tag on the damage could reach tens of billions of dollars, he said.

- Ella Lee

European nuclear group severing ties with Russia and Belarus

The European Council for Nuclear Research is suspending work in Belarus and Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday the 23 member states of CERN Council agreed to halt all events in Russia and Belarus and all scientists in all scientific committees of institutions in Russia and Belarus.

In the announcement Friday, the CERN Council said the restrictions were agreed upon and implemented in an act of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Earlier this month, the CERN Council condemned the military invasion and agreed not to engage in new collaborations with Russia. At the council's June session the group said they will consider more sanctions on Russia and Belarus.

- Ana Faguy

Biden arrives for meeting with Duda

With pomp and fanfare, President Joe Biden arrived at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on Saturday for a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda on how allies are responding to the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.

Bidens limousine pulled into the palace courtyard shortly after 12:30 p.m. local time.

US President Joe Biden (2ndL) and Polish President Andrzej Duda (L) review a military honour guard during an official welcoming ceremony prior to a meeting in Warsaw on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Duda greeted the president as he stepped out of the car. The two chatted briefly, shook hands with a line of dignitaries and then participated in a formal arrival ceremony that included the playing of each countrys national anthem and a military procession.

 Michael Collins

Holocaust memorial damaged by Russian forces

Russian invaders fired on and damaged Drobytsky Yar, a Holocaust Memorial outside Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the attack on the memorial, which first opened in 2002, via Twitter.

"The Nazis have returned," the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense tweeted. "Exactly 80 years later."

The memorial was created in honor of the 16,000 people killed after Nazi troops invaded the town in 1941.

-Ana Faguy

Ukraine: Women perform significant role in military resistance to Russia

Women make up 15% of Ukraine's military, with nearly 7,000 women serving in its Air Force alone, a top Ukrainian official said Saturday. Ukraines military has 250,000 active-duty troops.

Women are the heart of the resilience of local communities, Peoples Deputy Lesia Vasylenko said in a tweet. Heroic mothers and their inspiring daughters. This is the (Ukrainian) resistance.

People living in a metro station used as a bomb shelter sit and stand in their sleeping area in a train in Kharkiv on March 26, 2022, during Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.

The figure is on par with other nations worldwide, many of which have significantly larger militaries.

About 16.5% of the active-duty U.S. military are women, according to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report. Some branches of the military are more gender diverse than others  roughly 21% of the Air Force is comprised of women compared to 9% of Marines  a 2021 Department of Defense report shows.

About 11% of the United Kingdom Regular Armed Forces are women, according to a 2021 report. The Center for Strategic & International Studies calculated that roughly 4% of the Russian military was women in 2020. The percentage of women in the other reporting NATO nations militaries range from 0.3% (Turkey) to 20% (Hungary), a 2020 NATO report shows.

- Ella Lee

Russia conducted 60 cyberattacks against Ukraine, information protection agency says

Ukraine's information protection agency on Friday said that, between March 15-22, Russia conducted 60 cyberattacks against the nations "critical infrastructure and government organizations, but that most were limited in impact.

The number of attacks is growing, but most of them are unsuccessful, Viktor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraines State Service of Special Communication and Protection of Information, said in a March 23 briefing, according to the agencys Telegram post. Even those that are successful do not affect the operation of critical information infrastructure.

Zhora added that the current activity is less serious than the activity tracked by the agency earlier this year.

- Ella Lee

Russian troops enter city of Slavutych, seize hospital

LVIV, Ukraine -- The governor of the Kyiv region says that Russian forces have entered the city of Slavutych and seized a hospital there.

Slavutych is located north of Kyiv and west of Chernihiv, outside the exclusion zone that was established around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster. It is home to workers at the Chernobyl site.

Governor Oleksandr Pavlyuk said Saturday that the Russians also kidnapped the citys mayor, but some media reported later in the day that the mayor was released swiftly. Neither claim could be verified independently .

The governor said that residents of Slavutych took to the streets with Ukrainian flags to protest the Russian invasion.

The Russians opened fire into the air. They threw flash-bang grenades into the crowd. But the residents did not disperse, on the contrary, more of them showed up, Pavlyuk said.

- Associated Press

Death toll of children reaches 136

In the month since the Russian invasion began, 136 children have been killed.

Reuters reported that 64 of the children were killed in the Kyiv region and 50 were killed in the Donetsk region. An additional 199 children have been wounded.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday, the civilian death toll in Ukraine has exceeded 1,000 since the start of the war.

- Ana Faguy

Top Ukrainian officials to attend Biden speech in Warsaw

A pair of top Ukrainian officials will be on hand in Warsaw Saturday when President Joe Biden delivers a speech on holding Russia accountable for its month-long war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a message on Twitter that he and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will attend the presidents address.

Biden started the final day of his four-day trip to Europe by dropping by a meeting between Reznikov and Kuleba and their U.S. counterparts  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Reznikov tweeted a photo of the meeting  sans Biden  and said they were discussing current issues & cooperation in political & defense directions.

In the evening well also be present at @POTUS speech on the Russian war against Ukraine, Reznikov wrote.

Biden will deliver his remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

 Michael Collins

100,000-plus flee Ukraine on Friday

More than 100,00 people left Ukraine Friday, the State Border Guard Service Ukraine said.

Two-thirds of those who left crossed Ukraine's western borders with EU countries as well as Moldova. The State Border Guard Service estimated 45,000 left Friday night alone.

Meanwhile, many men are returning to Ukraine to defend the country, the Ukrainian government said. 21,000 people arrived in Ukraine Friday night. The State Border Guard Service said more than 420,000 Ukrainians have returned since Russia first invaded.

The United Nations estimates that 10 million people have fled Ukraine since the conflict began last month. Friday's flow of refugees was significantly higher than in recent days. On Wednesday, about 43,000 fled and around 62,000 fled Thursday, according to government figures.

- Ana Faguy

Ukraine president Zelenskyy makes surprise appearance at Doha Forum

DOHA, Qatar  Ukraine's president made a surprise video appearance Saturday at Qatar's Doha Forum, calling on the energy-rich nation and others to boost their production to counteract the loss of Russian energy supplies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid, as he has in a series of other addresses given around the world since the start of the war Feb. 24. He compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

"They are destroying our ports," Zelenskyy said. "The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide."

The loss of Ukrainian wheat already has worried Mideast nations like Egypt, which relies on those exports.

Zelenskyy called on countries to increase their exports of energy  something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

Zelenskyy criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons, raising the possibility of tactical nuclear weapons being used on the battlefield.

"Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet," Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine," he said.

 Associated Press

President Biden to meet with refugees, deliver speech

President Joe Biden on Saturday will cap his European trip talking to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and delivering a speech on holding Russia accountable for its invasion and upholding democratic values.

Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, previewed Bidens remarks as a major address that will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.

Biden will also put the war in historical context and describe where he sees it going from here, Sullivan said.

Before delivering those remarks at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Presidential Palace

The suffering that is taking place now is at your doorstep, Biden told Duda on Friday at a meeting in Rzeszow, where the influx of refugees is the largest. You're the ones who are risking, in some cases, your lives and risking all you know to try to help. And the American people are proud to support your efforts.

On Thursday, Biden announced the U.S. will take in up to 100,000 Ukrainians and provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance.

Poland has taken in more than 2 million refugees, and the numbers continue to grow.

We have never experienced anything like that throughout our history, Duda told Biden.

On Saturday, Biden will meet with refugees at the National Stadium in Warsaw. The stadium is a processing center where refugees are issued identification cards allowing them to work, live, go to school and get social benefits.

I'm here in Poland to see firsthand the humanitarian crisis, Biden said Friday, expressing his disappointment that he cant cross the border into Ukraine for security reasons.

Biden has been in Europe since Wednesday, meeting with NATO allies and other European and world leaders.

The U.S. and its allies announced new sanctions on Russia, additional help for Ukraine, and discussed beefing up force presence in Eastern Europe in the near and longer-term.

 Maureen Groppe

UK sees Russians reluctant to enter urban war

LONDON  Britain's Defense Ministry says Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

A daily update says Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralize defending forces.

The assessment says it is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties.

 Associated Press

Zelenskyy: Ukraine will not cede territory to end Russian invasion

Zelenskyy has again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but says Ukraine would not agree to give up any of its territory for the sake of peace.

In his nightly video address to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy appeared to be responding to Col. Gen Sergei Rudskoi, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who said Russian forces would now focus on the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.

Russian-backed separatists have controlled part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russian forces have been battling to seize more of the region from Ukraine, including the besieged city of Mariupol.

Rudskois statement also was a suggestion that Russia may be backing away from trying to take Kyiv and other major cities where its offensive has stalled. Zelenskyy noted that Russian forces have lost thousands of troops but still havent been able to take Kyiv or Kharkiv, the second-largest city.

Ukraine destroys Russian vessel; Moscow taps troops in Georgia

Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian transport ship in the port city of Berdyansk that appeared to be on a resupply mission, a senior Defense official said Friday.

The attack on Thursday blew up a tank-landing ship at its pier, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. The Russians have 22 warships in the Black Sea.

Russian combat power in Ukraine, which dipped below 90% for the first time this week, is now between 85% and 90%, the official said. For the first time, Russia appears to be drawing reinforcements from its troops based in Georgia. Combat power includes troops, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles.

Russia has also drawn down its stockpile of precision-guided weapons and is relying more on so-called dumb bombs to bombard cities, the official said. Russia has used about 50% of its air-launched cruise missiles. Russias cruise missiles have at times failed to launch or hit their targets.

 Tom Vanden Brook

Poll shows Americans support Russian sanctions, think Biden should be tougher

A majority of Americans are supportive of the harsh sanctions on Russia but believe Biden needs to be tougher on the Kremlin after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a poll commissioned by the Associated Press and NORC released Thursday.

The poll, which surveyed 1,082 U.S. adults from Thursday to Monday, found 56% of Americans believe Biden's response to Russia hasn't been tough enough, including a majority of 53% of Democrats. A very small percent, about 6%, said they thought Biden had been "too tough," the poll shows.

Across the board, Americans of both political parties were supportive of the harsh economic blows to Russia. The poll showed 68% were supportive of economic sanctions in general with 70% saying they supported the recent banning of oil imported from Russia, which in turn caused gas prices to rise.

 Christal Hayes

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine updates: Biden declares Putin 'cannot remain in power'
Mathias Dopfner speaks with Elon Musk at Tesla's factory in Fremont, CA. Jason Henry

Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, recently met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk for an interview.

The interview took place at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, and the men discussed Russia's invasion into Ukraine, space travel, and what makes human beings special.

You can read a transcript of the conversation below.





Mathias Dopfner: Before we talk about the future, let's look at the present. There is war in Europe. If you see the horrible images of Putin's troops invading Ukraine, killing people. What are your thoughts?

Elon Musk: It is surprising to see that in this day and age. I thought we had sort of moved beyond such things for the most part. It is concerning. If you can get away with it, then this will be a message to other countries that perhaps they could get away with it too.

Dopfner: Have you been surprised by Putin's behavior? I mean, I remember the discussions in the recent weeks when most of the Europeans thought he is not going to do it. A lot of Americans were convinced he is going to invade. What was your expectation?

Musk: My best guess was that he would seek to capture the Eastern third of the country. Frankly, if you just listened to the rhetoric, then it is clear that he was going after at least portions of Ukraine that have a significant percentage of Russian speakers. He did that already in Georgia.

Dopfner: In a way, if you listen carefully to dictators, they very often say what they want to do. You just had to take it seriously.

Musk: Yeah. They are not subtle.

Dopfner: But so far, there is a possibility that Putin achieves pretty much the opposite of what he wants to achieve. He wants to disentangle America from Europe. He wants to weaken NATO. So far, he has strengthened NATO. He has united the west. It is almost a bipartisan topic that unites democracies and open societies. With regard to the long-term outcome, are you rather pessimistic that it is going to strengthen Putin and thus, paving the way for other examples like China or elsewhere? Or are you more optimistic that it could be a turning point for a different security policy of the West?

Story continues

Musk: I do think this will strike the West. I suppose of course that people realize, maybe we should not have all these internal squabbles when there are more serious threats.

Dopfner: Volodymyr Zelenskyy put it very clearly. "I need ammunition, not a ride". Europe, particularly Germany, struggled a long time. How about the American government?

Musk: I think the American government has done more than people may realize. But it is just not been very public. But it is important to do something serious. We cannot let Putin take over Ukraine. This is crazy.

Dopfner: Parts of the world, particularly Europe, have learned the wrong lesson from the Third Reich and the Holocaust. And that lesson is: no military intervention ever again. Trying not to get involved. Now, there is the opportunity that we learned the real lesson, and that is never ever racism, never ever genocides and never ever appeasement.

Musk: Appeasement obviously did not work against Hitler. And how much better would the world had been if they had stopped him early. Better for everyone.

Dopfner: You did something very concrete, 48 hours, upon the request of the digital minister of Ukraine. And that was delivering Starlink material in order to grant internet access. What was the motivation, and how is it developing?

Musk: We did think that Starlink might be needed, and we took some preemptive actions to ensure that it could be provided quickly. When the request came, we acted very rapidly. It is worth noting that the satellite internet connectivity of Ukraine was taken offline by a cyberattack on the day of the invasion permanently. The cell towers are either being blown up or they are being jammed. There is a major fiber backbone which the Russians are aware of. It was quite likely that they will sever that fiber link. This would leave Ukraine with very few connections open. So Starlink might be, certainly in some parts of Ukraine, the only connection.

Dopfner: What happens if the Russians and Chinese are targeting satellites? Is that also a threat for Starlink?

Musk: It was interesting to view the Russian anti-satellite demonstration a few months ago in the context of this conflict. Because that caused a lot of strife for satellite operators. It even had some danger for the space station, where there are Russian cosmonauts. So why did they do that? It was a message in advance of the Ukraine invasion. If you attempt to take out Starlink, this is not easy because there are 2000 satellites. That means a lot of anti-satellite missiles. I hope we do not have to put this to a test, but I think we can launch satellites faster than they can launch anti-satellites missiles.

Dopfner: Russia said that they are going to stop the delivery of rocket engines. Is that a threat or an opportunity for SpaceX?

Musk: At SpaceX, we design and manufacture our own rocket engines. So we did not really own any Russian components at all.

Dopfner: Is it dangerous for the United States of America?

Musk: Boeing and Lockheed have strongly relied on the Russian RD-180 Engine. Which I should say, to be fair, is a great engine. They are hoping to move away from that in the future with engines from Blue Origin. There is also the Antares which uses the RD-180, I believe. They will not be able to fly as a result.

Dopfner: With knowledge, products and services, Elon Musk is almost a strategic weapon in modern warfare. How do you see your role in that context?

Musk: I think I can be helpful in conflicts. I try to take a set of actions that are most likely to improve the probability that the future will be good. And obviously sometimes I make mistakes in this regard. I do whatever I think is most likely to ensure that the future is good for humanity. Those are the actions that I will take.

Dopfner: A couple of months ago we had an exchange about Ernst Jungers famous book "Storm of Steel". You were very fascinated by that book, which has been published roughly a hundred years ago, about Jungers experiences in the First World War. Why is that book so important for you?

Musk: I read a lot of books, and for some reason I am fascinated by war and history in general. It is not just history of war, but just history in general. Jungers book is an excellent personal account of World War One. The lesson taken from that book is we don't ever want to do that again.

Dopfner: There is a big controversy around that book. Some people are saying this is glorifying war...

Musk: It is definitely not!

Dopfner: It is rather positive nor negative. It is just describing what happened in a terrible way.

Musk: Nobody is reading that book and says, I want to do that too. For me, it is just fascinating to read about history. I mean, learn the lessons of history, such that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Dopfner: History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. And we see a rhyme these days. Back to the big strategic picture. The terrible actions of Putin are, to a certain degree, also a result of strategic mistakes that Europe, particularly Germany, has made, the dropout of nuclear energy in 2011.

Musk: It is very important that Germany will not shut down its nuclear power stations. I think this is extremely crazy.

Dopfner: If we really want to reduce Putin's power as well as Europe's and Germany's dependence on Russian energy, we have to decarbonize. It's the only way. Is more nuclear energy the key to free ourselves from dictators and autocrats like Putin.

Musk: I want to be super clear. You should not only not shut down the nuclear power plants, but you should also reopen the ones that have already shut down. Those are the fastest to produce energy. It is crazy to shut down nuclear power plants now, especially if you are in a place where there are no natural disasters. If you are somewhere where severe earthquakes or tsunamis occur, it is more of a question mark. If there is no massive natural disaster risk-which Germany does not have-then there is really no danger with the nuclear power plants.

Dopfner: Aren't there any safer alternatives that could have a similar effect? Solar and wind won't do it. Do you have any other ideas in mind about future energy policy?

Musk: I think long term, most of civilization's energy is going to come from solar, and then you need to store it with battery because obviously the sun only shines during the day, and sometimes it is very cloudy. So you need solar batteries. That will be the main long-term way that civilization is powered. But between now and then, we need to maintain nuclear. I can't emphasize that enough. This is total madness to shut them down. I want to be clear, total madness.

Dopfner: Let's see whether this very clear words are heard in Germany.

Musk: I would say this is a national security risk.

Dopfner: How is the climate issue going to look like in 15 years? Better than today?

Musk: From a sustainable energy standpoint, much better.

Dopfner: So we are going to solve this problem?

Musk: Yes, absolutely. We will solve the climate issue. It is just a question of when. And that is like the fundamental goal of Tesla.

Dopfner: You once said that the decrease of birth rate is one of the most underestimated problems of all the times. Why?

Musk: Most people in the world are operating under the false impression that we've got too many people. This is not true. The birth rate has been dropping like crazy. Unfortunately, we have these ridiculous population estimates from the UN that need to be updated because they just don't make any sense. Just look at the growth rate last year. See how many kids were born and multiply that by the life expectancy. I would say that is how many people will be alive in the future. And then say, is the trend for birth rate positive or negative? It is negative. That is the best case, unless something changes for the birth rate.

Dopfner: That is also why we need alternatives. You have recently presented Optimus, a human robot, and shared great expectations, what that could do for the world. I assume it is not only about the first visit to Mars that could be done by Optimus, but it might also be a game changer in AI. Could you share this vision?

Musk: With respect to AI and robotics, of course, I see things with some trepidation. Because I certainly don't want to have anything that could potentially be harmful to humanity. But humanoid robots are happening. Look at Boston Dynamics. They do better demonstrations every year. The rate of advancement of AI is very rapid.

Dopfner: Concretely, Optimus is going to be used in Tesla factories. That is one of the use cases, but what is the broader use case beyond Tesla?

Musk: Optimus is a general purpose, sort of worker-droid. The initial role must be in work that is repetitive, boring, or dangerous. Basically, work that people don't want to do.

Dopfner: Why has Optimus two legs? Just because it looks like a human being, or is it more practical? I thought four legs were better.

Musk: Haha, four legs good, two legs bad. Kind of reminds me of Orwell. Humanity has designed the world to interact with a bipedal humanoid with two arms and ten fingers. So if you want to have a robot fit in and be able to do things that humans can do, it must be approximately the same size and shape and capability.

Dopfner: Do you think that Optimus is going to play a role in our daily life, helping us in the household and things like that?

Musk: Yes. A general focused humanoid.

Dopfner: The prototype is going to be ready by the end of this year. When is it a product that can be mass marketed?

Musk: I think we will have something pretty good at the prototype level this year, and it might be ready for at least a moderate volume production towards the end of next year.

Dopfner: You said the potential is bigger than the potential of Tesla. If that is true, then it must be really a mass market product. But anyway, Optimus is also an answer to the problem of dropping birth rates. If we have not enough human people, we need more bots to get work done.

Musk: Optimus will be helpful with respect to dropping growth rates. But if these things continue, then what happens? Humanity dies out. Is that what we want?

Dopfner: Or replaced by artificial intelligence. Human beings powered by Neuralink.

Musk: Neuralink in the short term is just about solving brain injuries, spinal injuries and that kind of thing. So for many years Neuralink's products will just be helpful to someone who has lost the use of their arms or legs or has just a traumatic brain injury of some kind. That is what Neuralink will be useful for many years.

Dopfner: Could you imagine that one day we would be able to download our human brain capacity into an Optimus?

Musk: I think it is possible.

Dopfner: Which would be a different way of eternal life, because we would download our personalities into a bot.

Musk: Yes, we could download the things that we believe make ourselves so unique. Now, of course, if you're not in that body anymore, that is definitely going to be a difference, but as far as preserving our memories, our personality, I think we could do that.

Dopfner: The Singularity moment that the inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has, I think, predicted for 2025 is approaching fast. Is this timeline still realistic?

Musk: I'm not sure if there is a very sharp boundary. I think it is much smoother. There is already so much compute that we outsource. Our memories are stored in our phones and computers with pictures and video. Computers and phones amplify our ability to communicate, enabling us to do things that would have been considered magical. Now you can have two people have a video call basically for free on opposite sides of the world. It's amazing. We've already amplified our human brains massively with computers. It could be an interesting ratio to roughly calculate the amount of compute that is digital, divided by the amount of compute that is biological. And how does that ratio change over time. With so much digital compute happening so fast, that ratio should be increasing rapidly.

Dopfner: Talking about speed, you have the vision that one day, Starship could be able to get from A to B in 30 minutes all around the globe. Is that correct? It's like a global super taxi. You can just go from San Francisco to Nairobi?

Musk: The landing will be loud. So you would probably be connecting cities that are next to oceans or seas. So you can land far enough offshore that the landing noise is not disturbing to people

Dopfner: Coast to coast would be a realistic option?

Musk: Yes, it is like an intercontinental rocket.

Dopfner: You have solved so many problems of mankind and presented so many solutions. I'm surprised that one topic does not seem to fascinate you as much: Longevity. A significantly increased life span. Why aren't you passionate about that? Aren't you personally interested in living longer?

Musk: I don't think we should try to have people live for a really long time. That it would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don't change their mind. They just die. So if they don't die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn't advance. I think we already have quite a serious issue with gerontocracy, where the leaders of so many countries are extremely old. In the US, it's a very, very ancient leadership. And it is just impossible to stay in touch with the people if you are many generations older than them. The founders of the USA put minimum ages for a local office. But they did not put maximum ages because they did not expect that people will be living so long. They should have. Because for a democracy to function, the leaders must be reasonably in touch with the bulk of the population. And if you're too young or too old, you can't say that you will be attached.

Dopfner: Is there a kind of ideal, maximum age? How old would you like to get?

Musk: I think for political leadership, you want to be ideally within 10 or at least, 20 years of the average age of the population. And for me, I certainly would like to maintain health for a longer period of time. But I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief.

Dopfner: You may not be able to see the vision of SpaceX come true in your life?

Musk: I would like to live long enough to see that.

Dopfner: How do you feel, being - at a net worth of USD 260 billion roughly - perceived as the richest person on earth?

Musk: I do think that Putin is significantly richer than me.

Dopfner: You really do?

Musk: Yeah.

Dopfner: Do you know John Law?

Musk: No.

Dopfner: John Law used to be the richest person on earth 300 years ago. He was a Scottish guy and lived in the end 17th century and the early 18th century. He was a gambler, 'un homme a femmes', then a very successful investor, and financial engineer. He was the biggest art collector on earth. He created a stock market bubble in France through a rush behind the shares of the Mississippi company. And was ultimately the reason for one of the first financial crises. John Law used to own roughly 30% of the United States of America then. In the end, he went bankrupt. Did you ever think about what would happen if something were to go wrong and you were to lose everything?

Musk: There have been many times when I expected to lose everything. Who starts a car company and a rocket company expecting them to succeed? Certainly not me. I had less than 10 percent chance of success. After the third failure of SpaceX in 2008, I knew that if the fourth launch failed, SpaceX would be dead. We had no money for the fifth launch. Tesla's been on the verge of bankruptcy many times. We even closed on the last day of the financing round in 2008. Remember, back then General Motors and Chrysler had gone bankrupt and Ford was on the brink of it. So, imagine trying to raise money for an electric car startup while General Motors was going bankrupt. People were very angry that I even asked. But we were able to raise just enough money to squeak by. And closed the financial round for Tesla on the last hour of the last possible day in 2008. Christmas Eve. Had we not closed the round then, we would have gone bankrupt two days after Christmas.

Dopfner: Elon Musk is not only an entrepreneur, he is also a philanthropist. What are the goals of your foundation?

Musk: I do want to emphasize that SpaceX and Tesla fundamentally intend to improve the quality of the future. Especially in terms of usefulness to humanity. Tesla by accelerating sustainable energy. And SpaceX by making multiplanetary intercourse possible. This is more than I can do myself. When it comes to donations, I'd say it is very difficult to give away money effectively. If you care about the reality of doing good and not the perception of doing good, then it is very hard to give away money effectively. I care about reality. Perception be damned. So, there's obviously environmental causes, there is education, especially science and engineering education. Pediatric healthcare. Hunger these days is more of a political and logistics problem than it is not having enough food. There is a lot of food. In the US and many countries, the issue is more obesity than it is hunger. So, I'm always looking for ways to give away money that are effective.

Dopfner: If you google Elon Musk, I think you would have more than 200 million search results and nearly 80 million Twitter followers. You are definitely one of the most popular people on earth. Is popularity a pleasure or a liability for you?

Musk: It makes it difficult to go buy coffee at the corner. It is hard to go around places, or at least be able to just go to the store or walk down the street. Now it is quite difficult to do that.

Dopfner: It reminds me a bit of a former chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl, who once told me, you cannot imagine how terrible it is to go into a restaurant and everybody recognizes you, comes to your table, asks you for an autograph. That is terrible. There is only one thing in life that is worse. And that is: if nobody comes to your table anymore.

Musk: Hahaha. I just try to find a corner table that is in a dimly light or something, where I can stay out of the way.

Dopfner: Is there anything that you most urgently want to achieve?

Musk: In the short run, and the most pressing is completing full self-driving, so that we have full self-driving operating at a substantially safer level than humans. Basically, it comes down to solving the problem of real world AI. That consumes a lot of my mind. And getting the starship to work. Not only getting it to orbit but achieving rapid reusability - which is really the holy grail of rocketry that is necessary for humanity to become a multiplanet species. And I think those things might happen this year.

Dopfner: Anything that you really would like to achieve, which you think is going to be impossible?

Musk: Impossible is a strong word.

Dopfner: You don't like that word.

Musk: It's a strong word. I approach things from a physics standpoint and the word impossible is more or less banned in physics. I'm really worried about this birthrate thing. That's been troubling me for many years, because I just don't see it turning around. Every year it's worse. And I drive my friends crazy with this.

Dopfner: Walter Isaacson is planning your biography. He has written about the lives of Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo DaVinci. Among the four, with whom would you like to meet and have a glass of wine?

Musk: I would be honored to meet any of them. I think Benjamin Franklin would be the most fun at dinner.

Dopfner: And who is the one you think you are closest to? Would it be Leonardo DaVinci?

Musk: I am pretty different. But it might actually be Benjamin Franklin. He did a lot of science and engineering. DaVinci wrote a book, seeing himself first and foremost as an engineer. Actually, in his application for the position that eventually enabled him to create all of the art, it was all about his engineering ideas. Just in the end, he mentioned doing some art. I think it's funny that DaVinci really thought of himself as an engineer. But he was pretty impressive for his time.

Dopfner: You said that you cannot be alone. I very much share that feeling. Where does it come from?

Musk: I think it's just a natural human reaction.

Dopfner: A lot of people are happy if they are alone.

Musk: Really? I think most people are not happy being alone.

Dopfner: Do you feel lonely?

Musk: I mean, there are times when I feel lonely, yes.

Dopfner: Because you cannot find people with whom you like to share your feelings and thoughts? You are one of the most popular and looked after persons on earth. Everybody wants to speak with you. But it seems not to work.

Musk: There are times when I'm lonely. I'm sure there are times when everyone is lonely. But it's pretty basic. Say if I'm working on the starship rocket and I'm just staying in my little house by myself, especially if my dog is not with me, then I feel quite lonely because I'm just in a little house by myself with no dog.

Dopfner: What is your biggest fear?

Musk: What are the existential threats that humanity faces? I spent a lot of time talking about the birthrate thing. That might be the single biggest threat to the future of human civilization. And then there's the concern of artificial intelligence going wrong. I think religious extremism is another concern.

Dopfner: What is your biggest hope?

Musk: My biggest hope is that humanity creates a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Dopfner: You have once said, if I'm not in love, I cannot be happy. Are you happy at the moment?

Musk: I think there are degrees of love. But certainly, for one to be fully happy, I think you have to be happy at work and happy in love. So, I suppose I'm medium happy.

Dopfner: Can love for projects, for work, compensate for love among people?

Musk: I tried to be as literal as possible. I would be happy if humanity has a self-sustaining city on Mars because then, probable lifespan of humanity is much greater. I think we really just got this little candle of consciousness, like a small light in the void. And we do not want this small candle in the darkness to be put out.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos (left) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Axel Springer

NASA announced it is looking for a second company to help put boots on the moon.

Blue Origin said it plans to submit a bid for the contract after losing to SpaceX last year.

In August, Jeff Bezos' space company sued NASA over its 'unfair' decision to select SpaceX.

Blue Origin is getting a second chance to help NASA send astronauts to the moon after losing the contract to SpaceX last year.

On Wednesday, the space agency announced it was planning to reopen the competition for its Artemis program to a second company. Shortly after the announcement, Jeff Bezos' space company announced it would place a bid for the multibillion-dollar contract for a second time.

"Blue Origin is ready to compete and remains deeply committed to the success of Artemis," a Blue Origin spokesperson told Insider. "We will continue to work with NASA to achieve the United States' goal to return to the Moon as soon as possible."

CNBC's Michael Sheetz was the first to report Blue Origin's announcement. NASA initially began the program in 2019 and said it was looking to hire two companies to provide spacecrafts that could transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon. The agency backtracked on the offer in April, saying a lack of funding had limited NASA to selecting one company  a decision that Blue Origin took to court.

Blue Origin attempted to get NASA to withdraw its decision and took the issue to the Government Accountability Office. When that failed, Jeff Bezos' space venture sued NASA in federal court in August, dubbing the agency's decision to choose SpaceX as the sole winner of the lunar lander contract "unfair" and an example of favoritism. Blue Origin accused NASA of eliminating the element of competition on the project by selecting a single company instead of two companies to work side-by-side. The lawsuit was dismissed in November.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson did not specify how much the program would cost as the budget is pending the release of President Joe Biden's proposal for the 2023 fiscal year next week.

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"I promised competition. So here it is," Nelson said during a press conference on Tuesday. "We think, and so does the Congress, that competition leads to better, more reliable outcomes. It benefits everybody. It benefits NASA. It benefits the American people," he added.

The second contract will require the spacecraft to be able to carry more cargo and be able to handle longer stays on the moon's surface, according to NASA's press release.

Blue Origin could be a top contender for the contract. Last year, Bezos and Musk's companies vied for the top spot in the competition. The Amazon founder even offered to subsidize Blue Origin's cost with $2 billion of his own money in order to compete with SpaceX's bid, but but the contract was still more expensive than Musk's, which was $2.9 billion  less than half the price of all the other space companies.

"Blue Origin is thrilled that NASA is creating competition by procuring a second human lunar landing system," the company's spokesperson said in a statement. "By doing so, NASA will establish the critical redundancy and robustness needed for establishing permanent U.S. lunar presence."

NASA officials said the second contract would be determined by early next year and they plan to fly a new lunar lander spacecraft within the next five years. SpaceX's contract with NASA requires the venture to fly a test of its Starship spaceship to the moon and eventually land astronauts on the moon using the spacecraft. Musk has said SpaceX is aiming to launch its first orbital flight of the Starship in the next few months.

Read the original article on Business Insider
prince william and kate

Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton and Prince William stepped out for one final night of glamour on their royal tour of the Caribbean.

The couple, who touched down in The Bahamas on Thursday after tour stops in Belize and Jamaica, attended a glittering evening reception at Baha Mar Resort on the white sand beaches of Cable Beach in Nassau.

Kate wore a shimmering turquoise bespoke silk duchess satin gown with hand-tied bows at the shoulder from British designer Phillipa Lepley that paid tribute to her host country's flag  and gave her the ultimate Cinderella moment. William was dapper in a blue velvet tux.

Hosted by the Governor-General of The Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith, who represents Queen Elizabeth in the island country, the party gave the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge the opportunity to meet community leaders and notable people from across The Bahamas' many islands.

The look marks Kate's third glam look of the tour. She wowed in Belize in a hot pink metallic gown by The Vampire's Wife on Monday and dazzled in a sparkling green Jenny Packham gown in Jamaica on Wednesday.

prince william and kate

Samir Hussein/WireImage Prince William and Kate Middleton

Welcoming the couple at the reception were large screens beaming William and Kate's candid 10th wedding anniversary photos.

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Prince William Attend Junkanoo Parade in The Bahamas: 'That Was Amazing'

Shortly after their arrival, William carried out a duty on behalf of his grandmother the Queen and awarded Platinum Jubilee medals to heads of emergency services in The Bahamas.

As they mingled with guests, Kate talked about her and William's outings earlier in the day.

"We spoke about how much she enjoyed seeing all the children in the school today and she hopes to come back with hers one day," says Charlene Pick, who was at the reception with her husband Rev. Dr. Patrick Paul.

prince william

CHANDAN KHANNA/getty Kate Middleton and Prince William at a reception in The Bahamas on March 25, 2022.

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Guest Christie Prosper adds, "They're both so refreshing. She said she loved the Bahamian culture."

During a conversation with guest Lissa McCombe, Kate said how "exciting" the couple's sailing competition was earlier in the day on Montagu Bay.

"She had a really exciting time. She thoroughly enjoyed it," McCombe says. "She said they nearly had a man overboard and she was at the tiller at the time  she had one hand on the tiller and one on the guy at the same time."

The roses on the dress of guest Mildred Murphy caught Kate's eye and she complimented her.

"She said I looked amazing and I said the roses were for the flower of England," Murphy says.

As William and Kate moved around the room, they caught each other's eye and William said, "Ah, hi!" and jokingly held out his hand to shake Kate's, which made her laugh.

prince william and kate

Samir Hussein/WireImage Kate Middleton

The reception came after a busy day, which saw the Duke and Duchess visit a local school in Nassau, meet with healthcare workers who have been working on the frontlines of the pandemic, take part in a lively Junkanoo street festival and go head-to-head in a sailing competition in Montagu Bay.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

prince william and kate

Jane Barlow/getty Kate Middleton and Prince William

For the first time, the royal couple is facing significant backlash on an official tour. Although they have received warm welcomes from many locals during their visits to Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, they are also encountering mounting tensions in the Caribbean nations where William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, remains head of state.

The rising tide of social and economic justice movements  including calls for slavery reparations and indigenous rights expansion  are rapidly reshaping contemporary views of the monarchy at a time when it is in transition: As Elizabeth, 95, marks 70 years on the throne, William, 39, and Kate, 40, are increasingly the modern face of both the family and the institution.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that in the outgoing week the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) inflicted powerful blows on Russian troops with noticeable losses.

"Our heroic Armed Forces inflicted powerful blows and significant losses on the enemy over the past week. They say that the Russian Defense Minister has disappeared somewhere. I wonder if he personally wanted to visit Chornobayivka?" Zelensky said in a video statement on Friday evening.

He also issued a warning to those servicemen who defected to the Russian side years earlier.

"You moved because you thought that you would live better, and not because you want to repeat the tragic fate of your colleagues who died on those ships [in Berdiansk] or somewhere else on land or in the sea of Ukraine. Well live like that. And that means stay away from our cities and from our army," the head of state said.

"The account of Russian losses in this war has already exceeded 16,000 killed. Among them are top commanders. There have not yet been reports on the killed Russian colonel-generals or admirals, but the commander of one of the occupying armies and the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet are already there," he said.

  
Hillary Clinton (yes, that Hillary Clinton) cast in Arkansas production of Into the Woods

If you ever wished to see Hillary Clinton in a production of Into the Woods well, first of all, we have questions for you. And second of all, your wish has come true.

Well, sort of. The former secretary of state, senator, and First Lady has joined the cast of an upcoming production of the Stephen Sondheim musical at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre (a.k.a. the Rep), set to open in Little Rock next month. Representatives for Clinton did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment on the news.

Clinton will not be appearing onstage, however: She will play the voice-only role of the Giant, whose dialogue, as Playbill noted, is often pre-recorded. (Celebrities including Judi Dench and Glenn Close have previously played the part in such a fashion.) Still, the show will present a rare opportunity to hear an American statesperson bellow at terrified underlings outside the office.

Hillary Clinton and Into The Woods

Cindy Ord/WireImage; Martha Swope Hillary Clinton will play the Giant in an Arkansas production of 'Into the Woods.'

One of Sondheim's most popular and acclaimed works, Into the Woods follows several classic fairy tale characters, including Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of beanstalk fame), and Cinderella, as they embark on their familiar adventures. But the show adds a unique twist to the tales in continuing beyond their "happily ever after" conclusions, exploring the consequences and moral repercussions of the characters' actions. The original Broadway production won Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book, and the musical was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep in 2014.

The Rep's production of Woods is the latest staging of Sondheim's work following the legendary composer and lyricist's death in November. A revival of Company is currently playing on Broadway, while Steven Spielberg's new film version of West Side Story opened the month following Sondheim's death, and is competing for several awards at this weekend's Oscars. Sondheim will also receive a special musical tribute at the Grammy Awards ceremony next month.

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Into the Woods will play at the Rep from April 19 to May 15. Tickets are on sale now.

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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said Friday that he intends to vote yes on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court, effectively guaranteeing she will be confirmed and become the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.

"After meeting with her, considering her record, and closely monitoring her testimony and questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court," Manchin said.

"I am confident Judge Jackson is supremely qualified and has the disposition necessary to serve as our nations next Supreme Court Justice," he added.

Senator Joe Manchin

More: What's next for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson? A high-profile confirmation process

Manchin frequently breaks from other Democrats in his votes. With his vote secured, the entire Democratic caucus in the evenly divided Senate is expected to vote for Jackson.

A simple majority of 51 of the 100 senators must vote yes for Jackson to be confirmed. The Senate is evenly split between 50 Democratic caucus members and 50 Republican members, and Vice President Harris would break tie votes, giving Democrats the majority.

No Republicans have announced their support for Jackson yet and some already have indicated they'll oppose her.

Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that "after studying the nominees record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to our highest Court."

McConnell's opposition is not surprising, and likely presages the stance of the vast majority of the GOP caucus.

In sometimes acrimonious grilling during the confirmation hearings this week, Republicans pressed the judge on her record sentencing defendants in child porn cases, her views of court packing and as a federal public defender representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay. She was probed on other topics including critical race theory, court packing, and gender.

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Some Republicans moderates, notably Maine Sen. Susan Collins or Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, could decide to support Jackson. They both voted yes on her appointment to her current role, as did South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose aggressive questioning and visible dissatisfaction with some of her answers in this week's hearings suggests he will not vote to support her again.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., signaled he might vote for the nominee when he was the sole Republican on the Judiciary Committee to not sign on to a letter sponsored by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The letter requested pre-sentencing reports from the U.S. Probation Office in several child pornography cases over which Jackson presided.

But Friday evening, Sasse announced he would not support her nomination. In a statement he wrote, "Judge Jackson is an extraordinary person with an extraordinary American story. We both love this country, but we disagree on judicial philosophy and I am sadly unable to vote for this confirmation."

More: Judicial philosophy to child porn sentencing: Key takeaways from Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court hearings

Her wide array of experiences in varying sectors of our judicial system have provided Judge Jackson a unique perspective that will serve her well on our nations highest court," Manchin said in a statement. "During our meeting, she was warm and gracious. On top of her impressive resume, she has the temperament to make an exceptional jurist."

The West Virginia Senator specifically noted Jackson's familiarity with his state in announcing his decision.

"Notably, Judge Jackson and her family spend a great deal of time in West Virginia and her deep love of our state and commitment to public service were abundantly clear," he said.

Manchin met with Jackson in his office earlier this month, but said at the time he had not made a final decision.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: KBJ: Manchin support likely ensures her confirmation to Supreme Court
Microsoft said it had previously investigated the allegations, according to a report. Mark Lennihan/AP

An ex-Microsoft employee has accused the tech giant of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In an essay, Yasser Elabd claimed his discoveries included millions of dollars in foreign bribes.

Microsoft said it previously fired employees in relation to the claims, The WSJ reported Friday.

A former Microsoft employee accused the tech giant of turning a blind eye on employees, subcontractors, and government operators engaging in bribery.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.

In an essay published Friday on Lioness, an outlet that documents stories from whistleblowers, Yasser Elabd brought to light accusations of Microsoft employees using local partner companies to help sell the company's products to customers.

In a statement sent to Insider, Becky Lenaburg, deputy general counsel at Microsoft said: "We believe we've previously investigated these allegations, which are many years old, and addressed them. We cooperated with government agencies to resolve any concerns."

The company added that, as part of its investigations, it had taken action which included "terminating employees and partnerships."

In 2016, Elabd said he realized a $40,000 payment to an African client didn't seem right. With some digging, he found out it was a former Microsoft employee who had been terminated for poor performance. He wrote: "Corporate policy prohibits former employees from working as partners for six months from their departure without special approval."

Seeking more details from management, he claimed that he encountered resistance and realized there was more to it than. He said that he then decided to look deeper into the Microsoft employees who he claimed were orchestrating fake deals.

In the two years that followed, Elabd said he did everything in his power to counter the bribes but believed Microsoft was not interested in stopping the payouts. He said he ultimately ended up being fired in June 2018.

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In an interview and according to documents reviewed by the WSJ, Elabd had a seven-hour meeting with SEC employees in the agency's offices in Washington DC. Following the meeting, he submitted more evidence but agency officials said the investigation couldn't go further due to the pandemic, per the report.

Elabd estimated that "a minimum of $200 million each year goes to Microsoft employees, partners, and government employees," in bribes. He continued: "Among the customers who I believe have received this money are government officials in Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia."

Insider previously reported in 2019 on Microsoft agreeing to pay about $25.3 million, including a criminal fine, to settle US charges it made improper payments that were used to bribe government officials in Hungary and other countries.

Read the original article on Business Insider
In a display of new books for the children's section of the Ridgeland Library, a number of the books had to do with LGBTQ themes. All of the books are currently checked out, but there are three other books available on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee has said he will withhold $110,000 in funding from the Madison County Library System because of the library displaying books with LGBTQ themes in its children's area.

Ridgeland city officials sent the Madison County Library System a set of conditions to agree to by April 8 before the city will provide $110,000 in funding to the Ridgeland library.

The citys contract revisions that the library board of directors must agree to include that library displays should be age-appropriate and must meet community standards. However, the contract revisions did not define age-appropriate or community standards.

Earlier this year, Ridgeland Mayor Gene F. McGee threatened to withhold the citys funding after the Ridgeland Library featured an LGBTQ-plus book display featuring such books as The Queer Bible and Toby Wears a Tutu.

Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee.

The Ridgeland Board of Aldermen gave the revised contract to library officials after a two-hour meeting Thursday night with an April 8 deadline for library officials to accept.

Tonja Johnson, executive director for the Madison County Library System, said Friday morning that she was not prepared to comment and had not yet had an opportunity to review revisions made by the board of aldermen with the library systems board of directors.

Previous coverage: Mississippi mayor threatens to withhold thousands in funding for libraries over LGBTQ books

More: New contract needed for Ridgeland to release funds to Madison libraries, officials say

After McGee threatened to withhold the librarys funding earlier this year, the story grabbed national attention. A Go Fund Me account for the library quickly raised more than $110,000 for the library after garnering national support from the furry community.

Ward 2 Alderman Chuck Gautier said he would like to see better communication between the city and the library system.

I believe a lot of this could have been avoided with better communication, Gautier said. We really do truly hope this helps foster a relationship that helps improve our library system. I think a healthy library system is so important to our community.

Mayor pro tempore and alderman for Ward 6 Wes Hamlin said he thinks the city has successfully addressed public concerns stemming from the display of certain materials.

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I hope the library system will approve the contract, Hamlin said.

In reviewing the contract in the dispute earlier this year, the city discovered the contract between Ridgeland and MCLS had expired. Hamlin explained that a new contract would have to be approved every four years after the board of aldermen elections.

During Thursdays meeting, aldermen insisted that Ridgeland does not want to ban books.

Related: Furries raise money for libraries after mayor threatens to withhold funds due to LGBTQ+ books

It was all about the display, Hamlin said. We were just sensitive to wanting to make the library opening and welcoming for all that want to use the library. I believe we will come out on the other side of this stronger. I believe our offer to (MCLS) is fair, and we are not trying to control them or their content.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ridgeland Mississippi aldermen want age-appropriate displays at library
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking before then-Gov. Jerry Brown, at left, signs a climate bill in 2017.

I must be getting old. Jerry Brown is starting to make sense. Arnold Schwarzenegger sounds like a statesman. And heeding advice from Californias governors seems like humanitys best hope.

Its improbable that two ex-governors  one known for head-scratching aphorisms, the other for silly one-liners  are now global voices of reason. But its also logical. As the world madly sets itself on fire, where better to turn for wisdom than crazy, combustible California?

Browns and Schwarzeneggers ascents to sage status reflect the extent to which California, the worlds fifth largest economy, functions as its own country, with its governors constituting a fourth branch of government  employing state powers to check the president, Congress, and the courts.

And when California governors leave office, they maintain high profiles but carry less political baggage than presidents, whose foibles our polarized media cover obsessively. Brown and Schwarzengger are using this notoriety in a very California way, mixing visions of a more peaceful future with hard-headed calls for cooperating with rivals and enemies.

Schwarzenegger went viral recently with a short video urging Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. But the former governor also rejected todays commonplace American condemnation of all things Russian. Instead, speaking in English with Russian subtitles, he drew from his personal history of making friends and movies in Russia to express his affection for the country  and to penetrate Russian propaganda about the war.

The videos most powerful moment came when Schwarzenegger spoke directly to Russian soldiers about his father, an Austrian who fought with the Nazis during World War II.

The Russian government has lied not only to its citizens but to its soldiers, he said. When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government. When he left Leningrad, he was broken  physically and mentally.

To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast  I don't want you to be broken like my father.

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As Schwarzenegger tugged at hearts, Brown hammered on heads.

Writing in The New York Review of Books, Brown warned against U.S. policymakers who seek greater confrontation with China. He started by framing the last 20 years as a period of American-triggered global suffering, killing more than 900,000 people, displacing tens of millions, and cost the U.S. $8 trillion.

One might assume that such disastrous results, and the ignominious end of the war in Afghanistan last year, would lead to a period of reflection and soul-searching, Brown wrote. Yet no such inquiry has occurred  at least not one that fully grapples with the shocking self-deception, pervasive misreading of events, and powerful groupthink that drove the longest war in American history.

Brown said books by think tank specialists and defense department insiders, like The Strategy of Denial by Elbridge Colby (which calls for selective nuclear proliferation), are repeating the same mistakes, creating unacceptable risk of a catastrophic war with China.

Framing the China threat as irredeemably antagonistic, as many political realists are currently doing, misses the reality that both countries  to prosper and even to survive  must cooperate as well as compete, he wrote.

Brown argued instead for engaging China to avoid catastrophes. Such planetary realism, he wrote, faces up to the unprecedented global dangers caused by carbon emissions, nuclear weapons, viruses, and new disruptive technologies, all of which cannot be addressed by one country alone.

That argument should carry extra weight coming from a former governor California, a state famous for catastrophes.

The world needs Brown and Schwarzenegger to keep counseling all of us. Its a role ex-presidents used to fill  before Bill Clinton got sidelined by his foundations lack of transparency, before George W. Bush became a painter, before Barack Obama went on a narcissistic bender with Bruce Springsteen, and before Donald Trump attempted a coup.

So, maybe its time for these governors  the Philosopher-Nerd and the Muscleman-Movie Star  to team up, and save the world from itself.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Can Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown save the world? | Column
LAS CRUCES - An educational assistant at Zia Middle School is charged with molesting a student.

Charles Lee Lucero, 58, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor. He was arrested on March 25 after allegations against him rose to the attention of the Mesilla Marshals.

According to a statement of facts, another educational assistant overheard a teenage student tell Lucero "please don't touch my privates," while Lucero and the student were in the bathroom. The educational assistant also told marshals that the student's demeanor changes when Lucero is around him.

The educational assistant then notified Zia Middle School Principal Kathleen Gardner, triggering a series of procedures that ended with Lucero being placed on administrative leave, according to the statement of facts.

The Mesilla Marshals affidavit also stated that the student confided in a La Pinon forensic interviewer that Lucero molested him twice over the past few years. The student, who requires assistance with using the bathroom, said that incidents occurred when Lucero was supposed to be helping him in the bathroom.

New Mexico Public Education Department records indicate that Lucero holds a license to coach 7th through 12th graders as well as his educational assistant's license.

Lucero is currently being held in the Dona Ana County Detention Center without bond.

The Sun-News did reach out to Las Cruces Public Schools for comment and this story will be updated once the district responds to a request for comment.

A former Zia Middle School principal was sentenced to 11 years in prison on child pornography charges in 2021.

This is a developing story.

Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com

Read more:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Zia Middle School educational assistant accused of molesting student
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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said the Armed Forces of Ukraine, by their actions, are leading the Russian authorities to the logical idea that it is necessary to conduct a dialogue.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fight off enemy attacks in the south of the country, in Donbas, Kharkiv directions, in Kyiv region. By holding back Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian authorities to a simple and logical idea  it is needed to talk. Talk urgently and meaningfully, honestly and for the sake of results and not for the sake of playing for time," Zelensky said in a video statement on Friday evening.

"Some 16,000 Russian soldiers have already died. For what? What does it give and to whom? The conversation must be serious. Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed. The territorial integrity of Ukraine must be ensured. It means, the conditions must be fair. Otherwise, the Ukrainian people simply will not accept," he said.
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The governments of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have signed an agreement for single-point taxation for mass public transportation vehicles of state corporations in order to ensure seamless movement of passenger vehicles in the National Capital Region, according to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.

The agreement also provides for exemption in taxes, including road taxes, to buses and other vehicles of educational institutions. The ministry notified that the NCR states have agreed to forego such revenues in the larger public interest of a cleaner NCR.

"Such revenue loss is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore annually. Hence this new Combined RCTA for Stage and Contract Carriages in NCR heralds a higher level of inter-state cooperation under the leadership of NCR Planning Board," the statement added.

Also read: Hinduism inspired supercar! Meet Beatles-fame George Harrison's McLaren; check pics

The agreement, Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreements (CRCTA), has come into force with immediate effect, and all educational institution vehicles and all stage carriage buses of state transport undertakings of NCR participating states will be covered under this agreement, the ministry added.

The agreement provides for countersigning of permits and licenses for motor cabs, taxis, auto-rickshaws registered in NCR for seamless movement, the ministry said in a statement.

The agreement also provides single-point taxation for mass public transport vehicles of state transport undertaking inter-city buses to ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution, it added.

According to the agreement, all permits and licenses, including temporary ones, shall be issued only on Vaahan software, as updated from time to time.

The operational validity of stage carriage vehicles as well as contract carriage vehicles has been limited to 10 years for diesel vehicles and 15 years for petrol and CNG vehicles till any further directions are issued in this regard.

However, the ministry clarified that directions of the Supreme Court, National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Centre, as applicable, will have "overriding effects on these provisions".

All public service vehicles except those specifically exempted by the ministry shall be mandatorily fitted with a vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) and one or more emergency buttons, the ministry noted.

The Combined RCTA for Stage and Contract Carriages for Passenger Vehicles in NCR builds on the earlier separate RCTAs for these two categories and takes it further to facilitate ease of seamless passenger transport in NCR.

The new agreement provides for single-point taxation to state-owned transport bodies wherein road tax/passenger tax, etc. Shall be payable by them only in one NCR state and exempt from such taxes/fees in the other NCR states.

All the NCR states have agreed on this with a view to nudging passenger shift from private to public transport to reduce NCR's pollution.

The ministry said that NCR states will take the initiative to computerise the database of drivers, vehicle registration and other related information in the NCR districts on a priority basis.

States should also endeavour to implement the usage of RFID, speed control devices, fast tag, trauma Care, single-window tax collection, bar-coding of drivers' fingerprints and GPS vehicle tracking system in a phased manner.

With inputs from PTI

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Emirates Airline, based in Dubai, will resume pre-pandemic flying frequency to its Indian destinations from April 1. The airline plans on operating 170 weekly flights in the country.

The flights will also include 35 weekly flights to Mumbai, 28 to New Delhi, 24 to Bengaluru and 21 to Chennai, amongst others.

"The move comes on the back of the decision by the Indian government to restore international flights to and from the country in line with established bilateral agreements from the end of March 2022," the airline said in a statement.

Read also: AAI introduces new Covid guidelines for international operations, details here

"Emirates has also brought back its customer-favourite Airbus A380 on a daily basis between Dubai and Mumbai in March 2022. Emirates flight EK 500/501 is operated by the iconic double-decker aircraft."

With inputs from IANS

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Akasa Air, a new Indian budget airline, expects to operate its first commercial flight in June and is trying to obtain all necessary licences, according to CEO Vinay Dube.

The airline`s chief executive Vijay Dube said that they are working with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to get the required clearances for commencing the air operations.

He was speaking at a session at Wings India 2022, India`s civil aviation show at Begumpet Airport, which was formally inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Also read: Airlines in India expected to add up to 120 aircrafts every year: Aviation Minister

Dube, however, did not reveal which Indian cities the airline is looking at for commencing the operations. Backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjuhnwala, the airline had received a no-objection certificate (NOC) from MoCA in October last year.

Dube said that the airline plans to have 18 aircraft within 12 months from launch and add 12-14 a year later. Akasa Air had placed an order for 72 Boeing 737 MAX jets in November last year.

With inputs from IANS

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Virgin Atlantic announced that it will begin operating a second daily service between Delhi and London on June 1. The flight will take off from Heathrow and land at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi.

The airline has also announced some changes in the departure timings of its Mumbai flight, effective March 27. Coupled with its service from Mumbai, Virgin Atlantic will offer three daily flights from India, it said in a statement.

The announcement comes ahead of the resumption of regular international flights to and from India from March 27. Scheduled commercial international flight services were suspended in the last week of March 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Read also: International flights to resume from March 27, Delhi Airport aims to connect 60 destinations

Virgin Atlantic said that from June onwards, it will offer morning as well as night departure Delhi-to-London flights.

The new second flight will be operated with a 258-seater Boeing 787-900 aircraft. "... With a double daily Delhi service, alongside our daily Mumbai service, this will be our largest ever flying programme to India, which is our third-largest market globally," Alex McEwan, Country Manager for South Asia at Virgin Atlantic, said. Virgin Atlantic also said its flight from Mumbai will now have an afternoon departure.

The airline is also offering a flexible booking policy, allowing customers to amend their flights with no change fee until December 31, 2023. Together with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic will offer seamless connections between Delhi and the USA via Heathrow, the statement said.

With inputs from PTI

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NEW DELHI: The temperature on the internet is soaring, all thanks to Bollywood King and superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The actor is currently in Spain shooting for some high-octane action sequence for his upcoming film 'Pathaan' and several photos from the sets have leaked and gone viral on the web. However, on Saturday (March 26), Shah Rukh left his fans surprised beynod imagination when he dropped his chiselled look from his upcoming actioner on Instagram.

Shah Rukh Khan is seen in his shirtless avatar, flaunting his eight-pack abs, and rocking a new hairdo, looking extremely HOT! SRK posted his first-ever official look from 'Pathaan' after several leaked photos and much delay.

Sharing the picture-perfect click on his Instagram account, the actor wrote, "Shah Rukh agar thoda Rukh bhi gaya toh Pathaan ko kaise rokoge.. Apps aur Abs sab bana dalunga.(You can stop Shah Rukh but how will you stop Pathaan I will make abs and apps, both)". The caption is in response to speculations about Shah Rukh launching an OTT app.

Immediately after Shah Rukh Khan shared the photo on his Instagram account, his wife and film producer-interior designer Gauri Khan also dropped the same photo, with the caption reading, "Loving the Pathaan vibe." As expected, his fans flooded their comment section with praises.

Earlier this month, several photos of Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone's from the sets of 'Pathaan' had found its way to the internet. The photo showed the 'Badshah' star flaunting his long hair look, whereas Deepika was seen flaunting her toned figure in sexy bikini looks.

Earlier this month, Shah Rukh unveiled Pathaan's release date announcement video. The video also featured his co-stars John Abraham and Deepika Padukone. Pathaan marks SRKs return to the big screen after five years. The superstar had captioned his post, "I know it's late But remember the date Pathaan time starts nowSee you in cinemas on 25th January, 2023. Releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Celebrate #Pathaan with #YRF50 only at a big screen near you (sic)."

Directed by Siddharth Anand, 'Pathaan' is scheduled to release in theatres on January 25, 2023. The film is bankrolled by Yash Raj Films.

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Nine enemy attacks repulsed in JFO area over day, about 170 people, 36 equipment destroyed, three aircraft, three UAVs downed  HQ

Over the current day, March 25, the Ukrainian servicemen repelled nine attacks of Russian occupiers in the JFO area, killed about 170 people and 36 units of equipment, shot down three enemy aircraft and three UAVs, the JFO headquarters said.

"Thanks to the skillful actions and skill of the Joint Forces' servicemen, nine enemy attacks were successfully repulsed over the current day. Our soldiers inflicted damage on the Russian occupiers," the JFO headquarters said in the evening report on Facebook on Friday, March 25.

In particular, the Ukrainian defenders destroyed eight tanks, 17 armored vehicles and 11 vehicles of the enemy.

The total losses of the occupiers amounted to about 170 people.

Air defense units in the sky of the Ukrainian Donbas shot down three enemy aircraft and three unmanned aerial vehicles of the Orlan-10 type.
New Delhi: Food delivery giant and restaurant review platform Zomato has announced a partnership with WWF India on Earth Hour to raise awareness among their partners and approximately 36.4 million users.

As part of the collaboration, 100 restaurant partners such as Smoke House Deli, Paradise Biriyani, Fatty Bao, Hitchki, Mainland China, Oh Calcutta, and Monkey Bar among others, will offer a unique Dine in the Dark experience to diners by switching off all non-essential lights during the dinner hour, according to a repot by IANS.

Moreover, Zomato is encouraging all its employees to observe Earth Hour in their homes. The company said that it is committed to a cleaner and greener world through Earth Hour with WWF as part of the India Plastics Pact. The campaign for Earth Hour will be from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. in India.

Besides Zomato, several other brands have lined up initiatives for Earth Hour, which started in 2007 as a one hour lights out event in Australias Sydney. The event has now spread across 190 countries uniting the people including individuals, communities, businesses and countries to create a positive environmental impact through the power of collective action, said WWF India.

For instance, The Imperial in New Delhi will organise physical `Nature Trails` in central Delhi. The luxury heritage hotel aims to take their guests and diners away from digital screens into nature with the initiative.

HSBC India said that it has already committed to accelerating a net zero carbon economy. The bank said that it has encouraged its 60 lakh customers and 32,000 employees to join the campaign on Saturday. Also Read: Apple iPhone 13 Pro selling with Rs 19,400 discount! Check offer details

Also, Indigo Airlines will mak Earth Hours date and time on 1,800 flights for two days up to Saturday 6 p.m. WWF Indias ambassadors, staff and citizens at the on-ground activities across India would be seen wearing 100 per cent cotton Indian Terrain t-shirts, the official merchandise partners of the Shape Our Future t-shirt this year, WWF spokesperson added. Also Read: Not just Supertech, Delhi-NCR's other real estate firms facing insolvency proceedings; check here

- With inputs from IANS.

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#mute
New Delhi: For mothers, their breastfeeding journey has an emotional connect and to celebrate it lifelong as a remembrance, jewellery made from it has emerged as a new way of order. This concept is famous in the West, and now gradually picking up back home too.

According to an Indiatimes.com report, Safiyya and Adam Riyadh run a successful and award-winning company called Magenta Flowers which preserves special occasion flowers into precious keepsakes. The company began operations in 2019 and has fulfilled over 4,000 orders. Now, they have expanded into breast milk jewellery, and are projected to turnover 1.5 million (Rs 15 crore) in 2023, Daily Star reported as per Indiatimes report.

"I feel there is so much stigma around breast milk and in some cases breastfeeding in public that for me, it is almost like a hidden gem, Safiyya told Daily Star.

BREAST MILK JEWELLERY IN INDIA

Also, a Chennai-based artist named Preethi runs this line of using breastfeeding into keepsakes that parents can have as a momento. Earlier in an interview with News Minute, Preethy shared her journey. Her jewellery includes earrings, rings, pendants among other things.

She got the idea of going ahead with the jewellery line after many asked about it on a Facebook forum. Preethy's price ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 4,000, depending on the design and the material.

Not just breast milk, but Preethy told News Minute that she gets an order request to make pieces with a child's first tooth, a lock of hair and even the umbilical cord.
New Delhi: Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagtis studio Tiger Baby's show 'Eternally Confused & Eager for Love' has gained a lot of traction and reviews from fans. It is already trending in India on Netflix as the series resonates with young-India.

The Rahul Nair-directed, comedy drama is about an awkward young adult navigating through love, relationships and adulthood.

The series introduces Vihaan Samat in the lead role, playing Ray. His phenomenal performance has since garnered many admirers, especially amongst the younger generation.

Speaking about Rahul and Vihaan, Zoya said, Both Rahul and Vihaan are unique talents you cant ignore. We are so proud that Eternally Confused & Eager for Love is being liked and I know this is just the beginning for both of them.

Producer Reema Kagti added, Rahul Nair really spoke to the youth in the language they best understand with Eternally Confused & Eager for Love and as for Vihaan Samat, we came on board for him as soon as we saw his audition. He was absolutely wonderful, just the perfect boy to play Ray.

Zoya Akhtar's studio Tiger Baby's upcoming film, The Archies has already spiked interest levels amongst the audiences in a big way.
A total 23 Indian Army officers and personnel of other ranks were honoured with gallantry and distinguished services in Jaipur on Saturday.

South Western Command Investiture Ceremony was conducted at 61 Cavalry Polo Ground, Jaipur Military Station.

A total of 14 Sena Medals (Gallantry), one Yudh Seva Medal, four Sena Medal (Distinguished) and five Vishisht Seva Medals were presented by Lieutenant General AS Bhinder, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Command.

The Investiture Ceremony is conducted once a year to confer various awards to personnel who have distinguished themselves by acts of individual gallantry and exceptional devotion to duty.

The awardees included 15 officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and six personnel of other ranks.

Two gallantry awards were presented posthumously to the Next of Kin Gurdeep Kaur, wife of Naib Subedar Mandip Singh, SM (Posthumously) and Jaswinder Kaur, wife of Naib Subedar Satnam Singh, SM, (Posthumously).

The Army Commander also conferred citations to 15 units of the South Western Command for their exemplary performance.

Speaking on the occasion, the Army Commander congratulated all awardees for their gallantry and distinguished service.

He also urged all ranks, ex-servicemen, civilians and their families to rededicate themselves in service of the nation.

Lt Gen Bhinder later interacted with the award winners, their families and acknowledged their invaluable contribution in upholding the highest standards of professionalism of the Indian Army.

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New Delhi: A day after Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over probe in the Birbhum violent killings, a 15-member team of the Central agency has joined the investigation and reached the crime scene in Rampurhat.

The team includes Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) experts from Delhi led by (DIG) ranked officer. The Birbhum violence probe is being headed by a Joint Director-level officer.

West Bengal | A 15-member CBI team including CFSL experts from Delhi led by (DIG) ranked officer joins the Rampurahat, #Birbhum killing case. The case is monitored by Joint Director-level officer.  ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2022

Earlier on Saturday, West Bengal Inspector General Bharat Lal Meena reached Bagtui village, Rampurhat in wake of the Birbhum violence investigation.

West Bengal | Inspector General Bharat Lal Meena reaches Bagtui village, Rampurhat in the wake of death of eight people in #Birbhum violence pic.twitter.com/sJcNHnqOOy  ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2022

Calcutta High Courts on Friday ordered CBI inquiry for the Birbhum violence case, a Forensic team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday reached West Bengals Rampurhat to investigate the matter.

As per the court order, the CBI will have to submit a report on the matter by April 7.

The verdict came after the court heard the matter on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking an independent inquiry on the case by a Central agency.

The Birbhum incident has created a huge political stir in the state with The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that often targets the Bengal government on the law and order situation seeking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees resignation and has demanded an investigation into the incident by Central agencies, has made national headlines.

On March 22, as many as eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal`s Birbhum after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh.

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New Delhi: As Pramod Sawant takes oath as the Goa Chief Minister for a second consecutive term on Monday (March 28), the BJP has decided not to allow people wearing black masks or black clothing inside the venue.

Goa BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade said, "People wearing black masks and black dresses will not be allowed inside the venue. However, the ceremony is open to all.

The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 11 am in Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near Panaji. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other leaders will attend the event, Tanavade told reporters today (March 26).

The BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member House in the Goa Assembly polls held on February 14. With the support of some Independents and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the saffron party is all set to return for a second time.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Michael Lobo urged the attendees at the swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant to raise the fuel price hike issue in front of PM Modi.

"We oppose (fuel hike). The PM should take whatever measures to roll it back immediately. He (PM) is coming here and I hope somebody from the audience over there should stand and say this and tell him that we are really feeling the heat, not only in Goa, all over India," Lobo was quoted as saying by IANS.

Earlier today, the Congress legislature party and other opposition MLAs unanimously approved former Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeria name as the candidate for the upcoming elections for the Speaker of the Goa legislative assembly.

"There was unanimity among opposition MLAs that Aleixo Sequeira should be our candidate for the Speaker`s post," Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said.

(With agency inputs)

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Kolkata: In the Birbhum violence case of West Bengal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has named 21 accused under Section 147, 148, 149, and other Sections in FIR on suspected offence of armed rioting. Earlier on Saturday (March 26), a CBI team reached Bogtui village in Birbhum district and began its investigation into the violence that claimed eight lives. Director-General of Police (DGP) West Bengal, Manoj Malviya on Friday informed that 11 arrests have been made in the case so far.

Unidentified people had on March 21 set 10 houses on fire in the village, killing at least eight people, including women and children.

The CBI team, consisting of around 20 members, went inside the house where charred bodies of seven people were found. "We are starting the investigation today. We have to conduct the probe on a war-footing as we have a deadline to meet," said the CBI official.

Preliminary inquiry reveals that the killings came as a retaliation for the murder of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh. His followers and associates reportedly ransacked the houses of the persons and set fire to the houses with a view to kill the persons inside, as a result of which people were charred to death. Earlier, TMCs district president Anubrata Mondal had said that the fire could have been because of a short circuit. But the CBI's FIR rules out his claims.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday handed over the investigation into the Birbhum killings to the CBI and set a deadline of April 7 to submit its progress report. The team is led by deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Akhilesh Singh and also includes Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) experts, who also visited the gutted houses and started collecting samples.

(With inputs from Pooja Mehta and Agency)

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A total of eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal`s Birbhum on Tuesday after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went to Bagtui village on Thursday to meet the kin of those killed in the violence. On Friday, the Calcutta HC directed the SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency. The Court had also directed the state government to install CCTV cameras for round-the-clock surveillance. Following this direction, CCTV cameras have been installed in the violence-affected area of Rampurhat.

Also, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the arson incident. The move came after a nine-member delegation of BJP MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators involved in the crime.
Jaipur: The son of a Congress MLA and four others have been booked for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl belonging to Dausa district in Rajasthan, police said on Saturday. Police identified the key accused as Deepak Meena, the son of Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena from Rajgarh assembly constituency in Alwar district.

One of the five accused, identified as Vivek Sharma, was also booked for extorting a sum of Rs 15 lakh cash and jewellery items by threatening the victim to upload the video of her gang rape on social media, SHO Nathu Lal of the Mandawar police station in Dausa district said.

"A case has been registered against three named accused, including Rajgarh MLA's son Deepak Meena. Two others have also been booked for gang rape and other sections of the IPC," he added.

He said the case was registered on Friday (March 25) on the basis of a complaint lodged by the minor girl's family members. Medical examination of the victim has been done and her statement recorded, he added.

The SHO said the incident happened in February when the accused took the girl to a hotel on Mahwa-Mandawar Road and committed the crime. They also made an obscene video to threaten her, he added.

The matter came to the light during the probe into a complaint lodged by the girl's family members after the cash and jewellery went missing from the house. Family members had initially lodged a complaint of theft in the matter.

A probe into the matter found the involvement of Sharma following which the victim girl mustered the courage to share her ordeal with her mother, the SHO said.

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New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday (March 26) called the union territorys 'Rozgar Budget'  innovative and bold with the aim to generate 20 lakh new jobs in the coming five years.

The Delhi CM said his government plans on increasing the number of jobs by at least 12 per cent.

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, Today's budget aims to generate 20 lakh new jobs in the next five years. This is not a poll promise, but a major announcement in this 'bold and innovative' budget. We aim to increase the number of jobs by at least 12%- from 33% to 45%.

Earlier today, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented the Rozgar Budget in the Delhi Assembly with an outlay of Rs 75,800 crore for the financial year 2022-23. The focus of the budget is on creating 20 lakh jobs in five years by setting up an electronic city and encouraging night economy, retail and wholesale markets in Delhi, PTI reported.

Delhi has 1.68 lakh people fit for employment. Eight sectors like tour and travel, construction identified for creating jobs, the Delhi CM told the media.

Further, the AAP convenor said efforts have begun to provide free water supply in the city.Efforts on for free water supply. Free water, free power, health, transport, education make people's lives easy amid price rise, Kejriwal was quoted as saying by PTI.

Speaking on the Centre introducing the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in Lok Sabha to unify the three municipal corporations, Kejriwal alleged this has been done to delay the MCD polls.

MCD bill (by Centre) being brought to stall (MCD) polls. We will study it, and if needed, will challenge in Court. Reduction of wards' number to 250 from 272 means delimitation, which further means no elections. Bill bring MCD under Centre's control. the Delhi CM alleged.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia presented a Rs 75,800 crore budget in the Assembly for the financial year 2022-23 on Saturday (March 26, 2022).

"Delhi's economy is recovering gradually from the impact of Covid-19. The budget allocation for 2022-23 is Rs 75,800 crore," Sisodia said in his budget speech.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government's 'Rozgar Budget' will generate employment for the youth on a large scale. The budget has taken care of every section of Delhi, said Kejriwal.

"Many congratulations to Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia for presenting the 'Rozgar Budget' for Delhi. This budget will create employment on a large scale for the youth. Every section of Delhi has been taken care of in this budget," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

 Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 26, 2022

Rs 75,800 crore economic roadmap for Delhi

Sisodia said that the Delhi government has come up with schemes that will provide jobs, food, and increased opportunities in business to those who have lost their livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The budget size for the financial year 2021-22 was Rs 69,000 crore. The budget size for 2022-23 is 9.86 per cent higher than the previous year. This is the eighth consecutive budget of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Now I want to present the important section of our 'Rozgar Budget' containing 20 lakh new jobs. In this, I will put plans to take the economy of Delhi on the path of progress and generate lakhs of employment opportunities out of this progress.#DelhiBudget2022 pic.twitter.com/WTGrduYLkt  Office Of Deputy CM of Delhi (@OfficeOfDyCM) March 26, 2022

Sisodia said the 2022-23 budget is a "Rozgar Budget". He also said the per capita income of Delhi is 2.7 per cent higher than the national average.

Delhi govt to set up electronic city to create 80,000 jobs

Manish Sisodia, in Delhi Assembly today, proposed to set up an electronic city in the national capital to create 80,000 jobs. The electronic city, which will come up at Baprola, will aim in boosting of employment opportunities in Delhi.

"We will set up an electronic city at Baprola in Delhi to create 80,000 jobs through electronics manufacturing," Sisodia said in his budget speech. Sisodia said that this move will also attract IT companies to the national capital.

"We intend to build the electronic city to create jobs. We will also set up a 90-acre plug-and-play manufacturing centre to attract electronic companies to set up base in Delhi. The redevelopment of the non-conforming industrial areas will be done to create six lakh new jobs," Sisodia said.

Over 1.78 lakh youngsters got employment in last 7 years, says Sisodia

The Delhi Finance Minister in his Budget speech in the Assembly highlighted that more than 1.78 lakh youngsters got employment in the last seven years in Delhi, and 51,307 of them got government jobs.

7   @ArvindKejriwal   1  78 +      51307 Govt Jobs

2500 University

3000 Hospital

25000 Guest Teachers

50000 Sanitation & Security 2013 -@msisodia #DelhiBudget2022 pic.twitter.com/53BPEr74Fj  AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 26, 2022

The private sector in Delhi generated more than 10 lakh jobs since COVID-19 broke out, Sisodia said in the Assembly. "I have brought an agenda for job creation and to give respite to people from impact of Covid-19," he said. New start-up policies will be launched.

Retail, wholesale shopping festivals to boost tourism, economy

In the budget, the Delhi government has planned shopping festivals to promote the retail and wholesale markets in the city, seeking to transform these places into tourist destinations and create jobs to boost the economy.

The government has proposed a Delhi Shopping Festival and a Delhi Wholesale Shopping Festival with an outlay of Rs 250 crore.

Sisodia, in his budget speech, said goods of Delhi are considered reliable and trustworthy, and many people still shop from traditional wholesale and retail markets despite the presence of modern malls.

"Shopping at these conventional markets is considered a part of our traditional culture and ethos. Delhi has many famous markets, and we have planned to redevelop and modernise them so as to also make them attractive tourist destinations, aiming to create more jobs in the coming years," he said.

Education sector allocated Rs 16,278 crore

Sisodia announced a budget of Rs 16,278 crore for the education sector, a part of which will go to building boarding schools for homeless children and a Science Museum in a city school.

"There have been initiatives to provide basic education to them (children) but they have been partly successful. We propose to set up a Boarding School for homeless children," Sisodia said in his budget speech.

I propose a total outlay of  16,278 crore in the Education Sector for the financial year 2022-23. This includes  14,412 crore under revenue and  1,866 crore under capital expenditure#DelhiBudget2022 pic.twitter.com/nPxGKp081P  Office Of Deputy CM of Delhi (@OfficeOfDyCM) March 26, 2022

He also announced that the government will set up a School Science Museum in a Delhi school, and will also introduce its Business Blasters scheme in private schools.

Other details of Delhi budget

25,000 jobs will be created for women under the 'Smart Urban Farming' initiative. Rs 9,669 Cr allocated for the health sector, Rs 475 Cr for mohalla clinics and polyclinics, Rs 1,900 Cr to upgrade Delhi govt hospitals. Rs 1,300 Cr allocated for drains, streets, water supply in unauthorised colonies.

Delhi government has proposed an outlay of Rs 3250 Crore for electricity subsidy in the budget for the year 2022-23. The Government is committed to strengthen the road infrastructure in the city. "This year we propose a budget of  266 crore for the Environment & Forest Sector for the financial year 2022-23," said Sisodia.

(With agency inputs)

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Heavy fighting underway in Sumy region, soon some communities in region to be liberated - head of regional military administration

In Sumy region, heavy battles between the Russian invaders and the Ukrainian army are taking place, the latter is winning them, so it will probably be possible to talk about the liberation of some communities of the region from the invaders very soon, head of Sumy regional military administration Dmytro Zhyvytsky said.

"Fighting is going on. Fierce fighting is going on. But these are victorious battles, and I am sure that very soon we will be able to say that we have liberated some of communities of Sumy region," Zhyvytsky said in his video message on Saturday.

The head of the regional military administration said that fighting continues in Sumy, Okhtyrka and Konotop regions.

"Fighting continues in Trostianets community, several settlements of Okhtyrsky district. Unfortunately, the shelling of the suburbs of Sumy continues. This afternoon [Friday] the city of Akhtyrka was bombed. Again a big explosion, again a bomb, again big destruction. Akhtyrka is some kind of object of the enemy's special over-attention," Zhyvytsky said.

He also appealed to community leaders and other representatives of local authorities to be extremely careful and accurate with the information they disclose publicly.

"This is a very important thing. A very important nuance that we cannot in any way harm the actions and work carried out by the Armed Forces, the Territorial Defense, and our special services today... Do not report information that has not been verified and is not agreed with regional military administration," the head of the regional military administration said.

He also said that the publication of unverified information would be qualified as politicians' "desire to harm the conduct of military actions and various activities aimed at liberating the temporarily occupied territories."
Chennai: A research scholar at the IIT Madras here has accused her fellow scholar of sexually assaulting her repeatedly and also harassing her at work place along with his accomplices including two of her professors for nearly four years after she joined the institution in 2016.

Apart from the physical and mental trauma she was subjected to by the group of men at the institution and during a trip to Coorg, as well, the scholar was prevented from using the laboratory equipment to work on her thesis, she claimed.

Police have also filed a case in the matter, naming eight persons in the FIR.

Alarmed at the unpleasant turn of events during her academic pursuit, she had remained silent initially but later overcoming her shock she summoned courage to complain to the internal Complaints Committee against Sexual Harassment (CCASH), which in its interim recommendation sought to restrain her three fellow scholars including the main accused - against whom she levelled her accusations - from entering the campus till she completed her work with respect to her PhD and submits her thesis. "Further, the guides should ensure that the respondents do not submit their thesis until the scholar (victim) submits," the committee said while postponing further investigation until she submitted her thesis.

Taking exception to the leniency meted out to the men who allegedly sexually, physically and mentally harassed her, the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), Tamil Nadu president S Valentina and general secretary P Suganthi, who took up the girl's case, have sought justice to the victim and stringent action against the perpetrators. The leaders claimed that the CCASH enquired and gave an interim order on October 10, 2020, based on the scholar's complaint on July 17, 2020.

They said the victim was a member of the Scheduled Castes community.

"The full process does not seem to have been completed. The police filed a FIR, arranged for her deposition before a magistrate and had issued summons to the accused by mail," Valentina and Suganthi said. They requested the CCASH not to stop with the investigation with the interim report but proceed in a detailed manner and complete it to render justice to the victim.

"The interim recommendation was given based on an online deposition. The victim informed that the main culprit forcefully captured her photos (in an objectionable manner) but there was no investigation on finding the pictures despite several requests from the victim," they said.

Hence, to complete the investigation, the committee should conduct the process in person as this is a serious criminal offence which can be a threat to the victim for the rest of her life, the leaders added.

Shockingly, the main accused is continuously present in the online meetings, carrying out his work without any hindrance and this puts the victim in a real trauma, they alleged and expressed concern that the accused may submit the synopsis and subsequent thesis and get away from the disciplinary action of IIT Madras.

Based on her complaint, the CCASH found that her fellow scholar abused her verbally, physically twice - once in the lab and during the Coorg trip, prevented her from using the instruments in the lab and even reprimanded her for using chemicals. He made her feel uncomfortable in the lab in the presence of co-guide who failed to warn him when the girl complained. Another professor joined hands with the main accused to ensure that she does not get slot time on the instruments, the CCASH found during the Google meet enquiry held on nine occasions from July 29, 2020 to September 1, 2020.

It also found that her three fellow scholars and a professor indulged in describing the girl in a vulgar manner. Besides, they "indulged in substance abuse," it said.

A case was been filed by the Mylapore All Women Police in June last year following the National Commission for Women's intervention. Cases were registered against eight persons.

The culprits have not been arrested so far, Sugandhi told reporters here and demanded the probe to be transferred to the Crime Branch CID for thorough investigation and appropriate action.

There was no immediate response from IIT Madras on the research scholar's allegation.

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New Delhi: With 1,660 new Covid-19 infections being reported in the last 24 hours, India's total tally of cases rose to 4,30,18,032, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday (March 26, 2022).

India also recorded 4,100 deaths in the last 24 hours, as Maharashtra and Kerala added their backlog numbers, pushing the total death toll to 5,20,855. The country also reported 2,349 recoveries in a day.

COVID19 | India logs 1,660 new cases & 4100 deaths (deaths include backlog from some states) in the last 24 hours. Active caseload stands at 16,741

Total vaccination: 1,82,87,68,476 (Representative image) pic.twitter.com/TmnEmR5NHb  ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2022

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,24,80,436, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.20 per cent.

A reduction of 4,789 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The ministry also informed that the active cases comprise 0.05 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.75 per cent.

The nations daily positivity rate has been recorded at 0.25 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.29 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 182.87 crore on Saturday at 8 am.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 6,58,489 Covid-19 tests being conducted in the country and so far, over 78.63 crore tests have been done.

Meanwhile, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 478.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.11 million and vaccinations to over 10.86 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world`s highest number of cases and deaths at 79,936,775 and 976,499, according to the CSSE. India accounts for the second highest caseload at 43,016,372.

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After a video of a hijab-clad Muslim girl purportedly offering namaz inside a college classroom in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media, the university administration has ordered a probe into the matter.

As per sources, the incident occurred in Dr Harisingh Gour University (HGU), a central varsity, in Sagar district. In the viral video, a burqa/hijab-clad girl could be seen purportedly offering namaz inside a classroom.

After the video surfaced on media, members of the Hindu Jagran Manch reached the university campus and staged a protest, raising `Jai Shree Ram` slogans and reciting Hanuman Chalisa at a temple located on the campus. They later handed over a memorandum to the university administration demanding action against the girl student.

Kapil Swami, a member of Hindu Jagran Manch, claimed that namaz was deliberately offered inside the classroom on Friday.

"It was a deliberate act carried out on the behest of some faculty members of the university. We have demanded that punitive action be taken against those who helped the girl offer namaz," Swami said.

Neelima Gupta, Vice Chancellor of HGU, has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

"A five-member committee has been constituted to look into the matter. The committee will submit its report within three days, and further action will be taken based on this report. We have asked all the students to follow their religious practices outside the university campus," Gupta said.

The Karnataka High Court had recently ordered restricting the wearing of hijab in educational institutions in the state, deeming it not an "essential religious practice" in Islam. On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused urgent hearing of pleas challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict.
New Delhi: A minor boy died and two women were injured when a house collapsed in Mumbais Kandivali area earlier today (March 26), PTI reported.

The incident took place at K D Compound in Lalji Pada area around 4 pm.

Maharashtra | One died and two got injured after a building collapsed in Kandivali area of Mumbai earlier this evening. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/wwkli5AnRP  ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2022

A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said that drainage work going on in the area could be a probable reason for the collapse of the ground-plus-one storey house.

The boy aged 4 who died in the collapse was identified as Naushad Ali, while the two members of his family, 22-year-old Hasina Shaha and Shahidunnisa (30), were seriously wounded. The women are undergoing treatment at Shatabdi Hospital, the BMC official told PTI.

(With agency inputs)

Live TV
Bhubaneswar: Continuing its winning spree, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday swept the municipal elections, bagging 76 out of 108 urban local bodies.

In last month's panchayat polls, the party had won 766 of 852 Zilla Parishad seats in 30 districts.

The ruling camp has also pocketed posts of mayor and chairperson in all 76 bodies.

This is the first time people in Odisha could directly elect mayors of corporations and chairpersons of municipalities and NACs, besides ward councillors, with the municipal laws having been amended recently.

Of the 105 municipalities and notified area councils (NACs) in the state, the BJD emerged victorious in 73, while the BJP managed to secure just 16, followed by the Congress at seven.

Nine urban local bodies were secured by Independents.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party also registered its win in the three municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur.

"Thank all the people of Odisha for the overwhelming support in Odisha Municipal Election. The win is a reflection of the outpouring of love for BJD and untiring effort of thousands of party workers. #OdishaLovesBJD (sic)," Patnaik, who is also the party's president, said on Twitter.

BJD's candidate Sulochana Das, who was elected to the post of mayor in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, expressed her gratitude to people in the state capital for her victory.

"I am touched by the love people have showered on me despite being a newbie in politics," the journalist-turned-BMC mayor said.

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Amritsar: For the once powerful ministers and highly distinguished MLAs its not easy to come to terms with life after an unforeseen and embarrassing rout at the hands of the Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) novice politicians in the recently concluded 2022 assembly elections.

Those apprehending a retaliatory action by the present regime or the exposure of their misdeeds that could land them behind the bar are busy creating a protective cocoon around themselves with the help of lawyers, chartered accountants, and former friends in police department while others are exploring options for their next best career to engage themselves, at least for next five years.

Apparently, the defeated ministers and MLAs look humble in accepting their defeat and publicly hails the countrys democratic set up which gives the right to voters to choose representatives of their own choice while bowing before the peoples mandate but reports tricking in through their respective cliques suggest of their post-election anxiety and depression affecting their mental health and how many of them have also been taking medical help for the politically induced stress.

One of the MLA (name withheld) and a well-known narcissist from the Majha region of Punjab who lost to an AAPs newcomer candidate is now seen taking part in philanthropist activities and is also actively planning to launch his own NGO. They (present government) has nothing against me so why should I worry or have any stress, he said.

Another former powerful minister in the Congress regime is taking home treatment for stress and also the spiritual advice to stay calm before preparing themselves for the next five years. I have begun morning walk, I attend Yoga sessions and have begun listening to tot he grievances of people of my constituency at my home, says he.

No doubt that post-election grief is a reality and their symptoms can be seen writ large on the faces of many of the defeated candidates of both Congress and SAD(B) and the continuous praise of AAP by the common man only acts as a pinch of salt on their wounds.

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President of Jammu Kashmir Reconciliation Front Dr Sandeep Mawa, a Kashmiri Pandit, burnt down an effigy of Farooq Ahmad Dar (Bita Karate) who has admitted on camera that he had killed several Kashmiri Pandits during the 1990 Kashmir militancy which led to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

Mawa has set an ultimatum to the government to establish a fact-finding committee to find out the exact scenes of killings by terrorists in the Kashmir Valley. He said that if the government fails to do so till 19th April, he would sit on a hunger strike for ten days. And nothing is done even after that, he would do self-immolation.

Dr Sandeep Mawa said "We need justice. After The Kashmir Files was released, we went back to the 90s. He further said, "Bita Karate has himself accepted that he has killed Kashmiri Pandits why he is not punished I demand he should hang, and government should constitute a fact-finding commission till 19th April. He said Kashmiri Muslims too have suffered who supported India and they too should get justice."

Reacting on The Kashmir Files movie, Sandeep said that the movie has shown the sufferings of minorities in Kashmir.

He also held regional politicians responsible for the Kashmir situation and Kashmiri pandits exodus. He said that all those Muftis and Abdullahs hand in gloves with separatist and had planned the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Mawa said, "It is Farooq Abdullah who is responsible for all this. He was the Chief Minister and he resigned on 18th January 1990. Jagmohan Malhotra, who took as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990, took charge on 22nd January. Till then, all Kashmir Pandits had left the valley."

Mawa demanded that too should be probed that how regional politicians were supporting separatist and terrorist's agenda.

Sandeep Mawa is the Kashmir Pandit on whose shop suspected terrorists gunned down a civilian in Srinagar on the evening of 8 November 2021. Killed civilian Ibrahim was working as a salesman at Nand Lal Mawa Enterprises, a prominent grocery shop owned by Dr Sandeep Mawa.

Mawa returned to Kashmir in 2019, ahead of the scrapping of J&Ks special status. His father had been previously targeted by terrorists in 90ties. This is first protest done by any Kashmiri Pandit in Kashmir since the release of The Kashmir Files.

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New Delhi: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Ahmedabad has issued a notification for the recruitment of Junior Consultants and Associate Consultants posts. The company is looking to fill 36 vacancies in Surface Team and Engineering Services disciplines through this recruitment drive.

The interested and eligible candidates can download the application form through the official website- ongcindia.com. The last date to apply for the posts is March 30, 2022.

ONGC Recruitment 2022: Vacancy Details

Junior Consultant: 14 posts

Associate Consultant: 22 posts

ONGC Recruitment 2022: Eligibility Criteria

Junior Consultant/Associate Consultant(Surface Team)Production: Retired ONGC executives at E3 to E5 level of Production discipline with knowledge in Surface installations.

Junior Consultant/Associate Consultant(Surface Team)Electrical: Retired ONGC executives at E3 to E5 level of Electrical discipline with knowledge in Electrical system.

Junior Consultant/Associate Consultant(Engineering Services): Retired ONGC executives up to E3 level of Electrical discipline with knowledge in Engineering Services.

ONGC Recruitment 2022: Check Detailed Notification Here

ONGC Recruitment 2022: Pay Scale

Associate Consultant (E4 & E5 Level): Rs 66000.00 (inclusive of all) + Rs 2000.00 (maximum) communication facilities against submission of invoice.

Junior Consultant (Up to E3 Level): Rs 40000.00 (inclusive of all) + Rs 2000.00 (maximum) communication facilities against submission of invoice.

ONGC Recruitment 2022: Age Limit

Less than 65 years of age at the time of engagement.

ONGC Recruitment 2022: How to Apply

As per the official notice, Eligible candidates are required to send the scanned copy of their application duly signed in the format given at Annexure-I of this advertisement to the email address: BHARGAVA_VIKAS@ONGC.CO.IN as noneditable file on or before 30/03/2022.

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police will provide green corridors for the movement of buses carrying players and staff for the IPL 2022 season to ensure that they reach the venues for playing and practice in time and do not get stuck in traffic.

Over 1,100 police personnel including traffic police will be deployed for the matches in Mumbai, a senior officer said on Saturday.

This year all IPL league matches are being held in two cities - Mumbai and Pune, and the ten participating teams are staying in posh hotels in different parts of the megapolis.

The league matches starting Saturday (March 26) evening will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne stadium - both in south Mumbai, DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai and MCA Stadium in Pune.

A police officer said that as the distance between the hotels where the players and staff of teams are staying and the stadiums are far, Mumbai Police are taking additional precautions about players' safety and timings of matches.

"Regarding green corridors, each team will be provided (police) escort and security as some of the matches are (scheduled) during peak hours. Infrastructure-related work is also going on at some places in Mumbai," the officer added.

The distance between south Mumbai and D Y Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai is around 35 km and considering traffic-related issues, Mumbai Police will coordinate with their counterparts in Navi Mumbai for smooth traffic movement, he said, adding that Thane and Pune Police too will be put in the loop.

For matches to be played at Wankhede and Brabourne stadiums, police will take precautionary measures to avoid traffic jams considering that Marine Drive and Churchgate stations are located nearby, he said.

Where are IPL 2022 teams staying in Mumbai?

Chennai Super Kings team is stationed at hotel Trident and Delhi Capitals at Taj Palace, both in south Mumbai.

Gujarat Titans are residing at JW Marriott, Sahar, and KKR at ITC Grand Central, in Parel in Mumbai.

Lucknow Super Giants are staying at Taj Vivanta in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai Indians at hotel Trident in the Bandra Kurla Complex.

Punjab Kings are staying at hotel Renaissance in Powai, Rajasthan Royals at Grand Hyatt in Santacruz, Royal Challengers Bangalore at Taj Lands End in Bandra, Sunrisers Hyderabad at ITC Maratha, Sahar.

Each IPL team to be escorted by Mumbai police personnel

The teams will travel to Navi Mumbai and Pune for the matches.

"Considering the travel time to reach to those stadiums from hotels of the players, police have prepared specific time-bound security plans. Necessary logistical support is also being provided," the officer said.

Mumbai Traffic Police's joint commissioner Rajvardhan Sinha said police personnel are ready with plans for transporting players and regulating traffic during the IPL matches.

Police will monitor the signal system on the route of teams and will ensure a smooth flow of traffic, he said.

"We are ensuring that IPL teams reach the stadiums from their hotels for games as well as for practice in time, and at the same time, common people should not suffer," he said, adding that no route will be blocked for the movement of teams.

Each team will be escorted by a team comprising personnel of traffic police and Mumbai police whenever they travel for IPL games or practice sessions, he said.

Police are in touch with nodal officers for each team who have shared their practice and match schedule 15 days in advance, Sinha added.

Live TV
Mumbai: When not shooting, Salman Khan is seen spending his time at his Panvel farmhouse. Spread over 150 acres, the farmhouse is located just an hour away from Mumbai. Salman, who is a nature lover, had spent his entire time of the lockdown at the farmhouse. He has also stated several times that he does not like any other place in front of his farmhouse.

On Saturday, the actor treated his fans to super cool pictures from the farmhouse. Taking to his Instagram handle, the 'Wanted' actor shared photos of himself, in which he can be seen chilling in a pond, wearing a beige hat. In the sunkissed picture, the 56-year-old actor is seen with his body dipped in the water and only his face is visible in the photo.

He is seen donning a beaded look, as he strikes a pose for the lens while looking off the camera. Salman didn't caption the photo.

As soon as the post hit the photo-sharing platform, scores of fans flooded it with likes and comments by dropping heart and fire emoticons. The photos garnered more than 15 lakh likes within 45 minutes of its existence on Instagram.

Fans flooded the post with love-filled comments. 'Ek number bhai,' a fan wrote. 'Bollywood King,' another added.

"Love you bhaii," third one chimed in.

There were few hilarious comments dropped by some of his fans. "Salman be like:- Nahaane gya tha aur pta nhi kaun kapda hi lekr bhaag gya, 3 ghante se paani me hu....," wrote one.

Another one warned him that there could be snaked in the water. "bhai aap dhyan dena pani me bhi saap hota h."

Meanwhile, on the work front, Salman Khan recently wrapped a shooting schedule of his upcoming Telugu debut 'Godfather', which co-stars Chiranjeevi, Nayanthara, and Ram Charan. 'Godfather' is the Telugu remake of the 2019 blockbuster film 'Lucifer' which starred Mohanlal in the lead role with Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Indrajith Sukumaran, and Vivek Oberoi.

Live TV
Air defense systems destroyed three missiles fired by Russian invaders from the Black Sea in the direction of Odesa region, the Pivden (South) task force has said.

"The enemy continues to exercise psychological pressure on the civilian population of Odesa region, shelling the coastline. Thus, trying to launch a missile strike from the Black Sea in the direction of Odesa region, the enemy received decent resistance: three missiles were destroyed by air defense means," the representative of the Pivden task force said in a video statement.

The command also said the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, air defense forces and other defense units in southern Ukraine are taking measures to prevent amphibious landings.
New Delhi: Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan's daughter Suhana Khan often mesmerises fans with her Instagarm posts and she's done it again with her latest post. On Friday (March 26), she took to Instagram to share a picture of herself in a stunning backless dress along with a black heart emoji.

The outfit was synonymous to Suhana's chic and elegant style that she often dons.

Take a look at her post:

SRK and Gauri Khan's darling daughter Suhana Khan headed to New York University in 2019 where she studied acting. She completed her graduation from Ardingly College in England.

Speculation of her making her starry entry into the movie business has always been around and now that she is studying acting as a course, looks like very soon the pretty girl will be making her big-screen debut. She has acted in several plays and also in a short movie.

The buzz however is strong that she will be making her debut in Zoya Akhtars Hindi adaptation of popular comic Archie along with Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nanda. But no formal announcement has been made so far.
New Delhi: Supertech Ltd has 38,041 customers and out of them, homes have been delivered to 27,111 people. As many as 10,930 homes are yet to be delivered and among them, over 70 per cent construction is complete with respect to over 8,000 homes, according to Supertech Group Managing Director Mohit Arora.

The tribunal has also directed the IRP to make a public announcement in this regard and declared a moratorium against the company as per the provision of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code.

Moratorium will continue till a resolution plan is approved and during that period no new cases or claims can be filed against the company in any court of law, tribunal, arbitration panel or any other authority.

Apart from this, Supertech is also barred from transferring, encumbering, alienating, or disposing of any assets.

This is the second major setback for Noida-based developers in the last one year. On August 31 last year, the Supreme Court had ordered the demolition of Supertech Ltd's twin 40-storeyed towers, which are part of the under-construction Emerald Court project in Noida for violation of building norms.

Supertech Group said it would challenge the order before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

"In the matter of appointment of IRP in one of the Supertech Group companies by the NCLT, management of the company stated that the company will be approaching NCLAT in an appeal against the order," Supertech Group said in a statement.

However, it also added the NCLT order will not affect operations of other companies of the Supertech Group.

The NCLT order will not impact the construction at all ongoing projects or operation of the company and "we are committed to giving delivery of units to allottees," it said.

When contacted, Arora said, "there are around 11-12 housing projects in the Supertech Ltd against which insolvency proceedings have been initiated. Around 90 per cent of these projects are completed."

The projects that will be impacted include Eco Village I, II and III in Greater Noida (West), known as Noida Extension, as well as the Emerald Court project, which houses the twin towers.

The debt of Supertech Ltd is around Rs 1,200 crore, including nearly Rs 150 crore loans from Union Bank of India, he added.

According to Arora, there are three-four other companies in the group that are developing many projects across Delhi-NCR, including luxury project Supernova.

The default pertains to the loan given by Union Bank of India to Eco Village II project at Greater Noida (West) in Uttar Pradesh, which was being developed at a cost of Rs 1,106.45 crore.

In 2013, Supertech Ltd had approached various financial institutions to avail a credit facility of Rs 350 crore from a consortium of banks, and out of them, Union Bank of India, the lead bank, had an exposure of Rs 150 crore.

A loan agreement was executed between the banks and Supertech on December 30, 2013.

Later, the loan account of banks which was maintained by Supertech in respect of the credit line became highly irregular with repeated defaults in payment of principal and interest.

Finally, a notice was sent on April 24, 2019 and Supertech again failed to pay and Union Bank of India moved the NCLT.

Supertech had opposed the plea contending that it was filed by the lenders with the authority and as per the clauses of their inter credit agreement, lenders are restricted to initiate any action of winding up, liquidation, bankruptcy, insolvency or dissolution of the borrower.

Moreover, NPA classification of their account was contrary to the guidelines issued by RBI, as per the realty firm contended.

Rejecting the argument, the NCLT said Supertech had submitted a one time settlement proposal which was not accepted by the financial creditor.

"The counsel for the corporate debtor has therefore admitted the debt and default," it said.

Live TV

#mute
PATNA: At least 8 persons, including 4 police personnel, were injured due to a clash between two groups in Bihar`s Gopalganj district on Friday afternoon over playing of songs of Bhojpuri film star Khesari Lal Yadav.

The injured police personnel were identified as Sub-Inspector Vinit Vinayak, and constables Sunil Kumar, Atish Kumar, and Manish Kumar. They were taken to a primary health centre in Barauli for treatment.

SDPO, Sadar, Sanjiv Kumar said: "A group of youths were playing the songs of Bhojpuri film star Khesari Lal Yadav on the loudspeakers. The other group objected to it leading to an altercation between them.

"When a police team reached there to bring the situation under control, the youths showed aggression against the policemen too. They attacked them with batons and iron rods, leaving 4 police personnel injured. We have registered an FIR against accused youths. Further investigation is underway."

There was also some property disputes between the two groups," the SDPO added.

Live TV
New Delhi: After 12 hours of campaign and over 25,000 posts in support, YouTube on Saturday (March 26, 2022) backed down and unblocked WION, Indias first global news network.

WION, which has condemned the Russian invasion and has made sure that its reportage remains balanced and both sides of the story are reported, was blocked by the tech giant on March 22.

YouTube had a problem with one of WION's videos that was uploaded on March 10 and showed two live speeches  one by Ukraine's foreign minister Dmitry Kuleba and another by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

On March 22, WION got a message from YouTube saying that it is blocking the channel from posting any videos and said that the videos violated YouTube's community guidelines.

WION then made an appeal to YouTube which was rejected, following which the news channel then wrote to video-sharing platform and demanded an explanation.

"Our community guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing, or trivialising well-documented violent events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine," YouTube responded.

"Under this policy, we have removed content, for example, denying that Russia invaded Ukraine or alleging that Ukrainian victims are crisis actors," YouTube added.

In the video, Sergei Lavrov had said, "As for your question about whether we are planning to attack other countries. We are not planning to attack other countries. We did not attack Ukraine either. We explained on numerous occasions that there was a situation that posed a direct threat to the security of the Russian Federation."

These, however, were spoken by the Russian foreign minister and not WION.

Following this, Palki Sharma, Executive Editor, WION, took the issue on her show 'Gravitas' on Friday (March 25) and the campaign #YouTubeUnblockWION went viral on Twitter. The channel received nearly 25,000 tweets in support overnight which eventually led to YouTube unblocking WION.

Good morning folks! Very happy to share with you that 12 hours after we put out this story #YouTubeUnblockWION, @WIONews has been unblocked. Thank you for your support & for joining our campaign. We shall continue bringing you all sides of the story https://t.co/OiGnmm36cb  Palki Sharma (@palkisu) March 26, 2022

"WION simply broadcast the Russian foreign minister's statement just like the Ukrainian minister's statement was played. WION makes sure that the reportage reaches every corner of the world and that it should be easily accessible to all and that it should inform your opinion," the news channel said.

Live TV
New Delhi: The OnePlus 10 Pro will be available in India on March 31. The company announced the launch date for its latest flagship smartphone earlier this week. The OnePlus 10 Pro was first introduced in China earlier this year, and it was also demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 in Barcelona.

The smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, and because it has been showcased on multiple occasions abroad, we pretty much know everything about it in terms of specifications, features, and design. The main thing that remains is the price, and it has been leaked just ahead of the launch, hinting at a higher price point than its predecessor, the OnePlus 9 Pro.

The OnePlus 10 Pro will be priced at Rs 66,999 in India, according to tipster Abhishek Yadav. The smartphone will be available in three different configurations: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage, and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage.

According to the tipster, the base variant will cost Rs 66,999, while the top-spec 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant will cost Rs 71,999. It should be noted that this information should be taken with a grain of salt because OnePlus has not yet hinted at the price of the OnePlus 10 Pro. If this is true, the OnePus 10 Pro will cost Rs 2,000 more than its predecessor.

In China, the OnePlus 10 Pro was released with a 6.7-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a 2K resolution. The smartphone will be equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, up to 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of internal storage.

It will include a Hassleblad-branded triple rear camera setup with a 48-megapixel shooter, a 50-megapixel shooter, and an 8-megapixel shooter. It will have a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.

Live TV

#mute
New Delhi: Swedish audio streaming and media services provider Spotify has announced that it will "fully suspend" its service in Russia, apparently indefinitely, amid the country`s continued military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the company had suspended its paid subscription service in Russia. As per Variety, in a statement, the company has now said, "Spotify has continued to believe that it`s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region."

"Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify`s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk. After carefully considering our options and the current circumstances, we have come to the difficult decision to fully suspend our service in Russia," they added.

With this decision, the company has joined dozens of other music companies that have ceased operations in the country including Netflix, Sony Music, Warner Media, among several others.

Though the Russian offices of Spotify had been closed by the company earlier this month, still, it did not initially disable access to its service within Russia.

It had also restricted the discoverability of Russian state-affiliated content on the streaming audio services and removed all content from Kremlin-backed outlets RT and Sputnik from Spotify`s platform. Also Read: OnePlus 10 Pro price revealed in India, might be expensive than OnePlus 9 Pro

As per Variety, Spotify had launched its service in Russia and Ukraine in July 2020, along with 10 other European countries. Also Read: Opening PPF account? Check if your bank allows online investment or need you to visit branch

Live TV

#mute
New Delhi: Russia on Friday (March 25, 2022) said that the first phase of its operation in Ukraine was mostly complete and signalled that it was scaling back its ambitions to focus on achieving its 'main goal'.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that it would now focus on the 'liberation of Donbass', a territory which is claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the East.

"The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass," said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate.

Breakaway Russian-backed forces have been fighting Ukrainian forces in Donbas and the adjoining Luhansk region since 2014. They declared independence with Moscow's blessing - but not recognised by the West - soon before the February 24 invasion.

Over 1,300 Russian soldiers killed, more than 3,800 wounded

It is noteworthy that the Russian troops have failed to capture any major city in the month since invading Ukraine. Battlelines near Kyiv, have been frozen for weeks with two main Russian armoured columns stuck northwest and east of the Ukrainian capital.

While Russia's defence ministry has said that 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded, Ukraine claims that 15,000 Russian soldiers have died.

The ongoing war has so far driven a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes. More than 3.7 million of them have fled abroad with half to neighbouring Poland. The United Nations has confirmed 1,081 civilian deaths and 1,707 injuries in Ukraine since the February 24 invasion. It, however, has stated that the real toll was likely higher.

Mariupol, a city of 4,00,000 before the war, has been among the worst hit by the Russian bombardment. Tens of thousands of people are still believed to be trapped with little access to food, power or heat.

The cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy in the east have also endured devastating bombardment.

Resistance had dealt Russia 'powerful blows'

In a video address late Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his troops' resistance had dealt Russia "powerful blows".

"Our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: we must talk, talk meaningfully, urgently and fairly," Zelenskiy said.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of trying to "cancel" Russian culture, including composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninov, comparing it to actions by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

(With agency inputs)
US President Joe Biden spoke with top Ukrainian government officials in Warsaw on Saturday, and branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a butcher during a meeting with refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine to the Polish capital.

On the second day of a visit to Poland, Biden dropped in on a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Ukraine had received additional security pledges from the United States on developing defence co-operation, Kuleba told reporters, while Reznikov expressed "cautious optimism" following the meeting with Biden.

"President Biden said what is happening in Ukraine will change the history of the 21st century, and we will work together to ensure that this change is in our favour, in Ukraine`s favour, in the favour of the democratic world," Kuleba told Ukrainian national television

After a separate meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Biden reiterated Washington's sacred commitment to security guarantees within NATO, of which Poland is a member.

Ukraine is not a member of the Western military alliance, and the United States is wary of getting dragged into direct confrontation with Russia, but Washington has pledged to defend every inch of NATO territory.

The White House said that in a speech in Warsaw later on Saturday, Biden "will deliver remarks on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war, and defend a future that is rooted in democratic principles".

Refugees

In Warsaw, Biden also visited a refugee reception centre at the national stadium. People, some waving Ukrainian flags, lined the streets as his motorcade wound its way towards the stadium.

After being greeted by celebrity chef Jose Andres, Biden talked to refugees who had gathered to receive food from the World Central Kitchen NGO, asking their names and hometowns and posing for pictures with some.

More than 2 million people have fled the war to Poland. Altogether, about 3.8 million who have left Ukraine since fighting began on Feb. 24.

Asked about the impact that Putin`s decision to invade Ukraine had had on the Ukrainian people, Biden said the Russian leader was a "butcher".

Russia's TASS news agency quoted a Kremlin spokesman as saying Biden's latest comments about Putin narrowed the prospects for mending ties between the two countries.

Putin calls Russians military actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" the country. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Standing outside the stadium, Hanna Kharkovetz, a 27-year-old woman from the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, expressed frustration that the world was not doing more to help.

"I don`t know what he wants to ask us here. If Biden went to Kyiv ... that would be better than speaking here with me," she said as she waited to register her mother for a Polish national ID number.

The invasion of Ukraine has tested NATO and the West`s ability to unite.

Poland was under communist rule for four decades until 1989 and was a member of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact security alliance. It is now part of the European Union and NATO.

The rise of right-wing populism in Poland in recent years has put it in conflict with the EU and Washington, but fears of Russia pressing beyond its borders has drawn Poland closer to its Western allies.

Biden`s election put the nationalist Law and Justice government in an awkward position as it had set great store in its relationship with his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But as tensions with Russia rose before it invaded Ukraine, Duda appeared to seek to smooth relations with Washington. In December, he vetoed legislation that critics said aimed to silence a US-owned 24-hour news broadcaster.

Biden and Duda were expected in their meeting to address a disagreement over how to arm Ukraine with warplanes, and other security guarantees.
New Delhi: In what can be termed as democratic retaliation against the military coup in Myanmar, Canada announced fresh sanctions against both individuals and entities who played a role in procuring weapons to the military authorities in Myanmar.

The announcement was made by Canadas Global Affairs Canada said in a statement on Friday.

"Canada is imposing targeted sanctions under the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations against individuals and entities responsible for procuring and supplying arms and military equipment to the military regime in Myanmar, as well as the Commander of the Air Force," the statement said.

As per the Canadian authorities, the decision to impose these additional sanctions came in coordination with the US and UK governments.

"Canada stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar. We cannot and will not remain silent while this regime continues its cruel disregard for human life," Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly said.

Jolly called on the international community to apply greater pressure on Myanmar`s military to end lethal attacks on its own people.

The Myanmar military seized power last February, using a constitutional mechanism of transferring power in an emergency situation.

The military arrested the key government officials after it accused them of rigging the general election, and later appointed a new administration.

(With inputs from ANI)

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New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who will face the floor test in the Parliament on March 28, is likely to meet the estranged political allies on Saturday as his last bid to woo the support back ahead of the No-Confidence Motion, PTI reported.

The Prime Minister is likely to meet a delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), a key ally of the ruling PTI, in Islamabad on Saturday, Geo News reported citing party sources.

The development comes after a PTI delegation comprising federal ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Pervez Khattak called on MQM-P ministers in Islamabad on Friday.

The crucial no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan was filed by a joint front of all the opposition parties.

Notably, Imran Khan`s situation is uncomfortable given that three of the four allies, that is, MQM-P, PML-Q and BAP have stated their support for the Opposition`s no-confidence motion and said that they will vote accordingly

Ahead of the National Assembly session on the no-confidence motion on Friday, Bilawal Bhutto`s Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) had announced that matters had been settled with MQM-P and that the ruling coalition member will vote in favour of the motion to oust Imran Khan.

MQM-P is the largest ally of the ruling PTI coalition with seven members in the National Assembly.

The Pakistani National Assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172.

(With agency inputs)

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The Administration of State Guard of Ukraine warns citizens about the danger associated with possible mining of houses and environs of allotted areas that were liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Russian invaders.

"It became known that Ukrainians started to return to the cities that our defenders liberated from the invaders. We warn you it is dangerous. Due to the mining of residential buildings and environs in those cities and villages where the invaders visited, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine once again warns about the danger of anti-tank, anti-personnel, cluster mines, booby-traps with stretch marks leaving enemies. Be careful where there were street fights. There have also been recorded cases of mining the bodies of the killed," the administration said.

The administration also reminded the procedure for detecting suspicious objects:

1. Never touch it.

2. Immediately report the discovered object to the units of the State Emergency Service (101) or the Police (102).

3. Warn passers-by about possible danger.

4. Move away from the suspicious item.

5. Wait for the specialists to arrive and indicate the location of the suspicious item.
Russia has said it is conducting drills on islands that are contested by Japan, days after withdrawing from peace treaty negotiations in response to Tokyos decision to impose sanctions on Moscow for its ongoing invasion of Kiev, the BBC reported.

Four islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and termed by the Japanese as the Northern Territories, are the subject of a more than 70-year-old dispute between the two nations.

Because of the dispute, Russia and Japan have not yet signed a post-World War II peace treaty, the BBC reported.

Earlier this week, Russia said it was withdrawing from negotiations with Japan aimed at signing that treaty, because of Tokyo`s tough stance against Moscow`s invasion of Ukraine.

And now, Russia`s Eastern Military District says it will conduct military drills on the islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment.

Japan had earlier condemned Russia for withdrawing from the peace talks and for halting joint economic projects in relation to the islands.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving post-war Prime Minister, has begun saying loudly and publicly that Japan should, indeed, think seriously and urgently about nuclear weapons, BBC reported.

It's no coincidence this call-to-arms has come just as Russia has invaded Ukraine.

Japanese law has explicitly banned any nuclear weapons from its soil since 1971. But Abe is not alone in calling for that ban to now be debated.

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New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed for further talks with Russia as Moscow signalled it was scaling back its ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east.

Recent developments in the war

* Russian forces have taken control of the town of Slavutych, where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region, Oleksandr Pavlyuk, said.

* The mayor of the besieged southeastern port of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, said the situation in city remained critical, with street fighting taking place in its centre.

* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was seen chairing an army meeting and discussing weapons supplies in a video posted by his ministry, the first time he had publicly been shown speaking for more than two weeks.

* Russia said on Friday the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine was mostly complete and it would focus on "liberating" the Donbass region.

Humanitarian Corridors

* The mayor of Mariupol said he had spoken to France`s ambassador to Ukraine about options for evacuating civilians, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he would propose to Russia a plan to help people leave.

* Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said agreement has been reached on the establishment of 10 humanitarian corridors on Saturday (March 26) to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots in Ukrainian towns and cities.

* The war in Ukraine has killed 136 children in the 31 days since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine`s office of the prosecutor general said.

War hitting business

* Ukraine`s Zelenskiy called on energy producing countries to increase output so that Russia cannot use its oil and gas wealth to "blackmail" other nations.

* It is "foolish" to believe that Western sanctions against Russian businesses could have any effect on the Moscow government, Russian ex-president and deputy head of security council Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying on Friday.

What's next

* US President Joe Biden is due to give a speech in the late afternoon in Warsaw saying the "free world" opposes Russia`s invasion of Ukraine.



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Warsaw (Poland): US President Joe Biden will argue in a speech in Poland on Saturday that the "free world" opposes Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that there is unity among major economies on the need to stop Vladimir Putin, the White House said. Biden will also meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Saturday (March 26) in Warsaw in his first face-to-face meeting with top Ukrainian officials since the start of the war.

Biden has held three days of emergency meetings with allies in the G7, Europe and NATO, and visited with US troops in Poland on Friday. He was also set to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Saturday. Putin's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a "special operation", has tested Biden`s promise when he took office last year to confront autocrats including the Russian president and China's leader Xi Jinping. The White House said that in his speech later on Saturday Biden "will deliver remarks on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war, and defend a future that is rooted in democratic principles".

Poland was until the collapse of communist rule in 1989 behind the Iron Curtain for four decades, under Soviet influence and a member of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact security alliance. It is now the biggest formerly a communist member of the European Union and NATO.

The rise of right-wing populism in Poland in recent years has put it in conflict with the European Union and Washington, but the threat of Russia pressing beyond its borders has drawn Poland closer to its Western neighbours.

Bidens election put the nationalist Law and Justice government in an awkward position after it had set great store in its relationship with his predecessor Donald Trump. But as tensions with Russia rose before it invaded Ukraine, Duda appeared to seek to smooth relations with Washington. In December, he vetoed legislation that critics said aimed to silence a U.S.-owned 24-hour news broadcaster.

Biden and Duda will meet privately and are expected to address a dust-up over how to arm Ukraine with warplanes, and other security guarantees. Washington, seeking to avoid a direct conflict with Russia, earlier this month rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany to be used to replenish Ukraine's air force. Now, Poland wants to accelerate the purchase of US-made Patriot missiles, F35 fighter jets and tanks for its own security, and seek reassurance on NATO commitments to defend its members.

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Doha: Taliban`s decision of banning girls` education will cause irreparable damage to Afghanistan if not reversed, said Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative in a meeting in Qatar with Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban member who currently serves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan`s official spokesman at their Doha office.

Taking to Twitter, UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) wrote, "Taliban decision on girls` education will cause irreparable damage to Afghanistan if not reversed. @DeborahLyonsUN message to the Taliban today, meeting in Qatar with their Doha office head @suhailsaheen1."

Taliban decision on girls education will cause irreparable damage to Afghanistan if not reversed.

@DeborahLyonsUN message to the Taliban today, meeting in Qatar with their Doha office head @suhailsaheen1 pic.twitter.com/pVKNgXDl39  UNAMA News (@UNAMAnews) March 25, 2022

UNAMA deplored the announcement by the Taliban that they are further extending their indefinite ban on female students above the 6th grade being permitted to return to school.

Notably, as the new school year begins in Afghanistan, the Taliban has announced that the boys can continue their education normally, however, the doors of the schools will be closed to girls beyond the sixth grade.

Earlier, Taliban acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met the UN Special Representative and discussed human rights, humanitarian assistance, development projects, the banking sector, economic growth, and other issues.

Dozens of students have rallied in Kabul on Friday to protest the Taliban`s decision to block girls` schools.

A number of protestors chanted slogans against the Taliban. One of the slogans said, "No religion has blocked education and the ban on educating girls is blatant gender discrimination."

Condemning the Taliban`s move of not reopening secondary schools for Afghan girls, the United States and its allies have called on the group to revoke its decision.

A joint statement issued by Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union has condemned the Taliban`s decision on Wednesday to deny so many Afghan girls the opportunity to finally go back to school.

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New Delhi: Dissatisfied with the worlds response against Russia that launched an unwarranted attack on Ukraine last months, Ukrainian refugees held a large protest against the Western powers during Joe Bidens Summit with the EU leaders.

The agitation, which was organized by the Ukrainian-led advocacy group Promote Ukraine, took place in front of the Council of the European Union, where US President Joe Biden was concluding a summit with European leaders, reported Ukraine`s local media outlet The Kyiv Independent.

The protesters, who had to flee their homes and native land due to Russias aggression are demanding western nations to take more stringent actions against Moscow.

What are Ukrainian refugees demanding?

Initially, the protesters were demanding NATO for a no-fly zone over the war-torn country.

However, after the refusal of the NATO alliance to create a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace, the organizers are now demanding that Ukraine`s Western allies supply anti-air defences and fighter jets.

Olena Kuzhym, a volunteer organizer for the event, stated that the demonstration had set clear demands for Biden and other leaders.

"First, to close or shelter the sky, if not by the intervention of NATO, then by providing layered air defences," Kuzhym said.

"Also, protection from nuclear weapons, anti-biological and chemical protection weapons."

"We demand that the European Union completely cuts economic ties with the Russian Federation," the organizers wrote on Facebook adding, "Every euro that goes into the Kremlin`s pocket is used to kill Ukrainian women, men and children!"Russia launched its invasion last month after recognising the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics.

So far, a number of countries, including the US, UK, France, Italy, Finland and several others, also banned Russian aircraft over their airspaces.

Russia on February 24 launched a military operation against Ukraine.

Live TV
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the nuclear status of a state should not be a "permission for injustice" in relation to other countries.

Speaking via video link at the Delphi Forum on Saturday, he said that "injustice is what Russia is doing against us, against Ukraine, using its privileges in international organizations, as well as the fear of the use of nuclear weapons, the fear that Russia deliberately constantly spreads."

Zelensky said "there is now a serious discussion in the world at the political level about what to do if Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, in particular, chemical ones."

He said that in the 90s of the past, Ukraine gave up the third largest nuclear arsenal. "In exchange for this, our country received written security promises from the most powerful states in the world, including Russia," the president said, adding that as a result, one of these countries attacked Ukraine.

As a result, Zelensky said, "other states will also conclude that they need nuclear weapons." "We need a reform of the security system so that nuclear status does not serve as a license for any injustice," he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that problems with the export of agricultural products from the country will hit many regions of the world.

"A real migration crisis, real problems ahead," he said on Saturday, speaking with a video statement at the Delphi Forum.

"Ukraine is one of the most important food exporters. Wheat, vegetable oil, corn. This is the basis of the stability and internal security of many states in different regions of the world," he said.

According to Zelensky, "now, when world markets have not yet recovered from the shocks of the pandemic, from food price shocks, no one is insured. And you cannot be insured if food is simply not enough physically."

"Russian troops are mining fields in Ukraine, undermining agricultural equipment. They are destroying fuel supplies that are simply necessary for the sowing campaign," he said, noting that "they have blocked our seaports."

Our state, Zelensky said, will have enough food, but the lack of exports from Ukraine will hit many nations, in the Islamic world, in Latin America, in other parts of the planet where the invaders dream of entering. "We must all prevent food shortages. The sanctions restrictions for Russia are aimed at only one thing  for Russia to start looking for peace," the head of state said.
On Saturday, Russian invaders entered the city of Slavutych (Kyiv region) and seized a local hospital, head of Kyiv regional military administration Oleksandr Pavliuk reported.

"Russian invaders invaded the city of Slavutych and seized the city hospital," the report says.

It specifies that the residents of the city took to the pro-Ukrainian rally with national symbols. They gather on the main square and chant: "Slavutych is Ukraine", "Glory to Ukraine". A large state flag is unfurled.

"The Russians opened fire in the air. They are throwing stun grenades into the crowd. But the residents do not disperse, on the contrary, there are more of them. People began to move towards the hospital, which was captured by the orcs," Pavliuk said.

He said that according to the latest information, mayor of the city Yuriy Fomichov, was abducted by the invaders. The city council continues its work in full force.
Premature disclosure of information by citizens of Ukraine about assistance from other countries entailed the disruption of contracts and the supply of equipment or weapons due to further opposition from the Russian Federation, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliar said.

"We already had several annoying facts when people, out of joy, out of gratitude to this or that country, tried to write that some help was being prepared, that Ukraine would be provided with such and such a weapon or ammunition, and then, due to the hostile actions of the Russian Federation, our contracts and deliveries were disrupted. And therefore, in the conditions of war, today we are trying to minimize the leakage of information about what kind of assistance is being provided to us," she said on the air of the 1 + 1 TV channel.

Maliar said that premature reporting can cause not only obstacles in concluding contracts and in the delivery of aid itself, but also gives the enemy an opportunity to correct his actions.

As reported, on March 24, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis and in general draft law No. 7189 on the introduction of criminal liability for illegal photography and video filming of the movement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and international military assistance to Ukraine.

The document supplements the Criminal Code of Ukraine with a new article - 114-2, which provides for criminal liability for the deliberate and illegal dissemination of information about the direction, movement of international military assistance to Ukraine, as well as information about the movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations of Ukraine.

According to the law, the dissemination of information about the direction, movement of international military assistance to Ukraine, if it was not placed in the public domain by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or without obtaining written permission from the General Staff for its dissemination, committed in a state of martial law or a state of emergency, will be punished by imprisonment for a term three to five years.

At the same time, illegal dissemination of information about the movement, movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations provides for imprisonment for a term of five to eight years.

For the same actions committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, or for mercenary motives, or with the aim of providing such information to the aggressor state or illegal armed groups, the MPs propose to punish with imprisonment from eight to twelve years.
Losses among civilians from February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 00:00 on March 24, 2022, amounted to 2,788 civilian casualties (2,685 in the report a day earlier), including 1,081 killed (1,035), the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said on Friday.

"OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration," the UN said in the document.

According to it, this concerns, for example, Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), and Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.

"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 UN said.

According to confirmed UN data, some 219 men, some 165 women, some 30 boys and 15 girls killed, while the gender of 48 children and 604 adults has not yet been determined.

Among the 1,707 wounded, some 28 girls and 23 boys, as well as 69 children, whose gender has not yet been determined.

Compared to the previous day, according to the UN, three children were killed and two were wounded.

OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on March 25, there were 285 (255) killed and 672 (646) wounded in government-controlled territory, and some 59 (56) killed and 224 (211) wounded in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics."

In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 737 (724) killed and 811 (793) wounded.

The report also states that, according to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, as of 08:00 on March 25, some 135 (128) children were killed and 184 (172) wounded.

In addition, OHCHR said the report of the National Police of Kharkiv region, according to which, as of 18:00 on March 24, some 306 (294) civilians, including 15 (15) children, were killed in the region.

The increase in indicators in this report compared to the figures in the previous report should not be attributed only to new cases that occurred on March 24, since OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days during the day, the UN said in the document.
Member states of the European Union will work together on a common purchase of gas. The common purchases platform will also be open to Eastern Partnership member states, including Ukraine.

We are talking about this in the conclusions adopted following the meeting of the European Council, which was held on March 24-25 in Brussels. Such an order to the Member States and the European Commission is written in order to get rid of the dependence of gas supplies on Russia.

The conclusions state that the European Council has reviewed the EU's immediate term preparedness and tasked the Council to "examine the proposals by the Commission on EU gas storage policy duly, taking into account and addressing the interests of Member States with significant storage capacities, in order to ensure fair balance."

"Refilling of gas storage across the Union should start as soon as possible, taking fully into account national preparedness measures. With a view to next winter, Member States and the Commission will urgently: establish the necessary solidarity and compensation mechanisms; work together on voluntary common purchase of gas, LNG and hydrogen, making optimal use of the collective political and market weight of the European Union and its Member States to dampen prices in negotiations. The common purchases platform will also be open for Western Balkan countries and the three associated Eastern Partners," according to the conclusions.

In addition, work will also focus on completing and improving gas and electricity interconnections throughout the European Union, including full synchronization of power grids and work on ensuring the security of supplies for all member states.
A new hot spot has appeared on the map of Ukraine - Slavutych, whose inhabitants are putting up heroic resistance to the invaders, adviser to the head of the President's Office Oleksiy Arestovych said at a briefing on Saturday.

"Now a huge rally with Ukrainian flags is taking place on the square, the Hero City, the city of the liquidators, is rebuffing the Russian invaders," he said.

According to him, the enemy continues to focus its efforts on Mariupol, there are street battles, they are trying to advance in Izium region and carry out certain tactical actions in the Kyiv region.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to Arestovych, are conducting a strategic defensive operation, in some places they are counterattacking.

Estimated enemy losses on this day are more than 16,400 killed, 575 tanks, 1,640 combat vehicles, 293 artillery systems and 92 MLRS systems, 51 air defense systems, 117 aircraft, 127 helicopters, 56 UAVs, 1,131 vehicles, seven ships and boats, 190 units of special equipment, two Iskander machines.

On April 1, Arestovych said, a campaign to call up conscripts starts in the Russian Federation.

"Our intelligence notices a sharp drop in the share of contract servicemen in Russian Armed Forces. We can expect the Putin regime to push conscripts forward. Mothers of Russia, think whether you need it, if not, take appropriate actions, take care of your sons," he said.
Ireland has joined a group of countries committed to ensuring accountability for Russia's crimes in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"Grateful to our Irish partners for joining the Group of Friends of Accountability today. Undoubtedly, Ireland is at the forefront within the EU and beyond providing essential support for Ukraine in all possible ways," Kuleba said on Twitter on Friday.

The Group of Friends of Accountability as founded by Albania, Colombia, Denmark, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands and Ukraine. According to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these UN member states are committed to ensuring accountability for the aggression against Ukraine. "In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the international community is activating a number of mechanisms to hold the perpetrators of war crimes and gross human rights violations and abuses to account," the Danish Foreign Ministry said.
In Zaporizhia region, occupiers block movement of refugees' convoy from Mariupol, there are ambulances with wounded children  ombudsman

Near Vasylivka, Zaporizhia region, the occupiers blocked the movement of a convoy of refugees from Mariupol, there are ambulances with wounded children in the traffic jam, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has said.

"The commissioner's hotline receives numerous appeals from relatives of persons trapped by the Russian invaders. Near Vasylivka, Zaporizhia region, the Russians blocked the passage and created a many-kilometer traffic jam from the cars of refugees from Mariupol," Denisova said in a Telegram channel on Saturday.

According to her, the convoy includes evacuation buses that take people from Berdiansk to Zaporizhia. "Ambulances with wounded children are also waiting in line. People have been without water and food for two days," the ombudsman said.

"The Russian occupiers conduct enhanced searches of those who cross their checkpoint and create obstacles for the movement of the column. Russia's actions are a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions and are qualified as a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the Criminal Court," Denisova said.

She called on the international community, states and international organizations, to immediately condemn Russia's gross violation of the movement of humanitarian corridors.

"Dear citizens! There is an agreement with the representative office of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the delivery of food, water and medicines to people caught in a traffic jam. Difficult negotiations are currently ongoing to let the convoy through," Denisova said.
Over past day, invaders fire at 4 settlements of Luhansk region, there are dead, wounded - police

Over the past day, Russian troops carried out 18 attacks on settlements in Luhansk region, there are dead and wounded among the local residents, houses were destroyed, the National Police of Ukraine reports.

"Luhansk region. On March 25, the police documented 18 shelling of the territories of the settlements of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Kreminna and the village of Shchedrishcheve. There are dead and wounded among the local residents," the National Police said in a telegram channel on Saturday.

According to the National Police, as a result of the shelling, private and multi-storey buildings were damaged, and food warehouses also fell under the artillery fire of the invaders.
The enemy continues a full-scale armed aggression against our state, whose tasks remain unfulfilled, the preparation and movement of additional units of the Eastern Military District to the territory of Ukraine continues, the General Staff of Ukraine said on Saturday.

It is likely that the aggressor will not give up attempts to carry out offensive actions, commit sabotage, launch missile and air strikes against important military and civilian infrastructure.

In Volyn direction, the enemy will not carry out offensive operations. At the same time, the withdrawal from the points of permanent deployment of units of the Belarusian armed forces to the training grounds is noted.

In Polissia direction, the enemy continues shelling settlements, does not take active offensive actions.

In Siversky direction, the enemy did not carry out offensive actions. The enemy concentrated his main efforts on maintaining the previously occupied lines, suffered losses and retreated in separate directions.

In Slobozhansky direction, the enemy holds the previously occupied lines, regroups and builds up the grouping of troops in order to carry out an offensive in certain directions. Continues shelling of Kharkiv.

In Donetsk direction, the enemy concentrated his efforts on holding the occupied position and preparing for the offensive, but he did not succeed in trying to move forward, and suffered losses. The enemy continued to attempt to storm the city of Mariupol, inflicted air strikes and artillery shelling on civilian and military infrastructure. Tried to make a promotion with the aim of occupying the central part of the city.

The enemy continues to concentrate his main efforts on capturing the settlements of Popasna and Rubizhne and preparing for an offensive against Severodonetsk.

In Avdiyivka direction, he carried out assault operations and tried to develop an offensive in the direction of Novobakhmutivka settlement, but was unsuccessful.

The units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled attempts to storm the settlement of Novomayorske and advance in the direction of the settlement of Krasnohorivka. The enemy had no success, suffered significant losses and retreated.

In Tavriysk direction, the enemy continues to take measures to strengthen control over the occupied territories. Carries out filtration measures, makes attempts to introduce a strict administrative-police regime.

The main efforts of the Defense Forces are focused on preventing the advance of the enemy in the directions to Kryvy Rih, Zaporizhia and the defense of the city of Mykolaiv, holding certain sections of the sea coast; protection and defense of critical infrastructure facilities; liberation of the temporarily occupied territories.

In Pivdennobuzky direction, the enemy carried out engineering equipment of positions and carried out artillery shelling of individual units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The number of refugees from Ukraine crossing the border of Poland has begun to decline in recent days, the Polish border guard reported on Twitter on Saturday.

The day before, 30,500 Ukrainians crossed the Polish border, which is 6.4% less than the day before (32,500). On Saturday, as of 7:00 am local time, 6,100 people arrived, which is 11% less than in the same period the day before.

In just the last month, more than 2.2 million people have crossed the Polish border, some of them already on their way to other European countries. According to experts from the University of Warsaw, there are currently about 1.2-1.3 million refugees in the country.

According to Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Deschytsia, about 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees stay in Poland.
U.S. President Joe Biden is confident that what is happening in Ukraine will change the 21st century, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said following a meeting with him in Warsaw.

"President Biden said two things. First, what is happening in Ukraine will change the 21st century. He has an absolutely clear understanding of this. What we have always been talking about since 2014 is that this is not a war of Russia against Ukraine. This is a war of tyranny against the free world. Today, President Biden said just that: what is happening in Ukraine will change the history of the 21st century, and we will work together to ensure that this change is for our benefit  for the benefit of Ukraine, for the benefit of the democratic world" , Kuleba said in a video message on Facebook on Saturday.

Kuleba said that Biden joined his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and talks between Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. According to him, he and Biden had a long, broad conversation.

"He joined us for two reasons, to continue his dialogue with President Zelensky, and also because he wanted to express his respect and admiration for all Ukrainians who are resisting the Russian aggressor in our person  me and Oleksiy Reznikov," the minister said.

Kuleba said that they spoke in great detail about Mariupol.

"I want you, everyone who is currently defending Mariupol, to know that we, Ukraine, together with our partners, are doing everything possible to help you. And President Biden has the same admiration for every Ukrainian, who contributes to victory over Russia," the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
Investigators of the SBU in Kharkiv region, under the procedural leadership of the regional prosecutor's office, have launched a pretrial investigation into the Russian shelling of residential buildings in the Osnoviansky district of the city, as killing civilians.

"According to investigators, on March 25, 2022, servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces fired artillery rounds hitting residential buildings in the Osnoviansky district of Kharkiv, killing 5 civilians. In addition, houses and vehicles were damaged," the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reports.

Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 2 of Article 438 (violation of rules of the warfare accompanied with an intended murder) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that U.S. President Joe Biden, during a meeting with him and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, assured that the U.S. would unwaveringly support Ukraine in everything until its victory.

"The words of President Biden that the U.S. will be unshakable with Ukraine in everything, absolutely in everything until our victory. Nothing will force the U.S. to turn away from Ukraine or weaken support for Ukraine, on the contrary, this support will only grow," Kuleba said in live on Facebook on Saturday.
Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko has said that the city is currently in an operational encirclement and there is no way to arrange humanitarian corridors or take out the wounded.

The enemy deliberately destroyed the bridge connecting the city with Kyiv. The city does not have the opportunity to arrange humanitarian corridors or take out the wounded. The pedestrian bridge is under constant cross-fire, it is dangerous to transport goods through it, it may fall, and people may also die, the mayor said at an online briefing at the Ukraine Media Center.

"The issue of evacuation is also not simple. There is no talk of a mass evacuation yet. We are solving the issue of taking out the seriously wounded by any means. At the local level, we cannot operate on them and guarantee their future life. These are 44 people: both military and civilian, among them are three children," Atroshenko said.

According to him, "the city has been completely destroyed; it is easier to count those houses that still survived; more than 200 civilians were killed, now there are approximately 120,000 citizens in Chernihiv."

"No one is going to hand over the city. If we stood against the Nazis, we do not give up to the Russians either. There is no permanent power in the city. We deliver water by all available methods. Anything that can be repaired, we repair. Volunteers play a big role, providing people with everything they need with extraordinary efforts," Atroshenko said.
The United States will continue to support Ukraine's humanitarian, security and economic needs, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

"Secretary of Defense and I met with Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov today. We pledged continued support to meet Ukraine's humanitarian, security & economic needs as President Putin's full-scale invasion enters its second month," Blinken wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
The European Commission and the Government of Canada, in partnership with the international human rights organization Global Citizen, have announced the launch of a global campaign to raise funds in support of people fleeing the war waged against Ukraine by Russia.

As the European Commission announced on Saturday, the "Stand Up For Ukraine" campaign seeks to mobilize governments, institutions, artists, companies and individuals to direct funding to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. "Global Citizen will announce more details in the coming days about how people can support. It will culminate in a pledging event on 9 April, co-hosted by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The aim is to raise funds and mobilize support more broadly, to cater for the needs of internally displaced people and of refugees," the European Commission said in the press release.

Commenting on the upcoming action, von der Leyen said: "Millions of people are fleeing the bombs falling on Ukrainian cities. They are leaving their homes and their lives behind, to reach safety in other parts of Ukraine or in neighbouring countries. A Ukrainian child has become a refugee every second since the start of the war. The world must stand up for them. The European Union is catering for the needs of the millions of refugees it hosts. And we will further step up. But so much is needed  and the brave people of Ukraine deserve solidarity from citizens and governments around the globe. Together, we can give them a safe home and bring some light in their lives at this dark hour."

In turn, Trudeau said: "Today, our message to the Ukrainian people is this: we are standing with you. Whether you need food, water, shelter, or medical aid  we are rallying the world to continue to have your backs and provide critical assistance where it is needed most. When we all work together, we can achieve the best outcomes for those displaced by Putins illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine."
Moscow's desire to compensate conscripts for loss of manpower, desire of their elites to hide from publicity destructive for authoritarian framework of Russia  Podoliak

The desire of the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation to compensate for the loss of manpower in Ukraine by conscripts and the desire of their elites to hide from publicity are destructive for the authoritarian framework of Russia, Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the President's Office, has said, expressing his confidence.

"In some regions of the Russian Federation, there was an attempt at partial mobilization, in the most depressed and silent regions. However, even there panic began. And to remove it, the speakers of the Russian Ministry of Defense went public with a strange statement: mobilization is really taking place, but it was organized by... Ukrainian intelligence services," Podoliak wrote on his Telegram channel.

Behind this, in his opinion, is an obvious attempt to justify the Russian Federation's own desire to compensate conscripts for the increasingly significant losses of manpower as part of the "brilliant special operation in Ukraine."

In addition, as Podoliak said, at present there is a tendency for the ruling elite of the Russian Federation to leave the public plane.

"They disappeared from the comments. And therefore, either pure propagandists come to the fore, or those who were already written off yesterday and sent to a well-deserved pension in the same Security Council. The most organic in this is Medvedev [deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation]. It is his appearance in the public field directly indicates that the real ruling elite refuses public loyalty and is looking for an opportunity to somehow escape from the "Russian warship," he added.

Both of these processes, as the adviser to the head of the President's Office is sure, are extremely destructive for the authoritarian framework of the aggressor state.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented 2,858 civilian casualties (2,788 a day before) in the country, including 1,104 (1,081) killed (from February 24 when the Russia invaded Ukraine to 24:00 midnight on March 25, 2022 (local time).

"OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration," the UN said in the document.

According to him, this applies, for example, to Izium (Kharkiv region), and Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.

"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 multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes," the UN said in the report.

According to confirmed UN data, some 221 men, some 221 women, 30 boys and 15 girls killed, while the sex of 51 children and 620 adults has not yet been known.

Among the 1,754 injured, some 30 girls and 24 boys, as well as 70 children, whose sex is yet unknown.

Compared to the previous day, three children were killed, and four more children were wounded, according to the UN.

OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight March 26, there were 295 (285) dead and 681 (672) injured in government-controlled territory, and 59 (59) dead and 227 (224) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics."

In other regions of Ukraine under government control (Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 750 (737) killed and 846 (811) wounded.

OHCHR notes the report of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, according to which as of 8 a.m. (local time) 26 March, 136 (135) children had been killed and 199 (184) injured.

OHCHR also notes the report of the Head of the Investigative Department of the National Police of Kharkiv region, according to which as of 6 p.m. (local time) 25 March, 323 (306) civilians had been killed in the region, including 15 (15) children.

An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 24:00 midnight on 24 March 2022 local time) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred on 25 March only, as during the day OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days.
U.S. President Joe Biden met with Ukrainians who are in Poland to flee from the war started by Russia.

"I visited Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Poland this afternoon. You don't need to speak the same language to feel the roller-coaster of emotions in their eyes. I want to thank my friend Chef Jose Andres, his team, and the people of Warsaw for opening your hearts to help," Biden wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Head of Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky has said that five people have been injured in rocket strikes within Lviv, according to preliminary data.

"What I can tell you as of now: there were two missile strikes within Lviv. Information that a residential building or other infrastructure facilities were hit was not confirmed. According to preliminary data, five people have been injured," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Kozytsky said that the threat of a missile attack still exists.

"Stay in shelters! Don't walk down the street! Don't take pictures of anything! Don't read information in anonymous Telegram channels and don't spread it from there! I'll report everything that can be reported for security reasons," he wrote
Head of Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytsky has said that enemy troops launched another missile attack near Lviv on Saturday evening.

"Another strike near Lviv. 03/26/2022 at 18:55. Three more powerful explosions occurred. Air raid alert continues! Stay in shelters, remain calm. Do not distribute information, photos or videos before official announcements," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Mayor of the city Andriy Sadovy also said on Facebook that "another missile strike has been inflicted, we are updating the information."
Three people have been killed, six have been injured in the shelling of settlements in Kyiv region, the press service of the Prosecutor General has reported.

"According to investigators, from the artillery strikes of the occupying troops on the villages of Tarasivka, Trebukhiv and Shevchenkove of the Brovary district, as well as the city of Bucha, three civilians have been killed and six civilians have been injured," the press service said in a message published on Saturday.

It is also reported that in the village of Lukianivka the invaders destroyed a historical monument of architecture.

"In the village of Lukianivka, Brovary district, the invaders destroyed the Church of the Ascension of the Lord  a monument of Ukrainian wooden architecture of the second half of the 19th century," the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office said.

The district prosecutor's office is carrying out pretrial investigations in criminal proceedings over violations of rules of the warfare (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has said that as of today, 12 journalists have been killed in the war, and another 10 media representatives have been injured.

"To reveal the truth about Putin's aggression to the world is deadly  12 journalists have already been killed in the war. They covered the war crimes of the Russian Federation and became victims. Another 10 media representatives received injuries with varying severity levels," she wrote on Facebook.

As of today, according to the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other occupying troops have committed crimes against at least 56 media representatives, 15 of them are citizens of other states.

So, four UK citizens, two Czech citizens, two Danish citizens, two UAE citizens, one Swiss citizen, two U.S. citizens have been injured, one of whom died. An Irish citizen and a Russian citizen also died.

"Just yesterday, while filming the evacuation from the bombed-out and depleted Chernihiv, the car of the film crews of the 1 + 1 TV channel and the Turkish TRT World came under fire. Journalist Andriy Tsaplienko, who in his professional life has been in more than one war, and now is covering super-violent war in their native country, has been injured by the shrapnel. In fact, an investigation into the violation of rules of the warfare by the invaders from the Russian Federation was launched over this attack," Venediktova said.

In addition, law enforcement officers have registered at least seven cases of shelling, destruction or damage to television towers and television and radio companies.

The Prosecutor General said that according to the monitoring of the Institute of Mass Information, 148 illegal actions have already been committed against journalists and media in Ukraine since the beginning of the large-scale invasion.
On Saturday, March 26, the Neutron Source nuclear facility based on a subcritical assembly controlled by a linear electron accelerator, located at the site of the National Scientific Center of Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology again received a hit.

"It is impossible to assess the extent of the damage due to the hostilities that do not stop in the area where the nuclear facility is located," the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine has reported.

The inspectorate drew attention to the fact that the Neutron Source, like any other nuclear facility, is not designed for operation in combat conditions.

"The continuation of its bombardment can lead to severe radiation consequences with contamination of nearby territories," the inspectorate said.
Ukraine has conveyed the updated needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the United States during a meeting of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Warsaw, Minister Reznikov has said.

"We had a very good conversation. We voiced our updated needs, which I had previously discussed with General Zaluzny before the trip, coordinated with him exactly the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and today I spoke about these needs: about help, support, and regarding none of the positions it was said: "no, it's impossible, it's unrealistic," Reznikov said at a press interview during his visit to Warsaw on Saturday.
In the shelling of settlements in Donetsk region on March 25 and March 26, 2 people have been killed, 7 have been injured, and some infrastructure facilities have been destroyed, the Donetsk regional prosecutor's office reported.

"On March 25, 2022, the enemy fired on the cities of Maryinka, Krasnohorivka, Avdiyivka, the town of Ocheretyne, the villages of Nevelske, Katerynivka, Orlivka and Maksymilianivka of the Pokrovsky district. Three women and three men were taken to hospitals with gunshot shrapnel wounds. Private households and fire departments have been damaged. In Mariupol, which suffers colossal human and property losses due to daily shelling by rocket artillery and air bombs, a children's rehabilitation center has been destroyed," the message posted on Facebook said on Saturday.

In addition, "it became known about the death of the head of the art department of the Livoberezhny district house of children's and youth creativity in Mariupol, the leader of the junior correspondent association Lilia Humianova."

It is also reported that "on March 26, 2022, a civilian car, in which a couple of pensioners tried to leave the city of Maryinka to flee from the war, came under fire from the Russian invaders  the man was wounded in his head, the woman died instantly."

Under the procedural leadership of the district prosecutor's offices of Donetsk region, a pretrial investigation is carried out over violations of rules of the warfare (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Russian troops can pose not only missile, but also combined arms threat to Eastern European countries  Zelensky in talk with Duda

Russian troops can create not only a missile, but also a combined arms threat to the countries of Eastern Europe if Ukraine's partners do not help it with aircraft, tanks and air defense, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a video conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

According to the press service of the President's Office, in the conversation, the head of state reiterated the need to prevent Russian shelling of Ukrainian cities from the air and expressed disappointment that the Soviet-made aircraft that Eastern European countries, in particular Poland, have not yet been transferred to Ukraine, despite the fact that these countries and the United States publicly declared their readiness for such a decision.

"If partners do not help Ukraine with planes and tanks, and they have such capabilities, there is a high risk that Russian troops will create not only a missile threat to the territory of our neighbors  friendly Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic countries, but also direct combined arms threat on their borders, near their cities. And they will go further," Zelensky said, adding that these aircraft, tanks and long-range air defense systems would allow Ukraine to turn the tide of hostilities.

The heads of Ukraine and Poland, as well as representatives of their offices, discussed the functioning of the power system of Ukraine in the unified power grid of Europe. The energy ministers of the two states were instructed to extend the consultations after the end of the conversation.

Duda said that Poland has already received 2.3 million Ukrainians and provides them with everything they need.

In turn, Zelensky thanked his Polish counterpart for receiving Ukrainian refugees.

When the conversation between the presidents was coming to an end, Russian missiles hit Lviv, which is located 50 kilometers from the Polish border.
A small group of Michigan students are urging their college to ignore existing law and ban guns, even on the surrounding public roads.

When Cate Dombrowski, 20, arrived at Michigan State University (MSU), she helped start Michigan State Students Against Gun Violence and, having already decided upon gun control as the solution, began searching for problems.

Michigans statutes generally permit campus carry as long as the carrier is not employed or enrolled at the college, and doesnt enter any buildings. In 2009, concurrent with D.C. v. Heller (2008), MSU tweaked its gun-ban ordinance to allow for this state exception.

This is a policy that endangers students on campus every day, Dombrowski complained to The Detroit News. We dont have an issue with people owning guns [but] there are certain places where we have to decide that weapons are not necessary, and Michigan States campus is one of those places, she said.

Along with Wayne State University and the University of Michigan (UM), MSU is one of three universities established by the states constitution. Their governing bodies are chosen in elections. Some of the officials at these colleges take that to mean they have the power to create laws regardless of the state constitution. .....
Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight Palestinian hamlets in the occupied West Bank, potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless, an Israeli rights group representing the villagers said Thursday.
Egypts flagship carrier EgyptAir will start flying to Rwandas Kigali twice weekly, it said on Saturday.

The national carrier of Egypt has put in place ambitious plans to expand to the strongly rising countries in Africa, such as Rwanda, one of Africa's new hubs, Ahmed Adel, the chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Holding, said in a press release.

EgyptAir said it will be using the latest types [of planes], featuring personal screens in business and economy, according to the chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Airlines Ashram El-Kholy, quoted in the release.

The carrier said the flights from Cairo to Kigali would run on Thursday and Saturday, while flights from Kigali north will be on Friday and Sunday.

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Egypts Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki met on Thursday in Cairo with Rwandas Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Richard Sezibera to discuss bilateral ties and issues of mutual interest.

The ministers discussed the threats to the safety and stability of countries in the region, as well as the prospects for cooperation in defence and security.

The Rwandan FM praised Egypt and its political leaderships support of their brothers in the African continent, especially during Egypts chairmanship of the African Union in 2019.

The Egyptian minister of defence hailed the deep-rooted historical relations between Egypt and Rwanda, expressing Cairos desire for further cooperation on all levels.

The meeting was attended by a number of Egyptian Armed Forces commanders and the ambassador of Rwanda in Cairo.

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The convoy rolls slowly out of the heart of Berlin, its eight cars tethered to a bright red locomotive. Destination: Ukraine, thanks to a historic "rail bridge" delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged country.

Four days' journey, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) travelled and at the end of the line, tonnes of food and other essentials delivered to people in need.

The operation of the Deutsche Bahn (DB), the German rail company, echoes the famous Allied airlift -- known as the "air bridge" in German -- during the Cold War to help the city of Berlin during a Soviet blockade.

"It only took four days" to set up this cooperation with the Polish and Ukrainian railways which now allows this "rail bridge" to operate regularly, explains Sigrid Nikutta, head of DB Cargo, the freight service of the public company.

Every other evening, a convoy leaves the German capital after having collected donations from companies and individuals throughout the country, at dedicated points or directly from manufacturers and supermarket chains.

Pallets of baby food, boxes of sanitary pads and tampons, small electrical appliances, medical equipment, floor mattresses, blankets... the outpouring of generosity is so overwhelming that the containers fill up rapidly.

"Each container is a message to Ukrainians: 'We aren't leaving you on your own!'," Nikutta says.

Among the DB staff, morale is high. Employees take convoys to Poland where they then hand off to local drivers.

The containers must later be unloaded and transferred because the width of the rails in Ukraine is different.

When the train arrives in Ukraine, the national railway takes over.

'Respect'

The unfailing commitment of the employees of the Ukrainian national company to transport food and refugees from one end of the country to the other has earned the admiration of their colleagues to the west.

"They have my respect but also my concern because we all know that this is dangerous," Nikutta says.

However the risks for the "rail bridge" are limited, says DB Cargo spokesman Michael Schmidt.

"We do not transport weapons, no oil", he stresses, noting that since the start of the Russian offensive, attacks on the Ukrainian rail network have been rare because "the Russians need to keep this infrastructure in good condition".

All the convoys, sent to various Ukrainian cities and towns, have so far arrived safely, Nikutta says with pride.

She even received a photograph of the arrival of the containers in Kyiv sent by the mayor of the capital, the charismatic ex-boxer Vitali Klitschko.

"Many Ukrainians feel today, after four long weeks of war, what the Berliners felt at the time of the blockade by the Soviets" in 1948-1949, says the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who attended the departure of a convoy this week.

"Without the enormous effort of the Allies at the time, what would this beautiful city have become?" he asks.

"We now need other solid bridges, including political ones, and the most important would be a prospect of EU membership for Ukraine", says the ambassador, giving the starting signal to the locomotive stamped with the slogan "We stand with Ukraine".

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Ukraine's president made a surprise video appearance Saturday at Qatar's Doha Forum, calling on the energy-rich nation and others to boost their production to counteract the loss of Russian energy supplies.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid, as he has in a series of other addresses given around the world since the start of the war Feb. 24.

He compared Russia's destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

"They are destroying our ports,'' Zelenskyy said. "The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.''

The loss of Ukrainian wheat already has worried Mideast nations like Egypt, which relies on those exports.

Zelenskyy called on countries to increase their exports of energy, something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

Also on hand was Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the top diplomat for the world's biggest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia so far has said it would stick with an OPEC+ production schedule the cartel struck with Russia and other producers.

The kingdom also said it wouldn't be responsible for higher prices as it deals with attacks from Yemen's Houthi rebels amid its yearslong war in the Arab world's poorest country.

Zelenskyy criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons, raising the possibility of tactical nuclear weapons being used on the battlefield.

"Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet,'' Zelenskyy said.

He also noted that Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine,'' he said.

Qatar's ruling emir meanwhile criticized Israel for its treatment of Palestinians over the last 70 years, urging the world to stand against a growing global militarization that found its peak in Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sought to draw a line between anti-Semitism and the ability to criticize Israel for occupying lands that Palestinians hope to have a state of their own.

"It is noteworthy here that the accusation of anti-Semitism is now used wrongly against everyone who criticizes Israel's policies, and this impinges on the struggle against racism and actual anti-Semitism,'' Sheikh Tamim said at the start of the forum.

"While stressing solidarity, I would like in this context to remind of the millions of Palestinians who have been suffering from the Israeli occupation and international neglect for more than seven decades," he added. "Similarly, there are a lot of other people, such as the Syrian people and the Afghan people, for whom the international community has failed to render justice.''

The Israeli Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. It was Saturday, the Jewish day of rest, when government offices are closed.

However, Israel and Qatar have discussed reducing tensions in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Qatar, which supports Islamist groups across the region, has stepped in to provide humanitarian aid, including cash-filled suitcases shipped to Gaza with Israel's permission.

Qatar's support of Islamists saw it become the target of a yearslong boycott by four Arab nations, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, during President Donald Trump's time in office. That boycott ended just before President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina on hand for the forum, praised the event for having the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Qatar sharing a stage as a sign of overcoming diplomatic challenges.

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reiterated to his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame Egypt's rejection of any unilateral decision that could harm the peoples of any Nile Basin country who depend on the Nile River as "the only tributary for life and development."

"We discussed developments in the [Grand Ethiopian] Renaissance Dam file, I reiterated the importance we place on cooperation between the Nile Basin countries from the vantage point of safeguarding the common interests of all of them," El-Sisi said during a press conference with Kagame after the two leaders held talks at the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo on Saturday.

"Egypt rejects any unilateral decision that could harm the capabilities of the peoples who depend on the Nile as the only tributary for life and development," the Egyptian president added in the press conference.

Earlier in the day, El-Sisi received Kagame at the presidential palace in Heliopolis, where the national anthems of both countries were played and the two leaders reviewed the honour guards.

El-Sisi and Kagame witnessed the signing of five Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) for cooperation between the Egypt and the Nile Basin country before the start of the press conference.

"I also stressed the necessity of reaching a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam in an appropriate timeframe, in a way that bolsters regional security and stability based on the rules of international law and the decisions of the UN Security Council," the president added.

In mid-February, Addis Ababa started the operation of two turbines in the mega dam, in a unilateral step that both downstream countries - Egypt and Sudan - labeled a breach" of the Declaration of Principles (DoP) that was signed in 2015.

In a decade of negotiations with Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia refused to sign any legally binding agreements on the operation and filling of the GERD.

Egypt, which fears the dam will affect its historic share of the Nile water, has maintained its support for the right of Ethiopia to develop its economy, insisting, however, that Addis Ababa should not do so at the expense of the interests of downstream countries.

Several attempts at mediation between Egypt and Sudan, and Ethiopia by the African Union (AU) and the US failed due to Ethiopian intransigence.

Last year, Egypt also took its cause to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which encouraged Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to revive African-led GERD negotiations to thrash out a legally binding deal on the dam filling and operation process within a reasonable timeframe

In early March, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry accused Ethiopia of unilaterally exploiting international rivers during a speech at the 157th ordinary session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level in Cairo.

These violations of Ethiopias obligations under international law come in light of a firmly-established Ethiopian policy that is based on the unilateral exploitation of international rivers, Shoukry said, indicating that this policy has caused severe damage to Ethiopias neighbours.

African development

"We discussed issues of security and development in Africa and the spread of terrorism, which hampers the development process in Africa," El-Sisi added.

"I reviewed Egypt's efforts in combating terrorism, including Egypt's establishment of the Sahel-Saharan Center for Combatting Terrorism," El-Sisi said.

"We hail the Rwandan efforts in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa," he stressed.

For his part, the Rwandan president praised the pivotal role played by Egypt regionally in maintaining peace and security.

Kagame also hailed the Egyptian efforts to achieve stability in the Great Lakes region, east Africa, and the Nile Basin.

El-Sisi affirmed in the presser that Egypt aims through its presidency of 27th session of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2022, to convey the aspirations of the entire African continent vis-a-vis climate change and transform them into tangible results in action.

Economic cooperation

The five MoUs that were signed cover information technology, diplomatic training, sports, youth and antiquities.

According to a statement by Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady, the meeting witnessed discussions of cooperation in different fields, followed by extensive discussions between the delegations of the two countries.

The two parties discussed further cooperation in various fields, especially at the economic, commercial, security and military levels, the statement added.

It noted a joint committee between the two countries will convene as soon as possible.

The committee would aim to strengthen coordination and consultation and exchange views between the two sides within the framework of the AU.

Today, we discussed the progress made in various aspects of bilateral relations during the past period and the serious steps to advance and develop relations at the political, economic and security levels. We agreed that despite the many achievements we have made in developing these relations, there are still many opportunities for development, El-Sisi said during the press conference with the Rwandan president.

From his side, President Kagame expressed his country's great appreciation for its long and distinguished historical relations with Egypt, stressing Rwanda's keenness to develop these relations in various fields, especially trade and economic cooperation, as well as his country's interest in maximising the technical support provided by Egypt in the areas of capacity building.

Last December, Egyptian FM Shoukry visited Rwanda to take part in a celebration to mark laying the foundation stone of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Centre in Kigali.

The Egyptian foreign ministry will fund the processes of purchasing and equipping the centre's first phase through the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD).

Established in July 2014 by Egyptian President El-Sisi as the first South-South cooperation institution in Egypt, the EAPD is meant to put the countrys advantages and technical expertise into play for the benefit of the South, especially Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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Egypts Senate  the consultative upper house  will meet on Sunday to discuss amendments to the law regulating the performance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and articles of the new Unified Insurance Law.

A report by the Senate's Human Rights and Social Solidarity Committee stated that NGOs Law 149/2019 was amended in January to give a one-year extension for NGOs to legalise their status in the country.

As a result, the report added, Article 2 of the law will be amended to open the extension of the legal adjustment period allowed for NGOs for another year, starting 12 January 2022 and concluding 12 January 2023.

In 2021, the cabinet issued regulations granting NGOs in Egypt a year to comply with the new NGO Law 149/2019. However, the cabinet, upon a request by Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), decided last January to extend the one-year grace period for another year.

"The additional year will give NGOs enough time to adjust their legal conditions as required by the law," said the report, adding that "the extension is also meant to give sufficient time to adjust the conditions of the NGOs that were unable to hold their extraordinary general assembly due to the anti-coronavirus protective measures, to familiarise themselves with the electronic system legalising and regulating their status, and to accommodate all the organisational procedures that must be met."

The report said "the Senate's Human Rights Committee welcomes the one-year extension for NGOs to play their role in society in line with the new law,"

It pointed out that "the amendment also reflects President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's call during the World Youth Forum last January to declare 2022 as "the Year of Civil Society."

The report concluded that the NCHR said the extension was necessary to affirm the authorities' positive interaction with the council's calls and the state's greater openness to enhance the role of NGOs and their contribution to community service."

The NCHR said in a statement in January that the cabinets decision gives the opportunity to over 20,000 NGOs and civil society organisations to legalise their status, adding that only 31,000 NGOs out of 54,000 were able to settle their legal status before the initial deadline of 12 January.

Some governorates only saw 35 percent of their operating NGOs able to legalise their status, it added.

The cabinet's decision is in line with the principles of freedom of organisation and bolstering community-based action in accordance with the rule of law and international accords on human rights, the NCHR said.

Once approved by the Senate, the amendment will be referred to the House of Representatives to be discussed and endorsed. The amendment should also be ratified by President El-Sisi.

Meanwhile, the Senate is scheduled to resume discussions on Sunday over the articles of the new Unified Insurance Law.

The Senate, which approved the 217-article law in principle on 27 February, has so far discussed 70 articles.

Hani Sirrieddin, head of the Senate's Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, said the draft law aims to draw up new and comprehensive rules for regulating the insurance industry and market in Egypt.

The past four decades have practically shown that the insurance market is in dire need for new legislative and regulatory rules, said Sirrieddin, adding that technological developments and the creation of new insurance tools also require that a unified insurance legislation be passed.

Sirrieddin stated that the new law is necessary to cover a host of professions and services that were lately introduced into the insurance industry.

It seeks to cover the rights of holders of insurance policies and private insurance funds, said Sirrieddin, noting that the law also aims to streamline insurance rules to go in line with new international standards, and to speed up digitisation reforms and the use of financial technology in the insurance sector.

Sirrieddin pointed out that the law is meant to widen the scope of obligatory insurance operations in order to achieve insurance inclusiveness and reach out to poor and limited-income classes that are not currently covered by any kind of insurance, particularly health insurance.

He explained that the new law will cover all kinds of insurance operations. "The law will regulate insurance companies, special funds, obligatory operations, such as highway accidents, and state the new supervisory rules for the insurance industry," said Sirrieddin, adding that "at the end we will have a unified law that will regulate all forms of insurance in Egypt that is in line with international rules and methods and imposes stricter supervision."

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Egypts Ambassador to the European Union Badr Abdel-Atti discussed several issues related to climate change and green transformation, justice and counter terrorism efforts with EU and Belgian officials in Brussels, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Ambassador Abdel-Atti discussed the preparations for the coming visit of EU Green Deal Chief Frans Timmermans to Cairo with the head of her cabinet, Diederik Samsom.

Timmermanss visit comes as Cairo is preparing for the upcoming UN Climate Change summit (COP27) in November in Sharm El-Sheikh. The EU green deal chief will discuss boosting the cooperation between Egypt and EU in the field of energy and green transformation according to the foreign ministry.

Aside from the preparations for Timmermans visit, Abdel-Atti discussed with Samsom cooperation in the field of traditional and renewable energies, including Egypts capabilities in the energy field, as well as the recent mega national projects related to green transformation including the production of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and hydrogen.

The two officials also discussed boosting cooperation with the EU to support Egypt in its presidency of the upcoming climate change summit.

Badr Abdel-Atti also met with Luc De Lobel, an expert for the EUs commissioner of justice, to discuss ways to boost judicial cooperation between the EU and Egypt. They also discussed how Egypt could take advantage of the cooperation frameworks developed by the EU, especially in training.

Abdel-Atti and De Lobel also discussed cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism, and reviewed Egypts efforts in this field.

Ambassador Abdel-Atti met with Deputy Chief Executive Officer of (hub.Brussels) Annelore Isaac where they discussed ways to boost commercial relations with Egypt and Belgium.

In the meeting attended by the commercial attache at the Egyptian embassy in Brussels, the Egyptian ambassador discussed Egypts current megaprojects in the fields of construction, highways, clean and renewable energy.

He also discussed the current efforts in Egypt to host the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.

From her side, Isaac praised the promising investment opportunities in the upcoming COP27 conference as well as in the Egyptian market.

She also revealed that (hub. Brussels) was preparing with its counterparts in Belgium to prepare a visit in October for Belgian companies working in or interested in working in Egypt in the fields of infrastructure, renewable energy, digital transformation and smart transportation.

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Egypt strongly condemned the latest terrorist attacks launched on Friday by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on civilian targets and vital facilities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In a statement released on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed Egypt's absolute rejection of such heinous terrorist attacks and any cowardly act that undermines Saudi Arabia's security and stability.





Egypt reiterated its full support of all measures taken by the Saudi government to preserve the Kingdom's security and stability, as well as the safety of its citizens, the statement added.



Egypt warned of the threat posed by the Houthi attacks to the regional security and stability, in addition to energy supplies, the statement read.

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March 26, 2022 'Whole-of-nation approach needed to ensure no one is left behind'  Bong Go says as he he lauds adoption of Ten-Point Policy Agenda to spur economic recovery from COVID-19 Senator Christopher "Bong" Go hailed a new executive order adopting a ten-point policy agenda to accelerate the country's economic recovery and help more Filipinos recoup the losses they sustained amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, March 21, Executive Order No. 166 mandates all government departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities to ensure that their policies, measures, and programs are aligned with the following principles: 1. Strengthening the healthcare capacity in line with international standards;

2. Accelerating and expanding the vaccination drive;

3. Reopening the economy and expanding public transport capacity, while maintaining the current alert level system;

4. Resuming face-to-face learning;

5. Reducing domestic travel restrictions and standardizing requirements, except as reasonably required by the local government unit of destination;

6. Relaxing international travel requirements with quarantine exemptions for the vaccinated;

7. Accelerating the digital transformation through the passage of key legislation;

8. Providing enhanced and flexible emergency measures, such as the creation of stand-by funds and standardization of allowances for health workers;

9. Shifting the focus of government reporting and decision-making to more useful metrics, such as: (i) total or severe cases, (ii) case fatality ratio, and (iii) total vaccinations; and

10. Developing a Comprehensive Pandemic Response Framework for future pandemics. "Hindi lamang 'to whole-of-government kung hindi whole-of-nation approach. Kailangan nating magtulungan para tuluyang masugpo ang pandemya at ma-relax ang mga restrictions," said Go. "Inaasahan natin na kung mas maraming sektor ng ekonomiya ang mabubuksan ay mas maraming mga kababayan natin ang makakabalik sa kanilang mga trabaho. Ibig sabihin, mas maraming pamilya ang makakabangon mula sa hirap na dulot ng pandemya," he explained. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 will also be responsible for implementing the agenda. Meanwhile, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) shall monitor compliance. The Economic Development Cluster, through NEDA, the Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry, will likewise be consulted prior to the implementation of the agenda and its corresponding measures. On the other hand, the NTF's Working Group on Strategic Communications and the Presidential Communications Operations Office will be tasked with engaging the public and building their understanding of the national government's latest initiatives. The government's rapid deployment of COVID-19 vaccines has helped contain the spread of the pandemic with cases continuing to decline despite reaching record levels in mid-January. As of March 22, the government has secured 238.8 million doses and inoculated over 70% of the target population. A total of 140.7 million doses have been administered, consisting of 63.8 million for the first dose and 65.3million for the second dose. In addition, the Duterte Administration enacted bold reforms to spur economic growth amid the pandemic, such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act which reduced corporate income taxes for micro, small and medium enterprises. More recently, the President signed a law amending the Public Service Act. Republic Act No. 11659 aims to promote healthy competition among key industries in order to pave the way for more favorable prices and quality services for Filipinos. "Since day one ng pandemya, maingat na binabalanse ng gobyerno ang kalusugan at kabuhayan ng mga mamamayan natin. Kahit may krisis, sinisikap nating maging malakas at maunlad ang ekonomiya upang magkaroon muli ng trabaho ang mga nawalan at maiwasan ang gutom at hirap," remarked Go. "Hangad ng administrasyon na mabigyan ng mas maginhawang buhay ang maraming Pilipino sa kabila ng mga hamon sa katatagan ng ating bansa. Patuloy lang po tayong mag-ingat at maging disiplinado. Huwag natin sayangin ang pinaghirapan natin nitong mga nakaraang taon," he stressed.
The president stressed Egypt's full solidarity with Saudi Arabia - government and people - in confronting all attempts that seek to undermine the stability of the Kingdom and the Arab Gulf in general, stressing the close link between the security and stability of the two brotherly countries, according to a presidential statement.

The Egyptian president's call to the Saudi crown prince came as the Houthi Yemen rebels struck civilian targets and vital facilities in the city of Jeddah in the late afternoon on Friday.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement last night condemning Friday's latest Houthi Houthi terrorist attack on Jeddah.

The Houthi attack on Jeddah, which is set to host Formula 1 on Sunday, also drew widespread international condemnation.

Egypt has steadfastly condemned all Houthi attacks against the kingdom in the last several years.

During a short visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, El-Sisi stressed that the kingdom's security is considered an integral part of Egypts national security.
Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad participated in the celebration of the Earth Hour from 8:30 to 9:30pm in Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday, the Ministry of Environment announced.

The celebration was held on the sidelines of the first national dialogue on climate change, which was launched in Sharm El-Sheikh earlier Saturday.

According to Fouad, Egypt was among the first Arab countries to participate in the Earth Hour, joining 88 countries, 4000 cities and 929 famous landmarks in 2009 in turning off their lights to show support for the earth and to reduce emissions.

Fouad added that there had been coordination with several ministries and governorates to participate in this event by turning off the lights of famous and important landmarks in Egypt in order to increase the awareness of the importance of reducing energy consumption.

Egypt is hosting the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP27) in November in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30pm on a specific day towards the end of March, as a symbol of commitment to the planet. It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.

The event aims at developing the awareness of the institutions and individuals of the importance of rationalising energy use to limit global warming and climate change.

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A Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen carried airstrikes on the capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said Saturday.

The overnight airstrikes on Sanaa and Hodeida, both held by the Houthis, came a day after the rebels attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah, their highest-profile assault yet on the Kingdom.

The Houthis' Friday attack came ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom on Sunday. The attack targeted the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days, the North Jiddah Bulk Plant that sits just southeast of the city's international airport and is a crucial hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca.

Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the strikes targeted "sources of threat'' to Saudi Arabia, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Footage circulated online showed flames and plumes of smoke over Sanaa and Hodeida.

The Houthis claimed the coalition airstrikes hit a power plant, a fuel supply station, and the state-run social insurance office in the capital.

A Houthi media office claimed an airstrike hit houses for guards of the social insurance office, killing at least seven people and wounding three others, including women and children. It did not provide evidence and journalists were not allowed at the site.

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Palestinians voted in local elections in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, less than a year after President Mahmoud Abbas called off parliamentary elections.

Most candidates are running as independents, though many have ties to Abbas' Fatah party, and the outcomes will largely depend on local dynamics. Hamas, which rules Gaza, is boycotting the elections and refusing to hold them in the isolated territory.

A first-round was held in December in rural areas, where local politics are dominated by powerful families. Saturday's voting was held in urban areas, where there is more visible opposition to Fatah, but the local elections are unlikely to produce any clear referendum on its leadership.

Of the 102 localities, only 50 will see more than one electoral list compete, according to the Central Elections Commission. Municipal elections were last held in 2017.

Ruhaifah Abdelrahim, a politically independent retired schoolteacher, said she was determined to exercise her right to vote whenever she could.

``People are always demonstrating, always talking... but how are we supposed to change the situation or improve it if there are no elections?'' she said after voting at an elementary school. ``Godwilling, there will be parliamentary elections so the people can choose leaders who will serve the country and the nation. People are really suffering from the occupation, from the poor administration and corruption.''

A steady stream of voters could be seen outside polling stations in and around the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the PA is headquartered. A few people waved Fatah flags outside one of them, and a large banner promoting one of the few official Fatah lists hung alongside others advertising independents. The elections commission said some 190,000 people, or around 26.5% of eligible voters, had cast ballots by 1 p.m., six hours before polls close.

Abbas indefinitely postponed the first parliamentary elections in 15 years last April, citing Israel's refusal to say whether it would permit voting in east Jerusalem. At the time, his Fatah party had split into three factions and appeared headed for another defeat.

Hamas won by a landslide in the last parliamentary elections, held in 2006. That exacerbated a long-running rivalry with Fatah, leading to a week of heavy fighting in Gaza that left Hamas in control of the territory. The two factions have been unable to agree on holding elections since then, and Abbas remained in power after his presidential term expired in 2009.

The elections will likely help the PA with European donor countries, which had expressed support for last year's elections but failed to convince Israel to explicitly allow voting in east Jerusalem. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state and consider east Jerusalem their capital.

The Israeli army detained Islam al-Tawil, the head of an independent list in the town of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah, a week before voting. The military said he was suspected of being a member of Hamas, which Israel and Western countries consider to be a terrorist group.

His supporters deny the allegation, saying he led a list of young political outsiders who were determined to bring about change.

``They don't want anyone who is a leader, who is young, who is Muslim, to lead this country, so they came and took him,'' said Abdelhakim al-Taim, a candidate from his list.

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Joe Biden on Saturday in Warsaw met two Ukrainian ministers in the first face-to-face talks between the US president and top Kyiv officials since Russia's invasion began.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov made a rare trip out of Ukraine in a possible sign of growing confidence in the fightback against Russian forces.

The meeting took place at the Marriott Hotel in the city centre -- opposite a Warsaw train station where there has been a constant flow of Ukrainian refugees since the conflict started.

Biden could be seen seated at a long white table between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, facing Kuleba and Reznikov, an AFP reporter said.

There were Ukrainian and US flags in the background.

The officials discussed "the United States' unwavering commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

Blinken and Austin "pledged continued support to meet Ukraine's humanitarian, security, and economic needs," he added.

Biden last met Kuleba in Washington on February 22 -- two days before Russia began its assault.

Since then, Kuleba also met Blinken in Poland next to the border with Ukraine on March 5.

Biden is on the second and final day of a visit to Poland after he met with EU and NATO leaders in Brussels earlier in the week.

After talking to the Ukrainian ministers, Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace.

On Friday, the US president spoke to US soldiers stationed in Poland near the Ukrainian border and aid workers helping refugees fleeing the conflict.

He praised Ukrainians for showing "backbone" against the Russian invasion and compared their resistance to the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in China in 1989.

"This is Tiananmen Square squared," he said.

He also referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a man who, quite frankly, I think is a war criminal".

"And I think we'll meet the legal definition of that as well," he said.

Biden said he would have liked to see the devastation caused by the conflict "first-hand".

"They won't let me, understandably I guess, cross the border," he said.

Speaking to the troops, he said: "You're in the midst of a fight between democracies and autocrats. What you're doing is consequential, really consequential."

Later on Saturday, he is due to visit a reception centre for refugees and give a major speech on the conflict.

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Canada and the European Commission on Saturday announced plans to launch a joint fund-raising effort to help Ukrainian refugees, with the effort culminating in an April 9 donors conference.

The statement was co-signed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. The two will co-host the donors conference.

They said they were responding to a call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has promoted an online "Stand Up for Ukraine" rally for April 9.

"I'm inviting everybody: musicians, actors, athletes, businessmen, politicians, everybody," Zelensky said earlier.

Nearly 3.8 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian army invaded on February 24, according to the United Nations, with Poland taking in the lion's share.

The UN estimates that 6.5 million others have been displaced within the country -- meaning roughly one in four Ukrainians has been driven from his or her home.

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Exports of Korean confectionery has surpassed imports for the first time thanks to growing popularity especially in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Confectionery exports reached US$251.63 million in 2015, compared to $243.29 in imports, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Monday. They grew an average of 15.6 percent a year from 2011 to 2015.

Confectionery exports to Singapore alone jumped 4.2 times from $1.39 million to $5.78 million, and to Malaysia four times from $1.72 million to $6.86 million. Those to Saudi Arabia and the UAE rose 2.4 times to $5.86 million and 1.6 times to $1.96 million.

"Growing interest in Korea and its popular culture helped raise awareness of Korean confectionery," a ministry spokesman said.
China's national health officials said Friday the nation is continuing to battle the country's worst COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic, with more than 56,000 new cases counted since March 1.

The officials said told a news briefing in Beijing that more than half of those cases have been recorded in northeastern Jilin province and include asymptomatic cases.

At the same briefing in Beijing, the infectious disease expert for the China Center for Disease Control, Wu Zunyou, said officials contend the so-called "zero-COVID" strategy remains "the most economical and most effective prevention strategy against COVID-19."

The strategy relies on lockdowns and mass testing, with close contacts often being quarantined at home or in a central government facility. The health officials said they are rolling out rapid antigen testing to supplement the current mass-testing strategy. The strategy is being applied in the nation's largest city, Shanghai, which this week posted record-high case counts in a surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Meanwhile, nearby Korea is also facing its worst COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic, with nearly 9 million cases reported since early February. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 339,514 new cases Friday, down from 395,597 Thursday and 490,881 Wednesday, which was the second-highest daily caseload of the pandemic. The nation set its all-time high for daily cases the previous Thursday, with 621,205. Officials say Friday's new infections raise Korea's total caseload to 11,162,232, for the pandemic.


Press Release

March 26, 2022 Gordon thanks Catholic radio for imparting platform Senator Richard J. Gordon thanked Radio Veritas for allowing him to impart his platform and beliefs in a senatorial radio forum. Gordon said that the two-hour interview was an enjoyable experience, for it allowed him to answer doubts against his candidacy directly. "Let me say how much I enjoyed this. It has been one of the best forums that I have attended," said Gordon. "You are able to ask me rough questions na I think we should avoid categorizations. Not all of us are perfect, but I'm glad we had this conversation. Thank you very much," he added. Fr. Jerome Secillano, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Public Affairs executive secretary and known radio host, mentioned that Gordon is somebody worth emulating by political aspirants. "I do believe that the likes of Sen. Gordon are somebody na i-emulate ng mga pulitiko. He isn't perfect, yet so are we," Fr. Secillano said in his musings of Gordon. "Pero nakita natin dito bilang public servant ang mga kakayanan na dapat pino-possess ng isang public servant, I do think that he has that," continued the priest. Secillano cited Gordon's stances, which are in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church, the predominant faith in the country. Included is his effort to protect the rights of indigenous peoples in the country, as made example by Gordon's efforts to preserve and uplift the lives of Aetas in Zambales, especially after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991. Another one is Gordon's commitment to uphold human rights in the country amidst impunity, something the senator has done as chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Despite not endorsing any candidate in the May 9 general elections, Secillano believes Gordon should be one of those people should consider when shading their ballots. "I am just saying karapat-dapat na bigyan siya muli ng pagkakataon. I'm not campaigning for him, but this is just an objective assessment of what I've heard," he said. In the two-hour forum, Gordon imparted his accomplishments in his five-decade public service career, and his vision for the country, as it rises from the pandemic. Gordon was also cited for his commitment in the protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), strengthening the bond of Filipino families, and upholding morality. The senator also mentioned that he will never tolerate abusive relationships, adding that there must be a way out for battered spouses through legal separation. At the conclusion of the interview, Gordon pledged to participate in an upright, transparent, and honest manner heading to the polls, and urged voters to vote responsibly. "Bad leaders are always a result of bad voters," remarked Gordon.
The government now allows up to eight people to gather at a time, but restaurants and bars downtown remain empty as the armies of salarymen their business depends on stay away.

Many companies have banned their staff from eating or drinking together as coronavirus infections continue to soar, and many workers are still working from home.

Those who do come to the office are often reluctant to socialize for fear of picking up an infection and spreading it to their family. One worker at a financial company in downtown Seoul said only three out of 15 team members are working in the office while the others telecommute.

Another worker said, "I joined the company last December when it prohibited workers from gathering after work, and I've never eaten with them since." Another banker in Yeouido said, "I live with my mother who is almost 90, so I stopped going to corporate gatherings altogether for fear of getting infected."


By Satoe Matsumoto, KYODO NEWS - Mar 26, 2022 - 12:51 | Feature, All, Japan

Would-be mothers who seek medical help to overcome infertility issues are finding it difficult to access associated mental health support due to a lack of such services in Japan, adding increased angst to a process that can already be emotionally trying.

While public insurance coverage of infertility treatments will be expanded in April to lessen the financial burden, experts say mental health support offered by trained professionals is what is sorely needed to help women cope with stresses they face, especially while working.

More counselors are being trained as few hospitals employ clinical psychologists to address women's mental health concerns or even medical workers who specialize in reproductive medicine.

Takako Horita, 57, a certified clinical psychologist who conducts online counseling from Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, says many of her patients who are undergoing treatment for infertility resent hearing good news from friends who have been able to fall pregnant or who have given birth.

She says many find the experience downright "painful" or might have "a deep sense of loss" whenever they menstruate.

Horita can empathize due to her own anguish of unsuccessfully undergoing fertility treatments for about 10 years. She began artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization procedures when she was 30 years old.

She was initially content since she was also working but decided her desire to become a mother was strong enough that she gave that up after having a miscarriage at the age of 35 to focus her energies on trying to have a child. But as her attempts at pregnancy continued in vain, Horita gradually became more and more distressed.

"The dismay and feeling of alienation from others made me feel utterly miserable," Horita recalled. She became frustrated with her husband, whose life had gone on as usual, and withdrew into herself, depressed by thoughts that she was enduring the pain alone.

Although Horita never managed to have a child, she decided in her "second stage" of life to become a counselor for women suffering from similar fertility struggles.

Despite an abundance of information about medical treatments for infertility on the internet, there are few places for women to have in-person consultations to talk the issues out. Horita opened her office, called "With," in 2011 and began counseling and workshops. She also does face-to-face individual and family counseling.

A survey of 47,000 national government employees in 2021 found that about 16 percent had undergone or considered infertility treatment. Over 70 percent said it was "extremely difficult" or "impossible" to manage work and the required hospital visits, among other reasons. More than 30 percent said they felt a "heavy mental burden" while undergoing treatments.

In April, the government will expand coverage for public insurance for procedures such as IVF, with the patient covering 30 percent of their treatment costs.

Treatments such as artificial insemination, in which sperm is commonly injected into a woman's uterus, and IVF will be newly covered by insurance with some conditions. For example, for IVF, there will be cases in which only women younger than 43 years of age when they start treatment will have procedures covered.

In addition to married couples, those in common-law relationships will also be covered.

Insurance currently covers examinations to determine why a woman is struggling to fall pregnant. Artificial insemination that is not covered by insurance costs about 30,000 yen (about $250) on average for one procedure, and IVF as much as 500,000 yen, in some cases.

The financial cost, however, pales when compared to the stress and emotional strain the process can bring.

"While it is true that many people are rewarded for their efforts, the difficulty of fertility treatment is that isn't necessarily the case," said Kohei Sugimoto, 53, a doctor at Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture.

The center has been promoting mental care services for women undergoing treatment for infertility issues for several years. Some women fail to fall pregnant even after spending a lot of time and money, with many sacrificing their careers in hopes of having a child.

Sugimoto says he tells patients their "efforts are by no means meaningless" and that "experiencing the treatment contributes to their growth as a person."

The center has a resident clinical psychologist who specializes in reproductive medicine. When necessary, information is shared on patients, and counseling is provided at the patient's expense.

Sugimoto said that the culture of seeking counseling for mental health issues is not pervasive in Japan. "There are still few hospitals that have psychologist specialists. Ideally, each prefecture should have a hospital hub (staffed with them)," he said.

With such calls for support from medical workers, counselors and others well-versed in reproductive medicine, the government last October started programs to educate and train "peer supporters."

"Patients are relieved if people around them show they understand or are at least trying to understand the treatments," Horita said.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 26, 2022 - 22:25 | All, Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Saturday pledged their countries' unity against the use of nuclear weapons as they visited the Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial amid growing fears over Russia possibly using the devastating arms.

Emanuel, once a top aide to former President Barack Obama, and Kishida, a lawmaker representing a constituency in the city, offered flowers for the victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing at the Peace Memorial Park near ground zero. It followed their visit to the Peace Memorial Museum, which has belongings of the victims, photos and other materials on display.

"I have confirmed cooperation with President Biden with regard to seeking a world without nuclear weapons, and I shared such a thought with Ambassador Emanuel, too," Kishida told reporters after holding talks with the ambassador in the city, noting the U.S. envoy's Hiroshima visit will send out a strong message to the international community.

But "the Ukraine crisis has once again shown us the difficult path toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons," the premier said.

He suggested an intent to add more sanctions on Russia and support Ukraine and neighboring countries together with others including the Group of Seven industrialized nations.

Emanuel said in a statement released after the visit that "we live in unprecedented times as Russia threatens the use of nuclear weapons, something that was once unthinkable, even unspeakable."

"The history of Hiroshima teaches us that it is unconscionable for any nation to make such a threat," he said.

Their visit to one of the two atomic-bombed cities in Japan comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently hinted at using nuclear weapons in the face of Ukraine's resistance and severe economic sanctions imposed by Western nations following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Japan has joined the United States and European countries in imposing sanctions on Russia, including freezing its central bank's assets, disconnecting its key financial institutions from a major international payment system and imposing export bans and controls. It has said it is preparing additional measures as the war in Ukraine drags on.

"It is a big step forward that the U.S. ambassador visited Hiroshima at a time when there is concern that Russia might use nuclear weapons," said Toshiko Tanaka, 83, who has been speaking about her atomic bomb experience in Japan and abroad.

Emanuel said he is hoping to visit the other atomic-bombed city, telling reporters his journey will not end until he visits Nagasaki.

Earlier in the day, he tweeted that he met with Shigeaki Mori, an atomic bomb survivor who in 2016 hugged Obama during his historic visit to the city, the first by a sitting U.S. president. Kishida, a foreign minister at the time, played an active role in realizing the visit.

There is a lot that I have seen and discussed during my time in Japan, but its hard to find the words that capture my feelings after todays meeting with Shigeaki Mori. Thank you, Mr. Mori, for your courage. pic.twitter.com/v2fgcPiIpG   (@USAmbJapan) March 26, 2022

Emanuel and Kishida were initially scheduled to visit the city on Feb. 26 but postponed it following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The ambassador expressed his desire to visit the western Japanese city when he first met Kishida in February as the envoy to Japan.

In January, the Japanese and U.S. governments issued a joint statement in which they urged world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to raise and sustain awareness.

"I hope the ambassador will tell President Biden that he should visit Hiroshima and see what really happened here," 80-year-old Toshiyuki Mimaki, the head of a major atomic bomb survivors' group in Hiroshima, said after watching Kishida and Emanuel laying flowers at the memorial park.

Emanuel said President Joe Biden would be eager to visit at least either of the cities as the envoy did.

More than 50 countries and regions have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first international pact outlawing the development, testing, possession and use of nuclear weapons that came into effect in January last year.

But nuclear-weapon states, such as the United States, are not part of the treaty. Japan has not signed the pact due to its security alliance with the United States, which offers the shelter of its nuclear umbrella.

Related coverage:

PM Kishida proposes Biden visits Japan in late April

Mayors request Biden visit Hiroshima, Nagasaki
KYODO NEWS - Mar 26, 2022 - 22:52 | All, Japan, World

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi indicated Saturday that Tokyo will help African countries escape China's "debt trap."

During online talks with ministers from African nations, Hayashi expressed readiness to support African countries that wish to get out of the debt trap, saying, "We will facilitate the environment in which (developing nations) do not have to depend on such financing," without mentioning China.

"We should not tolerate destabilization of developing countries," he also said.

The two-day talks until Sunday are aimed to lay the groundwork for the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a Japan-led initiative to assist African development, slated for August.

The annual white paper on development cooperation issued by Japan's Foreign Ministry earlier this month says the international community has been condemning "debt trap" financing, which saddles recipient countries with loans they cannot repay, in a veiled reference to China's huge infrastructure projects in developing nations.

Related coverage:

Japan pushes need for sustainable African development in dig at China

Japan's Abe raises concerns over Chinese lending in Africa

Abe vows Japan investment of over $20 billion to Africa in 3 years
Photo taken on March 23, 2022 shows damaged cars in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

-- "The top priority now is for the parties concerned to maintain maximum restraints, avoid more civilian casualties, and reach a negotiated ceasefire as soon as possible, especially to prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis," a Chinese envoy said.

-- "Developing countries, which make up the majority of the world, are not parties to this conflict. They should not be drawn into the issue and forced to suffer the consequences of geopolitical conflicts and major power rivalry."

-- "In the face of complex situations, all countries have the right to independently and autonomously decide their own foreign policies. Relevant countries should not adopt a simplistic approach of either friend or foe, black or white, and should not force any country to pick a side."

UNITED NATIONS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- China welcomes any initiative and measure that can help alleviate and resolve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, a Chinese envoy said Thursday.

"China's fundamental starting point is to promote the international community and the UN to attach great importance to the humanitarian situation in Ukraine," China's permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun told the UN General Assembly Special Emergency Session on Ukraine.

Zhang added that China calls on the parties concerned to strengthen coordination on the humanitarian issue, effectively protect the safety of civilians, especially vulnerable groups such as women and children, and facilitate the personnel evacuation and humanitarian relief operations.

"Based on the current situation, when dealing with the humanitarian issue of Ukraine, the principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality established by General Assembly resolution 46/182 should be strictly observed to prevent the politicization of humanitarian issues," said the ambassador.

Zhang Jun (C, front), China's permanent representative to the United Nations, makes his explanatory remarks after the vote on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie E)

On the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine, the envoy said that "it is heart-wrenching to see the continued deterioration of humanitarian situation in Ukraine, as well as the civilian casualties and massive displacement of people caused by the conflict."

"The top priority now is for the parties concerned to maintain maximum restraints, avoid more civilian casualties, and reach a negotiated ceasefire as soon as possible, especially to prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis," he said.

Referring to the draft resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine put forward by France, Mexico and others, which was adopted at the General Assembly, the ambassador said that "China recognizes the purpose of the draft resolution, and appreciates the efforts made by France, Mexico and relevant countries in promoting consensus."

However, he pointed out that "it is clear that some elements of the draft resolution go beyond the humanitarian context and some issues are so complex that can only be solved through political negotiations between the parties concerned."

Local residents queue up to receive humanitarian aid in Volnovakha of Donetsk, March 15, 2022. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

"The draft resolution proposed by South Africa focuses on the humanitarian issue, and addresses the important aspects of the current situation in Ukraine, while emphasizing that the cessation of hostilities is a key first step towards improving the humanitarian situation," he said, adding that "we believe that, under the current conditions, the draft resolution proposed by South Africa is more conducive to promoting the unity of the UN membership and to opening the door for further dialogue and negotiation and a diplomatic solution."

"Therefore, China has co-sponsored the draft resolution proposed by South Africa," the ambassador noted.

On the impact of the Ukraine crisis, Zhang underscored that "the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis have further brought about global impacts."

"The world is yet to emerge from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ever-escalating implementation of sweeping, non-discriminatory sanctions have caused and will further cause a huge impact on global economy, trade, finance, energy, food and industrial and supply chains, seriously affecting the normal lives of people in all countries, and making the already difficult world economy even worse," he said.

"Developing countries, which make up the majority of the world, are not parties to this conflict. They should not be drawn into the issue and forced to suffer the consequences of geopolitical conflicts and major power rivalry," he said.

A man takes his belongings from his house in Kharkov, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. (Photo by Diego Herrera/Xinhua)

The ambassador stressed that in addressing international and regional hotspot issues, there cannot be only two options, namely the use of force and sanctions. "In the face of complex situations, all countries have the right to independently and autonomously decide their own foreign policies. Relevant countries should not adopt a simplistic approach of either friend or foe, black or white, and should not force any country to pick a side."

"Respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries is a basic norm governing international relations that applies to all countries and all situations. There should be no exceptions, still less double standards," he added.

Zhang underlined the importance of dialogue and negotiation, noting that is "the only way out for the Ukraine crisis."

"China strongly calls on the international community to remain rational, strengthen unity and make unremitting efforts for ceasefire and peace. China will continue its constructive role in facilitating peace talks," said the ambassador. 
TEHRAN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Saturday that a recent agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to develop the Arash/Al-Durra gas field is "illegal," as Iran has a stake in the field and the Saudi-Kuwait agreement has run contrary to what had been previously negotiated.

According to the website of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said parts of the gas field are located in areas between Iran and Kuwait whose water boundaries have not been defined.

Any move aimed at extracting or developing the field must be made in coordination with all three countries and through joint cooperation, he noted.

The recent move by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to sign a cooperation document on the development and exploitation of the offshore gas reserve is contrary to the common procedures and earlier negotiations and will not be approved by Iran, Khatibzadeh noted, adding Iran reserves the right to exploit the gas field.

Iran has repeatedly voiced its readiness to enter negotiations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on the exploitation of the gas field while also continuing bilateral talks with Kuwait on establishing the offshore reserve's boundaries under the framework of their previous negotiations, he said.

Iran is also prepared to launch trilateral talks with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over the gas field, Khatibzadeh added.

According to a statement released by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation earlier this month, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia signed a deal to develop the Arash/Al-Durra gas field, which is projected to generate one billion standard cubic feet per day of gas and 84,000 barrels per day of condensates. 
BAGHDAD, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Saturday found bodies of four shepherds kidnapped earlier by the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in the northern province of Nineveh, said a local police official.

A joint force from the Iraqi army and police found the bodies in the morning in the Hatra area south of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, Major Sabri Yassin from Mosul Police Command told Xinhua.

The security forces have launched a search campaign in the area, looking for the attackers, Yassin added.

Over the past few months, Iraqi security forces have carried out deadly attacks against IS militants to stem their intensified activities.

The security situation in Iraq has improved after Iraqi forces defeated the IS in 2017. Yet IS remnants have since melted into urban centers, deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. 
Maltese President George Vella (R) and his wife Miriam cast their votes in Zejtun, Malta, on March 26, 2022. Voters in Malta went to the polls on Saturday for the country's general elections.

There are just over 340,400 registered voters to elect 65 members of parliament for the next five years. Citizens of the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state voted until 10 p.m. on Saturday. The election results are expected on Sunday. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

VALLETTA, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Voters in Malta went to the polls on Saturday for the country's general elections.

There are just over 340,400 registered voters to elect 65 members of parliament for the next five years. Citizens of the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state will vote until 10 p.m. on Saturday. The election results are expected on Sunday.

The ruling Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, is expected to win with a comfortable majority, according to surveys.

Opposition leader Bernard Grech, who has been leading the Nationalist Party since October 2020, is calling for a change in the country's direction after a series of scandals rocked the government. These include the placing of Malta on the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti-money laundering body.

On the other hand, Abela is promising to bring about more reforms.

The party leaders cast their votes on Saturday morning in their respective hometowns.

Malta is split into 13 electoral districts, with each electing five MPs, depending on the size of the voting population.

Saturday's election will also see voters as young as 16 voting for the first time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also forced some organizational changes in the voting process, with special drive-through COVID-19 polling stations set up to cater for voters who are in self-isolation, quarantine or those who are positive to the virus.

Malta's next parliament will also include a number of female MPs, following the introduction of a new law stating that 40 percent of MPs must be female. If not directly elected, a mechanism will be used to co-opt them to parliament. 

Maltese Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech casts his vote in Mosta, Malta, on March 26, 2022. Voters in Malta went to the polls on Saturday for the country's general elections.

There are just over 340,400 registered voters to elect 65 members of parliament for the next five years. Citizens of the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state voted until 10 p.m. on Saturday. The election results are expected on Sunday. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela casts his vote in Marsascala, Malta, on March 26, 2022. Voters in Malta went to the polls on Saturday for the country's general elections.

There are just over 340,400 registered voters to elect 65 members of parliament for the next five years. Citizens of the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state voted until 10 p.m. on Saturday. The election results are expected on Sunday. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

People enter a polling station to cast their votes in Sliema, Malta, on March 26, 2022. Voters in Malta went to the polls on Saturday for the country's general elections.

There are just over 340,400 registered voters to elect 65 members of parliament for the next five years. Citizens of the European Union (EU)'s smallest member state voted until 10 p.m. on Saturday. The election results are expected on Sunday. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)
ISTANBUL, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that the object found in the waters of the Bosphorus Strait was a mine and was deactivated by underwater defense teams.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu agency in Doha, the capital of Qatar, Akar said Turkey has discussed the issue with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities and their coordination was underway.

Maritime traffic resumed in the area where the mine was found after necessary coordination was made with the Coast Guard and other relevant institutions and organizations, Anadolu agency quoted the minister as saying.

The Turkish Navy has been closely monitoring similar situations in the region, according to the minister.

The Defense Ministry announced earlier that a "mine-like object" was detected at the northern entrance of the Bosphorus Strait, off the coast of Sariyer district in northern Istanbul.

The strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, was temporarily closed to traffic after the announcement.

Turkey said on Wednesday that necessary measures were taken to deal with allegedly drifting mines in the Black Sea after they broke off from anchor cables near Ukrainian ports. 
ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces killed six terrorists in an operation in the country's southwestern Balochistan province, an army statement said on Saturday.

A soldier was killed and two others were injured during the operation, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in the statement.

The intelligence-based operation aims to apprehend the terrorists who were involved in recent security incidents in Sibi and its surroundings. They were also linked to a blast in a busy market area in eastern Lahore city in January, the statement said.

The security forces also recovered arms and ammunition of the terrorists, the statement added. 
Press Release

March 26, 2022 Lacson: 2022 Election Should be About Our Future, Not 'Money Politics'

More at: https://pinglacson.net/article/lacson-2022-election-should-be-about-future-not-money-politics The future of the Philippines and of Filipinos - and not "money politics" - should determine the outcome of the coming May 9 election, independent presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo "Ping" M. Lacson said Saturday. Lacson said this means voting for the most qualified leader, even as he noted that the feedback from recent debates and forums showed him to be the most knowledgeable in the management of government. "How is it that I am perceived to be the most knowledgeable in management of government, way above the rest, and yet that does not factor in the surveys? Nonetheless, I will continue to champion my track record, qualities, platforms, and standard of what the Philippines needs," Lacson said. Also, Lacson pointed out that he rejected "money politics" and stuck to his principles and integrity when he resigned from Partido Reporma as its chairman and member. On Thursday, Lacson announced his resignation from Reporma after some of its officials decided to endorse another candidate. On Friday, he disclosed that campaign expenses amounting to P800 million was the reason for Reporma's switch to another bet. "Kung corrupt ako, madali ko sanang maibibigay ang P800 milyon na hinihingi nila (If I were corrupt, I could have easily produced the P800 million the party's officials asked). But I don't have the guts to steal or accept bribes. Nothing can ever change my principles and tarnish my integrity. This fight is not just about me and the present. It is about our country's future," he said on his Twitter account. He also cited recent random conversations with Reporma local candidates to ask about ex-Speaker and party president Pantaleon Alvarez's claim that they were pressuring the campaign headquarters to provide them funds. "So far, no one has confirmed such assertion. Their common parting words: TULOY ANG LABAN!" Lacson said. Meanwhile, Lacson reiterated his stance against money politics, where candidates give voters what they want during the campaign period - then get back their "investment" by engaging in corruption during their terms - three years for local posts and six years for national posts. "As long as 'money politics' dominates our elections, it will be a vicious 'cycle of revenge' between candidates and voters: voters having a field day during the campaign period and candidates exacting vengeance for three or six years of victory. Kawawang Pilipinas," he said.
MOGADISHU, March 26 (Xinhua) -- African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military engineers wrapped up a four-day training on Friday evening to counter the growing threat posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) widely used by al-Shabab terrorists.

The training which was attended by 20 military engineers from various AMISOM outposts and some staff officers with roles pertaining to countering the threat posed by IEDs, focused on building participants' capacity to identify and dispose of IEDs and mitigate the threat in time.

"It is only by increasing our awareness, participation in and understanding of the IED threat that we will be able to mitigate the enemy's tactics, techniques and procedures in order to better protect our soldiers and ultimately defeat the enemy," AMISOM chief force engineer Saheed Sadiq said in a statement issued in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Sadiq said the evolving nature of the enemy's tactics calls for constant re-evaluation of personnel skills in countering IEDs and updating them on new trends in the network so that they are able to operate efficiently and deliver on the mission mandate.

According to AMISOM, IEDs are the preferred weapon of choice for the al-Shabab, who often plant them on main supply routes, targeting AMISOM and government troops, but civilians often get hit.

It said the IEDs constitute one of the most significant threats to AU peacekeepers, making the training extremely important, especially in efforts to defeat the IEDs.

The training, which was organized by the AMISOM Training Cell and the United Kingdom Mission Support Team, called on participants to consistently ensure that every member on the counter-IED network while out in the field is aware of their specific role to minimize casualties due to IED attacks. 
Workers process fish for export at a factory in An Giang province, Vietnam, March 14, 2022. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

HANOI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Nearly three months after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into force, many Vietnamese enterprises said they have benefited from the world's largest trade deal that involves the Chinese gigantic market.

"Since RCEP took effect on Jan. 1, there have been several benefits for Vietnamese exporters like our company," Ta Ngoc Hung, chief executive officer (CEO) at the Vietnamese agricultural manufacturer and exporter Vinapro, told Xinhua recently.

First, the export procedures to RCEP members have been simplified. For example, now exporters just need to complete the electronic Certificate of Origin (CO) instead of a hard copy like before.

"This is very convenient for both exporters and buyers, since the CO procedures used to be time-consuming," the businessman said, adding that Vietnamese enterprises can make full use of e-commerce to reach RCEP countries.

Second, along with favorable tariffs for exporters, buyers or importers now can also be offered more incentives under the agreement. This helps lower products' selling prices, meaning that goods from countries like Vietnam become cheaper for Chinese customers right in China.

"Also, with awareness about RCEP, local customers tend to give it a try, or even prioritize products from member countries of the agreement, so it does mean better market access for companies like us," Hung said.

To grasp various opportunities from RCEP, Vinapro is further promoting export of such items as cashew nuts, pepper, and cinnamon to China, a giant market with over 1.4 billion consumers, especially through official channels.

At the same time, Vinapro is strengthening participation in fairs in China and South Korea, he said, noting that it has registered for the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) in 2022 and is waiting for an update from the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency.

According to an official at the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, which is facilitating Vietnamese enterprises' participation in the upcoming CAEXPO, the local businesses want to further tap China's vigorous and resilient economy. The giant economy has played an active role in stabilizing regional and global industrial and supply chains and promoting world economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the official said.

Like Vinapro, many other Vietnamese enterprises, including Luong Gia Food Technology Corporation in Ho Chi Minh City, Rang Dong Agricultural Product Import-Export Company in the southern province of Long An, and Viet Hieu Nghia Company in Ho Chi Minh City, are further tapping opportunities from RCEP and in the Chinese market, their directors told Xinhua recently.

"Our dried fruit products, now branded Ohla, are selling well in China although this huge market with over 1.4 billion consumers seems to prefer fresh fruits," said Luong Thanh Thuy, general director of Luong Gia Food Technology Corporation.

Assuming that Chinese consumers prefer fresh fruits, Rang Dong Agricultural Product Import-Export Company hopes to export more fresh and processed dragon fruits to China, especially after RCEP came into effect. The company's fruit export to the Chinese market has gone smoothly in recent years, with its export turnovers growing, on average, 30 percent per year.

"As far as I know, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is finalizing a draft plan on developing the local fruit and vegetable processing industry to bring Vietnam to the world's top five countries in the field. More Chinese people will enjoy not only Vietnamese fresh dragon fruits but also various products made from Vietnamese fruits such as cakes, juices and wine," said Nguyen Tat Quyen, director of Rang Dong Agricultural Product Import-Export Company.

According to Quyen, besides the gigantic size, the Chinese market has another big advantage, being close to Vietnam, and convenient for road, sea and air transport. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, costs of transporting Vietnamese goods, including fruits, to China have recently increased only 0.3 times, compared with 10 times to Europe and 13 times to the United States, he said.

Quyen's remarks were echoed by Vo The Trang, director of Viet Hieu Nghia Company whose strength is exploiting and processing seafood.

"China is a powerful market which consumes a huge volume of various seafood, including tuna. Vietnam is China's 10th biggest tuna supplier and we are proud to be always on Vietnam's Top Three among two dozens of local tuna exporters that sell the fish to the huge market," Trang said.

Vietnamese entrepreneurs said they are confident that RCEP will bring about more trade and investment opportunities for firms inside and outside RCEP countries. 

People work in an orchid garden in Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, March 16, 2022. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

File photo taken on Dec. 14, 2021 shows vehicles waiting to pass the port of the Mong Cai International Border Gate on the China-Vietnam border in Mong Cai city, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

A farmer works at his dragon fruit farm in Thoi Lai district, Can Tho province, Vietnam, Jan. 26, 2022. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)

Farmers harvest rice crop on the paddy field in Vi Thuy district, Mekong Delta's Hau Giang province, Vietnam, March 25, 2022. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)
Mato suhaudo kanun is a well-acquainted phrase in the legal fraternity in Nepal. It means contextualised law. However, the premise states how laws nowadays are inorganically transplanted and adopted; it has caused problems. There has been a trend of importing decrees: fashions of laws that artificially brought and transplanted. Such acts have caused a very amusing scenario: the breakdown of the connection between the law and society.

In Nepal, laws often have a creationist origin than an evolutionary one. Rather than having a gradual development, Nepals legal policies have an abrupt ancestry. Then, after being coded in the law, their implementation is left untouched. Such events have made the law flamboyantly fancy and embellished. However, it is nothing other than merely a necklace of pistachios and nuts.

One such instance is Social Practices Reform Act (1976) which tried imposing restrictions on extravagant spending on weddings and other social events. However, the law is left unimplemented. The progressiveness of law is undoubtedly revolutionary, but, social inertia renders such progressive policies futile.

This case shows why social inertia has to be dealt with first in order to implement the law in Nepal.

The connection and disconnection

Laws are marching at an unprecedented pace of reforms and progress, but society cannot keep up with the speed. This situation is the result of a trend in Nepals politics. Nepali politics is often fundamentally revolution-oriented; Nepali voters are always up for revolution rather than reformation. Empirical evidence of the claim is in our history, where uprooting the past system is well evident. It is the general trend of our society now: to destroy the past, in a hopeful phantasy of concocting a new glorious future. Such political tendency lacks the element of social precedence.

The idea of social precedence brings us back to Edmund Burke and his dismissal of the French revolution as a political and cultural crime in a speech in the British Parliament. However, more than Burke, it is the grand refute given by Thomas Paine. In Rights of Man, that is famous. The core of Burkes argument is that social precedence or the continuation of the past with the present is essential for progress. Paine disapproved, but I partially agree with Burke as well as Paine. Social revolutions are also part of a continuation. Hence, the French revolution was a reaction and had organically developed and commenced. However, revolutions that have inorganically evolved will never progress; they will merely self-destroy.

Zeroing in on Nepal

In the context of Nepal, social revolutions do have a bastion; however, what they lack is an organic development of the movement. Nepals political movements are inspired by other movements and synthesised to fit the need. But, they are often mismatched. While it might look as if such borrowed movements fulfil the political needs, they often do so. The political movements are based on a country but inspired by others. Organic development is a blossoming movement with the needs of the society itself. However, when a movement borrows elements from other movements, there are bound to be some elements that will misfit.

In the case of the political system, the French, British, Americans have their elements which had developed according to their own needs and expectations. For example, the Americans invented the presidential system and federal structure to unite all the distant colonies that had their self-governance. Likewise, the British parliament had its evolutions. But, in Nepal, such rationalising is never done: we tried fitting the British model into our polity, and the system did not evolve according to our needs and expectations. Rather, our needs and expectations evolved according to the political system. This is the difference.

The same problem lies with the laws too. Laws are revolutionary and have elements of progressive realisation, but they arent reformative. Nepali politicians need to revisit themselves and understand that inorganic and artificial adoption of outside practice will never solve our problems. No model can address our qualms besides our own Nepali model: inspired and developed by us, that will evolve for us- not us revolving for it.

Progressiveness is acceptable, but having unimplemented progressive laws is unacceptable- because our statutes are lying to the people, giving false hope and wrong direction. Having unimplemented laws shows state weakness- not glorious progressiveness. Progressiveness lies in action, not words. The government should understand that laws are a reflection of society, not the other way around!
If youve been building wealth and saving money to buy a new car, you know it can be difficult to find something affordable and still check the boxes on your wish list  with safety often being at the top. Low inventory due to production issues isnt helping, pushing car prices higher and supply lower.

6 Genius Hacks All Costco Shoppers Should Know





But there are still deals to be found on new vehicles under $30,000, and you dont have to compromise on safety for a new car, crossover, or SUV. Here are 10 family-friendly options with high safety ratings from the countrys two best testing organizations, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

You don't need to wait to buy a new car to see if you could save on auto insurance.

Kia K5

black KIA K5 against urban background

The Kia K5, which used to be known as the Kia Optima, was ranked as a top safety pick by the IIHS. J.D. Power, which does extensive automobile research, rated Kia the number one brand in its 2021 vehicle dependability study.

Including nine airbags to offer protection from both the front and sides during a collision, this car also has a drivers knee airbag. The child seat anchor system scored high, though one note is that they were too deep in the seat. Hill-start assist control is included to prevent rolling forward or backward while trying to start the car on an incline.

Toyota Camry

2021 Toyota Camry (XV70)

The Toyota Camry, one of the most popular cars in the United States last year, has the Toyota Safety Sense, which includes lane departure alerts, a pre-collision system, and can even detect stop signs and speed limit signs on your route.

The company also offers its Safety Connect feature in this top-selling car, connecting drivers to a response center for any emergencies. It also was named a top safety pick by the IIHS. You can get either a gas-powered or a hybrid version of the car, and both have a starting price below $30K.

Honda Accord

Honda Accord

The Honda Accord has been awarded a five-star safety rating by the NHTSA as well as being recognized by IIHS as a top safety pick. Among its safety features, the Accord has low-speed braking control and a multi-angle rearview camera to help you avoid collisions. And if you do get in an accident, it has front knee airbags for both the driver and front seat passenger as additional protection.

Story continues

Chevrolet Trailblazer

Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV

The Trailblazer is a small SUV that includes features such as lane assist, forward collision detection and front pedestrian braking  added safety that helps reduce the chance of an accident. It received a top safety pick from the IIHS.

For parents with new teen drivers, the Trailblazer offers Teen Driver Technology, which allows you to adjust settings related to your teen drivers key fob. It can limit vehicle features and use Buckle-to-Drive, which wont allow a driver to shift from park if their seat belt isnt buckled.

Pro tip: Adding a teen driver to your insurance plan could be expensive, but comparison shopping to find the best car insurance company could help you find a policy that fits your budget.

Hyundai Elantra

Hyundai elantra on the streets of Batumi

The Elantra has been a top safety pick by the IIHS for 11 consecutive years with features such as highway driving assist, lane assist, and front collision avoidance. It also uses a digital key app, which can allow you to lock and unlock your car from your phone in case you dont have your key handy or locked it inside accidentally.

When your hands are full with groceries or kids gear, the 2021 North American Car of the Year has a hands-free smart trunk release to help you easily get your things inside.

Ford Escape

SUV car in motion

The popular Ford Escape, which is a top safety pick by the IIHS, has pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, park assist, adaptive cruise control, and three LATCH anchors for your kids car seats.

This small SUV also has a voice-activated navigation system, so you dont have to take your hands off the wheel when programming in your destination. It features front and side airbags, including one to protect the drivers legs in case of a collision. There are several gas and hybrid models of the Escape with a base price under $30,000.

Mazda CX-5

several Mazda cars

The CX-5 is a crossover SUV with adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring. And if youre driving the kids around town, the CX-5 has advanced smart city brake support, which can help the car protect vehicles and pedestrians unexpectedly in its path.

This Mazda received a top rating from IIHS as well as a five-star rating from NHTSA for its protection of front seat and back seat passengers in front or side crashes.

Subaru Forester

Gray Subaru Forester car

The popular Forester is a top safety pick by the IIHS and received the highest possible ratings for front crash prevention from the organization. All models feature Subarus Eyesight Driver Assist Technology, which is designed to help reduce rear-end collisions.

The system includes pre-collision braking, which can stop the car in emergency situations, and will warn you if you start to drift out of your lane. And the Forester has extra LATCH positions for car seats in the back for a growing family.

Nissan Rogue

Nissan Rogue display

The Rogue, which is an IIHS top safety pick, includes a forward collision warning system, sonar on all sides to detect obstacles, and traffic sign recognition for speed limit signs. It also has intelligent driver alertness, which could detect if youre getting drowsy and alert you if you need to take a break. The four-door small SUV includes additional anchor points in the backseat for car seats.

Mitsubishi Outlander

SUV Mitsubishi Outlander

The Outlander SUV includes 11 airbags to protect both driver and passengers inside the vehicle. And if youre using the Outlander to tow a trailer with gear for a family vacation, the IIHS top safety pick has trailer stability assist to prevent swaying.

Unlike other compact SUVs, it has a third row to fit up to seven people, perfect for a larger family.

Bottom line

Making the right financial decisions aren't always so obvious, but when it comes to family vehicles, there are many options that put safety (and affordability) at the forefront. Many car dealers offer guidance on how to get a loan if needed for the total purchase price, often with in-house financing.

Its so much easier to enjoy the open road with your family when your car has excellent safety features.

You don't need to wait to buy a new car to see if you could save on auto insurance.



More from FinanceBuzz:


A look at some of today's top stories, the weather forecast and a peek back in history.

The Arizona Legislature is considering major changes to school funding. Here's what would change.

A bill requiring police officers in Phoenix's new civilian oversight office is advancing through the Senate.

It's official: Fast-casual Italian brand Fazoli's is returning to Arizona. Here's what we know so far.

Today, you can expect it to be hot, with a high near 95 degrees. It's expected to be partly cloudy at night, with a low near 65 degrees. Get the full forecast here.

For more stories that matter, subscribe to azcentral.com.

Today in history

On this date in 1902, The Clifton Copper Era reported on the need for direct mail contact between Blue River Country and Clifton. Although the distance between the two was 40 miles, letters traveled a round-about route of more than 1,000 miles, which took about two weeks.

In 1909, Thomas Gardner, one of the earliest pioneers of what is now Santa Cruz County, died. A canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains is named after him.

In 1945, during World War II, Iwo Jima was fully secured by U.S. forces following a final, desperate attack by Japanese soldiers.

In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In 2014, Osama bin Ladens son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was convicted in New York for his role as al-Qaidas fiery chief spokesman after 9/11. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.)

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ Briefing: Changes to school funding are being considered
Prince William

Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage) Prince William

Prince William is addressing the growing calls for change in the Caribbean as he and Kate Middleton wrap their week-long tour in the region.

Speaking at a black-tie reception in The Bahamas on Friday night hosted by the Governor-General of The Bahamas, Sir Cornelius Alvin Smith  who represents Queen Elizabeth in the island country  he acknowledged that views of the monarchy are rapidly shifting in the Caribbean countries where Elizabeth remains head of state.

"With Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this: We support with pride and respect your decisions about your future," he said. "Relationships evolve. Friendship endures."

Ahead of the couple's arrival in Belize, a protest over indigenous land rights forced them to cancel one of their first outings. And in Jamaica, they faced calls for reparations and for the Queen to be dropped as head of state from Jamaica. Last November, Barbados cut ties with the Queen and swore in its first president.

Duke of Cambridge

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge/Instagram Prince William

The royals always say that any potential change in the constitutional relationship is a matter for the government and people of the realms. But the couple have seen and heard what's been said over the last seven days during their time in the Caribbean, and a royal source says they both felt that it was important for William to reflect on it this evening.

William also used his speech to share childhood memories of his time in the Bahamas with mom Princess Diana, as well as other family reminiscences.

"I came here with my mother as a child," he said. "Snorkeling around the James Bond wrecks off Nassau left me with the most vivid memory of your beautiful blue waters. For a young boy, obsessed with 007, it was the best holiday ever."

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend a reception hosted by the Governor General at Baha Mar Resort on March 25, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage Kate Middleton and Prince William

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He noted that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, 95  who celebrates her Platinum Jubilee marking 70 years on the throne this year  "has fond memories of her many visits here to The Bahamas," adding, "From speaking to people today, including lots of excited school children across the family islands this morning, it is touching to see your deep admiration for The Queen and her seventy years of dedicated service to the Commonwealth."

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

He also spoke poignantly about his grandfather, Prince Philip, who died last April at age 99.

prince william and kate

Jane Barlow/getty Kate Middleton and Prince William

"I know as well that my grandfather, The Duke of Edinburgh, had a soft spot for The Bahamas," he said. "Catherine and I were thinking about him today as we celebrated the return of sloop sailing here by racing off Montagu Beach. He would have been in his element!"

Referring to the earlier race that pitted the competitive Cambridges against one another, he joked, "As for the race result? Discretion is the better part of valour. Particularly if you have won, and your wife has come last."

Praising the country's call to action on climate change, he noted that one of the winners of his inaugural Earthshot Prize, Coral Vita, is based in The Bahamas. (The couple will be visiting Coral Vita on Saturday, the last day of the tour.)

Royals Rollout

"Their work is inspiring and reminds us that a healthier, happier world is entirely within reach," William said.

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Prince William Attend Junkanoo Parade in The Bahamas: 'That Was Amazing'

Before concluding the speech, William noted that he and Kate hope to return soon  with children Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, who turns 7 on May 2, and Prince Louis, who turns 4 on April 23.

prince william

CHANDAN KHANNA/getty Kate Middleton and Prince William at a reception in The Bahamas on March 25, 2022.

"Catherine and I have been delighted to visit you here in The Bahamas this week, and to make so many new friends," he said. "Two days is simply not long enough. We'll just have to come back. Not least because our children will be as excited about snorkeling around the James Bond wreck as I was!"
Center to address sustainability policy in the critical areas of arid climates, sustainable cities and communities

DOHA, Qatar, March 26, 2022 /CNW/ -- Qatar Foundation has announced the launch of its Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, a non-profit policy center, at the annual Doha Forum summit.

Executive Director, Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, Dr. Gonzalo Castro de la Mata

Building on a legacy of many years of work by Qatar Foundation (QF) in the field of sustainability, the new center will channel QF's education, research, and innovation ecosystem into generating solutions that enhance Qatar's global sustainability policy role where the country has unique insight and capabilities.

Dedicated to thought leadership in policymaking, establishing and promoting policy priorities, strengthening linkages between education, research, and industry, and extending Qatar Foundation's network of domestic and international collaboration, Earthna will focus on sustainability in hot and arid climates, sustainable energy, and maximizing QF's Education City campus as a test bed for new technologies and sustainable implementations.

The launch of Earthna at the high-level panel discussion explored ways of making cities the focus for sustainable global solutions for nature and climate. Expert panelists who gave their insights in the panel discussion were His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Qatar; The Right Honorable Vincent Thomas Keaveny, Lord Mayor of London; Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International; Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Leader of Climate and Energy Global Practice - at WWF; and Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director of Earthna.

"Our connection to nature holds the key to our future. As a leader in sustainability, QF has supported nationwide priorities, from educating our community about sustainability to generating solutions for Qatar's most pressing environmental challenges. By creating Earthna, we are bridging our research and community strengths to address new policy solutions" said Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation.

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Earthna will convene a wide community of experts, government, policy and decision makers, businesses, multilateral institutions, and civil society to generate a more sustainable future. It will also incorporate and build on key elements of the work in cultivating sustainable behaviors, mindsets, and action that have been driven by QF entities.

"Earthna is focused on developing tools, solutions, and policies to improve people's lives within a thriving natural environment," said Mr. de la Mata.

"Qatar sits at the heart of global challenges, which gives us an incredible opportunity to lead global dialogue and promote sustainable policy. Earthna will bring together local and global experts to design and advocate for solutions with global impact."

The Earthna center will focus on the areas of circular economy, sustainable energy, resource security and management, environmental protection and restoration, and societal wellbeing.

To find out more about Earthna, visit www.earthna.qa

Qatar Foundation  Unlocking Human Potential

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) is a non-profit organization that supports Qatar on its journey to becoming a diversified and sustainable economy. QF strives to serve the people of Qatar and beyond by providing specialized programs across its innovation-focused ecosystem of education, research and development, and community development.

QF was founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Amir, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, who shared the vision to provide Qatar with quality education. Today, QF's world-class education system offers lifelong learning opportunities to community members as young as six months through to doctoral level, enabling graduates to thrive in a global environment and contribute to the nation's development.

QF is also creating a multidisciplinary innovation hub in Qatar, where homegrown researchers are working to address local and global challenges. By promoting a culture of lifelong learning and fostering social engagement through programs that embody Qatari culture, QF is committed to empowering the local community and contributing to a better world for all.

For a complete list of QF's initiatives and projects, please visit: www.qf.org.qa

To stay up to date on our social media activities, follow our accounts on: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future

Earthna is a non-profit policy center established under Qatar Foundation (QF) to inform and influence national and global sustainability policy.

Bridging technical and research expertise with policy advice and advocacy, Earthna will convene a wide community of technical and research experts, government, policy and decision makers, businesses, multilateral institutions, and civil society to generate a more sustainable future.

The Earthna center runs multidisciplinary programming with a focus on the fields of hot and arid climates, sustainable cities, and sustainable energy, as well as the potential of QF's Education City as a test-bed for sustainable technologies and practices.

Earthna is focused on developing tools, solutions, and policies to improve people's lives within a thriving natural environment. Working together with our community to co-create and design solutions that utilize our resources limits and understand our local culture and needs, we deliver a message of hope and impactful action that will strengthen our legacy.

Executive Director, Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, Dr. Gonzalo Castro de la Mata; Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Qatar H.E. Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani; Lord Mayor of London, The Rt Hon Vincent Keaveny; President and CEO, Wetlands International, Ms. Jane Madgwick; Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF; Former Minister of Environment of Peru and President of COP20, H.E. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal

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The possessions of Russian oligarchs  yachts, planes, homes, cars, and cash  subject to seizure under White House sanctions, are in a state of legal limbo that requires U.S. people, and not the U.S. government, to temporarily manage them.

The burden, effectively, is sitting with the person who's holding that blocked property, Dave Johnson, a sanctions law expert and partner with Vinson & Elkins, told Yahoo Finance. To set it aside, and then deal with it in a way thats consistent with the law.

The U.S. and its allies have targeted Russian people and entities tied to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. The U.S. hit Russia with an array of other economic sanctions including bans on imports such as oil in addition to the asset seizures, as the government attempts to inflict what the White House calls "maximum pain" on Russia's economy.

So far, the White House has not identified the value of property subject to sanctions. However, President Joe Biden announced the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program, which was formed to help the U.S. identify and recover assets linked to Russian corruption.

We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets," Biden said during his State of the Union Address on March 1. "We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.

Roman Abramovich's Super Yacht Solaris is seen moored at Barcelona Port on March 01, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Still, the federal government hasn't physically seized the assets. And, in theory, they could end up back in their owners hands.

Its not really a seizure by federal agents, Johnson said. There are no agents that come in and take it.

Instead, Johnson and other sanctions experts explain, the property becomes the temporary responsibility of U.S. persons possessing or controlling it. Theyre required to both block the property and report it to the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within 10 days of taking gaining that control.

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It's really up to all of us to do what's required, said Andrea Delisi, an economic sanctions attorney with Morrison & Foersters national security practice group.

The term U.S. persons includes anyone on U.S. soil. A U.S. bank, for example, has to set aside a sanctioned partys bank assets in a frozen account. Similarly, a harbormaster hired to house a sanctioned persons yacht could no longer do business involving that yacht and instead must set it aside.

The Eclipse superyacht, owned by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, is seen at the Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. November 24, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Of course, this could be onerous for both the bank and the harbormaster and anybody else stuck with Russian assets that can't be put to use.

When we're talking about physically blocked property, like a yacht or an airplane, and you're the storage facility, that's a huge burden on you, Delisi said.

There are pathways for sanctioned parties to seek a return of their property, including applying for a license from OFAC to be removed from a sanctions list, according to former federal prosecutor Peter Hardy.

Now, that's really a theoretical option because, if you've actually been sanctioned, then it's hard to conceive of a real world scenario in which OFAC would grant you the license, Hardy said.

Another avenue, he said, is for a sanctioned party to submit a blocking application specific to a particular asset. OFAC is unlikely to grant a party an exemption from the sanctions list, unless the U.S. government added them by mistake, according to Nathanael Kurcab, also an economic sanctions expert with Morrison & Foerster.

It's a discretionary decision for OFAC. And in my experience, not often successful, Kurcab said. But there are good examples out there of parties who were mistakenly sanctioned.

Yet another option, according to Johnson, is for a sanctioned party to file a complaint in federal court.

A federal court can issue an order directing the federal government to do something, he said.

The authority for the sanctions comes from the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which empowers the president to declare an emergency and in turn direct the seizure of certain assets.

Biden tapped that authority in his response to Russias invasion of and ongoing military operations in Ukraine with executive orders targeting Russian entities and individuals tied to the Kremlin and Putin.

On Thursday, the Biden administration added more than 400 Russian elites to the list. Russia's billionaires control roughly 30% of Russias wealth and hold about $800 billion in offshore banks, according to a 2017 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

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Fredericksburg Muslim Youth, along with University of Mary Washington and American University Muslim student associations, will host its third annual Muslim Womens Day event at the University of Mary Washingtons Hurley Convergence Center, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

This years theme is Muslim Women on the Front Lines: Culture, Career, and Catastrophe, and the program will include a keynote speaker and smaller speaker sessions covering different areas within the theme.

Guests include Dr. Amaarah DeCuir, educator, researcher and inclusive Pedagogy Fellow; Sumayya Tobah, journalist and political producer at CBC; and Iman Garrebala, counselor and community and interfaith organizer.

During the event, local high school students will also present their own takes on the accomplishments of Muslim women everywhere.

Sundays event will also feature refreshments, a career fair, a Q&A session and prize raffles. Admission is free; vaccination proof and masks are required.

Fredericksburg Muslim Youth is a nonprofit that advocates for local Muslim youth and disadvantaged communities.

For more information, visit instagram.com/p/CbS3Z2TrBjh.
IT MUST BE a frightening feeling to realize that youre alone.

Right now Ukrainians are defending their homeland from Russia, one of the great military powers of our time, and they know that they will get no help from anyone.

Yes, the United States and other NATO nations are sending weapons and humanitarian aid to this embattled country, but no other country dares send soldiers into Ukraine. And without soldiers to fire the guns and fly the planes, such weapons are useless.

Russia is a huge country, and President Vladimir Putin has a strong army that could be expanded through conscription if more forces are needed. Ukraine, a much smaller country, has a limited number of soldiers, which is why ordinary citizens have taken up arms to fight the invaders.

The rest of Europeand the United Statesjust sits by and watches. They dare not send their own soldiers in for fear of starting World War III, something President Joe Biden has made clear several times.

In a war of attrition, Ukraine doesnt stand a chance. Hitler found that out in World War II. When the German dictator thought he had several regions of Russia under control, Stalins army counter-attacked with unexpected force and in great numbers.

One German soldier wrote in his diary that there seemed to be an unlimited number of Russian soldiers. And they just kept coming until they overwhelmed Hitlers forces and sent them walking back to Germany.

During World War II, the Russians did not hesitate in matching German brutality. They were so brutal, in fact, that many German soldiers on the Eastern Front moved to the west so they could surrender to the Americans instead of the Russians.

No one wants to fight the Russians, especially in Europe where reminders of World War II are still omnipresent. If World War III does break out, Europe would almost certainly be the primary battleground. Europeans dont want to host another war.

So, like other European nations did when Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, NATO just sits and watches. These countries dont want a war with Russia, especially when they are still buying Russian oil. So, Ukrainians fight alone.

Historians will also recall that in 1940 England fought alone. France and Belgium had fallen as had much of Eastern Europe. Great Britain was able to remain free only because America sent the country supplies (Lend/Lease). But as with Ukraine today, the United States would not send its armies against Hitler until Germany declared war on us.

It was not Lend/Lease that saved Britain, but the fact that Hitler turned his sights toward Russia in the summer of 1941 and the United States entered the war late that same year. Neither will it be military or humanitarian aid that saves Ukraine. They need our NATO troops.

Barring a miracle, only the intervention of NATO will turn the tide of Russian invasion. With the possibility of another world war as a result, such intervention is not likely to occur. So, the fate of Ukraine seems sealed.

It is hard to figure out just what Putins main objective is. The Russians, according to news reports, are bombing random targets like apartment houses, hospitals and shopping centers. The Russians seem more intent on compiling civilian casualties than hitting strategic industrial targets.

That makes little sense unless Putin wants to shock Ukrainians into submission. Then again, if civilians are fighting the Russians in the streets, bombing apartment houses would be understandable.

According to the American State Department, the Ukrainians are holding their own, but such reports are likely just posted for moral purposes. If Russia wants to bring its might to bear against Ukraine, it would be no contest.

What is most worrisome is whether or not Putin will tire of a slow, methodic invasion and use some kind of nuclear weapon to speed things up. That would almost certainly result in a world war.

And no one seems to know exactly where China stands in this world of uncertainty. And the Chinese are probably less trustworthy than the Russians.

This Ukraine situation looms as the most crucial threat to world peace since the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has the potential to explode into World War III.

We must not let that happen, which is why we sit and watch Ukrainians fight their own battles.

For all intents and purposes, Ukraine is alone.
DURING World War II, sailors departing ships for shore leave would follow a beacon of light emanating from the steeple of San Pedro United Methodist Church. Upon arriving, they could take a shower, eat a meal prepared in our kitchen, maybe write a letter home.

History is never far away when the church you lead, and worship in, was built in 1923. Its a grand three-story structure with beautiful stained-glass windows and a sanctuary with an open-beam vaulted ceiling that can seat 350. Its a big church, and over time we have become a small congregation.

Decades ago, when we were the only Protestant church in town, the sanctuary filled up for both weekly services. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we averaged about 52 people on Sunday mornings. Today about 25 parishioners gather in person, and another 100 from around the country join us online.

Since the pandemic, it has become vital for us to find ways to reinvent our ministry, to think outside the box.

Our decline in church membership mirrors a national trend. For decades, about 70% of the U.S. population belonged to a religious congregation, but a steady decline began around the beginning of the 21st century. Last year, U.S. membership in houses of worship dropped below 50% for the first time since Gallup began measuring it in 1937.

And for the first time in decades, the big red double doors in front of our church would not open for worship. We realized that our church life as we knew it would change. We could stay stagnant, and possibly slowly disappear, or change with the times.

While more than 4,000 churches in America shut their doors in 2020, we had to reframe what it means to have open doors. We needed to step out of our silos, and partner with other faith-based organizations and interested parties that share the common goal of supporting our community.

For inspiration, I looked back to my roots. I thought about growing up in Palmdale, California, watching my father, a Methodist minister, care for a family in need during the middle of the night. It reminded me of the role faith-based organizations play in society, even all these years later.

We looked for another way to be a beacon of light in the community, a solution that would pay the bills and nourish the San Pedro community. As church attendance has waned, so have contributions to churches. Thirty years ago, about 50% of all charitable contributions went to houses of worship. That figure had shrunk to about 30% by the time the pandemic struck.

One of the greatest assets many churches have is their buildings and surrounding property. San Pedro UMC is no exception. We have vast space within the church and outside it. More than 20 years ago, an empty lot next to the church was given to us. It sat vacant until we began dreaming about how it could best serve our community today.

To utilize the land, we partnered with 1010 Development Corp., a nonprofit that has been a leader in affordable housing development in Los Angeles. Our goal is to build 54 affordable housing units and provide support for those who live there. We expect to break ground by the end of this year.

It wasnt easy during the pandemic to think of how people might use our campus in new ways when everyone needed to stay home. Still, we tried to imagine what it might be like to fill the courtyard with voices and families. Since San Pedro has a large homeless population, we decided to expand our partnership with Family Promise of the South Bay, a nonprofit that provides services to those experiencing homelessness.

The organization leased half of our building, space that includes restrooms, showers, a kitchen and gym, and classrooms. They will be used as a respite center to provide resources and support to help families get back on their feet. In February, the first residents moved in, four families that will temporarily stay with us while they work toward obtaining housing.

By renovating the same kitchen that produced those hardy meals for sailors during WWII, we will be able to develop programs to help address food insecurity in our community. During the pandemic, many people frequented food banks for the first time. Our teaching kitchen will help families learn to cook healthy meals from staples they receive from a food bank while supplementing them with produce from the farmers market. The kitchen will also be a place where people can learn a vocation.

Yes, membership in houses of worship is declining, but people who identify as spiritualespecially millennialssay they still yearn for something more. Congregations have a unique opportunity to step beyond the walls of their buildings and help change the world for the better.

Pastor Lisa Williams has led San Pedro United Methodist for seven years. She wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.
When Brian Wennstedt was running the restaurant at Wilderness Lodge, a motel no longer operating in Fremont, there was a special element missing.

Most of the patrons were travelers. I never got to know them, he said.

Getting hired at Js Steakhouse solved that problem.

Js was a local crowd, said Wennstedt, who takes pride in getting to know people and building friendships. It was a much busier place. A better opportunity.

Although Js was one of the most popular restaurants in Fremont, it was unable to survive the COVID pandemic.

Nobody wanted to buy a $38 steak to go, said Wennstedt.

Prior to the pandemic, Wennstedt enjoyed working as Js bar manager so much he refused Jordan Padens invitation to work somewhere else. But just two days after that restaurant closed, Wennstedt was once again approached by Paden, who owns the building at 101 S. Main St., previously occupied by Andys.

I wanted to keep it a restaurant, said Paden, referring to his new establishment, Crush Pizza and Alehouse. He also wanted to keep Andys old pizza oven. In order to do this, however, the oven had to be moved due to hood vent issues.

Now people get to see the pizzas coming out of the oven, Wennstendt said. Its an old deck oven, which were really proud of.

Although the entrance to Andys was positioned on the southwest corner of the block, Paden chose to place Crushs entrance on 1st Street.

I didnt want people having to walk through the dining area to get to the bar, he said.

In addition to new floors and ceilings, the exposed brick wall on the west side of the bar gives the room an Old World look.

We wanted the bar to be the focal point, said Wennstedt.

Crushs bar seats 18 people and has a rich, glossy appearance. We intentionally made it deeper than your average bar, said Wennstedt, so it can hold a pizza.

Crushs pizzas will be hand stretched in the New York style. Also on the menu will be pasta, salads and appetizers.

Jordans idea was pizza, wings and toasted subs, said Wennstedt, who was given free rein when it came to the menu. My fingerprints are all over the appetizers. I like to multi-purpose food items. If were going to have shrimp on the menu, I want to offer it in several different ways.

Crushs menu includes not only the classic shrimp cocktail but also something Wennstedt calls Shrimp Havarti. Patrons can also look forward to sampling Brians Blue Chips and Chicken Lahvosh.

Another of Crushs features is its assortment of specialty wines.

Where else, said Wennstedt, can you get a beer, a cocktail and a glass of wine with your pizza?

Padens search for a good bartender ended when he discovered Brie Overby working at Buffalo Wild Wings. Im doing a restaurant, he told her. Come take care of my customers.

He saw potential in me, said Overby, Crushs assistant manager. I tended bar at several places in Omaha before moving to Fremont.

Wennstedt has been tending bar in Fremont for 18 years, and Overby is grateful for his experience.

Hes an easy person to work with, she said. Hes helping me develop my skills.

In addition to enjoying great food and drinks, patrons will also enjoy watching television while sitting in the bar.

From any seat, Wennstedt said, youll be able to watch one of seven TVs.

Opening a new restaurant is an exciting process, but it also has its own set of challenges.

Theres a certain energy level this kind of job requires, Wennstedt said. You just have to maintain a positive attitude. The people who work for you feed off of it.

Customers do too, as Paden pointed out when talking about Wennstedts ability to make people feel welcome. He can befriend just about anybody, Paden said. When you walk in, hes your friend.

Crush Pizza & Alehouse is scheduled to open in April.

A lot of people cant wait to see this, said Wennstedt. Its been on the sidelines too long.

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Dr. Fred Kader was only 4 years old when he and his mother reached the train station in Belgium.

It was 1942.

The little boy was with his mother. Theyd been called for deportation and were at Antwerp rail station, where Jewish people were taken to other stations and, eventually, to Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Kaders mother saw an opportunity at the station for her little son to walk away.

She told him to walk away.

So he did.

A nun, who saw Kader on the street, took him to an orphanage and he became a hidden child  and his familys only survivor.

On Thursday night, area residents listened as Scott Littky shared some of Kaders story at Midland University.

Littky is executive director of the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha. He came to Midland before the university performance of The Diary of Anne Frank, which tells the story of a young Jewish girl, who perished in the Holocaust.

During his talk, Littky, who is Jewish, told how he began in his work of promoting understanding and compassion.

Littky grew up in Detroit, where he saw a man with a number tattoo on his arm. During the Holocaust, the Nazis tattooed Jewish prisoners with numbers.

That began my journey of trying to figure this all out, Littky said.

Littky would spend 34 years in Jewish education. Hed go to Yad Vashem, an educational facility and museum in Jerusalem, to study the Holocaust. Hed help write curriculum, using Yad Vashem materials, for Jewish religious schools throughout the United States.

Hes been executive director of the Institute for Holocaust Education for four years.

This is a really interesting time to be teaching about the Holocaust, Littky said.

Littky said there are nine Holocaust survivors left in Nebraska. The oldest is 97 and the youngest, Kader, is 84.

The institutes website tells more of Kaders story.

An article by Leo Adam Biga states that Kaders father had been rounded up with other Jewish men and sent to a forced labor camp in France.

His older brothers were already on their way to death camps, when Kader and his mother reached the train station.

An extended family member, who survived, described how his mother made the heart-wrenching decision to save her lone son by telling him to walk away.

Kader doesnt remember his mothers face or voice. No photographs of his immediate family exist.

Littky said Kader was about 7 or 8 when the war ended and he was sent to live with an uncle in Montreal, Canada.

Kader would know little about his family, which troubled him. But as a teenager, he made a decision.

Littky described that moment:

He looked in the mirror and he said, Ive got to become something.

Kader became a pediatric neurologist and moved to Nebraska.

He said he felt it was his mission to help children  to give them a childhoodsince he didnt have a childhood, Littky said.

Kader, who is retired, has been a speaker for the institute, which now has second-generation speakers whose parents were Holocaust survivors.

A third-generation speaker tells the story of her grandmother, the late Bea Karp.

Karp, who died in 2020, had spoken at public schools including those in Arlington, Wahoo and at Logan View.

Besides providing speakers, Littky said the institute has a program called Art in the Holocaust, during which seventh- and eighth-graders make portraits of survivors.

Students have been able to meet survivors during a reception.

To watch that interaction, that mutual respect and love that is there, is absolutely beautiful, he said.

In his work, Littky encourages people to not use comparisons which dishonor and are hurtful to Holocaust victims.

For instance, he talked to the Tribune about people who compare someone they dont like to a Nazi.

That is hurtful to Holocaust survivors, because people today dont realize just how bad the Nazis were.

To say that a parent is acting like a Nazi is not in any way in comparison to what a real Nazi put Jews through in the Holocaust  they tortured and murdered, Littky said.

During his Thursday night presentation, Littky provided another example.

He cited a Tweet made by a Nebraskan, comparing the requirement of wearing a mask or being vaccinated to Jews wearing a yellow star during the Holocaust.

Littky contacted the individual, encouraging him not to make such comparisons, and asking to talk with him further.

They had a wonderful conversation, Littky said.

Littky didnt try to change the persons viewpoint or become political.

Instead, he explained that yellow stars, which Jewish people were forced to wear on their clothes during the Holocaust, were meant to take away their rights and try and make them less than human.

Jews couldnt shop at non-Jewish businesses. Jewish children couldnt go to non-Jewish schools. Jews couldnt shop in non-Jewish stores. Jews couldnt go to non-Jewish doctors, Littky said.

He cites the difference.

The yellow star was meant to take away their dignity and lower them as human beings, Littky told the Tribune. Theres no comparison between the two and its insulting to (Holocaust victims) that people dont see that wearing a star was something that took away rights and life, and wearing a mask, though we dont enjoy doing it, is to help save your life.

Littky said he believes people make these comparisons, because of the shock value behind them.

He encouraged his audience to ask those making the comparison why they feel that way.

You may be able to get them to understand why they shouldnt do it, but to react with yelling, screaming, swearing or whatever, youre not going to provide education. Youre not going to help change the world, he said.

Littky said the institute seeks to teach empathy and understanding.

And, hopefully, encourage people to be upstanders and not bystanders, Littky said. If they see something, say something to make this world a better place. Im idealistic. I believe one person can do that.

He cited examples of upstanders.

Littky said Yad Vashem has recognized some 25,000 non-Jews as Righteous Among the Nations or Righteous Gentiles, who risked their lives during the Holocaust and saved at least one Jewish person.

The most well-known is Oskar Schindler, a Nazi Party member, who saw a little Jewish girl with a red coat in a ghetto.

He had an awakening and he saved between 1,300 and 1,400 Jews, Littky said. As a result of what he did, there are over 7,000 people alive today.

Littky cited a Talmudic, ancient Jewish text, which states: If you save one person, its like saving the world.

And that can include someone like a nun, who rescued a 4-year-old boy, who went on to become a lifesaving doctor.

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Republicans elect new county chair

The Republicans of Dodge County held their county convention on March 24 at the Fremont Eagles Club.

County Chair Roxie Kracl led the meeting. Presentations were made on behalf of many local, PSC, and state-wide candidates as well as U.S. Congressional candidates seeking support for the May 10 Nebraska Primary Election.

Kracl is stepping aside after serving Dodge County for many terms. Scott Eveland of rural Ames is now Dodge County GOP Chair. Kracl will continue serving on the Nebraska GOP State Executive Committee.

Other county officers chosen are Deborah Wright, secretary-treasurer; Elaine Grothusen, State Central Committeewoman; and John Grothusen State Central Committeeman.

The Nebraska GOP State Convention is in July 2022 in Kearney. Dodge County delegates and alternates to the July Convention are Kracl, Eveland, Kate Duncan, Sally Ganem, Rosie and Les Parde, Elaine and John Grothusen, Deborah Wright, Doug Wittman, and Janet and Robert Steenblock.

Yard signs and campaign materials are available from the candidates and available for delivery by the Grothusens by calling 402-721-2603.

A number of enthusiastic petition signers supported the effort to get the question on the November General Election ballot calling for the requirement that a photo ID must be presented at polling places. There are 15 additional petitions listed on the Nebraska Secretary of State website but only one was presented at this meeting.

For more information, contact Kracl at 402-720-6294, roxiekracl@yahoo.com; in-coming chair Eveland at scottheveland@hotmail.com, 2072 Co. Rd. 14 Blvd., Ames, NE 68621, 402-720-1007; the Nebraska GOP office, Nebraska Republican Party, 402-475-2122, 1610 N St., Lincoln, NE 68508, Taylor Gage, www.negop.org, info@negop.org, Hudson Buell, hudson@negop.org; or Elaine and John Grothusen,402-594-1866, elaine@johngrothusen.com, john@johngrothusen.com.

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Dozens of teachers, students, and women's rights activists rallied in Kabul on March 26 against a ban on girls attending school beyond the sixth grade.

Footage on local media showed a few dozen women, together with girls wearing school uniforms and carrying textbooks, chanting "open the schools" and demanding their rights to study and work.

An organizer said that the march had begun in front of the Taliban-run education ministry in the capital and ended peacefully.

On March 23 , more than 1 million Afghan girls got ready to return to school but were turned away following a last-minute reversal of the Taliban's decision to reopen schools for them.

The radical group which seized control of the country in a blitz offensive in August 2021, gave no reason for the turnaround, which sparked national and international outcry.

International organizations and world governments have called on the Taliban to reconsider their decision immediately.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West said he is hopeful that there will be a reversal in the coming days.

West spoke at the Doha Forum in Qatar, where meetings are being held to address key economic issues.

The United States abruptly canceled meetings with the Taliban in Doha after the militant group's reversal of its decision to allow all girls to return to high school classes.

We have canceled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and around the Doha Forum, and have made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement," Deputy U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a statement.

Ten members of the UN Security Council issued a statement late on March 25 about the Taliban decision to ban girls from attending classes.

"Our message is clear: All girls in Afghanistan should be able to go to school," 10 members of the UN Security Council said in a joint statement late on March 25.

Since returning to power on August 15, the Taliban has rolled back two decades of gains made by the country's women, who have been squeezed out of many government jobs, barred from travelling alone, and ordered to dress according to a strict interpretation of the Koran.

The Taliban had promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterized their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

But many restrictions have still been imposed, prompting some Afghan women to push back against the Taliban's curbs, holding small protests where they have demanded the right to education and work.

But the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while denying that they had been detained.

With reporting by dpa and AFP
Just the name Murphy bed makes me laugh. It conjures memories of hilarious scenes in slapstick comedies, where the beds, possessed with demoni
When asked to explain why he wanted to excuse a Black woman from the jury, an Arapahoe County prosecutor got offended, claimed he was being called racist, and offered inconsistent and factually untrue explanations for his actions. But while the prosecutor succeeded in convincing the trial judge to dismiss the juror, the state's second-highest court ordered a new trial on Thursday after determining it was a mistake to accept the prosecutor's dubious, allegedly non-racial reasons.
National Prayer Luncheon for Life Honors Live Action with Pro-Life Impact Award & $50K Grant

NEWS PROVIDED BYMarch 25, 2022DALLAS, March 25, 2022 / Standard Newswire / -- Live Action, an organization reporting, investigating, and influencing public opinion for life, has been named the winner of the 2022 National Prayer Luncheon for Life Pro-Life Impact Award and given a $50,000 grant for their continued pro-life work. Live Action was selected by voters from among six top nominees chosen out of a field of forty for recognition by thousands of life advocates who gathered online and in person on March 25, 2022, to elevate, celebrate, and accelerate the work of high-impact pro-life organizations.Each of the top six nominated organizations received a National Prayer Luncheon for Life Pro-Life Impact Grant. Second place vote getter, compassion-centered Embrace Grace, a Texas-based organization, was lauded for equipping churches to support both women in unexpected pregnancies and young moms and claimed a $20,000 grant, followed by The Radiance Foundation, which received $15,000 for its innovative work of broadly utilizing wide-ranging media platforms to change hearts and minds for life.Kimberly Bird, Vice President of External Relations for Live Action, accepted the title award and the top grant of $50,000, thanking the National Prayer Luncheon for Life, and urging all present to support one another. "We are all doing this together. It takes all of us to end abortion." Live Action, begun by founder Lila Rose when she was only 15 years old, is known for its investigative exposes of the abortion industry and its powerful influence in social media.The remaining nominees included the passionately driven Pro-Life Action League, which prepares people to be pro-life activists in their community, along with ProLove Ministries, which provides tangible assistance for women in unexpected pregnancies through a nationwide digital platform. Also, among the honorees is Support After Abortion. This Florida-based group is reaching out across the nation with healing for those wounded by abortion. Each of these nominees were honored with a $5,000 National Prayer Luncheon for Life Pro-Life Impact Grant.Students for Life of America took home the 2021 National Prayer Luncheon for Life Pro-Life Impact Award for the organization's work equipping young leaders to stand firm against a culture of death and speak out for life. President Kristan Hawkins was on hand to help pass the baton to the newly selected honoree for the 2022 title.Hawkins encouraged the crowd to prepare for a post-Roe society, noting that despite all the "woke cancel culture," "we know what's coming." She reported that research reveals that the "majority of our country does not know who we are in the pro-life movement." She encouraged those present to "let them know about our non-violent resources," because, "no woman should stand alone."The crowd welcomed the Most Reverend Joseph Strickland, Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, in Texas. Strickland, known for boldly speaking out against abortion, encouraged the participants in taking a stand for life. Rev. Walter B. Hoye II, President of Issues4Life Foundation, talked about the decimation of Black Americans, blaming plummeting fertility on the abortion industry. Rounding out the trio of clergy, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, addressed participants via video, offering bilingual reliance on God's Word in the battle for life.A retired Army colonel and surgeon, Sister Deirdre (Dede) Byrne of Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts, who is also a provider physician in the Abortion Pill Recovery Network, was welcomed by the crowd. She turned hearts and minds toward global unrest and tyrannical forms of government, sharing her belief that all of "the attempts to remove God from our life stems from one source  what's happening at ground zero...the mother's womb," demonstrating the negative ripple effect that abortion has had on culture."It was wonderful to be able to present pro-life advocates across the country with an opportunity to pray and unite to save lives, and recognize these excellent organizations for their tireless work on behalf of life," exclaimed Karen Garnett, National Prayer Luncheon for Life Executive Director. "We are honored to be able to acknowledge and reward them for the difference they make."Founder and former CEO of 40 Days for Life, David Bereit, served as emcee for the event.The award and grants were presented to the winning organizations by Garnett and National Prayer Luncheon for Life Chairman Brett Attebery.More than 13,000 people participated in the 2022 National Prayer Luncheon for Life, many watching online as the recipients of the award and monetary grants received the news in Grapevine, Texas, where an in-person audience gathered for the occasion at the Dallas-area Gaylord Texan Resort. The entire program is available online at nationalprayerluncheonforlife.org Originating in 2016 as an in-person event hosted by Heroic Media, the National Prayer Luncheon for Life has evolved to encompass thousands of participants to unite in fervent prayer and select the prestigious National Prayer Luncheon for Life Pro-Life Impact Award winner and Pro-Life Impact Grant recipients. The event is produced by Heroic Media. Learn more at nationalprayerluncheonforlife.org SOURCE National Prayer Luncheon for LifeCONTACT: Thomas Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net
New Book Helps Believers Understand What it Means to Trade Their Former Sexual Identity for Their New Identity in Christ

NEWS PROVIDED BYJames Rondinone PublicationsMarch 25, 2022BLOCK ISLAND, Rhode Island, March 25, 2022 / Standard Newswire / -- Within the pages of James J. Rondinone's new book, Testimony ($7.99, paperback, 979-8499921913; $1.99, e-book, ASIN B09K99BXN5), some expressions of dissatisfaction about sexual orientation in the church will be addressed, such as: "Why am I not accepted and considered equal by my fellow believers when I engage in certain sexual relationships?"; "How can my fellow believers say that they love me and yet they do not accept me as being gay?"; and, "Doesn't God's plan condone any affair between people that is full of love?"This book will help readers understand what it means to be accepted, equal, or one in the body of Christ. Additionally, they will learn about who they are in Christ, what God's plan is for their life, and what type of sexual relationships the Word of God condones.With stories and examples, Rondinone will teach readers how to no longer be in subjection to the cravings and desires of their sexual inclinations and instead how to operate in God's agape love. Ultimately, readers will learn how to trade their former sexual identity for their new identity in Christ.About: James J. Rondinone is a retired high school mathematics teacher in Block Island, Rhode Island. He graduated from a small Bible college in Massachusetts in 1982 as the valedictorian (summa cum laude) in Christian Leadership. Rondinone lives on Block Island with his wife and dog. They have three children, all of whom graduated from the Block Island school and are now working in various occupations on the mainland. This is the author's eighth book.Retailers may order Testimony directly through Amazon.com. Any of his other books can be purchased on the author's website at https://bit.ly/3L9x97m SOURCE James Rondinone PublicationsCONTACT: James J. Rondinone, 401-999-7277
Earlier this year, longtime senator Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, announced that after six terms in the Iowa State Senate, she would be stepping away and not be seeking re-election this year.

This has left a gap that new candidate and Clear Lake resident Whitney Mixdorf is hoping to fill by running for the Democratic nomination for the Iowa Senate seat in district 30.

"I have a reasonable voice for the people who need it," Mixdorf said. "I will fight for the working class and I will fight to make things fair across the board for all Iowans, but especially North Iowans."

Mixdorf is a lifelong resident of North Iowa who graduated from Clear Lake High School in 2004, and owns the popular South Shore Donut Company in Clear Lake.

On the political side of things, Mixdorf is currently the vice chair of the Cerro Gordo County Democrats, is on the board for the New Iowa Project and serves on the Cerro Gordo County Compensation Board.

However, this run for the Iowa State Senate will be Mixdorf's first foray into a proper election, something she says should play to her advantage as she hopes to inject a new voice into the state senate, and to North Iowa.

"As a mom of three, I want Iowa to be a state of opportunity," Mixdorf said. "I believe the best path forward is us working together."

With this, Mixdorf also has focused in on several issues impacting North Iowans that she hopes to help improve upon if elected to the seat.

One of the key issues Mixdorf wants to exact change in is child care.

Mixdorf takes issue with the number of people in Iowa who aren't able to send their children to daycare at a young age, which means they have to stay home with their children.

"People keep saying 'nobody wants to work in this state' but they really do," Mixdorf said. "It makes no sense to go work at a minimum wage job, and then hand that entire check over to a daycare provider at the end of the day."

This ties into another key component of Mixdorf's campaign, advocating for better paying jobs and higher wages for Iowans in an effort to attract new people to the area, and keep people from moving away.

"We're losing out on population, we're losing out on people because everyone is moving to the bigger cities," Mixdorf said. "You can move up to Minnesota and make $10 more an hour for the same job you're doing here. It's not sustainable for the state (of Iowa)."

Mixdorf said that the ramifications of this are already being seen, as Cerro Gordo County's population has been in decline for a long time. According to United State Census data, Cerro Gordo County's population has dropped by around 1,000 people since 2010, and just under 3,500 since 2000.

In fact, the population of the county has decreased in every census since 1960.

To rectify this, Mixdorf said that Iowa has to start advocating for better paying work or this trend will continue to get worse.

"We have to make up for this somewhere, and we need to attract people here," Mixdorf said.

Mixdorf's current opposition in the district 30 senate race is Sen. Waylon Brown, R-Saint Ansgar, who is in his second term representing District 26.

Because of the legislative redistricting in Iowa, Brown would be representing District 30 starting in 2023, which contains Cerro Gordo County, Worth County, Mitchell County and part of Floyd County, should he be re-elected in November.

Brown's original district was contained to Worth, Mitchell, Floyd, Chickasaw and Howard counties.

While Brown has more government experience than his opponent, Mixdorf believes that what Brown stands for isn't what's best for Iowa. Mixdorf said that she presents voters with a choice more inline with what the county wants, and who understands the issues residents are currently facing.

"Getting someone in who is younger and fresh, who understands the issues of the place where she's living would be very helpful to North Iowans," Mixdorf said. "I feel like I have a lot to offer on that end."

As of now, Brown and Mixdorf are the only two candidates for the District 30 seat.

The general election takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and the new districts kick in on Jan. 3, 2023.

Zachary Dupont covers local government 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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Bunuel wrote:

Recent trends in the clothing industry have suggested that more clothing is being produced more quickly and cheaply than in the past; styles can go from the runway to stores in as little as three weeks. While most experts have focused on minimizing the time this process takes, True Clothing has in fact made efforts to take longer to produce its clothing.



Which of the following would, if true, most help to explain the strategy of True Clothing referred to above?



A. Some items of clothing can be worn in different ways to create different styles, depending on the individual consumers.

B. Clothing once produced only for adult consumers is increasingly being produced for teenagers.

C. The wholesale price of a particular item of clothing decreases as its supply increases.

D. The sales of well-made clothing, which takes longer to produce, are less likely to fluctuate in different market conditions.

E. Companies with large market shares in the clothing industry tend to be less concerned with industrial trends.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Answer = (D).

Lots of clothing companies are making clothes more quickly and cheaply than they used to. True Clothing, on the other hand, has not. Quick and cheap are virtues for a companys profits--unless the company is trying to profit by emphasizing other, incompatible values. In this case, (D) provides incompatible values that might be tempting: well-made clothing that is likely to sell steadily in different market conditions.The use of different garments (A) by different consumers is irrelevant to why True Clothing would refuse to make clothing more quickly and cheaply. Similarly, the issue of who wears the clothing produced (B) would be relevant only if clothing quality or other factors that appeal to different consumer segments came into play, as in (D).Wholesale prices would fluctuate for both kinds of companies, no matter what their production philosophy (C). Something true for all companies would not explain why True Clothing has such a different approach to manufacturing.While (E) might be true, we dont know what True Clothings market share is, so we dont know whether it applies to True Clothing or not._________________
For New Jersey native Maureen Belko, living in Danville is almost like stumbling upon a treasure.

I feel like I got lucky, Belko, 29, said of discovering Danville in 2015, when she was fresh out of college. The cost of living being so low has been a godsend.

The Danville Register & Bee interviewed a handful of residents  who have chosen to call the Danville area home  from other states to get broader perspectives on residing in the region and the growth that has occurred here in the last several years.

With a casino on the way to the former Dan River Inc. at Schoolfield, new industries opening up at industrial parks in Danville and Pittsylvania County, and an explosion of growth in the River District, housing supply has tightened with more people from other areas coming to the city.

Belko, who grew up in Blackwood, New Jersey, just 15 minutes away from Philadelphia, encountered Danville when she moved here about seven years ago to be with her sister, who was working at Averett University at the time.

Now an asset management associate at Noblis on Bridge Street in the River District, Belko had just graduated from Indiana University when she came to Danville to provide a family presence for her sister.

When she was living with her sister at Pemberton Lofts in the River District and had no money, the citys Riverwalk Trail provided a source of exercise for her.

Just being able to have a free space to be healthy and outside and in nature, being able to walk, was a benefit, Belko said.

City and country life

For 35-year-old Brandon Cardwell, living in the area enables him to experience city life as well as the calm of the country.

I love being able to have a little bit of the country life and all of the amenities of a city, said Cardwell, who moved to Danville recently from Fairfield County in Connecticut.

Cardwell, who works for indeed.com as an ad agency development partner, has found Danvilles residents genuine.

I like the down-to-earth nature of the people, said Cardwell, who lives on Mount Cross Road in Pittsylvania County and is looking to buy a property in the city.

There is a stronger sense of community in Danville, said Linda Zimmermann, a 41-year-old native of Orlando, Florida.

There is a sense of pride here that you cant find in bigger cities, said Zimmermann, who has also lived in Savannah, Georgia, and other places. Coming from Orlando, you never had a large sense of community. Here just feels like home.

Zimmermann and her husband came to Danville in 2008 when he was transferred here to work for a furniture company. They moved to the city from Orlando.

Forty-five-year-old Monica Karavanic grew up in Weirton, West Virginia, a small town in the states northern panhandle just a half-hour west of Pittsburgh.

A melting pot, the town sits on the banks of the Ohio River and saw unprecedented growth in the early 20th century when immigrants from Europe came to work at its new steel mill, Karavanic said.

But like Danville, Weirton lost its largest employer  the steel mill  to outsourcing, which led to an exodus of residents in search of work elsewhere, she said.

In 2006, Danville lost its main employer, Dan River Inc., to outsourcing. But unlike Karavanics hometown, Danville is seeing growth, she pointed out.

Its easy to draw the comparison between my hometown and Danville, since both lost the industries that defined them, said Karavanic, executive director at The Arc of Southside in Danville. However, whereas my hometown is still waiting for the next big employer to come, Danville has taken a more unique approach by improving its infrastructure, investing in amenities for its citizens [the Riverwalk Trail, the River District, etc.], and recruiting an array of industry.

Location

In addition, Danville has a low cost of living, a sense of community, and affordability in relation to nearby larger cities such as Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Raleigh in North Carolina, she added.

The city also is near the mountains and the coast, she said.

You are an hour from the mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway, a couple of hours from a good beach, Karavanic said. If you want a bigger-city feel with better shopping and cultural amenities, then Greensboro and Raleigh are a very short drive away.

Cardwell, who has a grandmother and other relatives from Danville, saw the city after traveling to Georgia by plane to buy a vehicle and driving back to Connecticut.

He stopped in Danville to visit his aunt. He knew the possibility of a casino coming to the city.

I saw a lot of things here that gave me an indication that a lot of good things were coming  regardless of whether the casino came or not, Cardwell said.

He said he feels welcome in the area and it seems like theres some energy here to do some exciting new things and I just hope to be a part of it all.

Cardwell is not the only one eager to experience the growth here.

I am thrilled to see all the changes that are coming to this incredible city, said Zimmermann, who owns Advantage Media Solutions, a boutique marketing firm. When we first moved here, to be honest I didnt see much potential, but to my surprise, the growth has been absolutely incredible to watch.

She is also a founder of the nonprofit Danville Cares and a founding member of Smokestack Theatre Company.

Zimmermanns sister and in-laws have also moved to Danville, she said.

Involved in community

Like Zimmermann, Belko is also involved in a variety of activities in the community. Belko is co-founder and current president of the LGBTQ group Collidescope, started a weekly Pick-up Ultimate Frisbee activity with Danville Parks and Recreation and graduated from the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce Program Leadership Southside. She has also captained a local kick-ball team.

She is also vice president of Middle Border Forward.

Those activities are essential wherever Belko calls home.

I need those things in a place, she said.

She also looks forward to the Caesars Virginia casino coming to Danville and the restaurants it will bring. Hopefully, they will stay open later than the ones the city has now, she said.

If there is one flaw Danville has, its lack of a deli, Belko said.

I would love for a deli to come here, with fresh bread, sliced meat, pickles in a barrel, she said. I want more than what Food Lion has to offer.

As for flaws Danville may have, Karavanic mentioned high utility rates and Cardwell said local contractors he has dealt with could improve their services.

Zimmmermann would like to see more growth outside the River District, which has gotten the bulk of attention in recent years. But that is changing as city officials look to other parts of the city for investment.

With the casino coming, the revitalization of the Schoolfield area is going to be amazing, Zimmermann said. However, Danville is so much more than those select areas.

All the diverse industries coming to the Danville area are great, Karavanic pointed out, because they dont just cater to one type of demographic. She wants to see the city continue to grow without losing its charm and small-town community feel, she said.

Danville is a great community to raise a family in, she said. Just like any place you live, the community you live in will be whatever you make of it.

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It started with a gift from Stratford College.

Before closing in 1974, the institution gave away all of the books in its library. Twenty-five boxes of those books went to the Danville Historical Society.

Many of them were out of print, some were in French and almost all of them were in rough condition. Because of their damaged condition, society members at the time packed the books away and forgot about them.

Almost 50 years later, the society moved to its current location at 406 Cabell St. That meant pulling things out of storage and setting them up at the new headquarters. And for the new board of directors and staff, it meant opening those Stratford boxes for the first time in decades.

What they found was amazing.

There was a lot of shrieking, said historical society director Robin Marcato. Each discovery felt like a winning lottery ticket.

Whats been found so far? There was an illustrated edition of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven from 1884, along with an authors edition of P.T. Barnums autobiography. There were books from the 1600s, including one on the history of Provence, France, written by the son of Nostradamus. Six volumes of the French philosopher Voltaires work were included, along with a miniature first edition of Black Beauty. Add in editions of Don Quixote and Arabian Nights from the 1800s and youve just scratched the surface.

Stratford

Before focusing on the books, lets look at where they came from. Even though Stratford College only existed from 1930 to 1974, its story started almost a century earlier in another part of the city.

Danville Female College opened its doors in 1854, at the corner of South Ridge Street and Loyal Street. But a combination of the Civil War and the following Reconstruction created problems, both with enrollment and finances. By 1877, the school was struggling with debt, so it shut down. Not everyone was willing to let the operation die, however. Eleven of the schools original trustees filed for a new charter and in 1883 they launched the Danville College for Young Ladies, at the intersection of West Main Street and South Main Street.

That operation lasted 14 years, before becoming a satellite campus of the Randolph Macon Institute, a prep school for young girls. RMI suffered from an event completely out of its control, just like the original Danville Female College. When the Great Depression hit, the already struggling school was forced to shut down. In 1930, they put the buildings, and everything in them  including the library  up for sale.

And heres where Stratford College comes into the picture. A group of Danville residents got together and bought the RMI buildings, turning it into a womens college named after Robert E. Lees homestead, Stratford Hall. It stayed in business until 1974, which is when those books were donated to the historical society. Today, the operation at 1111 Main St., now called the Stratford House, serves as an independent senior living facility, run by Commonwealth Senior Living.

Preservation

Its not a simple one size fits all solution, when youre preserving ancient books. Remember the editions of Don Quixote and Arabian Nights that were included in the Stratford boxes? Those copies were both printed on mechanical ground wood pulp paper. Why is that important? Because, as historical society staff members point out, the paper has a high acidic content and can quickly become discolored and brittle if not kept in the right conditions.

Thats why preserving the books takes planning and effort.

Older books have to be handled a certain way depending on their age, Marcato said. So all the books have been unpacked and are being gently cleaned. Many of the books have no damage at all to the inside; the spines and covers are another matter.

Some of the preservation methods are as simple as how you store the books, and this applies just as much to those in your bookcase at home as it does to these older editions. For example, large folio-size books, those 15 inches or taller, are best stored flat.

Since these books tend to be larger and the text blocks can be fairly heavy, the weight of the text block can cause it to separate from the books spine if its stored upright over long periods.

For smaller books, you can keep them upright at a 90-degree angle to the surface of the shelf, supported on both sides by books of similar size. This helps prevent the covers from warping. Even for books put out on display, the way theyre arranged is done to help preserve. If you see a book in a glass case, open to a specific page, its not open all the way. The reason is if you open an older book all the way, it can flatten the spine and cause serious damage.

Moving forward

So what do we know about the books? A book written by the son of Nostradamus earlier was mentioned earlier. That is the Lhistoire et Chronique de Provence or The History and Chronicle of Provence. Written by Caesar de Nostradamus in 1613, its a detailed account of the areas history, starting with the Roman occupation and extending through earlier medieval times. It was a family project, originally started after Provence became part of France in 1486. In putting this together, Caesar was mainly revising and reworking the work of other family members, including an unprinted document written by his uncle, Jean. Theres no evidence that Caesars famous astrologer father took part in this.

The Stratford boxes also included an illustrated version of Poes The Raven, which stood the test of time better than most. Poe released the poem in 1845 and over the years, multiple versions were illustrated, but this one is special. The graphics were drawn by French artist Gustave Dore, who was famous in the 1800s for his illustrations of the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, Byron and Dante. This rendition of The Raven was also Dores last creation. The self-taught artist died soon after finishing the illustrations and the book was released nearly one year after his death in 1883. It has 28 of Dores illustrations, depicting scenes from the poem.

When we open boxes like this, I remind myself that I am paid to do this, said Danville Historical Society staff member Joe Scott. I feel so lucky.

Later this year, local residents will have a chance to see some of these books up close, along with other artifacts from the societys collection. While a date hasnt been set, the society plans to hold an open house at its Cabell Street headquarters in either late summer or early fall.

Learn more at danvillehistory.org.

Brian Carltons work has been featured by the Associated Press, BBC, Public Broadcastings 100 Days in Appalachia project and Policygenius, among others. The 20-year veteran journalist also spent 10 years as a newspaper editor in Waynesboro and later Martinsville.
GREENSBORO  The teenage boys riding around the city rolled to a stop in Bill Slawters 57 Ford Convertible as a bright light moved slowly through the distant clouds.

I bet thats a Russian satellite, Ahab said.

(Expletitive), said Randy. Thats a meteor.

Im not sure what it is but its going from west to east, Carl said. So, I dont think its a missile headed this way from Cuba.

It was October 1962 and the country was focused on Russian missiles in Cuba and what President John F. Kennedy was going to do about it.

The moment is from Slawters memoir with the feel of a novel, Sit-ins, Drive-ins and Uncle Sam, by the lawyer-turned-author who grew up in the Glenwood neighborhood delivering newspapers and working at the McDonalds on what was then High Point Road. The Grimsley graduates storytelling provides insight into life in the city in the 1950s and 1960s and the Vietnam War draft.

As the pandemic lingered for the past two years, statistics from Pew Research show more readers are escaping through books, old and new, that offer a view of another time, an experience or even the other side of an argument more than any other time in the last few years. Some are by Triad voices or authors who have ties here, who write about upbringings that resonate with people in other places, such as Slawters growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, retired communications professional Mable Scotts lessons from segregation and Lia Scholl, the new pastor at First Friends Meeting, whose life changed after becoming disillusioned by organized religion.

Growing up in Memphis

Like Slawter, Scotts words take readers back to a time when her mother worked in the restaurant of one of the nicest stores when it didnt serve Black people. The title of her book, 38126 Kings Kids...Nobody Said We Were Poor! plays off the areas ZIP code and the repetition at home, school and church of them being children of God, who were equipped and capable.

Scott, who has worked at WFMY-Channel 2 as community affairs director, N.C. A&T as public relations director and as the public relations officer for Rockingham County government, wrote about growing up in Memphis  but in many ways could have been describing Greensboro, specifically segregated East Market Street before redevelopment. Beale Street, like East Market in its heydey, had a community within itself that included doctors, lawyers, bankers beauty shops, and a movie theater. Talented musicians played on the corners for tips.

Nobody said we were poor, marginalized, impoverished, a failure, couldnt learn, said Scott, now half of the Brother Paul and Able Mable radio program on N.C. A&Ts WNAA radio station and founder of the nonprofit AMEN Communications, which provides college scholarships.

Adults shielded the children for as long as they could against the horrors of segregation and Jim Crow laws used to make them feel like second-class citizens. They nurtured and built their self-esteem, so whatever came, they would be ready.

They were expected to do their best, be prepared at school, and never allow a bad report to get back to their parents.

So when one of those teachers or community mothers lovingly but often pointedly chastised them for something they shouldnt have done, that adult sent them home and then called ahead of their arrival so that the parents would know the mischief they had gotten into.

Our whole world was warm, friendly, nurturing, protective, reassuring, disciplinary, Scott wrote. Our teachers, church members, neighbors, the whole felt responsible for our growth and development. 

The precocious Scott absorbed everything as a child, which is how her uncle, Dr. Clyde West, who had graduated from Meharry Medical School, taught her how to answer the phones in his dental practice  and memorize messages. Her grandmother worked in the office, and since there was no daycare, she had to be there anyway.

Scott spent much of her time with that grandmother, who she called Dear.

During their trips downtown and out of their neighborhood, Scott fantasized that the colored water must have tasted like Kool-Aid. Dear would never let her have any of it.

Even as they sat in the balcony of the segregated theaters, with all the white children downstairs, she never let her feel less than.

Dear would say weve got the best seats, we can see everything up here, Scott wrote.

Scott also writes of the reality of segregated, unequal schools and neighborhoods.

My main gripe was the old, out-of-date books with countries that no longer existed or leaders who had long been out of office, Scott wrote. Our progressive creative teachers supplemented our curriculum with the Memphis Commercial Appeal (newspaper) and numerous trips to the library. In fact, the library became my hide-away from the heat since it was the only air-conditioned building in the whole neighborhood.

She delves into a history of hope but also the reality that came with the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King, who was later assassinated at the Lorraine Motel not far from their segregated public housing.

This is why the boys asked why their daddy had tears on his cheeks the night Barack Obama won the election for U.S. President, she wrote of those experiences in Black households including her own. This is why I tear up when I see my AKA sorority sister, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her blazer, pearl necklace, and Chuck Taylor All-Stars Converse shoes.

She recently spoke at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum as part of Black History Month and upcoming is BookStock 2022 in Memphis. Proceeds from the sale of her book, which sold out earlier on Amazon, will be used for scholarships at selected colleges in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Another path

For Scholl, it was life on an unfamiliar path but one that just felt right after having walked away from religion  which would actually strengthen her faith.

Later, she worked for years with people who traded sex for money, which led to the book I Heart Sex Workers: A Christian Response to people in the Sex Trade.

In her interactions with others, she is quick to laugh with people and even quicker to listen to them while seeking to understand, on a deeper level, those who have her attention.

Her interest, she says, is to amplify voices that so desperately need to be amplified.

She felt the call into ministry at 13, but not having any women pastors as role models, she thought, like the instructors would at seminary, that there would be differing roles for women.

It would lead her to temporarily walk away from organized religion at 19.

It was stages, she said of returning.

Such as hearing from the member back at her conservative church that there were now gay members of the Sunday School.

Attitudes were changing.

They would talk about God as a friend and not someone you could never please. But it would also take a meal. Yes, meal.

I kind of met Jesus in a bowl of shrimp  Im allergic, apparently, she deadpans.

The episode got her to thinking of a legacy of never having tried to live up to her potential.

She started visiting churches and following her passion in working on social and economic justice issues that helped women.

And she went to seminary.

It was after graduation that leaders of a Christian ministry asked her to take their work with women in the sex industry into strip clubs and later, through her own organization, she expanded it to include the streets.

She wrote the book about that work when a Christian publisher sought her out.

She used stories of sex work in the Bible to make her points, that Jesus loved them, too.

Because Im a minister  and candid about it  Ive faced the stigma that comes with being an ally, especially a Christian ally to people engaged in sex work, she writes in I Heart Sex Workers.

Sex workers often encounter do-gooders who want to rescue them from their situations. Because other Christians offer judgment, moralism and, evangelism, they expect those same attitudes from me. ... When I dont try to save the people I meet, just be their friend, over and over, they express surprise.

Instead of being the people she ministered to, they became people she loved.

I began to understand why Jesus said, in John 15:15, I no longer call you servants...instead, I call you friends. 

Scholl said that meant she had to listen and understand their plight. It meant trying to understand the forces that lead women into sex work and the way the sex industry works  not so much to close the industry down but to make sure that every person in the sex industry has choices and to change oppressive conditions.

While the book was published in 2012, instead of being dated in 2022, it is considered before its time involving the sex work and human trafficking business but also trans and LGBTQ rights and the understanding of trauma.

It was at times satisfying ministry  Like the girl on the beach who throws the starfish back into the water. One person at a time.

At other times heartbreaking, especially for street-level sex workers, with a lot of addiction, violence and death. But Scholl was also being led back to a pastoral role.

Back in seminary, she had fallen in love with pastoring. She loves digging deep into scripture, writing sermons, preaching, visiting hospitals, sitting with people, the weddings, funerals and potluck meals. All while continuing to use her voice on issues.

Since then, she has pastored from Bali to recently Winston-Salem, although this is her first time leading a Quaker congregation.

Sitting in the momentary empty sanctuary at First Friends she feels at home. There is a legacy here of strong and passionate women and leaders in general.

These are people who care about their neighbors, Scholl said.

Footprint of a community

In earlier chapters, Slawter wrote about coming of age during those eventful years in the 50s and 60s while at the same time covering a lot of history from that era, including the 1963 protests led by future presidential candidate and N.C. A&T student Jesse Jackson. Slawter researched those times to tell the stories in context.

Often, these stories allow him to reflect on the seriousness of the times.

In the chapter Battle Scars he talks a lot about regrets and guilt  his own as well as that of others, especially with Vietnam. He had friends who were drafted before he was, with some of them going to Vietnam while he did not.

At the time, the draft letter brought a lot of anxiety to young men and their families everywhere.

I dont regret that I got in as much college as I could before getting drafted, I dont regret having served two years in the Army, and I dont regret being lucky enough never to see Southeast Asia, Slawter said.

But I cant help but feel some guilt when I think about friends and thousands of others who did go off to war. And even more so regarding the thousands of soldiers who didnt make it back home.

As he looks back, he thinks of nights spent with friends searching for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie, coming across a wrecked truck of live chickens and getting the idea to stuff as many in his trunk as possible to later sell.

A mess, he said of the chicken story, which, like the others, are within the pages of the book.

Of watching the portrayal of Black people on the sitcom Amos and Andy and those he actually came across on his newspaper route, including the woman the age of his grandma who gave him socks at Christmas.

Of the places that only longtime Greensboro people would remember, but others that have endured, like Stameys.

He would finish law school, go on to marry his college sweetheart, and later set up a practice in Asheville, where he was also the part-time city attorney for many years.

But he never forgot the footprint of his community.

He has upcoming discussions at Scuppernong Books and the Glenwood Public Library. He plans to give a portion of any proceeds to a nonprofit working in Glenwood.

Every city has a Glenwood, Im sure, Slawter said.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 336-373-7049 and follow @nmclaughlinNR on Twitter.

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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, Va., 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 wasnt right, he says, I couldnt 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 advisers and volunteer professionals asked Virginia governors for clemency.

First, they petitioned Gov. 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.

But there is more to the story. Somehow, 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.

DG Martin is a Chapel Hill-based columnist.
Let me start by saying that I think changing the clocks twice a year is annoying.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved bipartisan legislation last week that would make daylight saving time permanent, starting in 2023. But according to BuzzFeed News, the bill, titled the Sunshine Protection Act, sort of passed by accident. Since most senators werent even aware it was happening, they didnt object to it, even though some might have wanted to. (If that sounds absurd, thats because it is.)

Currently, nearly a dozen states operate on daylight saving time all year long. North Carolina has tried, unsuccessfully, to become one of them; over the years, bills to make daylight saving time permanent have passed the state House of Representatives but died in the Senate. North Carolinas own Madison Cawthorn even introduced a similar bill in Congress last year, calling for an end to pointless clock adjustments.

But is this the right way  or even the right time  to be changing it?

At a press conference Thursday, a reporter asked Gov. Roy Cooper what he thought about the Senates passage of the Sunshine Protection Act.

I probably would rather just go back to standard time and stay there, Cooper said. Thats what sleep experts say you should do. But that hasnt been my most pressing issue this week. It was pressing when we actually leapt forward, it was pressing for about 48 hours, but Ill let Congress deal with that.

Cooper is right. Standard time is more closely aligned with our circadian rhythm, experts say, and permanent daylight saving time could result in a kind of social jet lag. That comes with a slew of potential health risks, such as mood disorders, cardiovascular disease and an increase in motor vehicle crashes.

The U.S. has tried to make daylight saving time permanent before, in the 1970s. It didnt work. People got tired of colder, darker mornings, so we quickly switched back.

Of course, most people, understandably, hate when it gets dark at 5 p.m. Its nice to be able to go for a walk in the evenings to decompress, or at least enjoy an hour or two of daylight after the workday ends.

But its not any fun to wake up to darkness, either, especially in the winter. Who doesnt want to see blue sky when opening the blinds every morning, or sip coffee out on the porch before work?

All of these things may be true, and yet Cooper is perhaps even more right in saying that daylight saving time is hardly the most pressing issue right now. It is ironic how quickly the Senate was able to (accidentally?) vote to make daylight saving time permanent, considering how slow it is to accomplish nearly everything else.

Even House Democrats were surprised to see the Senate acting in such haste.

Im really thinking about dying people and Im thinking about whats going on in Ukraine. We just had the president here. I dont give a damn about what people think about it, Rep. Maxine Waters of California said Wednesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would probably take up the issue at some point, but its not their priority right now.

And it shouldnt be. Sure, it might be nice to hear that bipartisanship isnt completely dead, but its not particularly heartening that one of the few things politicians can agree on is whether or not we should change our clocks twice a year.

Although it may get people talking, the debate over daylight saving time is a pretty trivial one in the grand scheme of things. There are plenty of urgent issues Congress has hardly addressed at all  voting rights, immigration, preparing for the next stage of the pandemic, just to name a few  and it would be nice if they could find the time to get some of that stuff done, too.

Paige Masten is an opinion writer for The Charlotte Observer and McClatchys North Carolina opinion team.
By Trend

The administrations of Kazakhstan Railways and Azerbaijan Railway are cooperating within the framework of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), Chief Engineer of Kazakhstan Railways JSC (KZD), Director of the Technical Policy Department Batyr Kotyrev told Trend.

The route was created with the participation of the railway, port administrations and shipping companies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, he noted.

The Coordinating Committee for the Development of TITR has been working since February 20, 2014. Its main task is to create favorable conditions for the realization of the transit and transport potential of the Trans-Caspian route, Kotyrev added.

An agreement was signed on the establishment of the International Trans-Caspian Transport Consortium, a single transport operator, in Azerbaijans Baku on April 12, 2016.

The Coordinating Committee for the Development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route decided to establish the International Association "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route" with headquarters in the capital of Kazakhstan in order to increase efficiency and coordinate joint work between the participants of the route, in December 2016.

The following decisions were made within the framework of the meetings of the general meeting of the members of the Association, Kotyrev highlighted :

- regular running of the feeder ship "NMSC "Kazmortransflot" LLP on the route Aktau - Baku - Aktau was organized.

- the participants of the transportation process on the TITR route signed the "Agreement on the organization of container transportation in direct international rail-water traffic with the participation of feeder ships between the ports of the Caspian Sea (Aktau, Baku (port of Alat)", "Agreement on interaction and measures of responsibility in the organization of transportation of goods in as part of container trains along the TITR route using feeder ships."
Capitalist regimes practice various forms of war on societies to strike their social structure, through special war methods, which directly target the values of societies, and the promotion of narcotics is at the forefront of these methods.

Narcotics cause the body to become lethargic and paralyze its activity, and lead to addiction, causing severe damage to mental, physical and social health.

Its harms are not limited to the addiction, but affect society as a whole, and drug abuse leads to the spread of rape, theft and murder, in addition to a moral collapse in the structure of society, which is one of the goals of the promoters of this substance.

Drug promotion in north and east Syria

In the north and east of Syria and Syria in general, the Turkish occupation state and other parties have adopted many methods aimed at striking society, including military and intellectual attacks, and the promotion of drugs in the region through its mercenaries.

The General Command of the Internal Security Forces in northern and eastern Syria revealed during a press conference in the city of Qamishlo on March 22 that its forces had seized a large amount of narcotic pills, which the mercenaries of the Turkish occupation brought into the area with the aim of destroying society.

On this, the spokesperson for the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria, Ali Al-Hassan, explained to our agency that North and East Syria is facing a different kind of war that targets the structure and morals of society. And now we are facing a war that targets all members of society.

Al-Hassan stressed that the Internal Security Forces are resisting by fighting crime to control this scourge, by announcing campaigns to curb this phenomenon such as the "Life is Responsibility" campaign, controlling large quantities of these materials and arresting the dealers.

On September 25, 2020, the Security Forces announced a campaign to combat the spread of drugs under the name (Life is Responsibility).

While it announced the end of two phases of the first campaign on February 23, 2021, in coordination with the Health Authority in North and East Syria, it revealed the arrest of 17 people working in medical warehouses and pharmacies, and promoting and selling medical drugs that can only be dispensed with a prescription. In particular, 9937 medicinal narcotic pills were seized.

Targeting society

The spokesman pointed out the reasons for the spread of narcotics in north and east Syria, saying: "Our regions and Syria in general have been a trading point since ancient times, so these large quantities are smuggled to neighboring countries through our regions, and some of them are also promoted within the region."

The Internal Security Forces pointed out during their press conference in the city of Qamishlo, that "there are external parties and some weak-minded people trying to drain our areas by all means, most notably the introduction of drugs and many prohibited substances to them, to strike the values of society, in addition to trying to use the geographical location of our areas to smuggle their materials to other countries through our territory."

Security forces are working to eradicate this scourge once and for all

Al-Hassan stated, "Through careful follow-up and preliminary investigations that we conducted with the detainees, it was found that the narcotics entered through the areas of the Turkish occupation mercenaries, while they have a specific transit line targeting our areas in general," adding: "These networks cross the border and are not linked to a specific part only."

On the dangers of narcotics on society, Al-Hassan explained: "Narcotics have great physical and psychological dangers to humans, and target the younger group more. Undoubtedly, we will be an impenetrable wall and fortress against the spread of this scourge, and will work day and night to eradicate it permanently from our society."

Ali Al-Hassan emphasized that the Internal Security Forces are carrying out their duties without regard to anything else but focusing on protecting the region, in addition to protecting neighboring countries.

The spokesperson for the Internal Security Forces, Ali al-Hassan, addressed the people in north and east Syria, saying: "We always work for your protection. Your security and safety are our sacred responsibilities, and we will always work to provide them for you."

A

ANHA
Its not Easter; but, Easters a-coming. My great-grandfather, Lars (1855-1937), loved Easter.

Before we begin Lars humble tale, hear the words of another carpenter, Jesus. He knew his good news would be cherished everywhere. Matthew 24:14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Lars Magnus Bostrom has a story worth telling to the nations. We know his story through a genealogy, an obituary and stories by his youngest child, my great aunt Ruth (1899-1985).

Flashback to the late 1800s  one-fourth(!) of Swedes left the rigors of Sweden for America.

Swedes Lars and his bride, Martha Wiberg (1855-1920), were born 244 miles apart. Married 5/24/1882, 9/9/1882 they emigrated from Sweden to Hull, England and then to NY on the Republic, arriving 10/11/1882.

Then, how did they get to Topeka  or was it Lindsborg, Kansas? Weve lost track.

What gifts Martha presented Lars there: 11/6/1885, their first child, Esther Marie; Christmas Day, 1887, the BIG family Bible. We still have that Bible. And, 1/1890, Martha presented Lars and Esther with son/brother, Victor.

Victors asthma prompted a kindhearted move to the invigorating, less humid, mile-high mountain air of Denver, Colorado. How did they make that 450-mile journey?

And what work would Lars find in Denver? Remarkably, he took a job making the great wooden doors of the new Colorado Capitol! What a building! Constructed from Colorado white granite, it would open for use in November 1894.

Aunt Ruth told me Lars was working there early in 1893 during President Grover Clevelands second term. Then the 1893 Panic caused nations finances to collapse.

And, more collapsed.

Using a planer to make one of the great Capitol doors, Lars slipped, taking off the three last fingers on his right hand.

Blood poisoning set in.

Somehow, Lars pulled through.

But, now Lars could not even hold a hammer with his right hand. Pregnant Martha took in washing to support the family.

Somehow, Scandinavian homesteaders near Kiowa, about 50 miles southeast of Denver, beckoned.

With $25 in savings, Lars, very-pregnant-Martha, Esther (8) and Victor (3) pointed the wagons horses to Kiowa.

Lars and Martha, 38, staked claim on a 160-acre homestead seven miles east of Kiowa. My grandfathers birth certificate lists his birth: 3/31/1893, Elbert County, Kiowa. Lars and Martha named their son, Louis (Famed Warrior) Theophilus (Lover of God).

All his years, Grandpa pondered how to wrest/receive life from that farm/ranch. As a boy, I loved the homestead that grew into a section, 640 acres.

Back to Lars story: with no trees to use for building, Lars and Martha dug out a dry creek bank  put a front and a top on it and called it home - for 14 years. Emil Romandus (1896-1986) and Ruth Naomi were born there. Lars and Martha were 41 and 44 when these presents arrived. Sadly, Victor died there in 1904, age 14.

When funds got low, Lars saddled up, riding to Denver to work at Hallack Lumber Company. Once, when he was gone, cowboys drove cattle over the Bostroms crops. When Bostrom dogs tried to chase the cattle away, the cowboys shot the dogs.

Meanwhile, other Coloradoans prospered. In 1908, to commemorate the Colorado Gold Rush, they covered the Capitol dome with real gold leaf! Inconceivable!

Martha, a skilled mid-wife, helped deliver 60 children in Elbert County. Once Martha cared for an ill Norwegian farmer for two-weeks. After recovering, he paid her a dollar. She told him: Dont ever call me again.

Alas, in 1920, Martha died from the Spanish flu. Rev. Bolander, her beloved pastor, conducted her funeral. He praised Martha as an ardent Christian who often asked him to talk longer about the glory and the goodness of our Lord, the balm of her soul.

For 17 years, Lars would be without his true companion.

Two months after Marthas funeral, Rev. Bolander officiated violin-playing-homesteader Louis T. Bostrom and piano-playing-Denverite Esther Marie Lindbloms wedding, 4/10/1920.

Flashback to Lars firstborn, Esther, marrying a secretive Mason, Davies. Years later, with her sons, John (5) and Louis (3), she returned to her farm with her boys to discover her husband had disappeared with their savings, the wagon and team. They never heard from him again.

Emil, first to finish high school, had a scholarship to the University of Chicago. Laying aside his plans, he provided for his sisters family -- for 13 years. People told him he was a fool to waste his best years. He trusted God.

Eventually, when Emil pursued his own calling, he married, became the first Massey-Ferguson dealer in Colorado, and was elected both elder in the Presbyterian Church and Mayor of Elizabeth, Colorado. Dad, an only child, loved his jovial Uncle Bim. So did I.

Widower Lars lived at Esthers farm in a tiny house  room for a bed, a table and chair and a small kitchen.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, despite Lars many potentially faith-demolishing heartbreaks, Easter was his favorite day. His Easter habit included visiting adjoining farms early Easter morning  proclaiming: He is risen. In reply, Lars heard: He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!

What prompted such enduring faith? In Swedish, Bostrom apparently means: bo  one who lives by + strom  a stream. Lars believed John 7:37: Jesus CRIED OUT (literally, ROARED), IF ANYONE THIRSTS, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK. 38WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, OUT OF HIS INNER BEING WILL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER. Aha, heaven-generated-perpetual-soul-refreshment!

What a surprise, when, in the midst of the Great Depression, Easter, 1937, Lars didnt visit his neighbors.

At his home, they found Lars seven-day clock wound with Lars body sitting at the table, his Bible opened to the Easter story. While Lars had read of Jesus reality-altering resurrection, God called Lars, his blood-bought dear son, home!

Thats a story is worth proclaiming to the nations!

Friend, may God give you such a story!

Steve Bostrom is ordained by the Presbyterian Church in America. To contact him, email: stevebostrom@gmail.com.

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DECATUR  Construction continues on the new Illinois State Police Forensic Science Facility in Decatur, which is expected to be operational this year.

The Decatur facility will be the states seventh forensic lab and will primarily focus on DNA testing. It could help the State Police continue to reduce their testing backlog, said Brendan Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police.

By having this additional lab space in the central part of the state, we'll be able to further enhance our efforts to make sure that DNA is processed in a quick timeframe, he said.

The lab will be part of the statewide forensic lab system. Scientists at the lab will examine DNA evidence collected by crime scene investigators across the state, not just from Central Illinois.

Governor J.B. Pritzkers proposed fiscal year 2023 budget would allocate $5.4 million in funding for the new forensic laboratory, to cover operational costs such as hiring additional forensic scientists and purchasing equipment.

The new lab emerged, in part, from a partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which is constructing the building, Kelly said.

The new building is located along U.S. 51 on Decatur's south side, adjacent to the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center, the Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center and a fire training facility, all built with donations from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Howard Buffett, a local philanthropist and former sheriff of Macon County, has made many donations to groups and projects in Decatur, many of which reflect his affection for law enforcement.

Two building permits have been issued for the structure in the past two years. In October 2020, a permit was issued to Public Safety Properties Foundation for the construction of a four-story, 30,391 square foot building valued at $8 million. In May of 2021, a permit was issued for the build out of a partial first floor and entire second floor of a DNA lab valued at $3.1 million. The contractor for both projects was listed as Romano Company.

Construction on the new State Police facility could be completed as early as May. Kelly is optimistic the lab will be fully functional this year.

The Decatur lab will help expand the states forensic testing capacity, which Kelly said is a key component of public safety.

The better we get at this type of investigation, the more cutting-edge technology and facilities and well-trained personnel that we have, the better chances are going to be that we can bring dangerous criminals to justice and protect public safety, he said.

Pritzkers administration and some members of the Illinois General Assembly have touted the new lab as evidence of Democrats efforts to tackle rising crime rates and other public safety concerns.

During a press conference last week, House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, referenced the lab as one of Democrats public safety focuses amid ongoing budget negotiations.

We're also expanding the capacity of the State Police who handle crime labs for a lot of the state to be able to deal with the evidence in a more timely fashion, Harris said.

Its still early in the budget negotiation process, but Harris said negotiations are off to a good start.

Lawmakers must approve a balanced budget and pass it on to Pritzker for his signature before the new fiscal year starts on July 1.

The current legislative session is scheduled to end April 8. The General Assembly typically adjourns on May 31, but this years session was shortened to account for the June 28 primary election.

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DECATUR  Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church will be hosting a Revival on Tuesday, March 29, Wednesday, March 30 and Thursday, March 31. Services begin at 7 p.m. each night at the church located at 2520 W. Hunt St., Decatur.

Guest speaker will be the Reverend Kenneth Maurice Davis of D'Iberville, Mississippi.

For additional information call 217-428-9628.

***

Deadline for items in Faith Notes is noon Monday for publication in Saturdays section. Send information to: Herald & Review, 225 S. Main St., Suite 200, Decatur, IL 62523, lmargerum@herald-review.com, or fax (217) 421-7965. Please include a contact phone number for verification.

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DECATUR  An early-morning Decatur house fire eventually spread to a neighboring home, causing extensive damage to both dwellings, officials said.

Decatur firefighters were called to the first house fire at approximately 2 a.m. Friday at 1231 E. William St., according to a statement from Deputy Fire Chief Jim Ohl. The first crew to arrive at the scene found the 1 story home fully engulfed in flames. The heavy fire spread east to the neighbor home's attic.

The department upgraded the situation to a second-alarm fire, and two additional crews were dispatched to the scene. An aerial device was used to extinguish the fire from above and to protect the house on the west side, Ohl said. Fire crews attacked the east-side house from the inside.

The home where the fire originated was vacant, Ohl said. The neighboring eastside home was occupied by four adults and four children. The American Red Cross assisted the family, due to the heavy damage to the house.

The cause of the original fire is under investigation. In a social media post, the department characterized the blaze as "suspicious" and encouraged anyone with information to call 217-424-2811.

Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR

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SPRINGFIELD  Long Creek resident Shelley Hanneken was in attendance when the Illinois State Police Memorial Park  featuring a memorial wall etched with the names of fallen troopers  was dedicated in 2018.

I came to support the families never actually thinking that I would be among them, she said.

But in a tragic twist of fate, Hanneken would join the club that none of us wanted to be in when her husband, Senior Master Trooper Todd Hanneken, was killed last March after his squad car crashed into a utility pole and a tree on Illinois 10 in Bondville.

Todd Hanneken, 45, was a 20-year veteran of the State Police.

On Friday, the one-year anniversary of Hannekens passing, his wife and their two teenage sons returned to the park for a ceremony commemorating the addition of his name to the memorial wall.

The park, just across the street from State Police headquarters in Springfield, was created as a tribute to troopers who died in the line of duty. It was built using funds raised by the Illinois State Police Heritage Foundation.

According to the foundation, 72 State Police officers have given their lives while on the job and now have a permanent place on the wall.

Shelley Hanneken said her husband was an amazing human who would do anything for anyone.

He always downplayed everything that he did in life, she said. But truly what he did mattered. He saved many lives in the process and we were honored to be his family.

Hanneken was awarded the Illinois State Police Medal of Honor for rescuing an Illinois Department of Transportation worker from a burning vehicle in May 2018. It had been rear-ended by a semitruck on Interstate 57.

State Police officials also noted that he made more than 100 drunk driving arrests early in his career.

The only job he ever wanted to be was an Illinois State Trooper, Shelley Hanneken said. He wanted to be just like his father who was one. Our son wants to be the same. His life's mission was to serve and protect. He died on the job, but he wasn't the job.

As an example, she cited a time around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that he led a neighborhood parade for a childs birthday in his squad car.

He was cleaning his squad in the garage so that it looked nice, and in the process, opened his door a little too far and dented his beloved baby, his recently remodeled 1966 Chevrolet Nova, Hanneken said.

He left and made someone else's day even though he ruined his own in that process, she said, adding that the sentence sums up a lot about her husband.

State Police Director Brenden Kelly said Hanneken was the fifth officer to get his named etched on the wall during his tenure, a ceremony that he says "gets harder" every time it's done.

"But at the very least, what we can do is take that trauma, take (those) scars that they've had on their hearts as a result of these tragedies and turn that into action, turn that into living out the values that these men and women who are on this wall lived out, and making sure that we live up to the values of the Illinois State Police," Kelly said.

For the families of fallen troopers, the names on the wall "are less about remembering and more about saying 'thank you' ... for the sacrifice that they make in allowing their loved one to serve even to the point of losing their life," Kelly said.

Hanneken's name is the last in its row on the wall. Shelley Hanneken said she hopes another row will never have to be filled.

"Will I come here and reflect? Absolutely," Hanneken said. "I actually came to watch the engraving when it happened last week. I needed that time by myself to be able to reconcile. Still, it does catch you off guard that this is your life, that no one asked for."

"It's important to have things like this for those of us left behind," she said.

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DECATUR  Having served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War from 1963 to 1966, Michael Mills said all who served during that time were truly exceptional.

Stationed at the Cu Chi base camp between the Cambodian border and Saigon, which is now known as Ho Chi Minh City, Mills said he went back to Vietnam in 2020 to visit the place he once stood almost 60 years ago.

"We were one of a kind," said Mills, with his son Chris, who also served in the Army from 1987 to 2005. "We were spit on when we came home and everything, and when we get together, we all know we don't have to explain anything to anybody."

Veterans and their families gathered at the Decatur Civic Center Saturday for a Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day with special guest speaker, Iraq War veteran and retired Staff Sgt. Shilo Harris.

The event was hosted by the Veterans Recognition of Central Illinois, and committeeman Gary Fyke said he first saw Harris back in 2019 at a seminar in Dallas, where he spoke with him about coming up to Central Illinois for a weekend.

Three years later, Fyke was picking up Harris from the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, with a warm crowd of supporters and veterans welcoming him.

"We were just blessed that he had this open, because this is a date he usually has booked," said Fyke, who served in the Marine Corps. during Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. "It turned out to be really great for us."

Harris, who is from San Antonio, Texas, is the author of the book "Steel Will," about his experience during the Iraq War. He's also a motivational speaker who talks with fellow veterans and soldiers across the country.

Harris suffered severe burns to over 35% of his body after his armored vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device on Feb. 19, 2007. Three of his fellow servicemembers were killed, and Harris was in a coma for 48 days.

"Despite my injuries, I had limitations before in my life," Harris said. "God does not do bad things, but God could change the narrative. God can change the conclusion of that episode and turn it into a blessing for you as long as you remain faithful, and that's something I've tried to do each and every day, is put one foot in front of the other and say, 'I know there's a blessing behind this, I just need to find it.'"

While spending nearly three years recovering and undergoing intensive physical therapy at the burn unit of Brooklyn Medical Center in San Antonio, Harris said his first experience speaking in public almost happened by accident.

At the beginning of his journey, Harris was walking around the hospital looking for the doctor's office when he walked into a room filled with caregivers, trauma nurses and chaplains getting ready for an orientation. One of them asked if he was their guest speaker.

Harris initially said no, but jokingly said he could, and told the group his story, leaving the crowd amazed, and himself with a different sense of purpose.

"With every presentation, I try to always speak from the heart, because it's like I said, I've got so many things to be thankful for," Harris said. "Yes, I got injured. Yes, I have injuries and yes, I have disabilities, but I think we all have limitations in our life. It's how we deal with them on the back end that makes us different and separates us from those other people."

"Everybody has that ability to pull themselves through and get out there and just do it," he said.

Greg Collins, superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Macon County, who also served in the Marine Corps. during the Iraq War from 2001 to 2005, said he works with veterans who have conditions from Agent Orange exposure and other combat-related injuries, with a goal of helping them receive the treatment they deserve.

Collins said although he served during a different time than most of the veterans he works with, he feels that each one is like a brother to him.

"They didn't get treated right coming home, so that's why it's important for us to pay them back now," Collins said. "I know a lot of these guys on a personal basis and it's not just personal, I treat them all like brothers."

Vietnam veteran Roger Farris, who served in Dong Ha from 1969 to 1970, said he comes to the Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day every year to reconnect with old friends, and this year he was especially interested in hearing Harris speak.

"We're all brothers, we all did what we thought was right, and we didn't do it for a pat on the back," Farris said. "We did it for our country, and that's why we're here now."

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By Trend

China and Russia should tell North Korea to avoid more "provocations" after it resumed intercontinental ballistic missile testing this week, U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said on Friday, Trend reports citing Reuters.

"China and Russia should send a strong message to (North Korea) to refrain from additional provocations," Porter told a regular news briefing ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the launch later on Friday.

North Korea said it launched a big, new ICBM on Friday, a test its leader Kim Jong Un said was designed to demonstrate the might of its nuclear force and deter any U.S. military moves. It was the nuclear-armed country's first full ICBM test since 2017.

Referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, Porter called the launch a "brazen" violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"We urge all countries to hold the DPRK accountable for such violations and we also call on the DPRK to come to the table for serious negotiations," she said.

She said she was unable comment on the position China and Russia might take at the Security Council, but added:

"We are in the early stages of consulting on this issue. There have been developments that should be of concern to all countries, particularly those who share a border with the DPRK. The DPRK's decision to return to ICBM tests is a clear escalation."

North Korea's last ICBM launches in 2017 prompted U.N. Security Council sanctions, but the United States and its allies are at odds with Russia and China over the Ukraine war, making such a response more difficult.
TINLEY PARK  With three vehicles to keep gassed up, Rolman Manliclic said he's watching his spending more than ever as prices of fuel and groceries continue to rise.

"It's hurting our household budget," the Oak Forest man said Thursday. "Prices are really high when it comes to food too. It's like a big struggle right now."

He and hundreds of other drivers lined up outside a BP station in Oak Forest got a bit of a break during a $1 million gas giveaway Thursday spread among nearly 50 stations in Chicago and the suburbs.

Thirteen of the stations were in the south and southwest suburbs, and the plan called for 400 vehicles at each location to get a maximum of $50 in free gas.

Volunteers working on behalf of Chicago businessman Willie Wilson, who sponsored the gas giveaway, operated the pumps and issued tickets to drivers when they started lining up long before the 7 a.m. start time.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon in Harvey, Wilson said he's contemplating a third giveaway.

"If gas prices keep going up I'll do it again," he said outside a BP station.

The expanded giveaway came after Wilson last week gave away $200,000 in free gas at a select number of stations in Chicago. That resulted in complaints of snarled traffic as vehicles lined up outside stations.

Wilson said the initial gas giveaway was put together quickly and "we just didn't know how things were going to go."

"We did it from the heart," he said.

Wilson said he had not heard of any major issues resulting from Thursday's event.

Oak Forest police shunted vehicles into the parking lot of a Food 4 Less store directly north of the gas station, then directed them onto westbound 159th Street to enter the station at the northeast corner of 159th and Central Avenue.

Some drivers began arriving as early as 3 a.m., police Chief Jason Reid said about 30 minutes before the giveaway got underway.

"It seems like the event planners have a good system" for moving vehicles through, Reid said.

Reid was commenting on how smoothly things were going when horns began honking near the front of the line.

"Here's a line-cutter right now," he said before walking over to have a brief talk with the driver of the blue sport utility vehicle, which had tried to insert itself near the front of a line of vehicles on 159th. The driver was instructed by Reid to pull out and head to the end of the line.

Drivers said that rising gas prices have, in some cases, severely pinched their household budgets.

"It's hurting my household budget and everybody's budget," Keish Williams said.

She lives in Chicago Heights and drives each day to her job as a technician at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

Williams and other drivers praised Wilson.

"I think he's a blessing," she said. "You don't see nobody else doing this."

Manliclic said the free fill-up was a big help.

"It's a generous offer for Mr. Wilson and he knows how to share his bountiful blessings with the people," he said.

Melissa Sanchez works for the state's Department of Children and Family Services, and said her job involves a lot of driving to cases she is overseeing.

"Every week it's probably a couple hundred miles," the Oak Forest resident said.

She said she is spending around $60 a week on gas, and while she is paid 50 cents per mile, reimbursement checks paid monthly don't nearly cover her gas costs.

Anthony Welch, of Orland Hills, said he got in line just after 5 a.m. with an eighth of a tank of gas in his car.

"It's very generous that he is doing this for everybody," Welch said as volunteer Bonzell Scott pumped gas into his car.

Welch estimates he drives between 150 and 170 miles a week and has noticed the rising cost.

"It takes $100 to fill it up and maybe before it was $90," he said.

In Oak Lawn, Sandie Santillanes lined up at about 5:45 a.m. outside a BP station at 11040 S. Pulaski.

"There were probably 50 cars in front of us," the Hometown resident said. "It had a quarter tank and ($50 in free gas) filled me up."

Santillanes said the free gas comes at just the right time as she's planning a driving trip this weekend to St. Louis.

"This really helps a lot," she said.

At the news conference, Wilson said the bigger gas giveaway was "something that needed to be done."

"It's hard times," he said.

Wilson said that along with a possible third gas giveaway he is also contemplating doing something similar with groceries. He also called on elected officials to reduce gas taxes.

"It hurts me to see people suffering," he said.

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CHICAGO - A federal judge on Friday granted the Chicago Police Department a three-year extension to comply with the consent decree it now operates under, giving the department until 2027  a total of eight years  to implement a series of much-anticipated court-ordered reforms.

CPD also agreed to allow portions of the consent decree to govern search warrants, a key area for reform advocates, particularly in light of the 2019 wrongful raid at the home of Anjanette Young and other similar botched police action nationwide.

Chicago police officers wrongly raided Youngs residence and handcuffed her while she was undressed.

The department made the stipulations in an agreement with the Illinois attorney generals office, which is overseeing implementation of the consent decree. The matter was addressed in a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Robert Dow, who called the new timeline and the search warrants critically important issues to the success of the decree.

We recognize that for many people of Chicago, CPD compliance with the consent decree cannot come soon enough, said Mary Grieb, an attorney with the AGs office. And we agree.

Grieb, though, said it is important to be realistic and transparent with the public about how long the reforms will take.

The Chicago Police Department has been under the sweeping consent decree since 2019, after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the department that came in the wake of the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke.

The original terms of the court order gave the department five years to complete reforms, though police departments under consent decrees often take longer than that to come into full compliance.

In the past few years, we have seen firsthand how deep these problems are, Grieb said.

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown pointed to a number of reasons for the extension. He said it would likely take several budget cycles to equip the department with the technology it needs to fully comply with the reforms and assess whether the fixes are working. He also noted that the consent decree requires a ratio of about one sergeant for every 10 officers, a figure the department is way under, he said.

Brown said the city will also need several staffing and budget cycles to bring the ratio down.

He also noted that the stipulation to include search warrants adds additional consent decree work.

CPD has received criticism in the past for moving too slowly, or failing to create a necessary culture change to make the reforms effective, but department officials say around 10 years is typical for complying with a consent decree.

Youve got to first write the policies and then develop the curriculum and train everyone and then you can have the opportunity to change the culture, Brown said.

After the hearing, Brown, along with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, released a joint statement that said it will take time to properly implement reforms.

The City of Chicago initially agreed to endeavor to achieve full compliance with the requirements in the Consent Decree within five years, the statement read. This timeline must be extended to achieve the operational and technological goals of the CPD that will lead to true cultural change within the CPD.

When granting the extension, Dow said both he and those evaluating the departments reform progress believed five years was an unrealistic goal. He noted that the Los Angeles Police Department completed its consent decree in about 12 years.

We are bound and determined to get there a lot sooner than 12 years, so I think eight years is an excellent target to strive toward, Dow said.

Regarding the search warrant addition, the Police Department agreed that warrants would apply to three paragraphs in the impartial policing section of the document. Under the sections, CPD would be required to ensure that its policies and procedures  now including but not limited to search warrants  do not discriminate against people based on race, sex, gender identify or other protected classes.

The sections prohibit police from using factors like race, sex, housing status or financial status when making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, except when such information is part of a specific subject description.

The agreement says CPD must demonstrate that its search warrant process is fair and not discriminatory and implement sufficient policies, training, data collection, supervision and accountability systems.

It likely will improve trust in the way we interact with the public when we do have to search or detain people, Brown said.

CPD officials said the search warrant application was requested by the AGs office, but that the department agrees with the importance of warrant reform.

In Chicago and around the country, we have witnessed the tragic and horrifying consequences of bad warrants based on bad information, Grieb said. These often lethal consequences fall disproportionately on Black and brown people.

Grieb said the framework already in the consent decree, when applied to search warrants, will provide a remedy for unjust search warrant actions.

Everyone knows search warrants have been in the news a lot the past year, Dow said, as he granted the parties request. Frankly, they have been challenging issues for CPD and judges alike for a long time.

The department is regularly monitored on its reform progress by an independent body. In the most recent report from independent monitor Maggie Hickey, the department achieved preliminary compliance in just over 50% of the provisions that have been reviewed.

The next report is expected in the coming weeks.

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Conventional wisdom is that companies dedicated to cleaning up oil spills and other environmental issues would be located outside of the Midwest  perhaps in Texas or along the Gulf Shore.

But conventional wisdom would be wrong because the largest manufacturer of environmental response equipment in the world is in Carmi, Illinois, a city of roughly 5,000 along the Little Wabash River in White County.

Its a question we get all of the time at trade shows: What are you guys doing in the middle of the United States? Youre not even near a shoreline! explains Brian Cook, creative services manager for Carmi-based Elastec. Our answer is simple. This is home; this is where we are from.

Cook said the location is a good thing, despite the conventional wisdom.

Most oil spills happen on land as opposed to out in the ocean, he said. Its a fit for us because we fill the niche where most of our products are geared toward inland spill response and remote locations. Thats the places where our equipment is designed to go. Some of our competitors are more geared to open water spills with large seafaring equipment.

The equipment Cook refers to is a wide range of products designed to clean up oil spills and other accidents which could be harmful to the environment. The company is known for oil skimmers, dispersant application systems, vacuum systems, pumps, specialized vehicles and even boats designed specifically for environmental response situations.

The company started more than 30 years ago when the two owners of a White County oil trucking business serving the areas oil production fields began trying to clean up a small spill. Discovering that oil adhered better to the side of a five-gallon bucket they dropped than to the equipment designed specifically for the purpose, a light bulb went off, Cook said.

The two, Donnie Wilson and Jeff Cantrell, set out to invent a sort of a drum oil skimmer, taking the device to other cleanup projects.

One that happened, it turned into a response organization. Eventually, they turned it into a fabrication company where they just built the skimmers fulltime for other oil spill responders and oil companies. Over the course of 30 years, growing it to a wide variety of products and solutions now used in more than 165 countries with a network of dealers around the world, Cook outlined.

The company now has more than 100 employees working to design and build not only skimmers, but vacuum systems, containment booms and more. As the company has grown, so has the product line.

Were also into trash and debris, pollution control, Cook explained, adding that one of the companys products, called an Omni Catamaran, is an aluminum workboat used daily on the Chicago River to collect trash and debris.

Cook said the company is expanding more and more into the prevention and control of invasive plant including some particular species of seaweed, turning the company into one aiding areas with tourism, especially in the Caribbean.

There is a seaweed that washes up on the shore and it smells terrible; its ugly and it gets in the way of people trying to swim or use the shorelines. Our Beach Bouncer works like a fence out in the ocean that deflects the seaweed to a different are where it can easily be connected, Cook said. This is helping the economy because tourists werent coming to the resorts when the beaches were covered in seaweed and gross. Were helping these businesses.

Cook said the company also is looking to the future.

The world is kind of gradually phasing away from oil, so we have our ear to the ground on what can be done to solve other problems and thats why we are getting more into things like plastic pollution and waterway pollution, he said.

He added that Elastec constantly looks for ways to benefit the environment and its customers.

Were problem solvers. Were here to make things better, he said.

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I spoke recently to an audience of attorneys and financial planners about the future of Illinois. I asked for a show of hands as to who thought our state would reverse the almost 1 percent decline in population we experienced in the past decade. Only 1 of 30 thought it was likely.

Why, I asked: high taxes; climate; business climate; corruption, and lack of state pride were responses from this highly educated group.

Yes, I agreed, Illinois has obvious shortcomings, yet the state has incredible strengths as well, which would make Illinois an economic powerhouse otherwise. And the problems are fixable, though politically daunting.

Now lets look at the positive side of the ledger, which is strikingly bright, in ways I rarely hear trumpeted. Former state commerce director Jim Schultz of Effingham sums it up succinctly: In each of the five critical Rsroads, rails, runways, rivers and routersIllinois is among the top three states in the nation. I called Jim and told him he should add a six R: research. A recent ranking of graduate research universities found the universities of Chicago, Northwestern and Illinois to be among the top 20 in the world3 of 20, not just in the nation, but in the world.

Look at a highway map of the U.S. See the density of interstate highways crisscrossing Illinois, thicker than for just about any state. We have more miles, 2,200, of interstate highways than any states in the nation other than California and Texas. And, our state is located smack dab in the middle of the worlds largest market.

Our strengths would be the envy of most other states, if not for our weaknesses. Yet, the weaknesses can be addressed. Other states have done so.

I contend the biggest problem for Illinois is that the state doesnt know where it is going. That is, there is no roadmap to where we want the state to be in 10 years, and of what it would take to get us there.

I continue to be confounded that the state has never done any long-term thinking. The closest we have is the 6,000 disparate bills introduced into the legislature every two years. Crazy.

The singular piece of forward thinking in Illinois history was the Burnham Plan for Chicago of the early 1900s, led by the architect Daniel Burnham and commissioned by the Commercial Club of Chicago. The effort followed on the heels of the stupendous Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893, visited by 27 million folks from around the world. So, the City of Big Shoulders, as Sandburg described the city, knew it could do big things.

After much work, the plan was presented to the City Council, which also labored over the plan, ultimately adopting about half the recommendations. But what marvelous results: A magnificent lakefront reserved, not for private property owners, but for the public. Wide boulevards and a spectacular park system, and more. Chicagoans and visitors have benefited every day since its adoption in 1909.

Illinoisans are so down in the mouth about our future that we have a Cant-Do frame of mind. There are, people think, too many political and interest group obstacles in our way. Elon Musk would be appalled at such thinking.

Business leadership of the 19th century such as Marshall Field, Potter Palmer, Bertha Honore Palmer and Julius Rosenwald (who built Sears) focused on the city they loved and built. Chicagos bigtime CEOs today such behemoths as McDonalds, Boeing, CAT, United Airlines are up their eyeballs in alligators heading global companies; they dont have much time to Illinois, even though if were a nation, the Illinois economy would be one of the top 20 in the world.

I have an idea of how to tap into an incredible underutilized resource. Former governor Jim Edgars greatest legacy may prove to be his Edgar Fellows Program. Each summer for a decade now, Jim gathers 40 of the states young leaders, including many lawmakers, from all walks of life, political persuasion and geography. For a week, the Fellows are sequestered at the U. of I. in Urbana, where they learn about our state and its government from experts and national leaders. Over bourbon and branch water at night, they bond, and come to appreciate one another.

But then they leave town, and fail to build on their relationships and any aspirations for a state they call home.

I propose that the 400 Edgar Fellows, rather than simply feel good about themselves, take on the task of creating a vision for Illinois, one they could then implement, as they are tomorrows leaders. We need to know where were going.

Jim Nowlan is a former state legislator and aide to three Illinois governors. His website is jimnowlan.net

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Vladimir and Yevgenia are two fervently patriotic Russians in their 60s who are consumed these days, in very different ways, by what is happening to the desperate but valiant ordinary people of Ukraine.

Yet it is not at all clear which one the Russian people would really agree with  if they could ever get the true facts about what is really happening in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin derives consummate satisfaction and vindication every time his generals and elite weapons specialists achieve his goal of civilian devastation without leaving their safe sanctuaries 10 or maybe 100 miles from their target  or even without leaving Russia. They simply fire artillery, rockets or missiles that soar over Ukraine for miles.

It is inhuman, but far better than using Russian ground convoys that stall, run out of fuel and food, and end up with demoralized troops deserting or becoming easy prey for determined Ukrainians protecting their homeland.

Yevgenia Albats, a veteran journalist in Putins Moscow who refuses to abandon her job, has her online sources and has seen all the above reality. She is the editor of an independent magazine, The New Times. She also still has a YouTube channel where she reports to Russians what their military is really doing inside Ukraine.

She is the best of our news business and is among the best of Russias true patriots. And she wants you to know why she insists on braving Putins fury  risking being jailed, or worse  just so she can report to fellow Russians the truth about their presidents blizzard of Ukraine lies.

She had the guts to go on CNNs Reliable Sources show on March 13 to prove to you and the world that there still are patriotic Russians who believe in democracy and humanity.

I wake up in the middle of the night and ask myself, is it really happening to us? she said. Is it really happening that Russian troops are killing Ukrainians?  My father fought during World War II in Ukraine, in the city of Mykolaiv  where there are heavy shellings and  bombardment going on right now. And that's what makes me absolutely sick.

State television, print and websites repeat Putins blatant falsehoods. Among them: Ukraines government is made up of neo-Nazis (yes, he really, repeatedly says that) who are a threat to Russia (that too). Many journalists have quit rather than mouth Putins lies as if they were his ventriloquist dummies.

But Albats soldiers on, waging combat with the weapons she wields better than a barrel of Putins generals.

I'm not a martyr, but I feel like somebody has to do that, she said.   I'm trying to be very careful. I'm an experienced journalist, so I know how to  speak between the lines and I'm trying to do it in a very careful way. I can tell you for sure I don't want to end up in jail.

Why does she risk Putins retribution so she can bring the truth to her fellow Russians?

When I see photos from Ukraine I feel deadly shame.  I want to get on my knees and say I'm so sorry  my country is doing this to you guys.  I totally failed ... with this regime.  We totally failed to stop them.

Maybe not totally. Maybe just temporarily. What Vladimir Putin has mainly accomplished is that he is in fact shattering life in Russia just as surely as he is shattering the buildings of Ukraines beautiful cities. Because of Putins actions, Russia has been blackballed from the global economy and the global banking system.

Russians will soon see, and feel, the painful reality that Putins presidency has destroyed what could have been a prosperous partnership in a welcoming global economy.

In their balloting or just in their streets, Russias fed-up voters may yet have the final say. And the courage of journalists such as Yevgenia Albats may turn out to be their bridge over Putins troubled, roiled waters.

Martin Schram is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. martin.schram@gmail.com

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New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.
If Bristol pastor Caroline Hawthorne could take in all of the citys homeless, she would.

I just have such compassion and a heart for our homeless, Hawthorne said. I don't want anything to happen to any of them.

When police found a deceased man believed to be homeless earlier this month, Hawthorne feared it was someone she knew. Even though she had only met the man once, the loss of 75-year-old Ronnie Meade has been painful for her and anyone associated with the local homeless community.

This community was so affected by that, Hawthorne said. We are like one big family, and if one of us hurts, all of us hurt.

Meade was found dead near a train car at the Wes David Greenway on Sunday, March 13 after a snowy and frigid weekend. The Bristol Tennessee Police Department, which is awaiting Meades autopsy report, said there was no apparent cause of death or indications of foul play.

According to Brian Plank, the executive director of the Haven of Rest Rescue Mission of Bristol, Meade turned down a stay at their facility the Friday before he was found. Plank also said he was unsure of Meades housing situation after his prior residence had been closed, although he did say Meade had told him he had a place he was fixing up.

Hawthorne, senior pastor at Hunt Memorial United Methodist Church in Bristol, Virginia, is among those working to ensure the citys homeless and less fortunate are cared for. With only two overnight shelters in the city  Haven of Rest and the Salvation Army, Hawthorne saw an immediate need for a day shelter years ago.

In 2018, Hunt Memorial opened up the Proverbs 3:27 Mission Center after a family who was living in their car asked Hawthorne for blankets.

Thats really what triggered me, Hawthorne, a Bristol native, said. I didn't really realize people were homeless in our area until then.

The donations-based shelter that began as a place for the homeless to warm up on cold weather days has transitioned into offering much more to the community.

Open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, the mission center, located next to Hunt Memorial on Harmeling Street, offers food, showers, laundry facilities, and clothing to those in need. Hunt Memorial also works to connect the less fortunate to other resources and organizations in the area that can help them move forward in life.

Hawthorne said the shelter serves about 35 to 50 people each week, thanks to the generosity of its donors and volunteers.

It takes a community and a village, Hawthorne said. Without the communitys support, we wouldn't be able to do this.

Church volunteer Jeff Oliver, who has been working with the mission center since it began, said he gets joy out of seeing the program impact peoples lives in an undeniable way.

I see things change  just lives totally changed, Oliver said.

Like Hawthorne, Oliver has grown fond of those who frequent the shelter and has developed a special bond with them.

I call them my extended family, Oliver said. Thats how close Ive gotten to a lot of them.

Not only does the operation provide a warm building and a place to eat, it also strives to be faith focused and to inspire hope.

We want to offer them Christ, too, Hawthorne said. We want to show them that with God on your side, anything is possible.

In 2016, Hawthorne, who was then a part-time pastor and an at-home accountant, tragically lost her husband to cancer just months after the diagnosis, leaving her to raise her son as a widow. That loss ultimately proved to be monumental in strengthening Hawthornes faith, inspiring her to take up preaching full-time and providing a new perspective on life.

Losing my husband at such an early age taught me that I was not in control of my life, Hawthorne said. It really taught me that God is the one thats in control, and that even though things dont necessarily turn out the way I hope they do, God has got a bigger plan.

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Gov. Glenn Youngkins nomination of Andrew Wheeler to a key cabinet position in Virginia governance should cause every Virginian to lean forward and take notice.

The Wheeler nomination failed, thank God. But determined fringe Gov. Youngkin played the end game, and brought Lightning Rod Wheeler on board his administration as a personal Energy Adviser, at a taxpayer-funded salary of $185,000 per year. Go figure.

Lets retro back to Republican Youngkins campaign, and review some of the now-Gov.s comments and promises.

Multiple media sources, including Wikipedia, recorded Youngkin as having said this about our changing climate:

Asked if he accepts the scientific consensus on the cause of climate change, Youngkin said he does not know what causes climate change and that the cause ultimately does not matter. Really, Gov....?

Thats quite a statement regarding the cause of climate change, particularly coming from a businessman as well credentialed as Glenn Youngkin seems to be.

Then again, I suppose some other fringe Republican voters believe that earthworms transform into fireflies the night of the first full moon in June.

Youngkins statement certainly doesnt appear in vogue with those scientists and engineers who are working diligently, trying to solve the greatest global humanitarian crisis Mother Earth and her inhabitants have ever faced.

Heres the message ... as the Baptists say. Youngkins statement on the unknown cause of climate change defies the cumulative scientific facts and hard evidence of 160 countries, 272 world class global scientists and every leading higher educational institution in the country, including Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.

Youngkins comments defy every leading newspaper in the country, every major global religion, our top American science organizations, a.k.a. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His comments also defy hundreds of Forbes 500 corporations, Wall Street, every major global insurer, and every major utility in the country.

Congratulations, Gov. Youngkin ... you seem to have put yourself and your administration in a very special category on the national stage, and thats both embarrassing and troubling to most Virginia families

In my opinion, Youngkins choice of words regarding the cause of our changing climate is actually in itself a disqualifier of Youngkin himself to make sound, logical, and appropriate future decisions on other big, consequential national and global issues, as they may apply to the ongoing health and well-being of Virginia families.

Its true, Gov. Youngkin seems intent on dragging Virginia backward, and that should be of great concern. Just how far backward could that possibly be? Only as far as We the People allow him to do same.

Reynolds is retired from a global engineering and technology company. He lives in Roanoke, Virginia.
St. Matthews Reformed Church in Maiden extends a community-wide invitation to join the celebration as the church reopens its historic 114-year-old sanctuary with a rededication service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 3, after undergoing an extensive, year-long renovation.

One of my favorite things about ministry is learning peoples stories, said the Rev. William Sowers, pastor at St. Matthews.

Churches, just like people, have their own stories. With the sanctuary rededication at St. Matthews, I feel we are moving into a new volume with many chapters ahead of us. This will bring people together and will continue to be a great source of support for this community for generations to come.

First occupied in 1908, the sanctuary has received a facelift that reflects the historical reverence of the 1900s era. The renovation included exposing the handmade original brick walls, removing carpet to highlight the rustic heart pine flooring, and new pews that now make room for more than 200 people.

With many generous member and non-member contributions and multiple fundraisers, St. Matthews can move forward after the renovation without taking on any unnecessary debt.

The sanctuary rededication service on April 3 will be a treasured moment in the churchs 185-year history, Sowers said. All are invited to join the worship service followed by a covered-dish celebration.

St. Matthews Reformed Church is a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination. Formed in 1836, St. Matthews is in Lincoln County at 4575 Maiden Highway, Maiden, NC 28650. For more information, visit stmatthewsmaiden.org.
By Trend

The United States abruptly cancelled meetings with the Taliban in Doha that were set to address key economic issues, officials said on Friday, after Afghanistan's Islamist rulers reversed a decision to allow all girls to return to high school classes, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The cancellation of talks was the first concrete sign that recent Taliban moves on human rights and inclusivity could directly impact the international community's willingness to help the group, some of whose leaders are under U.S. sanctions.

"Their decision was a deeply disappointing and inexplicable reversal of commitments to the Afghan people, first and foremost, and also to the international community," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters.

"We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha, and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement."

Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the series of meeting between U.S. and Taliban administration officials were set to take place on the sidelines of a conference in Qatar's capital on Saturday and Sunday.
CONCORD  This year, Cabarrus community organizations are working together to honor National Vietnam War Veterans Day in a new way.

The Daughters of the American Revolution, American Legion Post 51, the Cabarrus Veterans Coalition and Cabarrus Black Boys Chapter are putting on a Vietnam War Veterans 50th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony Tuesday, March 29, starting at 2 p.m. And there is no more fitting place for the ceremony and wreath laying than the Vietnam Veterans Park in Concord.

Kathy Dean, with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), explained that the idea for the ceremony came up when a new DAR member and Vietnam War widow suggested that the community do something special for National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

The DAR is a commemorative partner of the The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration  a 13-year program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the war. Since 2012, the federal government has partnered with local governments, private organizations and communities to commemorate the 50th anniversary. The program will continue until 2025.

Our military  they were not given the welcome home that they deserved then, Dean said. This commemoration was set up to right that wrong.

As a partner, the DAR holds events all year and on March 29 to honor those who fought, were wounded or gave their lives in the Vietnam War.

The City of Concord is also a commemorative partner.

In 2014, veterans worked to rename the North Cabarrus Park to the Vietnam Veterans Park in time for the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War in 2015.

This year the DAR is partnering with other organizations to hold a small, private ceremony to honor Vietnam War veterans and their families at the American Legion Post 51. Veterans will be given a lapel pin and a copy of a presidential proclamation.

The public is invited to attend a ceremony at the park starting at 2 p.m. There will also be a wreath laying and bell ringing.

Dean said the point of commemoration is to remember, always.

This is a bigger way to do that and to also honor those killed in action and those who came home, she said. I dont think a lot of people are as aware of Vietnam Veterans Day. We just ask that people come out and help us honor and remember these veterans.

The Vietnam Veterans Park is at 760 Orphanage Road, Concord.
MATTOON  Mike and Jayne Genta of Effingham recently donated to the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Foundation. A portion of the donation is designated to the Foundations campaign: The most important home youll ever build, to support the new SBL Hospice House.

A plaque at the entrance to a private patient suite will recognize Mike and Jayne for their donation. The remaining funds will benefit the new SBL Bonutti Clinic, part of which opened Feb. 14. A plaque recognizing their donation will also be placed there.

Jayne and I chose to donate to both of these projects because of the impact theyll have on residents in our community, and in all communities served by Sarah Bush Lincoln, Genta explained. Not only are we proud to be a part of this beautiful new Sarah Bush Lincoln Bonutti Clinic, were also thrilled to be able to support the hospice house. I encourage everyone who is able, to donate to this special project. Hospice touches all of our lives at some point and its a great way to be part of something new to this region and help countless families throughout Central and Southern Illinois for years to come, at a critical time in their lives.

Construction on the $8 million house will begin in early summer. The SBL Health Foundation is raising $1 million to help offset costs of construction and $1.5 million to fund an endowment.

While most insurance companies pay for care in a hospice house, they dont pay room and board. Earnings from the endowment will help those without resources pay for their stay. The hospice house will provide an option for patients of Lincolnland Hospice who dont want to pass away in a nursing home or hospital, or at their own home, allowing plenty of space for making final memories. It will also offer respite care, providing short-term relief for caregivers who may become ill or need relief from demands of in-home care. Lincolnland Hospice serves more than 20 Central and Southern Illinois counties.

The SBL Bonutti Clinic opens in three phases. On Feb. 14, orthopedic and occupational medicine clinics, interventional pain clinic and diagnostic imaging opened, followed on Feb. 21 with the opening of physical and occupational therapy. The internal medicine clinic, pediatrics, walk-in clinic and lab open in late summer. A donor open house will be held after the entire building is occupied.

Were so very grateful to Mike and Jayne for this incredible pledge, with gifts ultimately totaling $25,000. Their donation to the hospice house campaign will truly help families as they say their final goodbyes to loved ones, in this special place, Foundation Director Amy Card said. At the same time, were thankful that the Gentas have also supported the SBL Bonutti Clinic project which were so proud to bring to Effingham and the surrounding region. Were thankful that theyre so supportive of our efforts to provide extraordinary care across the region.

To donate to the Hospice House Campaign, contact Card at 217-258-2511 or acard@sblhs.org or any member of the campaign committee: Kyle Banks, Vanessa Banks, Ann Beck, Dr. Lucas Catt, Ron Diepholz, Joe Dively, Scott Eggleston, Mike Genta, Tom Grunloh, Barbara Hall, John Inyart, Carla Jackson, Jay Markwell, Tracey McCord, Dr. Louis Schwing, Michael Smith, Debbie Sparks, and Tony Sparks.

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SPRINGFIELD  A federal court jury in Springfield has convicted a man stopped in South Jacksonville in 2017 with more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in his recreational vehicle.

Muhammad Usama, 25, of Houston was arrested Dec. 31, 2017, at Love's Travel Stop after a Morgan County sheriff's deputy started talking to a man driving an RV with Idaho plates and grew suspicious about his story. About $5 million worth of marijuana was found inside the vehicle; it was one of the largest cannabis finds ever in Morgan County.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Z. Weir and Sarah E. Seberger told the court during three days of testimony that Usama traveled from California across the country in the RV full of drugs. Jurors found him guilty Wednesday of transporting more than 1,000 pounds of a mixture and substance containing marijuana with intent to distribute.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 9. Usama faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and up to a $5 million fine.

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CHICAGO - Some Chicago birds are nesting nearly a month earlier than they did more than a century ago. And like some other shifts happening around the Great Lakes region as temperatures rise and the timing of the natural world drifts, theres a familiar driver: climate change.

Thats according to a new study from local researchers published in the Journal of Animal Ecology  and thanks to some eggs more than 100 years old.

As plants, animals and insects adapt to warmer and wetter conditions in Illinois, birds are also responding to a changing climate, researchers found. About a third of the 72 bird species included in the study have started laying eggs on average 25 days earlier than they did more than 100 years ago.

To go back in time in northeast Illinois, researchers turned to measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which correlate with temperature trends, along with a room full of eggs.

On a recent afternoon, John Bates, curator of birds at the Field Museum and the studys lead author, opened a drawer filled with shells shaded sandy brown to robin egg blue, speckled and splattered and clustered together in padded boxes.

These are a smattering of bird eggs of different species, Bates said, still holding a hint of wonder toward the familiar collection in front of him. Weve got a robin, weve got a cedar waxwing. These are orchard orioles.

A few boxes sat on a table in the cabinet-lined room  home to tens of thousands of eggs as small as hummingbirds, and as large as those from the extinct elephant bird  with handwritten cards offering nesting clues.

Blotted eggs from a cedar waxwing, dated August 1897 and collected near Glencoe, came from a nest built in an oak tree, twenty-five feet from the ground. Incubation had begun for a trio of robin eggs collected in 1901, found in a Calumet nest made of grass and mud, and discovered in scrub oak. One egg in a collection of five appeared more flecked than the others  an addition from a parasitic brown-headed cowbird that dropped its egg off among an orchard oriole clutch.

Some of the eggshells  their insides blown out long ago  date back to the 1870s, when ornithologists and hobbyists of all ages at times tried to get their hands on a nest.

The early egg collectors may not have been professionals, Bates said, but you had to be a really good natural historian to find nests.

But egg collecting, then a popular pastime, waned at the turn of the century, as criticism around the practice grew and it was eventually regulated. Although good for birds, the lack of eggs created a data gap.

To create continuity, the studys authors pulled together data from other sources, including research undertaken at the Morton Arboretum on cow bird parasitism  the birds drop their eggs off in other birds nests and leave the young for the other parents to raise and statistical modeling.

Additional data also came from Chris Whelan, now an evolutionary ecologist focused on birds at the University of Illinois at Chicago, whose studies have led him in search of nests  a needle-in-the-haystack problem.

Some people never get better at it, Whelan said. Other people seem to be born naturals.

When trying to spot a nest, one should be on the lookout for clumps in vegetation, Whelan said. There are also behavioral cues: the gathering of leaves and twigs, food carried en route to chicks, even a certain way of flying.

You read as much information as you can about the habits of nesting birds, Whelan said. And then you go out and you put that into practice.

To get a literal birds-eye view, Whelan has used poles able to extend up into trees with attached mirrors like what youd see on the side of a bicycle, and employed binoculars to see the reflection.

Some researchers were less surprised that nesting had shifted than by how early the shift was for some species. Another unexpected finding was that some migratory birds are also nesting earlier.

Our overall general patterns didnt fit the preconceived idea that we had about migration, Bates said. Maybe thats just illustrating there are other factors that are complicating things with each one of these species in ways we need to know more about.

Whelan said the birds might arrive with a buffer window, and settle down faster if weather conditions are favorable and food is abundant.

That some birds seem to be navigating the change is a good thing, Whelan said. But there are still concerns about bird activity not syncing up with food availability, whether during migration, at winter grounds or during breeding, and the effect that could have on survival and reproduction.

The fact that it isnt a problem now doesnt mean that it wont be a problem in the future, Whelan said. The big worry there is if youre not producing young, youre not going to maintain population size.

There are nearly 3 billion fewer birds in the U.S. and Canada than there were in 1970, a major 2019 study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and conservation organizations found.

Scientists are continuing to study the multiple factors likely responsible for the massive disappearance, but an additional challenge such as limited food combined with something as harmful and pervasive as habitat loss may make bird survival all the more difficult.

Not all species are declining, and some are declining at very different rates, Bates said, similar to the differences in nesting found in the study.

American robins, which are increasing overall, were actually found to be nesting later on average, the study found.

Bates thinks  and hopes  the use of eggs in research is only beginning. Theyve already proven essential in understanding the thinning effects from the pesticide DDT and may prove valuable as scientists seek to understand the long-term effects of climate change, pollution or environmental cleanups.

Things are continuing to change, and there may be tipping points, Bates said. All of this is about monitoring in the long term.

Bates said hes spent much of his career studying places such as the Amazon, where large swaths of birds have never even had their eggs described. With so much still unknown about the worlds birds, similar studies showing whats happening with nesting in other regions could begin to fill in the blanks.

Bates pulled out another shelf holding the eggs of common murres, black and white seabirds whose females lay uniquely colored and patterned eggs, and so can spot their young among large colonies.

Its an incredibly valuable part of the biology of birds, Bates said, eyeing the eggs, marvels in themselves, and just another about which scientists still have much to learn.

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After the Illinois House and Senate voted to pass legislation to partially pay down the states unemployment insurance trust fund debt, top Democratic leaders gathered for a Statehouse press conference to boast about their accomplishment.

Yes, they admitted, it was only a partial pay-down. The debt is $4.5 billion, and they patched it with $2.7 billion in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act. But the Democrats pointed out Illinois is using a higher percentage of its federal ARPA aid on its debt than surrounding states, including neighboring Indiana.

Most states had to borrow money from the federal government when the 2020 COVID shutdowns created an unprecedented flood of unemployment benefit applications and states simply didnt have enough money on hand to meet the enormous demand. But the Democratic spin avoided the fact that surrounding states didnt have the same level of crushing debt as Illinois.

While Indiana and Illinois both underfunded their trust funds before the pandemic began, Indianas resulting problem wasnt as great as Illinois partially because that state was more aggressive about reopening businesses earlier during the pandemic than Illinois was. But that Hoosier decision came with a different and much more devastating cost because Indianas COVID death rate is significantly higher than Illinois rate, and its even higher when you look at the figures after vaccines were widely available.

And, perhaps more to the point, Indiana and other states, unlike Illinois, used a significant chunk of their Trump-era CARES Act allotment to pay down their trust fund debts, so their resulting need for ARPA money to shore up their funds just wasnt as critical as ours. Illinois budget situation at the height of the pandemic was, of course, worse than surrounding states because of decades of fiscal mismanagement here, so the CARES Act money was desperately needed elsewhere.

Business groups were generally upbeat after the bills passage. A joint business statement called the legislation a positive step toward addressing the massive shortfall in the trust fund. Were hopeful that negotiations will continue to resolve the remaining balance of this unprecedented deficit, said the statement from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Manufacturers Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Businesses of Illinois and the Associated General Contractors of Illinois.

The appreciation from business groups was definitely not matched by the Republicans tone. They fretted that since all the debt wasnt eliminated, the rest would have to come from employer tax hikes and worker benefit cuts. Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie issued a statement predicting that the bill will have a devastating impact on businesses  the same businesses whose industry representatives called the same bill a positive step.

The Republican crocodile tears over potential benefit cuts for unemployed workers is super-rich for a party that almost uniformly demanded that those very same unemployment benefits be slashed last year so that the resulting poverty would force people back to their lousy jobs. I mean, I was born at night, but not last night.

The Democrats were also quick to point out that not a single congressional Republican voted for ARPA in the first place. So, Illinois Republicans are angry about not getting their way on how the ARPA money was spent when their party didnt want the ARPA money to begin with.

The Democrats showed some political acumen by including other debt elimination in the bill, including paying off all the remaining debt in the College Illinois program and spending $300 million more on pension debt than required by law.

The package also included paying off close to a billion dollars in past-due debt for public employee and retiree group health insurance. The bills provision is a godsend for Springfield-area health providers, which have dealt forever with a state that has shown little to no interest in their fiscal well-being. Yet, every Republican in that region voted against the bill, including appointed Rep. Sandy Hamilton (R-Springfield). Hamilton is challenging Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield), and her No vote will likely be used against her this fall.

But, hey, the states wealthiest resident Ken Griffin is basically calling the shots for the GOP this election year because he has an abundance of what Republicans so desperately need right now: Cash money. And you could bet your house (and the Senate) that Griffin would be very angry if the Republicans signed on to any sort of measure that could possibly involve future tax hikes on businesses. Griffin was also no fan of the federal ARPA program, by the way.

Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Charlie Utter

Charles H. Colorado Charlie Utter (May 14, 1838 - July 3, 1915) is perhaps best known as a great friend and companion of Wild Bill Hickok. He was also friends with Calamity Jane.

Born in upstate New York, Charlie would spend his youth in Illinois. He would later travel west in search of becoming a wealthy man. Without a formal education he became a trapper, guide and prospector in Colorado in the 1860s.

With the consent of her parents, Charlie met and married Matilda Tily Nash on Sept. 30, 1866, in her parents home in Empire, Clear Creek, Colorado Territory.

To earn money, Charlie and his brother Steve agreed to lead a 30-wagon train of prospectors, gamblers, prostitutes, and anyone wanting to join to the fast-growing town of Deadwood in the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. This area of the Black Hills is now part of the state of South Dakota. The reason for the rapid growth of Deadwood was the recent discovery of gold.

In Cheyenne, Wyoming, famed gunman Wild Bill Hickok joined the wagon train. Later, Calamity Jane would hitch a ride with one of the pioneers as the wagon train departed Fort Laramie.

History does not reveal how Utter and Hickok became such close friends, but Utter took it upon himself to look after Hickok, constantly watching to ensure that Hickoks weaknesses of alcohol and gambling would not bring Hickok harm.

Unfortunately, Utter was not present on Aug. 2, 1876, when Jack McCall fatally shot Hickok in the back of the head as Hickok was playing poker in a Deadwood saloon. Utter later claimed Hickoks body and arranged for his funeral.

Needless to say, attendance at the funeral was heavy. Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker.

Upon Calamity Janes urging, Utter returned to Deadwood in 1879 to have Hickok re-interred in a more suitable grave site. A ten-foot-square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery was surrounded by a cast-iron fence. Later, Calamity Jane would be buried beside Hickok.

In 1879, Utter opened a dance hall in Lead, South Dakota, only a few miles from Deadwood. The reason for this location was to provide some distance from the rollicking neighbor of Deadwood.

Later, Utter would buy and operate another dance hall and a theater in Deadwood. On Sept. 26, 1879, a fire destroyed practically all of Deadwood. Utters dance hall and theater were consumed in the fire.

Following the destructive fire, Deadwood ceased to be a frontier town and many prospectors, salon owners, merchants and others departed the city.

Utter lived in Leadville, Colorado, in February 1880, then moved to Durango, Colorado. About this time, he divorced his wife. Utters next move was to Socorro, New Mexico, where he opened a saloon.

Being a restless sole, Utter moved to Panama City in Central America in the early 1900s where he owned a drugstore. Utter made several trips back and forth between the United States and Panama.

Utter finally returned to Panama in 1913 where he died. His gravestone in Panama listed his death as July 3, 1915.

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In April and May, Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance will open two revivals of past shows and the North Carolina premiere of a third script.

Del Shores Texas-based comedy Sordid Lives  previously presented by Theatre Alliance in 2006, 2009 and 2012  kicks off its run Friday.

One of Shores most-recent scripts will follow on April 22. A Very Sordid Wedding picks up with many of the same characters from Sordid Lives, 17 years later.

Then, in late May, the classic Kander-Ebb musical Cabaret will get its third treatment from the theater company, following productions in 2002 and 2010.

Sordid Lives

First produced in 1996, Sordid Lives ultimately had a long run in Los Angeles, was turned into a movie, and has been presented in many theaters since then.

As the publishing company describes the comedy, Peggy, a good Christian woman, hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripping over her lovers wooden legs in a motel room. Chaos erupts in the small town of Winters, Texas.

The cast of Sordid Lives includes Sara Butner, Katy Carroll, Leanna Daley, Patrick Daley, Peggy Kaan Dull, Jeremy Engel, Robert Evans, Kathy Glendenning, April Linscott, Tish Owens, Zachary Pfrimmer, Teresa Prevatte, Gray Smith and John C. Wilson.

A Very Sordid Wedding

Delayed by the challenges of COVID-19, Theatre Alliance is now hosting the North Carolina premiere of Wedding, which was first seen as a 2017 movie. Shores adapted it for the stage after the films release.

The play explores the questions, bigotry and the fallout when gay marriage comes to communities and families that are not quite ready to accept it.

Dels work just fits so well with Theatre Alliance, said Jamie Lawson, artistic director. His shows have themes of acceptance and inclusivity and rooting for underdogs, while being hilariously entertaining. Thats exactly what we love at TA.

WSTAs relationship with Shores has included producing all of his scripts except two new ones. Lawson kept in touch to help assure one of the earliest runs of A Very Sordid Wedding.

Sissy has been part of my life for over ten years now, said April Linscott. I am a huge fan of Dels work, and absolutely love doing this role of Sissy. Sordid Wedding, though, is a bit more complex. It has given me a chance to learn more about what makes Sissy tick.

Peggie Kaan Dull, who played Bitsy Mae in the 2012 Sordid Lives, has a busier schedule this time, playing Dr. Eve and Juanita in both plays.

Im excited, because theyre both great parts, she said, but also a little nervous because Danya Bray did such a wonderful job with those roles in the previous two productions.

In particular, Juanita doesnt have a lot of stage time, but shes got some of the funniest lines in the show and I cant wait to bring her out in front of an audience, Dull said.

In addition to the actors from Sordid Lives, Wedding will include Cory Blalock, Clint Cedillo, Stephen Malaga, Andrew Reynolds, Jalik Roberson, Hal Roberts, Jennifer Somers and Sarah Thompson.

Cabaret

The Cabaret revival features Gray Smith (Emcee), Jaye Pierce (Sally Bowles), Dave Wils (Cliff), Michele Groneck (Fraulein Schneider) and Kevin Rapier (Herr Schultz).

Cabaret is possibly my favorite musical of all time, Gray Smith said. From the music, to the powerful message, the material grabs the viewer and doesnt stop till the last note. Its a pleasure for me to reprise the role of the Emcee.

Jaye Pierce noted that after 12 years, Im returning to the character of Sally Bowles, which is a bit daunting considering she is written younger. But she is such a vibrant and damaged soul, I am excited to show her after life has worn her down a bit. How does she still find the energy to perform and sell herself onstage each night?

I have so many favorite moments in Cabaret, Lawson said. I absolutely love all the songs. Slap those into a story that captures such humanity and long, and the stage is set for one of the most successful musicals in history.
After-death visitations by companion animals Dear Dr. Fox: I read with joy your comments to M.S. in Washington, D.C., who said they had a brief communion with a dog they had just met. I believe in reincarnation because of a few experiences a family member and I have had, but my clearest spiritual animal experience involved a recently deceased cat.

Alex had been a problem cat for years, a survivor as a kitten, having spent a few miles trapped in the engine of a moving car. My daughter rescued him, but he was pretty wild and unapproachable for years afterward. Lots of love and spoiling eventually won him over, and he related well to the family, especially to me. He was diagnosed with cancer when he was about 10 years old. One day, I lay down beside him on the bed and went to sleep. When I woke, Alex was gone, his body having given out.

A few days later, I had retired for the night, but was not yet asleep. I clearly felt the familiar thump of a cat jumping on the bed, then the sensation of a little body curling up behind my knees. I could hear purring, and I knew that Alex was paying a visit. I slept, and that was my last visit with Alex. He had come to say goodbye.

I dont tell many people this experience, because I know most wouldnt believe it. Please continue to include in your column the spiritual experiences your readers have with animals. S.P., Mount Airy, North Carolina

Dear S.P.: Many thanks for having the courage, because such experiences are ridiculed by skeptical materialists, to share your story.

What you received from your cat was a blessing indeed: a gift affirming loves enduring power over what we interpret as death. We think of death as the end-all, while in fact, there is life after life once our hearts and minds are opened to the great mystery, which we should celebrate every day. Being mindful is the first step to compassionate action and reverential respect for all life.

Visual guide to dog body language communication

Dear Dr. Fox: Our panel of vets just published a comprehensive guide to help pet owners understand how dogs communicate through body language. I think this would be a particularly helpful resource for your readers.

We provide insights on how to interpret a dogs emotional state according to their movement, posture or other body cues. With this guide, we want to keep our pet community well-informed so they keep their pups safe. Our body language guide is available here: betterpet.com/dog-body-language. Dr. Leslie Brooks, DVM, MPH, vet adviser at betterpet.com

Dear Dr. Brooks: I am glad this is available.

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A Winston-Salem firefighter taking a meal break and a second person were hit by gunfire Friday afternoon from a vehicle that pulled into the parking lot of Kermits Hot Dog House.

The firefighter, Ross Michael Flynt, 29, and Patrick Dawarde Carter, 41, a customer at the restaurant, were both in stable condition Friday night at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem police said.

No suspects have been arrested in the shooting.

Officers responded at 2:26 p.m. to the restaurant at 2220 Thomasville Road and found Flynt and Carter wounded at the scene.

Flynt and a group of his fellow firefighters were having a meal at the outdoor seating area of the restaurant when the shooting happened, police said. The firefighters were on duty at the time.

Carter was leaving the restaurant with food that he had bought.

A blue car entered the restaurants parking lot, and some of the vehicles occupants opened fire on the patrons of the business, police said.

Investigators determined that two guns were fired in the incident.

Detectives are working to find out whether Flynt and Carter were the intended targets of the shooting or whether they represent collateral injuries suffered during an attempted assault on another person at the restaurant, police said.

Following the shooting, the suspect vehicle and its occupants left the scene, police said. The firefighters who were present immediately administered aid to Flynt and Carter.

Many customers were at the restaurant at the time, police said. Investigators are interviewing potential witnesses.

The Forsyth County Sheriffs Office posted a message Friday about the shooting on its Facebook page.

Join us in praying for the 2 individuals shot at Kermits this afternoon, and for their families and the Fire Department as well, the sheriffs office said.

Anyone with more information about the shooting can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904.

Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip program at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the Winston-Salem police.

(tncms-inline)1507459779861655552[0](/tncms-inline)
By Trend

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday successfully test fired the surface to surface BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Trend reports citing India Today.

The extended range missile testfiring was witnessed by Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and other defence officials. The missile hit its target with pinpoint accuracy, the defence officials said.

The Air Chief Marshal was reviewing the operational preparedness of forces in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The BrahMos missile was recently in the spotlight after one of them misfired due to a technical malfunction from an Indian Air Force unit during a Command Air Staff Inspection (CASI) there.

The missile landed in Pakistani territory, causing very little damage to property and equipment and no harm to people. Following the incident, India sent a letter to Pakistani authorities expressing its deep regret for the incident, as well as issuing a statement.

BrahMos is a nuclear-capable missile that can be fired from land, surface and air.
WASHINGTON  Heres a look at how area members of Congress voted over the previous week.

House votes

ETHNIC HAIRSTYLES: The House has passed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act (H.R. 2116), sponsored by Rep. Bonnie Coleman Watson, D-N.J., to prohibit discrimination in the federal government based on a hair texture or hairstyle that is tied to ethnicity or race. Watson Coleman said: There is no logical reason that anyone should be discriminated against on any level because of the texture of their hair or the style of their hair. An opponent, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said the bill was unnecessary because under current law, if a persons hairstyle or hair texture is associated with a persons race or national origin and is used as a pretext for discrimination, that conduct is unlawful. The vote, on March 18, was 235 yeas to 189 nays.

NAYS: McHenry R-NC (10th), Foxx R-NC (5th) NOT VOTING: Budd R-NC (13th)

YEAS: Manning D-NC (6th)

Senate votes

CALIFORNIA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Ruth Bermudez Montenegro to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the southern district of California. Montenegro was an attorney at a California school district before, in 2014, becoming a California state judge and then, in 2018, becoming a magistrate judge in the southern district. The vote, on March 22, was 55 yeas to 41 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC

YEAS: Tillis R-NC

GEORGIA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Victoria Calvert to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the northern district of Georgia. Calvert has been a public defender for the federal government, based in Atlanta, since 2012. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called Calvert a highly experienced litigator with a proven commitment to ensuring equal justice for all. The vote, on March 22, was 50 yeas to 46 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

MARYLAND JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Julie Rubin to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for Maryland. Rubin, a private practice lawyer in Baltimore from 2000 to 2013, then became a judge in Baltimores circuit court. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., cited Rubins wealth of trial experience on and off the bench. The vote, on March 23, was 51 yeas to 46 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC

YEAS: Tillis R-NC

NEW YORK JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Hector Gonzalez to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the eastern district of New York. Gonzalez has been a private practice lawyer in New York City since 1999. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said: In addition to the criminal law expertise he developed as a prosecutor, Mr. Gonzalez has also gained considerable civil litigation experience, managing complex litigation matters involving bankruptcy, antitrust, and professional liability. The vote, on March 23, was 52 yeas to 45 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC

YEAS: Tillis R-NC

WASHINGTON JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of John Chun to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for the western district of Washington. Chun, a judge on the Washington state appeals court since 2018, was previously a county court judge and a private practice lawyer in Seattle. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Chuns demonstrable commitment to justice and the rule of law will serve him well as a district court judge. The vote, on March 23, was 49 yeas to 47 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

NEVADA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Cristina D. Silva to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for Nevada. Silva became a Nevada district court judge in 2019; prior to that, she was a federal prosecutor in Nevada starting in 2010. The vote, on March 23, was 50 yeas to 46 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

SECOND NEVADA JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Anne Rachel Traum to serve as a judge on the U.S. district court for Nevada. Traum has been a law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 2014, and previously was a federal government lawyer in Nevada. The vote, on March 23, was 49 yeas to 47 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

APPEALS COURT JUDGE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Alison Nathan to serve as a judge on the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Nathan has been a judge on the U.S. southern district of New York court since 2011. A supporter, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said: She has proven, without a doubt, that she understands the difference between a policy advocate and a judge, and I am certain that she will continue to administer justice in a thoughtful, evenhanded manner. The vote, on March 23, was 49 yeas to 47 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC, Tillis R-NC

MINNESOTA U.S. ATTORNEY: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Andrew Luger to be the U.S. attorney for Minnesota. Luger had served in the same role from 2014 to 2017; otherwise, he has been a law firm partner in Minneapolis since 1996. The vote, on March 24, was 60 yeas to 36 nays.

NAYS: Burr R-NC

YEAS: Tillis R-NC

Targeted News Service

Targeted News Service
Wake Forest University formally welcomed Susan R. Wente as its 14th president with an installation ceremony Friday afternoon inside Wait Chapel.

Wente, who began her new role July 1, 2021, is the first woman to lead the university since its founding in Wake County in 1834. Those attending the ceremony gave her a standing ovation during her investiture.

I am grateful for those who believed in me so that I could believe in myself, and I am forever indebted, Wente said during her inaugural address. Your support inspires me to pay it forward  I have been furnished with great opportunities through the transformative power of education, and thus, I am driven to create avenues for others to achieve their very best.

Wente succeeds President Emeritus Nathan O. Hatch, who was inaugurated as the universitys president on Oct. 20, 2005, and retired in June 2021.

Welcoming greetings to Wente were delivered during the ceremony by representatives of university staff, faculty, students, parents, alumni, and the community. Speakers also included Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson, and Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, who shared a message from Gov. Roy Cooper, who was unable to attend.

Speakers praised Wente for her willingness to wholly embrace Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem community. Wake Forests Board of Trustees Chairman Matthew King described Wente as well-informed, strategic, decisive and collaborative and expressed his confidence in the universitys future.

In addition to thanking many for their support, Wente also announced a goal to raise the money needed by the end of 2022 to support 100 new scholarships as part of the For Humanity initiative.

For humanity, for the good of society, Wake Forest must heed the call of our time, Wente said during her address. We must step further forward and lead by example  by reckoning with our past to inform our future; by curating brave spaces for respectful dialogue; and by lowering barriers to opportunity for an even greater diversity of people and perspectives to live, learn and work here.

We must eliminate that which precludes us from paying it forward, she said. The value of Wake Forest must always be found in the value we bring to others.

After Wentes remarks, the Chamber Choir Sopranos and Altos sang We Will Rise Up Together before a poetry reading featuring Maya Angelous A Brave and Startling Truth from senior Adarian Sneed.

Joshuah Brian Campbell was among those who attended the ceremony.

I thought her address was fantastic, said Campbell, the director of music and arts for Wakes School of Divinity and director of the gospel choir. Im excited. Im curious about the way she plans to engage the artistic and interdisciplinary communities.

Wentes installation is also being celebrated by students.

All of us girls really love it, Lucy Kingma, a senior, said about the universitys decision to welcome Wente as its first female president.

Carolina Oudet, a fellow senior, agreed and said the diversity in leadership at the university is especially important to students.

It shows us how our workplace should be, Oudet said.

Alumni class representatives from the class of 1950 through the class of 2021 attended the ceremony, which was the culmination of a multi-day celebration.

Wake Forest officials announced Wentes appointment as the universitys president in January 2021.

A biomedical scientist and a higher education leader, Wente previously served as Vanderbilt Universitys provost and vice chancellor. She also took on the role of interim chancellor for 11 months and guided Vanderbilts response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 1984, Wente received a bachelors degree in biochemistry at the University of Iowa, according to her biography. Four years later, Wente received a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, Calif.

She began her teaching career at Washington Universitys School of Medicine in St. Louis. She served on the faculty there from 1993 to 2002 before going to Vanderbilt.

For more about Wente and her inauguration, visit wente.inauguration.wfu.edu/.

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A vacant lot in the heart of downtown Omaha has for nearly two decades sat earmarked for projects that never broke ground  a missing piece in the increasingly ambitious growth of the citys urban core.

That may soon change. Theres recent local and national interest in the site of the former Union Pacific Railroad headquarters as a prime spot for development, said Kevin Andersen, a deputy chief of staff with the Mayors Office.

The square block at 14th and Dodge Streets has remained vacant since Union Pacific moved its headquarters across the street in 2004 and the site was fully cleared in 2008.

Through a deal with Lanoha Real Estate Co., the city will be granted ownership of the Lanoha-owned site, and in exchange will give the local real estate developer the city-owned site where the W. Dale Clark Library currently sits.

The land swap will pave the way for a new Mutual of Omaha headquarters to rise on the W. Dale Clark property at 15th and Douglas Streets, just to the west of downtowns Gene Leahy Mall.

Mutual for years has studied its facilities needs. The company was approached about a year ago by developer Jason Lanoha, who, at the time, proposed Mutual build its new headquarters downtown on the former Union Pacific lot.

Mutuals decision to move downtown was cemented in the citys plan to build a 3-mile streetcar line connecting the University of Nebraska Medical Center to Omahas riverfront.

In fact, Mutuals desire to be on the streetcar route led to the land-swap proposal between Lanoha and the city. After Mutual approached the city in September to see if it would consider altering the route to include the Union Pacific lot, the city suggested the land swap as a way to accommodate Mutuals goal without redrawing the streetcar route, Mayor Jean Stothert said in January.

The Mutual project, estimated to cost about $443 million, would drastically change Omahas skyline and bring thousands of workers downtown.

Its a project the scale of which meets the expectations Lanoha and the city previously had for the former Union Pacific lot that sits two blocks away.

When Lanoha bought the vacant property in 2014, he floated a plan that featured a glass structure 10 to 25 stories high that would be heavy on offices but include retail space and condos.

That plan later evolved into a $200 million high-rise with two towers up to 30 stories high.

The project would have fulfilled an unofficial commitment to city officials to erect a tall structure on the site that enhanced the citys skyline and brought more jobs to Omahas downtown.

Lanoha told The World-Herald in 2019 that over the years his company declined multiple offers that didnt quite fulfill that commitment.

Before it was purchased by Lanoha, the property reverted to city ownership in 2002 as part of an incentive package for Union Pacific to build its new and consolidated 20-story corporate structure across Dodge Street.

In 2005, Mayor Mike Faheys administration sold the property to Kansas-based Townsend Inc. for $1. The developer then paid several million dollars to tear down the old 12-story Union Pacific building.

Townsend proposed a 32-story project filled with residential condos, offices and a hotel. The project, called WallStreet Tower, never got off the ground. It was stalled by a lack of financing during an economic downturn and then by tighter lending requirements.

After taking his own project proposal to the city, Lanoha finalized the purchase of the land from Townsend in 2014 for $2.75 million.

Soon, the lot will be back in the citys hands.

Lanoha declined to share details on the land swap.

An appraisal of both locations is still underway, Andersen said.

Mutual, in a document submitted to the city, estimated the expense for the W. Dale Clark land and acquisition at $4.15 million.

Renewed interest in the former Union Pacific property is on trend with a growing interest in all of downtown as an area of redevelopment, Andersen said.

Theres a broad interest in downtown development right now, which is certainly encouraging and a result of the activity investment that weve seen in the area, Andersen said.

Andersen declined to name companies or developers that have shown an interest in the site, and noted that any discussions are still in early stages.

More than half a dozen developers showed an interest in the W. Dale Clark site  long considered a prime spot for redevelopment  before the city landed on Mutual for the location.

The former Union Pacific lot wont officially be given to the city until the demolition of the 45-year-old W. Dale Clark Library is complete, the cost of which the city will cover.

A call for proposals on the demolition will be made by the city in coming weeks, which will clarify the costs of the demo, Andersen said.

Demolition of the existing library is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.

Officials also hope to see redevelopment on a city-owned property just to the east of the W. Dale Clark site. That location is currently used as a staging area for the Gene Leahy Mall construction.

Any future projects on that site would likely be scaled in consideration of the Mutual skyscraper and the park.

You dont want a huge, looming presence over the park, so we anticipate scaling up to what will be the good-sized Mutual building, Andersen said.

Mutual of Omaha CEO James Blackledge in January said the companys new headquarters will be on the scale of the 45-story First National Bank Tower  potentially even taller.

Parking will also have to be taken into consideration for any future projects on the vacant city-owned lot, but the proposed streetcar system would help with that, Andersen said.

Both the Mutual skyscraper and the streetcar system will require a number of rounds of city approvals over the next year.

Parts of the projects will come before the Omaha City Council on March 29, including Mutuals application for $68 million in tax-increment financing, and an ordinance that would create an Omaha Streetcar Authority.

Plans call for construction to begin on both projects by next year, with both open and functioning in 2026.

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The Seward County Sheriff's Office arrested 35-year-old Matthew French on Thursday after serving a federal warrant tied to a child pornography investigation.

The Staplehurst man was federally indicted on four counts of production of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography.

In May 2021, French was arrested after a Butler County school intercepted inappropriate emails between French and a student. French was released on bond in September.

Seward County deputies continued the investigation and discovered French had victimized more children in the area, leading to the most-recent charges.

The case has been handed over to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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If the simulation seemed like controlled chaos, that was by design.

The Health Sciences Facility at Southeast Community College's Lincoln campus played host to a simulation Friday, essentially transforming into a functioning hospital.

Students rushed between an ambulance port and a surgical suite on the first floor, or between a medical lab and an intensive care unit, all in service to 12 "patients" experiencing an array of health issues.

The Interprofessional Education Day wasn't so much about giving students another avenue to practice their individual skills, according to Renee Schnieder, a registered nurse and simulation coordinator.

Rather, the simulation was designed for students from nine different health care programs to work together across disciplines, communicate and solve problems on the fly.

"We tend to keep our little silos  nursing, lab, respiratory," Schnieder said. "Learning about the roles and responsibilities of another department is huge.

"It's how we work together for the patient," she added.

The all-day event marked the first time the simulation has been held in several years.

The coronavirus pandemic forced SCC to cancel the event in 2020, and SCC's move into its current Health Science Facility delayed the event last year.

This year's event was bigger than ever, however. About 170 students from SCC, as well as Union College, took part.

Inside the third-floor ICU, nurses in training at SCC and future physician assistants from Union College huddled around a manikin named "Henry" who had been hospitalized for three days with a COVID-19 infection.

During the assessment, the team called for respiratory therapy to administer a treatment, and later requested a physical therapist come to give the patient some exercise.

From behind a laptop running the simulation, Schnieder then threw the care team for a loop.

As the nurses and physical therapist sat the manikin up in bed for physical therapy, the patient suffered a cardiac event and began to code.

Students called the code and began life-saving measures: Taking turns doing chest compressions and delivering oxygen, marking time, delivering medications and preparing the crash cart.

The exercise continued for about 20 minutes, until the patient "died" shortly after 2 p.m.

That was by design, Schnieder said.

The future health care workers who took part said they valued the experience.

Eric Loos, a second-year physician assistant student at Union College, said Friday's simulation was his first time taking charge in a group setting.

"It's stressful," Loos said. "We've done the class, but we've never got to practice it, especially in a group. To me, what you think it's going to be like is not what it was like."

The nursing students who took part said the simulation gave them a chance to experience something that doesn't happen that often in their rotations throughout Southeast Nebraska.

"I think it's been a unique experience," said Rebecca Mousel, who is studying to become a registered nurse. "There's some disciplines where I knew they existed, but didn't really know what they did."

"I was nervous. We were going to be with a whole bunch of people you didn't know at all, and I think it went smooth," said Danielle Block. "I thought it was interesting."

Shannon Schidler, an LPN studying at SCC in Beatrice, said the chance to do a code simulation also gave several of the students an experience they may not get in their rotation.

"In small-town Nebraska, you don't always get to see everything," she said, adding: "Not that you want to see this."

Loos said he thought the group did better in their first time working together than he expected.

"It just shows where we still have room as students to grow and work on things," he said. "I think that's what the value of these types of experiences are."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS

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LOS ANGELES  In the end, ignorance is still not a defense. And ignorance still doesnt equal innocence.

Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry found that out the hard way over the past two weeks in a federal courtroom that, from its rising bank of windows, offers spectacular views of everything from Los Angeles City Hall to the San Gabriel Mountains.

Fortenberry, 61, hit depths never before seen in Nebraska when he became the highest-ranking Nebraska elected official to be convicted of a felony. Three of them. On Saturday, two days after the verdict, he announced plans to resign.

Ultimately, Fortenberry took far too long to do what other politicians readily did: disgorge dirty money from a campaign, a process in which a politician rids the suspect money from his war chest and donates it to charity.

Fortenberry had a gut feeling that something wasnt right after the February 2016 fundraiser in suburban LA, when he saw that the vast majority of the money came from people with the same last name: Ayoub. As it turns out, Eli Ayoub, a Creighton University School of Medicine graduate and LA physician, had been funneling a Nigerian billionaires cash to the campaigns of a handful of politicians, including Fortenberry.

Fortenberry asked a friend of Ayoubs if anything was wrong with the fundraiser. The friend lied and said no. But Fortenberry had other warnings  his own campaign consultant had cautioned him about the risk. And Ayoub himself called Fortenberry, with the FBI recording the call, and told him three times that the $30,000 cash probably came from the Nigerian billionaire.

Even after that call, Fortenberry took a year to purge the dirty money.

In all, he ignored it for more than 40 months. Whether that was intentional or, as his defense said, the byproduct of his absent-mindedness, it was the worst thing he could have done.

At a sentencing hearing in June, his freedom is on the line. He faces five years in prison on each of the three counts.

A look ahead, and back, at the spectacle of U.S. v. Jeffrey Fortenberry:

Sentencing

The critical question: Will Fortenberry get prison time?

For another case of deception by an elected official, look to the south and the east of the glass cube that is the U.S. District Courthouse for Californias central district. Rising on the horizon is Los Angeles City Hall, a tower that was built in the 1920s  in the same decade and with a similar design as Nebraskas state Capitol.

That tower produced the last corruption case handled by the lead prosecutor in Fortenberrys case: that of Los Angeles City Council member Mitchell Englander, 51.

In that case, Englander accepted money from a businessman wanting to increase his prospects in LA  about the same amount of money as Fortenberrys campaign received.

The councilmans spoils included access to escorts, trips to Palm Springs and Las Vegas, $1,000 in casino gambling chips and at least $15,000 in cash. He then tried to cover up the grift by back-dating reimbursement checks and asking the businessman to lie.

Englanders attorney noted that the councilman had resigned, reimbursed the money and pleaded guilty to the charge instead of taking it to trial.

In January 2021, a federal judge, from the same courthouse that housed Fortenberrys trial, sentenced Englander to 14 months in prison, saying his conduct undermined the public trust.

No two cases are the same, of course. In Fortenberrys case, the money went to his campaign, not to him personally  and it didnt go for gambling or sexual favors.

Then again, the council member resigned and pleaded to one charge. By contrast, Fortenberry didnt resign, took the case to trial and was convicted of three counts.

Fortenberry finds out his fate June 28. Both prosecutors and his attorneys will submit memos, giving their version of where the federal sentencing guidelines fall in this case.

Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. can order supervised release.

The jury

The voicemail on a reporters phone arrived about as soon as the verdict did. A Nebraska caller grunted something about Fortenberry getting set up and how he should have been tried in Nebraska instead of California, where the left-wing goons could convict him.

The jurors included everyone from a maintenance worker to a college student to white-collar workers to an actress no one had heard of. Five of the 12 jurors were white; the rest were U.S. citizens of either Asian or Native descent.

No left- or right-wing goons were detected by reporters during jury selection.

In fact, Judge Blumenfeld  an appointee of then-President Donald Trump  predicted it: the general public doesnt view everything through the lens of politics, the way political loudmouths do. None of the people who made the jury indicated strong opinions of either party.

Fortenberrys membership in the Republican Party wasnt identified at all until the defense presented its case and called a Democratic congresswoman to talk about Fortenberrys willingness to cross the aisle.

One prospective juror even asked if the judge would define political terms for her because she doesnt understand them, just as she didnt understand legal jargon.

Another prospective juror didnt make the jury. He indicated his bias wasnt against Democrats or Republicans.

Just politicians, said the middle-aged white man, originally from Ohio. They spend their whole careers not telling the truth.

He turned to Fortenberry, sitting to the right of him. No offense, he said.

To testify or not

Its an age-old question in court: If a defendant is innocent, why doesnt he testify?

But in this case, not many observers in Courtroom 6C believed Fortenberry would take the stand. For a simple reason: He talks too much, said his attorney, John Littrell.

More precisely: He already had talked too much.

Fortenberry agreed to not one but two interviews with the FBI. Any defense attorney  any episode of Law & Order  will tell you not to talk to police unless youre a victim or unless you have an attorney present.

Instead of calling a lawyer, Fortenberry called the police. Lincolns then-police chief sent two officers to Fortenberrys home to screen the men who said they were federal agents.

Fortenberry insisted the officers stay for the interview. He would have been better off insisting on an attorney and sending all law enforcement home  Lincoln police and the FBI.

Instead, Fortenberry sat down and said he couldnt place Ayoub, the man who held the LA fundraiser for him. The jury convicted him of lying in that interview.

He then agreed to a second interview  this time with his attorney present. His attorney at the time, Trey Gowdy, said he offered to have Fortenberry sit down with prosecutors because he was told that Fortenberry was trending toward a witness, not a target of the investigation.

During the interview, Fortenberry told prosecutors that he cut off the phone call with Ayoub when told that the $30,000 cash probably came from Chagoury. That also was a lie.

Bottom line: Faced with conflicting statements in the two interviews, Fortenberry couldnt take the stand without prosecutors asking him which one of his statements was the truth and which was the lie.

That doesnt present well to a jury.

The defense

Anyone who has watched criminal cases has no doubt heard some variation of what Littrell told jurors in closing arguments:

Im not asking you to like Congressman Fortenberry, Littrell said. His flaws were brought to light in this case. He talks too much. He doesnt listen enough.

Perhaps Littrell, who has declined to comment outside court, was worried that Fortenberry had come across as stiff or smug to jurors.

But several longtime legal observers, including a writer covering the case for a legal trade publication, thought the approach strange.

The reason: It wasnt clear that anyone disliked Fortenberry. He appeared pleasant. And, as Littrell noted, every witness vouched for his sterling integrity and character.

Omitted from closing arguments: The defense didnt mention Rep. Anna Eshoos comment that she would have expected the FBI to be transparent and disclose to her that she had received an illegal donation, so that she could take proper steps to correct it. (Prosecutors countered that the FBI did put Fortenberry on notice of an illegal donation, via the phone call from Ayoub.)

The dynamics of the defense team drew the attention of observers, not the least of whom was Judge Blumenfeld. Less than a month before trial, Denver defense attorney Glen Summers, known as a trial specialist, was brought into the case.

He joined Littrell, a longtime Los Angeles federal public defender who had handled the case since its inception. Another three or four attorneys rounded out Fortenberrys defense team.

A stickler, Blumenfeld saved his sternest admonishment for Littrell.

He became incensed that Littrell had tried to suggest to jurors that Fortenberry had testified in the case, through the words on the recordings and through witnesses who had vouched for his integrity. Littrell also started to delve into what prosecutors would have done had Fortenberry taken the stand.

Prosecutors objected. Blumenfeld was livid. Outside the jurys presence, he asked Littrell what he was trying to accomplish and suggested that he was undermining the judges strong instruction that the jurors were not in any way allowed to consider the fact that Fortenberry had not testified.

Summers, meanwhile, suggested that Blumenfelds denial of a line of questioning amounted to reversible error. That phrase is the nuclear bomb of attorney arguments  and Blumenfeld didnt take kindly to it.

At another point, Blumenfeld called Summers argument whiny and disrespectful. At another point, Summers apologized for getting into a subject the judge had declared off-limits.

Im sorry, Summers told the judge. I just feel so passionate about this case.

The almost blunder

Fortenberry and his staff made a decision that nearly haunted him at his trial.

Two days before trial, they sent a note to the House of Representatives clerk, saying they would be voting by proxy because of the ongoing public health emergency, i.e. COVID-19. The note made no mention of the fact that Fortenberry was on trial in Los Angeles.

The notes language is routine, and Fortenberrys staff said many Congress members use that standard language, even when there are other reasons for their absence. They also said they got permission from House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office. Her office disputed that.

Prosecutors pounced on that. At one point, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamari Buxton called on the judge to allow him to introduce Fortenberrys memo as a counter to any defense testimony that Fortenberry is steadfastly honest.

Blumenfeld considered it but ultimately decided it would require too much work to bring jurors up to speed.

Animal kingdom

Team Fortenberry pulled out all the stops to garner sympathy for the nine-term congressman. On March 17, one of Fortenberrys daughters wheeled a stroller into the courtroom. Inside: Fortenberrys first granddaughter, dressed in an adorable green-and-white clover onesie.

Several observers braced themselves for Blumenfeld to kick the baby out of the courtroom. Most judges do not allow infants in court.

Blumenfeld paid the baby no mind.

In opening statements, Summers introduced the jury to the baby, who didnt make a peep. She also didnt make an appearance the rest of trial.

Nor did Fortenberrys chickens. Thats correct: The defense had wanted to include photos of Fortenberry and his one-time backyard chickens, as well as Fortenberry and his dog.

Prosecutors objected. The defense removed those photos from its opening slide show.

Other animals did make appearances:

Elephants. Celeste Fortenberry testified she traveled with her husband to Africa as part of the congressional conservation caucus, focused on preventing elephant poaching.

Horses. Summers noted that as part of the LA fundraising weekend, the Lebanese Catholic community bestowed an honor that would allow Fortenberry to ride a horse into any Catholic church.

Opossums. They killed the backyard chickens, Celeste Fortenberry testified.

Raccoons. Fortenberry so loathed making fundraising calls, Celeste testified, that he went into autopilot. He would distract himself by cooking breakfast or walking the dog or doing projects. One of those projects: fixing chimney damage caused by raccoons.

The appeal

In a post-verdict gaggle, Fortenberry was asked what his appeal would be based on. The case, he said.

He didnt get much more specific other than to say: We always thought it was going to be hard to get a fair process out here. The appeal starts immediately.

In reality, any appeal would have to start after sentencing. The defense no doubt will bring up Blumenfelds refusal to let them call an expert who would have testified that Fortenberrys memory was fallible. Translated: He wasnt lying; he was simply not remembering.

Another, more obscure issue to watch: Prosecutors were required to establish venue, that elements of Fortenberrys crime took place in central California. Fortenberrys defense argued that the investigative interviews, where he was accused of lying, took place in Nebraska and Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles

Much was made about the case being in Los Angeles, where, as one observer said, it feels like the beach, smells like the weed.

The scene was surreal. And Fortenberrys defense had decried it, saying the true jury of his peers was in Nebraska. But the original crime occurred in Los Angeles, at that fundraiser.

And the case wasnt tried on the streets of L.A. It was tried the way all federal cases are. Inside a courthouse with white marble walls and white tile floors, not all that different from Omahas federal courthouse. Inside a courtroom with a tough judge, dueling attorneys and a jury.

All of the arguments about other factors were noise, designed to distract from the issues at hand, lead prosecutor Mack Jenkins said. The jury was clearly paying attention. You saw them taking a lot of notes. They took their opportunity to deliberate. They worked very hard and ultimately, they saw it as a simple story  of a politician who lost his way.

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Nebraska's prison woes dominated the day again Thursday as state lawmakers wrapped up second-round debate on a $9.8 billion budget package.

Senators ended a long day by advancing the package with no substantive changes. But they also ended without substantive progress toward criminal justice reform, the aim of a filibuster led by Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha.

He said he wanted to prevent any attempt to appropriate money for a proposed new prison until the state makes changes in sentencing and parole to bring down the state's prison population. Those changes are embodied in LB920, which is expected to be debated next week.

An Omaha World-Herald analysis found Nebraska's prison system is the most overcrowded and fastest growing in the U.S. It's also among the nations most racially unequal.

"If you don't want to do these things, are you OK with the status quo?" Lathrop asked, citing projections that show prison population growth exceeding the capacity of the proposed new prison within a few years.

Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln said she supported several of the recommendations that came out of a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Working Group, which Lathrop chaired alongside Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Chief Justice Mike Heavican. But she objected to the recommendations that could lead to inmates getting out of prison earlier.

"That's a bridge too far for me," said Geist, who also served on the working group.

The budget package under consideration sets aside the remaining $175 million needed to build the proposed new prison but does not appropriate the money for construction yet. Appropriations Committee members held off on that decision while the Legislature debates criminal justice reform.

The $175 million would be added to the $100 million set aside last year to pay for building a facility estimated to cost $270 million.

Money for the prison would come from what is expected to be a record-level cash reserve fund. It is among nearly $500 million worth of building and infrastructure projects included in the package.

The budget includes $53.5 million to launch the Perkins County canal project, a canal and reservoir system along the South Platte River in eastern Colorado and western Nebraska. The money would be enough for a feasibility study, design work, getting permits and buying options for land.

The governor has pushed for the canal, saying it must be built so Nebraska can claim all the water it is entitled to under a century-old compact with Colorado.

Also included in the budget is $100 million for improvements at Lake McConaughy in Keith County and at Niobrara State Park and Lewis and Clark Lake in northeast Nebraska and another $100 million to take the next steps toward creating a 7-mile lake along the Platte River between Lincoln and Omaha.

The Appropriations Committee package makes changes to the two-year budget passed last year. With those changes, state spending would total $9.8 billion for the two years ending June 30, 2023, and increase by an average of 3.2% annually.

The package would pay higher salaries for state employees in critical areas, such as corrections and 24-hour facilities, and boost rates paid to providers caring for the most vulnerable Nebraskans.

The Appropriations Committees plan would leave Nebraska with $1.3 billion in the cash reserve fund by June 30, 2023. That is $950 million more than the funds balance at the end of fiscal year 2020-21.

World-Herald reporter Erin Bamer contributed to this story.

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As Democrats in Washington solidified support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said he would not support her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Sasse is a member of the Judiciary Committee and questioned Jackson during often-contentious hearings this week.

"Judge Jackson has impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law, but at every turn this week she not only refused to claim originalism as her judicial philosophy, she refused to claim any judicial philosophy at all," Sasse said in a statement. "Although she explained originalism and textualism in some detail to the committee, Judge Jackson refused to embrace them or any other precise system of limits on the judicial role."

Sasse pointed to two lower-court cases in which Jackson ruled as evidence of exceeding her authority as a judge. But he was also critical of the confirmation process, including the hearings this week.

"Senators should have made fewer speeches, and Judge Jackson should have made her judicial philosophy clear and understandable to the American people," he said. "Unfortunately, neither of those things happened."

A united Democratic caucus would guarantee Jackson's confirmation in the 50-50 Senate, as Vice President Kamala Harris could break a tie.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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By Trend

China decides to provide 2,000 tons of rice as emergency food aid to Sri Lanka, said the Chinese embassy here in a press release on Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The donation, which was valued at about 2.5 million U.S. dollars (including freight cost), was made at the request of the Sri Lankan government upon its current difficulty of food shortage in the island country, according to the embassy.

As the continuously raging COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatically changing international situation have further worsened the global food shortage and shipping capacity, the technical teams from both countries will work closely to finalize the production and shipment arrangements, and deliver the aid to Sri Lanka at an early date, said the embassy.

Noting that this year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Sri Lanka and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Rubber-Rice Pact, the Chinese embassy said the two countries have traditionally helped each other and shared weal and woe.

China will continue to support Sri Lanka's social and economic development within its capacity, the Chinese embassy added.
Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry on Friday faced growing pressure from congressional leaders and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts to resign after a California jury found him guilty of lying to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 campaign donation from a Nigerian billionaire.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both urged the nine-term congressman to leave office, as did Ricketts, also a Republican, who has endorsed Fortenberry's top Republican primary challenger.

"The people of Nebraska deserve active, certain representation," Ricketts said. "I hope Jeff Fortenberry will do the right thing and resign so his constituents have that certainty while he focuses on his family and other affairs."

McCarthy said he texted Fortenberry about the conviction and planned to talk to him about the matter Friday.

"I think when someone's convicted, it's time to resign," McCarthy told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida.

Pelosi said Fortenberry's conviction "represents a breach of the public trust and confidence in his ability to serve. No one is above the law."

A federal jury in Los Angeles deliberated for about two hours Thursday before finding Fortenberry guilty of concealing information and two counts of making false statements to authorities. Fortenberry was charged after denying to the FBI that he was aware he had received illicit funds from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian billionaire of Lebanese descent who lives in Paris.

The three men who funneled money to Fortenberry from Chagoury were all of Lebanese descent and had ties to In Defense of Christians, a nonprofit Fortenberry supported that was devoted to fighting religious persecution in the Middle East.

Outside the courthouse, Fortenberry said the process had been unfair and that he would appeal immediately. He would not say if he would suspend his campaign for reelection, saying he was going to spend time with his family.

"I'm getting so many beautiful messages from people literally all around the world, who've been praying for us and pulling for us," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins said prosecutors haven't yet considered what penalty they will seek when Fortenberry is sentenced June 28. Each count carries a potential five-year prison sentence and fines.

Vince Powers, a veteran trial lawyer in Lincoln who has followed Fortenberry's case, said the judge will likely rely on federal guidelines when deciding what sentence to impose.

Powers said that, based on his reading of the guidelines, Fortenberry could be looking at 15-21 months in prison. Given Fortenberry's location, Powers said it's likely he would get sent to a minimum-security federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota, about 180 miles north of Lincoln.

The judge could also deviate from the guidelines with a longer or shorter sentence. But Powers said it's unlikely Fortenberry would only get probation.

"I don't see how he stays out of prison," said Powers, a former Nebraska Democratic Party chairman.

Felons are eligible to run for and serve in Congress, but the vast majority choose to resign under threat of expulsion. Congressional rules also bar members from voting on legislation after a felony conviction unless their constituents reelect them.

It was the first trial of a sitting congressman since Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, was convicted of bribery and other felony charges in 2002.

Campaign spokesman Chad Kolton said Friday that Fortenberry had no immediate response to the calls for his resignation.

"He's spending time with his family right now," Kolton said. "That's what's most important today."

Fortenberry's indictment in October drew a serious Republican primary challenge from state Sen. Mike Flood, a former speaker of the Nebraska Legislature who has since won the endorsements of Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman. A Flood campaign spokesman declined to comment Friday on the news of Fortenberry's conviction.

The winner of the GOP primary is likely to face state Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, a Democrat from Lincoln, but Nebraska's 1st Congressional District is heavily Republican and hasn't been competitive in decades.

On Friday, Pansing Brooks said Fortenberry's conviction was a "wake-up call" that the district needs a change and called for an overhaul of campaign finance laws to increase transparency.

"We cannot allow a return to business as usual as this dust settles," Pansing Brooks said, adding that Nebraska is likely "to be the brunt of some jokes" because of Fortenberry's conviction.

Jazari Kual Zakaria of Lincoln is also seeking the Democratic nomination.

In addition to Fortenberry and Flood, there are three other Republican candidates.

Fortenberry, 61, did not testify at trial but his lawyers argued that he wasn't aware of the contribution and that agents directed an informant to feed him the information in a 10-minute call to set him up.

Jenkins, the federal prosecutor, said there was ample recorded evidence in the case and the jury's swift verdict vindicated the prosecution's efforts.

"Our view is that it was a simple story," Jenkins said. "A politician caught up in the cycle of money and power. And like I said, he lost his way."

Jenkins said the verdict should serve as a reminder to lawmakers that foreign influence and violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act are taken seriously.

"Lawmakers should follow the law," Jenkins said. "If we want to expect anyone to follow the law, ultimately it starts with the lawmakers, and I think that's even more paramount when the investigation itself goes to election integrity."

Jenkins said the probe known as Operation Titan's Grip was ongoing.

Jenkins was asked if Fortenberry would have ended up being prosecuted if he had disclosed and returned the money sooner, as other politicians did when they learned of the donations.

He said that was hard to say, but that Fortenberry's "inaction" was evidence of a "scheme to conceal."

Other lawmakers who had received money from the group included Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah; Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California; and former Republican Rep. Terry Lee, who served in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District.

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AUSTIN, Texas  Kevin Kisner added to his match play legacy Saturday morning when he twice rallied from 3 down and won the final four holes to beat Adam Scott and advance to the quarterfinals of the Dell Technologies Match Play.

It capped a wild day of comebacks and blowouts at Austin Country Club. Two fourth-round matches had to go extra holes while Abraham Ancer needed only 12 holes to beat two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.

The quarterfinals were Saturday afternoon.

Scottie Scheffler, the ex-Texas Longhorn, got a small measure of revenge in a rematch of the final from a year ago when he beat defending champion Billy Horschel 1 up. Scheffler can go to No. 1 in the world if he wins the tournament because Jon Rahm was eliminated in 19 holes by Brooks Koepka in another dynamic match.

Richard Bland, the oldest player in the field at 49, needed to win his fourth-round match against Dustin Johnson to crack the top 50 in the world and qualify for the Masters. Johnson pulled ahead around the turn and closed him out, 3 and 2.

The Englishman has one last chance. His top-10 finish in Austin gets him in the Texas Open next week in San Antonio. The winner goes to the Masters.

Kisner, however, stole the show.

He was a runner-up in Match Play in 2018 and won a year later. No one has won more matches in Austin since the tournament moved here in 2016. For the longest time, it didnt look as though he would add to that total Saturday morning.

Scott won three straight holes on the front nine and was 3 up through five holes. Even after Kisner cut the deficit to one hole at the turn, Scott birdied the 14th to go 3 up with four to play.

Kisner took it from there. He hit wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 15th. He holed a 50-foot bunker shot that had to carry another bunker to a pin tucked behind a ridge for eagle on the par-5 16th.

I told my caddie right before I hit it, I said, We can use that wind to fly it right in the hole I think, and it came out just perfectly and slowed down with the wind, Kisner said. I couldnt see it go in, but he said it trickled in like a putt. Those are things you dream about.

Scott missed a 10-foot putt for par on the 17th to square the match. Kisner completed his unlikely comeback with a 7-foot birdie on the 18th.

Rahm nearly pulled out a comeback equally stout, if not quirky. He was 2 down with three to play when he clipped a pitch perfectly to 4 feet for birdie.

On the par-3 17th, Rahm hit what he thought was a perfect shot, only for it to spin off the green and headed toward the hazard, stopping inches from the rocks framing a canyon below. Koepka felt a big gust and took an extra club. His shot powered through the wind and over the green, not a problem except that it caromed off the wooden steps on a hill into mulch, leaving him little chance at making par.

Both had birdie putts in the 10-foot range on the 18th. Koepkas putt was short, Rahms putt for the win just slid by. On the first extra hole at No. 10, Koepka holed a 15-footer.

In other matches, Corey Conners of Canada went up early and never gave Takumi Kanaya of Japan much of a chance in a 5-and-3 victory; Seamus Power built a 5-up lead on the front nine and sent Tyrrell Hatton packing with a 4-and-3 win; and Will Zalatoris birdied the 18th to square the match and beat Kevin Na in 22 holes.

The quarterfinal matches were Koepka against Johnson; Scheffler against Power; Ancer against Conners: and Kisner against Zalatoris.

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RACINE  Because of laws passed in 2011 under then-Gov. Scott Walker restricting union rights, the city making unilateral changes to health care benefits for employees and retirees at the end of 2019 appears legally justified, to the dismay of Racines union members and retirees.

But a lawsuit fighting the changes is still months from conclusion.

In the fall of 2019, City Hall  in dire financial straits and struggling to balance the next years budget  made its health care plans more expensive. The change affected all employees, including retirees, both for those not in unions and those unionized within the police and fire departments.

Current and former employees protested at City Hall, but the City Council approved the changes by one vote.

Within months, hundreds of retirees filed lawsuits against the city, seeking reinstatement of their original benefits.

Upon reviewing the case, even the state arbitrator, Raleigh Jones, wrote that his initial reaction had been: The City cant unilaterally do that; that surely violates the contract! according to a court document filed March 18. But upon reviewing the case, Jones ruled in the opposite.

The city is now seeking to have the lawsuit, which includes more than 300 plaintiffs, thrown out. But theres no guarantee the unions have lost the court battle.

On March 18, after a hearing in which Local 321, the firefighters union, petitioned to have the decision of the arbitrator vacated, Racine County Circuit Court Judge Jon Fredrickson ruled against the union, laying grounds for an appeal.

Four days later, a union filing stated that plaintiffs object to the citys proposed order that would have their case thrown out.

The next hearing is scheduled for June 24 in front of Racine County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz.

Arbitration and Act 32

During a meeting on Nov. 4, 2019  after health care changes had been approved by the City Council, but before they took effect  according to a statement of facts from Jones, the arbitrator and an attorney: At the meeting, Union officials stated that they agreed that the City had no legal obligation to negotiate with the Union regarding plan design changes, as a result of legal changes which were the result of Wisconsin Act 32.

Wisconsin Act 32 was the first biennial state budget passed under Gov. Scott Walker in 2011, which along with Act 10 crippled collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin.

Jones wrote: That same day (Nov. 4, 2019), the Union filed a complaint with the WERC (Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which provided the arbitrator) which alleged that the City refused to bargain with the Union on changes to health insurance benefits, had unilaterally modified health insurance benefits for Union members without first bargaining in good faith with the Union, and that the changes to the health benefits involved are mandatory subjects of bargaining.

However, under state law, municipalities are prohibited from collective bargaining as it relates to the health plans offered to unionized employees. Essentially, a municipal employer can improve or reduce health benefits as it sees fit, and is not allowed to negotiate with the unions themselves unless employees direct premium contributions are to be adjusted.

The attorneys fighting the citys decision on behalf of the plaintiffs allege that the city had violated its collective bargaining agreement by increasing the employee premium share for the high deductible plan to 7.5% from 5% for active members and those who will retire under CBA and by capping the Medicare Part B premium at $135.50.

As a result of the changes made by the City to retiree health insurance, I have been expending significantly more funds for health insurance than I have ever paid as a retiree, wrote one city retiree in an affidavit. That sentiment was shared by several other plaintiffs in affidavits, who also noted that many plaintiffs are living on fixed incomes as retirees and that the reduced benefits put them in dire straits.

Budget balancing

Both sides knew that the health benefits offered were less desirable when they were offered in 2019. Racine Mayor Cory Mason wrote that other cuts considered to balance the 2020 budget would have been worse.

However, a filing by attorneys representing the city claimed there are plaintiffs whose monthly premiums actually went down after the Citys changes.

So, even though the design of the employees health care plan was changed, since their direct premium contributions were unchanged, collective bargaining was prohibited, Jones concluded.

In a document dated Aug. 27, 2019, the city said that the then-proposed modifications to the employee health insurance plan design  would result in a potential savings for 2020 of approximately $3,200,000.

That $3.2 million was a major piece of savings that allowed for the 2020 budget to be balanced.

Mason said that the city could have been facing another budget crisis in 2022 if it werent for substantial public aid from the federal government.

Among the signs carried by union members-turned-protesters outside City Hall in September 2019 were statements like Hands Off Our Insurance and Cut Spending, Not Jobs.

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A dozen of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers appointees to the boards overseeing Wisconsins higher education systems remain unconfirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, a status unlikely to change this year now that the legislative session has ended.

That sets up a potential scenario where a Republican winning the governors race this fall could appoint their own picks and quickly seize control of the boards instead of following the traditional approach of appointing new individuals as others terms expire.

The up-in-the-air political dynamic could also play a role in the UW-Madison chancellor search, experts said.

Anyone considering a position in public university leadership understands that the job involves dealing with the ebbs and flows of state government, said Felicia Commodore, an Old Dominion University professor whose expertise is in higher education leadership and board governance. But the confirmation battle could signal challenges ahead between board members and the Legislature. It also communicates a lack of stability.

If there seems to be a tug-of-war going on with the state Legislature, someone looking at the chancellorship may not be interested in getting involved, Commodore said. The board being in flux could be challenging. They could select this chancellor and soon be gone. Candidates want to know what board theyre going to be working with because they serve at the pleasure of the board.

The structure of the UW Board of Regents was designed with an eye toward stability and avoiding political whiplash by having most of its 18 members serve seven years, with a couple of terms expiring each spring. But the state Senate hasnt confirmed any of the seven individuals Evers has appointed to the Regents since 2020.

Serious candidates will definitely be paying attention to that, said Robert Kelchen, a professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee. In an election year, theyre paying attention anyway, but the difference is it could shift much more quickly, in a matter of months instead of two to three years.

Kelchen said the situation likely wouldnt deter most candidates from considering the job, but may prompt them to seek more security, such as a multiyear contract with a large payout built into it in the event they are abruptly fired by the board.

Many other institutions offer those types of agreements. University of Wisconsin System chancellors, however, are among a number of at-will appointees spelled out in state law that the UW Board of Regents can fire at any time.

Applications for the UW-Madison chancellor job were due earlier this month. A committee searching for Chancellor Rebecca Blanks successor expects to interview semifinalists next month and the Regents plan to announce a hire in May.

System spokesperson Mark Pitsch declined to comment on whether having so many unconfirmed Regents hurts the boards ability to recruit a UW-Madison chancellor.

Evers at a WisPolitics luncheon earlier this month criticized the Senates refusal to confirm his picks.

Thats not a way to run a government, and its anti-democracy at its worst, he said.

An aide for Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, did not return a request for comment.

Technical colleges

A similar situation involving unconfirmed appointees is playing out with the 13-member Technical College System Board. Five of Evers picks are unconfirmed. Three of them are unable to even serve on the board because three individuals appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker refuse to vacate their seats despite their terms expiring last May.

The holdovers continuing to participate in meetings are Kelly Tourdot, a Waunakee resident who is vice president of Associated Builders and Contractors; Mary Williams, a former GOP state representative from northern Wisconsin; and Becky Levzow, a dairy farmer from Rio.

Each of them sent emails to Evers office requesting reappointment last spring, according to records obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal. Levzow even asked an Evers staffer for the name of her successor after being informed that the governor had declined to reappoint her.

We had excellent applicants who, in addition to you, deserve time on the board, the staffer wrote back on April 29.

A day after Evers office sent out the decision, Technical College System spokesperson Conor Smyth emailed Williams to share his dissatisfaction.

We are all disappointed with the decision of the Governors Appointments office not to retain outstanding, dedicated Board members, said Smyth, who has since retired.

Technical College System executive vice president Jim Zylstra said Friday that Smyth was speaking for himself and his opinion did not represent the Systems.

A couple of weeks after learning they had been replaced, Tourdot, Williams and Levzow decided to continue serving.

I would prefer to serve out my term since the governor did not reappoint me to another term, Tourdot said in an email to Technical College System President Morna Foy. I will not be sending a letter to the governor office stepping aside.

Williams said earlier this year that some people are making a bigger issue out of it than it needs to be and she would step down once her successor is confirmed by the Senate. Tourdot and Levzow did not respond to requests for comment.

Natural resources

The refusal of public board members to vacate their seats after their term expires is also playing out on the board that oversees state environmental policies.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently heard arguments involving a Walker appointee who has refused to step aside from the Natural Resources Board. The board member, Fred Prehn, a Wausau dentist, recently voted to reject regulations of PFAS compounds and dozens of other toxic substances in groundwater.

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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

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The 8th edition of BEST OF INDIA - Biggest Exclusive Indian Product Trade Show has been formally inaugurated jointly by H.E. Mr. B. Vanlalvawna, Ambassador of India to Azerbaijan, H.E. Mr. Firdovsi Aliyev, Deputy Minister of Ecology of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Mr. Sanjeev Dhir, Chairman, Wool and Woollens Export Promotion Council (WWEPC), at Baku Sport Hall, 26A, M. Huseynov street (old Neftchilar avenue) on March 26, 2022 at 04:00 PM (1600 hrs.). Representatives from Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, National Confederation of Entrepreneurs Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan also attended the inauguration ceremony.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador B. Vanlalvawna highlighted that the event was part of a series of activities commemorating India's 75th anniversary of independence under the initiative Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. He stated that there is a huge scope for diversifying Indias economic engagements with Azerbaijan, as the country offers good opportunities for Indian products and services. He noted that despite the pandemic, economic engagements between our two countries continue to expand with trade between India and Azerbaijan increasing by 27% in 2021 as compared to the previous year and expressed hope that this show would contribute towards increasing the economic engagements between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Minister Firdovsi Aliyev underlined that the existing high-level mutual trust between our two countries offers new opportunities for the development and deepening of cooperation in all areas. He added that there is a great economic potential, legal framework and a favorable investment climate between our countries. He emphasized that this trade event and fair is important in terms of promoting such opportunities and hoped that it would be organized continuously.

WWEPC Chairman Sanjeev Dhir stated that there is a lot of potential for Indian woolen products in Azerbaijan. He stressed that the share of Indian woollens and other textiles as well as handicrafts items in this market can be increased as Indian products are globally competitive both in terms of quality and quantity.

During the 9 days of Exhibition, more than 60 companies from India will be showcasing high quality Products and Services including Rice, Tea, Spices, Gifts & Handicrafts, Home Furnishing, Textile & Garments, Jewellery and Cosmetics etc. The exhibition will continue from March 26 to April 03, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 07:00 PM. Entry to the exhibition is free.

The Embassys stall at the exhibition hall for tasting of the genuine Indian Tea is attracting a large number of visitors. The show also featured promotional videos on Indian tourism, culture and investment opportunities. The foot falls on the opening day of the exhibition has exceeded expectations. The Indian traditional dances, performances on Bollywood songs and henna (Mehndi) stall attacted much interest.
KEARNEY  At 66, as the longest serving paramedic at CHI Health Good Samaritan, Kevin Badgley refers to himself as an old fossil.

On Thursday, after 33 years as a Good Sam paramedic and a 48-year career, hes retiring.

Im 66. My body is telling me theres a finite limit to this, he said. Except for one person, none of my co-workers was even born when I started in this business. Most of their parents were in grade school when I started.

It all began when he was just 18. Prodded by his parents, he took his first EMT course in 1974 in Oconto. My dad said, You are working with your grandpa on the farm all the time. You need to take this class, Badgley said.

Now he teaches those classes. He has taught at Central Community College and at 100 towns in western and central Nebraska. From the start, he pulls no punches.

The first night I try to talk people out of taking the class unless theyre committed for the long haul. I tell them that theyre going to miss Christmas, Thanksgiving and more. People will call you in the worst possible times, and you have to go. You cant wait 10 minutes, he tells them.

Your family has to commit to this, too. I always said one of these days I was going to regain my sanity and find a job where I dont have to work nights, weekends and holidays. Its definitely a calling, he said.

In the beginning

In 1975, when he was just 19, Badgley got a part-time job with a private ambulance service in Rapid City, S.D., while attending business school there.

We got paid by the call. Id get off work at 6 a.m., go home to the trailer and change clothes and go to school. Then Id change clothes and go to the EMS job. I was on call all night. Id sleep at times, he said.

Residents of Rapid City called the ambulance only in dire circumstances. Most people said, I can drive myself to the hospital, which was lucky, since Badgley was often the only person on call. He covered an area that included Mount Rushmore, Needles, Hill City and Hermosa, all the way west to the Wyoming border and clear down to Scenic, in the southeast, 54 miles from Rapid City.

Once I got a call 10 miles south of Scenic about a baby being born breech. It was snowing. We had to take a snowplow to get from Scenic to the farm. There was no place to turn around. I couldnt start an IV. I had no medication. All I could give her was oxygen, he said. The woman delivered safely, and the baby was healthy.

When that ambulance service went out of business in 1977, he began working for the Rapid City/Pennington County Ambulance Service. Married with an associates degree by then, he also worked full time at a lumberyard.

The RCPCS ambulance was a Cadillac. We couldnt care for anyone in the back. We couldnt sit up. To care for them, we had to flip the seat and crawl around, he said.

That Cadillac had a huge, heavy door. The wind would catch it and slam it into you as you were loading the patient. It looked like a hearse, he said. Thats because 50 years ago, funeral homes supplied ambulances. Crews put patients on the carts that were used in the hearses.

First paramedic service

One day, in 1980, his mother called. The city of Grand Island was starting an ambulance service. Two weeks later, Badgley drove to Grand Island, passed an EMT competency test and got hired by the Grand Island Hall County Ambulance. It was only the third such service in the state that was separate from fire and police.

Also in 1980, Badgley enrolled in the first Nebraska paramedic class held outside of Omaha, offered through Central Community College. In 1982, he passed and joined the ranks of the National Registry of Paramedics in 1982. By June, he had his state license.

He and the other new paramedics were absorbed into the Grand Island Fire Department. As a fire department employee, he worked 24 hours on and 48 hours off. In between, he worked for a private ambulance service in Grand Island. I worked part time to make extra money. We werent paid worth a darn, he said.

Move to Kearney

In August 1988, he left Grand Island to help launch a hospital-based ambulance service at what was then Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. In December 1987, the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department had voted to give up its ambulance service, and Badgley envisioned Good Sam filling the gap.

I loved Kearney. My family had been patients at Good Sam since the 1960s. My grandparents, my cousin and my nephew were born there, he said.

He rolled up his sleeves, but Good Sam was reluctant to get involved. Like many hospitals at the time, it believed patients were not their problem until they arrived at the door, and the new equipment seemed financially out of reach, Badgley said.

Badgley got busy. He talked to City Council members individually and asked them to reconsider.

One day I got a call. They had worked out a deal with the city, he said. Good Sam leased two ambulances for $100 a year. On Aug. 1, 1988, the new service began.

Badgley became the first paramedic  and second employee  hired. The first employee was James Staab, an EMT who rode often with Badgley as he trained to become a paramedic.

Kevin was a great instructor. He was very intelligent. He was a really good paramedic, said Staab, now retired after 27 years.

Early Kearney years

In the early years, it was hard to explain to people what you did, Badgley said. We had to tell people, We dont drive ambulances. We do a lot more than that.

He chuckles at the memories of those early ambulances. Certified medical technicians had to carry a 50-pound defibrillator, but the batteries couldnt be replaced, and there was no electricity going to the ambulance, he said.

As an EMT, I could do basic things without asking permission, but paramedics were so new, he said.

Basically, paramedics have more education and training than EMTs, but as paramedics, we had to call in for everything. I couldnt defibrillate anyone or put in an IV without calling the ER physician. I had to call to get an order for a narcotic. Doctors didnt trust us to interpret the heart rhythm, he said.

Finally, after a year, busy doctors told the paramedics to go ahead with less direct supervision. Also, there were no emergency room physicians in the early years, so a patients doctor had to be called in when an ambulance arrived.

Cardiac arrest

Mindful of HIPPA laws, Badgley refrains from sharing too many stories, but he still remembers the day a man in his 40s collapsed in a hallway. It looked like a seizure. I told someone to call an ambulance, but I stayed with him and tried to find a pulse. He was breathing hard and deep. He turned purple. I did chest compressions, Badgley said.

When the ambulance arrived, I rode with him to the hospital doing chest compressions. They shocked him once and got him back. He walked out of the hospital a few weeks later, he said.

During the years, Badgley has been certified as an instructor for all kinds of medical training, including a FarMedic course, which hes taught since 1992. Coming from a farm background, and having lost family or friends to farm accidents, I particularly enjoyed teaching that class, he said.

One afternoon, while teaching a FarMedic class, I backed up to turn around, and a fence post ran into the gas tank of my pickup. I had fuel pouring out the bottom of my tank. Someone grabbed a trailer and hauled me and the pickup to the repair shop and put it back, he said.

He added, Thats part of volunteer spirit. Volunteers will get it done.

Leaving a legacy

Badgley has effuse praise for his wife LuAnn. She has been the rock. She tells me, I wasnt that important, but I tell her she was my sounding board at times when I was upset, had bad calls, bad management, vehicle breakdowns and God knows what else. She sat there when I would just scream, he said.

She raised our four kids. I was gone so much the kids finally quit asking when Id be back, he said.

Matt Walter, Good Sams EMS manager, noted that Badgley helped start hospital-based EMS in 1988 when many thought it couldnt be successful.

His experience, talents and calm demeanor continue to guide our program. During his career, Kevin not only provided lifesaving care, but also helped train and mentor the next generation of first responders. Many lives have been touched and made better because of Kevins unwavering dedication to emergency medicine, Walter said.

Badgley knows its time to retire.

Im an old man. I ask myself, Mentally, can I do this? Physically, will I be a detriment to patients and my partner? I want to be honest enough to say when I should quit I dont want to end up being thought of as a liability, he said.
FREMONT -- The Dodge County Sheriffs Office is asking anyone with information about a former North Bend Central elementary teacher to contact the office or their local law enforcement agency.

On Thursday, the sheriffs office said it is seeking Craig Schmeckpeper, 50, of North Bend on a warrant for child abuse not resulting in serious injury.

Schmeckpeper, a former elementary physical education teacher, has been charged after an alleged incident at the North Bend school in February.

On Feb. 17, Schmeckpeper, according to the Dodge County Attorneys Office, pulled an elementary student out of line during physical education class, pinned the childs arms behind his back and told the rest of the students in attendance Free hits as you go by and Free punches.

Five students lightly hit the child in the stomach, and the child also reported pain while his arms were pinned, according to investigators.

Deputies interviewed two witnesses and investigators also reviewed security camera footage from the school, along with documents produced by North Bend Central as part of an internal investigation.

Schmeckpeper faces one count of felony child abuse.

Deputies obtained an arrest warrant for Schmeckpeper on Tuesday, one day after the North Bend school board accepted his resignation.

North Bend Central Public Schools did not comment on the situation.

Anyone with information on Schmeckpepers location is asked to call 402-722-2700.
As we prepare for National Library Week, the staff and volunteers at McIntosh Memorial Library of Viroqua encourage all community members to visit their library in person or online to explore and access services and programs. McIntosh Memorial offers a wide array of programs, classes and resources that are available in-person or from the comfort of home, including art classes, historical talks,story time, music programs, and more.

April 3-9 is National Library Week, a time to highlight the essential role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening communities. The theme for this years National Library Week is Connect with Your Library, which promotes the idea that libraries are places to get connected to technology by using broadband, computers, and other resources. Libraries also offer opportunities to connect with media, programs, ideas, and classes, in addition to books. Most importantly, libraries also connect communities to each other.

Libraries of all types continue to go above and beyond to keep their communities connected by expanding resources and embracing inclusion in their programming, resources, and collections. Libraries across the country are making a difference in peoples lives by providing electronic learning resources like online homework help and WI-fi access for students and workers who may lack internet access at home. During National Library week McIntosh Memorial Library is supporting the community with free giveaways throughout the week. Plus, the Friends of the Library will be serving cake and lemonade in the library lobby, Wednesday, April 6 from 1 to 3 p.m.

This National Library Week, the public can show their appreciation and support for libraries by visiting their library in person or online, following them on social media and using the hashtag #NationalLibraryWeek.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries of all types across the country each April.

For more information, visit the librarys website at www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org

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LA CROSSE  Paul Julien of La Crosse died at the age of 81 on January 12, 2022, following an extended illness. He is survived by his sister, Charlotte Hebeler, and niece, Karin Hunter-Byrd (Michael), both of Denver, and numerous cousins and extended family.

Dr. Julien earned his doctorate in physics at the University of Michigan and a masters degree in physics from Michigan State University. While he was born and raised in the state of Michigan, he spent the majority of his working years in Boston and New York. Paul returned to the midwest in retirement, choosing La Crosse, the Wisconsin town of his mothers birth, and in which he had spent many summers.

Aside from physics, his second great interest was music. He taught himself to play a guitar in his teen years, and performed in interesting venues in both Boston and New York. Later, he taught himself to play the piano. He was an active member of the local La Crosse jazz club.

Following his express wishes, there was no funeral; however, a celebration of his life for family and friends will be held on April 9, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. in the Minneapolis area. Friends and family who wish to attend may contact his sister at chebeler@mail.com for the address and directions.
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 10 are below.

Kim Cable (i)

Age: 60

Education: Bachelors degree from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Occupation: I am currently the Housing & Community Services Director at Couleecap for the past 17 years. Additionally, I serve on the Board of Commissioners at the La Crosse Housing Authority; Board of Directors at the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care; Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee at the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care.

Political experience: I have served four terms as the County Board supervisor for District 10. During that time, I have served as: first vice-chair of the County Board; first vice-chair of the Executive Committee; vice-president of Economic Development Fund; chair of Judiciary and Law Committee; chair and vice-chair of Health and Human Services Committee; Comprehensive Planning Committee; Family Policy Board and Criminal Justice Management Council. I have also worked on various initiatives while serving on La Crosse County Board such as: the administrative and downtown campus construction committee; planning and development of housing strategies to house our homeless neighbors.

Why do you want to serve on the La Crosse County Board and what is something youd want to accomplish if elected?

I want to continue to serve on the La Crosse County Board because I have a deep passion for keeping our community a great place to live and work. I have worked hard, along with other county supervisors to do just that, and I feel like I have more work to do. That being said, I am a true believer in staying engaged in the community in order to make positive changes, develop resources and services that serve our most vulnerable citizens and keeping our taxes low. If elected, I would like to continue to work on the opioid and other substance use issues in our community in addition to addressing homelessness, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing development; implementing sustainable practices and measures in our county buildings; and addressing the clean water issue. I am also invested in addressing equity issues at the county and community level.

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?

The County Board spent a significant amount of time soliciting and receiving feedback on what the priorities for this funding should be. I believe this process was well thought out and provided plenty of opportunity for people to express their ideas on how this funding should be spent. While I think all of the priorities identified are extremely important: developing housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness; neighborhood child care; and stormwater infrastructure grants are priorities that I would like to focus on. Following that would be the solar energy initiative for county buildings and land. I am extremely pleased with the attention that will paid regarding our Hillview site in order to bring more sustainability to our services there.

What ideas do you have on improving the collaboration and regionalization between the county and municipalities?

I think there are already areas in which the county is collaborating with other municipalities. We will be considering in an upcoming meeting about providing financial support to the City for the purposes of supporting the building and operations at the La Crosse Center. The County Board has and should continue to take part in the planning and delivery of services and housing that will help our community end homelessness. The county should also support city of La Crosse efforts at neighborhood revitalization. The work that the Economic Development Fund should continue to support small businesses throughout the county so that they can become sustainable and contribute to their community. The county should continue to work with surrounding communities to strengthen our options for transportation that is affordable and accessible, such as the S.M.R.T. bus. Finally, the county should continue to collaborate with local organizations to bring new industry and business opportunities to our community that promote livable wage employment opportunities.

Richard Korish

Age: 51

Education: Two bachelors degrees from Winona State University in Law & Society and Political Science

Occupation: School bus driver

Political experience: Ive worked with campaigns from both sides of the aisle in the past. Im Independent, fiscally conservative with other peoples money and am willing to work with others on anything that involves common sense and will truly help the people of La Crosse County.

Why do you want to serve on the La Crosse County Board and what is something youd want to accomplish if elected?

I want to serve my district and be a true representative for the people in my district. Im putting together an advisory group for all voters in my district who would like to participate. They will get to determine by majority how I vote on the most important matters being voted on by the Board.

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?

Im sure there will be other things to consider and some should probably be held for things to come, but two big ones are clean water and roads.

What ideas do you have on improving the collaboration and regionalization between the county and municipalities?

I believe the combining of resources where at all possible and where it would be fairly seamless to do so would be beneficial and save money for all.

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COVID cases are dropping, but Mayo experts are cautioning the pandemic is not over, and the new stealth omicron variant is gaining traction.

Mayo Clinic Health System this week held a virtual community presentation, COVID-19, Whats New and Whats Next, with speakers including Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Center and Dr. Raj Palraj, Mayo Clinic Health System infectious diseases specialist.

Poland, a staunch advocate for vaccination, was blunt in his message during the forum: COVID is still of great concern, and waning adherence to precautions  and low inoculation rates  are almost a guarantee of new infections, which leads to new variants, which can lead to increased transmission and increased illness. In my opinion, we declared victory too soon and too aggressively as a nation in starting to decrease non pharmaceutical interventions like masking.

With only around 65% of the U.S. population fully vaccinated, and 44% boosted, Poland says it is not surprising we have more deaths per capita than any other middle or highly developed country, with death rates 10 times higher among those not inoculated.

The real brutal reality has been the unfathomable number of deaths  we are bearing down on a million Americans who have died directly attributed to COVID over the past two years, Poland says.

Following the recent rapid decline of cases after omicron peaked, many entities, including schools, have nixed mask requirements, and the CDCs new COVID-19 County Check tool, which looks at how many hospital beds are being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area, has put much of the country in the low category, which indicates masking is not imperative. While many now feel comfortable ditching face coverings, Poland is keeping his mask firmly in place.

It drives me crazy, Poland says of the CDCs new guidance. Lets pretend today I announced a new virus that had a (25 to 40%) chance of causing long term symptoms that would decrease the quality of your life, that led to a substantial increase in over 20 cardiovascular diseases and diabetes over the next year and said, Dont worry about it  its only 1,000 people a day who are dying from it.

If it was polio, it would be absolute pandemonium, but this has become normalized in a way that people have become emotionally exhausted and thats whats driving this, rather than the science itself, Poland continued. My personal practice, though I am triple vaccinated  I would not go into indoor settings without wearing a mask properly. In my opinion that would be foolish to do  it isnt good for me or other people. And as physicians and health care workers, we serve as role models for others.

Palraj similarly continues to mask in indoor public spaces, noting vaccination is not 100% effective in preventing mild infections, which can have long term effects.

Especially with the new highly transmissible subvariant, its better to be safe, Palraj says.

Cases of BA.2, or stealth omicron, have led to a 30% increase in COVID hospitalizations in Europe  though not in cases needing ventilation  and around 25% of new cases stateside are now attributed to BA.2. COVID infections in New York are up 40% over the past two weeks, Poland says, and overall rates are doubling every week since we decided to pretend the pandemic is over.

BA.2 is around 50% more transmissible, Palraj says, but appears to have the same severity level of omicron, and the vaccines are still effective against the strain. The oral drug Paxlovid is available, but Palraj cautions if infection rates spike there may not be enough, and as such vaccination and other precautions are crucial.

In terms of increasing booster shots given BA.2, Poland suspects that an extra shot might be allowed for those of older age or with select comorbidities, but a new variant or surge could lead to expanded recommendation for another dose to more groups.

Poland stresses that having previously been diagnosed with COVID is not sufficient, rebuffing the term natural infection.

Illness induced immunity is not natural immunity...We dont want people to get infected due to the considerable long term consequences of prior infection. And it does not lead to long term immunity, Poland says.

Those who are eligible but continue to refuse vaccination, Poland says, are driving deaths and hospitalizations, and he emphasizes while no human made product is 100% effective or 100% safe, the nexus of wisdom lies in understanding the balance of risks and benefits.

Currently, the COVID vaccine is available to those 5 and older, and booster shots to those 12 and up. Moderna is expected to ask the FDA to authorize its two shot formula for youth six months to 6 years in the coming weeks. The vaccine in trials showed an efficacy rate of 38-44%, with no severe cases reported. Pfizer is expected to present data for its pediatric three-shot series next month.

Emily Pyrek can be reached at emily.pyrek@lee.net.

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Biddy Mason (1818-1891) was born enslaved in Mississippi. Given the name Bridget without a surname at birth, she was later nicknamed Biddy, and was owned by slaveowners in Georgia and South Carolina before being sold to her last owner, Robert Marion Smith, a Mississippi Mormon.

When Biddy was 30, she walked 1,700 miles behind the 300-wagon caravan that Smith led to what would eventually become Salt Lake City so he could establish a Mormon community there. As she followed the caravan, Biddy was responsible for setting up and breaking down camp, herding cattle, cooking, acting as a midwife, and taking care of her three daughters, 10, 4 and a newborn.

In 1851, Smith moved his family to California, even though slavery was illegal there. After 5 years of being enslaved in California, Biddy sued Smith for her freedom and in early 1856, her freedom was granted. She took the surname Mason from the name of the San Bernardino mayor.

She moved her family to L.A., continued working as a midwife and a nurse, and bought land in what is now downtown L.A. Mason organized the first A.M.E. church and used her approximately $3 million in wealth to become a philanthropist to the L.A. community.

Sponsored by AAUW La Crosse; researched by Ann Brice.

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Cavendish Maxwell, an independent firm of chartered surveyors and property consultants in the Middle East, has appointed Jed Wolfe as Regional Director.

From its recently opened office in Manama (Bahrain), Wolfe will lead business growth across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Chris Taylor, Group CEO, said: "We are delighted to have Jed on board to grow our existing business in Oman along with new jurisdictions like Bahrain. With his extensive knowledge and experience in the industry, he is well equipped to successfully expand our presence across the GCC. Jed will be instrumental in exploring new market opportunities and identifying demand for new service lines to support clients on the ground. His appointment supports our strategic objective to continue our expansion and to provide exceptional property services across the region.

Wolfe has 25 years of experience within the real estate industry and has held senior management positions for global property companies in the UK, KSA and Qatar. His expertise spans investment acquisitions and disposals, property and asset management, valuation and development consultancy for all property types and asset classes. He has worked closely with diverse businesses, including financial institutions, government and private entities, sovereign wealth funds and real estate funds. He is a certified valuer with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Bahrain Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).

Wolfe said: I am thrilled to be part of the team at Cavendish Maxwell and excited about setting up operations in a dynamic market like Bahrain. With the recent implementation of RERAs Bahrain Valuation Standard (BVS) and other supportive government initiatives to regulate the real estate market, we see lots of opportunities here. As a leading regional service provider, we are ready to extend our tailored services from Manama where we recently opened an office to service clients in Bahrain.

The new office has a diversified team of local and international talent, and with support from the regional network and head office in Dubai, will offer clients a wide range of property services including specialist valuation, property management and owners association advisory, the company said. - TradeArabia News Service
When Democrat Josh Kaul was sworn in as Wisconsins 45th attorney general, he started the job with far less power than his predecessors.

Thats because in a lame-duck session after the 2018 election, Republicans passed several laws that stripped the attorney general of certain powers, such as how Wisconsin spends court settlements, a move Kaul said has denied the Department of Justice about $30 million in funding.

Despite the setback, Kaul said hes kept his campaign promises and plans to make that the centerpiece of his reelection campaign. His opponents, meanwhile, say lame-duck laws or no, Kauls record is his biggest weakness.

Kaul has also used the office to push favorable political causes  boosting environmental protection, voting rights and reproductive rights  something he accused his predecessor, Republican Brad Schimel, of doing on the other side of the political spectrum.

Kaul will likely face either former state Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, or Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, two conservatives currently trying to rally the partys base ahead of the August primary.

Whomever he faces in November, it could be a challenge for Kaul, who defeated Schimel by less than one percentage point and faces the political headwinds of a midterm election environment favorable to Republicans.

While theres not any polling in the attorney general race, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has seen his approval rating hover around 50% for the last year and a half, according to Marquette University Law School polling.

Perceptions about crime, fueled in part by the 2020 racial justice protests and subsequent riots in Kenosha, as well as the Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy, which conservatives blame on lax bail standards in Milwaukee, could also influence the race.

Homicides in 2020 were at a five-year high, with 302 in 2020 and 185 in 2019, according to Wisconsin Department of Justice data. Data from 2021 isnt yet available, though crimes like larceny, theft, burglary and robbery are at the lowest level in five years.

Marquette Law School Poll director Charles Franklin noted that while 69% believe crime is rising nationally, 78% feel personally safe in their daily lives.

Is it really converting any votes, or is it just holding them to the party they would have voted for anyway? Franklin said.

Promises kept?

Prior to becoming the states top law enforcement officer, Kaul, a Stanford Law grad and former federal prosecutor in Baltimore whose mother, Peg Lautenschlager, served as attorney general from 2003 to 2007, worked on voting rights and election law for law firm Perkins Coie, the in-house counsel of the Democratic Party.

He now oversees more than 700 employees and litigates cases ranging from violent crime to Medicaid fraud.

One of the things Im really proud of is, if you look at the things I talked about in my campaign when I was running for attorney general, you can see a track record of us meeting those promises, Kaul said in an interview.

Kaul made a major issue in 2018 of processing Wisconsins backlog of sexual assault evidence kits, which Schimel completed in the final months before the election after years of delay. Kaul touts further progress on that front, with a bipartisan law being signed last year aimed at preventing a future backlog and expediting the testing of sexual assault kits.

Kaul highlights removing Wisconsin from a multistate challenge to the Affordable Care Act in the first months of his tenure. Other victories he touts:

$24 million settlement from a multistate suit against Navient, a student loan servicer, for predatory lending;

Persuading the state Supreme Court to halt purging the names of 69,000 people who may have been moved from voter rolls, leaving it up to local clerks to update their status;

Civil environmental enforcement lawsuit over PFAS spills;

and joining a multistate antitrust lawsuit against Facebook.

In recent years, Kauls office has led the prosecution into some of the states more notorious violent crimes, including a conviction by his office of Devon Neuman, a Fond du Lac man who murdered and robbed 30-year-old Logan Foster during a late-night scuffle in 2017.

In the first months of Kauls tenure, the DOJ also lent support to prosecutors in Barron County during the Jayme Closs murder and kidnapping case, which saw the perpetrator Jake Patterson plead guilty.

Opioid epidemic

Another central promise from Kauls first campaign, one he emphasized when he declared victory on the steps of the Dane County Courthouse in 2018, was the opioid epidemic.

Early in his tenure, Kaul joined a multistate lawsuit into the business practices of opioid distributors. In August 2021, Kaul announced his intent to join a $26 billion settlement between states and the nations top opioid distributors and manufacturers.

Through that suit, Wisconsin is set to receive $420 million over the next 18 years. About 70% of that funding will go to Wisconsin counties and cities, with the remainder being funneled to the Department of Health Services, Kaul said.

Were going to be getting resources, starting this year about $50 million, but more after that to communities across the state, Kaul said. Thats going to help with treatment, prevention and enforcement efforts.

But some county executives dispute the extent of Kauls role in the settlement.

He was a huge obstacle, alleged Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, who is a Republican. They (the Department of Justice) literally did nothing nothing nothing until it was becoming clear there was going to be a settlement.

Kaul opposed a bill signing off on the settlement, arguing it gave the Legislature authority over how to spend settlement dollars that went beyond even the rules passed in the lame-duck session. Evers signed it despite Kauls opposition.

This was bipartisan, said Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, another Republican. To claim credit for something for political purposes, off the backs of those who are actually addicted to opioids, thats just wrong.

The Department of Justice has been involved in the settlement since Kaul initiated the lawsuit in August, and has an assistant attorney general that collaborates on the settlement with prosecutors offices around the state, said Gillian Drummond, a Department of Justice spokesperson.

It would be untrue to say were not an active participant in the resolution of this matter, Drummond said.

Portage County Executive Chris Holman, though not privy to the day-to-day legal maneuvering surrounding the settlement, said he recalled a flurry of activity from the Attorney Generals Office when it was clear that a settlement might be imminent.

Social unrest

In August 2020, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was armed with a knife, seven times in the back. Two days later, Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and injured another during unrest on the streets of Kenosha.

The next day, the images of bedlam in Kenosha still fresh, Kaul went before the press and detailed Blakes shooting before rebuking the excesses of the protests.

What happened yesterday night in Kenosha was despicable, Kaul said. One of the things that we have seen in the last few nights is that there are a number of people, certainly some and quite possibly many of the people whove been involved in destructive activity or violent activity, who are not from the city of Kenosha and in some cases, not from the state of Wisconsin.

One of Kauls potential opponents, Jarchow, in statements has said the attorney general fanned the flames of unrest in Kenosha, and that his policies led to cities burning and a target on the back of our first responders.

They also say Kaul has neglected to fill key prosecutorial posts at the Department of Justice, although he has proposed more funding for law enforcement, and in previous budgets, dozens of prosecutors were added in district attorneys offices across the state.

Plan ignored

In November, Kaul proposed $115 million in funding under the moniker the Safer Wisconsin Plan. The plan, among many items, calls for $20 million in community policing grants, $12 million for law enforcement recruitment and training, $10 million for re-entry programs and $10 million for crime victim services.

In the months since the plan was introduced, Republicans have not touched it.

Its a comprehensive public safety plan, Kaul said. I believe its the only comprehensive public safety plan thats out there, either in the Legislature or from other candidates.

Jarchow and Toney have both highlighted the vacant prosecutorial positions at DOJ.

There were six vacant assistant attorney general posts in the Department of Justices Criminal Litigation Unit as of October and a total of 13 filled positions, according to the departments organizational chart.

Under Schimel, the former attorney general, there were 18 filled posts and one vacancy as of November 2018. The Department of Justices Criminal Appeals Unit had comparable staffing levels between the two administrations though, with 24 assistant attorneys general under Schimel and 25 currently under Kaul.

Thats caused a tremendous strain for prosecutors and law enforcement across Wisconsin, Toney said of the Department of Justices staffing in an interview. The failure of Josh Kaul to fill those positions has caused DAs across Wisconsin to be prosecuting cases in a multitude of counties.

Hands tied?

In the last two budgets, Kaul said he helped push for 70 prosecutor positions in DAs offices throughout the state. And while Kaul acknowledges the vacancies at the Department of Justice, he blames the lame-duck legislation passed before he took office, noting that its deprived the DOJ of around $30 million in funding that has affected staffing at all levels.

Kaul noted that one of his potential challengers, Jarchow, is a plaintiff, along with the rest of the Legislature, in Kauls lawsuit to recoup those funds.

The impact of those funds is significant, Kaul said. On one hand we have Adam Jarchow, whos literally suing to take those funds away from DOJ, and then weve got Eric Toney, whos been silent about the lame-duck legislation and now is using the fact that we werent able to fill those positions as an attack.

Jarchow, a former state legislator, disputed Kauls explanations that the shortfall in settlement funds has caused the empty posts, arguing that Kaul could have tried to fill them during budget negotiations.

He is wrong and bordering on lying, Jarchow said in an interview. Josh Kaul would have every single opportunity and all of the budget opportunities to fill vacancies with prosecutors, to fill vacancies at the (Division of Criminal Investigation).

Clear contrasts

As Jarchow and Toney continue to battle for the Republican nomination, Kaul has already hinted at what might be his line of attack against either opponent.

One of my two opponents, Adam Jarchow, I dont think has ever been a prosecutor, I dont know if hes ever worked on a criminal case, Kaul said. Eric Toneys (experience) is also much narrower. Hes been a prosecutor, unlike Jarchow, but he certainly hasnt had the breadth of cases that I have.

Whoever is Wisconsins attorney general come next year, that person could potentially arbitrate the states response to national issues like abortion, voting rights and the environment, issues where Kaul can draw a clear contrast with Republicans. The winner could also play a major role if there is any dispute over the 2024 presidential election.

Ive been an outspoken advocate for protecting our democracy, Kaul said. We have not seen that from the Republican candidates. Im a strong supporter of reproductive freedom. Republicans have attacked me for that issue. Weve heard very little from them about protecting consumers, protecting the environment. There are clear contrasts on a number of different issues.

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The League of Women Voters (LWV) of the La Crosse Area will celebrate 100 years in 2023. As a long-standing, well-respected organization founded on the principles of election protection, democratic reforms, and equal access to the ballot, the League maintains a staunch commitment to nonpartisanship and informing voters.

The LWV has a long history of connecting candidates with voters through candidate forums and voter guides based on candidate questionnaire responses. It is crucial that elected officials communicate and respond to voters so they can make informed choices that align with their values. This year, we are seeing a disconcerting trend where some candidates are claiming in writing that the League of Women Voters is a partisan organization and as such, they wont participate in our efforts to inform voters on their candidacy or positions. We find this to be not only an inaccurate claim but a disservice to the voters of the La Crosse area, especially during spring elections which by design are nonpartisan elections.

So what does nonpartisan mean and why is it important? As an organization run by volunteers who are committed to the mission of the League, we are passionate about free and fair elections. We are just as passionate about our commitment to our nonpartisan policy.

Nonpartisan as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary means not partisan: free from party affiliation, bias or designation. The League has adopted a formal nonpartisan policy included in our bylaws that states: Being nonpartisan, the League does not support or oppose candidates for public office in any election, nor does it take a stand for or against a political party.

To ensure that we remain nonpartisan, the League maintains certain restrictions for all Board Members, including that they may not run for, or hold, any partisan elective office at any level of government. In addition, the President, Voter Services Chair and Treasurer are not allowed to actively work for a candidates election campaign, attend fundraising events for candidates, display signs for a candidate, circulate candidates nominating petitions or engage in any political activity that might reasonably be construed as League endorsement of a party or candidate. Board members may serve as poll workers, sign nomination papers and attend events at which they meet candidates running for office.

Being nonpartisan does not mean that the LWV does not advocate for policies and issues. In fact, its that very role of advocacy that helped establish the right to vote for women. Each of our programs includes a statement that the LWV is a nonpartisan political organization, encouraging the informed and active participation of citizens in government, working to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influencing public policy through education and advocacy. There are more than 700 local Leagues throughout the country that work at the grassroots level to formally establish League policies at the national level.

Being political does not make us partisan. We advocate for a plethora of issues relating to representative government (fair maps, voting rights, etc.), natural resources (clean water, climate change, etc.), international relations (United Nations, trade, etc.) and social policies (child care, health care and equality of opportunity, etc.). We bring programs to the community to understand these issues and to educate the public. Programs this year have ranged from the Criminal Justice Management System to homelessness to the role of school boards and the security of Wisconsin elections. These are issues that are important to many La Crosse area voters.

To those candidates who chose not to participate in our effort to educate voters, we will continue to broadcast our programs, publish our voter guide of candidate responses, and work to educate voters on the myriad of issues raised by the candidates who do respond. And we will do so in a nonpartisan manner. We invite ALL candidates to our forums and send every candidate our candidate questionnaire, which is entered into the Vote411.org system. We will never endorse candidates or parties, but we will continue to work to get candidate information to voters who rely on and trust us. And to those candidates who do respond and participate, we thank you for your efforts to help inform voters about your positions  a core principle behind a successful democracy.

At a time when partisan politics is ripping apart communities, we encourage all candidates to work with us to educate voters about their vision for the future, their passion for various topics and why they chose to run for public office. Our community deserves to know.

Robin Schmidt is president of the League of Women Voters of the La Crosse Area.

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Bluewater Bio, one of the fastest-growing water solutions providers in the UK and Europe, has completed its landmark upgrade for a major wastewater treatment plant in Bahrain.

The $36.5 million project, involving over 500,000 man-hours of work, was completed without a single lost-time incident. The scheme was backed by UK Export Finance (UKEF).

This project marks the companys second large contract executed at Tubli - which is the biggest wastewater treatment plant in the country - serving a population equivalent of 1.2 million.

Bluewater Bio was responsible for all aspects of engineering, acting as EPC contractor and technology supplier. A further 220 MLD of clean water is now available for reuse whilst protecting the local environment.

Now that the performance test is complete  meeting or exceeding all client objectives - Bluewater Bio will operate and maintain the new plant alongside another plant installed previously with HYBACS, a patented HYBrid ACtivated Sludge process for nutrient removal, developed from a technology originating in South Korea.

Bluewater Bio Executive Chairman Richard Haddon said: "I am pleased to say that we have successfully completed our second large contract at Tubli, further supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain in meeting their water and environmental goals."

"The implementation of HYBACS has not only helped with their water strategy, but has done so without using any additional land, a key consideration in Bahrain," he stated.

British Ambassador to Bahrain Roderick Drummond said: "This project will no doubt improve the lives of residents living and working in the Tubli Bay Area. Environmental regeneration projects such as this, executed via British-Bahraini collaboration, further highlights the positive impact our respective countries can achieve together."

"Bluewater Bio is an excellent example for UK companies looking to trade overseas. They provide technical solutions that are best-in-class, adhere to the highest standards of health & safety, and commit to establishing long-term partnerships with their clients," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Thailand is known for its spicy, complex foods. So, something as simple as instant noodles might seem unlikely to be a favorite among Thais.

But for young Thais like Ratchadaporn Krongngam, a new store with more than 70 kinds of instant noodles from across Asia is a popular place to visit.

Good Noodle opened in a Bangkok shopping center last October. It has already welcomed thousands of customers. The store offers noodles from places like Indonesia, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Ratchadaporn, who is 18, has visited Good Noodle three times already. I love it here because I wanted to try out new and different kinds of instant noodles as I want to know how all of them taste," he said.

People often eat the noodles in the store, where they can cook their own three-minute meal. Sirayakorn Charoenthat, another 18-year-old, said the prices were reasonable for students compared to eating at restaurants.

Instant noodles are hugely popular in many Asian countries because of their taste, simplicity, and low price. Health experts warn against eating too much of the highly processed food because it lacks important nutrients.

Ungkool Wongkolthoot runs the store. He said he searched through Bangkok's food stores during the pandemic for all the different kinds of instant noodles. He discovered more than 350 of them.

This gave him the idea to open Good Noodle.

"I wanted to give the customers an instant experience with the noodles, he said. Not just buying the noodles from other convenience stores or supermarkets, then forgetting about them at home.

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Reuters news agency reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

shopping - n. the activity of visiting places where goods are sold in order to look at and buy things (such as food, clothing, etc.)

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

convenience - adj. a quality or situation that makes something easy or useful for someone by reducing the amount of work or time required to do something
A Russian artist and a Ukrainian owner of a holiday home complex on the Indonesian resort island of Bali have come together in a special way.

They are promoting peace and unity through a large piece of art.

The piece of art is made up of a kind of writing called calligraphy. Calligraphy is a beautiful way of writing that often uses a special writing tool.

The piece of calligraphy is written on the tops of nine buildings. It is 960 square meters. And it spells out United World in six languages: Russian, Ukrainian, English, Chinese, French, and Indonesian.

"This work is not a political statement, it's a cultural statement, it's a social statement, about people and the way ... we can unite together to create a future in harmony," Russian calligraphy artist Pokras Lampas told Reuters.

Lampas is 30 years old and has been in Bali since December. He said the idea was developed with a group of Ukrainian friends before the war started. But now, the work has taken on even more meaning.

Lampas describes his style as Calligrafuturism. He says it is part modern calligraphy and part street art. He spent three weeks creating the work.

Alex Shtefan is the Ukrainian running the holiday home, or villas, complex. He says the artwork follows his values and sends an important message.

"We can show in our villas to the world our idea that (the) world needs to be united," said Shtefan. He has been living in Indonesia for six years and is 35 years old.

Both men said they were angered by the war in Ukraine.

"If we can find a way to stop it and find a peaceful way to negotiate, we need to make it now," Lampas said. Even though the two countries have their own cultures, "Russia and Ukraine always was like a brother, we are always ... close, we always help each other and even we look similar," said Shtefan.

"We cannot believe that it's happened," Shtefan said, adding that he was worried for the safety of loved ones back home.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February in a military offensive it describes as a "special military operation."

Im Faith Pirlo.

Sultan Anshori reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

harmony  n. a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other, or when things seem right or suitable together

villa  n. a house, usually in the countryside or near the sea, especially in southern Europe, and often one that people can rent for a vacation

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Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Company (Sadafco) has officially opened its state-of-the-art ice cream factory adding 1,570 sq m to its production area.

The unit was opened by the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef and other senior dignitaries.

Located in Jeddah's Modon Industrial City No 1, the new ice cream factory, combined with the existing Sadafco milk factory, covers over 45,000 sq m and boasts the highest output per square metre in the Middle East.

Designed to help meet the kingdom's current production needs and facilitate further growth, the facility is expected to facilitate future expansion.

The opening of this facility is in line with the Ministrys Made in Saudi initiative which encourages both local manufacturing and consumers to buy local produce. In addition, there is still 1,060 sq m of open space available to meet future demand.

Sadafco now has a frozen warehouse capacity of 6,000 pallets and has doubled its mixing and pasteurisation capacities in anticipation of upcoming opportunities. In addition, the new factory will enhance local production of the Saudia Ice Cream range, including its iconic Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as contribute to the country's vision of Made in Saudi. It will contribute to efforts to build an industrial base in the kingdom.

On the occasion, Patrick Stillhart, CEO, Sadafco said: The ice cream market in Saudi Arabia has been registering positive annual growth since 2015. Despite the challenging conditions brought on by the pandemic in the last two years, demand has remained strong. With this new ice cream factory, we aim to meet this growing demand and increase our customer base targeting the younger, more adventurous population.

Commenting on Sadafcos role in the community, he added: A larger facility means more jobs and employment opportunities. We are proud to be one of the key contributors to the socio-economic development in the country and to empower women in our society as we look to enhance our female workforce in various levels and across most functions.

Sadafco is the leader in the UHT (long life) Milk market in Saudi Arabia, with a product portfolio ranging from Breakfast Cream, Cheese, Butter to Tomato Paste and Ice Cream among others. Through the diversification of its key product offerings and adopting the use of best-in-class operating standards, the company strives to delight its consumers, maintain a happy working culture and increase shareholder value.-- TradeArabia News Service
The United States State Department has referred more than 5,000 Afghan refugees seeking admission to the United States to a partner program in Canada. Wait times for refugees there are shorter.

We are working with Canada to refer up to 5,000 refugees to Canada, independent of our ongoing efforts for U.S. resettlement, a State Department spokesman told VOA.

On the Canadian side, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said Afghan refugees referred by the U.S. are coming to Canada from third countries. They have been living in those countries since fleeing Afghanistan.

Rescue efforts

Newly formed groups like Operation North Star and Task Force Pineapple are working to rescue those still in Afghanistan. Such groups formed after the Taliban takeover of the country last August.

But getting people out of Afghanistan is just part of the problem.

The Operation North Star website says they have almost 500 Afghans in third countries and more than 2,000 Afghans in safe homes in Afghanistan.

The process to move to the United States is a difficult one for refugees. It includes finding safe houses, leaving Afghanistan, finding a third country, applying to a refugee program, and then arriving in a new country.

The U.S. immigration system has many complex laws related to refugees entering the United States. The full process can take two to five years.

Some private groups are looking to other countries as permanent homes for refugees because of slow U.S. processing.

Immigration-friendly Canada is a favored place.

Since October 1, 2021, 133 Afghans have been admitted into the U.S. through the U.S. Refugee Admission Program. A total 1,545 refugees have been admitted through the Special Immigrant Visa program. That program is for those people who worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan.

Resettlement to Canada

Once the U.S. identifies Afghan refugees who meet certain requirements, they are accepted for resettlement to Canada.

Jeffrey MacDonald is the communications officer at IRCC. He said that, as government-assisted refugees, Afghans become permanent residents on arrival and can use the countrys Resettlement Assistance Program.

The Canadian government provides temporary housing and up to 12 months of financial support.

MacDonald said in an email to VOA that monthly financial support levels for housing, food, and other costs depend on where in Canada the refugees live. They also depend on the size of the family.

The Canadian government has promised to accept 40,000 Afghan refugees. That includes the 5,000 people being referred through the partnership with the U.S.

Since last August, Canada has admitted a little over 8,800 Afghan refugees.

Im Susan Shand.

Sultan Anshori reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

refer  v. to send (someone or something) to a particular person or place for treatment, help, or advice

apply  v. to ask formally for something (such as a job, admission to a school, or a loan) usually in writing

resident  n. someone who lives in a particular place

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LEXINGTON  In the multi-step process to allow Fat Dogs to add diesel pumps and expand their location, the Lexington Community Development Agency approved the resolution recommending the proposed redevelopment plan be approved.

The Planning Commission had first recommended approval of the subdivision plan that will allow for the redevelopment in December 2021, the city council approved the subdivision later in the month.

The Community Development Agency (CDA) approved the redevelopment plan itself in February and at their Monday, March 21 meeting, they reviewed the formal resolution that will go on to the city council for their approval.

The project calls for an expansion south of the current Fat Dogs location, to where the former Gable View Inn use to be before it was demolished.

High volume diesel pumps will be added to serve the, significant semi-truck market, according to Wilkinson Development, the owners of Fat Dogs. As a part of the plan, the current building will be remodeled and expanded to provide a new restaurant and travel center.

No tenant for the restaurant space has been named by Wilkinson Development so far.

A new canopy, underground piping and new pumps will be installed. Space will be created to the west of the pumps to allow for around 10 semi parking spots.

The expanding of the store will add 6,480 square feet to the location, making the total coverage after development 13,820 square feet. Five full time jobs plan to be added after expansion.

Development of the project is anticipated to start in May or June 2022.

Wilkinson Development has requested tax increment financing (TIF) assistance in the amount of $700,000, which would go to covering demolition, concrete and pipe and architecture costs. The total cost of the project will be around $5,348,500.00.

CDA member Seth McFarland noted the necessity of a project like this, but again expressed his concern at the amount of semi-truck traffic that could be turning off of Plum Creek Parkway (Highway 283) and if the existing turn lane could accommodate the volume.

Clarine Erickoff, Chief of Operations with Wilkinson Development, noted at a past meeting the company owns the former Sonic location, just to the south of the lot where the diesel pumps would be added. Access from this location could help alleviate turning traffic off of the parkway.

She did note there wasnt any mention of this property in the plan because Wilkinson is involved in a lawsuit with the location since 2019 and will be heard before the Nebraska Supreme Court soon. Erickoff said they have the property deed in hand; they just cant do anything with the property yet.

City Manager Joe Pepplitsch asked the CDA members to think of the future use and access to the location and said Wilkinson will design a plan that will work for the space.

The CDA approved the resolution for the redevelopment plan.

The CDA also considered a third amendment to the agreement for The Row Redevelopment project.

The Row is located in southwest Lexington along Eisenhower Dr., the first 20 units were built as part of phase one of the redevelopment project. Phase two was to add 12 additional units on Roosevelt Dr.

Pepplitsch said the project ran into some delays in 2019 and then the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has caused further delays.

The third amendment adjusts the timing of the phasing of the project and the authorization of TIF indebtedness, now four TIF notes will be issued. The CDA approved the amendment.

During the roundtable discussion Pepplitsch said the CDA will meet in April where the Fat Dogs project will be finalized and a new redevelopment plan will be proposed.
LEXINGTON  The Lexington Public School district report card was presented at the Monday, March 21 school board meeting. Here are some of the highlights from the report.

Lexington continues to grow more diverse, as 74.7 percent of the students identify as Hispanic, 13.7 percent are white and 9.6 percent are Black. The states percentage in these categories is 19.9 percent, 64.9 and 6.7 percent respectively.

As for student demographics, 72 percent are eligible for free and reduced meal prices, compared to the state average of 46 percent, 36 percent are learning the English language; in stark contrast to the states seven percent and 71 percent self-report their home language is not English.

The Lexington district saw a slight drop in enrollment during the 2020-2021 school year, down to 3,104 from 3,169 the past year, but slight dips have been noted two other times in the past six years.

The average K-5 class size is 19.1; 6-8 average class size, 17.4 and 9-12 class size, 18.7. It was noted the district tries to keep the number of students in one class room below 20.

As for daily average attendance, Lexingtons percentage is 96 percent, compared to the state average of 93 percent. Lexingtons graduation rate is 96 percent, compared to the states 88 percent; the college going rate for Lexington is 74 percent, one percent under the state average.

Student test scores across the district, indeed around the state and nation, took a hit due to the 45 days lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown during the latter part of the 2019-2020 school year.

For instance, junior class ACT percent meeting expectations lagged behind the state average. In math, Lexington recorded 28 percent to the state average of 44 percent, in science, 37 percent compared to 50 percent.

However, students are showing improvement as in-person class time continues. For instance, in the Acadience reading scores, kindergarteners in the winter of 2021 were at 67 percent at or above benchmark, while in the winter of 2022 they improved to 78 percent.

In fact, first, second, third, fourth and fifth grades saw some improvement over the same period.

It was noted, while many schools in Nebraska rely on their local property taxes, 56.1 percent is the state average; Lexington receives around 60 percent of their general fund from state funds.

As for facilities, the Early Learning Academy enrolled 242 students last school year and additions were last made in 2009 when it opened.

Morton Elementary enrolled 299 and additions were last made in 2006 and are next up on the list for improvements; Sandoz Elementary enrolled 292 and additions were last made in 2019; Pershing Elementary enrolled 361 students and additions were last made in 2009; Bryan Elementary enrolled 374 students and additions were last made in 2012.

The Lexington Middle School enrolled 582 students and additions were last made in 2013 and Lexington High School enrolled 954 students and additions were last made in 2015.

The full district report card can be viewed on Page 9 of the March 26 edition of the Clipper-Herald.
Hisense, a global electronics and whitegoods manufacturer, has opened its first branded store in the Middle East at the new Dubai Hills Mall shopping and lifestyle destination, thus marking a strategic milestone in the technology leaders regional expansion initiatives.

The new store features Hisenses complete range of smart consumer electronics and home appliance products, including numerous models of TVs, Laser TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves, as well as the newest mobile category and smartphone range.

The stores product line-up also includes an assortment of home and kitchen appliances under the brand Gorenje  the European homeware manufacturer that was acquired by Hisense in 2018.

The landmark opening was attended by regional leadership and representatives from from Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism (DET), including Shaikha Ahmad Al Bishri - Director of Business Excellence Department and Ahmad Hassan Al Zaabi - Director of the Consumer Protection Department.

Speaking at the launch, Jason Ou, President of Hisense Middle East & Africa, said: "We are excited to announce the opening of our very first physical store here in Dubai. As one of the fastest-growing regions for Hisense globally, our company values of driving innovation and delivering best-in-class quality to customers resonates so well in the Emirates."

"This is just the beginning of our regional journey; we are already in the planning phase for another flagship store in Qatar, which will be closely followed by with two more stores planned in Saudi Arabia this year," he stated.

After touring the 1,358 sq m store, Al Bishri maintained the opening underlined Dubais enduring appeal to major global brands.

"For Hisense to choose Dubai for its first branded store in the region is a clear testament to the business-friendly landscape and commercial appeal of Dubai," said Al Bishri.

"Dubai and Hisense share many values, including the prioritisation of technology, innovation and customer happiness," she added.

Hisense COO (Mena) Ismail Al Hurani said: "The opening of our first regional store further underlines the brands vision - set when launched in 1969 - to become the worlds most reliable consumer electronics brand."

"Through the continual pursuit of scientific and technological innovation, our ongoing expansion plans, and rollout of our latest and most innovative product, we are aiming to become the regions preferred brand for millions of consumers across the Middle East," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
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PROGRESS: We are an area, just like the Hill Country is: Lufkin, Nacogdoches partnership teams up for a stronger voice in Austin

Contributed Community leaders and elected officials in Lufkin and Nacogdoches are promoting regionalism and striving for a larger voice for East Texas. Februarys combined Lufkin/Angelina County and Nacogdoches County Chamber Day in Austin, the first joint effort in 20 years, to better unify the communities. From the left are Tara Watson-Watkins, president and CEO of the Lufkin/Angelina County Chambe of Commerce; Mario Canizares, Nacogdoches city manager; Lufkin Mayor Mark Hicks; SFA president Scott Gordon; state Rep. Trent Ashby; Angelina College president Michael Simon; Nacogdoches Mayor Jimmy Mize; Kevin Gee, Lufkin city manager; and Kelly Daniel, executive vice president at the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce. Contributed East Texas business leaders, members of the current Leadership Lufkin class and members of the Lufkin/Angelina County and Nacogdoches County chambers of commerce pose for a photo in the Capitol Rotunda between sessions on Chamber Day in Austin. This was the first time in 20 years the two chambers teamed up for the event, allowing Lufkin and Nacogdoches to have a larger delegation while promoting regionalism. Participants had the opportunity to visit with state officials while also learning a little about how state government works.

Henry Ford, an American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, once said, If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.

The Lufkin and Nacogdoches communities recently began creating plans to better unify the communities after years of competition. Leaders in both communities realize working separately on regional issues, including broadband and economic development, weakens, rather than grows, the region.

And it is something they want to fix.

The future is in regionalism, Lufkin Mayor Mark Hicks said. Were louder together and stronger in numbers. Representing our communities together will get more accomplished than working separately.

Tara Watson-Watkins, president and CEO of the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce, and C. Wayne Mitchell, president and CEO of the Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce, began speaking years ago, Watson-Watkins said. Those talks turned into regular conversations and, ultimately, plans to connect the two cities.

Nacogdoches Mayor Jimmy Mize said he and Hicks have discussed the historic division between the two communities and heard encouragement from several sources to work together more  especially as it relates to economic development.

(Texas Senator) Robert Nichols has told me several times, When you two come together and work together, I can get things done a lot easier than I can if youre asking for one thing and theyre asking for something different, Mize said.

Nacogdoches leaders reached out to Lufkin, and this eventually led to a lunch meeting, Hicks said. And in sharing issues, they learned both communities are tackling many of the same problems, he said, adding that in working together, they may find more success.

The partnership got a boost by some convenient timing. Not only did Mize and Hicks take office at the same time, state Reps. Travis Clardy and Trent Ashby were elected to the Texas House at the same time, Mize said.

Nacogdoches has been fortunate that we have Travis as our representative, but Trent will help us too  especially on issues that affect Stephen F. Austin State University, Mize said. Both of them have always said the same thing, that both communities will do better if they come in with a common goal.

Collaboration between the two counties is the key to success, Mitchell said. Chamber officials from both communities recently traveled to Austin to discuss regional priorities with state officials. This was something that had been in the works since 2020, Watson-Watkins said. The partnership was slowed, but not stopped, by the COVID-19, she said.

Im so proud that our investors were willing to look at this in, I feel like, a new light and were willing to see the benefits of doing a collaboration and a joint partnership with our trip to Austin, she said. I think it started with Austin, but it really branched out from there.

Mitchell said they typically hold such events during legislative sessions but he believes this trip during the interim was productive. Of six items the group discussed in Austin, five are exactly the same for both counties, he said.

While in Austin, business representatives from Lufkin and Nacogdoches spoke with leaders of the Texas Association of Business about their goals and priorities, Watson-Watkins said. These priorities included grants for students to become better trained and supporting Naskila Gaming.

I think first and foremost, if we can work together, then we represent a larger group of people, of voters, and that obviously makes a difference on a state level, Hicks said. We are an area, just like the Hill Country is.

Watson-Watkins believes this connection is important, not just for economic development but for those who have already invested in the community. They need to know that not only do the chambers have connections in Austin but that they can get information and try to move agendas that help local business owners who are already plugged into East Texas.

Hicks, Watson-Watkins, Mitchell and Mize want this partnership to expand to the other East Texas communities, because what affects Lufkin and Nacogdoches likely affects others, as well.

Our competition is not Lufkin, Henderson or Longview  we need to collaborate with them, Mitchell said. If we cant, were not going to compete against the metro areas of Texas. Theyre very well organized, very well financed and very well positioned. Thats the sad news.

But it is made easier by the fact that the East Texas cities are past the point of competition, or wanting the kudos for bringing a new business solely to their town, Watson-Watkins said.

What benefits one community can help them all. She pointed to the connection Angelina County has with the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe and Naskila Gaming, where the entities support each other because they know, ultimately, they are stronger together.

We know that people talk, and we want them to talk positively, she said. And if were working together, it shows joint collaboration.

Tourism

The convention and visitors bureaus in both cities are currently looking for ways to work together on events that capitalize on the lakes. Combining the natural assets of the two counties could raise the awareness of the region as an ecotourism destination.

Mize wants to identify a couple smaller projects to increase tourism and log some successes before moving on to bigger goals.

Hicks believes having events running simultaneously could promote both cities better. For example, Nacogdoches holds the annual Blueberry Festival every spring; Hicks has met people who were in town for the festival but staying in Lufkin.

Why not have something going at the same time (in Lufkin) to encourage travel between the two cities? he asked.

Economic development

While creative tension is good among entities in the region, neither can be effective if theyre operating in a silo, Mitchell said.

There are a lot of small rural towns dying off because everyone is moving away because there are no jobs, Hicks said. How do we keep a community relevant? What can we promote there?

Larisa Philpot, president and CEO of the Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation, said the differences between her organization and the Lufkin Economic Development Corporation help them work well together.

While Lufkin has been successful in recruiting businesses to fill vacant industrial sites, NEDCO focuses more on relationships and entrepreneurship.

Each of us is too small to really succeed without the other, Philpott said. If one of us is able to land a very large employer, its going to be a win for both of us.

SFA President Scott Gordon helped connect leaders with both cities to IC2  a think tank at the University of Texas at Austin  to explore economic development in Texas smaller, remote communities. What Hicks learned is the region needs to consider what it has to offer and what it can market.

I know we have a ton of water, so how do we identify companies that need water and how do we make it easy for them to get over here? Hicks asked.

But economic development is more complex than just marketing; the region needs to prove it has the space to house new industries and the workforce to support these often million-plus-dollar investments.

Both communities have to find the space for prospective businesses looking to expand or relocate. Both cities want to have properties to offer these businesses but are bursting at the seams, Hicks said.

We all face this in economic development, he said. We have to have developed properties we can market to prospective businesses and those properties need to be in city limits. The 4B board can offer some properties outside the city limits, but incentives work better inside those limits.

And having properties within the city limits means the cities can extend utilities to the prospective sites, Hicks said. But this requires annexations and the growth of city limit lines.

It is a bit more challenging to find appropriate sites for larger industry in Nacogdoches  something you might expect in a town that has been here for 300 years, Philpott said.

Its easy to drive around town and see, Well, thats just a bunch of trees on that lot. Why isnt there a business there? Well, the grade may change a hundred feet over this piece of property or we may not have a sewer line within three miles of it, she said.

The only thing necessary to move those obstacles out of the way is money, Philpott added.

A billion-dollar capital investment that will bring 400 new jobs to town can suddenly open up a lot more places that we can develop, but it would come at a very high cost, Philpott said.

Either city also would be challenged to meet the needs of a new business that provides 100 or more jobs. Nacogdoches has been experiencing a housing shortage, but Mize hopes that a new subdivision recently approved by the city council will help to resolve that need.

He is pleased those homes will be built within the city limits since much of the recent growth in both communities has been outside the city limits, where development costs can be lower.

However, several of the smaller community water companies have limited capacity for growth.

They might be able to deliver to one or two houses but they cant deliver to a 40-house subdivision, Mize said.

Looking at the wider area, Angelina and Nacogdoches counties together could accommodate a hundred new families, as well as have a better chance of having workers with the training and experience a new business would need.

Workforce training

Hicks said he learned there are three things a community needs to improve economic development: talent, talent and more talent.

Companies in the digital space like Samsung are choosing to grow in Austin because there are individuals trained in chip manufacturing, he said. They look at Lufkin and see a historically industrial city, and for a tech company, they wonder if those prospective employees would have what it takes, he said.

Both Hicks and Mize believe resources at SFA and Angelina College will help the workforce grow with the times. The two schools already are working together, so it is time for the cities to do the same, Hicks said.

They are looking at training students looking to graduate from high school in the coming years, as well, Hicks said. Mize said the new Career and Technology Center at Nacogdoches ISD will help provide qualified workers for the future  adding to the training resources SFA and Angelina College currently provide.

Mize is hopeful that NISD will expand options for adult education, as well.

Angelina is a great resource, but its a 35- to 40-minute drive. Were constantly looking for ways to provide adult workforce training in our community, he said.

Local industry leaders frequently pass the word through the Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation that they need workers in the skilled trades.

Theyre always telling us, We can put a welder to work or We can use a technician in our business, but we cant find them, Mize said. Theyre left to either pay overtime or hire a contractor to come in and do the work.

Mize added that most of those businesses would rather have an employee provide those services.

Its really frustrating that we can put somebody to work in a probably $75,000 to $80,000 a year job in local industry with good hours, and we dont have that person, he said.

What else?

Tourism and economic development are just the tip of the iceberg, but leaders hope to address several other areas of interest. Both communities agree an improvement in broadband access, transportation and health care  especially mental health care  are important.

We are very much in the beginning stages, Hicks said. Some of the initial things are cross promotion of the two cities  establishing how to work together to promote both areas  and job training  how to work with the schools on job training.

Its about the quality of life.
The world of beer is very XY-centric, from beer drinkers to beer makers.

Further, the industry is no stranger to sexism and sexist vernacular, whether it be in the form of communication over the bar, spewed across a beer label or chauvinistic behavior from colleagues. Far too many times have I been asked if I actually drink the beer I am describing to a male customer.

I was once tending bar at a taproom that I managed and a prominent beer industry blogger and marketer refused to take suggestions from me and my female co-worker and would only conversate and be persuaded by the male owner  even after the brewery owner continued to include us in on the bloggers beverage journey during his stay. Little eye contact, minimal conversation, no respect.

Fortunately, this industry is built on innovation, collaboration and unparalleled momentum by its women and nonbinary professionals. To mark International Womens Day on March 8, Pink Boots Society (pinkbootssociety.org) organized an international collaborative brew day in the name of empowerment.

Pink Boots is an organization that exists to assist, inspire, and encourage women and/or non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage profession through education. Alongside hop supplier Yakima Chief Hops (yakimachief.com) and hundreds of breweries worldwide, Pink Boots launched the Womens Day initiative to showcase the plethora of talent that characterizes this adult beverage segment.

For the past five years, Yakima Chief has created an exclusive hop blend for the Pink Boots collaboration brew day  with a portion of the proceeds going back to the societys scholarship fund. Each year, this unique hop blend is hand-selected by Pink Boots members during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The fifth annual 2022 hop blend includes Idaho Gem, HBC 630, Talus, Triumph and Loral hops to drive aromatics of bubble gum, juicy tropical fruit, vibrant citrus and earthy pine.

Five Wisconsin breweries registered a Pink Boots collaboration this year: Third Space Brewing, Lakefront Brewery and Component Brewing, all in Milwaukee; Titletown Brewing in Green Bay; and Tumbled Rock Brewery and Kitchen in Baraboo. Beer releases are set and a portion of the proceeds of all of those brews will be donated to the Wisconsin PBS Chapter.

Most recently, Third Space released the second edition of Like a Girl IPA. Third Space brewer  and Pink Boots Wisconsin chapter leader  Samantha Danen, who developed the recipe, says the 7% ABV beer presents itself with a sweet malt backbone, balanced with a hop-forward bitterness and aromas of mandarin orange citrus and tropical fruit.

Other beers showcasing the special release PBS hop blend include a grisette (farmhouse-inspired ale) brewed with Earl Grey tea and orange peel from Lakefront Brewing releasing on April 13, Pink Boot Goofin dry-hopped malt liquor from Tumbled Rock Brewery and Kitchen and Pink Boots New England Double IPA from Component Brewing and Octavia White IPA from Titletown out now.

Not only is Octavia White IPA brewed with this years Pink Boots hop blend but its namesake pays tribute to Ms. Octavia Van Dycke, the powerhouse behind Green Bays O. Van Dycke Brewing Co., established back in the 1890s. This white IPA is the result of a pre-prohibition Weissbier recipe jazzed up with hops to complement both the historical and present influence of women in the Green Bay brewing community.

All of these lovely brews  showcasing the magnificent non-male talent in the Wisconsin beer industry  are, or will be, available at the associated brewery taprooms and out in the market in limited supply.

Looking to try them all alongside one another and meet a bunch of their makers and industry mavens? Swing on by the Sugar Maple on April 15 from 5 p.m. to close, and taste the diversity of this liquid of which all have two things in common: one very unique hop blend and brewed by empowered women and nonbinary professionals.

There are challenges that come with being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and thats one of the reasons I joined Pink Boots Society, Danen said. Ive been able to meet like-minded women who love beer and love being a part of this industry, and our hope is that we can show other women that there is a place for them here as well.

It sure is nice to see the influx of support and the impact this consolidated pro-woman effort has on industries, in particular, those characterized as male-dominated.

As this years National Womens Month comes to an end, lets not stop supporting and empowering women and nonbinary individuals. We exist. We are here. And holy cannoli, can we rock the beer world.

Got a beer youd like the Beer Baron or Draft Queen to pop the cap on? Contact Chris Drosner at chrisdrosner@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @WIbeerbaron. Contact Katie Herrera at cellaredkatie@gmail.com or on Twitter @CellaredKatie.
A town of Madison man was charged Friday with his 11th open criminal case, this one alleging that he and another man robbed a would-be marijuana customer of his money and his gun during an arranged meeting in Fitchburg last week.

Dane County Court Commissioner Jason Hanson ordered Katoine L. Richardson, 19, jailed on $30,000 bail after Richardson appeared in court Friday. Richardson was formally charged with being a party to armed robbery, pointing a firearm at another person, theft of a firearm, two counts of possession of a firearm by a person previously adjudicated delinquent, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and eight counts of felony bail jumping.

Richardson was charged last year with reckless endangerment, illegal firearm possession, resisting police and carrying a concealed weapon after an Oct. 10 incident on State Street in which its alleged he fired a gunshot while struggling with officers on the ground. The gun was not pointed at anyone, and the shot did not hit anyone.

Until his arrest by Fitchburg police on Wednesday, Richardson had been free since Oct. 21, when $11,000 bail was posted on his behalf by a social justice organization, identified in court as Freedom Inc. by Assistant Public Defender Richard Jones, who appeared in court for Richardson. Jones told Hanson he had hoped bail would be set in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, something Richardsons family might be able to pay, because he doubts Freedom Inc. would provide another $30,000 for Richardson.

During the Oct. 10 incident on State Street, a Madison police officer was accidentally shot by another officer, though a description of the incident in a Madison police news release left many to assume that Richardson had fired the shot that wounded the officer. That was not the case.

The state Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the incident. Last month, Madison police announced that in November, District Attorney Ismael Ozanne had determined that no charges would be filed against Officer Keith Brown, who inadvertently shot and wounded another officer during Richardsons arrest.

In court Friday, Richardson talked about the difficulty he has had since then with people assuming they know what happened during the State Street incident.

All this stuff really makes it hard to deal with life everywhere I go, Richardson said. Even friends I went to school with (say), Oh you shot that policeman. You all dont know what I did, man. Everybodys just going off the criminal complaints and what the news reporters write. Its really affected me. None of this is proven fact. None of this is engraved. Ive gotta deal with it everywhere I go, Im the State Street shooter. None of this is true.

Jones told Richardson he was hurting his own case by speaking, but Hanson interjected that he understands what Richardson is saying.

I continue to recognize that theres never been an allegation that you shot a police officer, Hanson said. I recognize that.

According to the complaint filed Friday:

A man told police on March 18 that he had arranged to buy marijuana from someone he knows as Kado, later identified as Richardson. Once the 23-year-old man got into the back seat of a vehicle Kado was in, he said, Kado and the driver pointed guns at him and took $120 cash and a handgun from him.

A Fitchburg officer recognized the Kado nickname as one used by Richardson. A Snapchat account in Kados name contained a photo from March 18 showing several guns and a caption stating took a (expletive) pipe it was the gun for me. Pipe is a word for gun.

Police also found a Cash App transaction between the victim and Richardson, which is the way the man said he had paid for the marijuana he was supposed to get from Richardson.

Knowing he had a court appearance on Wednesday morning, police followed Richardson from a motel where he was staying to the Dane County Courthouse. He parked in front of the Public Safety Building.

With a search warrant, police searched Richardsons car. In a backpack that Richardson was seen carrying from the motel to his car police found the gun that was stolen from the marijuana customer on March 18.

Also found in the car were individually packaged baggies of marijuana, three digital scales, a second handgun and ammunition. Richardson was also carrying $2,487 in cash.

Speaking with detectives, Richardson denied pulling a gun on anyone and stealing a gun. Told that police had found the stolen gun, Richardson responded, OK, OK, if he told you he told you, but I wasnt by myself.

He added, With that being said, it happened.

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A man charged with stealing cash from a donation box during a burglary at Vilas Zoo last summer was arrested Wednesday on Madison's North Side, Madison police said.

Carlos T. Davis, 37, was arrested in the 2900 block of Dryden Drive on a burglary charge that was filed last month and a state Department of Corrections hold, according to police.

According to a criminal complaint filed on Feb. 25, security personnel called police to the zoo, 702 S. Randall Ave., for a burglary near the main gate. An alarm company had notified the security firm about a break-in. A security guard found a broken window and a damaged cash box, then followed a trail of cash and checks to a gate in the zoo's perimeter fence.

It appeared the burglar used a rock to break into a concession area. A Plexiglas donation box was shattered on the floor, the complaint states.

Security video captured an image of a man entering the concession stand through a window. After that image was released to the media by police, a person who had seen it on Madison.com through Facebook identified the person as Davis. The identity was later confirmed by law enforcement records, the complaint states.

Damage to the donation box and window was estimated at $700, while the cash loss was $200 to $300, the complaint states.

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A Dane County sheriffs deputy who was fired for undisclosed reasons in November  a month after saying she shot at a man who stabbed her in Festge Park  likely caused her own injuries with a box cutter while she was intoxicated, according to her termination letter.

The Wisconsin Department of Justices Division of Criminal Investigation originally reported the deputy, Sarah Bortz-Rodriguez, said she saw a suspicious person while on routine patrol at the park in the town of Berry near Cross Plains at about 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 21. And Bortz-Rodriguez initially told authorities she approached a man who stabbed her with an edged weapon. The action caused her to fire her gun, and she was later taken to a hospital for treatment.

Throughout that night and into the morning, police searched for the alleged assailant. Residents in the immediate area were on lockdown. The investigation turned up no answers, but rather factual inconsistences in Bortz-Rodriguezs initial statement about the incident, according to a nine-page letter the Wisconsin State Journal obtained from the Sheriffs Office about her firing.

Bortz-Rodriguez later told authorities  after they pointed out the inconsistencies  that following an earlier critical incident review at the precinct she drove around to try and calm herself emotionally, according to the letter.

The deputy told authorities she then returned to the precinct and traveled to an area near Rileys Tavern where she later consumed a substance that is blacked out in the letter. Bortz-Rodriguez afterward decided she was going to ride out the rest of her shift, the letter states.

After not notifying a supervisor of her condition, Bortz-Rodriguez told authorities that upon arrival to Festge Park, she felt the substance she consumed take effect.

You stated that you attempted to clear the park and while driving through ... believed you may have seen someone, according to the letter. You stated you believed you really did see someone there but now believe you may have hallucinated this stuff.

Despite her impaired condition, Bortz-Rodriguez told authorities that she discharged her firearm once, later thinking she may have shot herself.

After authorities asked if she had also caused some cuts to her arm, Bortz-Rodriguez said it was possible, the letter states. Authorities also asked her if a box cutter police found on the ground the night of the incident was likely department-issued  from her squad bag and not owned by the alleged assailant.

You asked if the box cutter found at the scene was the box cutter from your squad bag, according to the letter. You stated if its not in my squad bag, then its probably on the one on the ground. There was not a box cutter in your squad bag when it was examined after the incident.

The letter states Bortz-Rodriguez was found to have violated several policies outlined in the Sheriffs Office Code of Conduct  those surrounding truthfulness, unbecoming conduct, ethical behavior, conformance to laws, insubordination and work performance. The deputy also violated work rules surrounding the use of property, work performance and personal actions and appearance.

Bortz-Rodriguez, 30, had been with the Sheriffs Office since May 2014.

In a separate letter to the State Journal explaining why portions of a 100-page case report about the incident and termination letter are blacked out, the Sheriffs Office said it was not disclosing what the deputy consumed because of the sensitive nature of the investigation and the number of current employees who were interviewed.

Release of these records without redactions would undermine the Departments ability to manage its workforce and to conduct its business, particularly with respect to investigating future internal matters of a confidential or sensitive nature, the letter from Sheriff Kalvin Barrett and Lt. Brian Hayes states. Certain medical information provided by the deputy has also been redacted.

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Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, the capitals first low-cost carrier, has announced the introduction of a new service to Istanbul city in Turkey, starting from April 29.

The new service represents the 17th route for Air Arabia Abu Dhabi since the launch of the carriers service from Abu Dhabi International Airport in July 2020.

Announcing the new schedule, the airline said Abu Dhabi travellers will now be able to fly direct to Istanbul at competitive prices on Fridays and Sundays. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi said the flight 3L 361 will take off from Abu Dhabi International Airport at 12 noon and land in Sabiha Gokcen International Airport at 3.55pm, while the return flight 3L 362 will leave Istanbul at 5pm and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 10.30pm.

On its new destination, Group CEO Adel Al Ali said: "We are glad to add Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, to our growing tourist hotspots with direct flights from Abu Dhabi."

"The new Abu Dhabi to Istanbul service offers our customers a unique opportunity to discover the historic city which straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosporus straits, the new route reflects our commitment to continuously offer our customers affordable and value driven air travel from our different hubs," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
A Dane County sheriffs deputy who was fired for undisclosed reasons in November  a month after saying she shot at a man who stabbed her in Festge Park  likely caused her own injuries with a box cutter while she was intoxicated, according to her termination letter.

The Wisconsin Department of Justices Division of Criminal Investigation originally reported the deputy, Sarah Bortz-Rodriguez, said she saw a suspicious person while on routine patrol at the park in the town of Berry near Cross Plains at about 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 21. And Bortz-Rodriguez initially told authorities she approached a man who stabbed her with an edged weapon. The action caused her to fire her gun, and she was later taken to a hospital for treatment.

Throughout that night and into the morning, police searched for the alleged assailant. Residents in the immediate area were on lockdown. The investigation turned up no answers, but rather factual inconsistences in Bortz-Rodriguezs initial statement about the incident, according to a nine-page letter the Wisconsin State Journal obtained from the Sheriffs Office about her firing.

Bortz-Rodriguez later told authorities  after they pointed out the inconsistencies  that following an earlier critical incident review at the precinct she drove around to try and calm herself emotionally, according to the letter.

The deputy told authorities she then returned to the precinct and traveled to an area near Rileys Tavern where she later consumed a substance that is blacked out in the letter. Bortz-Rodriguez afterward decided she was going to ride out the rest of her shift, the letter states.

After not notifying a supervisor of her condition, Bortz-Rodriguez told authorities that upon arrival to Festge Park, she felt the substance she consumed take effect.

You stated that you attempted to clear the park and while driving through ... believed you may have seen someone, according to the letter. You stated you believed you really did see someone there but now believe you may have hallucinated this stuff.

Despite her impaired condition, Bortz-Rodriguez told authorities that she discharged her firearm once, later thinking she may have shot herself.

After authorities asked if she had also caused some cuts to her arm, Bortz-Rodriguez said it was possible, the letter states. Authorities also asked her if a box cutter police found on the ground the night of the incident was likely department-issued  from her squad bag and not owned by the alleged assailant.

You asked if the box cutter found at the scene was the box cutter from your squad bag, according to the letter. You stated if its not in my squad bag, then its probably on the one on the ground. There was not a box cutter in your squad bag when it was examined after the incident.

The letter states Bortz-Rodriguez was found to have violated several policies outlined in the Sheriffs Office Code of Conduct  those surrounding truthfulness, unbecoming conduct, ethical behavior, conformance to laws, insubordination and work performance. The deputy also violated work rules surrounding the use of property, work performance and personal actions and appearance.

Bortz-Rodriguez, 30, had been with the Sheriffs Office since May 2014.

In a separate letter to the State Journal explaining why portions of a 100-page case report about the incident and termination letter are blacked out, the Sheriffs Office said it was not disclosing what the deputy consumed because of the sensitive nature of the investigation and the number of current employees who were interviewed.

Release of these records without redactions would undermine the Departments ability to manage its workforce and to conduct its business, particularly with respect to investigating future internal matters of a confidential or sensitive nature, the letter from Sheriff Kalvin Barrett and Lt. Brian Hayes states. Certain medical information provided by the deputy has also been redacted.

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With the city desperately seeking affordable Downtown housing, a developer is proposing a four-story apartment project just blocks from Madisons Capitol Square with all units offering lower-cost rents.

Bear Development, of Kenosha, is proposing to reuse and transform a two-story office building and add new construction to create the four-story project with 45 apartments at 402 W. Wilson St.

All apartments  19 one-bedroom units and 26 two-bedroom units  would be available to those making up to 60% of Dane County Area Median Income, or $49,500 for a household of two. The project would be primarily funded with 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Tax-Exempt Bonds through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, a submission to the city says.

The proposal offers individual unit balconies as well as a raised rooftop patio on the western side of the building above the parking garage. The project would also provide underground parking for 40 vehicles and bicycles.

The existing building, constructed in 1957 and last updated in 1999, was originally the State Bar of Wisconsin headquarters and most recently home to the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, said Ald. Mike Verveer, whose 4th District includes the site. It was assessed at $2.53 million for 2021.

Im really thrilled we finally have interest in a 100% affordable housing project in the core Downtown, Verveer said. This is a sign of progress and hopefully the first of many that will be proposed in the future.

Nick Orthmann, Bears project manager, declined comment, saying the proposal is still early in the process. The development team will make an informal presentation to the citys Urban Design Commission at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The proposal got a generally warm reception at a recent neighborhood meeting, said Jonathan Cooper, chair of the Bassett District of Capitol Neighborhoods Inc.

I would say that the proposal was generally well received by the neighbors in attendance and that people liked the concept of incorporating the existing building into the new development, Cooper said. The neighborhood definitely welcomes the idea of workforce housing, though with rents pegged at 30% of an income thats 60% of the Dane County median, there are concerns regarding how affordable this housing will be.

The development has a lot to like in reusing the office building in terms of sustainability, but the housing units wont be affordable to everyone in the community, Verveer agreed.

Recently, four influential Downtown neighborhood associations offered a joint resolution suggesting that at least 15% of the units be targeted at people making 30% of area median income, or $24,800 for a household of two, Cooper said. The resolution carries no legal authority.

Neighbors did express concerns about the amount of outdoor space along Broom Street and the potential impact on street trees; the planned use of gas heat rather than an all-electric system or heat pumps; and whether theres enough space for move-ins/move-outs without blocking traffic, Cooper said.

City plans recommend residential development at the site and a maximum height of four stories. The Bassett Neighborhood Plan says the area should be residential in nature with an evolving mix of new, higher-density buildings carefully integrated with existing structures.

Verveer is setting up an online neighborhood meeting for 7 p.m. April 6. To register, go to www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingApril6Wilson.

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The leaders of NATO nations and the G-7 posed for traditional family photos during their summits in Brussels on Thursday. And unlike at previous events, the two groups did indeed seem to be cohesive families, bonded tightly over Russias invasion of Ukraine.

That unity will need to endure for Ukraine to survive as a nation, for countries within the alliance to better enhance their own defenses against Russia and for democracy to survive the autocratic wave represented by Moscow and Beijing.

Both meetings were a continuation and confirmation of previously announced strategies, but also were enhanced by ever-stricter sanctions. This time the economic penalties include Russias rubber-stamp parliament, the Duma, and 328 specific legislators. Also sanctioned were the head of Russias Sberbank, 17 board members of Sovcombank, 48 state-owned defense entities, and Russian elite businessman Gennady Timchenko, his family and his companies. Equally important is a new initiative to prevent other nations from backfilling the Russian economy.

We are determined to continue to impose costs on Russia to bring about the end of this brutal war, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the summit.

Those costs come with a price, which the U.S. and other nations are admirably willing to pay. In just the latest example, Biden pledged $11 billion over the next five years to contend with the coming food-security challenges the war will cause, as well as $1 billion for humanitarian needs triggered by the war. The need is great in Ukraine, of course, but also in Europe, especially in front-line nations Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

Furthermore, eventually about 100,000 Ukrainian refugees will be accepted, with a particular emphasis on those who have family connections in the U.S. Although thats a sizable and generous number, its nowhere near the wave within Europe, as the deliberate targeting of civilians has created the greatest European displacement since World War II. There are even more Ukrainians displaced in their own country. Together the total tops 10 million, or about one-fourth of the population on the run from Russias wanton warfare.

While the Biden administration rightly acknowledges that many Ukrainians will want to remain in Europe with family and friends and a hope of return, many will want and need to seek shelter in the U.S., which can and should accommodate even more refugees. Tragically, it may need to, since Russia seems to have accelerated its attacks on civilians while its military faces stiff resistance from Ukraines tenacious forces.

Russias relatively stalled offensive and the unquestioned willingness of Putin to put citizens in harms way raises legitimate fears that he will use chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons. Biden was careful not to get into specifics in his post-summit news conference, but pledged that there indeed will be a response should Putin make that fateful error. Regarding conventional defense, Biden said in a statement that four new battle groups will be deployed to Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania in a strong signal that we will collectively defend and protect every inch of NATO territory.

Ukraine, of course, is not a NATO nation. But the best way the alliance can in fact protect and defend its territory is to economically, diplomatically and militarily support Ukraine. The sequential, consequential meetings in Europe (including a late Thursday European Union meeting) this week are a constructive continuation of an effort that must be sustained during and beyond the war.

Putin was banking on NATO being split, Biden said before his news conference. Thanks in part to Bidens leadership, it isnt, which benefits Ukraine and the whole free world.
TWIN FALLS  Ditch burning is one of the few times when seeing smoke is a good thing.

Twin Falls Canal Co. has started its annual three weeks of burning ditches and laterals to ensure a successful irrigation season.

What would happen if they chose not to clean the water channels?

We would have a catastrophe, Twin Falls Watermaster Troy Jones said. There would be water everywhere, running over the roads, through houses.

Careful burning allows the company to remove grass and weeds that would block the flow of irrigation water. It also allows the company to see any problem areas that might be hiding in the grass and weeds.

Maybe where a rock chuck dug a big hole and you wouldnt have seen it if the weeds were there, Jones said. Now you can see it and we can get a machine over there to collapse the hole and fill it in.

Residents can help the crews by clearing a space at least 16 feet back from the bank of the channel, he said. Watching out for pipes and other debris can slow crews down.

The company also asks residents to keep pets and kids away while they are working.

The Twin Falls Canal Co. has more than 100 miles of major canals and a thousand miles of laterals. The system provides irrigation for more than 200,000 acres of farmland in the Magic Valley.

Because of the sheer amount of land involved, the company is unable to provide notice of when and where burning will take place, Jones said.

We cant go knock door-to-door or make 10,000 phone calls, he said.

Ditch riders, however, try to keep smoke away from houses and watch the wind for safety.

Its a pretty fun job, ditch rider Austin Hafer said. After a few weeks, it gets tiring though.

Seeing proof of his hard work is the part he enjoys the best, Hafer said.

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Idahoans are tired of having their Bill of Rights violated or ignored by Little and Wasden for the past two years. We have endured the governor's executive orders and mandates which have closed businesses, churches and in-person schooling, etc.

It is time to restore individual rights with liberty candidates that will uphold their oath of office to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin, candidate for governor, who has been endorsed by President Trump, pledges to make Idaho Free Again. She never would have locked down the state! She will protect our God-given individual liberties and personal choices under the Bill of Rights.

State Representative and Lt. Colonel Priscilla Giddings is running for lieutenant governor. She supports our Bill of Rights and and constitutional carry. She opposes red flag gun confiscation. She sponsored H.140 to stand against discrimination based on vaccination status.

Former U.S. House of Representative member Raul Labrador is running for Idaho attorney general. He will fights against unconstitutional Bill of Rights mandates. These rights have been largely ignored by our present A.G. Wasden in favor of protecting the state.

Idaho State Representative Dorothy Moon is a candidate for Idaho secretary of state. She will work to ensure that we have election integrity. She has a positive pro-Constitutional, liberty voting record.

Conservative, pro-constitutional Bryan Smith is a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives with an agenda to Put America First. He opposes 12 term congressman Simpson who favors breaching four dams on the Snake River. These dams provide vital irrigation water, hydro power electricity and transportation of Idaho products. Smith opposes the breaching.

Other regional pro-constitution, individual liberty candidates that deserve our votes are Glenneda Zuidervelt, Lyle Johnstone and Creighton Knight.

We deserve to have liberty loving, conservative state and national elected officials who will protect our individual Constitutional rights.

Adrian Arp

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Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East, Zhai Jun, paid a visit to Morocco where he conferred with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Friday.

In a statement to the press following the meeting, Jun said that his talks with Mr. Bourita were friendly and fruitful and involved an exchange of views on many topics, including bilateral relations and the strategic partnership between the two countries, stressing that Morocco is a friend and a strategic partner of China.

Talks between the two parties have also focused on international and regional issues, he added.

There is a total convergence of views between the two countries that is why it is important to maintain permanent contact with Morocco and coordinate positions on all developments on the international scene, the Chinese official said.
The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels pledged on Friday to respect the humanitarian truce decreed by the Ethiopian government to speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid to this regional state situated in northern Ethiopia.

In a statement, the TPLF undertakes to implement a cessation of hostilities, effective immediately. Linking political and humanitarian issues is unacceptable, the TPLF said.

On Thursday, the Ethiopian federal government announced an immediate humanitarian truce to expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid to people in need in the Tigray region.

In a statement, the Government Communication Service said the federal authorities have increased the number of United Nations humanitarian flights and accelerated the delivery of fuel and cash for payments by humanitarian organizations.

Flights from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union (EU) have been facilitated to deliver humanitarian aid.

The regional state of Tigray had been embroiled in conflict since November 2020, when the Ethiopian Federal Army led an offensive against TPLF dissidents, following the attack they carried out on the Ethiopian armys Northern Command.

Last May, the House of Peoples Representatives (the lower house of the Ethiopian parliament) approved by a majority the designation of the TPLF as a terrorist organization.

After an eight-month presence in Tigray, the federal government decreed a unilateral and unconditional ceasefire in Tigray at the end of June and decided to withdraw its troops from the region.

Since mid-February, humanitarian operations in Tigray  where more than 400,000 people have been displaced by the conflict  have been virtually halted by fuel and cash shortages, according to the UN.

No aid convoys have been able to enter Tigray since Dec. 15 because of fighting in the Afar region, which prevents their passage on the only operational land route between Semera, the capital of Afar, and Mekele, the capital of Tigray. The UN has long denounced a de facto humanitarian blockade of Tigray, for which the government and the rebels have blamed each other.
Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita called Friday from Rabat, for encouraging regular migration and reducing the vulnerabilities of migrants.

Speaking at the opening of the first ministerial meeting of the champion countries of the implementation of the Marrakech Pact on Migration, Bourita stressed the need to promote inclusive societies, encourage regular migration, reduce the vulnerabilities of migrants, while promoting exchanges, cooperation and partnerships, as well as further interaction between the Marrakech Pact and the 2030 Agenda.

The Minister, who said that migration can no longer be seen as a stigma, nor can the migrant be perceived as a threat, noted that the need for a cooperative framework on migration has never been more evident. He added that while many structural and cyclical challenges and deficits remain, the Pact offers a roadmap for overcoming some and addressing others.

Therefore, he added, this conference must be an opportunity for us to carry out specific actions: to provide, based on the sharing of our respective experiences, concrete guidelines for advancing the Pact, and to create momentum ahead of the first International Migration Review Forum, to be held in New York in May 2022.

Referring to the designation of the Kingdom as a champion country of the implementation of the Marrakech Pact, he said that our commitment is, indeed, a consistent application of our position on migration and the principles we defend.

He insisted on the need to expand the group of champion countries to other states, which speak the same language, that of the reference contained in the Marrakech Pact.

We want to go further; by reiterating the desire to see a Special Envoy of the African Union for Migration materialize; by replicating the experience of the Observatory in other continents; or, by considering the creation in academic institutions and universities of the champion countries, of a network of research centers on migration that would work with the IOM. It could focus initially on the issue of brain drain, he said.

The conference, held by videoconference, was attended by some 17 ministers and representatives of world organizations, who discussed ways of implementing the Marrakech Pact, adopted in December 2018.

The conference highlighted by the adoption of a Declaration that praised the role of King Mohammed VI as the African leader on migration and reiterated the full support to the Global Compact on Migration (Marrakech Pact).

We highly commend His Majesty King Mohammed VIs role as African Leader on the issue of Migration and His strong commitment through the African Agenda on Migration, a roadmap with a clear vision for the continent and the creation of the African Migration Observatory, hosted in Rabat, the participants said in the Declaration.

We have gathered to reiterate our full support to the GCM, and commitment to keep working together towards a successful and robust implementation of the Global Compact, they stressed, saying they were convinced that international cooperation and the sharing of best practices in the field of international migration in all its dimensions should be the norm, rather than the exception.

Adopted at the Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakech on December 2018, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) represents a major contribution of multilateralism and a collective commitment to improving cooperation to address the challenges and harness the opportunities of international migration and human mobility, through a comprehensive cooperative framework anchored in its vision and guiding principles.

Amid emerging transitions and in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vision of the GCM must be promoted in order to facilitate and recognize the benefits of safe, orderly and regular migration for everyone, they insisted.

They recalled that the Champions initiative is an open group of States of origin, transit, destination and return committed to the effective implementation of the GCM, in the pursuit of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and called on other States to join this collective initiative to broaden the platform of Champions representing the full range of migration realities reflected in the GCM.

They also commended the continuous support of the United Nations Network on Migration in the form of guidance and practical tools to accelerate GCM implementation, and its efforts to facilitate collective learning, promote the cross-fertilization of ideas, disseminate information, and the exchange of good practices.

The Rabat Declaration welcomed the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the GCM that shows how governments can put in place laws, policies and practices consistent with the commitments and guiding principles of the Global Compact and how they can lead by example, and fulfil the promise of the Global Compact, in accordance with its vision and guiding principles.
Hanoi advised to re-open preschools and primary schools now

Hanoi has been advised to re-open preschools and primary schools.













Children at a primary school in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. VNS/VNS Photo Thanh Tung

Truong Huu Khanh, permanent vice chairman of HCM Citys Infectious Disease Association, said it's time for Hanoi to re-open schools completely, as HCM City has done.



There are many reasons to do this now, he said.



The number of children infected with COVID-19 in Hanoi is believed to be significant. Most children living with parents or relatives who are infected with COVID-19 have also caught the virus, he said.



However, children infected with the Omicron variant often have very mild symptoms and recover quickly, he said.



The handling of COVID-19 students in schools is also simple, he added.



For a number of weeks, Hanoi has recorded the country's highest daily number of COVID-19 cases. The capital city's Department of Health earlier this month announced that Omicron is the dominant COVID variant in the capital.



Children could still contract COVID-19 when they stay at home. Therefore, its time to re-open the schools, the vice chairman said.



The benefits of sending children to school are that children could focus more on the lessons while their parents or caregivers could focus on their work, according to Khanh.



For preschool children, in the first six years of their life, the important issue is not absorbing knowledge but learning about emotions, how to work in groups and interacting with the outside environment.



So, sending the children to school is very necessary and important, he said.



Associate Professor inh Duy Khang from the Institute of Biotechnology under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology also told the Suc khoe & oi song (Health & Life) online newspaper that he agreed with sending preschool and primary school children back to school now.



Khang said the consequences of letting children stay at home for too long would be much greater than the risks of COVID-19.



The children could face psychological issues as well as problems in their emotional, intellectual, and physical development if they do not go to school or stay at home for too long, he said.



He said that it was necessary not to be negligent, but it was also necessary to restore normal life, he said.



The closure of schools, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, had caused great disruptions to the development of young children, he said.



Schools should now reopen, while safely adapting and flexibly responding to the pandemic, he said.



Parents reactions



Pham Thu Nga, 35, of Tay Ho District, a mother of a female second-grader and a two-year-old boy said she really wanted the preschool and primary school to reopen soon.



Nearly a year since the preschools and primary schools in 12 districts of Hanoi were closed due to the pandemic, Nga still had to work from home to take care of her two children, she said.



Its so hard to both work and take care of the children, she said.



When the children stay at home all day, it was difficult to control their use of smartphones, laptops and televisions, she said.



Limitations in social interaction also make me very worried about the children's mental health, she added.



Although her children did not go to school, they were still infected with COVID-19, she said.



Tran Ngoc Lan, 32, of Ha ong District, said she still felt concerned about sending her children back to school now.



I have heard about some severe developments of COVID-19 such as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), so I feel anxious about my children being infected with COVID-19, she said.



A mother always worries about the safety of her children, so do I, she said.



Dont worry too much



Khanh said children, who are infected with COVID-19, have a high fever and chills, but they often do not have the fever for more than 48 hours.



Taking care of a child with COVID-19 is not different from a child with common viral fever, he said.



Parents should not abuse nasal spray or arbitrarily use drugs to treat COVID-19 for the children. After 48 hours, the child would eat and play normally again, he said.



"Only children with obesity or serious underlying diseases such as kidney failure, end-stage liver failure, severe growth retardation and severe congenital heart disease, are prone to severe developments of COVID-19," he said.



Therefore, parents should not worry too much when their children are infected with COVID-19, he said.



Going to school means learning directly, playing with friends and communicating with teachers, he said.



"This is the best time to let the children come back to school," he said.



However, we should still follow the Ministry of Healths 5K messages: Khau trang (facemask)  Khu khuan (disinfection)  Khoang cach (distance)  Khong tu tap (no gathering)  Khai bao y te (health declaration), he said.



Additionally, medical experts say that when sending children to school, of course, there will still be new cases of COVID-19 in a class.



Thus, the class can be divided into small groups. If a case of COVID-19 is reported, the handling process should be contained in the group, the medical experts said.



Schools need to prepare for scenarios when a COVID-19 student is reported in a class. The simplest way to handle it is to let the student stay at home until he or she fully recovers and the class will still operate as normal. Like seasonal flu, schools have to order that children, who have a fever or show signs of easily contagious disease, do not go to school.



Besides, children, who go to school, need to wash their hands frequently and do not share cups or food with other children.



Moreover, parents must be optimistic and take appropriate COVID-19 preventive measures for their children.
Transmission electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, emerging from human cells. Credit: NIAID

A preliminary study to be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April), suggests that people living with HIV who are on antiretroviral treatment (ART) with protease inhibitors (PI), may have a lower risk of COVID-19 infection. The study is by Dr. Steve Nguala from the Intercommunal Hospital Center of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and the General Hospital of Melun in France and colleagues.

Despite these important findings, the authors underscore that it is a small, early, observational study and should not be taken as conclusive evidence that long-term use of protease inhibitors will protect people living with HIV from COVID-19.

People living with HIV are at greater risk of community or opportunistic infections, but they do not appear to be at increased risk for serious COVID-19, possibly because of their use of ART. Antiretroviral therapy was proposed as a protective factor against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, but the small number of cases did not permit conclusions to be drawn.

Protease inhibitors, a class of antiviral drugs used to treat HIV, work by blocking a critical enzyme (called a protease) that viruses need to replicate and infect more cells. While they have not been shown to cure COVID-19 infections in the general population, their efficacy to prevent COVID-19 is unknown.

To explore this further, Nguala and colleagues conducted a multicentre cohort study in six hospitals in Ile-de-France to assess the impact of long-term use of PI in patients with HIV on the incidence of COVID-19. Between May 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, they enrolled 169 people with HIV who were been treated with ART with PI, and 338 patients with HIV taking ART without PI. None of the participants had been previously been diagnosed with COVID-19, the average age was 50 years (48% female; 52% male).

Among participants being treated with PIs, over three-quarters were taking darunavir/ritonavir (131/169; 77%), around 8% were taking atazanavir/ritonavir (14/169), and the rest were treated with other PIs (24/169;14%). On average, they had been taking PIs for at least a year.

All patients had regular clinical assessments and screening for COVID-19 during the usual HIV follow-up (every 6 months). Modelling was performed to identify potential risk factors associated with COVID-19.

Over a year of follow-up (with some patients lost to follow-up in both groups) 12% (18/153) of participants taking PIs and 22% (61/283) of those in the non-PI group contracted COVID-19 assessed by positive SARS-COV-2 serology at the end of study; and four patients in the non-PI group were admitted to hospital with COVID-19.

After adjusting for factors that are linked with increased risk of COVID-19 including gender, age, CD4 cell count, number of people living in the household, contact with a positive COVID-19 case, the researchers found that patients in the protease inhibitor group were 70% less likely to become infected with COVID-19 compared to those in the non-PI group.

Patients in both groups who had been in contact with COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to their consultation were twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19; while those living in the same household with at least three other people were three times as likely to test positive; and those who had lost their sense of taste were six times as likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 (see table in notes to editors).

"Protease inhibitor drugs have long history of use, a good safety profile, and are generally well tolerated. By attacking the virus before it has a chance to multiply they potentially offer an opportunity to prevent the spread of infections and mutation of future variants", says Dr. Nguala. "The lower occurrence of COVID-19 among patients treated with a protease inhibitor-based regimen raises the question of a preventive effect that should be further investigated. More studies with a larger number of patients, and in randomised trials in people without HIV, are needed to confirm these preliminary results. The challenge will be to produce robust data in a limited period that may inspire new prevention or therapeutic strategies."

More information: Abstract 03778: Long-term protease inhibitors in patients living with HIV might prevent COVID-19 infection: a prospective multi-centre cohort study

Provided by European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
A Kalispell woman suspected of leading police on a high-speed chase in Missoula appeared in court Friday afternoon.

Julia C. Mendoza, 26, is charged with obstructing justice and criminal endangerment, both felonies, and misdemeanor fleeing from or eluding a peace officer.

Her co-defendant, Tagen B. Struhs, 30, is charged with criminal possession with intent to distribute and criminal possession of dangerous drugs, both felonies, as well as obstructing a peace officer, a misdemeanor. He refused to appear in court on Friday and did not have a monetary bond set.

Officers stopped a maroon-colored GMC SUV after noticing its occupants might have outstanding felony warrants around 12:25 p.m. Wednesday near Paxson Street and Brooks Street. During the stop, the occupants of the car, identified as Mendoza (the driver) and Struhs, gave officers false names. Law enforcement recognized the suspects and instructed them to turn off the car.

Instead, Struhs told Mendoza to ignore police commands and drive, charging documents said. She took off and almost struck the officer.

The car swerved through many streets, reaching speeds up to 75 mph and drifting into oncoming lanes of traffic. Mendoza also passed through school zones, including Big Sky High School and Target Range Middle School, according to court documents.

Pursuing officers blocked the car on a dead-end road near Riding Ring Road and South Avenue. Mendoza exited the SUV and was arrested without further incident.

When officers searched Struhs, they recovered 13 pills with M30 imprinted on them, presumed to be fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid. Struhs confirmed the pills were his and they were fentanyl. Struhs admitted there were more in the car, charging documents said. The pair were in Missoula because they wanted to get out of Kalispell to avoid an outstanding warrant for Struhs arrest, he reportedly told police.

In a brief interview with police, Mendoza disclosed she felt Struhs was making her do it.

A search warrant on the suspect vehicle returned a heap of drug paraphernalia items, including more fentanyl pills and tin foil with burnt residue that indicated to law enforcement Struhs intended on selling drugs.

Missoula Deputy County Attorney Carrie Garber asked for a $50,000 bond and said as more people impacted by the chase come forward, more charges may be filed against Mendoza. An arraignment hearing is set for April 4 in Missoula County District Court.

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Acquisition of 5,677 acres in the foothills of the Big Snowy Mountains north of Ryegate will cost Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks $8.22 million, according to the agencys draft environmental assessment. Another $22,000 would be required to pay for the closing costs.

The document was published on FWPs website as the agency opens a public comment period on the proposal to create a new wildlife management area. An online public meeting has also been set for April 12 at 6:30 p.m.

When FWP first sought public opinion on the purchase in the fall of 2020, 559 people submitted comments, 99% supporting the idea.

The Big Snowy Mountains are an island range in central Montana.

Owners

The land is owned by Shodair Childrens Hospital. The Helena-based facility was gifted the land by the Forrest Allen estate in 2019. Allens parents homesteaded in the area in the early 1900s. Since then, Shodair has been working with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to facilitate the sale to FWP.

The previous Fish and Wildlife Commission encouraged pursuit of the purchase in 2020, recognizing the value of the native property that connects to the Bureau of Land Managements 6,936-acre Twin Coulee Wilderness Study Area and the 88,696-acre Big Snowies WSA, managed by the Forest Service.

Since then, Greg Gianforte was elected governor. He has overseen a transition of the Fish and Wildlife Commission from five to seven members with six new members appointed on his watch.

Also, in last years legislative session Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, sponsored a bill, which passed, that will now require FWP land purchases to be approved by the state Land Board. The board includes the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction and the commissioner of securities and insurance, an all-Republican board.

Funding

Money for the land purchase would come from the federal Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration funds (75%) and the states Habitat Montana fund (25%). Funded by a portion of nonresident hunting license sales, Habitat Montana generates about $5 million to $6 million a year.

Two years ago, the FWP was also looking into the purchase of 8,380 adjoining acres that were owned by Killam Ranch Properties of Laredo, Texas. That land has since been sold to Joe and Jeralee Heiken, Broadview-area ranchers.

The list price for the Killam property, which was advertised as 9,020 acres, was $12.5 million. If the land sold for its listed price, that pencils out to $1,385 an acre. The Shodair property has been appraised at $1,448 an acre, demonstrating the rising value of Montana lands.

WMA

According to the draft EA, the proposed Big Snowy Mountains WMA is entirely native mountain/foothill and prairie grassland habitats, ranging in elevation from 4,750 to 6,000 feet. The acreage provides habitat for elk, deer, black bears, the occasional moose, mountain lions, bobcats, pronghorns and other native species, including at least 22 state Species of Concern. Therefore, these habitats are beneficial in maintaining huntable and viewable populations of game and nongame species, both migratory and resident, the draft EA stated.

Nongame species such as golden and bald eagles, long-billed curlews, ferruginous hawks, and mountain plovers are also observed.

During 2022 FWP winter elk surveys, 113 elk were observed on the land.

Big Snowy Mountains WMA falls within FWPs Deer/Elk Hunting District 535, Antelope HD 516, and Bear Management Unit 580.

The property is surrounded by large absentee landowners who rarely allow recreational opportunities to the general public, the draft EA stated. The lack of public access to elk is the largest contributing factor to the elk population being roughly 900% over objective.

Details

An existing 15-year grazing lease is in effect until April 1, 2031, and FWP would honor the lease.

A complete Big Snowy Mountains WMA Management Plan would be written within the first year of ownership.

The WMA would be closed each year to public recreation from Dec. 1 through May 15 to allow wildlife undisturbed access to winter range habitat.

Motorized use would be restricted to designated roads and parking areas.

Dispersed camping would be allowed unless posted otherwise. Camping would be limited to 16 days in any 30-day period.

Construction work would include fencing and water line repairs, installation of cattle guards, signage and metal gates and weed treatment. Initial projected maintenance costs for the work are estimated at $714,000.

Public use would be limited to walk-in or horseback access from the two designated parking areas.

Most recreational use is expected to occur during hunting season which will be intermittent and dispersed.

By law, FWP pays taxes to counties equal to the amount that a private landowner would be required to pay.

Details for the online public meeting can be found on the FWP website  fwp.mt.gov  the day of the meeting.

Public comments will be accepted until 2 p.m. on April 25, and can be mailed to: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks ATTN: Big Snowy Mountains WMA Acquisition, 2300 Lake Elmo Dr. Billings, MT 59105. Or emailed to fwpregion5pc@mt.gov Please use subject line, Big Snowy Mountains WMA Acquisition.

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A Paradise Valley hiker was found dead by Park County Search and Rescue officials on Friday, a day after he was reported overdue.

The Livingston Enterprise identified the victim as Craig Clouatre.

"It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this update," Sheriff Brad Bichler posted on the Park County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. "After an extensive search this morning we have located Craig. It appears he had an encounter with a grizzly and unfortunately did not survive. We will continue to work through the afternoon to bring Craig home. Please keep his family and all those involved in your thoughts and prayers."

The search started on Thursday in the Six Mile Creek area using ground and air crews. A thermal imaging camera was flown on Thursday night. Friday morning horse teams, ground teams and helicopters began searching again.

Clouatre is married and the father of four children. The family's Fleshman Creek home northwest of Livingston was burned in a 2020 fire, prompting several fundraisers to assist.

This is the first grizzly bear mauling of the year in Montana. Last year, two people were killed in grizzly maulings, one a cyclist who was camping in Ovando and the other a West Yellowstone guide fishing along the Madison River.

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WASHINGTON  The U.S. Marshals are offering up to a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a man wanted by the Asheville Police Department on a first-degree murder charge following the Nov. 28, 2020, killing of a teenager.

Dionate Whitson, AKA Diontae Whitson, 19, could be living among the homeless populations, according to investigators with the U.S. Marshals-led Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, who adopted this case in December 2020.

The U.S. Marshals Service is dedicated to finding and arresting Dionate Whitson, but we need the publics help, said Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force Commander Jamaal Thompson. I encourage anyone with any information about this fugitive to come forward and help us find justice for the victim of his crime.

Whitson is believed to be a member of the violent street gang, known as Sex, Money, Murder. It is suspected that other gang members are actively helping him avoid arrest, in the Asheville, Greensboro, Raleigh or Winston-Salem areas. Whitson may be moving between these large cities to avoid capture.

It is also believed that the gang is using its resources to hide Whitson from law enforcement and the public. Whitson may be staying with people who are unaware that he is wanted for murder, and he could be using an alias. These people are possibly friends or relatives of top-level gang members. According to sources, a woman associated with this gang is also responsible for the gangs finances. She is possibly providing funds to keep Whitson hidden, at the direction of other gang members.

Sex, Money, Murder (SMM) is a violent street gang that originated in the Bronx housing projects of New York City. SMM leaders were known to personally commit extreme acts of violence in the enforcement of crack deals, instead of delegating these tasks to low-level members as other gangs were known to do. Its members were so notorious for homicide that they were actively recruited for the formation of UBN (United Blood Nation) at Rikers Island in 1993.

Now, Sex Money Murder can be found in states along the East Coast including North Carolina. SMM members are in cities large and small across the state of North Carolina. Morganton, Albemarle, Apex, Asheville, Ayden, Cameron, Charlotte, Clinton, Concord, Dallas, Dunn, Durham, Fayetteville, Gastonia, Gibsonville, Greensboro, Goldsboro, Henderson, Hendersonville, High Point, Jacksonville, Kannapolis, Kernersville, Leland, Lexington, Littleton, Lumber Bridge, Monroe, New Bern, New Port, Orrum, Oxford, Raeford, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Southern Pines, Tarboro, Wilmington, Wilson, Winston-Salem, Winterville and Yanceyville just to name a few.

Whitson is described as a black male with brown eyes and black hair. He stands 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs approximately 150 pounds. He should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information on Whitsons whereabouts should contact the U.S. Marshals Service 1-877-WANTED2 or use the USMS Tips App. Your information will be taken in strict confidence. Your anonymity is guaranteed. You will never have to give your name or have to testify in court.
There are many dogs and cats are available for adoption at Burke County Animal Services.

Trinity Johnson, shelter technician at animal services, wants all of the animals in the shelter to find a loving fur-ever home. These are the animals she chose to spotlight this week.

This weeks Dog of the Week is Almond.

Almond is a 1-year-old brindle Staffordshire terrier, Johnson said. Almond is a very sweet and friendly dog, though he does take some time to open up to new people.

He loves treats. His favorite treats would have to be Pupperoni sticks! He loves to chew on toys and bones, but is very cautious with his personal belongings, as he does not want his bed and blanket to get messed up. Almond would love some to have some visitors come by the shelter to feed him some treats and take him on a walk. Please come meet Almond today.

All animals brought to animal services come from different backgrounds and are in different physical condition. The agencys staff works to ensure all animals are taken care of while theyre in the shelter and in preparation to be adopted into their forever homes.

This weeks Cats of the Week are a bonded pair, Scamper and Lovey.

Scamper is a tabby and white cat, who is a 7-year-old neutered male, and Lovey a black 9-year-old neutered male, Johnson said. Scamper and Loveys adoption fees have been sponsored in hopes that they can be adopted out together, meaning there is no fee to adopt these sweet cats.

These guys have been around other cats and even dogs their whole lives so they would do great in just about any home. They are super sweet and would even do well with children as they love attention.

In addition to this weeks pets of the week, there are many dogs and cats are available for adoption at animal services.

Animal services tries to take in as many animals as it can, and with the help of foster home volunteers it is able to care for more animals.

There are different fees for those interested in adopting a dog or a cat from animal services. The adoption fee for any adult dog or puppy is $125. The adoption fee for any adult cat or kitten is $90.

All animals come up-to-date on vaccines, flea control, and deworming, as well as being spayed and neutered.

The shelter also offers foster programs for members of the community to help the animals of the shelter without having to make a lifelong commitment. Fosters are only required to give a copy of a valid ID with address and phone number and to sign their foster agreement.

Fostering is free, and animal services provides all needed supplies, including litter boxes, litter and food and the same for dogs, the agencys policy says. Crates are provided, if available. Foster parents are just asked to transport the animal either to vet appointments or back to the shelter for updated vaccines and deworming.

For more information on Almond, Scamper, Lovey or any other adoption or foster-related questions, call animal services at 828-764-9588 or visit its website at burkenc.org/animalservices. Visit its Facebook page at Burke County Animal Services for information on adoptable animals or upcoming adoption events.
ARCHIVED - Bullfighting in Spain propped up by farming subsidies



Breeders of bulls destined to be killed in the bullring in Spain are sustained by grants meant for farmers, say animal rights activists

Following a mass protest by farmers, hunters and bull breeders in Spain last weekend , it has emerged that the breeding of bulls to be killed in the bullring are being subsidised by EU funds meant to be destined for farming.

In an expose in the Guardian, it was revealed that millions of euros of EU funding from the EUs common agricultural policy (CAP) are paid out to farms that breed bulls for fighting, despite attempts by MEPs to ban the subsidies.

The bullbreeders union in Spain, Union de Criadores de Toros, which represents the interests of 347 breeders, has estimated that a ban on granting this subsidy to bull farms would mean an economic hit of around 200m euros per year for the sector and would effectively bring the sport of bullfighting to an end.

Back in 2015, European members of parliament MEPs voted to block agricultural funds for the financing of lethal bullfighting activities, but to date there has been little real change, mainly because of legal issues.

The biggest problem is that many of the farms that raise bulls also produce a variety of other products, meaning that any ban on granting them money for bullbreeding would also erode their right to access funding for other agricultural activities.

Antonio Banuelos, president of Spains Union de Criadores de Toros, said: Its discriminatory to create this concept that the fate of these cattle can be tied to receiving funds or not.

Even so, the bullfighting sector has taken a hit in popularity and income in recent years. Events in bullrings were stopped during the pandemic, and the financial crash of 2008 in Spain also put paid to many bullfights. In 2007 there were 3,651 events featuring bulls held across Spain. ten years later, that number had dropped to 1,553.

Animal rights activists and the overwhelming majority of MEPs are hoping that if the ban on subsidising bull raising with farming funds can overcome the legal hurdles, it will put a stop to bullfighting once and for all.

See also: 20 things pet owners are now prohibited from doing under the new Animal Protection Law in Spain

Image: Archive
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has published draft regulations that will require mobile network operators to collect subscriber biometric data.

This is to crack down on SIM swap fraud, the regulator stated.

Over a period, the Authority has been presented with concerns wherein mobile numbers have been hijacked either through a porting and/or SIM swap transaction, Icasa explained.

The hijacking of mobile numbers is a small but integral part of a wider form of fraud where sensitive data is diverted or comes in the control of criminal elements.

Icasa believes that associating mobile numbers with subscriber biometric data will help curb the hijacking of cellphone numbers.

There are several jurisdictions that have linked mobile numbers with biometric data of subscribers, the regulator said.

Thus, this form of authentication is in practice and is a possible remedy to ensure that subscribers do not lose control of their assigned mobile numbers.

Icasa does not specify whether the biometric data must be fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition, iris scans, or a combination, seemingly leaving the decision up to the operators.

Mobile numbers assigned to a juristic person would be exempted from these new regulations.

Icasas draft regulations explain that the process would work as follows:

On activation of a mobile number on its network, operators must ensure that they collect and link the subscribers biometric data to the number. Operators must ensure that, at all times, they have the current biometric data of an assigned mobile number. Operators must only use the biometric data to authenticate subscribers. If a subscriber requests a SIM swap, operators must ensure the biometric data of the user requesting the swap corresponds with the biometric data associated with the mobile number. If the biometric data does not correspond, they must decline the SIM swap.

Icasas draft amendment to its numbering plan regulations is open for public comment until 11 May 2022.
Credit bureau TransUnion has revealed more details about the extent of a recent data breach that compromised the personal information of millions of South Africans on one of its databases.

TransUnion confirmed that at least 3 million customers were impacted, including South African consumers and non-South African residents who have transacted in the country.

Another 6 million ID numbers were exposed that had no personal information linked.

We continue to work diligently to determine whether these ID numbers can be linked to other personal information to identify any additional impacted consumers, TransUnion stated.

The companys investigation into the incident had also determined that customer information that may be affected include:

Names

ID numbers

Dates of birth

Gender

Contact details

Marital status and information

Identities of employers and durations of employment

Vehicle finance contract numbers and VINs

Furthermore, in isolated circumstances, spouse information, passport numbers, and credit or insurance scores may be impacted.

Each data subject may have a combination of different fields impacted, depending on what data was available, TransUnion added.

The group claiming responsibility for the data breach, N4ugthySecTU, has alleged it exfiltrated 4TB of data, including a database of 54 million South Africans.

N4ugthySecTU also said it obtained a database for TransUnions credit monitoring product, containing 3,083,227 records with full names, ID numbers, cellphone numbers, and email addresses.

It demanded $15-million (R217-million) in cryptocurrency in exchange for not leaking the data online. The deadline for payment was 23:59 on Friday.

N4ugthySecTU accused TransUnion of not acting in the interest of South Africans by refusing to pay the extortion demand.

In its latest update on the breach, TransUnion has defended its refusal to pay.

TransUnion believes that acceding to the criminal third partys extortion demand would only provide them and other bad actors with an incentive to continue attacking consumers and extorting businesses, the company said.

It has maintained this approach is aligned with best practice advice from government and third-party cybersecurity experts.

The entities have recommended that TransUnion not pay, particularly given the risk that hackers and criminals may leak the data anyway.

The protection of affected individuals is a top priority, and we remain committed to assisting anyone whose information may have been illegally accessed from TransUnion South Africa, the company stated.
As a dry and summery spring arrives in Napa, the water restrictions passed by the Napa City Council back in July 2021 might seem like a distant memory to some residents.

But those drought restrictions are very much still in effect, said deputy utilities director Joy Eldredge. Conventional spray irrigation remains banned on all but two days of the week. Residents living in properties at even-numbered street addresses are allowed to water on Mondays and Thursdays, while those living at odd-numbered addresses can only irrigate on Tuesdays and Fridays.

That allows us to keep a watchful eye out and go out and do patrols and make sure everybodys aware and following those protocols, Eldredge said.

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Not following the restrictions may eventually lead to a fine, Eldredge said, though the water department will give several warnings before fines come into play.

The department at the moment feels like people need a reset, she said, so residents will be receiving a mailer about the restrictions, and the department will be hanging door tags on homes where the rules are being disobeyed.

If someones truly getting a fine from us, theyve earned it, Eldredge said.

For Napa County residents who rely on trucked water, the citys also currently limiting trucked water from city hydrants to 6,000 gallons per month per parcel, which is restricted to indoor domestic use.

Beyond the old restrictions, however, no new restrictions have come into effect; residents are still allowed to use drip and micro-irrigation systems on all days. Residents may also water by hand, using either a watering can or hose fitted with a shutoff nozzle.

The city is, however, recommends that through May residents water only once a week, given that the days before the summer heat arent as long or as consistently hot.

Eldredge said that though some major rain events hit Napa near the end of last year, 2022 so far has been incredibly dry. A major rain storm last October may have washed away some peoples awareness of the drought, she added.

We are in nearly the same situation we were last year, Eldredge said. Even though we started out great in October, our overall recharge and replenishment of our reservoirs this year fizzled, so we have to be very mindful of how we use that water as we go through the rest of this year.

A little over a week ago, Eldredge said, the citys State Water Project allocation was dropped to 15% to conserve water in state reservoirs. As a result, the city will only be getting 3,285 acre-feet of water  one acre-foot is equivalent to roughly 325,851 gallons  from that source this year. To fill in the water gap, the city will be looking to turn more toward Lake Hennessey and the Milliken Reservoir for the citys water needs, she said.

The citys efforts to cut down community water use by 20% last year when compared to 2020 were successful. According to a water division graph, city residents didnt manage to use 23% less water than in 2020 from July to December. Eldredge said the citys water customers used 13,200 acre-feet in total last year, compared to 14,100 used in 2020.

But the drought has been tangibly present across California this year.

In January, water customers were using right around 8 million gallons a day on average, Eldredge said. Right now, since Sunday, were now at 11 to 12 million gallons a day. So not everyone is thinking drought in the way this office here is.

You can reach Edward Booth at (707) 256-2213.

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For the eighth time, Robert Shippmann has failed to win his release from prison for the murder of his wife nearly three decades ago.

A two-person state panel on Friday ruled the 84-year-old inmate unsuitable for parole, concluding he poses an unreasonable risk to public safety and still lacks proper insight into why he fatally shot his estranged third wife, Juli Mathis Schippmann, in 1993 near Caiocca Pass in Angwin.

He will continue to be held at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville until his next parole hearing, scheduled for 2025.

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The decision closes off Shippmanns latest attempt to shorten his sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, plus four more years for using a firearm. Fridays three-hour videoconference hosted by the state Board of Parole Hearings was the eighth hearing for Shippmann since he pleaded guilty to his wifes murder and was sentenced to prison 29 years ago.

Prosecutors have said the inmate, who was then 55 and spelled his name as Schippmann, drove the 28-year-old Mathis to a remote area off Howell Mountain Road on April 23, 1993, then shot her three times in the chest, back and the back of her head with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle. He then turned the gun on himself but survived the suicide attempt.

Later, a student from nearby Pacific Union College saw Shippmanns pickup truck and found him inside, with his wifes body on the ground in front of the vehicle, according to past Napa Valley Register reports.

On Friday, Shippmann described six wonderful years with Juli that ended when he said he learned she was unfaithful to him, driving him to jealousy and rage that culminated in his wifes murder.

I pray that one day they can forgive me for my selfish acts, he said, referring to his and Mathis families. I have no excuses nor seek favors today. I simply ask for the chance to grow and spend the remainder of my life.  Whatever decision this commission makes today, I will show humility and peace with that decision.

State panelists, however, remained skeptical about the depth of his understanding and insight into his wifes murder.

It took a lot of prompting to get you to tell us the nature of the force utilized, extracting her from her car before she was killed  and this was after almost 30 years, parole commissioner Lawrence Nwajei told Shippmann. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to talk about it as it really is? I am hard-pressed to know what is keeping you from an ability to have self-awareness of the crime and to talk about it as it really is.

At his last hearing in 2019, Napa County Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero  whose office has consistently spoken out against Shippmanns release at his parole hearings  alleged the convicted murderer continued to minimize his acts of domestic violence over the years, didnt understand what drove him to criminal acts, and rarely partook of self-help programs in prison.

On Friday, Shippmann pointed to his absence of a disciplinary record during his decades in prison, as well as his efforts to learn about the roots of domestic violence and prevent himself from re-offending, if released.

Under questioning by parole commissioners, Shippmann also made his first formal admission that he raped Mathis, his wife of three years, on the day he killed her  although he stopped short of admitting he also had kidnapped Mathis, taken her to Ukiah and forced himself on her in a previous incident.

When asked by Nwajei if he and Mathis had sex on the day of her death, Shippmann said they had, then answered No, sir when asked if it was consensual.

Was it rape? asked Nwajei? To her, yes, Im sure it was, replied Shippmann.

Nwajei then pressed Shippmann on his claim that he had not met Mathis on that day with the intention of killing her. The commissioner cited testimony from the 2019 hearing that Shippmann had lured Mathis to his home on the pretext of collecting mail, and then grabbed her by the arm forced her into his pickup truck. Mathis car was found with its engine running and her purse still inside, Nwajei added.

Gero, again representing Napa County at the hearing, also was unmoved by Shippmanns admissions. This is an incredible amount of denial and lack of self-awareness, he said during the virtual hearing.

Gero dismissed Shippmanns clean disciplinary record in prison as irrelevant until he can show clear remorse for and understanding of his crimes. He has been a model prisoner, but he has had no girlfriend, wives or daughters to interact with, he told the parole panel. We dont know what would happen if he interacts with his victim pool.

We found your testimony and conduct to be a little bit contradictory, said Nwajei. It is apparent to this panel that you still have an ongoing difficulty with self-reflection and insight. This panel is in the business of granting parole, and if only if you had followed the road map given by the last panel (in 2019), perhaps the outcome would be different today.

Deputy commissioner Michael Mette questioned Shippmann about what prosecutors have called a pattern of abuse against Mathis  including his hiring of a private detective to tail his estranged wife shortly before her death.

Do you think hiring a private investigator is an act of domestic violence? asked Mette.

I never thought of it as that, but now that Ive thought about it for a few seconds, yes, it could be, replied Shippmann.

Parole commissioners were required to consider Shippmanns age and his years of imprisonment, as well as his disciplinary record and the extent of his counseling while behind bars.

Appearing from the Vacaville prison during the videoconference, Shippmann  wearing plastic-rimmed glasses on a head with a thin mustache and sparse white hair over his temples  spoke slowly but mostly clearly, although he appeared to stop and check notes on an unseen table before answering some questions.

Shippmanns counsel, Rath Chim, described his client as having endured testicular and thyroid cancer, surgeries and memory loss.

Asked by the panel whether he has received counseling and classes in domestic violence prevention since his last parole bid three years ago, Shippmann said he had, but appeared unfamiliar with some of the terminology even after prompting from commissioners and his attorney.

You understand that at your last hearing, that was a big issue  to dig deeper into domestic violence, to understand what it is and what caused you to do what you did, said Nwajei. I see you have difficulty addressing the same topic that was the reason why you were not granted parole. What does that tell you about your readiness?

Yes, I did write down many things, but my memory  Im sorry sir, but my memory of some things is tough to remember, said Shippmann.

Shippmanns bid for early release dates to September 2004, when he was denied at his first parole suitability hearing, and has included further hearings about once every three years. He came closest to release in September 2017, when another state panel found him suitable for parole, but then-Gov. Jerry Brown overruled that finding the following February.

Each of Shippmanns parole bids has inspired letter-writing campaigns by Mathis relatives urging California not to release him. Both family members and Napa County prosecutors have cited his history of violence against women, including against his two earlier wives.

I dont care how old the man is; he is very violent, Mathis mother Joanne Mathis Wilson told the Register in January. And I want this to be noted and someone to understand  just because he pretends to be such a nice normal man, hes not.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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Separate fires broke out 65 minutes part at the same industrial lot late Friday morning, but no injuries were reported, according to Napa Fire.

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Both incidents occurred in the 100 block of South Coombs Street, where shop workers reported a fire at 10:32 a.m., Napa Fire spokesperson Matt Colburn said in an email. The first fire erupted in the exterior of a workshop at the back of the property, which hosts several businesses.

Firefighters were called back to the site at 11:37 a.m. to put out flames in a different shop on the property, according to Colburn, who described property losses from both blazes as minimal.

Fire crews contained both blazes, which remained under investigation late Friday, Colburn said.
Thomas Ault is American, but for the past 15 years, his heart has belonged to a very different place: Ukraine.

I just love Ukrainian people, Ault said on Monday during a phone interview from his home in Napa. Theyre just amazing. Theyre so smart. Worldly. Polylingual. Ukrainian history, culture and arts also strongly appeal to him.

The Napan, who has his own construction firm, has so embraced the eastern European country that he even bought an apartment in a port city called Odesa.

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Ault described making dozens upon dozens of friends, some of which he now considers family. And now with the Russian invasion of the country, that "family" is in danger, said Ault.

Instead of spending time planning his next trip (which was to be in February), Ault is now spending 10 or more hours a day trying to help Ukrainian people.

Hes reaching out to his contacts, sending money to his friends, and trying to spread the word about what hes hearing directly from the embattled country.

To most Americans, Ukraine is a distant place theyve never heard of. But the crisis is staggering, he said. People are starving. Its happening now. There is war all over the county."

Ault explained that his introduction to Ukraine came as a result of doing some construction work in Angwin for a man from the country. The two became friends and in 2006, Ault made his first trip.

Immediately, I was totally fascinated and intrigued, said Ault. He wandered the city streets alone, not even knowing how to ask for a bathroom. It was like my eyes werent big enough to absorb everything.

After meeting his first Ukrainian friends, Ault attempted to start a business importing wooden wine boxes from Ukraine to the U.S. He began to make contacts, but the business floundered, mostly due to corruption at the border between Russia and Ukraine, Ault contended.

That didnt stop him. Since 2006, Ault has visited Ukraine about 50 times, usually at least three times a year for three or more weeks at a time.

He became enamored with Ukrainian history and places such as the ancestral home of Ukrainian Cossacks. Located on Khortytsia Island, It was almost a spiritual experience," he said of his visit. "I was overwhelmed. It was absolutely fascinating for me.

Age 69 and single, Ault also raved about the women of the country. I met so many cool, smart, beautiful women in Ukraine and most of them are my friends to this day, he said.

He knows more Russian than Ukrainian because Odesa is historically a Russian city, said Ault, but his Ukrainian language skills are improving.

Its quite inexpensive for Americans to visit and live in Ukraine, said Ault, who described himself as a Ukrainian patriot. Approximately 1 U.S. dollar equals about 29 Ukraine Hryvnia. According to one source, the monthly median salary in Kyiv is equivalent to about $881 U.S. dollars.

From his Ukrainian friends perspective, I was rich beyond their dreams, said Ault. I couldnt convince them that I worked my ass off every day.

To establish a home base in Ukraine, Ault bought a penthouse apartment for $205,000 near the beach in Odesa and planned to put another $100,000 into it.

I love Odesa, said Ault. The port city is like a Ukrainian version of Miami Beach, he said. In the summer theres no place Id rather be, and I lived in Hawaii for 20 years. Its absolutely magnificent.

In fact, I could see myself retiring there, he said.

Yet Ault isnt taking any time off as of now. Hes completely devoted to helping Ukrainian people, regularly communicating with about 40 Ukrainian friends. Hes even promised several of his closest friends that he will be responsible for their families if anything happens.

Ukrainian people are desperate, he said. Food insecurity is rampant.

Some of his friends who used to sell artworks and had other regular jobs are now holding weapons and fighting the Russians. Others have scattered to Poland and Germany.

Hes been sending one Ukrainian friend as much as $200 a day, as well as other funds to more friends and associates.

He almost doesnt care about the money, said Ault.

Im not going to abandon my friends when they need me, he said. I dont even think about me. I dont think about my apartment. Its not important.

"I have so many people relying on me right now," he said. "Its a critical time for them and the world.

Ault said that those who want to support the people of Ukraine can visit novaukraine.org, a nonprofit based in Stanford, Calif.

You can reach reporter Jennifer Huffman at 256-2218 or jhuffman@napanews.com

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Resistance Movement rally ends: Citizens remain on France Square

Erdogan and Macron discuss Turkey-France relations and Ukraine

CNBC: Elon Musk to become interim CEO of Twitter

Saghatelyan: Tomorrow from 12:00 we will completely paralyze Yerevan from four directions

Finland ready to cut off gas supplies from Russia

Resistance Movement marchers return to France Square

NEWS.am digest: Large scale protests continue in Yerevan, people forcibly arrested

Greece accuses Turkey of stoking tensions in Aegean Sea

Resistance Movement rally starts in central Yerevan

US Embassy in Havana resumes issuing visas to Cubans

Bloomberg: UK and Japan will help Asian countries reduce dependence on Russian oil

Dollar, euro gain considerable value in Armenia

FLYONE ARMENIA cancels Yerevan flights to, from Lyon, Paris until June 10

Annual inflation in Turkey reaches 69.97% in April

Armenia population as of January 1 announced

Poland builds 50 kilometers of fence on border with Belarus

Azerbaijan promises Europe gas in the hope of loyalty to Baku's crimes

Australia allocates $1.4 billion to modernize its Navy

Peskov says events unrolling in Armenia are countrys internal affair

Grigoryan: Discussions on setting up Armenia-Azerbaijan commission may be completed in near future

Red Cross: No Azerbaijani detainees in Armenia

Armenia official: Peace agreement with Azerbaijan also means solution to Karabakh issue

Armen Grigoryan: There is need to get answers to questions in order to organize Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting

Security Council chief: Baku's statements on Armenia territories belonging to Azerbaijan do not contribute to peace

Armenia official comments on Azerbaijan president's words about 'Zangezur corridor'

Armen Grigoryan: Armenia and Azerbaijan could exchange enclaves

FT: Erdogan used mediation between Russia and Ukraine

Person dies after being hospitalized from one of tents at France Square in Yerevan

Armenia to get 22.6M loan from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Armenia ruling force MP: Oppositions goal is not saving Karabakh but changing of power

President says Artsakh continues to maintain its vision for future, toward independence

Oppositions uncrowded marches show lack of public support, says Armenia ruling force lawmaker

Trade in Armenia increased by about $80 million, PM says

Scuffle breaks out during civil disobedience march in Yerevan, police attempt to apprehend opposition MP

Pashinyan to Bennett: I am hopeful that Armenian-Israeli relations will flourish in near future

Armenia ruling power legislator: This opposition has always run away from truth

Civil disobedience motorcade being held in Yerevan

EU to ban Russians from buying European real estate

US defense industry facing problems due to supply of weapons to Ukraine

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 march kicks off in downtown Yerevan

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
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Saturday during a speech at the international conference Doha Forum that Iran and world powers are very close to an agreement to resume the 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters reports.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also said that the nuclear talks were close to completion.

He said that Iran has put forward initiatives in the talks in the interests of its own people, and reaching an agreement requires Western countries to respond to these initiatives with serious intentions.

In July 2015, Iran reached an agreement on a JCPOA with the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany. In May 2018, the US administration unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and then reinstated and even imposed new sanctions against Tehran. Since May 2019, Iran has been gradually suspending the implementation of some articles of the JCPOA, but has promised that the steps taken will be reversible.

The respective parties to the Iran nuclear deal in April 2021 began talks in Vienna to get the United States and Iran back on track. The United States indirectly took part in the negotiations. The 8th round of negotiations began on December 27, 2021 in the Austrian capital. On March 11 this year, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced the suspension of negotiations due to "external factors".
The recent statements issued by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Azerbaijan once again blatantly indicate that the objective of Azerbaijans policy of systematic violence and terror against Nagorno-Karabakh is ethnic cleansing of the Armenian settlements in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian MFA reported.

Thereby, on March 24, the invasion of Azerbaijani armed forces to the village of Parukh in Nagorno-Karabakh was preceded by constant shelling of Armenian settlements and civilian infrastructure, as well as the threats from the Azerbaijani side voiced for several days by loudspeakers and directed to the Armenian population of Khramort village, neighbouring the village of Parukh, urging them to leave their settlements.

In parallel with this invasion and provocation of hostilities, amid the unprecedented cold weather, Azerbaijan has been disrupting the operation of a vitally important gas pipeline for several weeks, putting the people of Nagorno-Karabakh on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Moreover, in order to complete its pursuit of ethnic cleansing and to implement the policy of subjecting the Armenians of Artsakh to genocide with new vigor, Azerbaijan demands through its statements the withdrawal of the self-defense forces of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The statements of the Foreign and Defense Ministries of Azerbaijan also prove the pre-planned manner of the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan in the area of responsibility of the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a blatant contempt for commitments obliged by the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, including the provision for the sides to stop in their positions.

The international community is obliged to undertake effective and targeted steps to prevent the attempts of destabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus. At the same time, we emphasize the importance of implementing proper investigation of the actions of the peacekeeping contingent during the invasion of the units of Azerbaijani armed forces into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the peacekeeping contingent to issue a clear demand to Azerbaijani forces to return to their starting positions.

We also expect the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh to undertake concrete, visible steps to resolve the situation and prevent new casualties and hostilities.
The government announced two moves on Saturday intended to help SAR residents return to Hong Kong, easing a flight suspension mechanism and announcing that more quarantine hotels would be available when bans on arrivals from nine key destinations are withdrawn on Friday.Hours after Chief Executive Carrie Lam ruled out any major concession on the flight suspension mechanism, under which airlines carrying Covid-positive passengers are banned from operating a specific route, officials announced what they described as "streamlined triggering criteria".Flights will now be banned for one week, instead of the previous 14 days, and bans will take effect only if three or more passengers on a single flight test positive on arrival, or if there is at least one positive test and at least one case of non-compliance with pre-departure testing flights. The new rules take effect on Friday.The announcement was made in a statement setting out new arrangements for incoming flights that will take effect on Friday.Airlines had called for changes to the mechanism to restore Hong Kong's connectivity to the rest of the world.Separately, the government said that it would convert 13 hotels that had been pressed into use as Covid isolation facilities back to quarantine use.Officials also said four other hotels would change from isolation sites into quarantine hotels for foreign domestic helpers. In total, there will be 4,400 extra rooms for Hong Kong residents returning from overseas and a total of 1,600 for helpers who already work in the SAR or who have been granted visas.In a statement on Saturday, the government said the hotels "will commence service progressively from April 1 onwards and will start to accept room bookings for the relevant period gradually."It said the move was made "in anticipation of the growing number of returning Hong Kong residents".Officials say they've also asked existing quarantine hotels to open up 500 blocked off rooms for bookings. The moves take the total number of quarantine hotel rooms to more than 10,000, with full details available on the quarantine hotels website Details of hotels for domestic helpers can be found on a separate website The travel sector had welcomed the lifting of flight bans on the nine territories, which include the United States, Britain and Australia, as well as the Philippines.However, despite a surge in online searches for flights, industry leaders say many people would find it difficult because of a lack of flights and a shortage of hotel quarantine rooms.The government announced last week that it would reduce the hotel quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated Hong Kong residents from 14 days to a week.
Azeris breached ceasefire in disputed region: Moscow

Russian peacekeepers march in Nagorno-Karabakh. Photo: Sputnik via AFP

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday Azeri armed forces had entered a zone that is the responsibility of Russian peacekeepers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and had set up a surveillance post in violation of an agreement.



It said Azerbaijan had carried out four drone strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moscow had called on Azerbaijan to pull out its troops, and was "applying efforts" to move forces to their initial positions, it added.



Azerbaijan's authorities were not immediately available for comment.



After a military conflict in September-November 2020, Azerbaijan emerged as the victor, recapturing territory it had lost in an earlier war between 1991 and 1994.



But many questions remain unresolved, including the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenians who live there.



Moscow deployed almost 2,000 peacekeepers to the region after the ceasefire, reaffirming its role as policeman and chief power broker in a volatile part of the former Soviet Union where Turkey also wields increasing influence thanks to its close alliance with Azerbaijan. (AFP)
Perez stuns F1 to seal Saudi pole

Sergio Perez can barely believe he's taken pole position in Jeddah. Photo: AP

Mexican Sergio Perez stormed to a stunning maiden pole position under the floodlights in a crash-interrupted qualifying session on Saturday for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.



The Red Bull driver left his best for last as he lapped the 6.1-km long Jeddah Corniche circuit on the banks of the Red Sea in one minute 28.200 seconds to deny Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz a Ferrari front-row lockout.



World champion Max Verstappen was fourth.



"What a lap, unbelievable," Perez, who edged Leclerc by just 0.025 seconds, said after the session.



"I can do a thousand laps and I don't think I can beat that lap.



"We were not really expecting to match the Ferraris on qualifying. Hopefully we beat them tomorrow," added the 32-year-old who has two F1 career wins.



Saturday's session, around the challenging Jeddah layout made up mainly of high-speed blind sweeps and flat-out straights, was halted by two red flags.



Mick Schumacher crashed heavily during the second phase of qualifying, bringing the session to a halt for nearly an hour as track workers repaired barriers and cleaned the track of debris and oil.



The German Haas driver, who did not appear to have any injuries following an initial assessment at the track, was taken to an armed forces hospital in Jeddah for precautionary checks, the governing FIA said.



Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton made a shock early exit after failing to get past qualifying's opening knockout phase. The Briton, winner in Saudi Arabia last year, will line up 16th in his Mercedes for Sunday's race. (Reuters)
Bangladesh on Friday observed 'Genocide Day' in remembrance of the brutality of by Pakistani Army on unarmed people of then East Pakistan on the night of March 25, 1971 under the infamous "Operation Searchlight", culminating in killing of three million innocent people in the following nine months. The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs asked people to observe a minute's symbolic "blackout" exactly at 9 p.m. However, key and emergency installations remained out of the purview of the 'blackout', said the officials. The government had planned elaborate programmes in observance of the day at national level, while different political, social, and cultural organisations had also drawn up separate programmes to observe the day with due respect. President M. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the Genocide Day paying rich tributes to the martyrs. A discussion was held on the 'Gonohotya Dibos' (Day of Genocide)" while cultural programmes, including 'Geeti Natya' (musical drama) based on Liberation War will be organized across the country. At a discussion in Sangeet Bhawan, Chittagong, veteran freedom fighter, advocate Abu Mohammad Hashem, Chittagong Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian Alliance Secretary Tapas Horre, and others said that the brutality, cruelty and heinous crime of Pakistan Army and their followers never been forgotten. Hashem said that he had met then Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi several times as a student of Bangladesh, and recalled she said 'I can't wait indefinite time, students, speak out, when will the war end?" Rare photos and documentaries on the mass killings were exhibited on the premises of all the city corporations, including Dhaka, national dailies published special supplements, and television channels aired special programmes highlighting the significance of the day. All Bangladesh missions abroad were asked to observe the day and pay tributes to the martyrs of March 25, 1971, when the Pakistani military junta carried out mass killings in Dhaka as part of their blueprint to thwart the Awami League's assumption of office following the victory in the elections held in 1970. Under 'Operation Searchlight', the Pakistani military mercilessly killed the Bengali members of the East Pakistan Rifles and police, students, teachers and innocent general public. Bangladesh's Parliament, the Jatiya Sangsad on March 11, 2017 unanimously adopted a resolution to observe March 25 as "Gonohotya Dibos" and the cabinet, with Sheikh Hasina in the chair, unanimously endorsed it. --IANS sumi/vd ( 412 Words) 2022-03-25-23:06:06 (IANS)
The case was initially registered at Uri police station in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district in 2021. The NIA later took over the probe and re-registered the case.

The chargesheet was filed under sections 120B, 121, 121A, 122, 307, 326, 333 & 353 of the IPC, sections 16, 18, 20, 23 & 38 of UA(P) Act, section 27 of Arms Act, sections 3, 4 & 5 of Explosive Substances Act and section 14-A (b) of Foreigners Act at NIA Special Court, Jammu.

The case pertains to an infiltration bid foiled by the Indian Army in LoC's Uri sector.

During the infiltration bid that was thwarted by the Indian Army, Pakistani terrorist Imdadullah -- a.k.a Dujana a.k.a. 313, was arrested, and his associate, namely Atiq-ur-Rehman a.k.a Qari Anas a.k.a Abu Anas was killed.

A huge cache of arms, ammunitions, explosives and other incriminating materials were recovered from the possession of the Pakistani terrorists belonging to the LeT.

Further investigation in the case is underway.

--IANS atk/pgh

( 218 Words)

2022-03-26-21:28:04 (IANS)
India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves dipped by $2.59 billion in the week ended March 18, recording a sharp drop for the second consecutive week as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) heavily sold dollars to prevent slide in the value of rupee. According to the RBI's weekly statistical supplement, the country's forex reserves slumped by $2.597 billion to $619.678 billion during the week ended March 18. The value of gold reserves as well as foreign currency assets declined sharply. This is the second consecutive week of a sharp drop in the country's forex reserves. For the week ended March 11, India's forex reserves had slumped by $9.646 billion, the sharpest decline in nearly two years. The sharp decline in the country's forex reserves coincides with the week during which the rupee hit an all-time low. The Indian rupee plunged to a record low of 77.02 against a US dollar on March 7. The foreign currency assets, which is the biggest component of the forex reserves, fell by $703 million to $553.656 billion during the week ended March 18. The foreign currency assets had dipped by $11.108 billion in the previous week. Expressed in US dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-dollar currencies like Euro, UK's Pound Sterling and Japanese Yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. The value of gold reserves slumped by $1.831 billion to $42.011 billion during the week under review. The value of gold reserves had increased by $1.522 billion in the week ended March 11 due to a sharp increase in gold prices in the international markets. The value of India's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declined by $62 million to $18.865 billion. However, India's reserve position in the IMF remained unchanged at $5.146 billion during the week ended March 18, the RBI data showed. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI/PNN): Jyotsna Reddy, founder, and CEO of Glam Hour, an inclusive cosmetic brand, will debut in a real business show titled 'Beauty Business' to follow her journey in curating a beauty brand. According to an insider source, the Beauty Business series will follow Asian entrepreneur and social media personality Jyotsna Reddy. The show's idea is inspired by the life of many influential women in distinguished fields and their ability to deal with everything that is challenged at them. It is to throw light on contemporary issues in career management and relationships. In celebration, viewers showered praises on Twitter in complete awe and excitement. The show provides behind-the-scenes glimpses at what it takes to build a community-driven cosmetics business using different modules and platforms where the commerce is technologically driven. Beauty entrepreneurs dominate the personal care industry. Brands are exploding on a greater scale due to increased digital media influence. A new reality programme based on the world of glam is aiming to debunk all the myths and odds of launching a successful cosmetics brand. Indeed, this event will occupy a unique position because it centres on a robust lady who thrives on innovation and diversity in the beauty industry. Beauty Business is more than a reality show; it is a tremendous affirmation for hustlers who feel that nothing is impossible. The show is aimed at women worldwide who are interested in beauty and establishing a business and who have been inspired by Jyotsna to understand what it takes to manage a worldwide beauty enterprise. 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 26 (ANI/TPT): India's largest family fashion brand, Max Fashion, gears up to celebrate its 400th store opening in Bengaluru's Kammanahalli on March 27, 2022. This marks a significant milestone and incredible journey from its 1st store in Indore in 2006. The brand has grown at a phenomenal pace and is now present in 170-plus Indian cities and 19-plus countries globally. Max is synonymous with a world-class shopping experience and the latest international styles in apparel, footwear and accessories for Men, Women and Kids. With an overwhelming loyal customer base of over 33 million, Max becomes the most preferred fashion brand for every family in India. Making fashion accessible Max's brand vision is to "democratize fashion" for the contemporary middle class and price-conscious families by offering them global styles at great prices. It enjoys universal appeal across young families as well as millennials, who are not only fashion conscious but tech-savvy, because of a well-balanced portfolio across Apparel, Footwear & Accessories for Men, Women and Kids. With over 20,000 new designs across 8 seasons every year, consumers get access to best of fashion round the year. With a strong footprint in metros and tier 2,3, & 4 towns, Max is also bolstering its digital reach & presence across social platforms. With over 10-plus million app downloads, 1.7 million Facebook fans and close to 1 million Insta followers, one can shop with Max from the comfort of their homes on www.maxfashion.com & Max Fashion App. The brand has also amplified its presence with leading e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Ajio. This gives its customers a true Omni-channel shopping experience across touchpoints. This story is provided by TPT. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/TPT)
New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI/PNN): Art enthusiasts at Dubai's largest contemporary retail art fair 'World Art Dubai 2022' (WAD-2022) were enamored with the breathtaking beautiful artwork depicting the cultural traditions of Kerala by renowned artist, Pankaj Bawdekar. WAD, the most anticipated art event by talented artists in the world, was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from March 16 to 19. The art enthusiasts at the WAD were mesmerised with the experience of the Pooram procession to Pandi Melam that was beautifully demonstrated by Bawdekar in his artwork, traveling them to the great festivities of India. Pankaj Bawdekar said, "Whenever I visit or see such festivities, my brain interacts with frenetically pulsating images reflective of my internal and responsive neuronal activity. However, these cultural festivals of Kerala have become the foreground subject of my paintings" Bawdekar believes that his art stirs the soul and connects the art lover not only to the beauty of the human experience but also to what lies beyond our sight. "Talented artists from various parts of the world are indebted to the WAD organizers for allowing us to demonstrate our core skills to the art enthusiasts," said Bawdekar. After the successful WAD event, Bawdekar is preparing to exhibit his artwork in the India Arts Festivals to be held in Delhi from April 7 to April 10 and at Bengaluru from May 5 to 8 respectively. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Amid the controversy on the recently released film "The Kashmir Files", the Rajya Sabha Secretariat Recreation Club has arranged a special screening of the Telugu film "Bahubali: The Beginning", for all members on April 1 at the Films Division Auditorium, here in Mahadev Road. According to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the move came after the suggestion from the Hindi Salahkar Samiti of the Upper House to encourage the linguistic exchange among the Hindi speaking and other language-speaking people and the Members have been requested to watch this movie. The subtitles of the film are in English. In a parliamentary party meeting of the BJP held on March 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the MPs to watch the newly released film, The Kashmir Files. "The Kashmir Files is a very good movie. All of you should watch it. More such movies should be made," Modi said. "The Kashmir Files" is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s, and endorsing the film, Modi said that there was an effort underway to prevent the truth from being told. "History has to be presented in the right context. Just as books, poetry and literature play a role in this, films can do so too," he said. Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for their demand to make "The Kashmir Files" tax-free in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the BJP should ask the film's director Vivek Agnihotri to upload it on YouTube, and everyone will see it for free. The Delhi BJP MLAs on Wednesday demanded during the on-going assembly session to make "The Kashmir Files" tax-free. --IANS ams/pgh ( 292 Words) 2022-03-25-23:24:01 (IANS)
The 'Raanjhanaa' actor took to her Instagram handle and shared a couple of pictures featuring her and Rani in an embrace.

Sharing a heartfelt note, in the caption, she wrote, "A friendship that's lasted 20 years. Love you rani. Also belated happy birthday to my favourite actress."

In the snaps, while Sonam could be seen sporting a simple white attire, Rani, on the other hand, contrasted her look by wearing a dark purple top.

On March 21, in a social media post, Sonam had announced that she and her husband Anand Ahuja will be welcoming their first child this fall. She also shared a few images in which she could be seen cradling her baby bump while lying on the couch with Anand.

For the unversed, the duo had tied the knot back in 2018, in a traditional wedding ceremony, in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonam has a crime thriller titled 'Blind' in her kitty. (ANI)
Taking to her Instagram Story on Saturday, Saba, who is part of the band Madboy Mink with Imaad Shah, shared glimpses from the soundcheck before their show this evening in Pune.

Hrithik shared her clip on his Story and wrote, "Kill it you insanely amazing woman. Wish I was there for this one!"

Saba shared this on her Story and replied, "Wish you was here too my cute :) @hrithikroshan."

Dating rumours of the two sparked last month when they were spotted out on a dinner date. A few days later, Saba also joined Roshans for a get-together.

Hrithik was earlier married to Sussanne Khan, with whom he has two sons. They parted ways in 2014. (ANI)
Trinidadian rapper and songwriter Nicki Minaj, on Friday, dropped her fourth song in less than two months and it's a fiery track titled 'We Go Up' in collaboration with Fivio Foreign. Announcing the song, the 39-year-old rap queen took to her Twitter handle and wrote, "Oh yeah, #WeGoUp ft @FivioForeign is out everywhere. Happy #PinkFriday." 'We Go Up' features both fast and slow verses. Nicki raps, "Sitting in the back of the Benz and my feet go up/ B--hes don't come outside when the beef go up. But I love the way they mob when we roll up/ These b--hes bums, when I see them, they make me throw up." This new track is the latest in a rapid-fire series of singles from the artist, whose track 'Blick Blick' with Coi Leray had come out just last week. Prior to that, she had released 'Do We Have a Problem?' and then 'Bussin'. Both the songs featured Lil Baby. (ANI)
According to People Magazine, Bloom, 45, who has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2009, took to his Instagram handle and discussed meeting a mom of three who evacuated Ukraine with her kids.

"Today, on the border, I met a mother and her three children who fled Ukraine last night after their neighbour's house was bombed. They don't know where they will go next, but Mum just wants her children to be safe," a part of the caption read.

In the comment section, Bloom's pop-star fiancee Katy Perry wrote, "Thank you for being a great human."

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)
Raashii Khanna is shooting in her hometown for Dharma Productions' 'Yodha', where she would be seen romancing Sidharth Malhotra. The movie also stars Disha Patani in the lead role.

Announcing the same, Raashii took to her social media saying, "Haven't slept in some countless hours... Just remember shooting night shifts for #Sardar in Chennai and now in Delhi starting the day shift for #Yodha... Quite zoned out but such is an actors life!"

Raashii was last seen in 'Rudra: The Edge of Darkness' co-starring Ajay Devgn. She played the role of Dr. Aliyah Choksi, a psychopath.

Apart from Dharma Productions' 'Yodha', Raashii will be next seen in her second OTT project with Raj and DK, of 'The Family Man' fame, along with Vijay Sethupati and Shahid Kapoor, making for a stellar team.

Apart from the same, Raashii recently wrapped the schedule of 'Thank You' with Naga Chaitanya in Moscow and has begun shooting for her upcoming film 'Sardar' with Karthi in Chennai. (ANI)
Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, on Friday, during his acceptance speech at ICG Publicist's Guild awards luncheon made an impassioned plea for the Russian attack on Ukraine to end. According to Variety, Coppola was in attendance to accept the Guild's lifetime achievement award. During his acceptance speech, Coppola said, "I confess I met Putin, and I met Zelenskyy who is really a show business guy, his whole government, all of them are actors. And I know of what I speak when I say if one word would just be said, one word with the force of meaning: Stop." "It would [be] stop, because believe me, anyone who knows this, the difference between NATO and the Russian forces is 25 times greater. And, Putin is not an insane, deranged person. He is a calculating person and if someone said stop and meant that, he would stop," he continued. As per Variety, further, he briefly thanked his publicist of 10 years, Annalee Paulo, calling her a "wonderful associate," before admitting that he was going to throw out his speech to speak from his heart about the situation in Ukraine. (ANI)
Hemsworth, 38, took to his Instagram handle and shared a video from the 'Extraction' film set.

In the clip, the 'Thor' actor could be seen thanking the whole cast and crew of the film while sporting his character look as mercenary Tyler Rake.

"That's a wrap! Another Extraction film down. Shaping up to be an epic franchise which has only been possible with the blood, sweat, tears and passion of our amazing cast and crew. Massive thankful to everyone who's been with us through this journey and cheers to many more, much love team. Can't wait for you all to see this one! @netflix @samhargrave @therussobrothers #extraction2," Hemsworth captioned the post.

Released in 2020, 'Extraction' was a big hit. It featured black-ops mercenary Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) travelling to Bangladesh to rescue the kidnapped son of a drug lord. At the end of the film, Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) took a bullet to the neck while protecting the child. The climax made fans wonder if Tyler Rake survived.

Upon its release, the film was viewed on Netflix by an estimated 90 million households.

Chris Hemsworth will reteam with director Sam Hargrave for 'Extraction 2' which is produced by Joe and Anthony Russo via their AGBO banner, from a script by 'Avengers: Endgame' filmmaker Joe Russo, who also penned the first instalment of the film. (ANI)
Actor Raghav Tiwari, who was seen playing a protagonist Aditya in his acting debut show 'Hamari Wali Good News', is in his hometown Jaipur to host a fashion show. The actor remembers his modeling days and says: "Fashion Industry has always been very fascinating, glamorous and glittery. But it has own merits and demerits. In my initial days I started my career as a model. Though I was not tall enough to be a ramp model but I use to get a hell lot of print projects. Modelling grooms your personality and improves the way you carry yourself and gives you a confidence boost." Raghav feels modeling is taxing. He says: "Modelling as a job is very taxing. When I started working as a newbie print model, I use to get atleast 100 to 150 changes with not an average pay which was inhuman. Even for ramp models its very taxing to maintain a certain lean physique and walking for different different shows. Modelling is very competitive plus age restricted too." He says at the time there is not much scope left for people pursuing modelling. "I also feel that few years ago there was a wave of models getting recognition and fame. Veterans like John Abraham, Muzamil Abrahim, Dino Morea, Arjun Rampal among others who are at the top. But now we hardly get to know about upcoming models. So, I believe we have hell lot of talented people in Modeling stream too and they deserve the push in the industry," he concludes. --IANS ila/kr ( 266 Words) 2022-03-26-19:40:05 (IANS)
With over 25 lakh vaccine doses administered till Friday evening, India's vaccination coverage against Covid pandemic crossed 182.83 crore mark.

The ministry also said that over 2.23 crore Precaution Doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries -- HCWs, FLWs and Over 60 years for Covid vaccination have been administered so far.

"Over 1 crore children between the age group of 12-14 have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Congratulations to all my young warriors who got vaccinated. Let's continue this momentum," Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted.

Meanwhile, India on Friday reported marginal decline at 1,685 fresh Covid infection with 83 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Following a continuous downward trend, India's active caseload has also further declined to 21,530 on Friday, constituting 0.05 per cent of the country's total positive cases. There has been a sustained fall in the weekly and daily positivity rates too.

Weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.33 per cent, while the daily positivity rate is reported to be 0.24 per cent.

--IANS avr/pgh

( 216 Words)

2022-03-25-22:54:03 (IANS)
Drugs used to treat malaria are also effective at treating a pulmonary disease similar to tuberculosis, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers from Colorado University. The research was published in the journal, 'Science of Translational Medicine'. The study was a significant development in the fight against infections caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria, or NTM, which are now more common than tuberculosis in the United States and often attack people who have a weakened immune system or pre-existing conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis. "There are currently very few antibiotics available to treat NTM infections, and some patients fail to respond to any treatment," said Professor Mary Jackson of CSU's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, one of the lead authors. "The perspective that anti-malarial drugs that already have undergone advanced clinical trials may become part of the arsenal of drugs available to fight these infections could have an immediate impact in the clinic," she added. Few drugs are effective against this mycobacterium, and the ones that tend to be toxic and cause bad side effects, Jackson said. The researchers have believed that the bacterium is capable of sensing and responding to threats in its environment, such as lowered oxygen levels, oxidative stress and acidic pH, which are our body's natural ways of fighting disease. It does so by activating, among other things, a regulator known as DosRS which controls many essential functions in the bacterium such as its respiration, ability to form biofilms and ability to enter a dormant state when the conditions are not favourable to bacterial multiplication. They found that in mice, two existing anti-malarial drugs were able to prevent DosRS from responding to stresses, meaning that the bacterium struggled to fight off antibiotics and the immune system's natural disease response. "It blocked the regulator and kept it from doing its job," Jackson explained. "One of the things the treatment did, in particular, was to lower the bacterium's ability to form biofilms, thereby reducing its ability to resist killing by antibiotics," she added. The treatment alone was just as effective at dropping bacterial loads in the lungs as the combination of antibiotics currently used to treat the disease. "Treatment of M. abscessus is especially challenging because a minimum of three to four antibiotics are needed in combination, and there are few available options," said Dr Jerry Nick, a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health. "The repurposing of antibiotics developed for other infections for use in the treatment of M. abscessus has proven to be the most successful route to increasing available therapies for this serious disease," he added. "This report is especially exciting because these compounds were both effective against the infection and also increased the effectiveness of other antibiotics. The repurposing strategy reduces the time needed to test these compounds in clinical trials, as often there is a proven track record of safety and clinical experience," he concluded. (ANI)
The division bench of Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into the Rampurhat carnage in West Bengal's Birbhum district where ten people including six women and two children were burnt to death following the murder of a Trinamool gram panchayat leader. The court in its order said that the probe was ordered in the "interest of justice", "fair investigation" and to "instill confidence in the society". The state government will not be carrying out any further investigation on the matter, and the CBI will have to submit a progress report before the court on April 7. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj observed: "...We are of the opinion that facts and circumstances of the case demand that in the interest of justice and to instill confidence in the society and to have fair investigation to dig out the truth it is necessary to hand over the investigation to the CBI. Accordingly, we direct the state government to forthwith hand over the investigation of the case to CBI." Earlier, the state government had set up a special investigation team (SIT) comprising Gyanwant Singh, Additional Director General of the Crime Investigation Department (ADG CID); B.L. Meena, Inspector General (IG) of the Burdwan Zone; and Meeraj Khalid, Deputy Inspector General [DIG CID (Ops)] to look into the incident. The court said: "The CBI will not only be handed over the case papers but also the accused and suspects who were arrested in the matter and in custody. Hence, we direct the CBI to forthwith take over the investigation in the case and submit the progress report before us on the next date of hearing." According to the judges, the incident has "shaken the conscience of the society" and has "a nationwide ramification". Ten people, including two children, were charred to death as nearly a dozen houses were set ablaze in Bogtui in Birbhum's Rampurhat block early Tuesday in a suspected fallout over the murder of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) deputy panchayat pradhan Bhadu Sheikh. The SIT has so far arrested 22 people, including the TMC's Rampurhat I block president Anarul Hossain. Welcoming the court order, the BJP's IT Cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, "Grateful to the Calcutta HC for ordering CBI probe in the Rampurhat massacre. Mamata Banerjee's admin and SIT constituted by the WB Govt inspired no confidence whatsoever. It seemed more like a means to cover up the crime and protect TMC leaders involved in the ghastly killings." --IANS sbg/pgh ( 431 Words) 2022-03-25-20:32:03 (IANS)
In a tweet, he said: "I received a complaint on our anti-corruption action helpline. Directed the authorities for immediate investigation, those caught asking for bribes will face severe consequences. Corruption won't be tolerated in Punjab now."

The anti-bribery helpline 9501 200 200 has received around 20,000 complaints so far. However, a majority of these do not have an audio or video proof to support their claim.

Asking strong cognizance of the complaints received on the helpline number, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has issued orders to register a case against a clerk of tehsil office in Jalandhar.

AAP spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang and state Joint Secretary Sunny Ahluwalia told the media the government is continuously taking public-friendly decisions and the Chief Minister on Friday making a big change in the formula of pension to the MLAs, announced 'one MLA, one pension' to cut down multiple pensions of MLAs.

Ahluwalia said Mann has taken a historic decision by making a big change in the formula of pensions being received by MLAs and ministers.

Now an MLA will get only one pension. He said the decision of the Punjab government was laudable as the people of Punjab had been demanding for a long time to discontinue multiple pensions of MLAs.

This decision will save the government about Rs 80 crore in five years and this money will be spent for public welfare, Ahluwalia added.

--IANS vg/vd

( 263 Words)

2022-03-25-20:40:05 (IANS)
In one of the bitterest attacks till date, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday accused the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party of being a 'pervert' and dared it to arrest him if it wanted to grab power in Maharashtra. Coming three days after his brother-in-law faced action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Thackeray also questioned the corruption allegations levelled by the BJP and the actions of various central probe agencies to defame the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, its leaders and their families. "I am not scared by these tactics. If you want to jail me to come to power then do it... Put me in a cell like Lord Krishna. But don't indulge in such vicious tactics to grab power. Don't harass us or our family members. We never bothered your family members," Thackeray declared. The Chief Minister recalled how Indira Gandhi had declared Emergency, but now we are in a state of 'undeclared Emergency' and said "it needs great courage to declare a public Emergency". Wondering if the ED has become the maid-servant of the BJP, especially after the arrests of former home minister Anil Deshmukh and later Nawab Malik, the Chief Minister took strong umbrage at the Opposition for linking Malik and the MVA in general with the fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, and exploiting the absconder mafiosi's name in elections. Taking a swipe at Devendra Fadnavis's 2-man 80-hour long government, Thackeray said if the early morning oath ceremony experiment had succeeded, "then Malik and Deshmukh would have been sitting in the BJP's lap". He recalled how the former state BJP home minister, the late Gopinath Munde had promised to bring back Dawood, but it has not yet happened. "Former US President Barack Obama displayed guts by sending his commandos to Pakistan to kill the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Why similar courage has not been shown to deal with Dawood?" Thackeray asked pointedly without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On another BJP charge, the Chief Minister said that a Waqf Board member was elected when the BJP-led government was in power, with the appointment letter signed in green ink by the then minister Vinod Tawde, who is now the BJP national general secretary. Training guns on the Centre, Thackeray accused it of delaying crucial projects like the Mumbai Metro 3 line by not giving up its claim on the Kanjurmarg land for the metro car-shed and not releasing the 45 acres of railway land for the Dharavi redevelopment project to take-off. On allegations of cost-escalation, he asked Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde to probe the increased costs of the Mumbai Metro projects during the erstwhile Fadnavis-led government. Referring to the BJP's taunts that he had abandoned Hindutva by allying with Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, Thackeray reiterated that he was very much a Hindutva proponent and reminded how it was the late Balasaheb Thackeray who supported the BJP which was isolated politically after the Babri Mosque razing (December 1992) and never regretted it. The Chief Minister also blamed the BJP for disrupting the Budget Session opening day speech by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, which was against the 'culture' of the state, adding such a thing was unprecedented in the country and should not have happened. Continuing his spirited tirade against the BJP's charges after the state government allowed controlled sale of wine through supermarkets, he said the liquor consumption in some BJP-ruled states was much higher than Maharashtra. He said Maharashtra has the lowest number of liquor shops per lakh population compared with other BJP-ruled states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh, and the Opposition-ruled Telangana and Tamil Nadu, and asked BJP to stop maligning this state. To the Opposition's charges on corruption in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation during the Covid-19 pandemic, Thackeray strongly rebuffed the BJP's allegations point by point and said the 'Mumbai Model' of Covid management has been hailed globally. He said while the Opposition was welcome to point out any lapses which can be rectified, he asked the BJP to stop hurling baseless accusations. Later, responding to the ripping speech, Fadnavis claimed that the Chief Minister failed to answer any points raised by the Opposition. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) --IANS qn/pgh ( 717 Words) 2022-03-25-20:52:02 (IANS)
The police have lodged a case in this regard, and also claimed to have arrested 10 people in this connection.

The BJP and others have accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of sheltering the accused.

The BJP had accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee of trying to cover up the incident.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has denied all the charges.

After the Calcutta High Court's Friday order, the party said it would support the agency in conducting a fair probe.

The High Court has transferred the investigation of the case to the CBI.

After taking over the probe, the team of CBI has reached the crime scene. They will speak to the media once their crime scene examination is over.

Bhadu Sheikh, a Trinamool Congress leader and local deputy president of Rampurhat village was killed in an incident which triggered a violence.

His supporters had gathered and set as many as eight houses on fire.

Children, women had hid in the house in a bid to save themselves, but the assailants set the whole house on fire killing them on the spot.

Many houses were also ransacked.

--IANS atk/pgh

( 232 Words)

2022-03-25-20:58:04 (IANS)
The Patna district administration has launched an enquiry against the Secretary of a Panchayat for allegedly organising a liquor party in a government office, an official said on Friday. Block Development Officer, Bihta, Vishal Anand, has written a letter to the Panchayati Raj Ministry for action against accused Panchayat Secretary Bhim Kumar. "A video of a Panchayat secretary surfaced before district administration on Friday where he was consuming liquor and a semi-nude girl was also present there. Based on this video, we have written a complaint to the Panchayati Raj Ministry to investigate this matter and take action against the accused. "The district administration has also initiated a separate inquiry into the matter. We will take legal action based on the investigation report," Anand said. As per the video uploaded on social media, and not authenticated by IANS, Bhim Kumar is seen consuming liquor along with other people including a girl in a semi-nude position at his office-cum-residence, allocated to him by the state government. Meanwhile, Bhim Kumar claimed that the video was doctored and someone is trying to malign his image. He said that he was never involved in organising a liquor party in his office or any other place. In another incident, Excise Department officials arrested a CEO of a software company for procuring liquor. "We have conducted a raid at flat number 505 of Mundeshwari apartment located at Rajiv Nagar locality and arrested a person named Abhishek Kumar in a drunken stage on Thursday night. We have also recovered a liquor bottle from the flat," Assistant Commissioner Kishore Kumar Shah said. --IANS ajk/vd ( 279 Words) 2022-03-25-21:04:02 (IANS)
The injured police personnel were identified as Sub-Inspector Vinit Vinayak, and constables Sunil Kumar, Atish Kumar, and Manish Kumar. They were taken to a primary health centre in Barauli for treatment.

SDPO, Sadar, Sanjiv Kumar said: "A group of youths were playing the songs of Bhojpuri film star Khesari Lal Yadav on the loudspeakers. The other group objected to it leading to an altercation between them.

"When a police team reached there to bring the situation under control, the youths showed aggression against the policemen too. They attacked them with batons and iron rods, leaving 4 police personnel injured. We have registered an FIR against accused youths. Further investigation is underway."

There was also some property disputes between the two groups," the SDPO added.

--IANS ajk/vd

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2022-03-25-22:34:04 (IANS)
The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to sanction maternity leave to a woman employee of the Educational Department for her third child from a second marriage. Justice V. Parthiban ordered the state government to sanction maternity leave to K. Umadevi from October 11, 2021, to October 10, 2022, with full pay and all other benefits, including full attendance. The order came on a writ petition filed by Umadevi, who sought to quash the order of the District Educational Officer of Dharmapuri district, dated August 28, 2021, not sanctioning the maternity leave, citing that a government servant is eligible for maternity leave only for two surviving children. Umadevi had married Suresh in 2006 and the couple had two children but they got divorced in 2017 and the children were living with Suresh. She then married Rajkumar after getting a divorce from Suresh, subsequently became pregnant, and applied for maternity leave. Justice Parthiban, in his order, cited a Government order issued on June 20, 2018, which extended the benefit of second delivery even if a government servant had given birth to twins earlier. "The government has earlier recognised such extreme cases and this is one such case wherein as a fallout from the first marriage, the petitioner had to part with her children born out of her first marriage. Therefore it cannot be said that the petitioner is having two surviving children at all." "The court, therefore, holds that the petitioner is deemed to have not having two surviving children and hence, the court allows the women government employee to be given maternity leave with full payment." It directed the government to sanction maternity leave for the period claimed as admissible within a period of two weeks. --IANS aal/vd ( 306 Words) 2022-03-25-22:44:01 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the flavour of India's wheat must capture the entire world's taste buds and help increase the country's wheat exports, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday. Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal informed this while replying to the supplementary question related to wheat export during the Question Hour. Goyal was responding to a question raised by Congress MP Anand Sharma. Pointing out the situation arising out of the Ukraine-Russia war and the sanctions imposed against Russia, Sharma had asked if the Union government was looking at exporting India's wheat in the international market and for alternate routes due to the problems in the high seas. The Union Minister for Commerce and Industry said the Central government is continuously monitoring the opportunities that open up for India and India's exporters. India can proudly say that it has high quality wheat and our farmers are truly making the country proud by the growth in wheat production. Similarly, our exporters increased wheat exports from nearly two lakh metric tonne (LMT) two years ago, in 2021 they grew ten times to 21 LMT and in 2022, we will close with more than 70 LMT of wheat export, Goyal added. "But Prime Minister Modi has set a much more aggressive target for this year. We have been holding joint consultation with the Union Ministry of Agriculture. The Railways has risen to the occasion by assuring availability of adequate rakes so that wheat can be moved to the ports. The Shipping Ministry is also working to ensure seamless movement of agricultural products, particularly wheat, given the current situation." The Union Minister said how in February the Prime Minister called him asking about the steps taken for wheat export. "After I gave the entire report to Modi, he said, but you have not reported the most important thing. I was quite taken aback." "Take this opportunity so that we give such good quality to the whole world that woh "swad hamare gehun kaa sabko itna (achcha) lag jaaye, ki uske baad (sirf) hamare desh ka hi gehun niryat ho" (so that the whole world remembers the taste of only India's wheat and help increase our export of wheat). "We have also taken FSSAI on board as the Prime Minister insisted on the highest quality for export. Just like India's rice earns a premium across the world, we need to take India's wheat to that level," Goyal added. Earlier, Anand Sharma had also congratulated -- as a former Commerce and Industry Minister -- for crossing the $400 billion mark for exports. "Our exporters have risen to the occasion in the past. When I had demitted office, our exports were at $318 billion. Last two years were very difficult due to Covid-19 and this is a remarkable achievement," the Congress MP said. The government had announced on Thursday that India has achieved $400 billion goods' exports target for the first time. Goyal thanked Sharma for his "gracious comments" and said, "Our exporters deserve it." --IANS niv/khz/ ( 518 Words) 2022-03-25-23:12:03 (IANS)
The Union Home Ministry has invited Assam and Meghalaya Chief Ministers to the national capital to hold a meeting on March 29 to discuss the inter-state border disputes in six of the 12 disputed areas of the two northeastern states, officials said on Friday. The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held on March 27. An official of Meghalaya Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma along with the senior officials of the two states would attend the meeting. The two northeastern states signed an inter-state border agreement on January 29 to settle the boundary dispute in six of the 12 disputed locations. The Chief Ministers of both the states also then jointly held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972 before the state had challenged the reorganisation act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 bordering locations along the 884.9 km long inter-state border. Due to the border disputes, several violent incidents happened in the past with the major such flare-up in 2010, four persons were killed in police firing at Langpih, one of the 12 disputed areas. Assam has border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram. The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 last year left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured. --IANS sc/pgh ( 259 Words) 2022-03-25-23:12:05 (IANS)
Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday said PM Gati Shakti entails the geospatial mapping of everything in the country, different layers of maps which talk to each other, leading to integrated planning, with better optimization of time and cost, said a press release by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. While addressing the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2021-22 in Mumbai today, he said, "One of the examples is that we are now able to remove the situation of projects getting stuck due to crossing of forest and rail line," added the statement. Aatma Nirbhar Bharat is opening our doors wider to the world. "Each one of our programmes is with the singular purpose of leveraging our strengths, becoming a global player, expanding our sphere of influence in geopolitics and trade and business." The Minister said it is a testament to our collective effort that we have crossed the target of 400 billion dollars in goods exports for the first time in our history. "A lot of business-focused initiatives like Startup India, digital initiatives, DBT, efforts to demystify laws coupled with central government's commitment for Rs. 7.5 lakh crore investment will give a big boost to employment and economy." He added that these efforts will kickstart demand and thereby promote private sector investment. Lauding the National Single Window System, the beta version of which has been launched, Union Minister Shri Goyal said the NSWS aims to fasten clearances. He added 'We want to reduce industry's compliance burden and remove pain points in laws'. Addressing the Award Function, Goyal raised some pertinent questions. He said 'Can we as a nation have 3 crore families without an electricity connection in their homes? How can we as a nation accept that water will be a problem for millions of homes so many years after independence?' The Minister then stated that the Jal Jeevan Mission will ensure that every home in the country will have tapped water soon, empowering people in a variety of ways thereby. The Minister said that social efforts that improve lives of less privileged sections of society, such as providing elementary things like toilets to give people a life of dignity, cooking gas and entitlements to health care for the poor are important, even as we discuss wins and losses of Indian business. The Minister for Commerce and Industry said that the government has been successful in getting India back to the centre stage in the global economy and making it a trusted partner of economies around the world'. 'We can discuss with developed countries too from a position of strength', he added. The Union Minister said that it is the whole bouquet that one has to look at - government and industry working hand in hand to decriminalize laws, introduce technology in governance, improve Ease of Doing Business and reducing compliance burden. "It is like a necklace with several beads." (ANI)
A day after the Government of India signed an agreement with World Health Organization for establishing the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the move saying it will contribute towards making a healthier planet and leveraging the country's rich traditional practices for global good. "India is honoured to be home to a state-of-the-art WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. This Centre will contribute towards making a healthier planet and leveraging our rich traditional practices for global good," the Prime Minister tweeted on Saturday. The Ministry of Ayush on Friday signed the 'Host Country Agreement' with WHO for establishing WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India at Jamnagar, Gujarat, with its interim office at the Institute of Training and Research in Ayurveda in Gujarat. The Prime Minister said that this centre will enhance wellness in society. "Traditional medicines and wellness practices from India are very popular globally. This WHO Centre will go a long way in enhancing wellness in our society," PM Modi said. The primary objective of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, the Ministry of Ayush said, is to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology and improve overall health of the communities' world over. This global knowledge centre for traditional medicine, supported by an investment of USD 250 million from the Government of India, aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology to improve the health of people and the planet, the WHO said in a statement. As per data shared by WHO, around 80 per cent of the world's population is estimated to use traditional medicine. "To date, 170 of the 194 WHO Member States have reported the use of traditional medicine, and their governments have asked for WHO's support in creating a body of reliable evidence and data on traditional medicine practices and products," it said. The term traditional medicine describes the total sum of the knowledge, skills and practices indigenous and different cultures have used over time to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness. Its reach encompasses ancient practices such as acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine and herbal mixtures as well as modern medicines. The onsite launch of the new WHO global centre for traditional medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India will take place on April 21, 2022.(ANI)
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) National General Secretary Nara Lokesh on Friday accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of "inciting" regional differences by bringing his "unlawful" three capitals policy once again to the fore. Lokesh cautioned the people of Andhra Pradesh against falling into the "trap" of CM as he was bent on creating conflicts between castes, religions and regions ahead of the next elections. The TDP leader said that the court had clarified that the state government and the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) would have to fulfill their promises to the Amaravati farmers as per the Reorganisation Act. "No Chief Minister in the history of independent India had dared to attack the courts like Jagan Mohan Reddy has been doing in the past three years. Where was the need for framing and passing laws and acts if rulers like the AP CM would not respect them? It was systems and institutions which would be permanent but not Jagan Reddy despite being an elected ruler," said Lokesh. While hearing a batch of petitions against three state capitals, the Andhra Pradesh High Court, on March 3, ordered the YSRCP government to develop Amaravati as the state capital. However, Jagan Reddy said that the verdict of the High Court appears to "trespass into the legislative terrain" and said, "We felt that the limits were crossed and hence had taken up the discussion in the House." Months after the landslide victory in the 2019 state Assembly elections, the Andhra Pradesh government had set up an expert committee which recommended three capitals- Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital from where the Secretariat will function and will also have the Chief Minister's Office, while Amaravati will be the legislative capital and Kurnool will have the High Court with one Bench each at Amaravati and Visakhapatnam. In June 2020, Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed "Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill 2020". The Bill intended to make three capitals for the state was stopped in the Legislative Council as Council chairman MA Shariff had sent the bill for the select committee consideration. It may be noted that YSRCP had an absolute majority in the Legislative Assembly but the party did not have a majority in the Legislative Council. After widespread protests especially by farmers of the Amaravati region, in November 2021, the Andhra Pradesh government withdrew the "Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill 2020" in the State Assembly with CM Jagan Reddy saying that the state government will introduce a new Bill with "no errors". (ANI)
Kanduri was elected as the fifth Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. She succeeded BJP's Premchand Aggarwal, whose term ended on March 10.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami congratulated Khanduri and said that under her leadership, the state Assembly would create "new history".

"I want to congratulate Ritu Khanduri for being elected as the first woman speaker of the state Assembly. She will run the House well and our Assembly will create new history under her leadership," Dhami told ANI. (ANI)
Self-employment schemes of the Jammu and Kashmir government are helping the women in the Bandipora region of North Kashmir to become self-reliant. There are many beneficiaries in the sector of animal husbandry and sheep husbandry in Bandipora, who have been benefitted from various schemes of different departments. Speaking to ANI, Dr Owais Ahmad, Deputy Commissioner of Bandipora declares, "Out of so many beneficiaries in the sector, Mumtaz Begum is our one of the most important beneficiaries." "She was helped by the Department of Sheep Husbandry to establish the sheep farm. Besides the department's assistance, she with her continuous dedication and determination has come up with a success story, where her per annual income gradually doubled," he added. Ahmad also proclaimed that the drifting of women towards self-reliance and entrepreneurship can help generate more employment opportunities and eventually contribute to economic development. Mumtaz Begum shared her experience about how she has been into sheep husbandry for nine years and put forth her demands to the government for the cattle's good. "Nine years ago, when I could not find a relevant job for myself, I decided to go with this business of Sheep Husbandry and today I have hired three workers for the same, Begum said." "I appeal to the government to provide us with Solar lights for this farm so that the work can be executed more efficiently in the field," she added. Begum also remarked that she wants other women to get inspiration and got themselves registered with a business of their own so that they can stay independent and keep moving forward. "Nine years from today, we started this farm with 20 Sheep and have eventually reached 250 in number," Faiz Amar Khan, Mumtaz Begum's husband told ANI. "We have been urging the government to provide us with solar panels to conduct electricity because the usual powder supply can be proved prone to the short-circuit," he added. Begum's neighbor, Wasim also applauded her efforts in the direction of self-reliance by urging the government to assign more units of sheep husbandry to the educated-yet-unemployed youths of the region. "We appreciate her efforts and want the government's support by providing appropriate opportunities to the youth, as it can help remove unemployment from the town," Wasim said. (ANI)
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that the government is trying to make use of bitumen mandatory for the construction of national highways. "In the coming days as far as the use of bitumen is concerned, I will be taking a meeting in Delhi soon for it. The way farmers started producing ethanol from biomass, now we are trying to make use of bitumen mandatory on the national highway," Gadkari said after inaugurating two National Highway projects worth Rs 2,334 crore in Sangli, Maharashtra. He further said that bagasse is produced from sugarcane processing industries and highlighted the importance of utilizing waste materials. Gadkari, while addressing the event, also said that he considers himself as the "ambassador" of Maharashtra. "During my last seven years of tenure serving in various portfolios, I got an opportunity to do work of approximately 5 lakh crore development for Maharashtra alone. I consider myself as the ambassador of Maharashtra," he said. "I always feel that Maharashtra should be happy and prosperous. I want Maharashtra - the state of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj - to become the number one state in the country," he added. (ANI)
"He is coming to participate in a government program and cabinet issues will not be discussed in Bangalore. Whenever high command calls to Delhi I will go and discuss," said Bommai, when asked whether cabinet expansion will be discussed when the Union Home Minister in Bengaluru.

With a year ahead of assembly elections, the government is impending cabinet expansion.

Earlier, Bommai had exuded confidence that the party will come back to power in Karnataka after the state Assembly polls next year.

"We will build a strong and prosperous Karnataka by implementing the good programmes already announced in the recent budget. We will build a Nava Karnataka (New Karnataka) in the next one year and win the trust of the people again in 2023. I have full confidence in the people bringing BJP back to power again to govern the state for 5 more years," said Bommai while talking to the reporters.

The Assembly elections are scheduled for next year. (ANI)
"At around 3 AM on Saturday, two wild elephants attacked our team and one jawan of forest battalion had died on the spot. We received information that two other persons were also injured in wild elephants attack and were rushed to Goalpara civil hospital," a forest official said.

The incident took place at Salbari Part-II area under Lakhipur forest range in Goalpara district.

"Local villagers informed us around 2.30 AM on Saturday that a herd of wild elephants has entered into Salbari Part-II village and have destroyed several houses there," the official said.

"Based on this information, a team had immediately reached the area and tried to make the herd run away, by firing several rounds in the air" he added.

The deceased forest battalion jawan was identified as Anthony Khaklari. (ANI)
A Delhi court on Saturday directed to start prosecution evidence and day-to-day trial from March 28 onwards against Sharjeel Imam in a case related to sedition and other charges. Sharjeel Imam was physically produced in the court today. Additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat asked the accused whether he admits the documents relied upon and filed by the prosecution. Sharjeel Imam replied in the negative. The Court today deferred the bail plea of Imam in the northeast Delhi violence case for 30 March. Order on the bail plea on Khalid Saifi would be pronounced on March 31. On March 15, the court had framed sedition and other charges against Sharjeel Imam for alleged inflammatory speeches delivered by him at Jamia area in Delhi in December 2019 and at Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh in January 2020 during anti CAA protest. He has pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The court had framed charges against Imam under Sections 124A ( sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc.), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The Court had passed the direction for framing of charges on 24 January 2022. It had dismissed the regular bail plea of Imam and listed the case for further hearing on 26 March 2022. The Court had said, "This is a case under UAPA. Since the bail has been denied to the accused on 24 January and this Court had suggested that the trial of the case shall be completed expeditiously, the Court proposes to do day to day hearing of this matter. The accused is one of the organisers of the Shaheen Bagh protest of December 2019 Imam was arrested in 2020 by Delhi Police from Jahanabad, Bihar. Imam was granted bail in connection with a case of allegedly delivering an inflammatory speech at Jamia Millia Islamia which allegedly led to violence outside the university in December 2019. The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet against him in the present case. It was alleged that he gave speeches inciting hatred, contempt, and disaffection towards the Government of India. Delhi Police had mentioned in charge sheet against Imam, ''He is accused of delivering seditious speeches and inciting a particular section of the community to indulge in unlawful activities, detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of the nation." (ANI)
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari staged a protest along with party workers in front of the SDO office of Rampurhat on Saturday over the Birbhum violence. The BJP leaders demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Centre's intervention in the matter. Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe of the Birbhum violence case following the Calcutta High Court order. A 15-member team of the Central agency reached the crime scene in Rampurhat on Saturday to probe the case. Meanwhile, CBI has named 21 accused under Section 147, 148, 149 and other Sections in FIR on suspected offence of armed rioting. Director-General of Police (DGP) West Bengal, Manoj Malviya on Friday informed that 11 arrests have been made in the case so far. A total of eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum on Tuesday after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went to Bagtui village on Thursday to meet the kin of those killed in the violence. On Friday, the Calcutta HC directed the SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency. The Court had also directed the state government to install CCTV cameras for round-the-clock surveillance. Following this direction, CCTV cameras have been installed in the violence-affected area of Rampurhat. Also, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the arson incident. The move came after a nine-member delegation of BJP MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators involved in the crime. (ANI)
The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a Notice to Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and city Police over 'serious' lapses found in a night shelter housing mentally challenged women being run by an NGO in the Subzi Mandi area. The Delhi Commission for Women has issued a Notice to DUSIB and Delhi Police over serious lapses found and criminal complaint registered in a night shelter housing mentally challenged women being run by an NGO 'Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan' in Subzi Mandi area of Delhi. The commission's Chairperson Swati Maliwal and Members visited the shelter home and observed several serious issues therein. The commission's Chairperson Swati Maliwal and members visited the shelter home 'Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan' and observed several serious issues therein. The commission found that the shelter housed nine mentally challenged women and girls. It was seen that no restoration efforts were being undertaken by the shelter for the women, some of whom had been living in the shelter since 2014. It was found that proper case files were not maintained and there were no file notings or official records in any of the files. It was also seen that no steps were taken to initiate police action in the cases of the residents. The Commission has sought information regarding the action taken report on the issues observed by the Commission and a copy of the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the said NGO for the operations of the night shelter. The DCW has asked for the response of the notice served on March 28. (ANI)
The complaint has been filed under the charges of sections 323, 365, 376 D and 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

According to Delhi Police, a 36-year-old woman was allegedly raped on Wednesday night.

The woman claimed that after finishing her work at office, she had hailed an autorickshaw to return home. Midway in her journey back home, the driver of the auto stopped and claimed that he could not drive further as the vehicle's petrol tank had gone empty.

The victim further alleged that the auto driver further called one of his accomplices to the spot and both accosted her to a secluded place where they took turns to rape her.

Police said that she has been admitted in Safdarganj Hospital and that her health is stable now.

Further probe is underway. (ANI)
Congress leaders from Haryana met party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday to discuss party's future course of action amid party's decline across the country. The meeting was held for almost three hours and in the meeting, Rahul Gandhi instructed the visiting leaders from the state to work cohesively. Congress Haryana in-charge, Vivek Bansal, while addressing the media said, "Rahul Gandhi took suggestions from all the leaders. We discussed the present political situation. We will together make the organisation strong. Rahul Gandhi has advised us to be united". Former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder S Hooda, while speaking to ANI, said, "Everybody kept their views regarding how the party can be bolstered up for elections. There's no acrimony among anyone and we'll fight elections unitedly." "We all gave ideas and opinions on how to strengthen the party. There is no discrimination. We will all fight unitedly. The main aim was to discuss the ways to strengthen the party and fight unitedly," he added. Kumari Selja, President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, while speaking to ANI said, "There is no doubt that there are issues that need to be addressed to strengthen the party at the grassroots level with new vigour. People expressed themselves and were heard by Rahul Gandhi and met everybody together." Haryana's Congress in-charge, Vivek Bansal, further said, "The meeting was held to chalk out the road plan for the party in the coming years. People have been wanting to express their grievances with each other and I think they were able to." "Our leader encouraged everyone to be frank in expressing their views and they did. The rough crease has been ironed out. I am satisfied with the meeting as I see it as a very positive turn-around for the leaders and for the party. We are going to put up a united front and go unitedly ahead for the aim which we have set," he said. According to a party source, the next meeting will be held in the days to come. (ANI)
The complaint has been filed under the charges of sections 323, 365, 376 D and 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

According to Delhi Police, a 36-year-old woman was allegedly raped in the Ghazipur area of the national capital on Wednesday night.

The woman claimed that after finishing her work at office, she had hailed an autorickshaw to return home. Midway in her journey back home, the driver of the auto stopped and claimed that he could not drive further as the vehicle's petrol tank had gone empty.

The victim further alleged that the auto driver further called one of his accomplices to the spot and both accosted her to a secluded place where they took turns to rape her.

Police said that she has been admitted in Safdarganj Hospital and that her health is stable now.

Further probe is underway. (ANI)
SHO Nathulal Meena told the media that the accused sexually assaulted the victim in Samleti after giving an intoxicating substance.

He said they clicked obscene photos of the victim to blackmail her and extort money.

"Case has been filed against three people including the son of MLA Johari Lal Meena. They are accused of gang-rape in Samleti after giving intoxicating substance and clicking obscene photos of the victim for blackmailing to extort Rs 15.40 lakh and jewellery. The probe is underway," Meena said.

(ANI)
Three Pakistani nationals who completed their sentences in Indian jails have been repatriated to their home country via the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday. The three prisoners include Sameera Abdul Rehman, Murtaza Asghar Ali and Ahmed Raja, the MEA said in a statement. Sameera was accompanied by her 4 year-old-daughter Sana Fatima, who was born in prison, the external affairs ministry said. "Three prisoners were released today after they completed their prison sentences. They will be handed over to Pakistan Rangers. Among them was a woman Sameera Abdul Rehman who had arrived in India in 2017. An FIR was lodged in Bangalore against her and her husband. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. While in jail she gave birth to Sana Fatima. They are being sent to Pakistan today," said Protocol officer Arunpal Singh. "Ahmed Raja who crossed over the border is also being sent to Pakistan after being imprisoned for 21 months. The third prisoner released today is Murtaza Asghar Ali. He came with a visa to India and was arrested near Ambala. All three prisoners are being sent back to Pakistan," the protocol officer added. The MEA statement said: "The Government of India attaches highest importance to addressing all humanitarian matters, including early release and repatriation of all Indian prisoners and fishermen. Government's persistent efforts have succeeded in release and repatriation of 20 Indian fishermen and one civilian prisoner from Pakistan's custody in 2022, so far." Meanwhile, prior to her departure to Pakistan, Sameera thanked the Indian government for helping in her repatriation and urged the government to release more such prisoners. "I would like to thank the Indian government for helping us. I urge the government to release more prisoners like me," she said. Another prisoner Ahmed told ANI that he had "unknowingly" crossed the border and was returning to his country after 21 months of imprisonment. "I unknowingly crossed the border where I was caught. I was imprisoned for 21 months. The government should release other such prisoners," he said. (ANI)
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented the 8th budget in a row on Saturday. Soon after presenting the budget, he praised Mumbai's nightlife and announced that soon Delhi will also have such a nightlife. Delhi Finance Minister Sisodia presented a budget of Rs. 75,800 cr for the year 2022-23. Last year the budget which he presented was of Rs 69,000 cr. Answering the query of ANI reporter about the employment generation on whether the jobs talked about in the budget will be specifically 20 lakh jobs or whether employment will be generated, he answered that we will be supporting business, through it, we are planning to create more jobs further. Praising the nightlife of Mumbai, Sisodia said that in the capital today if anybody wants to put a food truck then he does it through 'setting' because of which both quality and nightlife is compromised. People eat at these outlets because of helplessness. We want Delhi to have a nightlife just like Mumbai, that's why we are creating such policies. Food trucks play an important role in such lifestyles. Under it we will ensure both quality and law and order in the capital. During the budget presentation in the assembly Sisodia also announced that the AAP government will be holding shopping and Delhi wholesale festivals to encourage business. "We are planning to hold Delhi shopping festival and Delhi wholesale festival. Businessmen participating in these festivals will give a rebate to people and we will give them a rebate of taxation. To push up the trade whenever these businessmen will give rebates to people our government will stand by them. Thus with the increase in business morale of businessmen will also be boosted. Emphasising the constrained relation between the Delhi government and MCD he said that for the implementation of certain schemes involvement and clearance of MCD is also required. MCD is formed to serve the residents of Delhi and if any issue comes up, then we will stand by Delhi people for their due right, he said. Speaking about the budget allocation to education Sisodia said that we are spending 21 per cent of the total budget on education. Delhi still tops the chart on spending on education. Although we have made a lot of rooms and universities still we need to take the level of education higher. To increase the budget whatever is required Kejriwal government will fulfil it. (ANI)
Punjab Mining Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Saturday said that the government will roll out a new mining policy soon to root out sand mafia and illegal mining. "Our priority is the complete crackdown on illegal mining. We have started working on a new mining policy which will be rolled out soon," said Bains. Sharing the broad objectives of the new policy, Bains said that "We are aiming to provide the sand at cheaper rates to the public. Also, we will ensure that the revenue generated from it will directly come to Punjab government vault instead of mafias." In order to eradicate the ongoing purported sand mafia in the state, Minister said the instructions have been passed to agencies. "We have asked ED mining to completely clamp down the mafia. A letter has been sent to all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to discourage illegal mining in the state and take actions against them," he said. In the letter to deputy commissioners, the Cabinet Minister categorically mentioned, "As the Punjab government is against illegal mining, it has come to my notice that illegal mining is going on in many districts of the state. Therefore, you are directed to get the information from the Mining Officer of your district and to demarcate the allotted quarries by putting up flags so that it may be clear that mining is to be done from these sites only." "But even then, if a case of illegal mining comes to light, it will be the sole responsibility of the SSP concerned. All the Deputy Commissioners and SSPs were asked for strict compliance of the instructions," the letter read. (ANI)
Days after Karnataka Chief Minister's political secretary MP Renukacharya was accused of obtaining a fake SC certificate to reap government benefits, he slammed the Congress party for giving a call for Karnataka bandh over hijab row and said that the party focuses on a particular vote bank. Congress members in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Wednesday demanded action against BJP Legislator and Chief Minister's Political Secretary M.P. Renukacharya for allegedly obtaining a Scheduled Tribe certificate for his daughter. Speaking on this issue to reporters today, Renukacharya instead started pointing fingers at the behaviour of the Congress party in the state recently and said, "Despite respecting the law of land, a few anti-national organisations had given a call for Karnataka bandh. Can our state government tolerate this? They (Congress) give a call for the Karnataka bandh. Is our country Pakistan or Bangladesh or any other Islamic country? We won't tolerate this." "Congress leaders defended themselves on this matter in the floor of the House. I want to ask Congress leaders...who created the hijab issue? You all or us? Your MLAs created it, you support the call for bandh indirectly. Is this vote bank more important to you?" he said. The BJP leader MP Renukacharya requested the Chief Minister to ban madrasas in the state for 'imparting anti-national lessons' to students in the state. "I ask Congress leaders why do we need madrasas in place of schools? What do they propagate in madrasas? They propagate 'instigative' lessons to innocent kids. Tomorrow, they will go against our country and they will never say Bharat Mata ki Jai," he said. He added, "They are teaching these kinds of lessons at madrasas. I am requesting the Chief Minister and education minister to ban madrasas. Don't we have other schools where Hindu and Christian students study? You can't teach anti-national lessons here. Madrasas should be banned or made to teach the syllabus what we teach in other schools." In February this year, the Karnataka government closed high schools and colleges briefly due to protests and disputes over the wearing of the hijab. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court. (ANI)
The Congress veteran stated a three-day 'Nyay Yatra' in Howrah on Saturday.

"Local Police cannot conduct this investigation, so we demand a CBI probe. The government here is neglecting the matter. People are furious, they want to know the truth and punishment of the guilty," Chowdhury told ANI.

The Congress MP alleged that the state police officials are behind the murder of Anis Khan.

"It is clear that the police officials here are responsible for the murder of Anish Khan. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee promised to take all guilty into custody within 15 days. 42 days have passed and she has shown no interest," he added.

Anis Khan, a former student leader was found dead outside his home in Howrah's Amta area last month. His parents had alleged that he was thrown off the roof of the building by four police officers, who had come to search for their son. The police, however, denied the allegations.

West Bengal Police had constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the death of a student at Aliah University. A Home Guard personnel and a civic volunteer were arrested in the case from Amta, Howrah

Last month, Calcutta High Court ordered a second post mortem monitored by the District Judge in the murder case of Anis Khan. (ANI)
The Jammu and Kashmir Police informed that the police officer has succumbed to injuries.

"SPO Ishfaq Ahmad and his brother Umar Jan (a student) were fired upon by terrorists at their residence in village Chadbugh area of Budgam. However, Ishfaq Ahmad succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom. Area cordoned off, search operation in progress. Further details follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

The search operation is underway. (ANI)
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh called for equal stake participation by industry to sustain startups, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Saturday. The Union Minister was speaking at the ceremony to sign an Agreement between the Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Ministry of Science and Technology and M/s Sapigen Biologix Private Limited, Hyderabad helmed by Dr Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech Ltd for the development and commercialization of two novel vaccines - "Intranasal Covid-19 Vaccine and RTS, S Malaria Vaccine". There will be an equal stake for both sides with each side contributing Rs 200 crore respectively for ensuring sustainable startups. The union minister said that this initiative will ensure equal stake with equal partnership and responsibility for the industry for sustainable startups. He said that the vaccine strategy of India symbolises Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of an Atma Nirbhar Bharat. India's vaccine strategy brings pharma, industry and academia together in a partnership with an eye on meeting the current as well as possible future challenges, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, he said. The Union Minister said that the idea behind initiatives like this is to have a sustainable partnership in the long run and provide a sustainable source of livelihood to India's youth. Singh further said this is not only an agreement of equal stake and partnership but also equal social responsibility. He termed it as a new beginning in India's vaccine strategy and expressed hope that it will give further impetus to research and development in the country. The Minister noted that within only a couple of years of the pandemic, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has been able to develop its own indigenous vaccines. It has also shown the technology absorption capacity to support manufacturing of nearly all the COVID vaccines that have been developed, that too in a cost-effective manner, thus emerging as the "pharmacy of the world", he added. As of March 2021, India exported 5.84 crore doses of COVID vaccines to 70 countries. This has been possible due to the availability of low-cost skilled manpower and a well-established manufacturing ecosystem, the minister said in a press statement. As per the release, Technology Development Board and Bharat Biotech have pledged the support of Rs 200 crore each to create a continuous corpus of Rs 400 crores for the development and commercialization of two novel vaccines-Intranasal Covid-19 Vaccine" and "RTS, S Malaria Vaccine". The company aims to set up a state-of-the-art cGMP facility in Bhubaneswar, in compliance with the latest global standards, for manufacturing Intranasal Covid-19 Vaccine and (RTS, S) Malaria Vaccine initially and later expand the product portfolio by adding other vaccines. The two vaccines to be developed and commercialised are Nasal Coronavirus vaccine: In contrast to the Intramuscular (IM) coronavirus vaccine currently in use, the intra nasal vaccine can generate mucosal immune response thereby protecting both the upper and lower respiratory system of a vaccinated individual and break the cycle of infection and transmission. The present project uses the technology platform developed by Washington University, School of Medicine in St Louis for the SARS-COV-2 chimpanzee adenovirus in inactivating or killing virus form. This platform has several advantages: These vaccines express surface antigens that retain their epitope conformations to play an important role in inducing strong preventative humoral responses, especially with reference to SARS-CoV-2. Secondly, RTS, S Malaria Vaccine: In view of the public health potential, World Health Organization WHO's top advisory bodies for malaria and immunization have jointly recommended the phased introduction of the vaccine in selected areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Three countries - Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi - began introducing the vaccine in selected areas of moderate and high malaria transmission in 2019. Vaccinations are being provided through each country's routine immunization program. As per the forecast of GAVI, the demand for malaria vaccines would be 75 million doses by 2035. Both the Vaccines are novel and will come under the ambit of commercial production for the first time, the release added further. The company aims to produce 100 million doses/annum of intranasal Covid-19 vaccine by April 2023 and 15 million doses/ annum RTS, S Malaria vaccine by the end of April 2025. On this occasion, Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Secretary, TDB said that this will be a continuous corpus and the idea has been translated into reality today. The Indian pharma companies, not only provide the yeoman service to the nation but also are instrumental in providing the medicines and vaccines at an affordable cost to the entire world and thus transforming India as "The Pharmacy of the World", he said. (ANI)
During a felicitation event, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia touched the feet of a woman sweeper to take her blessings here on Saturday. Not only this, he hugged the woman showing his gratitude towards them. The Minister got down from the stage, took the hand of another woman sweeper and brought her up on the stage with him. He asked her to start the event by lighting the lamp and made her sit next to him on the stage. During the event, Union Minister distributed health cards and safety gear including gloves, shoes, caps and jackets to the woman sweepers. The Minister said, "Under the leadership of PM Modi, walking on the footprints of our father of India, Mahatma Gandhi, It is our duty to encourage and motivate these sweepers. They are 'Safai Devta'." "Today, we have provided them with health cards; it will ensure free medical check-ups for them at least once every year. We have also distributed gloves, jackets, shoes, caps and water bottles to equip them with all necessary requirements; it will help to ease their work. Our aim is to bring India on top in the list of cleanliness," said the Union Minister. (ANI)
A sessions court in Indore sentenced Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and five others to one year jail term each in connection with a 2011 case pertaining to an assault on a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha worker. Singh, former MP Premchand Guddu and four others, however, were granted bail by the Indore District and Sessions Court. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Singh termed the case fake and politically motivated and said he will appeal in the High Court. The case dates back to July 2011 when the BJYM workers had stopped Singh's convoy in Ujjain and demonstrated with black flags. It was alleged that nine people including Digvijaya Singh had beaten up the workers with sticks. Following the incident, a case was registered against the nine accused including Digvijaya Singh and former Ujjain MP Premchand Guddu. Section 307 (attempt to murder) was imposed for the assault. Speaking to reporters here, Singh said, "It is a nearly 10-year-old case and a fake case. Our name was not there in the FIR but was added due to political pressure. We will appeal in the High Court." Rahul Sharma, Singh's lawyer told ANI that the initial charge sheet did not have his name which was added later on. "In this case, a charge sheet was initially presented against four people in which Digvijaya Singh and Premchand Guddu were not there. Later, the complainant made them accused by applying for Section 319. We had put a revision in the High Court. Section 307 was removed and section 326 was imposed, the trial of which went on in Ujjain and Bhopal and today the decision has been announced in Indore," he said. Asked about the verdict, the lawyer informed that the BJYM worker's hand was fractured by four people in which three were acquitted. "The verdict said that the injured BJYM worker Ritesh Khavia was assaulted by four people and sustained a fracture in his hand. Punishment of one year imprisonment each and fine of Rs 5,000 was announced under Section 109," the advocate said. "Besides Digvijaya Singh and Premchand Guddu, Jay Singh Darbar, Anant Meena, Dilip Choudhary and Aslam Lala were sentenced. Mahesh Parmar, Mukesh Bhati and Hemant Singh Chauhan were acquitted. All the six accused including Digvijaya Singh were released by the court on a surety of Rs 25,000 and bail of Rs 25,000 each," the lawyer added. The Congress leader also reacted to the verdict of the court on Twitter and said that his name which was absent in the FIR initially was later added under political pressure and he "has never been afraid of BJP and will never be afraid of them". "In an 11-year-old case in which my name was not even in the FIR, it was added later under political pressure, I was punished. I am a non-violent person and have always been opposed to violent activities. The order is of the ADJ Court, we will appeal in the High Court. I have neither been afraid of BJP and Sangh, nor will I ever be afraid, no matter how many false cases are created and how much punishment is given," Digvijaya Singh tweeted in Hindi. (ANI)
Accusing the BJP-led government of "profiteering" through a repeated increase in prices of petrol and diesel, the Congress on Saturday announced a three-phased 'Mehngai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan' which will culminate on April 7 with protests and march in state capitals. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference that the Modi Government "has earned Rs 26 lakh crore in eight years" by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel. Referring to the hike in the price of petrol and diesel by 80 paise per litre on Saturday, he said this is the fifth hike in the last five days and the prices have been raised by Rs 3.20 per litre. He accused the government of "deception" and "loot of people". Surjewala said Congressmen and people will on March 31 protest outside their homes and public places with "garlanded gas cylinders and beat of drums-bells-other instruments to draw the attention of the deaf BJP Government against the insurmountable increase in prices of gas, petrol, diesel". He said there will be district-level protests and marches from April 2 to 4. "People of India have been betrayed, duped and deceived by government," he alleged. The Congress leader said that prices of petrol, diesel, gas cylinder, piped Natural Gas (PNG) and CNG remained unchanged for 137 days "to secure the votes of people" in the assembly polls in five states. He said last one week has been a nightmare for budget of every household and accused the government of "fleece people to fill its coffers". Surjewala said that in May, 2014 when BJP assumed power at the Centre, excise duty on petrol was Rs 9.20 per litre and on diesel, it was Rs. 3.46 per litre. "In the last eight years, the BJP government has increased the excise duty on petrol by an additional 18.70 per litre and on diesel by an additional Rs.18.34 per litre. This is a shocking 531 per cent hike in excise duty on Diesel and 203 per cent on petrol," he said. Surjewala said when the Congress-UPA government was in power, the price of crude oil was USD 108 per barrel but petrol and diesel were at Rs 71.41 and Rs 55.49 per litre respectively, which have now been increased to Rs 98.61 and Rs 89.87 in Delhi. He said on March 22, 2020, petrol and diesel rates were Rs 69.59 and Rs 62.29 respectively, which have been raised to Rs 98.61 and Rs 89.87 per litre respectively, "an increase of Rs 29.02 for petrol and Rs 27.58 for diesel in last two years". The Congress leader said that the average price of crude oil in last three years of Modi Government, as available on the official website, is 60.6 USD per barrel, which in comparison was 108.46 USD in the last three years of the UPA government from 2011 to 2014. Surjewala said the subsidies have come down drastically and the price of the domestic gas cylinder has gone up from Rs 410 in the Congress-UPA government in 2014 to Rs. 949.50 in Delhi and over Rs. 1,000 in most cities." "In eight years, Modi govt has increased the price of the domestic gas cylinder by Rs 539.50," he said. Surjewala said the BJP-led government has increased PNG by 43.6 per cent and CNG prices have increased by 88 per cent. "In last eight years of BJP-led government, the auto-taxi-bus-car users have been fleeced off Rs 64,207 crore extra," he alleged. (ANI)
"With the administration of more than 26,65,241 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 183.16 crore (1,83,16,09,155) as per provisional reports till 7 am today," the Ministry said in a press release.

Of these, a total of 1,04,03,456 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare workers, 99,96,160-second doses and 44,21,039 precaution doses, the Ministry said.

A total of 1,84,12,770 first doses of COVID vaccine have been administered to frontline workers (FLW), 1,75,0,0832-second doses and 67,91,012 precaution doses.

1,20,27,260 children of the age group 12-14 years have been administered the first dose of vaccine, the ministry added.

"As many as 5,68,03,386 first doses and 3,71,35,246-second doses of COVID vaccine have been administered to children between 15 -18 years of age group," it added.

Whereas, for the age group of 18-44 years, 55,42,63,312 first doses and 46,33,53,035-second doses have been administered.

The Ministry further added that for the Age group of 45-59 years, 20,26,87,708 1st doses and 18,47,22,658-second doses have been given. While for the people over 60 years of age, 12,66,95,317 first doses, 11,50,61,515-second doses and 1,13,34,449 precaution doses have been administered. (ANI)
Deputy Commissioner of Rupnagar district today confirmed the news.

Speaking to ANI today, Deputy Commissioner of Rupnagar district Sonali Giri said, "Efforts are being made to establish other schools near it. The project of urban development is being brought here."

Punjab Law and Tourism Minister Harjot Singh Bains today clarified that no schools will be closed in Punjab and blamed the previous governments for this failure.

Speaking to ANI today, Bains said, "No schools will be closed. This is the failure of the previous governments. The school was closed 6 months back by the previous governments. An old auction process is going on. Our local MLA is working on it."

Akali Dal leader Dr Daljit Cheema slammed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann telling them not to cheat the people of Punjab. "The auction of the school should be stopped immediately and it should be reopened," he said in a tweet today. (ANI)
Talking to media persons, he alleged that corruption has penetrated the system and officials were indulging in it. BJP is part of the ruling coalition in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Bachol said he had telephoned Muzzafarpur Superintendent of Police (SP) in an alleged corruption case "but no action was taken".

He said the official started explaining to him the "nuances of law and order".

"I belong to this party, but I also have the right to express my views. I have taken a stand against the deep corruption in the administration. If the government does not take strict actions against this, it will have to face the repercussions," he said. (ANI)
Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena, whose son has been booked along with two others in a gang-rape case in the Alwar district, said the case was "fake and baseless" and "a political conspiracy" to defame him" as assembly polls will be held in the state in 2023. "The case against my son is absolutely fake, baseless. It is a political conspiracy after seeing my popularity. This is a new conspiracy to defame my image. Such complaints are coming to the fore because of the forthcoming elections," said Meena, who is MLA from Rajgarh-Laxmangarh constituency. Recalling a case registered against him in the past, the MLA said that it turned out to be fake after investigation and so will the case against his son. "Some people have done it to harass me. Such things should not be done. They had registered an FIR against me as well earlier. However, it turned out to be baseless and fake after the investigation," Meena said. Earlier today, a police official in Dausa told the media that the accused sexually assaulted the victim, who hails from the district, after giving an intoxicating substance. He said they clicked obscene photos of the victim to blackmail her and extort money. "Case has been filed against three people including the son of MLA Johari Lal Meena. They are accused of gang rape after giving intoxicating substance and clicking obscene photos of the victim for blackmailing to extort Rs 15.40 lakh and jewellery. The probe is underway," the official said. The case has been registered on the complaint of the girl's family in Dausa. (ANI)
Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday urged parents and the BJP government in the state to convince the students about the court verdict on hijab to ensure that their careers are not ruined. Shivakumar was speaking to reporters on the state government's decision to ban students from appearing in the crucial SSLC exams (Class 10) wearing hijab in the backdrop of the recent high court verdict. "Children's education is of paramount importance. The students might commit mistakes. They might even be persistent. But their future must not be harmed for this. The parents need to sit and talk with them," he said. "Religious leaders, parents and teachers must themselves get convinced first, and then persuade the children. Children always listen to their teacher's words, and the mother is their first teacher," the Congress leader added. When asked about Opposition leader Siddaramaiah's demand to let students wear 'dupatta' around their heads and write exams, Shivakumar said, "The Congress stands with what the Constitution says. For us, the Constitution is like Bible, Quoran or Bhagavad Gita. I won't say anything more." "The court has given its verdict on hijab, which some have agreed, and some have not. I am not in a position to say whether the judgment is wrong," Shivakumar said. The state government will conduct the SSLC exams from March 28 to April 11. As many as 8,73,846 students have enrolled for the exams this academic year. The exams will be conducted in 3,444 centres across the state. CCTV cameras have been installed in all the examination centers and prohibitory orders will be clamped in and around the exam venues. The Karnataka High Court recently ordered restricting the wearing of hijab in educational institutions, deeming it not an "essential religious practice" in Islam. --IANS mka/arm ( 311 Words) 2022-03-26-19:00:03 (IANS)
The incident took place in the Alwar district and the victim, a minor, belonged to the Dausa district of the state, officials said. The victim's family filed a complaint with the police in Dausa. The case has been registered under the POCSO Act.

Nathulal Meena, an SHO in the Dausa district, said a case has been filed and investigations are being carried out.

"Case has been filed against three people including the son of MLA Johari Lal Meena. They are accused of gang-rape after giving intoxicating substance and clicking obscene photos of the victim for blackmailing to extort Rs 15.40 lakh and jewellery," he said. (ANI)
The Muslim merchants were carrying out their business in the state-level convention of organic farming and indigenous breeds of cows organised by Manehalli Mutt.

They had put up sugarcane juice and snacks shops. The Hindu activists present on the spot objected to their presence and told them to vacate.

"What is the connection between the convention of indigenous breeds of cows and the people who slaughter cows," submitted the activists.

They further said that "the Muslim merchants do not have any love for cows they only want to carry out the business here".

Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had demanded to get shops of Muslims vacated from the premises of famous Chamundeshwari hills in Mysuru city.

Sriram Sene founder Pramod Muthalik has met the Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Anand Mamani and urged that non-Hindus merchants should be vacated from the premises of the Savadatti Yallamma pilgrimage centre in Belagavi district.

He visited Savadatti Yallamma temple and stated that lakhs of pilgrims visited the temple and there are more than 50 per cent of Muslim merchants carrying out their business here, he said.

If there are non-Hindu staff in the Religious Endowment department, they should be transferred immediately. Otherwise, a protest will be staged, he said.

--IANS mka/pgh

( 254 Words)

2022-03-26-19:46:03 (IANS)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday met party leaders and workers at his residence after the Biju Janata Dal's victory in the Odisha Municipal Corporation elections and thanked the people of the state for their support to the party. While addressing the people, party workers and mediapersons outside his residence in Odisha's Bhubaneswar, he stated, "I would like to express my deep gratitude to the people of our state for giving this tremendous victory in the Panchayat and Urban Election, we will continue our good work for the welfare of our people continuously" "I also would like to thank our many many party workers for the efforts they put in for this election," he added. The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) registered a thumping victory in the Odisha municipal elections, winning three municipal corporations and 95 out of 108 urban local body councils, the results of which were announced on Saturday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured six, the Congress four, while Independents get bagged three seats. Nearly 65 per cent of the total voters had on March 24 exercised their franchise in the elections to civic bodies. (ANI)
The brother of the slain SPO was also injured in the incident. He is presently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Srinagar.

The deceased SPO has been identified Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, and his brother as Umar Ahmad Dar.

Officials said that the terrorists fired at the duo at their residence in Chadbugh in Budgam, injuring both of them critically. They were rushed to the hospital where Ishfaq Ahmad was declared brought dead.

"Very sorry to hear about the death of SPO Ishfaq Ahmed, who was killed in a militant attack. His brother Umar was injured in the same attack. I unequivocally condemn this attack and pray that Ishfaq finds place in Jannat and Umar makes a full recovery swiftly," former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

"Frankly, even our condemnation seem empty now. At loss of words. How many more dastardly killings will devastate the families of ordinary Kashmiris?

"Today it is Umar Ahmad Dar, tomorrow it will be someone else -- there seems to be no end to tragedies in Kashmir," People's Conference leader Imran Raza Ansari tweeted.

"I unreservedly condemn the dastardly and cowardly attack on J&K police SPO Ishfaq Ahmad and his younger brother in Budgam. We stand with the family in this terrible time. Such acts of violence have no place in our society and only add to our collective tragedies and miseries," tweeted Apni Party chief, Altaf Bukhari.

--IANS zi/arm

( 271 Words)

2022-03-26-22:44:03 (IANS)
India at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday (Local Time) deplored the recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and called for dialogue on issues in the Korean Peninsula. "India deplores the launch of an ICBM by the DPRK. This is a violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council relating to the DPRK. It affects the peace and security of the region and beyond," a statement by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations read citing the highlights made by the envoy during the meet. North Korea tested what is believed to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in more than four years that splashed down in waters off Japan's western coast on Thursday following which Japan, the US and South Korea all condemned the test of a long-range ballistic missile. While addressing a United Nations Security Council meet on non-proliferation and DPRK, Ambassador to India for UN TS Tirumurti said the recent launch is a violation of the resolutions of the UN Security Council. "These linkages have an adverse impact on peace and security in the region, including on India. Support dialogue to resolve the issues in the Korean Peninsula," a statement read. He said it affects the peace and security of the region and beyond and called for full implementation of the UNSC resolutions related to the DPRK. Moreover, the UN envoy stressed that there is a pressing need to address the proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to DPRK in the region. Tirumurti also said that India had granted humanitarian assistance of USD 1 million for the people of DPRK in the form of anti-Tuberculosis medicines, routed through the WHO and Reiterated New Delhi's continued support to denuclearization towards peace and security in the Korean Peninsula. Notably, the suspected ICBM flew to an altitude of 6,000 kilometres (3,728 miles) and to a distance of 1,080 kilometres (671 miles) with a flight time of 71 minutes. In response to Thursday's suspected ICBM test, South Korea's military launched several warning missiles for the first time since 2017, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text sent to reporters. (ANI)
Washington [US], March 26 (ANI/Sputnik): A senior US defence official told reporters that the Pentagon has seen indications of Russia sending troop reinforcements from "Georgia" to Ukraine to support its offensive in the Donbas region. "We've seen our first indications that they are trying to send in some reinforcements from Georgia. We have seen the movement of some number of troops from Georgia. We don't have an exact number," the official said during a press briefing on Friday. The Pentagon official did not clarify what the official meant by "Georgia" since there are no Russian troops in this country. The Defense Department press centre did not immediately respond to Sputnik's inquiry on the issue. On February 24, Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger. (ANI/Sputnik)
"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union strongly condemn the continued testing of ballistic missiles by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch conducted on March 24, 2022," the statement read.

The Foreign Ministers urged the DPRK to fully comply with all legal obligations arising from the relevant Security Council resolutions. They called on the DPRK to accept the repeated offers of dialogue put forward by all parties concerned, including the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

The ministers while touching upon the risk of mass destruction weapons said, "We call on all States to fully and effectively implement all restrictive measures relating to the DPRK imposed by the UN Security Council and to address the risk of weapons of mass destruction proliferation from the DPRK as an urgent priority."

Notably, India and South Korea also condemned the test of a long-range ballistic missile by the DPRK. (ANI)
As Bangladesh remembers the victims of 'Operation Searchlight', Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) has urged the US and the international community to recognize the 1971 genocide of Bangladeshis by Pakistan and take immediate action against it. In a virtual press conference on Thursday, the HRCBM called for immediate steps to bring to trial the 195 current and former members of the Pakistan Army, who were recorded as being responsible for the genocide. The press conference was hosted by noted Journalist Adelle Nazarian and included a statement by Lemkin Institute's Elisa von Joeden-Forgey and Irene Massimino. "We at the Lemkin Institute wish to extend our apologies that we cannot be there with you today. Despite our absence, we want to underscore our commitment to all Bangladeshis to work for the global recognition of the 1971 genocide. We believe that recognition of past genocide is critical to the cause of social justice, sustainable peace, and the prevention of future genocides," the statement read. The Pakistan Army turned entire Bangladesh into a killing field with its indiscriminate killing, torture of innocent people and unprecedented scale of rapes for nine months. That was the kickoff of one of the biggest genocides in the world, led by General Yahya Khan of Pakistan, causing the biggest ever humanitarian catastrophe after World War II. They killed 30 lakh people and violated two lakh women and children. Freedom fighters and researchers claim that still, many mass graves in the district and upazila levels remain unidentified. Speakers of the conference, which included Priya Saha Executive Director HRCBM and Dhiman Deb Chowdhury President of HRCBM, emphasized that war crimes, if left unrecognized and unpunished, only lead to more aggression and suffering. Priya Saha urged lawmakers at Capitol Hill to formally condemn the genocide perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and their collaborators in Bangladesh (former East Pakistan), from March 1971 to December 1971. She urged elected officials to condemn statements, actions and policies that deny or question that the massacres during 'Operation Searchlight' constituted a genocide. Quoting a 2012 case study by Jessica Lee Rehman of California University, 2012, Priya termed rape in 1971 in Bangladesh as an "instance of pure terrorism". She highlighted the work Australian doctor Geoffrey Davis who was brought to Dhaka by the United Nations to assist with late-term abortions of raped women in May 1971. While Dhiman Deb Chowdhury requested the White House and the State Department to recognize the death of the nearly 3 million people, mostly Hindus, killed or executed by the Pakistan Army, along with individuals who endured pain and suffering in 1971, as well as foreign nationals from other countries of the region, who risked or lost their lives. During the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, the Pakistan military deliberately harmed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi citizens. Rights group says the horrors of 1971 are considered one of the worst mass atrocities in history. The damage they inflicted can be described in the following numbers-- as many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 2,00,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter. (ANI)
"The Summit Meeting, which is being held in virtual mode, will be hosted by Sri Lanka, the current Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) chair," the statement read today.

According to MEA, to prepare for the Summit, meetings of BIMSTEC Senior Officials (SOM) will take place on March 28, 2022, followed by meetings of the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers (BMM) on March 29.

The COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges, and the uncertainties within the international system that all BIMSTEC members are facing, imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level.

This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by Leaders at the Summit. The Leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States around the Bay of Bengal region. BIMSTEC constitutes a unique link between South and South-East Asia with five Members from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two from South-East Asia (Myanmar and Thailand). (ANI)
More trains to run on national holiday

Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR) will increase trains to meet travel demand on the coming Hung Kings national holiday.



The commemoration of the Hung Kings, the legendary founding dynasty of Vietnam, is on the 10th of the third lunar month every year. This year, it falls on Sunday April 10, so people will have another day off on Monday, April 11.


External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will be on a four-day official visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka from March 26-30 following the invitations of his counterparts from the two island countries. The EAM's will arrive in the Maldives today for a two-day visit from March 26-27, which will be followed by a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 that will include his participation in the BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting on 29 March 2022 in Colombo. Jaishankar will be visiting the Addu city in the Maldives, during which he will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and hold discussions with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release said. "EAM's visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security," the MEA release said. Jaishankar's visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 follows the visits to India by Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, GL Peiris in February 2022. "The bilateral meetings and interactions which EAM will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that the Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA statement said. "Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First. EAM's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," the statement further said. (ANI)
As the no-confidence motion against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government set to be taken up on March 28, Imran Khan is trying to woo back the allies whose support is crucial to save his government. In a bid to reinforce trust and ensure their support against the no-confidence motion, Prime Minister Imran Khan will likely meet a delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), a key ally of the ruling PTI, in Islamabad on Saturday (today), Geo News reported citing party sources. This comes after a PTI delegation comprising federal ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Pervez Khattak called on MQM-P ministers in Islamabad on Friday. Ahead of the National Assembly session on the no-confidence motion on Friday, Bilawal Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had announced that matters had been settled with MQM-P and that the ruling coalition member will vote in favour of the motion to oust Imran Khan. MQM-P is the largest ally of the ruling PTI coalition with seven members in the National Assembly. MQM-P and PPP are working on a draft related to the provincial issues while a joint draft is being prepared with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on federal matters, The News International reported citing sources. A day earlier, on Friday Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had contacted another major ally of the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), and requested a meeting. The Pakistani National Assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172. The PTI-led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, with Imran Khan's PTI having 155 members, and four major allies MQM-P, PML-Q, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively. Imran Khan's situation is precarious given that three of the four allies-- MQM-P, PML-Q and BAP-- have stated their support to the Opposition's no-confidence motion and said that they will vote accordingly. Adding to Khan's woes, almost 20 members from his own party had recently sought refuge in the Sindh House in Islamabad, and none of them showed up to the National Assembly on Friday. The Opposition parties in Pakistan on the other hand hold the support of 162 members of the house, out of whom 159 members were present in the house on Friday. The Opposition members are expected to be joined by the three ruling coalition parties during the vote, helping them cross the majority mark, with 179 members supporting the no-confidence motion. The session on no-confidence motion was adjourned on Friday morning shortly after tributes were offered to Khayal Zaman, a member of the house from the ruling PTI who had recently passed away. Citing parliamentary convention, speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser said the first sitting after the death of a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) is limited to prayers for the soul of the departed and tributes fellow lawmakers wish to pay them, The Dawn reported. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing economic crisis in the country, a Sri Lankan expert has held inward policy approaches of the government along with the Chinese 'strategic trap' responsible for the precarious situation, the island country faces. Saying that the term 'debt trap', doesn't capture the non-financial aspects of Chinese investments and loans in Sri Lanka, Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Senior fellow at the Millenium Project and an international security analyst said, "I call it as a strategic trap, not a debt trap." Abeyagoonasekera made the observation during a podcast on a youtube channel by the name 'Pakistonomy'. Talking about the reasons for the current economic crisis in the country, Abeyagoonasekera said, "You have multiple inward approaches taken, one is losing the MCC grant... you have the East Container Terminal (ECT), the tripartite agreement with Japan and India (that) was swapped with the West Container Terminal (WCT), so you are losing time, you are losing money, you are losing investments." Sri Lanka has unilaterally pulled out of the 2019 agreement with India and Japan for developing the strategic ECT at the Colombo Port. "How did the Chinese win so many projects (over the last few years) and how did the others keep losing them?" he further asked. He said that the China axis has been becoming stronger in Sri Lanka, due to the Chinese capturing almost the entirety of the elites of the country. "The problem of the Rajpaksas (referring to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa) is that you start with a balanced non-aligned foreign policy... but when it comes to practice, there is a serious bandwagoning with the Chinese," he said. Further talking about the recent Chinese loans and the comparisons made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans, he said that the same amount of loans from the two can't be compared as the former comes with hidden conditionalities, such as Chinese loans be used only for Chinese projects in the country and so on. Abeyagoonasekera welcomed the move by Sri Lanka to approach the IMF for debt restructuring, saying that the IMF will bring in long term vision, and financial discipline. Sri Lanka's Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse is scheduled to travel to Washington in April in order to seek IMF assistance to deal with the country's economic crisis. Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free-fall since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the crash of the tourism sector. The country's foreign reserves have dried up and the country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential commodities. Sri Lanka's currency has devalued by almost SLR 90 against the US dollar since March 8, as the country's central bank attempts to stabilise the economy. India provided more than USD 500 million in foreign currency swaps to strengthen Sri Lanka's foreign reserves, taking the total up to USD 900 million. India also extended the repayment time frame for the USD 500 million debt of Sri Lanka under the Asian Clearance Arbitration. More recently on March 17, Sri Lanka signed a USD 1 billion credit line deal with India for procurement of food, medicines and other essential items during Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksha's two-day visit to India. (ANI)
Moscow [Russia], March 26 (ANI/Sputnik): Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has told Sputnik that a threat of a nuclear conflict always exists, even when no one wants any war, therefore it is necessary to implement a responsible policy. "No one wants any war, much less a nuclear war, which is a threat to the very existence of human civilization. In this sense, those analysts who say, perhaps somewhat cynically, but nevertheless, that the development of nuclear weapons has prevented a huge number of conflicts in the XX and XXI centuries, are right. This is true. In fact, it is what it did," Medvedev said, answering the question about a possible nuclear conflict or a war between Russia and NATO. "So it is obvious that the threat always exists," Medvedev added. The deputy chairman noted that NATO's nuclear weapons are targeted at facilities on the territory of Russia, as well as Russian warheads are aimed at targets in Europe and the United States. Therefore, Medvedev said, it is necessary to pursue a responsible policy. Medvedev noted that the current crisis is worse than it was during the Cold War, as at that time Russia's counterparts were not trying to bring the situation to the boiling point, they did not impose sanctions on industries, agriculture and individuals. Medvedev added that if the Russian leadership had taken an irresponsible stance, it would have withdrawn from the New START treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), as the people who signed it are now on the West's sanctions list. (ANI/Sputnik)
China is set to host the third regional meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan at the end of this month in Beijing. The meeting was discussed during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Kabul where Wang met with the acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban regime, Amir Khan Muttaqi. "The two sides also exchanged views on the Third Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Afghan Issue Among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan to be held in China at the end of this month. Muttaqi said that he looks forward to participating in the meeting," a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said. "It is natural that important issues of the country, including economic and diplomatic relations and other issues, will be discussed," said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate as quoted by Tolo News. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, is expected to attend the meeting. "This meeting is a good opportunity for discussion, coordination and regional efforts for humanitarian, economic and social support for Afghanistan and to assess the actions regarding terrorist threats and drug trafficking," said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Russia was quoted as saying by Tolo News. Earlier this month, the Taliban regime had confirmed its participation in the meeting after a meeting between Muttaqi and China's ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu. The first and second rounds of the meeting were hosted by Islamabad and Tehran respectively. The meeting in Islamabad was held in a virtual format. (ANI)
The Indian government released three Pakistani prisoners and a baby and sent them back to their homeland on Saturday. The Pakistani prisoners were identified as Samira, Ahmad Rajaa and Murtaja Ajgar Ali, according to Arun Pal, the Protocol Officer (Police). He said that all the three prisoners were sent to Pakistan via Attari Wagah Border. He further stated that Pakistani Samira was caught in Bangalore and was sentenced to jail for three and a half years while she was pregnant with a baby girl. Pal said that the other two prisoners, Ahmad Rajaa and Murtaja Ajgar Ali, were caught while roaming around the border. He further said that the Indian Government is sending them back after the completion of their punishment. Pakistani prisoner, Samira, thanked the Indian government for sending her back and requested the government to send all those people who are still here like her. Rajaa said that he was caught while roaming around the border and he is being sent to Pakistan after 21 months. (ANI)
The protest was organised on March 24 and a poster exhibition was also held in Paris depicting the Pakistan army-led "genocide" in Bangladesh in 1971.

The event was organized ahead of the Bangladesh National Day on March 26 which commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The posters at the exhibition depicted the large-scale violence and torture that the Pakistan army inflicted on the Bengali population of then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

Approximately 35-40 members of BHBCUC participated in the said event and called on the international community and the UN to declare the systematic killing of Bangladeshis by Pakistan in 1971 as "genocide".

Slogans against Pakistan were raised at the event.

During the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, the Pakistan military deliberately harmed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi citizens.

Rights group says the horrors of 1971 are considered as one of the worst mass atrocities in history.

The damage they inflicted can be described in the following numbers-- as many as three million people were believed to have been killed, up to 2,00,000 women were violated and over 10 million people were forced to cross the border to India to seek shelter. (ANI)
Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit Varanasi during his official visit to India from April 1 to 3. As per the itinerary, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2. This will be his first visit to India after becoming Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom in July 2021. He has visited India in each of his four earlier stints as PM. His last visit to India was in 2017. This visit is a part of the tradition of periodic high-level exchanges between the two countries. It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in the health sector, power, connectivity, people to people links and other issues of mutual interest. This comes after Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi's conclusion of his three-day visit to Nepal. Wang's Nepal visit comes in the backdrop of Nepal ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, a grant of USD 500 million developmental assistance from the US to Kathmandu, seen as a setback for China. The Chinese official, associated with China's diplomatic corps in Kathmandu, said that in the lead up to the compact's endorsement, there was a lack of coordination among the Chinese agencies handling Nepal. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he also said the communication gap between Beijing and the Chinese Embassy was also growing, according to the Annapurna Express article. Nepal's federal parliament did ratify the compact, as the Americans wished, but in the run-up to ratification, Beijing tried hard to stop it. It sees the USD 500 million development grant to Nepal as a part of America's strategy to encircle China, the article noted. (ANI)
China's promotion of Russian propaganda indicates where its loyalties lie. China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo posted images related to provincial education bureaus holding compulsory guidance meetings to make teachers across the country correctly understand the situation in Ukraine. It is explained to them that Russia is not at fault and all the faults lie with the US, NATO and Ukraine. Chinese Twitter accounts have noted that these meetings are not only mandatory for university teachers but also for high school and middle school teachers. China is in fact, embracing Russian propaganda and its version of war. China's state-owned media outlets quoted their Russian counterparts' coverage without verification, helping to magnify their disinformation on the Chinese internet. They put Russian officials on state television networks with little pushback on their claims, New York Times reported. Chinese officials seem to adopt a "neutral position" in public statements and at international summits over the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Beijing's true intentions have always been known to the world. China has neither condemned Russian actions in Ukraine nor ruled out the possibility of Beijing acting as a mediator in a push for peace. According to CNN, an alternate reality is playing out for China's 1.4 billion people, one in which the "action" is nothing more than a "special military operation," according to its national broadcaster CCTV. While the other one propaganda China is doing that the United States may be funding a biological weapons program in Ukraine. According to an analysis, nearly 5,000 social media posts from 14 Chinese state media outlets during the first eight days of Russia's military operations were posted onto China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo. The analysis found that of the more than 300 most-shared posts about the events in Ukraine -- which were each shared more than 1,000 times -- almost half, about 140, were pro-Russian, often containing information attributed to a Russian official or picked up directly from Russia's state media, CNN reported. (ANI)
The war between Russia and Ukraine is being projected as David vs Goliath, and Kyiv has churned out a steady stream of sophisticated propaganda aimed at stirring public and official support from Western countries. Dan Cohen, writing in Mint Press News (MPN) revealed the network of foreign strategists, Washington DC lobbyists, and intelligence-linked media outlets behind Ukraine's public relations blitz. The campaign includes language guides, key messages, and hundreds of propaganda posters, some of which contain fascist imagery and even praise Neo-Nazi leaders. Ukraine's propaganda strategy earned it praise from a NATO commander who told the Washington Post, said Cohen. According to the industry news site PRWeek, the initiative was launched by an anonymous figure who allegedly founded a Ukraine-based public relations firm, reported MPN. According to the anonymous figure, more than 150 public relations firms have joined the propaganda blitz. The international effort is spearheaded by public relations firm PR Network co-founder Nicky Regazzoni and Francis Ingham, a top public relations consultant with close ties to the UK's government. Among the propaganda constructs distributed in the dossier, is a video of the Snake Island incident, which was quickly proven false, in which Ukrainian border guards stationed on a small island were reported to have been killed after they told an approaching Russian warship that had urged them to surrender to "Go f*** yourself." President Zelenskyy held a press conference announcing he would award the men the Hero of Ukraine medal as mainstream media spread the story widely. However, the supposedly-dead soldiers quickly turned up alive and well, proving their heroic stand to be a farce, reported MPN. Another folder in the dossier is run by Ukrainian MFA graphic artist Dasha Podoltseva and contains hundreds of propaganda graphics submitted by artists in Europe and the United States. Some feature generic "no war" messages, while dozens of other images celebrate "The Ghost of Kyiv" - a heroic Ukrainian pilot who turns out to be non-existent - and the phony "Snake Island 13" incident, said Cohen. The dossier also contains a link to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs page called "Fight for Ukraine," which provides instructions for foreigners who wish to join Ukraine's Neo-Nazi-infested armed forces - termed the "International Defense Legion of Ukraine." While the Ukrainian government says tens of thousands have answered their call, some commentators expressed doubt at those figures, calling it a "PR exercise," said Cohen. One section claims the "entire Europe was put on the brink of nuclear disaster when the Russian troops began shelling the largest in Europe Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant." However, International Atomic Energy Agency's Director-General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said that the building hit by a Russian "projectile" at the Zaporizhzhia plant was "not part of the reactor" but instead a training center. Russian troops also left Ukrainian workers to continue operating the plant, reported MPN. Another anonymously-penned investigation shows how Ukrainian public relations firms have used targeted advertisements to astroturf Russian internet and social media networks with messaging calling to economically isolate Moscow and "stop the war." At the same time, Facebook has blocked Russian state-owned media outlets from running ads and monetizing content. Several fake accounts for media outlets like Russia 24 have sprung up, burying the authentic account under a series of impostors. Facebook has also marked statements from Russian officials, including the Ministry of Defense, as "false." While the public relations firms distribute content, CIA cutouts and billionaire foundations run the media outlets they derive it from and intelligence-linked propaganda operations target the public, said Cohen. With a powerful Russian military fighting alongside DPR and LPR forces, the Ukrainian military's defeat seems to be imminent unless the United States and NATO directly confront Russian forces, a scenario President Biden has already ruled out. Lobbyists nevertheless persist in their campaign to portray the Ukrainian military as underdogs scoring blow after blow against Russian hordes. In doing so, they help extend the war and continue the carnage, said Cohen. (ANI)
The renaming of Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office YouTube channel has triggered speculation that the beleaguered Imran Khan may step down as Prime Minister at the public rally called by him in Islamabad on Sunday. The rally is a show of strength by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the opposition is geared up for a no-trust vote in the National Assembly to oust his government. Imran Khan faces mounting economic and social challenges as his government battles corruption allegations levelled by the opposition. The change in the YouTube channel's name on Saturday has raised eyebrows. The channel had a verified tick when it was named Prime Minister's Office and has now been renamed 'Imran Khan'. Imran Khan has been hard-hitting in his counter-offensive at the opposition terming Pakistan oppositions "dacoits" and has urged people to come in large numbers to Islamabad's Parade Ground on March 27. "I want my people to come to Parade Ground tomorrow, tomorrow we will show a sea of people!" PTI said in a tweet referring to Imran Khan. The political challenges have mounted for Imran Khan even as his government is negotiating with IMF on USD 6 billion rescue package and battling unemployment and price rise. The no-confidence motion was submitted by opposition parties on March 8 after the PPP's long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan. As the crucial no-confidence motion session inches closer and uncertainty continues to shroud political alliances, at least fifty ministers belonging to the ruling party have gone 'missing' from the political front, Express Tribune said on Friday citing sources. More than 50 of the federal and provincial ministers have not been seen in public since the opposition began stacking up perils against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the report said. Imran Khan had on Wednesday said he will not "resign under any circumstances" amid mounting pressure from the opposition. "I will not resign under any circumstance. I will play till the last ball and I will surprise them a day before as they are still under pressure. My trump card is that I have not laid any of my cards yet," he had said. Najam Sethi, a Pakistani journalist, said that Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give on Sunday and his 'mind games" are meant for the military establishment and the judiciary for "positive" results. "Imran Khan has no "surprise" to give tomorrow. He is playing "mind games" (big jalsas, good vs evil, high moral ground, etc) of which he is a self-confessed master! These "mind games" are meant to prey on the Miltablishment and Judiciary for "positive" results!" Sethi said in a tweet. According to Geo News, Khan had said earlier this week that he had good relations with the military. But Pakistan army seems to have lost trust in Khan over his stance leading to a stand-off over the appointment of the intelligence agency's - ISI chief. The Pakistani National Assembly has 342 members and Imran Khan needs the support of 172 members to prove his majority. The PTI led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members - PTI (155 members) and four major allies MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively. Imran Khan and his party members are trying every trick under their sleeves to avert turmoil. After the move of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan's government got deferred to March 28 in the National Assembly, his party has intensified its efforts to woo its allies. Opposition parties have said that Khan, who had come to power on the slogan of fighting corruption, was "found hiding crucial information" from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding foreign funding case. According to News International, The State Bank of Pakistan's documents handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the PTI foreign funding case show that information about transactions worth more than USD 2 million dollars from 14 different foreign countries and hundreds of millions rupees' local transactions into the party's bank accounts was not provided to the ECP authorities. The report said the documents also show that Imran Khan's PTI received USD 29,800 donations in 2013 from a businesswoman and her Pakistani American husband but their donation was also concealed from the ECP. (ANI)
China on the pretext of internal and external security threats is upgrading its military infrastructure along the western frontier in Tibet and Xinjiang. New airports and heliports are being constructed or upgraded on a priority basis. Most of them will be military or dual-use facilities. The air facilities are being supplemented with the expansion of rail and road infrastructure to facilitate the logistics and troop movement capabilities of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), reported Tibet Press. As per Tibet Press, the biggest threat perception relates to China's disputed border with India. "China is supplementing these with four new airports in Tibet. Three of these--Lhuntse Airport, Ngari-Burang Airport, and Shigatse Tingri Airport--are positioned less than 60 km from the China-India border. The new facilities also fill large gaps along the Indian border where there were previously no airports. If PLA Air Force (PLAAF) units are based at these airports, China will gain several new nodes along the border to project air power into India," according to a research paper ChinaPower. In Xinjiang, the authorities have upgraded 15 airports in the last five years. Seven of them are military or dual-use facilities. According to the research paper, "one such airport is Hotan Airport, a major dual-use airport located approximately 240 km from the western portion of the Line of Actual Control (LAC)". Significantly, it says, "less than 5 km southeast of the main airport area, a surface-to-air missile (SAM) complex is being upgraded, enhancing the air defenses at the airport and surrounding areas". There is serious investment involved in developing road and rail infrastructure in the two regions. According to official figures, "Tibet's highway system grew 51 per cent between 2015 and 2020--from 7,840 km to 11,820 km--faster than the growth rate of any other province, region, or municipality". Xinjiang's network of highways has expanded at a fast clip as well, "growing from 17,830 km in 2015 to 20,920 km in 2020". The build-up is significant because not only are the Xinjiang and Tibet regions far-flung from China's industrial east coast, they also border 11 countries with most of whom China has running disputes. Xinjiang is important to China because of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project and its intention to re-create the ancient Silk Road in order to find a new land route for Chinese products to enter Europe. Xinjiang occupies a central position within the BRI and serves as a key link between China and its western neighbours, reported Tibet Press. China has also beefed up "security cooperation with bordering countries--including Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and most recently Kazakhstan--with the aim of enhancing their domestic security and fending off instability that could spill over into China". Internally, China is concerned that either inimical foreign powers or local insurgents might foment trouble in Tibet and Xinjiang. The movement for independence by the Tibetan people and the protests of Xinjiang's Uyghur Muslims over Chinese oppression are the reasons for worry. What is more, both regions are autonomous regions in China with substantial ethnic minority populations, reported Tibet Press. (ANI)
External Affair Minister S Jaishankar arrived in the Maldives on a two-day visit from March 26 to March 27 after he got an invite from his Maldivian counterpart. "Arrived in the Maldives to a warm welcome by FM @abdulla_shahid [Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid]. Looking forward to my talks with him this evening. #IndiaMaldives special partnership poised to deepen further," Jaishankar said. Earlier today, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a press release said that EAM will hold discussions with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid. "EAM visit will see the signing of several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives and enhance its security," the MEA release said. After this, Jaishankar will make a three-day visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 that will include his participation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Ministerial Meeting on 29 March 2022 in Colombo. Jaishankar's visit to Sri Lanka from March 28 follows the visits to India by Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Basil Rajapaksa in December 2021 and earlier this month and that of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, GL Peiris in February 2022. "The bilateral meetings and interactions which EAM will have in Sri Lanka highlight the priority that Sri Lanka occupies for India," the MEA statement said. "Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' and Neighbourhood First. EAM's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," the statement further said. (ANI)
"Following the CAAC's announcement a short time ago, we extend our deepest condolences for the loss of those on board China Eastern Airlines Flight MU 5735. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passengers and crew, their families and all those affected by this accident," the aerospace company said.

"Boeing will continue to support our airline customers during this difficult time. In addition, a Boeing technical team is supporting the NTSB and the Civil Aviation Administration of China who will lead the investigation," the company added.

All 132 people on board the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed on Monday afternoon in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have been confirmed dead, official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday, citing official sources.

The flight MU5735 had 123 passengers and nine crew members, the Civil Aviation Administration of China updated on its website.

The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines took off from Kunming to reach the destination Guangzhou but in between, the plane 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. (ANI)
Taking advantage of the distressed situation of its military friend, Russia in the ongoing Ukraine war, the possibility of China speeding up the modernization of its military and its nuclear arsenal is real. James Crickton, writing in think-tank Policy Research Group POREG said that China and Russia are close defense partners. It is more of a one-way relationship that is advantageous to Beijing than Moscow. Russia wants to sell its military training concepts and technology. China wants to accelerate the process of modernising its military. Western defense organisations are already figuring out the possible scenarios that the conflict situation could lead to. The Diplomat defines the West's dilemma succinctly: "How bilateral military relations develop in the months and years ahead will have a direct effect on the two countries' ability to modernize their forces, credibly deter adversaries, and protect national interests." The Americans, however, think that the cooperation may be sandbagged by China's "reverse engineering, competition for arms sales in foreign markets, and China's lessening dependency on Russian imports," reported POREG. Ironically, it is Russia that is currently facing problems in procuring aircraft spare parts and maintenance programmes for its military fleet because of the western sanctions. Even Chinese companies are said to be refusing to help out Russia. Though China is reducing its dependence on military imports, in the absence of any possibility of the West helping it with defense procurements, it has to look towards Russia irrespective of how the Ukraine conflict impacts their bilateral relations, reported POREG. Asked to describe China's strategic goal, diplomats at more than a dozen embassies in Beijing are in near unanimity that China wants a world order built around spheres of influence, with China in control of Asia, Russia wielding a veto over security arrangements in Europe and America pushed back to its own shores. If such an order is helped into existence by Russia's war in Ukraine, so be it. But China's overwhelming interest is in its own rise, and whether it will be blocked by America, reported POREG. In China's view, the main global contest is between it and a declining America that is too racist and vicious to allow an Asian giant to become a peer. If the invasion of Ukraine continues to negatively impact on Russia, one thing is certain. The balance of defense cooperation will shift in China's favour. China will not lose the opportunity of "using" Russia to tune its military exercises to suit China's needs, added POREG. (ANI)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the second day of his Nepal visit handed over the Chinese-built Pokhara Regional International Airport to Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Yi handed over the airport to the Nepal government during the courtesy call held at Baluwatar, the official residence of Nepali PM on Saturday evening. "State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PRC (People's of Republic China) Wang Yi paid a courtesy call on the Rt. Hon. PM @SherBDeuba [Nepalese PM Sher Bahadur Deuba] today. Rt. Hon. [Right Honourable] PM witnessed the virtual completion ceremony of the Pokhara Regional International Airport." tweeted Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ahead of the meeting with Prime Minister Deuba, a nine-point agreement was sealed between the two nations following a bilateral meeting between the Sino and Nepali counterparts. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between two sides for financial and technical assistance, a feasibility study of the transmission line projects, and a team of Chinese health workers providing services in Nepal. Apart from these, issues related to vaccine transfer, maintenance and up-gradation of Araniko Highway and its handover have also been agreed upon. Talks at the delegation-level and Foreign Minister-level took place before the agreement was struck. "At the cordial invitation of Dr Narayan Khadka, Foreign Minister of Nepal, the State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China-Wang Yi is on an official visit to Nepal from yesterday (March 25, 2022). Today, he had bilateral talks with his Nepali counterpart. During the meeting, the whole gamut of bilateral relations was discussed and a few agreements and MoU's were also signed," Sewa Lamsal, the Spokesperson at Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told ANI. Nepali Foreign Minister Dr Khadka led a 25-member delegation and his Chinese counterpart led a 17-member delegation to the talks. Yi also will pay a courtesy call to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sunday morning followed by a meeting with two former PMs, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Yi who is on a mammoth tour of South Asia will return back to mainland China on Sunday evening. (ANI)
Explosions were reported in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after the Russian forces struck the city on Saturday. Ukrainian officials said Russian forces struck near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, without providing extensive details. Maksym Kozytsky, head of Lviv regional military administration, said: "There were three powerful explosions near Lviv from the Velyki Kryvchytsi side, now there is an air alarm, so keep calm and stay in shelter." "The Russian army struck at Lviv," Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Twitter. "We are waiting for information from the Military Administration. Stay in the shelters." The blasts were audible on the street in center of Lviv. Sadovyi warned in a follow-up tweet that there could be more strikes after explosions were heard in the city. "It is possible that shelling will be repeated. Stay in the shelter!" the mayor tweeted. At least two missiles struck Lviv Saturday, and there are reports of at least five people injured, according to Kozytsky. He added there are still threats for more missile strikes, according to a post on his official Facebook account. "Information about what was involved in a residential building or other infrastructure objects was not confirmed," Kozytsky said. Meanwhile, another extended curfew in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast were observed from 8 pm to 7 am today. "Another extended curfew in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast: from 8 p.m. on March 26 to 7 a.m. March 28. Only vehicles with special permits are allowed to be out driving. Residents can leave home only to go to the shelter," tweeted The Kyiv Independent. Further, Russian shelling left Kyiv's western Sviatoshynskyi District without electricity. "Two power lines have been cut off by shelling in the suburbs, according to the city council. Water pressure might drop, too," tweeted The Kyiv Independent. While the war has escalated between Russia and Ukraine, the US President Joe Biden met Ukrainian foreign, defence ministers in Warsaw. Biden gave information about his Poland visit and said, "Today, I met with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense -- and with Polish President Andrzej Duda. I'm visiting a refugee site to see our humanitarian efforts. Tonight, I'm delivering remarks on our commitment to a future rooted in democratic principles." Earlier today, US President met Ukrainian officials in the Polish capital Warsaw as he enters the final day of his Europe trip, aimed at synchronizing how Western allies will address Russia's aggression and reassuring the nations that they have the support of the United States, CNN reported. This was the first time Biden met the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov face to face during his tour. After the meeting with Biden, Ukrainian Defense Minister tweeted, "For the 1st time, meeting in 2+2 format. With @DmytroKuleba we discuss current issues & cooperation in political & defense directions between - with @SecDef & @SecBlinken. In the evening we'll also be present at @POTUS speech on the russian war against Ukraine." "I assess my & @DmytroKuleba meeting with @POTUS, @SecDef, @SecBlinken with cautious optimism. Discussed urgent needs of #UAarmy.The President Biden said: Ukraine has inspired the whole world". Encouraging.We live in an era of Ukrainocentrism, but in mutual struggle with a common enemy," added Reznikov. About the same meeting, Biden said, "Today, I met with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov. We discussed our efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraine and the significant military and humanitarian assistance the United States is providing." Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Qatar, energy-rich nations to boost production amid sanctions on Russian energy. "In an address to Doha Forum, Zelenskyy said that Europe's refusal to purchase Russian oil, gas is a matter of time and that Qatar can contribute to stabilizing the situation," tweeted The Kyiv Independent. (ANI)
China in a fresh assertion reiterated that Beijing "has right to develop South China Sea (SCS) Islands as it deems fit" contrary to what it said earlier that it would not transform the artificial islands in the contested waters of SCS to a military base. On March 22, China made the assertions regarding it. Recently Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that China's deployment of "necessary national defence facilities on its own territory are a right entitled to every sovereign country and it is in line with international law, which is beyond reproach". What China calls its "own territory" are disputed islands in the SCS, reported The HK Post. China first declined to accept the verdict of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 2016 on complaints of the Philippines and subsequently used its economic clout to pacify the complaining country, reported The HK Post. Underneath the high-voltage assertion is a threat to other stakeholders in the SCS not to question China's claims in the region. In the first instance, it is a blatant lie that whatever China is doing in the SCS is in compliance with international law. The UNCLOS tribunal had rejected China's argument that it enjoyed historic rights over most of the SCS. China, thereafter, was expected to resolve the dispute over claims on SCS by reconciling its claims with those of other contending parties including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. China, as always, behaved in a big brotherly manner and denied the right of the sovereign countries in the SCS region. It declined to accept righteous claims of other stakeholders on the islands as well as other marine resources including gas and oil, reported The HK Post. The Hague Tribunal had clearly pointed out that China had violated international law by causing "irreparable harm" to the marine environment, endangering the Philippines' ships and interfering with Philippine fishing and oil exploration. However, China disregarded the UNCLOS verdict and was still continuing with its military expansionism. President Xi Jinping also refused China's participation in the tribunal's proceedings, reported The HK Post. The SCS is not important only for China, but also for other countries of the region and the world as about USD 4 trillion or one-third of the global maritime trade passes through it. The disputes involve the islands, reefs, banks, and other features of the SCS, including Spratly Islands, Parcel Islands, Scarborough Shoal and various boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin. The recent militarization of the islands by China despite concerns expressed by the other stakeholders not only defies international law, but reveals the strategic designs of China. (ANI)
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed Khan has said that the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the public rally at around 4 PM on Sunday, reported local media. Faisal Javed Khan in his tweet said that the public gathering at Islamabad's Parade Avenue will begin at 3 pm and PM Imran Khan is expected to address the historical gathering around 4 pm, reported ARY News. With an aim to maintain security, the Islamabad police shared the traffic plan from its Twitter handle with a spokesman saying that general traffic was barred to play in the red zone. Moreover, the traffic would not be allowed to enter Kashmir Chowk to Rawal Dam Chowk and the metro bus service to remain suspended. The Metro Bus service in twin cities, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, to remain suspended for an indefinite period. According to the notification, the Metro Bus service will remain closed in Islamabad and Rawalpindi as a precautionary measure amid the scheduled power shows of the political parties, reported the news channel. Notably, the local administration has issued NOCs to ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the opposition party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) for holding power shows on different venues in the federal capital on March 27 and 28. Some media commentators speculated that Imran Khan could announce the administrative decision in his public meeting in the federal capital on March 27. The no-confidence motion against Imran Khan was submitted by opposition parties on March 8 after the PPP's long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan. As the crucial no-confidence motion session inches closer and uncertainty continues to shroud political alliances, at least 50 ministers belonging to the ruling party have gone 'missing' from the political front, Express Tribune said on Friday citing sources. (ANI)
As Russia tries to gain a stronghold in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden while speaking in Warsaw, Poland, said Russia has "strangled democracy" adding that its President Vladimir Putin is lying in a bid to justify the war. Biden said, "Today, Russia has strangled democracy and sought to do so elsewhere, not only in his homeland. Under false claims of ethnic solidarity, he's invalidated neighbouring nations. Putin has the gall to say he's 'denazifying Ukraine.' It's a lie. It's just cynical. He knows that. And it's also obscene. President Zelensky was democratically elected. He's Jewish. His father's family was wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust. And Putin has the audacity, like all our autocrats before him, to believe that might will make right," reported CNN News. "Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived all across the globe. Its hallmarks are familiar ones: contempt for the rule of law, contempt for democratic freedom, contempt for the truth itself," he added. Biden, in his speech, slammed Putin for condemning the NATO alliance. "A criminal wants to portray NATO enlargement as an imperial project aimed at destabilizing Russia. Nothing is further from the truth. NATO is a defensive alliance. It has never sought the demise of Russia," Biden stated in his address. The US President also referenced US President Abraham Lincoln's quote, "right makes might", in his speech. Biden reiterated his stance on the Russian war in Ukraine and said that Putin is challenging the rules-based international order. He chided Russia's actions saying, "It's nothing less than a direct challenge to the rules-based international order established since the end of World War II, and it threatens to return to decades of war that ravaged Europe before the international rule-based order was put in place. We cannot go back to that. We cannot," reported the news channel. Furthermore, Biden talked of the sanctions and other economic steps that are taken in order to pressurize Russia and target the Russian economy. Russia launched its invasion last month after recognising the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics." Russia has since continued to maintain that the aim of its operations has been to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country. (ANI)
Although the no-confidence motion was on the agenda of Friday's National Assembly session, Speaker Asad Qaiser had adjourned the session until Monday.

Leader of the Opposition, Shehbaz Sharif, then wrote to Qaiser in which he criticised his handling of the no-confidence motion and alleged that the Speaker had failed to fulfil his constitutional obligations by delaying the no-confidence vote.

Rasheed maintained that the Opposition had actually played into the hands of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, whose popularity he claimed has increased since the no-confidence motion was moved.

He also termed the opposition as 'fools' for helping Prime Minister Imran Khan gain more support.

Answering further questions, Rasheed said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA, Jam Abdul Karim, would be arrested upon his return to Pakistan from Dubai.

Karim has been named in a murder cases in Sindh, but he is currently out of the country.

--IANS san/arm

( 200 Words)

2022-03-26-21:22:05 (IANS)
As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to intensify, the US announced that it will provide USD 100 million in civilian security assistance to Ukraine in order to enable the country's border security, sustain civil law enforcement functions, and safeguard critical governmental infrastructure, said the US State Department in its press release. Calling Putin's war on Ukraine premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified, the statement read, "US intends to provide an additional USD 100 million in civilian security assistance to enhance the capacity of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide essential border security, sustain civil law enforcement functions, and safeguard critical governmental infrastructure." The US said that the increased funding will continue a steady flow of personal protection equipment, field gear, tactical equipment, medical supplies, armoured vehicles, and communication equipment for the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service and the National Police of Ukraine. With the US government's vital assistance, Ukrainian law enforcement officers are playing a key role in rescuing victims of the Russian government's brutal assault, leading and protecting convoys of those displaced by attacks, and providing security to civilian areas torn apart by ruthless and devastating bombing, as per the statement. The United States reiterated its continued solidarity with the community of nations backing the people and government of Ukraine. Moreover, the US urged Putin to "end the violence, rein in his forces, including those who have committed war crimes, and choose the path of peace and diplomacy". The US reaffirmed its commitment to pursue accountability for "war crimes and other atrocities using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions". Notably, Russia launched its invasion last month after recognising the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics." Russia has since continued to maintain that the aim of its operations has been to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many Western nations and European countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia targeting its economy and financial system. (ANI)
This key development comes at a time when a fire broke out at the Jeddah oil depot on Friday ahead of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix race.

Houthi political leader Mahdi al-Mashat announced the suspension of missile and drone attacks and all military actions for a period of three days.

"This is a sincere invitation and practical steps to rebuild trust and take all the sides from the arena of talks to the arena of acts," al-Mashat said.

"And we are ready to turn this declaration into a final and permanent commitment in the event that Saudi Arabia commits to ending the siege and stopping its raids on Yemen once and for all," he added. Till now, there has been no response from Saudi Arabia, reported the news agency. (ANI)
After US President Joe Biden, while speaking at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power", the White House clarifies that 'it was not a call for regime change.' Notably, Biden towards the conclusion of his speech said, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." A White House official while clarifying the remarks made by Biden said, "The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change," Biden's line that Putin "cannot remain in power" was not in his prepared remarks, the official said. Moreover, as Russia tries to gain a stronghold in Ukraine, Biden in his address, said Russia has "strangled democracy" adding that its President Vladimir Putin is lying in a bid to justify the war. Biden slammed Putin for condemning the NATO alliance. He chided Russia's actions saying, "It's nothing less than a direct challenge to the rules-based international order established since the end of World War II, and it threatens to return to decades of war that ravaged Europe before the international rule-based order was put in place. We cannot go back to that. We cannot." Furthermore, Biden talked of the sanctions and other economic steps that are taken in order to pressurize Russia and target the Russian economy. Russia launched its invasion last month after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics." Russia has since continued to maintain that the aim of its operations has been to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country. (ANI)
China is responsible for carrying out the most cyber-attacks and is motivated primarily by a desire for gaining access to secrets and fulfilling its political objectives with the help of such attacks, reported a Canada-based thinktank, International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS). Crowd strike, which provides cyber security for half the world's 20 biggest multinationals revealed that China is motivated primarily by a desire for commercial secrets and pursuit of its political objectives. The country has mounted cyberattacks on firms, universities, government departments, think tanks and NGOs. According to a US report based on evidence, the Chinese hackers have not only infiltrated US businesses and international human rights groups but also carried out operations to steal American intellectual property. The US National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment Report has underscored several potential dangers to the country including nuclear and biological weapons, especially infectious diseases, cyber-attacks and climate change. As per the report, the hackers who are aligned with the Chinese government represent the "most active" threat, capable of affecting Americans' daily lives. Analysis of thousands of cyberattacks indicates that more than a third of cyberattacks targeted technology companies, specifically biotech firms, pharmaceuticals and defence. They also hit other sectors including mining and transport businesses, said the think tank. In order to protect the country against Chinese cyber espionage, America has banned many Chinese firms like Huawei, ZTE and Hikevision. The study further highlights that China had emerged as "a bigger threat" after the reorganisation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). According to think tank, after the PLA reorganization, China had outsourced hacking to contract firms. The PLA's hacking activities were reportedly aimed at both getting access to commercial secrets, particularly in the areas of emerging technology and stealing official secrets, sabotaging the public utility and services for crippling the systems. In another report by Mandiant, an American cyber security firm, a hacker group backed by the Chinese government breached the network of at least six US state governments. The hackers collectively known as APT41 had been deliberately attacking state-level government networks from May 2021 to February 2022. Earlier, in July 2021, the US and allies condemned China for malicious cyberattacks, including hacking of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world in early 2021. The Microsoft hack affected at least 30,000 US organisations including local governments as well entities worldwide, as per the think tank. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, stated that China's "Ministry of State Security (MSS) had fostered an ecosystem of criminal contract hackers who carry out both state-sponsored activities and cybercrime for their own financial gain". The US Justice Department charged (2021) four Chinese nationals - three security officials and one contract hacker working with the MSS in a hacking campaign that targeted dozens of computer systems, including companies, universities and government entities, between 2011 and 2018. The department disclosed that the campaign had targeted trade secrets in industries including aviation, defence, education, government, health care, biopharmaceutical and maritime industries. (ANI)
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

Two men were arrested Tuesday in connection with a three-vehicle collision near Sun City West last November that killed a man.

According to court documents, 18-year-old Fernando Amado Armendariz was driving south on El Mirage Road from Loop 303 at 110 miles per hour in a blue Hyundai Elantra when he crashed into a red Chevrolet pickup truck.

The pickup truck was traveling north on El Mirage Road and was driving 11 miles per hour as it attempted to turn onto Wescott Drive. The pickup truck caught fire after the collision, court documents stated.

Joshua Daniel Valenzuela, 21, was also driving a vehicle south on El Mirage Road in the adjacent lane, going approximately 86 miles per hour, court documents said.

The gray Audi ended up colliding with the blue Hyundai after it had hit the pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck, Gary Woodworth, 85, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and died the next day. Amado Armendariz suffered minor injuries, the court documents stated.

Valenzuela and his teenage passenger also suffered minor injuries.

Both Valenzuela and Amado Armendariz admitted to deputies that they had been driving over the speed limit, but they were not found to be impaired, court documents said.

Valenzuela told deputies he slowed down to about 80 miles per hour as Amado Armendariz was pulling away from him just before the collision with the pickup truck.

Both men were booked into a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office facility and each faces one count of reckless manslaughter in the death of the pickup truck driver as they drove almost double the speed limit and one count of endangerment for substantial risk of death or serious injury to the teenager in Valenzuela's vehicle, according to arrest documents.

Both men were being held on a $100,000 bond. Electronic monitoring, supervision and curfew restrictions were the requirements set if bail was posted.

A preliminary hearing was set for March 31.

Reach breaking news reporter Amaris Encinas at amaris.encinas@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @amarisencinas.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 2 men arrested in high-speed Arizona crash that killed pickup driver
Four people were injured and two Virginia Beach police officers are on temporary administrative assignment following an overnight shooting outside a bar.

Officers were responding to a shooting in front of West Beach Tavern when they shot at an armed individual, who fled and hasnt been located, according to police.

Altogether, four people were injured and sustained injuries not considered life-threatening. They included a 17-year-old girl from Newport News who was shot in her lower leg and a 21-year-old Newport News man whose shooting is being investigated as potentially self-inflicted, according to a release.

Two other victims, a 37-year-old Chesapeake man and a 27-year-old Norfolk man, took themselves to a hospital.

Police initially tweeted about the shooting shortly after 2:30 a.m. They did not immediately respond to requests for additional information before releasing more details about 12 hours after the initial tweet.

The release said the shootings started shortly after midnight in the 5000 block of Cleveland Street, off Euclid Road. Virginia Beach officers in the Third Precinct Crime Suppression Squad were surveilling West Beach Tavern due to recent incidents involving disorder and gun violence.

The officers saw multiple people near the front of the business in an argument, which escalated when several took out guns and started shooting, police said.

Two officers exited their car to intervene and both shot at one of the armed individuals, police said. The person fled the scene and had not been found as of 3 p.m. Saturday.

At this current time, there is no indication this individual was struck by any of the rounds fired by VBPD officers, the release said.

The incident is being investigated by the departments homicide unit. It will turn its findings over to the Virginia Beach Office of the Commonwealth Attorney, which also responded to the scene and will conduct an independent investigation into the police shootings.

When both criminal investigations are complete, the Virginia Beach Police Departments Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct an administrative investigation.

Saleen Martin, 757-446-2027, saleen.martin@pilotonline.com
There are more than 150,000 pounds of medical supplies leaving Memphis and headed for Ukraine, an effort aimed at saving lives and helping some who are badly injured.

At the FedEx World Hub Saturday, critical medical supplies were carefully lifted and loaded onto a Boeing 777 jet headed, immediately, for Poland.

It has been more than a month since Russia invaded Ukraine, an onslaught offensive that has left a childrens hospital leveled and created a refugee crisis 5 million people.

Heather Bennett, vice president of partnerships and philanthropy at international humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief, became emotional discussing the mission.

I think people just want to help, Bennett said, appearing to choke back tears.

Direct Relief, which is active in 80 countries and all 50 U.S. states, according to its website, received donations from medical distributors, said Bennett.

People are suffering through a terrible time, she said.

The plane was full of 76 tons of medical supplies, including prescription medications, PPE and medications used to treat COVID-19, according to Bennett.

There are 200 FedEx employees working in Ukraine, said Jenny Robertson, FedEx vice president of corporate communications.

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Getty ImagesAmber Heard sobbed uncontrollably on the stand Thursday as she recounted a wild fight with her then-husband Johnny Depp in Australia in which he allegedly penetrated her vagina repeatedly with a liquor bottle, leaving her retching and bloodied.The March 2015 trip for the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 was tumultuous from the start, Heard said during her second day of testimony in the trial over Johnny Depps $50 million defamation lawsuit. One day, after he had been drinking,
Adam Shakoor served as Rosa Parks personal lawyer in Detroit until her death in 2005

Adam Shakoor, who made history as the first Muslim to be appointed as a judge in the United States, has died.

Aged 74, Shakoor died Sunday at a hospital outside of his Detroit hometown, according to Deadline Detroit. No official cause of death was reported.

Shakoor defended equal rights for Muslims in Michigan in multiple cases during his legal tenure and was also Rosa Parks personal attorney from 1995 until she died in 2005, according to Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Adam Shakoor (Credit: Council on American-Islamic Relations)

We mourn the great loss of Judge Shakoor, who was a mentor and an inspiration to Michigan Muslims and the civil rights community, CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a press release. We pray that Allah enters him into paradise and showers patience upon his family.

Judge Shakoor was not only a leader in metro Detroit for African Americans and Muslims of varying ethnicities pertaining to civil rights but was also a shining example of moral excellence, he added.

Shakoor, a former deputy mayor of the city, as well as a prominent activist and attorney, was born Adam Caddell in 1947, per Detroit Free Press.

Raised in a northeast Detroit public housing complex, he went on to study law at the nearby Wayne State University, converting to Islam as a student and changing his surname to Shakoor.

A passionate advocate of equality during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, Shakoor became an attorney and was granted a judgeship by then-Michigan Gov. William Milliken in 1981, per Deadline Detroit.

Detroit Free Press reported that before Shakoor, no Muslim had ever been appointed as a judge in the nations history, per CAIR The Michigan Department of Civil Rights and CAIR.

As chief judge, he served two terms at the 36th District Court in Detroit until 1989, when he retired to serve under then-Mayor Coleman A. Young, the citys first Black mayor, as deputy mayor until 1993, per the outlet.

Story continues

According to Deadline Detroit, Shakoor spent the next several years as an attorney, working as a managing partner for a local law firm from 1994 to 1997, when he joined the firm of Shakoor, Grubba & Miller. He later launched his own firm, Adam Shakoor & Associates, in 2004.

He was a very astute attorney and community person, Detroit radio host and political commentator Adolph Mongo, who worked closely with Shakoor, told the outlet. He understood everyday people. As a judge, he had a lot of insight into what was happening in the city, more than most politicians.

Shakoor is survived by his wife, Gail Lawrence-Shakoor, and six children, according to the outlet.

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The post Adam Shakoor, first Muslim U.S. judge and Rosa Parks lawyer, dies at 74 appeared first on TheGrio.
CHICAGO (AP)  Dissatisfied with the temporary job she accepted after graduating from the University of Chicago, Sahana Dharmapuri felt the pressure to find work using her studies of the Middle East and public policy.

Scanning a newspaper on her lunch break, she found a full-page ad featuring a portion of a speech by then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the effort to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestine. Dharmapuri tore the page out and took it with her when she moved to Washington, D.C., to hunt for a meaningful job.

It was the start of a career shaped by Albright's example, from her history-making appointment as the first female Secretary of State to the decades she spent mentoring, teaching and speaking to women. Albrights death from cancer this week sparked American women to reflect on the 84-year-old diplomats sweeping influence on their lives, 25 years after Bill Clinton made her the United States representative to the world.

Not only did she break the ceiling, she brought people along with her, whether they were close to her or like me who saw her from a distance and said, I can do that too,' said Dharmapuri, director of Our Secure Future, a foundation that seeks to increase women's participation in international affairs.

Albright's path and her identities as a child refugee, wife and mother who carved out a career in a male-dominated field gave women a new vision for their lives, said Hannah Riley Bowles, co-director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School.

Her whole story, we should tell it over and over again, Bowles said. She broke down stereotypes that still interrupt women's career potential today.

Albright also was known for bringing countless women into politics or policy work, often without ever meeting them face-to-face.

One of my earliest memories really was seeing this woman, who was small in stature but a heavyweight regardless, said Virginia Kase Solomon, CEO of the League of Women Voters. She had this gravitas and she could go toe-to-toe with any man in the room.

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When Albright became secretary of state, Candace Waterman was working as a healthcare executive and she looked to Albright as a model of a woman functioning in a man's world without losing herself.

Waterman, now president and CEO of Women Impacting Public Policy, said Albright and, years later, Condoleezza Rice showed women that their voice could affect public policy.

At each juncture, more and more barriers come down," Waterman said. Sometimes its brick by brick, not by a bulldozer.

Of course, some women said Albright shouldn't be reflexively deemed an icon for her first status without considering her decisions as secretary of state or her continued presence in party politics.

Albright has been sometimes criticized for her support of severe sanctions on Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule and her staunch backing of Western intervention in Kosovo. Others remain offended by Albright's implication that all women had a duty to support Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

On the eve of that year's New Hampshire primary, Albright appeared at a rally for Clinton supporters and quipped, Theres a special place in hell for women who dont help each other.

Albright routinely used the phrase during her career, but usually framed it as a criticism of women failing to support one another's professional goals. She apologized for applying it to politics in a column for The New York Times. But she still argued that a woman in the Oval Office would prioritize gender equality and asked younger generations to consider advice from this aging feminist."

When women are empowered to make decisions, society benefits, she wrote. They will raise issues, pass bills and put money into projects that men might overlook or oppose.

That goal also fueled Albright's continued involvement in a program focused on leadership skills for students at her alma mater, the all-female Wellesley College, said Stacie Goddard, director of the school's Albright Institute.

Again and again, Albright urged the young women participating to get comfortable interrupting and speaking their mind, particularly in rooms dominated by men. Women with their own impressive careers in international policy or politics who were invited to address students also spoke of Albright's influence, Goddard said.

Even now, this is not a field that's populated by a lot of women, Goddard said. I've gotten to meet women who talk about how intentional she was in making sure she was working with women in those positions and helping them and mentoring them.
Henry Dorty Dubea was indicted Tuesday in the death of his stepbrother, Henry Dorty Jr., at Buhlow Lake last summer.

Dubea, 40, has been in the Rapides Parish Detention Center #1 since his arrest on June 1, when he turned himself in at the Rapides Parish Courthouse.

Relatives hold photos of Henry Dorty Jr., a 29-year-old man who was shot and killed in June at Buhlow Lake. They were among the family and friends who attended the Sept. 25 National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims vigil in Alexandria.

He was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder.

The state asked that his bail be set at $1 million, which was granted. Dubea's total bail is $1,550,500, but online jail records state he currently is serving time with the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

Dubea is accused of shooting Dorty, 29, at the lake's boat launch over an alleged domestic incident in Alexandria that "culminated in an isolated incident in Pineville," according to the Pineville Police Department.

Henry Dubea arrest: Man suspected in Buhlow Lake fatal shooting held on warrant

Mothers speak: 'It hurts': Families of murder victims gather to remember loved ones, gain strength

Months after the shooting, Dorty's mother, Debra Dodd, spoke of her son's drive to succeed and how he had helped her so much. She also spoke of her struggle to continue after her son's death.

"Sometimes I feel like committing suicide. Sometimes I feel like I can't get out of the bed," she said. "But I know I have to go on. I know I have to carry on. There's nothing else to do."

No arraignment or other court date has been set as of Friday.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Alexandria man indicted in fatal shooting of stepbrother, Henry Dorty Jr.
The US was struggling with soaring inflation before Russia invaded Ukraine. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Americans can't blame Putin alone for soaring gas and grocery prices, a leading economist said.

Will Ruger told Insider the Ukraine war was being used as an "excuse" for problems already facing the US economy.

"The biggest part of the problem of our inflation is our own policies," he said.

Americans can't blame Vladimir Putin alone for soaring gas and grocery prices, a leading economist has said.

"The biggest part of the problem of our inflation is our own policies, not just in the immediate term but over the last several years," Will Ruger, president of the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian-leaning think tank, said in an interview with Insider.

A recent poll conducted by ABC News found that four in five Americans pinned "a great deal" of blame on Russia's president for the economic challenges they're facing, be they at the gas pump or in the grocery store.

Ruger said: "If American consumers blame Russia for increased costs at the grocery store, or in other parts of the economy, then that would be a hugely incomplete picture of what's really going on."

He said the US economy was struggling with skyrocketing inflation long before Russia invaded Ukraine  although the war had applied further pressure.

"We were having problems beforehand and even if there was peace tomorrow, we would be having some of these challenges ahead," Ruger said. "A big part of that is that our monetary policy and our fiscal policy have been off the rails for some time."

Prices for key commodities including gas, food, and cars have climbed further after Russia invaded Ukraine, and after the US, UK, European Union and other Western nations imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia. The US has banned imports of Russian oil, natural gas, and coal.

Gas prices reached record highs in early March, hitting almost $4.20 per gallon, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration.

Story continues

US President Joe Biden warned that the Russian energy ban would result in higher fuel prices in the US, labelling it "Putin's price hike." Biden has also sought to blame soaring inflation on Putin.

Ruger said the war and resulting sanctions were "added as an excuse" for existing problems within the US economy. "The American public should not buy it," he said.

Inflation was already running at a four-decade high before Russia invaded Ukraine. The consumer price index, a broad measure of inflation, surged 7.9% in the year through February, representing the fastest growth since January 1982.

Ruger said the Biden administration's moves on spending and regulation were "partly to blame for feelings that we aren't headed in the right direction economically."

Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, attributed high pre-war inflation to pandemic-era stimulus checks and the supply-chain strains of the past year. The stimulus checks, paired with pre-existing shortages of key commodities, drove up demand and subsequently, prices for consumer goods, Currie said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Atlanta police homicide investigators said that they believe a 25-year-old man shot and killed at a southeast Atlanta convenience store late Friday night was a targeted victim.

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Investigators said that police were called out to the Texaco gas and convenience store on Clifton Street, just off Memorial Drive shortly before 11 p.m. for a shooting incident. Witnesses told them a man entered the store wearing a mask and gloves. They said he walked up to a customer inside the store and shot him before running away.

We do have an individual who went inside the store, Homicide Lt. Ralph Woolfolk said. It appears he had on a mask as well as latex gloves. He was apparently carrying two weapons at the time and expelled a barrage of gunfire on the victim inside.

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Woolfolk said that investigators are looking at surveillance video from inside the store to try identify the shooter.

Atlanta police are asking anyone who has information about this incident to call them at 404-614-6544 or contact Greater Atlanta Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477). Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward if their information leads to an arrest or indictment.

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Belize has signalled its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state as Prince William and Kates Caribbean tour draws to a close.

This follows protests which took place during their visit to the northern Caribbean country following conflict about the colonial legacy of theft and land rights between local indigenous residents and Flora and Fauna International, the conservation charity William supports as patron.

Belize was the first leg of a three-country trip which ends today, and also took in Jamaica and the Bahamas.

Since the visit to Belize, the countrys government, led by prime minister, Johnny Briceno, has confirmed that the Peoples Constitutional Commission, a new body, will be consulting across the country on the issue of continuing the decolonisation process.

Henry Charles Usher, minister for constitutional and political reform, reportedly told Belizes parliament on Thursday: Madame Speaker, the decolonisation process is enveloping the Caribbean region.

Perhaps it is time for Belize to take the next step in truly owning our independence. But it is a matter that the people of Belize must decide on.

Kate and William meet the prime minister of Belize Johnny Briceno and his wife Rossana Briceno as they begin their tour of the Caribbean (Getty)

The move by Belize to potentially become a republic is in keeping with a controversial tour which has focused on the post-colonial futures of the countries visited by the royal couple.

In Jamaica, prime minister Andrew Holness told Prince William and Kate that the country intends to become a republic amid protests across the island nation calling for the United Kingdom to pay reparations for slavery.

In an official meeting with the royals during their visit on Wednesday, Mr Holness said: Were moving on and we intend to  fulfil our true ambitions and destiny to become an independent, developed and prosperous country.

Mr Holness later tweeted a statement, reiterating that his comments outlined plans to move towards removing the Queen as head of state.

This announcement came the day after The Independent exclusively reported that the Jamaican government had already begun the process of becoming a republic.

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During a speech The Duke of Cambridge has implied that any decision by Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas to decouple with the British monarchy will be supported with pride and respect by the UK.

Speaking at a reception hosted by the governor-general of the Bahamas, Cornelius A Smith, on Saturday, the future British king told guests, who included the countrys prime minister Philip Davis, that whatever the future holds the bonds between the UK and the nations will endure.

The duke said: Next year, I know you are all looking forward to celebrating fifty years of independence  your golden anniversary.

And with Jamaica celebrating 60 years of independence this year, and Belize celebrating 40 years of independence last year, I want to say this: we support with pride and respect your decisions about your future. Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.

Barbados became a republic in November (Getty)

It follows the dukes speech, delivered in Jamaica on Thursday, where he expressed his profound sorrow at the trafficking and enslavement of millions of people from Africa to the Caribbean and North America  a trade which British monarchs supported and profited from during the 17th and 18th centuries.

The address was criticised by campaigners as wholly inadequate and tone-deaf  a description that has been applied to much of the Cambridges Caribbean tour.

After the abolition of slavery in 1833, the British government took out a 20m loan to slave-owning families, for the inconvenience of not having the luxury of free labourers, bringing about a national deficit which was only repaid in 2015 with the help of taxpayers money.

On the other hand, to date, there has been no compensation paid to the descendants of enslaved Africans.

The Queen is head of state of 14 Commonwealth countries, almost all of which are former colonies of the British empire.

Barbados took the historic move of replacing the Queen as head of state in November, and elected its first president Dame Sandra Mason during a ceremony witnessed by the Prince of Wales.
Chicago residents heading out of town for spring break might be in for busy airports, as pent-up demand drives more travel.

Airlines have scheduled 41% more space on flights out of Chicagos airports during March and April this year than in 2021. They are still scheduling fewer seats than before the pandemic, but are edging closer to 2019 levels, according to information from aviation data company Cirium.

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United Airlines said it expected the number of passengers flying to approach 2019 levels during the spring break season, with more than 18 million people expected to fly with the carrier. OHare International Airport was expected to be among the airlines busiest airports, United executives said in a statement.

And nationwide, bookings for flights, tours, car rentals and hotels for warm-weather places this spring were higher than in 2019, according to AAA.

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Net Pryor, left, with her three sons, John, 1, Ryan, 11, and Rickey, 8, makes calls to get on a new flight to Disney World after missing their morning departure at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on March 25, 2022. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

People taking tropical and beach vacations this time of year isnt new, Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement. Its the number of bookings were seeing, with increases in the triple digits over last year and even beating pre-pandemic volumes. The moral of the story is that people, more than ever, want to get away and enjoy a little taste of paradise.

But those travelers are likely paying more. Flight data from travel search company Kayak shows fares for spring break travel from Chicago are up 36% from 2019.

More fare increases might be in store, as one measure airlines could take to contend with fluctuating oil prices. At an investor conference this month, Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein said the company thought Delta customers would be willing to pay to absorb the cost of fuel.

I think were seeing safe, feeling safe and turning fear into confidence. Confidence in the traveling public, confidence in reopening offices, confidence in taking masks off and that is all leading to a surge in demand, he said. And that surge couldnt come at a better time with fuel prices running up.

Southwest Airlines, for its part, raised fares across the system Feb. 1, Chief Financial Officer Tammy Romo said at the investor conference. The carrier has a fuel hedging program intended to provide a cushion against price spikes.

Travelers wait for their luggage inside Terminal 1 at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on March 25, 2022. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

For drivers in the Chicago metro area, the average price of gas on a recent weekday was was $4.61 a gallon, down from a high of $4.67 earlier this month but still more than $0.80 above the average price a month before, according to AAA.

Still, AAA didnt anticipate rising fuel prices would limit spring break traveling for those flying or driving, especially after two years of limited travel. More likely for drivers would be shorter road trips and spending less on hotels, shopping or dining to account for higher gas prices, spokeswoman Molly Hart said in an email.

For those flying out of OHare, construction will be another factor to contend with. As part of an ongoing revamp of the airport, an expansion is underway in Terminal 5, and roadwork could affect passengers trying to reach terminals 1, 2 and 3.

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sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
President Biden speaks in Warsaw on Saturday. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

With the war in Ukraine at a critical juncture, President Biden on Saturday used the capital of a country once dominated by the Soviet Union to demand an end to Russian President Vladimir Putin's vast power and to exhort U.S. allies to stand up to Russia's brutal invasion of its neighbor.

"The test of this moment is a test of all time," Biden said in what was designed as a rousing speech for unity uttered at a Warsaw castle destroyed by Nazis in World War II  and later rebuilt.

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden said of Putin  a dramatic final flourish to what the White House termed a major speech and what appeared to be a call to unseat the man he has branded a killer and a war criminal.

The White House later clarified that Biden was not urging regime change, which would have been a major shift in U.S. policy. The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a spokesman told reporters traveling with the president and speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with White House protocol. "He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change.

Still, the comments reverberated in Poland, in Ukraine, where a Russian air attack struck within miles of the Polish border, and in Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was not up to Biden to choose who leads Russia. "The president of Russia is elected by Russians," he said, according to Reuters.

Biden, in his speech, also reached out to the Russian people, saying the United States and the West do not have grievances with them but with their leaders. And he called for worldwide unity, something the administration has not been able to galvanize, with numerous countries sitting on the sidelines of the conflict.

"All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day," Biden said. "My country as well."

Story continues

He opened his remarks by invoking the late Pope John Paul II, a Pole, whose "Be not afraid" speech in Warsaw in 1979 inspired Poland to eventually break away from Communist rule.

Throughout his visit to Europe, Biden has emphasized the "sacred obligation" the U.S. and its NATO allies have to protect Poland and other member states if Russia spreads its attacks into the eastern flanks of NATO territory. He told Polish President Andrzej Duda in a meeting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will defend "every inch" of its territory "for your freedom and ours."

As Biden visited Warsaw, a fresh volley of explosions was heard on the outskirts of Lviv, in western Ukraine and just miles from the border with Poland. Black smoke billowed on the horizon. Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile attack hit a fuel storage facility. Though the third attack in the vicinity of once-quiet Lviv, it was the first one close to the city's population.

Russia on Friday announced that the "first phase" of its military assault had ended successfully, saying its forces would now concentrate on its main goal: consolidating control of occupied parts of eastern Ukraine. This might represent a scaling down of operations in the face of a failure to advance on key cities  or it may be another feint by Putin to confuse his adversaries.

Saturday's Lviv attacks seemed to suggest the latter. Biden, asked what he thought of Putin's shift in strategy, said he was not sure there had been any shift.

Initially, several U.S. officials embraced the analysis that Putin was scaling back because it fits with their narrative that Ukraine is prevailing in the conflict, even as Washington and European capitals are willing to send supplies and weapons to Ukraine but not troops or fighter jets.

While in Warsaw, Biden also got a firsthand glimpse of the war's toll on Poland. Meeting with Ukrainian refugees near the train station in Warsaw, he said he admired their spirit and resilience and when asked how it affected him, he branded Putin a "butcher."

"He is a butcher," Biden said. "Thats what it makes me feel.

Millions of Ukrainians have fled across Europe or been displaced inside their country since Putin launched the invasion Feb. 24.

Earlier, Biden joined U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at a session in a Warsaw hotel with top Ukrainian officials  Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines foreign minister, and Oleksii Reznikov, the countrys defense minister.

Poland, a NATO ally of the United States, shares a lengthy border with Ukraine and has been both the major destination of Ukrainian refugees and an essential corridor for aid  including military assistance  headed into Ukraine.

There is deep anxiety in Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was signed during Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, that the war could spread into its territory.

But Washington, wary of a wider war with Russia, has not embraced Polish suggestions that an international peacekeeping force be deployed to Ukraine. And the Biden administration has also rejected outright a Polish proposal that Polish MIG-29 fighter jets be transferred to Ukraine via a U.S. airbase in Germany.

Poland has also urged that Washington expedite procedures to accept refugees from Ukraine with families in the United States. The Biden administration now says it will open doors to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Biden and Duda and their delegations met for several hours, discussing the war and the refugee crisis, which has seen some 3.7 million Ukrainians flee the country, an exodus that continues daily and is considered the largest refugee influx in Europe since World War II.

The trip to the Polish capital came a day after Biden visited U.S. forces in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow, some 45 miles west of the Ukrainian border. Washington has bolstered its forces in Eastern Europe in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In his comments to troops, Biden talked of a global struggle between democracies and autocratic forces.

Youre in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs, the president told members of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. "Is democracy going to prevail and the values we share, or are autocracies going to prevail?"

During a later briefing on the refugee response, Biden said, the single most important thing that we can do from the outset" to force Putin to stop the war "is keep the democracies united in our opposition.

Before going to Poland, Biden conferred with U.S. allies in Brussels, unveiling new sanctions against Russian officials, among other moves.

The presidents arrival in Poland comes at a crucial juncture in the Ukrainian conflict. Now in its second month, the war has evolved into a grinding and costly battle in which opposing forces on many fronts appear deadlocked  and, in some cases, Ukrainian troops are pushing back their Russian adversaries.

Questions remain about whether Russia will now ramp up its offensive throughout Ukraine or will concentrate its efforts on the east and south, where Russia has had some military success.

In comments Friday, Sergei Rudskoi, a top Russian Defense Ministry official, said that with the "first stage" completed, Moscow will concentrate on the liberation of the Donbas, a large stretch of eastern Ukraine where Russia-backed separatists have expanded control since the war began. Russian proxies in the Donbas have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

The combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced," Rudskoi said.

That assertion came as a Russian assault on the capital, Kyiv, appears to have stalled amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

But Russia depicted the attack on Kyiv not as an attempt to take the capital, but an effort to tie down Ukrainian forces while Russia concentrates on the east.

Western observers see the comments as a face-saving maneuver for Moscow as its forces have bogged down in the field because of military missteps and greater-than-expected Ukrainian resistance. However, many also caution that Putin has repeatedly lied about his intentions and operations, and the new comments must be viewed with skepticism.

Putin has denied from the outset that Russia had aims to occupy Ukrainian territory, saying strikes were meant to cripple Ukrainian military infrastructure. But his governments assault on Ukrainian cities  including Kyiv and the eastern city of Mariupol, scene of vast devastation  seemed to undercut Putins assertions.

Putin has called the war a special operation meant both to bolster Russian security against NATO encroachment and to protect Russian speakers in the east subjected to abuse and genocide. The Ukrainian government denies any systemic abuse of Russian speakers in the east or elsewhere in Ukraine.

In recent days, Russian shelling has continued in various areas, including the outskirts of Kyiv and the northern cities of Kharkiv, Ukraines second most populous, and Chernihiv.

Authorities in Kyiv have announced a new 35-hour curfew.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Monday, with residents allowed to leave their homes only to get to bomb shelters.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again called on other nations to step up humanitarian and military aid to his beleaguered nation.

They are destroying our ports, Zelensky said in a video address Saturday to Qatars Doha Forum, noting that the war had curtailed grain and other exports from Ukraine. The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.





McDonnell reported from Lviv and Wilkinson from Washington.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
President Joe Biden's efforts to deliver on his ambitious climate agenda are getting a big boost from the leader of one often overlooked agency who has used his position to home in on the energy industry's greenhouse gas impact.

Now that official, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Richard Glick, may see his efforts to put climate change at the forefront of federal energy policy cost him his job.

Glick, who was appointed to FERC in 2017 and elevated to the chair role last year by Biden, has pushed policies that angered prominent lawmakers, including many Republicans  and, most crucially, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who as the upper chamber's swing vote has weakened much of Biden's climate agenda. That's put Glick's future at risk after his current term on the commission ends in June.

Former FERC staff say Glick has launched perhaps the most far-reaching agenda of any leader ever at the commission, which regulates U.S. power markets and approves the siting of gas pipeline infrastructure. His efforts to reshape the agency's mission include conducting closer examinations of the climate impacts of new energy infrastructure, as well as the effects of existing natural gas pipelines and fossil fuel facilities on low-income areas and minority communities where they are often located.

FERC will play a key role in fostering the transition to a low-carbon economy, said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), who has sought to raise the agency's profile.

If we are going to get carbon emissions down as quickly as we need to, we are going to have to substantially electrify huge parts of our economy, which means building a lot of generation, building a lot of transmission, doing things that are uniquely within the purview of an agency that most Americans don't know anything about, Casten said in a statement.

New rules spearheaded by Glick could also require companies seeking to build new pipelines prove that the projects are needed to strengthen regional reliability and save customers money. That change would counter criticism that the agency has greenlit projects that sometimes weren't justified by consumer demand but would boost utility company revenues.

Story continues

Red states and other opponents of FERC's new approach flooded the commission with formal challenges to those policies earlier this month, accusing the agency of going far beyond its statutory authority. They also argue that the policies will harm the reliability of energy supplies and raise consumers' costs, by making pipelines more expensive to site and chilling investment.

A FERC spokesperson declined to say whether Glick has met with any members of Congress to discuss the end of his term, saying in a statement only that he is focused on moving the work of the Commission forward and remains committed to his agenda.

In an interview last month, Glick said he would stay on if the Senate and the White House backed him, a sentiment he reiterated to reporters Thursday. The White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumers offices did not respond to requests for comment on whether they would seek to reappoint and reconfirm Glick.

I like the job. I like what I'm doing. I hope I'm making a positive impact on the commission, but I'm going to let those decisions be made by President Biden and the Senate and I'm just going to continue to do what we need to do, Glick said. Hopefully, with as much unity as possible.

Renewable energy backers and climate groups in particular worry that if the Senate declines to give him another term, his departure would let the commission slip back into a deadlock, stalling critical action on clean energy. FERC spent several months last year with two Democrats and two Republicans at loggerheads before Commissioner Willie Phillips was confirmed, giving Democrats a majority.

Even after Glick's term ends, the commission's rules allow him to stay until the end of the year.

Bipartisan cooperation is possible on some of the issues that come before the commission, but having a full complement of five commissioners is always preferable, said Jeff Dennis, a former FERC staffer and general counsel at the clean energy business group Advanced Energy Economy. And given the delays over nominating and confirming Phillips last year, hes not optimistic that Glick could be quickly replaced.

I think everyone in the industry is watching now very carefully, Dennis said. Regardless of where industry officials stand on the issues, a commission of less than five  and one that has some fundamental splits on some key issues  isnt really good for anybody.

Glick's departure could stall FERC's work in updating transmission policies and market rules to support the development and expansion of clean energy, said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program.

The worst case scenario would be a split commission, he said.

Still, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said he believes Glick has already accomplished so much that any successor would have no trouble keeping his agenda at FERC on track.

Chairman Glicks done an amazing job [of] sort of taking a FERC that was headed oftentimes in the wrong direction and getting it organized to facilitate a modern electric grid and the kind of changes that we're talking about, Heinrich said on a call with reporters last week. I think he's been remarkable. At the same time, I think that anyone that the Biden administration nominates, the majority of my colleagues are going to want to see that same skill set.

Glick was confirmed without controversy under the Trump administration in 2017 under the long-standing practice of allocating seats to each party. But the bipartisanship that led to his confirmation has wavered in recent weeks as Republicans  and Manchin  have become increasingly irate over the commissions action on pipelines and related gas infrastructure.

Under Trump, the commission often focused on improving economics for gas-fired plants by raising prices for state-subsidized renewables in the regional markets. FERC also approved liquefied natural gas projects at a rapid clip  enough to double U.S. export capacity  and approved thousands of miles of pipelines.

Earlier this month, Manchin's committee summoned all five FERC commissioners to answer for a controversial gas policy statement on pipelines that the agency had adopted in a 3-2 partisan vote. The policy statement directs FERC to take a harder look at how pipelines contribute to climate change and affect low-income communities and communities of color  as well as more closely assess whether a pipeline is needed in the first place.

Tensions were high at the oversight hearing. The committee's top Republican, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, threatened to dissolve the pipeline policy using a law called the Congressional Review Act, though it's unclear if Congress has the legal authority to do so. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) threatened to get rid of the agency altogether. Manchin was also critical of the commission, and has heightened his criticism of Glick in particular in recent weeks.

On Thursday, the commission did an abrupt about-face, and downgraded its recent changes to "draft" status in order to solicit comments on the policies and hold back on applying them to pending projects. Glick denied that political pushback drove the decision, and said it was done to ease the concerns of the energy industry.

"Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not going to do anything for political purposes," he said. "FERC is an independent agency and I very much honored that."

But the change did assuage Manchin, who praised the move as a "course-correction."

Former FERC Chair Neil Chatterjee, a Republican, said Senate criticisms don't bode well for Glicks reconfirmation.

To have the chair of the committee call the action political and saying that they ... prioritized a political agenda over the commission's responsibility for oversight of reliability  that's a pretty stinging rebuke, said Chatterjee, who served with Glick at FERC. I don't know how you undo that.

A former FERC staffer acknowledged the Senate has been a tumultuous place for Biden nominees recently, but said there is still opportunity for Glick to appease Manchin.

Senate confirmation is a total wild card for anyone for almost any position these days, the former staffer, who requested their name be withheld to speak candidly, said in an email. Clearly Glick didnt make Manchin happy recently. But there is time to make amends this year. And Im sure he likes Glick more than most candidates that might be nominated by a Democratic president who has ambitious carbon goals.

Manchin's office declined to comment on how the senator might vote if Glick is reappointed, but the senator has openly expressed his irritation with Glick, telling reporters last week that the FERC chair went way out of his wheelhouse with the policy statement and should just do your damn job. Opposition from Manchin helped quash Sarah Bloom Raskins nomination to the Federal Reserve's top job overseeing banks recently because he wasn't convinced Raskin would support an all-of-the-above energy strategy.

A spokesperson from Barrasso's office did not comment on whether he might vote to reconfirm Glick, but said he will continue to hold [FERC] accountable, including through pushing for the agency to immediately make changes to its pipeline policy.

If the White House doesnt forward anyone to replace Glick  and the Senate declines to reconfirm him  the chair could stay on through 2022. But that's probably not enough time to enact the kind of substantive rule changes advocates say are needed to usher in a cleaner power grid era.

Among the items on Glick's agenda are new rules to make it easier to build the long-distance transmission lines needed to connect remote locations best suited for large wind and solar power plants with large demand centers and to support the demand from electric vehicles. Glick has said he wants to see a transmission rulemaking finished by the end of the year, though he has acknowledged it may take more time or need to be broken into smaller pieces.

FERC has also built an extensive record on potential power market changes to ensure reliability of the network while increasing access for clean energy. And the commission is working on methods to implement a landmark order designed to lower market barriers to resources such as rooftop solar, electric vehicles and energy efficiency.

Glick's priorities have drawn pushback from powerful industry interests, such as the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents wholesale power suppliers. They opposed FERC's change in pipeline rules, as well as a previous decision to kill a rule that had raised prices for some state-subsidized renewable power sources.

The Commission under Chairman Glicks leadership has made a number of decisions that EPSA is concerned negatively impact reliability, go beyond its Congressional mandate, are harmful to well-functioning markets, and negatively impact access to affordable electricity for consumers, EPSA chief Todd Snitchler said in a statement.

Glick can point to one consistent supporter: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Judges there have repeatedly cited his dissents in pipeline approvals when the court kicked cases back to FERC or overturned the agency's decisions altogether. But the court does not have a say in whether Glick keeps his job, even though the courts opinions have supported his arguments for taking climate and environmental justice factors into consideration in permitting decisions.

Federal courts have now sided with Glick on eight of the 10 orders they overturned, which he has said gives him mixed emotions.

I'm proud of it in some ways, but obviously saddened by it in some other ways because the commission didn't have to get overturned so often. And I think it creates just more uncertainty when that happens, Glick said in an interview after the commission approved its policy statements in February. My real goal here is to make sure that we do things the right way; that doesn't mean I'm always going to win.
DOVER, Del. (AP)  The bodies of four Marines who died in a military aircraft crash during a NATO exercise were transferred back to the U.S. Friday.

The U.S. Marine Corps said an Osprey aircraft crashed on March 18 in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle, killing the four Marines. Officials with the Marines said Saturday that hundreds of U.S. Marines, sailors, service members and civilians rendered final salutes to the fallen Marines in Bod, Norway, early Friday.

The bodies of the Marines were then placed on board an Air National Guard military transport aircraft and flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Marine Corps officials said. The remains of the Marines will ultimately be moved to their final resting places according to their families' wishes, officials said in a statement.

The crash killed Capt. Ross A. Reynolds, 27, of Leominster, Massachusetts; Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz, 27, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Gunnery Sgt. James W. Speedy, 30, of Cambridge, Ohio; and Cpl. Jacob M. Moore, 24, of Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

The men were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina. They were taking part in a long-planned NATO exercise called Cold Response, which authorities said was unrelated to Russias war in Ukraine.
Amazon is gearing up for its toughest labor fight yet, with two separate union elections coming to a head as soon as next week that could provide further momentum to the recent wave of organizing efforts across the country.

Warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, and Bessemer, Alabama, will determine whether or not they want to form a union. If a majority votes yes at either location, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in Amazon history. Rejection would notch another victory for the countrys second-largest employer in keeping unions at bay.

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Heres what the elections will look like in Bessemer and Staten Island:

THE VOTING

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Last April, workers in Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against a union bid, providing a bitter defeat for a labor movement that had already been declining in influence but making some gains during the pandemic. Federal labor officials later scrapped the results and ordered a re-do, ruling Amazon tainted the election process.

Ballots for the second election were mailed to 6,100 employees in early February. The counting process is expected to start on Monday and could last for several days.

Meanwhile, Amazon workers in the Staten Island warehouse began in-person voting Friday in their first union election. The facility is one of Amazons largest in New York City with more than 8,300 employees. Voting will wrap up Wednesday, with the counting expected to begin shortly thereafter.

UNION SUPPORT

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is once again spearheading the drive at the Alabama facility. More than 150 organizers from the union, as well as from roughly 20 other labor groups were on the ground since last summer  a bigger push than in the first election  to galvanize support. Vaccines made it easier during the ongoing pandemic to knock on workers doors and also visit barbershops, stores and other places to distribute flyers and chat with residents.

Pulling off a win could still be tough. Theres high turnover at the facility, making it difficult to build momentum. At the same time, organizers estimate about half of current workers were eligible to vote in the last election, offering the RWDSU a chance to tap new workers who may be more amenable to a union.

In Staten Island, Amazon workers are currently organizing under the independent Amazon Labor Union led by Chris Smalls, a former employee who says he was fired after leading a protest over the warehouses working conditions in the early days of the pandemic. (Amazon said he violated COVID-19 safety protocols.)

The nascent union seeks to negotiate higher wages, more paid time off and other benefits for workers, 100 of which sit on its worker committee. Some of them have been wearing shirts and masks with the groups logo during work shifts. Others have been handing out pro-union fliers after work and encouraging their co-workers to unionize.

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NEW YORK VS. ALABAMA

The union landscape in Alabama is starkly different from New York.

Last year, union members accounted for 22.2% of wage and salary workers in New York, ranked only behind Hawaii, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thats more than double the national average of 10.3%. In Alabama, its 5.9%.

Alabama is also a right-to-work state, which prohibit a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them. Pro-labor experts say many may feel intimidated by companies that could undermine the unionized shop.

New York is not a right-to-work state, and Amazon is attempting to use that to its advantage. The company is telling workers it could fire them should they unionize but fail to pay union dues. But that requirement is not an across-the board mandate for non-right-to-work states and is something that is negotiated during union contracts, said Jennifer Sherer, senior state policy coordinator at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

THE WORKERS

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The mostly Black workforce at the Alabama facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Theres little public transportation, so many of the Amazon workers drive to the facility from as far away as metro Montgomery, nearly 100 miles to the south.

Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated $14.55 per hour on average in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureaus annual median household income for Bessemer of $30,284, which could include more than one worker.

At Amazons Staten Island facility, which opened in 2018, workers earn a minimum hourly wage just over $18, much lower than the estimated $41 per hour average for the borough, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Islands $85,381 median household income.

Workers from across the New York metro area trek long distances to get to the companys warehouse, many times alternating between the subway, a ferry and 40-minute long public bus rides.

The ALU said it doesnt have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers in Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. But internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60% of the hourly associates at the facility were Black or Latino, while most of managers were white or Asian.

AMAZONS STRATEGY

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Amazon sees unions as a threat to its business model built on speedy deliveries to customers.

As a company, we dont think unions are the best answer for our employees, an Amazon spokesperson said in a emailed statement. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.

The online retail giant continues to hammer the message that it offers benefits such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers careers. It launched a website for workers at both warehouses that casts doubt on the benefit of unions and has been blasting out mailings, text messages, emails and flyers.

It has also relied on consultants and managers to hold mandatory staff meetings to talk about why unions are a bad idea. Such meetings stopped in Bessemer, right before the ballots were sent on Feb. 4, in accordance with labor regulations. But it could continue in Staten Island until 24 hours before the in-person vote was scheduled to begin on Friday.

A company spokesperson said the meetings give employees the opportunity to ask questions and learn what a union could mean for them and their day-to-day life working at Amazon.

In Bessemer, Amazon has made some changes to but still kept a controversial U.S. Postal Service mailbox that was key in the NLRBs decision to invalidate last years vote. In February, police arrested Smalls after Amazon officials said he was trespassing while delivering food to workers in Staten Island. Two other current pro-union employees were arrested with him for obstructing governmental administration charges.
An aircraft operated by Delta Airlines moves past airlines operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images

A group of Orthodox Jewish girls was barred from boarding flights operated by Delta and KLM last summer.

The group was trying to travel home to New York after visiting Holocaust sites in Europe.

They are now suing Delta and KLM for alleged antisemitic discrimination, a complaint shows.

A group of Orthodox Jewish girls who were barred from two flights last summer is suing Delta Air Lines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for discrimination, according to a lawsuit.

The 19 plaintiffs from New York were part of a 54-person tour group of Jewish teenagers and their chaperones visiting religious sites in Europe, including Holocaust memorials in Ukraine and the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, from late July until early August last year.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the plaintiffs allege that treatment on their return journey was "a devastating reminder at the hands of Delta Air Lines and KLM Airlines that antisemitism and discrimination against the Jewish race continue in 2021."

During the first leg of the group's journey home  a KLM-operated flight from Kyiv to Amsterdam on August 6, 2021  flight attendants disciplined the girls for failing to comply with COVID-19 safety protocols, Insider previously reported.

Some tour group members took off their masks to eat homemade kosher food. According to the complaint, a flight attendant disciplined them for removing their face coverings to eat outside of the plane's designated mealtimes.

Other passengers who snacked outside of the allotted time for eating were not disciplined, the complaint said.

The Orthodox Jewish girls were given a "final warning" notice for unacceptable behavior and non-compliance with COVID-19 protocols, which threatened them with arrest if they failed to comply, the complaint said.

The KLM staff targeted them with warnings "solely for the purpose of unlawfully harassing plaintiffs because of their Jewish race, ethnicity, and/or religion," the complaint alleges.

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During a layover in Amsterdam, a KLM security official told the group they would not all be able to board their flight home. A document barring 19 passengers from boarding the Amsterdam to New York flight was presented to the group, according to the complaint.

The list of barred passengers from the group of 54 included two tour group members who, the complaint said, had not traveled on the first leg of the trip from Kyiv to Amsterdam with the girls accused of breaking COVID-19 protocols.

"By barring Plaintiffs from traveling without any regard to their individual conduct, Defendants sought to target and penalize the group of Jewish passengers as a whole by barring 19 of its members from traveling," the complaint said.

The Orthodox Jewish teens slept at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport while their rabbi tried to arrange another flight. Yisroel Kahan

The group of Jewish teenagers spent the night sleeping on benches at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Insider previously reported.

Last August, the group's rabbi Yisroel Kahan told Insider that he spent the night calling New York lawmakers, including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, to reach out to Delta Air Lines to remedy the situation.

The following morning on August 7, 2021, the plaintiffs were booked onto a Delta flight to New York. Once on the plane, one of the girls swapped seats with an unaffiliated passenger.

A video reviewed by Insider appeared to show a woman confirming that she asked the teenager to switch seats with her.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs were ordered off the plane for "misbehaving."

The complaint said that the plaintiffs accused Delta of discrimination and treated the group "differently and worse than non-Jewish passengers" who had tried to move seats without being disciplined.

It is also alleged that a KLM security official repeatedly taunted the tour group while they waited in the airport after being deplaned.

The group was offered a flight reservation for later that day, but it would have involved traveling after the start of Shabbat  the Jewish day of rest when observant Jews are not allowed to travel by car or plane. They spent the night in Antwerp, Belgium, and traveled home to New York with United Airlines on August 8, 2021.

They are now asking for compensatory and punitive damage and, per the complaint, for Delta and KLM to comply with US federal and state anti-discrimination law and to be prohibited from "discriminating on the basis of race, ethnicity and religion, and in particular, discriminating against Jewish persons."

Insider reached out to Herrick Feinstein LLP, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, but it could not comment.

"While Delta has no specific comment on this pending litigation, compliance with flight crew member instructions for the safety and well-being of everyone is paramount," a Delta Air Lines spokesperson told Insider by email. "Delta also has zero-tolerance for discrimination in any form in all aspects of our business."

A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines spokesperson told Insider that the company does not comment on pending litigation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ridofranz / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Whether you buy a car new or used, the dealer might try to load you down with add-ons and accessories of every sort -- and they're likely to tell you that it will only add a few dollars to the monthly payment if you fold it into the cost of the loan.

See: 15 Great Cars To Own for More Than 15 Years

Find Out: 30 Biggest Do's and Don'ts When Buying a Car

In truth, add-ons can quickly tack hundreds or thousands of dollars extra onto the sticker price. Some might be dealer add-ons that they try to slip past you. Others they'll try to sell you outright. Before you buy, know which car ad-ons you don't want to buy at the dealership.

Lepro / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Roof-Rack Accessories

Factory crossbars and roof-rack accessories cost more than aftermarket brands, and they only fit that specific vehicle. If your surfing, kayaking or road-tripping adventures require roof storage, brands like Thule and Yakima cost less, function as well or better and can be removed and adapted to almost any vehicle you buy in the future -- all without a big dealer markup.

MarioGuti / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Key Protection

Losing your car keys was always a headache, but with remote entry and remote start devices, laser cutting and high-end fobs, today it's not just an inconvenience, but it's a hefty expense. Replacing sophisticated key systems, particularly on luxury cars, can cause hundreds of dollars, which your car insurance is likely not to cover -- and dealers know it. Some dealers offer key protection, a separate insurance policy just for your keys. That, too, can easily cost more than $100, which is an unnecessary expense for an unlikely event. Instead put that money into a savings account, which you should do anyway to budget for unforeseen mishaps, like losing your keys.

Marina Khromova / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Windshield Protection

The ACE Group is one of the many companies that offer windshield insurance coverage to car dealers to sell to their customers at a markup -- it says "maximize your profits" right on their website. Yes, windshields can sometimes break, and yes, they're expensive. The truth, however, is that modern resins can fix the most common cracks, and windshields rarely have to be fully replaced. If you're truly worried, you'd be better served by budgeting for repairs like broken windshields than handing over money to your dealer as an add-on for a service you'll likely never need.

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ViktorCap / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Tire Protection

Like windshield protection, the odds favor the dealer with extended tire warranties. Virtually all tires come with prorated warranties that cover craftsmanship defects, which are very rare. Your dealer might try to sell you an extended warranty that covers what standard prorated warranties do not for, say, $10 per tire. First of all, some tires come with more inclusive warranties and even if they don't, the cost of a standard new tire isn't particularly high when you factor in the $40 you didn't spend on unnecessary protection.

Vera_Petrunina / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Dent Protection

Like windshield protection and key protection, a long line of little-known and sometimes-shady third-party companies offer dent and ding coverage to dealers as an upsell to push on their customers. These companies sell the plans for $300-$500 to the dealer, who then sells the plan to unsuspecting buyers for anywhere from $600-$1,500 -- pure profit for no work. The dealer also has no further responsibility and doesn't aid processing claims. You get an 800 number to call to deal with a company you've probably never heard of before. You'll likely have little or no say in who fixes your car, and you'll almost certainly learn that there's plenty that isn't covered.

Pattanaphong Khuankaew / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Credit Insurance

Your dealer also might try to talk you into credit insurance, which comes in the forms of credit life insurance, credit disability insurance, involuntary unemployment insurance and credit property insurance. They all serve the same purpose: to continue making your car payments if you lose your job, become disabled or die. There are few reasons to get credit insurance and many reasons not to. If you think it's right for you, you'll almost always do better buying through your own insurance company with no dealer markup. Also, it's illegal for dealers to tell you they can't sell you a car or approve a loan unless you buy this optional coverage.

tommaso79 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

GAP Insurance

Guaranteed asset protection (GAP) insurance is less scammy than the previously mentioned "coverage" plans that dealers often push. If you total a car shortly after financing it, your insurance company will compensate you for the value of the car, which, thanks to depreciation, is often less than what you owe on the loan. GAP coverage is designed to fill that gap, and in some cases, it makes sense to buy it -- but buy it from your insurance company. When you buy it from a dealer, it will almost certainly be more expensive and, here again, you'll wind up dealing with an unfamiliar company you've never heard of if you ever need to cash in on it.

Hirurg / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Extended Warranties

Like GAP insurance, extended warranties can serve a legitimate purpose, but in almost all cases, you'd be better served to put that money into an interest-bearing savings account set aside for repairs. Extended warranties are designed to stretch your coverage beyond the expiration of your bumper-to-bumper warranty, which is usually three years or 36,000 miles. The truth is, much of the cost goes to the salesperson's commission, most people never wind up using them, and they cost more than the price of the average repair.

vgajic / Getty Images

Car Alarms and Trackers

Most cars come with security systems or even trackers. When they don't, dealers often try to sell them as an add-on. That, in many cases, is because car dealerships install alarms to prevent theft on the dealership lot, which means it's already installed in the car. Instead of uninstalling it and letting you drive off with the car, this upsell allows them to sell cheap alarms and trackers at a premium and also charge you for installation. You can almost certainly do better buying a system on your own and paying a much lower installation fee to your local mechanic.

mbtphotos / Getty Images

Paint Sealants

Modern cars receive factory paint jobs that are designed to withstand the elements -- they have sealants and antirust properties built-in. Paint protection can cost several hundred dollars and it's almost never worth the expense. Wash your car regularly and your paint will last the life of your car in almost all conditions.

algre / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Fabric Protection

The same rule applies to fabric and upholstery protection, which is applied by the manufacturer and built into the price of the car. According to Edmunds, this service can cost $195 or more. If you really feel you need extra protection because you have a dog or messy children or whatever, spend a few bucks on a bottle of spray-on Scotchgard, which is essentially what the dealer is offering anyway.

venusvi / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Nitrogen-Filled Tires

Another add-on that's trending is nitrogen-filled tires, which your dealer will tell you is less susceptible to temperature-based pressure expansion and reduction. It's also supposed to bleed from your tires more slowly than regular air. Edmunds reports that its own research says it makes almost no difference in real-world conditions and that the service costs roughly $100. Regular air is free -- or close to it if you're in a pinch and need to stop at a gas station.

Shutterstock.com

Window Tints/Clear Protection

You might be in the market for window tints or clear UV protection, but don't let the dealer sell it to you as an add-on. Chances are they don't do the work themselves and instead farm it out to the lowest bidder. You, of course, reap none of those savings -- the difference is pure dealer profit. Check online reviews for local service companies and you'll almost certainly pay less for work done by a company whose reviews you had a chance to research for yourself.

bfk92 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Door Edge Protector

You can pick up a DIY door edge protector kit for less than $10 on Amazon, yet according to Edmunds, dealers commonly charge $169. In theory, door edge protectors keep vulnerable door edges from chipping and scratching. The truth is, modern paint can resist most of this yesteryear type of damage, but if you want the peace of mind, it's an easy, cheap, tool-free DIY job.

Shutterstock.com

Service and Maintenance Packages

Service and maintenance packages aren't always, or even usually, a rip-off. Dealers make a lot of money in their service departments, and they'd obviously love to sell you a car and service it as well, both while under warranty and beyond. This incentivizes good service, as does the fact that good service means you're more likely to come back and buy your next car there, as well. The problem is, buying a car is a ton of information to process on its own and you can opt into the service plan at any time. If they offer you a maintenance package, ask for the details in writing, say you'll think about it and take a few days to look it over and decide if it's worth it.

kitzcorner / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Upgraded Floor Mats

Your dealer might try to talk you into "heavy-duty" or "all-weather" mats. Regular floor mats often come standard from the factory, and in that case, the dealer might not be able to remove them for a discount. That, however, is different than upgrading to a more rugged version at the cost of hundreds of dollars extra, which you might pay for a full set of custom, laser-measured mats from a company like WeatherTech. If you must have generic heavy-duty mats, they're easy to find online with a two-digit price tag.

Photoservice / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Appearance Packages

Among the most common and costly dealer add-ons are so-called "appearance packages," which often take the form of pinstriping or some other graphic design. While it appears to come from the manufacturer, dealers -- particularly used car dealers -- can add them on themselves, try to pass them off as standard and outrageously upcharge for them. Edmunds reports seeing appearance packages for $279. Jaloplink reports seeing them cost as much as $2,000.

Vajira Thongsom / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Mudflaps

Passenger cars don't need mudflaps, despite what your dealer tells you about paint and undercarriage corrosion. Those who have them often find that they catch and trap sand and salt, causing more corrosion than they prevent. Large trucks are an exception, but not most standard trucks or SUVs. Find out if your state requires them on SUVs or standard trucks before letting a dealer explain why you can't go without them. If you really want them, you'll find, as with so many add-ons, that you can buy them and have them installed cheaper somewhere else.

Chansak Joe / Shutterstock.com

Trunk Trays

Trunk trays are formfitting rubberized cargo liners for your trunk or the back of your hatchback or SUV -- they sometimes come with raised cargo blocks. They protect against spills, upholstery tears and other damage, and they're certainly not a bad idea -- provided you pay $200 or so for one online or at your local auto parts store. What you shouldn't do, however, is let a dealer talk you into buying one from them for upwards of $700, which isn't unheard of, according to MotorTrend.

rukawajung / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Color-Changing Valve Stem Covers

You might encounter a dealer who promises magic in your tires in the form of color-changing valve stems that change from green to red when your tires need air, all for the low price of between $40-$100 for a set of four. First of all, most new -- or newish, even -- cars come with low-tire-pressure indicators on the dashboard. Even if yours doesn't, the two tools that have worked for time immemorial -- your eyes and a pressure gauge -- will serve the exact same purpose.

More From GOBankingRates

Photos are for illustrative purposes only. As a result, some of the images may not reflect the products listed in this article.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Dont Get Suckered Into Paying For These 20 Useless Things at Car Dealerships
Downtown Phoenix is full of great spots to grab a drink. Craft breweries offer creative drafts, a host of quirky coffee shops provide caffeine fixes and wine bars are perfect for after work sips. And recently, the downtown cocktail scene has gotten a jolt of new energy with the opening of three bars in the Roosevelt Row arts and entertainment district.

One cocktail haven now serving agave spirits on Second Street is the newest of four internationally acclaimed locations, joining Denver, Las Vegas and Auckland, New Zealand. Up the street, the team behind Killer Whale Sex Club has a new concept. And finally, a well known Phoenix mixologist has opened an Asian-inspired cocktail bar that draws on his heritage.

Some are buzzy, some more under the radar, but all of these places are exciting additions to the downtown drinking lineup. Here are three new downtown Phoenix cocktail bars to try soon.

Order agave at Ghost Donkey

A donkey statue shines in a beam of light in the newly opened Ghost Donkey in downtown Phoenix.

Part of a trio of recently opened concepts, including Palma restaurant and Cham Pang Lanes bowling and bar next door, Ghost Donkey is easy to find. The bar's red glow spills out onto Second Street at night and inside strings of pink and red twinkle lights blanket the ceiling. Red neon signs add to the moody vibe.

A downtown trio: A Champagne bowling alley, a palm oasis and Ghost Donkey open on Roosevelt Row

Ghost Donkey specializes in agave spirits like tequila and mezcal along with harder to find varieties like sotol, raicilla and bacanora. Roughly a dozen cocktails make up the menu, which includes a large format drink option that serves two to four.

At this bar, the music is loud, the lighting is low and the drinks are strong, making it a lively addition to the downtown nightlife scene. Ghost Donkey is currently walk-in only.

Details: 903 N. Second St., Phoenix. www.ghostdonkeyphx.com.

Pair tartine and tipples at Halfway Crooks

Little gem salad with preserved lemon at Halfway Crooks, a new cocktail bar in downtown Phoenix.

A new concept from the team behind Killer Whale Sex Club, just a few blocks away, Halfway Crooks is located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Roosevelt streets. The bar specializes in "wine, cocktails, hip-hop and tartines," according to its website.

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The food menu includes beef and tuna tartare, four varieties of tartine made on thick-cut, seeded sourdough or brioche, two salads and two desserts. Pair the bar snacks with a glass from the extensive wine list or one of seven original cocktails made with a wide selection of spirits or one of ten classic sips, priced at $16 and $12 respectively. Reservations for two-hour time slots are available online.

Details: 504 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix. www.instagram.com/halfwaycrooks_.

More in Roosevelt: Here's your guide to vintage-themed, underground cocktail bar Rough Rider

Try Asian-inspired cocktails at Khla

Tyka Chheng makes a Days of Thunder on March 7, 2022, at Khla, 218 E. Portland St. in Phoenix, Ariz.

Tyka Chheng has mixed drinks at a laundry list of different bars and restaurants in Phoenix. Along with friends and business partners Colton Brock and John Sagasta, he opened Baby Boy at the Pemberton last year and now the team has opened Khla.

The decor sets the mood with black painted walls, white line murals and rows of lanterns strung overhead. The cocktail menu is inspired by the flavors of Southeast and East Asia and includes drinks made with Filipino rum, Thai chili infused mezcal and Japanese vodka.

Khla, which means tiger in Khmer, is Chheng's pet project. It's now open on Portland Street in downtown Phoenix, right next door to Lom Wong, a new Thai restaurant. Grab dinner at Lom Wong and drinks at Khla or mix and match with select drinking snacks from Lom Wong available to order at the bar.

Table reservations are available online and bar seating is open to walk-ins.

Details: 218 E. Portland St., Phoenix. www.instagram.com/khlaphx.

Off the beaten path: A cocktail superstar opened a bar in a historic Phoenix house

Reach the reporter at tirion.morris@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @tirionmorris, on Facebook at Tirion Rose and on Instagram at tirionrose.

Support local journalism and subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New Downtown Phoenix cocktail bars: Khla, Ghost Donkey, Halfway Crooks
Ensaf Haidar holds a picture of her husband Raif Badawi after accepting the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize on behalf of her husband, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on December 16, 2015. PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi was jailed for 10 years and sentenced to 1,000 lashes.

He was freed this month but remains in Saudi Arabia due to a 10-year travel ban.

His wife, Ensaf Haidar, told Insider what it's like to be married to a political prisoner for a decade.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was jailed for ten years and subsequently sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam" and promoting debate on secularism online, was released this month.

His liberation was the culmination of a decade of tireless campaigning, which included interventions from former US Vice President Mike Pence, Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau, and international human rights groups.

Leading the charge was Badawi's wife of 20 years, Ensaf Haidar, who has done "thousands" of interviews, spoken at Capitol Hill, and addressed the UN  all part of her relentless effort to free her husband from imprisonment in Saudi Arabia.

When the phone call finally came on the morning of March 11 that Badawi but not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia., Haidar told Insider: "The adrenaline was high. There were no words to translate what I felt."

Participants during a protest organized by Amnesty International, for the immediate release of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, in front of the Saudi Embassy in The Hague, The Netherlands in January 2015. NurPhoto via Getty Images

Badawi was arrested in 2012 on a charge of "insulting Islam through electronic channels." He was later charged with apostasy, or the renunciation of religion, which carries an automatic death penalty upon conviction.

He was a target for arrest by the Saudi Islamic religious police because of the forum he started in 2006, known as the "Saudi Liberal Network," which promoted debate on the primacy of religion in the deeply conservative and Muslim kingdom.

After his arrest, Badawi was designated a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International. Human rights groups argued that he had been imprisoned solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

In July 2013, reports said that Badawi had been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. It was increased in 2014 to 1000 lashes, ten years in jail, and a fine.

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In 2015, Badawi received 50 lashes in front of hundreds of spectators at a Jeddah mosque. It was widely condemned by Amnesty International, Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad of Jordan, and led to the birth of the "JeSuisRaif" online campaign to free him.

That year, Haidar told reporters that Saudi judges wanted to retry him for apostasy, punishable with death by beheading.

The day after the award-winning blogger and activist was released Saudi Arabia executed a record 81 people in a single day.

'Quebec has helped me a lot'

Shortly after Badawi's arrest in 2012, Haidar sought asylum in Quebec, Canada. She moved there with three young children after receiving anonymous death threats.

She told Insider that she was relieved to move to a Western nation.

"I was really happy because this is a free country, and I could be myself," she said. "I am an independent woman, in charge of myself."

Women's rights are severely restricted in Saudi Arabia; discrimination is rife and female activists are regularly imprisoned for peaceful activism.

Ensaf Haidar holds a vigil for Raif Badawi in Sherbrooke, Quebec on February 24, 2022. GENEVIEVE NORMAND/AFP via Getty Images

Haidar and her family settled in Sherbrooke, a French-speaking town east of Montreal, but things weren't smooth sailing.

"There were some hard moments because I was with my children, I didn't speak French, I didn't have family with me," she said.

She was able to speak to her husband infrequently via phone calls. And because Badawi was in prison, the scope of what they could discuss was extremely limited.

"We didn't speak much about personal matters because the calls were always monitored," she said.

The absence of Badawi took a toll on the family, Haidar added.

"I left Saudi Arabia when the children were very young," she said. "My oldest, my daughter, was only seven, and my youngest was three."

I had to be both mother and father for them," Haidar said.

The children were occasionally reminded of their father's imprisonment at school. "Sometimes, Raif came up in school as an example of human rights work," she said.

Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, poses for pictures on January 10, 2018, in Paris. ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

Haidar said that the family received a lot of support from the people of Sherbrooke.

The support the family received instilled a deep love for Quebec in Haidar, which, in turn, inspired a run for office. She unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Bloc Quebecois in Sherbrooke in the 2021 Canadian federal election.

Speaking to CTV News last year, she explained why she put herself forward. "I love Quebec," she said. "Quebec has helped me a lot. It supported me a lot."

A 10-year travel ban for Badawi

Haidar might have lost the election, but she told Insider that Badawi's freedom is the ultimate victory.

"Finally, I have won," she said. "His liberation is a huge event for us and, as for the next steps, we'll see what he has to do, but up until now, I don't have many details."

A family reunion is still off the cards for now. Saudi Arabia has confirmed a 10-year travel ban for Badawi, and he will remain there unless a royal pardon is issued, per reports.

Haidar remains hopeful that the travel ban might be overturned.

"Of course, we're really looking forward to Raif joining us here because we need him," she said. He's free now and can speak with us, but we need him here, under the same roof."

Read the original article on Insider
Howard Jansen III, a 30-year old man whose daughters killing touched off an internal investigation of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, was sentenced on Friday to 29 years in prison for her murder.

Olivia Jansen was found dead on July 10, 2020

Jansen pleaded no contest last month to charges of second-degree murder, child abuse, aggravated child endangerment and interfering with a law enforcement investigation. He was sentenced during a hearing Friday in Wyandotte County District Court, according to the district attorneys office.

The judge ordered that Jansen serve 272 months on the murder charge, followed by 76 months on the other five felonies. The sentences are set to run consecutively.

Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, Jansens girlfriend, admitted to her role in the killing with a guilty plea last year. She was sentenced to 31 years.

Olivia was found dead on July 10, 2020, the day her father called the authorities that morning to report her missing, prompting a large local search effort. Her body was discovered hours later in a wooded area in the 3400 block of Steele Road, roughly a mile away from her fathers home.

A medical examiners report later showed that Olivia had signs of physical abuse, including a small cut on the back of her head, and died of a brain bleed, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The death of such a young child stunned the Kansas City, Kansas community. In the wake of the girls killing, family came forward to say that they had expressed concerns about her safety to child welfare.

A Star investigation later found that a social worker with the Kansas child welfare agency had been in contact with the girl three days before her death. The agency was investigating a claim that the little girl might have been in danger based on suspected drug use by her father and his girlfriend, with whom the child was living at the time.

Officials with the state agency found that its staff had followed the policy. The report made did not contain allegations of physical abuse, according to the agency, and no signs of physical danger were observed during the first contact with Olivia.
FKA twigs has said that YouTube allowed her to understand her experience of gaslighting in the wake of her assault lawsuit against Shia LaBeouf.

In December 2020, the singer  real name Tahliah Barnett  filed a lawsuit against LaBeouf, accusing him of sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.

In response, the actors lawyers filed a defendants answer to complaint which declared that the actor denied each and every allegation made by twigs in her lawsuit.

In a new interview with The Guardian, twigs explained that shed found comfort in online communities after speaking out with her allegations against LaBeouf.

Its really sad, but a lot of abusers use the same tactics, she said. Once you know the language, you can be like, No, Im not confused by this. This is whats going on.

On reflection, its been very healing for me to think about the situations Ive been in and know now that that was love-bombing and gaslighting. Ive got the words for it. And if I feel confused, I can YouTube it. I can read about it. I can talk to people about it.

Love-bombing is a term used to explain how romantic behaviours can transform into a manipulative dating practice in which one party uses grand gestures and constant contact to gain an upper hand.

Twigss lawsuit against LaBeouf will head to court next year (Getty Images)

Gaslighting describes a situation where someone convinces another person that theyre losing sense of reality and imagining things. The term was coined from the 1938 play Gas Light.

Twigs said that she was now using her experiences of speaking publicly to help other people, explaining: Ive got a friend who came out about being in an abusive relationship with a public figure.

At the moment, the abuser is just laying into her online. Making Instagram accounts. Doing the absolute most to destroy whats left of her name. I said to her the other day, You need to look up what a smear campaign is. He will do anything right now to make you look bad. He will lie, he will hodgepodge bits of bad evidence.

Twigss case against LaBeouf will be heard in court next year.
Support local journalism. Unlock unlimited digital access to floridatoday.com Click here and subscribe today.

Florida Tech's president announced his immediate resignation in an email to students, staff and faculty early Friday night, citing a need to attend to his family.

T. Dwayne McCay, who became president of the university in July 2016, wrote that he was proud of Florida Tech's accomplishments over the course of the pandemic, but the past two years had been "especially difficult" for his family.

"It is time for me to devote more attention to my family, and being president of a great school like ours deserves the full attention of its president," McCay wrote.

He added that the university had a five-year plan in place that he was "confident will be successful if everyone continues their efforts to be the best they can be." He highlighted some of the university's accomplishments during his administration, including the introduction of tenure and shared governance, faculty and staff equity plans, a new promotion rule for faculty, 12 new buildings and "unprecedented enrollment growth and graduation rate improvements."

Florida Tech president Dwayne McCay speaks during the universitys summer commencement at the Clemente Center in Melbourne.

His time at the university also saw turmoil.

Multiple sports teams were cut, including the football team in 2020. Other teams cut included the cheerleading/dance program in 2022, the men's and women's tennis teams in 2019, the women's golf program in 2019 and the men's and women's track and field teams in 2018.

Two Florida Tech-owned museums, the Foosner Art Museum in the Eau Gallie Art District and the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts on the university's campus, closed in 2020 and 2021, with plans for the textile museum to be turned into an esports arena  a decision Funk's daughter criticized. Northboro Builders entered a purchase agreement with Florida Tech with plans to construct a hotel in place of the Foosner Museum.

In 2019, the university came under federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's office of Federal Student Aid following the discovery that Florida Tech had failed to report dozens of crimes in their annual Clery Act campus crime report over more than a three-year period.

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Following the initial reporting of the incorrect data by Florida Today and Florida Tech's student-run newspaper, The Crimson, McCay said in a statement that officials reviewed the reporting errors and found as many as 53 alleged criminal incidents  including eight reports of rape  had been omitted from the most recent report to the U.S. Department of Education, which covered the years from 2016 through 2018. The discovery led to at least one official's termination and another's resignation, with Title IX responsibilities being reassigned.

While he will not officially retire until the end of the fiscal year, McCay was granted personal leave for the remainder of the year and will step down as president immediately, though he added he will make himself "available to support the leadership transition in any way possible."

Florida Tech celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Florida Tech to honor community leaders during MLK event on campus Feb. 17

Shooting at Florida Tech: Melbourne police invoke Marsy's Law, won't identify officer in December Florida Tech shooting

Following McCay's announcement, Travis Proctor, chair of Florida Tech's Board of Trustees, sent an email to the university community, saying Executive Vice President and Provost Marco Carvalho will serve as acting president effective immediately.

Carvalho and Chief Financial Officer Mike Jones will work to oversee the university until a new president is chosen. Svafa Gronfeldt, the current Board of Trustees academic chair, will serve as board liaison in the Office of the President.

Proctor said a search, likely led by a special board-appointed search committee, would soon begin to find the next president, and more information "will be forthcoming."

"We thank President McCay and his wife, Mary Helen, for their many years of service to the university, and we wish them the best in their future endeavors," Proctor wrote. "We are especially grateful for President McCays leadership during the pandemic, and, in particular, his ability to keep our community informed, focused, and united during uncertain times."

Before becoming president, McCay served as provost and chief academic officer at Florida Tech starting in July 2003, later becoming the chief operating officer in January 2011 and president of the university in July 2016.

Before coming to Florida Tech, he served at the University of Tennessee. While there, he was the Alumni Distinguished Service Professor of Engineering Science and program chair of engineering science and mechanics at University of Tennessee Space Institute. He also served as the CEO of the campus, and later vice president for research and information technology for the University of Tennessee system.

McCay also worked at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory and ARO Inc. He earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at Auburn in 1974.

Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who serves on Florida's Education and Employment Committee and has known McCay since coming into office, said the president's resignation came as a surprise to him, though he added that he is "optimistic they'll find somebody great to fill his shoes."

"I think a good leader leaves things in place so things can move on without him," Fine said. "No one's irreplaceable and I think that they'll continue to  I'm sure they'll find somebody great in the next couple of months."

Fine said he's worked with Florida Tech closely over the past few years and helped to secure several million dollars of funding for the university this year.

"I've enjoyed working with (McCay)," Fine said. "I'm sorry he'll be moving on. But you know, everyone's got to make the best decision for them and their family, and I just hope everything's OK."

Finch Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker

Support local journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida Tech President T. Dwayne McCay resigns from university
Several rockets struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday while President Joe Biden was visiting the capital of Poland, whose border is just 45 miles away. The powerful explosions frightened a city that had been a haven for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Russian assault on other parts of Ukraine.

Thick black smoke rose from the first blast site on the citys northeastern outskirts for hours before a second set of explosions were reported.

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The regional governor, Maxym Kozytsky, said on Facebook that preliminary indications were five people were injured in the first attack but did not specify what the two rockets hit. Hours later, he reported three more explosions outside the city, again with no details.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi called the second round a rocket attack, saying it did significant damage to an unspecified infrastructure object.

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Lviv had been largely spared since Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, although missiles struck an aircraft repair facility near the international airport a week ago.

The back-to-back attacks on Saturday brought a chill to residents and displaced Ukrainians who had seen Lviv as a relatively safe place to rebuild their lives. Home to about 700,000 people before the invasion, the city has absorbed many more.

In a dim, crowded bomb shelter under an apartment block a short walk away from the first blast site, Olana Ukrainets couldnt believe she was having to hide again. She had fled to Lviv from Kharkiv, one of the most bombarded cities of Russias invasion.

We were in one side of the street and saw it on the other side, the 34-year-old IT worker said of the blast. We saw fire. I said to my friend, Whats this? Then we heard the sound of explosion and glass breaking. We tried to hide between buildings. I dont know what the target was.

She had felt relief after fleeing to Lviv, to the point where air raid sirens no longer caused fear.

I was sure that all these alarms wouldnt have any results. I want to say that sometimes when I heard them at night I just stayed in bed, she said. Today I changed my mind, and I should hide every time.  None of the Ukrainian cities are safe now.

There was no immediate word of total casualties in Saturdays attacks, but survivors were worried. A few witnesses said they had been shopping nearby, though the area is a partly industrial one.

We saw many ambulances coming, said Inga Kapitula, a 24-year-old IT worker who said she was 100 or 200 meters (yards) away from the first attack and felt the blast wave. It was really close.
Mar. 26Two out-of-state law firms issued a news release Friday about a New York bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse by priests for years and sending some to Jemez Springs for treatment.

Their information came from the recent unsealing of a 2021 deposition involving former Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard, who resigned in 2014, the Albany Times Union reported.

The news release was sent by the firms Jeff Anderson & Associates of Minnesota and LaFave, Wein and Frament of New York. The firms represent accusers alleging clergy molestation.

Jemez Springs was home from the 1940s to the 1990s for a treatment center for alcoholic priests, clergy members with nervous breakdowns and pedophile priests.
PARIS (Reuters) -The French government plans to file a criminal complaint against home care group Orpea over allegations of mistreatment of elderly patients, government minister Brigitte Bourguignon said in a statement Saturday.

Following a month and a half-long investigation into the group's management and financial practices, the government found "significant dysfunctioning in the group's management, to the detriment of the care of its residents," according to the health ministry.

The government said it would send its conclusions to state prosecutors and seek to recover public funds provided to the company after uncovering possible irregularities in how they were used.

The government is seeking to recover as much as several tens of millions of euros, corresponding to the period 2017 to 2020, Bourguignon said in an interview published in the French weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche early Sunday.

Orpea responded later on Saturday that while the government report "does shed light on certain dysfunctions," it also "allows us to conclude that there is no organised 'system' that would lead to widespread abuse."

"We have taken the full measure of the legitimate emotion aroused by these dysfunctions, many of which stem from the shortage of care and support professionals that affects us as it does the entire nursing home sector," said Philippe Charrier, Orpea chairman and chief executive officer.

A book by independent journalist Victor Castanet in January made public claims of severe failings in hygiene care in an Orpea home for elderly people in a wealthy Paris suburb. The French group has repeatedly denied systemic shortcomings and said in its statement on Saturday that it denies "several particularly serious allegations" in the book.

The government is inspecting the country's 7,500 elderly care homes over the next two years and plans to reinforce legal and accounting rules to better regulate groups managing elderly care, with a view to better transparency over the use of public funds, it said.

(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer;Editing by Alexander Smith, Barbara Lewis, Christina Fincher, William Maclean and Nick Zieminski)
Mar. 26The Frederick Police Department is adding a new layer of technology to communicate with residents.

Starting Monday, residents who call FPD through 9-1-1 or the agency's non-emergency number, 301-600-2102, from a cellphone will also receive a text message, FPD said in a news release.

"This software allows our department to increase our communication with the public while also reducing the need for follow-up calls to our communications center," Lt. Aaron Lapp, commander of the Technology and Services Division, said in the release.

An initial message from FPD will acknowledge the resident's call, the time it was made and provides an incident number. The system is not for texting back and forth, FPD spokesman Allen Etzler said, but is a way to receive status updates from the police department. He compared it to when a customer gets automated texts from a restaurant as to the status of their order.

If an officer's response takes longer than 20 minutes, the caller will receive a "courtesy delayed response text," the FPD release said. Messages are sent in English and Spanish. Messages will not be sent for sensitive safety matters, according to FPD.

"The Frederick Police Department is very excited to launch the SPIDR Tech software," Lapp said in the release. "FPD continually looks to stay current with public safety technology products that can help our officers perform their job duties at a high level and better connect our agency and community."

Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller
Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska questions Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on March 22, 2022. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sen. Ben Sasse on Friday said he won't vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

"We both love this country, but we disagree on judicial philosophy," he said in a statement.

Sasse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, called Jackson "an extraordinary person."

Sen. Ben Sasse on Friday said that he would not vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, citing her lack of a firm judicial philosophy.

The Nebraska Republican, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee and questioned Jackson about her legal background and cases during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings earlier this week, praised the judge's character but concluded that he would be unable to support the full nomination.

"Judge Jackson is an extraordinary person with an extraordinary American story," he said in a statement. "We both love this country, but we disagree on judicial philosophy and I am sadly unable to vote for this confirmation."

He added: "Judge Jackson has impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law, but at every turn this week she not only refused to claim originalism as her judicial philosophy, she refused to claim any judicial philosophy at all. Although she explained originalism and textualism in some detail to the committee, Judge Jackson refused to embrace them or any other precise system of limits on the judicial role."

Sasse then pointed out that much of what occurred during the hearings was not helpful to the overall process, but signaled that Jackson would have the votes to join the high court.

"Like so much of our public square, the Supreme Court confirmation process is broken and doesn't build trust in either the Senate or the Supreme Court," he said. "Senators should have made fewer speeches, and Judge Jackson should have made her judicial philosophy clear and understandable to the American people. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened."

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He concluded: "I am grateful for Judge Jackson's service and wish her and her family the best as she takes her seat on the Court, but I am unable to consent to the nomination."

Jackson, who was confirmed as a judge on the Washington, DC federal appeals court last year, was nominated to the high court in February after Justice Stephen Breyer announced that he would step down from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term.

So far, nearly all Democrats have indicated that they will support Jackson, and with 50 votes, they can confirm her with the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris if no GOP support materializes. In recent days, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, key Democratic moderates, declared their support for Jackson.

So far, no Republican has indicated that they will support Jackson's nomination, but President Joe Biden and former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama  who is serving as Jackson's "sherpa" through the Senate proceedings  are optimistic that the judge will receive a bipartisan vote. Two of the most likely GOP votes for Jackson may come from Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who supported the judge's 2021 confirmation to the DC federal appeals court.

However, Jackson's support will likely not come from most Republicans on the Judiciary Committee panel, which include Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, among others, who asked pointed questions regarding her handling of sex-related cases, critical race theory, and her overall judicial philosophy.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, still livid over the 2018 hearings of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, repeatedly cut off Brown during his questioning, while criticizing her sentencing in several sex-related cases. He was the third Republican senator who backed Jackson's confirmation to the DC appeals court last year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky  who in 2016 blocked now-Attorney General Merrick Garland's nomination to the high court by President Barack Obama  on Thursday stated that he could not back Jackson's nomination "after studying the nominee's record and watching her performance."

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that he was "disappointed but not surprised" by McConnell's opposition.

Jackson's nomination will have to get through the full Judiciary Committee  which is split evenly among Democrats and Republicans. A tie vote would add another procedural hurdle for the nomination when it reaches the Senate floor.

Read the original article on Business Insider
KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed one person during an airport attack in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on Saturday afternoon, three sources working at the airport said, the latest in a series of attacks by gunmen in the north of the country.

A ground crew and two airport officials said armed men entered the airport premises through a perimeter fence from a nearby forest and started shooting sporadically to scare workers.

"They opened fire on the NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency) security staff, killing him instantly and tried to invade the runway to prevent (an) aircraft from taking off," said the ground crew, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

The two airport officials said armed security managed to repel the gunmen, preventing them from gaining access to the main airport complex.

A police spokesperson for Kaduna state did not respond to calls or text messages seeking comment.

Gunmen have spread terror across Nigeria's northwest, where they have attacked and killed villagers and security officials and kidnapped hundreds of school children and villagers for ransom.

(Reporting by Garba Muhammad, Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Christina Fincher)
Mar. 26NASHUA  U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, Gov. Chris Sununu and Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this week for Primary Bank's newest branch in Nashua.

Hassan applauded Primary Bank for its work to support small businesses and highlighted the importance of local banking for communities.

"The energy and the flexibility that you all demonstrated (over the last two years), stepping forward and taking on a whole new volume in a time of great stress for so many of your customers, really made a huge difference, not only to each of your customers  these small businesses where people had just sunk their entire life savings and investments and energy  but for their employees and for the people they served," Hassan said.

Hassan continued, "Congratulations on everything that you've done to grow this wonderful bank and this organization  it's great to be here with all of you."

The senator is working across the aisle to support small businesses. Hassan successfully worked with Sen. Richard Burr, R-NC, to include bipartisan legislation in the funding bill that passed into law in 2020 to allow eligible small employers to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program and claim the Employee Retention Tax Credit.

In addition, thanks to efforts by Hassan, the American Rescue Plan provided payroll assistance through the Employee Retention Tax Credit to new small businesses started during the pandemic, which at the time could not access this tax relief. The American Rescue Plan also expanded the Employee Retention Tax Credit in order to further support businesses hardest hit by the pandemic following bipartisan calls led by Hassan.
The regular tax filing due date of April 15 remains the same, though some tax-return preparers have sought a delay. At any rate, taxpayers can receive automatic six-month extensions to Oct. 15, as before.

There might not be any such thing as a free lunch, especially in the financial field, but a tax-help service staffed by IRS-certified volunteers certainly comes close.

Granted, not everyone can qualify for the personalized, no-cost service available at dozens of sites around Arizona, and thousands nationally, through the VITA/TCE program. But people with moderate incomes, generally $58,000 or less, and fairly uncomplicated returns can take advantage of it, along with higher earners who are 60 or older, disabled individuals and those for whom English is a second language.

Erika Cooper, a graphics designer, decided to give the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Tax Counseling for the Elderly program a try after paying an accountant friend $100 last year to file her tax returns, only to realize later that he missed some breaks that reduced her refund.

Cooper, who is also a part-time college student, said she had a "fantastic" experience with the new service, wrapping up her 2021 federal and Arizona returns this year. She also is filing amended returns for 2020 through the VITA/TCE program to capture a bigger refund for that year.

Valerie Edwards, who reviewed Cooper's return, is a volunteer who received training from the IRS. She likes the challenge of helping people complete their returns. "It's kind of like putting a puzzle together," she said.

Edwards also tries to instruct people about their tax situation. "I don't want anyone leaving my table who doesn't understand their tax return," she said. Some taxpayers are fearful of the whole tax-return preparation process, she added.

Plenty of appointments available

Even with free, in-person help available, the VITA/TCE program hasn't been preparing as many tax returns as in past years, said Jim Simpson, a certified public accountant who oversees the program at Scottsdale Community College, where Edwards helped Cooper with her returns. The COVID-19 pandemic probably played a role in that, as the VITA/TCE program had to shut down late in the 2020 tax season and never opened at all last year, he said.

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Also, many taxpayers don't know about the VITA/TCE program and might confuse it with IRS Free File, where moderate-income individuals can use software to prepare their returns at no cost, but without in-person assistance.

"I'll bet 50% of the people who can qualify for this program aren't aware of it," Simpson said.

Taxpayers also might assume they won't receive as large of a refund going with a free service staffed by volunteers, but the software used in the VITA/TCE program will prompt preparers to ask about breaks such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Retirement Saver's Credit.

One other benefit: The volunteer VITA/TCE preparers don't try to sell other financial services, as is often the case for-profit companies. Nor are the volunteers "under pressure to crank out returns," Simpson said. In fact, the session when Edwards helped Cooper prepare her return on March 23 at Scottsdale Community College was lightly attended at times.

Not everyone is eligible

Appointments are required at some locations to make sure the sessions are adequately staffed. Anyone interested in finding a nearby location and making an appointment should go to irs.gov and search for "find a location for free tax help" or go to https://www.irs.gov/individuals/find-a-location-for-free-tax-prep. Some 46 sites are listed within a 50-mile radius of downtown Phoenix.

That said, the volunteer preparers in the VITA/TCE program don't tackle some tax situations, largely because of complexities, Simpson warned. These include people owning rental homes and who must file Schedule E, those claiming home-office deductions, small businesses that generate losses and anyone with taxable cryptocurrency transactions. All that is addition to the general $58,000 income cap.

Prop 208: What high earners in Arizona need to know about filing taxes

But for many others, taking advantage of VITA/TCE help can be a a convenient, no-cost way to navigate the annual income-tax ritual.

"We do quality returns, make sure they understand their situation and file the returns electronically," Edwards said. "All they have to do is wait for their refunds."

IRS offices open again

IRS offices in Arizona have opened again following pandemic shutdowns last year.

Typically, these Taxpayer Assistance Centers are open Monday through Friday and operate by appointment only. Taxpayers seeking in-person assistance can schedule a meeting by calling the agency at 844-545-5640.

However, the IRS office at 4041 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix has two walk-in Saturdays coming up, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 9 and May 14, when appointments won't be needed. The IRS office at 300 W. Congress St. in Tucson will be open on April 9 only.

This year's regular filing deadline, for federal and Arizona returns, is April 18. However, automatic extensions may be requested, giving taxpayers another six months to complete and file their returns.

Reach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: IRS service VITA/TCE offers free, in-person tax help in Phoenix area
Friends and family grieve while remembering Aaliyah Newell during a vigil in the 7200 block of South Vincennes Ave. on March 25, 2022. Newell, 47, was found unresponsive on Wednesday night. Police said she suffered blunt force trauma to her head. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Sorority sisters, community members and the mother of 47-year-old Aaliyah Newell, who was beaten to death earlier this week, gathered Friday night at a candlelight vigil to remember her.

Around 50 people attended the vigil, held about 6 p.m. Friday outside the scene of the attack, in the 7200 block of South Vincennes Avenue on the citys South Side.

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Also Friday evening, Chicago police issued a community alert pleading for help in finding the person responsible for Newells death.

Detectives are seeking information from anyone who may have seen suspicious behavior or have security cameras in the general vicinity, the alert read.

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A Chicago police officer talks with Cynthia Newell, mother of Aaliyah Newell, as friends and family gather in the 7200 block of South Vincennes Avenue to remember the 47-year-old on March 25, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Alpha Kappa Alpha members sing in unison while grieving for fellow AKA member Aaliyah Newell, during a vigil in the 7200 block of South Vincennes Avenue on March 25, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

According to a Chicago police report, Newell had last been heard from about 11 p.m. Sunday but friends, including her best friend, became worried when she didnt answer her phone. They called 911 about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday when they went to her home, found the door was unlocked and saw Newell, her ankles bound by a cord, on the floor, the report said.

Her television and computer were missing, and her car was found on the next block, which was unusual, according to her friends, according to the report.

An autopsy found Newell died of multiple injuries from an assault and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

Anybody with information is urged to contact Area 1 detectives, 312-747-8380.
Disgraced influencer Jay Mazini and an associate have pleaded guilty in a North Jersey kidnapping case that saw one of the social media stars rivals beaten and held at knifepoint with a machete.

The Edgewater star potentially faced decades behind bars for orchestrating the plot, until he cut a deal with prosecutors last week for a five-year prison sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to one count of first-degree kidnapping, authorities confirmed.

It was unclear if the deal requires Mazini, 26, to cooperate in the states cases against his accomplices  his wife and two men  who allegedly conspired to kidnap and threaten a Wayne man Mazini feuded with online.

One of Mazinis co-conspirators, Ishimeer Allen, also pleaded guilty in Passaic County Superior Court last week to a lesser charge of third-degree criminal restraint. The plea includes a maximum prison sentence of three years and that Allen must fully cooperate with the state and testify truthfully against any co-defendants, according to Eric Kleiner, his attorney.

Both men are scheduled for sentencing on April 29. Mazinis attorney did not return calls for comment.

North Jersey courts: Weapon and victim's cellphone still missing in case of Paterson woman's death

The plea all but completes Mazinis abrupt fall from online star with 1 million Instagram followers to admitted felon. Mazini, a North Jersey native whose real name is Igbara Jebara, rose to fame on social media with videos of him handing out large sums of cash to random people as gifts. But multiple arrests have since derailed his career.

One week after authorities charged Mazini with kidnapping last March, federal authorities announced his involvement in a multimillion-dollar bitcoin scheme, accusing him of soliciting the cryptocurrency from followers, saying he would pay as much as 5% over market value, though he never reimbursed anyone for the trades, according to federal authorities.

The federal case is still active, while Mazini has remained jailed in Bergen County since last year after a judge declared him a potential flight risk. His Instagram account is no longer active.

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Bergen County prosecutors have said Mazini devised a plan to kidnap and intimidate someone who had threatened to reveal illegal schemes with which Mazini was involved. The victim was left beaten with a concussion after taking a ride around North Jersey in Mazinis car with two other accomplices, according to an affidavit of probable cause. One allegedly told the victim, "If you call the police, I will kill you."

The scheme played out in brutal fashion, according to court documents. Surveillance footage from street cameras reportedly shows the victim try to escape multiple times as the car travels from Edgewater to Cliffside Park and Fort Lee, only to be beaten and dragged back in by the two accomplices. The man was left in Passaic after being beaten with a cord, stripped naked and threatened with a machete, authorities said.

Murder for hire: Alleged hitman in NJ murder-for-hire case pleads guilty in federal court

The case took a turn in September when authorities charged Amjad Mashal, the alleged victim, with accepting a bribe to recant his earlier statement to police. Mashal allegedly communicated with a person involved in the case regarding a $100,000 payment in return for a new statement that was meant to facilitate the release of one of the defendants from jail, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

Authorities have also accused Joumana Danoun, Mazinis wife, of gathering personal information about the judge and prosecutors involved in his case. Phone data seized by investigators allegedly showed that Danoun Google-searched the judge's family history, work background and picture, research that amounted to "perceived threats" against the judge, prosecutors said. The case has since been moved out of Bergen County, with a Passaic County judge currently presiding over the hearings.

Charges against Mazinis wife, the kidnapping victim and two of Mazinis alleged henchmen are still pending, according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office.

Tom Nobile covers Superior Court in Bergen County for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from criminal trials to local lawsuits and insightful analysis, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: nobile@northjersey.com

Twitter: @tomnobile

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jay Mazini pleads guilty to kidnapping charges in North Jersey
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran's top diplomat said Saturday that the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accepted the idea of continuing to be sanctioned by the U.S. if it meant the restoration of Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian's remark in a state television interview may signal a possible opening over the stalemated Vienna talks. It also appeared timed for a visit Sunday by a European Union diplomat involved in the negotiations.

Sanctions on the Guard have been one of the remaining sticking points over restoring the tattered nuclear deal, outside of Russia's demand at the 11th hour of guarantees over its trade relationship with Iran amid Moscow's war on Ukraine. The Guard represents one of the major power bases in the Shiite theocracy and is answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the interview, Amirabdollahian acknowledged that the Guard sanctions were a topic discussed.

High-rank Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials in the country always remind us at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a point, and they say that you should do whatever is necessary for the interests of the country, he said. If you reach a point where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue was raised, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue should not be an obstacle for you.

He added: In my opinion, the high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are showing and raising their self-sacrifice to the highest level.

Though later saying that he wouldn't negotiate on the Guard sanctions, the remark Saturday represents the first time he or any other Iranian official suggested it could be traded away in the negotiations. It came as Spanish diplomat Enrique Mora, who has been the EU's lead negotiator in the talks, was traveling to Iran for meetings Sunday.

Earlier Saturday in Qatar, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that all sides were very close to an agreement for a roadmap restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The deal collapsed in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

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I hope it will be possible, because now we are discussing about (a) collateral issue which has nothing to do with the core of the nuclear deal, Borrell said. The work has been hard and we are reaching an end.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A man who has lived more lives than just about anybody else: James Hong in Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

With 672 credits to his name, James Hong has almost certainly appeared in more films and television shows than any other actor in the history of Hollywood. In an extraordinary career that stretches back to the mid-Fifties, the 93-year-old has played everyone from Faye Dunaways butler in Chinatown to a designer of replicant eyeballs in Blade Runner.

He was the villainous sorcerer David Lo-Pan in Big Trouble in Little China and Cassandras high-kicking, back-flipping dad in Waynes World 2. Hes turned up in every sitcom from Seinfeld and Friends to The King of Queens and The Big Bang Theory. Youve heard his voice in Mulan, every Kung Fu Panda movie, and even Pixars latest heartwarming hit Turning Red. If acting can be considered the inhabiting of another life, however briefly, then its reasonable to assume that James Hong has lived more lives than just about anybody else.

Its also therefore fitting and utterly remarkable that the nonagenarian has just made one of the best films of his career, and that it happens to be a story about multiple lives. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a hard movie to describe succinctly. It falls somewhere between a Douglas Adams-penned martial arts flick, a particularly good Rick and Morty episode, and that bit in The Bell Jar where Sylvia Plath writes about a young woman and a fig tree, where the protagonists many possible lives branch off in front of her while she sits there starving to death because she cant choose one for fear of losing all the others.

Its directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert  better known collectively as Daniels, and even better known as the men behind Daniel Radcliffes corpse-fart adventure Swiss Army Man (2016). They were also responsible for the face-melting, crotch-crushing viral video for DJ Snake and Lil Jons Turn Down for What, which gives you some idea of both their deranged sensibility and the breakneck velocity at which it is delivered.

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For what its worth, the directing pair have described Everything Everywhere All at Once as a film about a woman who just cant seem to finish her taxes, which is true but obviously coy. When we meet Michelle Yeohs harried laundromat owner Evelyn Wang, she is indeed struggling to get her affairs in order ahead of an imminent IRS audit. Part of the problem is that she keeps racking up expenses on half-pursued dreams and ambitions, never settling on any goal in particular, like the young woman in Plaths fig tree tale.

From this seemingly mundane premise, the story grows into a fantastical, frenetic, multidimensional sci-fi caper when an alternative-universe version of Evelyns husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, who played Data in The Goonies) teaches her how to access every version of herself in every unlived life across the multiverse. This leads to a lot of very fast, very funny, and occasionally downright obscene martial arts sequences, like The Matrix with butt plugs.

At heart, however  like The Sopranos and the Fast & Furious movies  this is a story about family. The films sprawling plot ultimately revolves around Evelyn coming to terms with her controlling relationship with her daughter, Joy. Stephanie Hsu, best known as The Marvelous Mrs Maisels quick-talking Mei Lin, has delirious fun as both Joy and her multiverse-threatening alter-ego Jobu Tupaki. Her scenes with Yeoh crackle with both sci-fi pyrotechnics and heartfelt emotional intensity.

Where did Evelyn pick up her domineering tendencies as a mother? From her own parents, of course. They f*** you up, as Philip Larkin said. They may not mean to, but they do. On top of the stress of the audit, Evelyn is also dealing with the fact that her ageing dad has come to stay from China. As doddery as Gong Gong initially appears, he winds up more than holding his own when all the martial arts kick off.

The filmmakers have said that Hong was so perfect for the role of Evelyns father that nobody else even auditioned, and he brings his decades of experience skipping between lives to bear in a performance that is by turns funny, menacing, overbearing and heartbreakingly gentle.

Its impossible to imagine anyone better suited to portraying the idea that we all live many lifetimes. He is, after all, one of the few people alive today who can honestly say they got a laugh out of Groucho Marx. Hong was born in Minneapolis in 1929, the child of Chinese immigrants, and got his start in showbiz entertaining his fellow army troops at Fort McClellan in Alabama.

The camp general enjoyed Hongs performances so much that he requested he stay on the base rather than be sent to fight in the Korean war. Hong has said that decision may have saved his life, as he feared that not only would the Korean army try to kill him, but American troops might assume he was an enemy in disguise. I definitely think I would have been shot from one side and the other, he told China Insight in 2009.

James Hong and Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes (Moviestore/Shutterstock)

Hongs stage act involved a lot of celebrity impressions, and it was this talent for mimicry that won over Marx when Hong appeared on the comedians radio show You Bet Your Life in 1954. Marx wisecracked that he wasnt surprised to hear Hong was from Minnesota, what with him having a fine old Scandinavian name. Hong then won over the audience with spot-on impersonations of Peter Lorre, Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney and  the piece de resistance  Groucho himself. The appearance was so successful that Hong got himself signed with Bessie Loo, the only agent in Hollywood then representing Asian Americans.

James Hong as a villainous sorcerer in Big Trouble in Little China (20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Early roles were often stereotypical and demeaning  Chinese prisoners, laundry operators and railroad workers  and even winning heroic roles didnt preclude him from experiencing racism. In 1957, Hong was cast as Number One Son Barry Chan in crime series The New Adventures of Charlie Chan. The eponymous detective was played by a white actor, J Carrol Naish, who had Hong fired after he missed a single line of dialogue.

He said: What is this, a school for Chinese actors? remembered Hong in an interview with CBS earlier this year. I was shocked. I didnt know what to do. He advanced on me. I had my fists clenched because I thought he was going to slug me or something. He walked past and had me fired.

Hong refused to be deterred. Throughout the Sixties he built his career with roles in hit shows like The Man from UNCLE, I Dream of Jeannie and Hawaii Five-O. After he was cast in Chinatown in 1974, Jack Nicholson liked acting with him so much that he brought him back for his self-directed sequel The Two Jakes in 1990. Over the years, Hong has brought an innate gravitas to all his characters, even roles as silly as Hoshi, the Ultimate Fighting trainer in Friends who yells at Jon Favreaus Pete: No boom-boom before big fight!

In his small but memorable role in the Seinfeld episode The Chinese Restaurant, Hong even found a way to dignify his dismissive maitre d character. I read the script and it says Elaine puts a tip of $5 on my desk and I ignore her, Hong told hometown publication Mpls St Paul magazine in 2020. I said to the director, How could any maitre d ignore a $5 tip? Thats not real. He says, I dont know, but youll make it work.

So, come to the scene, I say, What am I going to do? And when she puts the $5 down, I simply turned the page on the guest list and covered up the $5 and I said, Yes, what is it you want? And she said, No, no, no!  I made sense out of nonsense.

Hong has the sort of presence that seems to give weight to even the most implausible or mind-bending storylines, which helps to explain the significance of his sublime performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Its hard to think of many actors who could bring so many different versions of a person to life in a single performance, but for Hong its the role of a lifetime.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is in US cinemas now and will be released via Sky Cinema and NOW in the UK later this year
Jonathan Daniel Pollock. FBI

The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Jonathan Pollock in relation to the Capitol riot in June 2021.

On Friday, the FBI announced an offer of $15,000 for information that could lead to his arrest.

Federal authorities have accused Pollock of assaulting multiple officers during the insurrection.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering $15,000 for information that leads to the arrest of Jonathan Daniel Pollock, a January 6 defendant the agency has been trying to arrest since June 2021.

Pollock faces multiple charges, including assaulting officers, theft of government property, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, in relation to the Capitol insurrection, the FBI said.

According to an affidavit, Pollock was caught on body camera footage charging towards police officers while brandishing flagpoles at around 2:00 p.m. on the day of the insurrection, Insider previously reported.

The Justice Department accused Pollock of assaulting three police officers, including punching and pushing one in the neck, kneeling and punching another in the face, and pulling a third down a flight of stairs.

The FBI said Pollock is believed to have friends and family in central and north Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The agency said Pollock is a welder and ironworker by trade and suspect that he is working similar jobs.

At least 800 people have so far been charged in connection with the Capitol riot. More than 200 have pleaded guilty.

Read the original article on Insider
Another Mid-South school district is forcing its teachers to Start Fresh. Teachers and staff at KIPP Memphis Public Schools have to re-apply to keep their jobs.

On the districts careers website Friday, dozens of job postings for the 2022-2023 school year were posted, including assistant principal, office staff, and 60-openings for classroom teachers.

MORE: Teachers at two Memphis-Shelby County Schools must reapply for their jobs under Fresh Start effort

One teacher who wanted to remain anonymous told FOX13 employees were caught off guard about a month ago when they were called to a meeting and told they all needed to re-apply for their jobs.

In a statement sent to FOX13s Carolyn Cerda, KIPP Memphis Managing Director of External Affairs, Chris Owens, confirmed an organizational restructuring is happening to close the achievement gap.

MORE: MSCS under fire after educators at two schools are forced to reapply for their jobs

We made a promise to our KIPP Memphis families 20 years ago to be the best educational choice for their students. In order to fulfill that promise and effectively engage in school turnaround work, we must have the right leadership at the region and school level, the most highly-qualified teachers in core subjects, and the best school staff who can provide holistic support to improve student achievement. This philosophy is the foundation for an organizational restructuring that is in the best interest of our students.

Our CEO, a nationally-renowned education transformation leader, started his tenure in November 2021 by having conversations with staff about how we will close the achievement gap. We began this process in December by hosting listening and learning sessions with internal and external stakeholders. It was critical to learn what our parents, teachers, students, and staff feel are important areas to address to improve the educational experience for our KIPPsters. We evaluated regional office and school leader positions to bring in leaders who are experienced in driving academic success.

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We are executing a thought-out process that has been well-communicated to our team over the last several weeks. As we continue to operate with a students-first mindset to maximize the potential of the KIPP Memphis network, we encourage our staff to apply for any open position in our network.

MORE: Community leaders say MSCS Fresh Start program is an old idea

But some parents like LaToya Burt, who has a 7th grader at KIPP, think putting the teachers through this process right now is concerning.

I think its unfair to them because its a lot of circumstances they went through just to come back through COVID-19, said Burt. Its a bad thing for teachers to have to re-apply for their jobs because the children they need their teachers, and theyre more than teachers, theyre parents, theyre mothers to the kids also. Theyre doing a great job to me.

That job, the anonymous teacher says, now includes going through the application and interview process again.
DOHA (Reuters) -A delegation from the International Monetary Fund will start talks in Lebanon on March 29, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Saturday, expressing hope of a deal in the coming weeks.

"Next Tuesday they will start their mission in Lebanon," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar.

"Hopefully ... by the end of two weeks we will see the light," Mikati said.

The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value since 2019, when the financial system collapsed, plunging the majority of Lebanese into poverty, according to UN agencies.

Reforms demanded by donors to provide assistance to Lebanon include steps to tackle widespread corruption, tax dodging and government deficits - the root causes of the meltdown.

"We don't have an option, it is an obligatory path to negotiate with the IMF and to achieve an agreement," he added.

(Reporting by Maher ChmaytelliEditing by Ros Russell)
Martin Countys new recycling program isnt working: Can we pitch it, too?

The new recycling program in Martin County is driving me to the landfill.

Several months ago Martin County instituted a new recycling program, including all new trucks, and also containers for every household. This new program was touted as increasing recycling in the county.

The new automated trucks eliminated one person/labor from each truck. The problem is that whatever doesn't fit into the bin is picked up with trash vs. recycling. Also, every five to six weeks the bins do not get picked up (equipment breakdowns, limited personnel to operate the new trucks, etc.), so that means a full week of recycling will go in the trash.

Aside from the decreased recycling occurring on this front, I would like to know the true savings of the new program, or the additional cost, as it may be. Sometimes its best to say we made a mistake than to continue with a bad program.

Mary Gavin, Hobe Sound

Peters

Reading about the happiest countries in the world made me smile

It made me happy to read about the happiest countries in the world. And as I looked at the list in Thursdays paper, it made me smile. Did you notice how all five Nordic countries were listed as the happiest? That also made me smile, because the dominant religion in those countries is Lutheran. It was no surprise to me.

There is something about those Scandinavian Lutherans. So, if you can't move to Finland, or one of those other happy countries, check out Our Savior Lutheran Church in Vero Beach, which shares those roots. I know it's been the happiest place for me and my family for over 45 years, and that's no accident. Come and see.

Jack Diehl is pastor emeritus of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Vero Beach.

Did movie fight between Rocky, Drago foreshadow Russia-Ukraine war?

With the conflict raging in Ukraine, I could not help but think of the movie Rocky IV. In this film a much smaller, but determined, fighter (Rocky) was tasked to take on a much larger Russian-trained fighter (Drago). The Russian was indoctrinated to show no mercy in fighting any of his opponents.

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The fight took place in Russia with, of course, a large gathering of wealthy Russians. No one gave Rocky much of a chance.

If you have seen the movie you know that in the early rounds of this scheduled 15-round match, Rocky was pummeled by the much larger Drago. The Russians were cheering for Drago, expecting an early and easy victory. As the fight continued, Rocky hung in there and regained some strength and started scoring some good hits against this much larger opponent, to the dismay of the Russian leaders.

Being a movie, the "good guy" always wins and yes, Rocky struck back hard enough to defeat Drago. Also as a result, Rocky gained support from the Russian citizens.

Today, and this is not a movie, Ukraine is fighting for its life against a much larger opponent  Russia. I believe that Vladimir Putin was expecting a very easy and early "knockout" over Ukraine. However, this is not happening. The Ukrainian resistance is doing more than anyone might have thought in fighting back against the Russian Bear. So maybe there will be a similar "movie" outcome.

We can only hope and pray.

Bruce Campbell, Stuart

Sylvester Stallone in a scene from the 1985 movie "Rocky IV."

Putin is the sole cause of the Russia-Ukraine war

Michael Konz, in his letter of March 23, "argues otherwise" that Vladimir Putin, not Joe Biden, is not the proximate cause of the Russia-Ukraine war.

I must agree that Putin was not the proximate cause of this conflict. He in fact is the sole cause of this war.

If anyone is to be considered proximate cause to this criminal invasion, it would surely be Donald Trump. It was Trump who single-handedly tried to dissolve NATO. It was Trump who held back and refused to send congressionally approved weapons to Ukraine in 2019, while trying to blackmail Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In retrospect it would appear that Trump was clearing the way for Putin's assault on democracy in his invasion.

Konz also mentions FDR, and like Joe Biden, FDR, too, wanted no war with American boots on the ground in Europe. He used a brilliant plan, lend-lease, whereby we sent planes, ships and munitions to the allies while still remaining neutral. And in no way can President Biden be compared to Neville Chamberlain.

We were drawn into WWII as a result of the sneak attack by the Japanese on our fleet in Pearl Harbor.

Lest Konz forget, one of the those "courageous leaders who saved the free world" was none other than Joseph Stalin. Yes, Russia was an ally.

As one who has followed this war from day one I can attest to the fact there has been no "abdication of leadership" by President Biden or any of his administration.

Ukraine has done a fabulous job of defending its country and repelling the invaders due to the leadership in Washington and NATO in Belgium.

Joseph De Phillips, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Letters to the Editor: March 26, 2022
Anjanette Young is working to ensure no others have to endure what she experienced in Feb. 2019 when Chicago police carried out a botched raid on her home while following up on a bad tip.

Young gathered with several city alderwomen at Daley Plaza Saturday morning to rally supporters for the Anjanette Young Ordinance, which demands the city address a pattern of violent and discriminatory police raids that have targeted Black and Brown families.

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Young said March is Social Work Month, and as a social worker herself, she said she was very intentional about the timing for Saturdays rally in going with the months theme for this year, The time is right.

The time is right, right now, and there could not be a better thing for all of us to use our voice to speak truth to power against all systemic issues, including the one that were here for today, the Anjanette Young ordinance, she said.

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Young said the ordinance targets the heart of the Chicago Police Departments unethical search warrant practices by implementing regulations that would protect all residents from potentially harmful police raids, like banning the use of no-knock warrants and ensuring the use of officers body-worn cameras.

Supporters of the ordinance at the rally Saturday included representatives from the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Social Service Workers United, National Lawyers Guild Chicago as well as city alderwomen and co-sponsors of the ordinance Jeanette Taylor, 20th, Maria Hadden, 49th, Sophia King, 4th, and Stephanie Coleman, 16th.

Its still hard to comprehend the indignity that Ms. Young was subject to, but we need to do something about it and as city council members, we can, King said.

The ordinance also includes basic, common-sense recommendations that we need to codify, King said, such as confirming whether or not the actual target of an investigation lives in the home that police plan to raid and avoiding raids when children are present.

Thirteen police officers raided Youngs home on Feb. 21, 2019, restraining her while she was getting ready for bed and forcing her to stand handcuffed and naked as officers searched her residence. She repeatedly insisted they had the wrong place.

Aldermen voted in December to settle Youngs lawsuit against the city for $2.9 million, ending a legal case that became an embarrassment for Lightfoot after her administration tried to prevent footage of the raid from airing.

The ordinance addresses demands for the city to be transparent with information on wrongful raids as well.

Hadden said the ordinance has 20 co-sponsors so far from the city council, but she would like to see all 50 council members sign-on.

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Theres nothing controversial about signing on and voting to pass legislation that keeps people safe in their homes, that ensures that every resident is treated with the same amount of respect that you deserve, that I deserve, that Ms. Young deserves, Hadden said. We can pass this ordinance. We should.
Madison County Sheriff John Mehr

The Madison County Sheriff's Office has garnered over $1,631,574 in grants to date to assist with fundamental needs of its programs. These programs are designed to help them properly serve the community.

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr was very pleased with the allocation of grant money received. The grant money was allocated into a number programs.

Pre-Trial Risk Assessment Grants ($178,425) consists of an assessment. Once someone has been arrested and the intake process is completed, these assessments allow the judge to determine if the individual will be a risk of no return when court dates are scheduled. These assessments also help to determine bond amounts.

The Victim Coordinator Grant ($167,606.97) allows the sheriff's office to coordinate and network with highway safety. They were also awarded an additional $133,000, which extends the fund for another year. The total for the victim coordinator grant award was recalculated to $300,606.97 to include both years.

Mental Health Transport ($109,000.00) is a grant in which the department handles transports for individuals who may need a mental assessment in Bolivar, Nashville or wherever needed to assist their mental health needs. For many years, the Madison County Sheriff's Department served as the pilot of the state of Tennessee. This grant is awarded based on how many transports are completed.

Bring the Lost Home K-9 ($150,000) is a grant that was awarded for the department to purchase a K-9 dog. This dog helps with operations as far as finding missing people and helping to solve crime. They have scent kit samples in the schools of high risk children who may have a tendency of wandering off or learning disabilities. These kits are locked in a safe place at the school and if that child is missing, the scent kit is retrieved and the dog can help find them. A few weeks ago, there was an instance where the dog was able to locate a woman who had been reported missing.

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The Alcohol Saturation ($39,950) grant funds the traffic enforcement for the department. It helps to pay for any over time as well.

Network Coordinator/Highway Safety ($20,100) grant funds the highway safety with the state.

COVID Grant ($58,008) has allowed the department to purchase specialized equipment dealing with the COVID pandemic. Special equipment was purchased to help with disinfecting equipment, cars and offices to meet COVID safety protocol.

Bulletproof Vest Grant ($15,480) is a grant the department gets every year. Bullet proof vests become very worn and the manufacturing warranty expires in five years.

EBJ Jail Mental Health for Drug and Alcohol ($160,000) grant will allow the department to seek and hire a full time counselor for mental health and a counselor for drug and alcohol issues.

Body Worn Cameras ($160,000) Grant is a federal grant. This is a matching grant meaning the department will buy one camera and another will be supplied from the grant. Procedures and documentation plays a vital part.

Crisis ($150,000) Grant goes back to mental health and crisis intervention training (CIT) for other agencies on how successfully use de-escalation techniques. In Madsion County, there has been about 700-800 officers and EMT, fire departments trained through CIT in Madison County.

Crisis training is a big deal w government for officers and first responders to know how to deal with situations and to learn about the different types of mental illness. A new class started this past Monday and departments from all over the world will be in attendance. One attendee is from Fairfax, Va.

Confinement Facilities ($300,005) Grant is a grant that is from the Department of Health. Tubing will be installed in the heating and air ducts to help kill viruses and infectious diseases. These will be installed into the new facility.

"These grants are very important across the board," Mehr said. "If we can help those with mental issues or those with drug and alcohol issues, we can get them early on when they need help. Being locked up is not a place for mental illness."

Katrina Smith is a reporter at The Jackson Sun. Send those story ideas to kmsmith@jacksonsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Madison County Sheriff's office received over a million dollars in grant money
No passengers were thought to be on board at the time of the detainment. Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images

A P&O Ferries ship has been detained over safety concerns regarding crew training.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it will remain under detention until the issues are resolved.

The move comes days after the major UK ferry company fired 800 employees without notice.

A vessel belonging to P&O, a major UK ferry company, has been detained over safety concerns regarding the training of new crew members.

In a statement to Insider, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the European Causeway ship was held "due to failures on crew familiarization, vessel documentation and crew training."

The ferry has been held in Larne, a town in Northern Ireland.

"The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected," the MCA said.

It added: "Detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea."

According to Sky News, there were no passengers on board when the seizure of the ship was announced.

P&O did not immediately respond to Insider's request made outside of normal working hours.

The move comes days after P&O Ferries abruptly canceled all its sailings and sacked 800 members of staff without any notice.

In a previous statement to Insider, P&O said in regards to the mass firing: "Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries."

In a tweet on Saturday morning, P&O announced disruptions to sailings. It said: "P&O Ferries services are unable to run some of our services over the next few days. We are advising travellers of alternative arrangements."

UK transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the latest announcement in a tweet, saying the ship was detained on grounds of being "unfit to sail."

He said: "I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training."

Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, also responded to the detainment of the ship. Per Sky News, he said: "The gangster capitalist outfit P&O are not fit & proper to run a safe service after the jobs massacre. This mob should be barred, their ships impounded & the sacked crews reinstated."

Read the original article on Business Insider
VALLETTA (Reuters) - Polling stations opened on Saturday in Malta where the ruling Labour Party of Prime Minister Robert Abela is expected to win a third successive five-year term in an election to the 65-seat parliament.

Opinion polls have shown the centre-left Labour Party winning up to 55% of the vote thanks to a strong economy and the government's management of the COVID-19 crisis, where state handouts helped businesses and consumers alike.

Abela has been largely unaffected by repeated allegations of corruption against the Labour Party made by the centre-right Nationalist Party led by Bernard Grech. Grech, like Abela, is a lawyer.

Just over 356,000 people are eligible to vote.

Malta has a proportional representation system and its politics are dominated by two political parties. All governments since independence in 1964 have been formed of a single-party majority.

The electoral system has been tweaked this year, lowering the minimum voting age to 16 from 18. Voting continues till 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) on Saturday with first results expected on Sunday morning.

(Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Mar. 26SALISBURY  A Tewksbury man charged with fatally striking an Amesbury woman on her bicycle with his truck in November was arraigned in Salem Superior Court earlier this week and remains in custody, according to an Essex County prosecutor.

Deven Tanguay, 32, faces motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation, leaving the scene of personal injury/collision with death resulting, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and a marked lanes violation.

He is accused of striking and killing 39-year-old Rebecca Bartczak as she rode along Folly Mill Road in Salisbury on Nov. 19. He was indicted by a superior court grand jury last month and arraigned in the same courthouse on March 23.

On Friday, Essex County prosecutor Shalaigh Kennedy told Newburyport District Court Judge Richard Mori that Tanguay remained in custody and was due back in court on April 15 for a dangerousness hearing

Tanguay was first arraigned in Newburyport District Court on Nov. 23, 2021, and ordered held without bail after a judge ruled he posed too great a risk to the public to be afforded bail until trial following a dangerousness hearing in the lower court.

Bartczak, 39, of Lonvale Lane in Amesbury, was pronounced dead at the scene. A camper attached to the bed of Tanguay's truck became dislodged and was found near the crash site, according to police.

Police from Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, caught up with Tanguay about 35 minutes after the crash in Kensington, New Hampshire.

Tanguay, who police said did not appear to be impaired by alcohol or drugs, was outside the truck. Police said they quickly found human evidence on the truck.

Salisbury police Sgt. Keith Forget drove to Kensington and noticed the truck had four chained hooks that would be used to secure a camper to the bed. He also determined there was "no way" Tanguay could not have known he had struck and perhaps killed someone with his truck.

"After striking and killing Rebecca, Deven did not stop to check her condition, or attempt to exchange any identifying information with her despite her being deceased," Forget wrote in his report.

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While police checked the truck, Tanguay appeared "carefree, calm and cooperative. He did not show any signs of concern or distress that he had just hit and killed another person who was simply riding their bike along Folly Mill Road," Forget added.

The truck was impounded but because Tanguay declined to answer questions and was in New Hampshire at the time his truck was stopped, police let him leave, according to Forget's report.

Tanguay's truck remains impounded but is back in Massachusetts.

A check of Tanguay's criminal past showed 18 entries in his Board of Probation record, including two charges of leaving the scene after property damage, numerous drug convictions, assault and battery charges and weapons charges. He also repeatedly defaulted on court appearances and violated probation conditions, according to court records.

In the days following Bartczak's death, local police investigated the crash, aided by the Massachusetts State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, New Hampshire State Police and the Essex County District Attorney's Office.

Based on his investigation, Forget obtained an arrest warrant for Tanguay. He was arrested in Woburn on the morning of his arraignment.

Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
Mar. 25A Glenville man pleaded not guilty Thursday in Freeborn County District Court to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a victim under 13.

Charles Carl Yoder, 52, faces three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct-penetration-victim under 13, three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct-penetration-significant relationship and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct-multiple acts over time.

He made his first appearance on the charges March 16 and appeared again in court Thursday. Online court records list Yoder as representing himself.

Court documents allege the abuse took place over about three years.

Yoder posted $100,000 non-cash bond March 18.
In a letter sent to North End restaurant owners Friday afternoon, Mayor Michelle Wu says she is prepared to rescind North End outdoor dining before the start of the season.

Many North End residents have called for the ending of outdoor dining altogether in the neighborhood, Mayor Wu wrote. If a critical mass of restaurant owners also believe this program is unworkable as proposed, then I am prepared to rescind North End outdoor dining.

This comes after North End restaurant owners vowed to sue Mayor Wu over the $7,500 new outdoor dining fee, calling it outrageous.

She better roll up her sleeves because were ready, said Jorge Mendoza, owner of Monicas. Shes going to hear from our attorney in the form of a letter first and then we are going to sue the city of Boston for the unjust treatment of Italian businesses here in the North End.

Mayor Wu says that members of the North End community have expressed their frustrations to her over the past two seasons of outdoor dining.

In two public community meetings convened over the past two months, residents expressed deep opposition to any form of outdoor dining, Wu wrote. They described themselves as at their wits end after two seasons of unprecedented intrusion on neighborhood life.

The owners claim because Mayor Wu has not imposed similar fees on outdoor dining in other Boston neighborhoods, she is targeting them.

What shes doing isnt fair and its prejudice, Mendoza continued.

The deadline to apply for this years outdoor pilot is April 10th.

Mayor Wus full letter to the restaurant owners is shown below.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threw his support behind Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday.

On Thursday, it was revealed that Virginia Thomas and Mark Meadows texted about overturning the 2020 election.

Clarence Thomas dissented when the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had to turn over WH documents to the Jan. 6 committee.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday that he believed in Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' impartiality after it was revealed that his wife Ginni Thomas texted about overturning the 2020 election with then-President Donald Trump's White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

"Justice Thomas is a great American and an outstanding justice. I have total confidence in his brilliance and impartiality in every aspect of the work of the Court," McConnell said on Friday, according to CNN.

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot had obtained 29 text messages sent from November 2020 to January 2021 between Virginia "Ginni" Thomas and Mark Meadows.

In the explosive messages, Thomas shared QAnon-linked conspiracies and videos with Meadows and encouraged Trump's team not to concede, pushing Meadows to try to overturn the 2020 election after it had been called for then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

"Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back," Thomas wrote in one message to Meadows.

"Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History," she wrote in another.

The texts are part of a trove of thousands of communications that Meadows turned over to the committee before he stopped cooperating in December 2021.

Meadow's attorney and Ginni Thomas did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Ginni Thomas has been involved in conservative causes for decades, and recently told the Free Beacon that "Clarence doesn't discuss his work with me, and I don't involve him in my work."

When the Supreme Court rejected Trump's request in January to block the House January 6 committee from receiving White House records from his tenure Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissenter.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Undergarments from BBCs 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice on display at Jane Austens House (Jane Austens House)

The white shirt worn by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudices famous scene where he emerges soaking wet from a lake can now be viewed at Jane Austens House in a new exhibition.

The iconic white shirt is best known from the scene where Fitzwilliam Darcy (better known as Mr Darcy, played by Firth) bumps into Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) while wet, marking a major moment in the 1995 film.

The exhibition, called Jane Austen Undressed, will put undergarments that Austens beloved heroines would have worn on display, from chemises to stays to petticoats.

But the white shirt worn by Mr Darcy, as well as Bennets petticoat will form the main centrepieces of the exhibition. According to the museum, both garments will bring us a little closer to understanding the character.

Lizzie Bennets muddy petticoat reveals her love of freedom and the outdoors, as she refuses to adhere to convention and walks five miles across muddy fields to Netherfield, the exhibitions curators explain on the museums website.

Meanwhile, Mr Darcys dive into the lake reveals how comfortable he feels in nature, as he reveals a more informal, less starched side of his personality.

The exhibition will also put rare examples of Regency underwear on display, highlighting the many layers that gave Regency-era women a foundation to their dresses, helping them maintain an elegant silhouette, preserve their modesty and keep warm.

Curator Sophie Reynolds told the Guardian that Pride and Prejudice is a film beloved by most women of my generation and people will be excited to see [the shirt] in the flesh.

She added that hopefully no one will go up to hug it.

The exhibition comes after the much-awaited second season of Netflixs Bridgerton paid tribute to the iconic scene.

In the series, Anthony Bridgerton (played by Jonathan Bailey) falls into a lake and emerges in a very similar fashion to Firths character, with his shirt soaked through and nearly transparent.
A man allegedly disturbing Red Line riders was shot and critically wounded by a CTA employee early Saturday at a Far South Side station, Chicago police said.

The CTA worker was identified as a 53-year-old man named Sylvester Adams, according to a news release from Chicago police.

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Adams was charged with two felonies: one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to authorities. He had been expected to appear before a judge for a bond hearing Sunday.

Shortly before 2 a.m. at the 95th St. station, 15 W. 95th St., police responded to a call of shots fired and reportedly found the 53-year-old, later identified as Adams, inside the ground floor booth of the station.

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The man allegedly told police he shot at someone and confronted that person, a 37-year-old man, because the man had been disturbing customers for a while in the train station, according to a Chicago police report.

The 37-year-old allegedly pushed Adams to the ground and fled downstairs to the platform level, but the 53-year-old got up and fired shots down the stairs, hitting the man, according to the report.

The 37-year-old suffered gunshot wounds to the back, abdomen and leg and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.

Adams was taken into custody but as of Saturday night, police said charges were still pending. Adams was charged Sunday.

According to CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski, the employee was a customer assistant and was in violation of several workforce rules, including one that prohibits the possession of a gun. The CTA is pursuing termination of the employee, she added.

Chicago Tribune reporter Tatyana Turner contributed.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  NATO Deputy-General Secretary Mircea Geoana says that Russian President Vladimir Putins month-old barbaric war against Ukraine is a war he cannot win.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the former Romanian foreign minister and ambassador to the United States added that NATO would be forced to take appropriate measures in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack, which follows a string of ominous comments from Moscow officials who refuse to rule out their use. He declined to say what those measures would be.

NATO is a defensive alliance, but also its a nuclear alliance, he said. If they will be using chemical weapons or other kinds of higher-end systems against Ukraine, this will be changing fundamentally the nature of the war that Mr. Putin has waged against Ukraine.

I can guarantee that NATO is ready to respond proportionately, he added.

Geoana said Russias attack on a theater in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which Ukrainian authorities said Friday killed about 300 civilians, is another proof that Putins war is a war that is unprovoked, illogical, and also barbarian.

We hope that Mr. Putin will not go even further down the road of war crimes, and even more devastation against a sovereign nation, he said.

But the brutal war that Russia has waged since Feb. 24, is having the opposite effect to what Putin hoped for, the NATO official said, and has only united the West and worked to bolster the 30-nation defensive alliance.

At a NATO summit on Thursday, alliance leaders agreed to launch four new Eastern Flank battlegroups  which usually number around 1,000-1,500 troops  to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

These groups are already constituting themselves, Geoana, a former foreign minister in his native Romania, said. I can anticipate that this will be a matter of a few months before we see these battlegroups up and running and fully functional.

If the very poorly planned and executed military campaign continues to drag on for Putins forces, who many observers say are floundering on the battlefield, Geoana believes that it could raise the stakes for miscalculations by the Russian leader.

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We see that for the time being, the Russian military planning is trying to reassess the situation  to try to compensate for the massive losses in people and material that they suffered in the first month of the war.

Geoana said the combination of harsh economic and individual sanctions on Russia and big losses militarily may eventually make Putin rethink his offensive on Ukraine.

Mr. Putin probably believed his own post-imperial fantasies, thinking that Ukrainians will welcome them with open arms, he said. In fact, they got very fierce resistance. We are convinced that today, even with reinforcements that are still coming into Ukraine, Russia does not possess the forces and the capacity to occupy the whole of Ukraine.

By Geoanas estimation, the Putin regimes most significant mistake was underestimating the bravery of the Ukrainian army and the unity of the political West.

We are supporting Ukraine in many many ways, in defense terms, in financial terms, in humanitarian terms, he said. When the time will come, and that time will come, well also help Ukraine reconstruct, rebuild their nation because they earned our admiration  they deserve our support.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)  Afghanistan's Taliban rulers refused to allow dozens of women to board several flights, including some overseas, because they were traveling without a male guardian, two Afghan airline officials said Saturday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from the Taliban, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabul's international airport Friday to board domestic and international flights were told they couldn't do so without a male guardian.

Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes overseas, including some from Canada, according to one of the officials. Women were denied boarding on flights to Islamabad, Dubai and Turkey on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Airline, said the officials.

The order came from the Taliban leadership, said one official.

By Saturday, some women traveling alone were given permission to board an Ariana Airlines flight to western Herat province, the official said. However, by the time the permission was granted they had missed their flight, he said.

The airport's president and police chief, both from the Taliban movement and both Islamic clerics, were meeting Saturday with airline officials.

They are trying to solve it, the official said.

It was still unclear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago requiring women traveling more than 45 miles (72 kilometers) to be accompanied by a male relative.

Taliban officials contacted by The Associated Press did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Since taking power last August, the Taliban leadership have been squabbling among themselves as they struggle to transition from war to governing. It has pit hard-liners  like acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund, who is deeply rooted in the old guard  against the more pragmatic among them, like Sirajuddin Haqqani. He took over leadership of the powerful Haqqani network from his father Jalaluddin Haqanni. The elder Haqqani, who died several years ago, is from Akhund's generation, who ruled Afghanistan under the strict and unchallenged leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar.

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Infuriating many Afghans is the knowledge that many of the Taliban of the younger generation, like Sirajuddin Haqqani, are educating their girls in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan women and girls have been targeted by their repressive edicts since taking power.

This latest assault on women's rights in Taliban-run Afghanistan denying women air travel, comes just days after the all-male religiously driven government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after the sixth grade.

The move enraged the international community, which has been reluctant to recognize the Taliban-run government since the Taliban swept into power last August, fearing they would revert to their harsh rule of the 1990s. The Taliban's refusal to open up education to all Afghan children also infuriated large swaths of the Afghan population. On Saturday, dozens of girls demonstrated in the Afghan capital demanding the right to go to school.

After the Taliban's ban on girls education beyond the sixth grade, women's rights activist Mahbouba Seraj went on Afghanistan's TOLO TV to ask: How do we as a nation trust you with your words anymore? What should we do to please you? Should we all die?

An Afghan charity called PenPath, which runs dozens of "secret' schools with thousands of volunteers, is planning to stage countrywide protests to demand the Taliban reverse its order, said Matiullah Wesa, PenPath founder.

On Saturday at the Doha Forum 2022 in Qatar, Roya Mahboob, an Afghan businesswoman who founded an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan, was given the Forum Award for her work and commitment to girls education.

U.S. special representative for Afghanistan Tom West canceled meetings with the Taliban at the Doha Forum after classes for older girls were halted.

Deputy U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a statement that We have canceled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and around the Doha Forum, and have made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement.

"The decision by the Taliban, if it is not swiftly reversed, will profoundly harm the Afghan people, the countrys prospects for economic growth, and the Talibans ambition to improve their relations with the international community, she said.

West acknowledged that the Taliban had made promises since their takeover to allow girls and women to go to school. He said that both the U.S. and the international community received the necessary assurances that was going to happen.

I was surprised at the turnaround this past Wednesday and I think youve seen the world react in condemning this move, West said. It is a breach, first and foremost, of the Afghan peoples trust because they made the commitment.

He added: I believe hope is not lost. Ive talked to a lot of Afghans here who also believe that. Im hopeful that we will see a reversal of this decision in the coming days.

In an interview after receiving the Doha Forum award, Mahboob called on the many global leaders and policy makers attending the forum to press the Taliban to open schools for all Afghan children.

The robotics team fled Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power but Mahboob said she still hoped a science and technology center she had hoped to build in Afghanistan for girls could still be constructed.

I hope that the international community, the Muslim communities (have not) forgotten about Afghanistan and (will) not abandon us, she said. "Afghanistan is a poor country. It doesnt have enough resources. And if you take (away) our knowledge, I dont know whats going to happen."

___

Associated Press writer Lujain Jo in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
A proposed sale to the oil and gas industry of about 500 acres of southeast New Mexican public land could move forward after it was delayed by more than a year, following a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling on how the federal government conducts environmental analysis.

When President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021, his administration placed an indefinite pause on new federal oil and gas leases, as the Interior Department conducted a review of its fossil fuel policy, releasing a report last summer calling for stronger evaluations of climate change impacts.

Ahead of the report, a federal judge in Louisiana ordered the sales to resume, citing economic harm brought to a group of oil-producing states  not including New Mexico  that sued the federal government over the initial halt.

Related: Permian Basin oil and gas pollution could boom amid Russia conflict

Environmental analysis was redone, and the DOI said it planned to conduct the sales this year, but another federal court ruling out of Louisiana struck down the agencys use of the social cost of carbon metric that assessed a $51 price tag for each ton of carbon emitted by oil and gas operations when evaluating their environmental impact.

Former-President Barack Obamas administration, under which Biden served as vice president, also used the $51 per ton metric, but Bidens predecessor former-President Donald Trump lowered the cost to about $7 a ton.

That ruling, per a court filing from DOI, meant the sales would again be delayed as environmental analysis would have to be redone to account for the change.

Study: More funds needed for oil and gas oversight in New Mexico. State could gain millions

But the recent U.S. Appeals Court stay filed March 16 ordered Bidens initial rate be reinstated, and planning for the sales resumed.

While Bureau of Land Management Officials from the New Mexico Office declined to speculate on what this recent ruling meant specifically for the southeast New Mexico sale, DOI spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said the agency welcomed the ruling as allowing evaluations to truly convey the environmental impact of federal oil and gas activities.

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We appreciate the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuits decision to grant a stay of the preliminary injunction related to the use of social cost of greenhouse gases, Schwartz said in a statement.

Calculating the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions provides important information that has been part of the foundation of the work the Interior Department has undertaken over the past year.

More: Oil and gas companies face $275K in fines for not reporting methane pollution in New Mexico

Oil and gas drilling to continue 'responsibly' after ruling

She said the ruling allowed Interior to continue planning for future onshore and offshore oil and gas extraction.

The DOI planned to address numerous reforms in fossil fuel regulation, ensuring climate impacts were included, along with re-evaluating the return to taxpayers and ending speculative leasing where oil companies lease land without guaranteeing oil or gas will be extracted.

Tribal and state governments would also be included in future planning, a BLM spokesperson said.

With this ruling, the Department continues its planning for responsible oil and gas development on Americas public lands and waters, Schwartz said.

Regulations: Air pollution from oil and gas to be restricted by New Mexico's new rules

In their ruling judges for the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges Leslie Southwick, James Graves and Gregg Costa argued the injunction filed against the social cost of carbon would unduly prevent the federal governments from determining how to make decisions.

The stay also forced the present administration to follow the standards of the previous Trump administration, the judges contended, despite to statutory requirement to do so.

It also had yet to be proven, read the decision, that the social cost of carbon metric would increase regulatory burdens on oil and gas companies, as the plaintiffs contended, to the point of economic harm to the litigating states.

More: Why are oil prices spiking? How does it affect New Mexicans, Permian Basin?

The Government Defendants have shown they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay, the decision read. The preliminary injunction halts the Presidents directive to agencies in how to make agency decisions before they even make those decisions.

It also orders agencies to comply with a prior administrations internal guidance document that embodies a certain approach to regulatory analysis, even though that document was not mandated by any regulation or statute in the first place.

The southeast New Mexico land sale consisted of 535 acres in Lea and Chaves counties within the Permian Basin region, the U.S. most active oilfield.

The Energy Information Administration showed the Permian was predicted to produce about 5.2 million barrels a day of oil in March, of a national total of about 11.6 million.

Domestic production, such as from the Permian, should be boosted by the federal administration, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute.

He pointed to Russias recent invasion of Ukraine, an act that was globally condemned and led to the U.S. banning oil imports from Russia, the worlds second-largest oil producer, which was believed to drive down supply and increase energy prices for American consumers.

At a time when the administration and allies around the world are calling for more American energy, we welcome the Department of the Interiors announcement today and urge the administration to hold onshore lease sales under the Mineral Leasing Act with sufficient acreage and fair terms, Macchiarola said.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas land sales in southeast New Mexico could resume
Mar. 26LISBON  State police wanted Rosemarie Maneri to be the first to know that arrests were made in connection with the death of an 18-year-old last year.

State police announced on Friday that two people have been arrested in Pakistan following the death of Shylynn M. Dixon, of Lisbon, who died by suicide in March 2021 after being extorted online. Ms. Dixon, a junior at Heuvelton Central School, had developed a relationship with someone online posing as someone else. She shared nude photographs with the user, who in turn attempted to blackmail her by threatening to post the photos on social media sites and share them with her friends. She died on March 3 in her home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Ms. Maneri, who isn't her biological mother but played a motherly role in Ms. Dixon's life, spoke publicly about the teen's death after the family of Riley K. Basford came forward. Riley, who was a 15-year-old Potsdam student, died by suicide under almost identical online extortion circumstances just a few weeks after Ms. Dixon in 2021.

Now, just over a year later, Ms. Maneri was called by state police, who she said told her they wanted her to be the first to hear the news of the arrests. She said the fight that she and the Basfords undertook after their children's death was not for nothing.

"I told you all I would not stop," Ms. Maneri said on Friday. "This is of course bittersweet, but I'm happy to see there's going to be justice."

State police say the Federal Investigative Agency of Pakistan arrested two individuals. One was identified as Sohail Khan of Rawalpindi, in the country's Punjab Province. The identity of the second subject is not known, according to state police.

Investigative work by state police Troop B, in conjunction with the FBI, determined that the Facebook account used to blackmail Ms. Dixon originated from Pakistan. The FBI shared the case information with its legal attache in Pakistan, and it was then shared with law enforcement, leading to the arrests.

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The FBI Washington Field Office on Thursday warned parents about an increase in sextortion of kids and teens, particularly by adults posing as young girls to manipulate boys through social media. Sextortion, as defined by the Cyberbullying Research Center, is "the threatened dissemination" of sexually natured images without consent. The threat is usually driven by the intent to obtain additional images, sexual acts or money.

"To make the victimization stop, children typically have to come forward to someone  normally a parent, teacher, caregiver or law enforcement. The embarrassment children feel from the activity they were forced to engage in is what typically prevents them from coming forward," the FBI warning says. "Sextortion offenders may have hundreds of victims around the world, so coming forward to help law enforcement identify the offender may prevent countless other incidents of sexual exploitation to that victim and others."

Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the D.C. office's Criminal/Cyber Division, said the most effective way to disrupt sextortion crimes is through "awareness, education, and having important discussions with your children about their online safety."

"We recognize victims may feel embarrassed and thus hesitant to come forward and report these incidents, but we are strongly encouraging victims to notify us so that these individuals are held to account for their actions and, most importantly, prevented from harming another child," he said in a statement.

For resources and reporting avenues, visit wdt.me/sextortion.

Ms. Maneri said on Friday that Riley Basford's parents, Mary C. Rodee and Darren E. Basford, deserve immense credit.

"If it wasn't for Riley's parents going public with it," she said, "it wouldn't have put me on this road, and we're still fighting."

She said she's still going to be working with youth groups and several organizations to continue to spread awareness.

"There are a lot of emotions going through right now," she said. "But we are so happy to know people are going to be safer because of this."
Police have made two arrests after shootings Saturday afternoon left one dead and one seriously injured in south Raleigh.

The two shootings, reported just fifteen minutes apart, were not related, according to a Raleigh police news release.

The first shooting  which occurred around 2:15 p.m. in the 2800 block of Laodicea Drive, just off Cross Link Road  left a male victim dead.

Police have arrested Caleb Dangleo Williams, 32, in connection to the fatal shooting.

He has been charged with murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and assault by pointing a gun in connection with the shooting, police said in a Sunday news release.

A second shooting occurred about 15 minutes later, at 2:30 p.m., in the 6200 block of Battle Bridge Road. It left a female victim hospitalized with serious injuries, according to police.

Tiffany Latoya Jackson, 35, has been arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, Raleigh police said.

At least nine people have been killed in Raleigh so far this year, with a 22-year-old killed and two others injured in a shooting less than 24 hours earlier.

Police said that officers and detectives were still at both Saturday shooting scenes as of 4 p.m. that day, investigating the shootings to determine the circumstances of the incidents.

More information will be released as the investigations progress, police said.
Williamson County law enforcement officials are searching for a person of interest in a shooting incident that injured one person near Page High School on Friday night.

One person was shot in the Stags Leap neighborhood around 8:15 p.m., according to the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. The victim was taken to a hospital, but authorities do not have an update on the person's condition.

WCSO does not have a suspect and continues to search for the person of interest, described as a tall man wearing light-colored jeans and a sweatshirt who was reportedly seen running through the area Friday night.

Police moved people at a lacrosse game at Page High School into the school's gym after the incident as they searched the area for a person of interest. Those at the school were allowed to leave the campus after officers determined it was safe.

WCSO posted alerts on social media around 9 p.m. Friday urging people to avoid the Stags Leap area and Arno Road near Page High School as they searched for the person of interest.

"We know many residents are concerned about what happened in the Stags Leap neighborhood last night," the law enforcement agency posted Saturday afternoon, noting that detectives have "limited information" and another update will be issued when more information is available.

Heavy law enforcement remains in the Stags Leap area as investigators continue to conduct interviews.

Police closed the entrance to the neighborhood for a short period of time Friday but residents are now free to enter and exit the area.

Reach reporter Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephenson@tennessean.com or at (731) 694-7261. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Williamson County searching for person of interest in Friday shooting
Danang to resume international commercial flights from March 27

The first international commercial flights will be resumed in the central city of Danang on March 27 after two years of suspension for Covid-19 prevention.













Planes at Danang International Airport



The Danang International Terminal Investment and Operation Joint Stock Company (AHT), has announced that they will conduct the first international commercial flight to Singapore on the morning of March 27 after two years.



Also on March 27, two other international flights from Singapore and Thailand will also land at Danang Airport at 11.05 am and 12.30 pm respectively.



According to deputy director of the Danang Department of Tourism, Nguyen Xuan Binh, nine carriers have announced plans to resume 10 international flights to and from the city. The city expects to fully restore all 31 international air routes this year.



Air Asia will reopen the Danang-Kuala Lumpur and Danang-Bangkok routes from April 1.Jetstar is scheduled to operate the Danang- Singapore route from April 10. Vietjet Air and Jeju Air will also resume its Danang-Incheon route next month.



The central coastal city expects to welcome 3.5 million visitors including 3.32 million domestic tourists and 180,000 foreign visitors this year.


People embrace after being reunited as a police officer stands by following a shooting at Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont on Friday, March 25, 2022. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Police have arrested a person of interest on the West Side of Chicago after a masked gunman targeted a 20-year-old man, killing him and wounding at least one other person, including a 15-year-old girl at a shopping mall in Rosemont on Friday night, officials said.

The two victims were taken to hospitals, where Joel Valdes, 20 and of Skokie, was pronounced dead at 8:10 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiners office and Rosemont police.

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The gunman, in his mid-20s with a mask covering his face, opened fire at Valdes at 7:08 p.m. at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall, 5220 Fashion Outlets Way, Rosemont Police Sgt. Joe Balogh said.

Valdes was found on the ground on the first floor south hallway, a short distance from the food court, shortly after officers swarmed the scene. The 15-year-old girl, who was shot in the right wrist and grazed in the leg, was found in a washroom nearby Valdes. Her condition had stabilized.

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Earlier, officials said there was a third person shot who ran away, but Balogh said no other victims had been found as of afternoon in the isolated incident.

The shooter fled in a Maroon 2008 Honda with other unknown subjects, according to Balogh, but around 9:30 p.m., the Honda was stopped on the eastbound Eisenhower Expressway near Laramie Avenue. The cars owner was taken into custody and being questioned as a person of interest, Balogh said.

A gun was seized at the scene as evidence and no charges have been announced.

As the mall was locked down, evacuated and searched, some people, including shoppers, were stuck inside until 11:15 p.m. Officials set up a reunification site at Caddy Shack restaurant, where anyone looking for friends and family could meet, according to Rosemont Public Safety.

One of those shoppers was Luis Elijio and his family, including his 5-month-old daughter, who were browsing inside the Diplomatic store on the lower level of the mall when a woman outside of the store suddenly opened the doors of Diplomatic and screamed: Theyre shooting! Elijio said.

And right after that I heard what sounded like an automatic weapon, Elijio said while recovering with his family in the lobby of the nearby Crowne Plaza hotel, which is connected to Caddy Shack.

His first thought was his 5-month-old daughter  he wanted to make sure she was safe, he said. They all ran to the back of the store with the rest of the shoppers at Diplomatic while an employee quickly locked the front doors as people ran out of the mall.

After dropping her husband off at OHare, Jennifer Dwyer and her 14-year-old son, Aidan, decided to go shopping to wait out the afternoon traffic back home to Naperville, she said.

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They were about to leave the Columbia store around 7 p.m., and then we heard gunshots, Dwyer said. Like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, like at least five or six. Sounded pretty close.

Dwyer froze, until one manager went over to them and started yelling, telling them to go to a back storage room. About 10 shoppers ran into the backroom while the other manager locked the doors.

While they were in the storage room, Dwyer looked around for a safer room that would lock after learning the storage room didnt lock. She found a nearby bathroom and made a mental note to pull her son in there if a shooter managed to get into the store, she said.

And then when we were in there (in the storage room) I started looking around to see if, OK if somebody does come through those doors, what can I throw, Dwyer said.

They were in the storage room a little over an hour, until a SWAT team went in and told them to walk out with their hands to their sides.

Just before 10 p.m. Dwyer and her son sat in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel waiting for their daughter after they were told it wasnt certain they could get their car out of the parking garage Friday night.

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Im just very thankful that we were where we were and not any closer to where the shooting was, Dwyer said. Its sad but I am one of those people where like when my kids were younger and I would be at a restaurant I would always kind of figure out where the doors are, where the exits are, kind of be prepared. But I guess it is sad that thats the society we live in.

An autopsy for Valdes is scheduled for later Saturday.

Police urged anyone with further details to contact their tip line, 224-585-2865. The public can also reach out via our anonymous tip center by texting TIP RPSD along with your tip to the number 888-777.

rsobol@tribpub.com

scasanova@tribpub.com
President Joe Biden is set to make remarks from Poland on Saturday afternoon regarding Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The president is expected to speak around 1 p.m. from Warsaws Royal Castle.

Biden plans to talk about the importance of fighting for freedom and will address NATOs collective defense against Russia.

Biden met with both Ukrainian and Polish officials on Saturday to discuss the current situation in Ukraine.

Read: TIMELINE: 14-year-old boy dies after falling from ICON Park free fall ride

President Biden also met with Ukrainian refugees at the PGE National Stadium.

Read: Man found dead in the street following overnight shooting, deputies say

ABC News plans to air a special report of the presidents remarks on Channel 9.

Read: Driver found unconscious on SR-408 dies at hospital, troopers say

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church on March 26, 2022 in Great Abaco, Bahamas. Abaco was dramatically hit by Hurricane Dorian, It damaged 75% of homes across the chain of islands and resulted in tragic loss of life. During their visit to the Church they will hear first-hand what it was like to be on the island at the point the hurricane hit, and how people have come together to support each other during an incredibly difficult time. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee. The 8 day tour takes place between Saturday 19th March and Saturday 26th March and is their first joint official overseas tour since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020.

Chris Jackson/Getty Prince William and Kate Middleton

As Prince William and Kate Middleton's tour of the Caribbean comes to an end on Saturday, the Duke of Cambridge has released a landmark statement, reflecting on the future governance of the Caribbean nations.

"I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon," William says.

And, whatever the future holds for the countries William and Kate visited this week, the Duke of Cambridge reiterates his hope that the 54-nation Commonwealth  the voluntary body of mostly-former colonies loosely linked to Britain  will continue to "create a better future" for its people.

"Foreign tours are an opportunity to reflect. You learn so much. What is on the minds of Prime Ministers. The hopes and ambitions of school children. The day-to-day challenges faced by families and communities," William began his statement.

"I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon. But we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with communities in all three countries, understanding more about the issues that matter most to them.

"Catherine and I are committed to service. For us that's not telling people what to do. It is about serving and supporting them in whatever way they think best, by using the platform we are lucky to have.

"It is why tours such as this reaffirm our desire to serve the people of the Commonwealth and to listen to communities around the world. Who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isn't what is on my mind. What matters to us is the potential the Commonwealth family has to create a better future for the people who form it, and our commitment to serve and support as best we can," he concluded.

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kate middleton and prince william

Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William and Kate Middleton

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Prince William Echo Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on Final Outing in Jamaica

It has been a complex week for the royal couple. While they have met smiles and cheers wherever they have gone, there has also been an undercurrent of controversy. The tour has seen protests over colonialism and calls for dropping William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth as head of state in Jamaica.

Earlier in the tour, and following protests in Jamaica, William, 39, expressed his "sorrow" at the "abhorrent" history of slavery that shames the U.K.  though for some, he didn't go far enough and actually apologize.

On Friday night, William gave another speech, acknowledging that "relationships evolve" between the U.K. and the Caribbean countries, but "friendship endures."

RELATED: The 'Future of the British Monarchy Belongs with Prince William and Kate Middleton,' Says Historian

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend a reception hosted by the Governor General at Baha Mar Resort on March 25, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas.

Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage Kate Middleton and Prince William

William's statement on Saturday came as he and Kate concluded their eight-day tour with outings in The Bahamas. They visited islands still coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, met locals and saw groundbreaking work being done to restore coral reefs.

Both William and Kate have been aware of the protests and the voices of opposition  as well as the calls for reparations for Britain's role in the slave trade  and have been listening as they moved through the three countries this week.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

The statement was issued as the couple prepared for their final departure from the Bahamas to head back home to their children in time for Mother's Day in the U.K.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there has been near unanimous denunciation of President Vladimir Putin, from President Joe Biden calling Putin a "war criminal," to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell describing him as a "ruthless thug."

But the Ukraine invasion has found a significant pocket of support from prominent figures on the far right including white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who regularly gushes about Putin on his Telegram channel. The war is also a hot topic in QAnon chatrooms where Putin is often portrayed as a hero.

Conservative pundits have also voiced support for Russia. Candace Owens has pushed the Putin talking point that Russia created Ukraine. She also tweeted "Russian lives matter." She was retweeted by the Russian Embassy in the U.S.

UKRAINE VOLUNTEER ONLINE ARMY: Meet the cyber elves fighting Russian trolls on Facebook

WHITE SUPREMACISTS BATTLE FOR UKRAINE: A regiment in Ukraine's military was founded by white supremacists. Now it's battling Russia on the front lines.

Why is there support for Russia on the far right?

Putin has a long history of cultivating and providing material support to far-right leaders in Europe and the United States, according to Andrew Weiss, a Russia expert and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In exchange, those leaders parrot Kremlin talking points, Weiss said.

America's far right shares a common enemy with Putin and Russia: the West's liberal values and the cabal of elites they say controls the economy and the media.

It helped for Russian purposes to act like all of these other people agree with them, Weiss said. It was a way of creating an echo chamber where there isnt one.

Like Putin, former president Donald Trump has frequently professed his personal admiration for the Russian president and capitalized on the disdain for Western liberal values among some conservatives, said Jared Holt, a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab who researches extremism.

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With Trump out of office, many of his supporters are now looking to Putin to take on their enemies, Holt said.

"Some of these far-right cliques within the broader pro-Trump movement came to view Trump as an avatar, fighting against the ills of society they perceive," he said. "I think they view Putin, also, as an avatar standing up against similar forces."

Face masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hang for sale at a souvenir street shop in St.Petersburg, Russia, Friday, Dec. 23, 2016.

Why are Kremlin talking points in Americans' news feeds?

Unfounded claims to gin up support for the war  including claims that the U.S. is funding bioweapon labs in Ukraine or crisis actors are faking events in the war  have gained traction on social media throughout the conflict, according to Zignal Labs, a software company that tracks and analyzes trends in online narratives.

The far right has echoed many of these claims. On his Telegram channel, Joseph Jordan, a white nationalist podcaster who goes by the name Eric Striker, claimed a pregnant woman injured in the bombing of a Ukrainian maternity hospital was an Instagram celebrity. QAnon-affiliated Twitter and Telegram accounts also spread the pro-Kremlin conspiracy theory which was quickly debunked.

New conspiracies pop up daily. They are manufactured for a domestic audience in Russia and pro-Moscow Ukrainians but also push buttons in the U.S. The latest spreading on social media is an unfounded report from Russian state media outlet Sputnik that Hunter Biden and George Soros are funding biolabs in Ukraine.

The danger? That Russian propaganda will find a receptive audience beyond extremist channels, said Stephanie Foggett, director of global communications at intelligence and security firm The Soufan Group.

"The far right used the pandemic to creep into the mainstream and broaden their appeal to followers of QAnon and anti-vaxxers," Foggett said. Now there is a really, really ripe ecosystem for conspiracy theories.

Ukraine as extension of culture wars

Fueling support for Putin and his Russian offensive is the perception that he alone can save the world from identity politics and western globalization, extremism experts say.

Putin has long fomented aggression towards the LGBTQ+ community. He has passed stringent laws against "gay propaganda," and recently blasted gender nonconformity as a "pandemic" equal to COVID-19.

"Putin ain't woke," former Trump adviser-turned-far-right podcaster Steve Bannon declared on his show shortly before the Russian invasion. "He's anti-woke."

In Putin, the far right sees a strongman capable of remaking the world order and rejecting liberal values such as gay rights, said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University.

"This is similar to the way that we saw some far-right support for the Taliban last August," Miller-Idriss said. "There's the appeal of a 'strong man' or the idea of a strong resistor against the West and all that's gone with that in both of those cases  anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, authoritarian hyper-masculine, all of that kind of tough-guy stuff."

Putin doubled down on this rhetoric in a speech Friday, in which he accused the West of trying to "cancel" Russia. The Russian president invoked author J.K. Rowling, who has been criticized for her anti-trans comments.

Not so long ago, they canceled childrens author Joan Rowling whose books were spread all over the world in the hundreds of millions of copies, because she did not please fans of so-called gender freedoms, Putin said in a televised speech.

For some, the conflict in Ukraine is about the same stuff of the culture wars in the U.S. and that's dangerous, Foggett says.

What really concerns me is that the right especially, they are projecting their own social anxieties into the Ukraine-Russia conflict, she said.

Not everyone on the far right supports Putin

Not everyone on the far right is siding with Russia in the war. Some Neo-Nazis and white supremacists oppose Putin because of his vow to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

One U.S.-based neo-Nazi website declared support for Ukraine based solely on the claim that Russian military success would undermine a region that has previously been welcoming to white supremacist organizing.

Kesa White, a researcher at PERIL who tracks white supremacists and other groups, said she's also seen another narrative gain traction online.

"They're saying that Putin is enabling the 'white genocide,'" White said, referring to the longstanding racist trope that white people are being disproportionately killed across the world by people of color in order to undermine global white supremacy. "They feel that their white brothers and sisters are being killed, and having to fight for something that doesn't necessarily pertain to them."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine, Trump and QAnon: Why the far right is backing Russia, Putin
A Rochester bar's liquor license has been suspended following a shooting there two weeks ago that killed one man and injured another.

Effective immediately, Jackie Rays Tavern at 859-863 Bay St. cant sell alcohol and none may be consumed there, the New York State Liquor Authority has ruled.

Rochester police were called to the bar near Webster Avenue around 12:45 a.m. on March 12 to investigate a shooting and found Chad Wilson, 45, of Rochester shot several times in the upper body.

He was rushed by ambulance to Strong Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery but died from his injuries five days later, police said.

Jerome Mason, 48, of Rochester, also hurt in the shooting, was taken to Strong by private vehicle. He was treated and released several days later, police said.

On March 21, Jackie Robinson, 43, of Gates was arrested in the incident and charged with second-degree murder, second-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment.

The liquor authority subsequently learned that police had been called to Jackie Ray's Tavern Jan. 15 to investigate a complaint by a patron who said she was threatened by a man with a gun. She described him as the the owner and said she knew him as Jackie Ray. Police identified him as Robinson, who is the bar owners spouse.

The liquor authority has charged Jackie Rays Tavern with eight violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, including for operating a disorderly premises, operating in violation of the licenses approved method and failure to adequately supervise.

Reporter Marcia Greenwood covers general assignments. Send story tips to mgreenwo@rocheste.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @MarciaGreenwood.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Jackie Rays Tavern liquor license suspended following fatal shooting
The musical community  including rock royals Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Courtney Love, the band Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS  is mourning the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Shortly after news broke that Hawkins died in Bogota, Colombia hours before the band was due to take the stage, tributes started pouring in on social media. A beloved fixture in Los Angeles, where he lived, along with the greater touring world, Hawkins was remembered by contemporaries sharing memories, photos of the musician behind the kit and heartfelt words of grief.

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@TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans, wrote Osbourne on Twitter. See you on the other side.

. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side  Ozzy  Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022

God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and unstoppable rock power. Rest in Peace, my friend, wrote Morello, who shared a photo of himself with Hawkins and Perry Farrell.

God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend. pic.twitter.com/AkiRLF2L3e  Tom Morello (@tmorello) March 26, 2022

KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley each offered condolences on Twitter.

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Shocked and saddened to hear @taylorhawkins has passed away today, he wrote. Our prayers and condolences go out to the Hawkins family, @foofighters friends and fans. Sad.

Added Stanley, Speechless and Gutted. Taylor was a great guy, a dad and a husband. My heart goes out to then, Dave and the band. What awful news.

Courtney Love wrote, What a sad day, what a tragic passing. Taylor was a sweet adorable kid, excellent drummer, never hurt a fly. My condolences to my darling Pat (Smear), and to David (Grohl) tonight. Rip Taylor. Im so sorry Dave.

Smashing Pumpkins offered condolences with a simple, black and white shot of Hawkins: Taylor Hawkins. 1972-2022. Our deepest sympathies to Taylors family, his fans, and of course his band.

Taylor Hawkins 1972-2022.

Our deepest sympathies to Taylors family, his fans, and of course his band. pic.twitter.com/qlEaQK0uui  The Smashing Pumpkins (@SmashingPumpkin) March 26, 2022

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said in a statement: We are deeply saddened by the loss of Taylor Hawkins. He was a beloved member of the entire music community. We send our love and best wishes to Taylors family and everyone who is grieving him. Foo Fighters are scheduled to perform on the Grammy Awards on April 3, although their immediate plans are unclear.

Nickelback posted they were In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was every touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad.

In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad. pic.twitter.com/2AUeqpaN94  Nickelback (@Nickelback) March 26, 2022

KLOS on-air personality Matt Pinfield shared a picture of himself and Hawkins, simply writing, Today, I lost a friend I loved.

Today I lost a friend I loved. pic.twitter.com/Rcz2VMYFvQ  Matt Pinfield (@mattpinfield) March 26, 2022

Representing the generation whom Hawkins helped influence was Billie Eilishs brother and collaborator Finneas, who wrote, what an incredible talent, who didnt also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway. The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did.

So heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins passing, what an incredible talent, who didnt also need to be so kind and generous and cool but was all those things too anyway. The world was so lucky to have his gifts for the time that it did, Rest In Peace  FINNEAS (@finneas) March 26, 2022

Nandi Bushell, the British tween drumming phenom who joined the Foos for a performance last summer, woke up to the news in her native U.K., writing, Thank you for looking after me, thank you for being so kind and loving, thank you for being the most awesome drummer ever, thank you for bringing so much joy to the world, thank you for being you!

Our love, thoughts and support are with all who knew Taylor. Thank you for looking after me, thank you for being so kind and loving, thank you for being the most awesome drummer ever, thank you for bringing so much joy to the world, thank you for being you! With love, Nandi x pic.twitter.com/JAxo6N844a  Nandi Bushell (@Nandi_Bushell) March 26, 2022

See more tributes from across the music industry and the entertainment world below:

Im so sad about this man.

coolest dude ever.

god bless & comfort his family, his bandmates, his friends & all his loved ones. Taylor Hawkins.

Rest In Beats.#TaylorHawkins https://t.co/bOBv0l4K9r  Questo (@questlove) March 26, 2022

Devastated by the loss of our friend #TaylorHawkins I've no words to express all the feelings I have about his passing. But my heart goes out to his family. & his band & friends. RIP Taylor  https://t.co/pkQLK5rLVF  Slash (@Slash) March 26, 2022

Gutted. Completely gutted. We just recorded something together a month ago. Cant even process this right now. Lets hold Taylors wife and children close to our hearts.  Richard Marx (@richardmarx) March 26, 2022

Thank you Taylor Hawkins, youre responsible for memories Ill never forget! Sending condolences to his family, friends and band mates. pic.twitter.com/WlGGKh0bbc  Ted Stryker (@TedStryker) March 26, 2022

Thank you Taylor.. Thank you for always having the biggest warmest smile on your face and for lighting up every room with your infectious energy and good vibes. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/G4SGcvHAqi  Lars Ulrich (@larsulrich) March 26, 2022

These demons, they never rest!! trust me, I know!@taylorhawkins

Rest easy now brother.. Our heart goes out to his family, our whole band is in shock.. tragic news. Very sad  https://t.co/Ra0gUAoAO3  James'Munky'Shaffer (@JC_SHAFFER) March 26, 2022

So incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Taylor Hawkins. My thoughts are with his family and the band at this time. pic.twitter.com/wueydCu5gw  Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) March 26, 2022

Shocked n saddened to hear of the passing of Taylor Hawkins.He was a really great guy, drummer n family man. Was always great to see him!Was looking forward to seeing him n everyone in Daytona.Truly saddened. My deepest condolences to his family, the Foo Fighters ntheir fans.  Axl Rose (@axlrose) March 26, 2022

Long live Taylor Hawkins. He enriched my life as a dear friend & fellow musician. He brought so much joy to the world of music, he will be forever missed. Our deepest condolences to Alison, Shane, Annabelle & Everleigh Hawkins & the entire Foo Fighters family.

: Ross Halfin pic.twitter.com/ZsnqmjmPaW  Pearl Jam  (@PearlJam) March 26, 2022

Hearts broken all over the world. Taylor Hawkins was a kind soul & a monster musician. Drummer for the Foos, Alanis Morrisette & Sass Jordon (who I managed for a time). Taylor and his band were to play our Kiss Kruize in OctPrayers and condolences to the Hawkins family.  pic.twitter.com/qBTPJOpLIB  Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) March 26, 2022

RIP Taylor Hawkins, one of Derek Smalls' favorite drummers.  Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) March 26, 2022

We are terribly sorry to learn of the loss of our friend and musical brother Taylor Hawkins. So sorry to his family, Dave and the Foo family, and to the legions of his fans. Like everyone who knew him, we loved him. Rock Music wont be the same without him. pic.twitter.com/MXE5yGmy2O  weezer (@Weezer) March 26, 2022

Still processing the terrible news about Taylor Hawkins. Such a wonderful and crazily talented man. Thinking now about his family, his band, and his good friend Dave.  Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) March 26, 2022

I woke up this morning to hear the awful news of Taylor Hawkins death. What a terrible loss to us all. He was such a lovely guy and such a brilliant player. My deepest condolences go out to his family, his band and his fans. He will be sadly missed Rest In Peace Taylor. -Tony pic.twitter.com/MSYRMzDy8c  Tony Iommi (@tonyiommi) March 26, 2022

Im greatly saddened today after hearing the news about TAYLOR HAWKINS. He was one of those absoloutly rare people ya just couldnt help feeling good around him. You see he loved his family and life thru and thru And he was a ripping drummer TAYLOR you will be missed!! pic.twitter.com/GYVPlAyEc4  Joe Perry (@JoePerry) March 26, 2022

Im heartbroken to hear about Taylor Hawkins. He was such a nice young man. Love & Mercy to Taylors family and friends. pic.twitter.com/VyqZIP94UZ  Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) March 26, 2022

Such sad news about Taylor Hawkins. Anyone who knew him will tell you how great he was to be around. Everybodys friend. So positive and enthusiastic. He loved music and he loved life. @foofighters  Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) March 26, 2022

incredibly heartbreaking. one of the very best to do it. he seemed to always be smiling that big beautiful smile. rest easy Taylor Hawkins pic.twitter.com/YFpxvNpScx  Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) March 26, 2022

So devastated by the news of Taylor Hawkins passing. He was truly truly one of a kind. Such a generous, joyful, positive, impish, badass, infectiously hilarious, kind spirit. And one of the greatest rock drummers of all time. This f**king sucks.  Mark Ronson (@MarkRonson) March 26, 2022

GUTTED to hear of our friend and neighbor, Taylor Hawkins departure. In disbelief, like everyone else. He was one of my favorite people, always full of love he will be deeply missed. Our hearts go out to his family, to the Foos #RIPTaylorHawkins #FooFighters  leann rimes cibrian (@leannrimes) March 26, 2022

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US president Joe Biden warned that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" in a rousing speech to crowds in Warsaw.

Speaking on a visit to the Polish capital, Mr Biden said the Russian president was a "dictator bent on rebuilding an empire" but he would "never erase the people's love for liberty".

He said that Mr Putin's days ought to be numbered, adding: "For God's sake - this man cannot remain in power."

However, the White House quickly intervened following Mr Biden's speech to say he was not calling for a regime change in Russia.

Multiple powerful explosions thought to be caused by missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Lviv, just 40 miles away from the border with Poland, during Mr Biden's visit.

Mr Biden said memories of World War II were still fresh in the minds of some older generations, and Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine threatens to bring "decades of war".

The US president said Europe must steel itself for a "long fight ahead", as the conflict could take months to resolve.

Follow the latest updates below.

06:50 PM

Kremlin responds to Biden speech

Russia has responded to US president Joe Biden's speech in Warsaw, in which he said Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power".

When asked about the comment, a Kremlin spokesman said: "That's not for Biden to decide. The President of Russia is elected by Russians."

The White House quickly intervened following Mr Biden's speech to say he was not calling for a regime change in Russia.

06:39 PM

Fearless Ukrainians fight Russian troops to take back control of Chernobyl workers town

Story continues

Brave Ukrainians faced down Russian gunfire and explosives in a show of defiance after invading troops seized control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant live.

Hundreds of fearless Ukrainian citizens gathered in front of Slavutychs municipal hospital on Saturday after Russian forces took over the facility and arrested Yuri Fomichev, the local mayor.

Video footage from the scene appeared to show the resistance movement ignoring Russian soldiers firing warning shots into the air and launching stun grenades into the crowd, just hours after invaders arrived in the town, 102 miles north of Kyiv.

Read the full story here.

06:26 PM

Russia branded Nazis after hitting giant Holocaust memorial

Russian invaders have been branded as Nazis after hitting a Holocaust memorial outside Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said on Saturday that the Drobitsky Yar, a Menorah monument, was fired on and damaged by Russian forces.

Although it is not known if the Kremlin is deliberately targeting Jewish sites, it is the second Holocaust memorial to have been hit by Russian attacks since the war began.

Read the full story here.

05:56 PM

Lviv rocket strike

The mayor of Lviv said another rocket had hit the city in western Ukraine on Saturday, not long after two rockets struck its outskirts in what appeared to be the first attacks within the city's limits since the start of the war with Russia.

Lviv, some 40 miles from the Polish border, has so far escaped the bombardment and fighting that has devastated some Ukrainian cities closer to Russia since Moscow launched its invasion on Feb. 24.

But on Saturday Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said two rockets had struck the city's eastern outskirts in the mid-afternoon and ordered residents to take shelter.

Later, Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said there had been another strike. "One more rocket strike on Lviv," he said in an online post.

He did not share details of the location. He said the strike had damaged infrastructure but not residential buildings.

05:47 PM

Mr Biden: 'This man cannot remain in power'

"A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase the people's love for liberty. Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia."

Mr Biden said that Mr Putin's days ought to be numbered, adding: "For God's sake - this man cannot remain in power."

The US President concluded his speech by reiterating the words of Pope John Paul II: "Be not afraid."

"May God bless you all," he said.

05:43 PM

Mr Biden: 'Faith sees best in the dark'

Mr Biden cited the words of Pope John Paul II to rouse the crowds in Warsaw.

"'Be not afraid'. Those were the first words at the first public address of the first Polish pope in 1978. Those were the words that would come to define Pope John Paul II. Words that would change the world.

"It was a message about the power of faith, resilience, and the power of the people. In the face of a cruel and brutal system of government, it was a message that helped lift the Soviet repression.

"It was a message that will overcome the cruelty and brutality of this unjust war."

Mr Biden cited the words of the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: "Faith sees best in the dark".

05:41 PM

Mr Biden: 'We need to steel ourselves for a long fight ahead'

"This battle will not be won in days, or months either. We need to steel ourselves for a long fight ahead. For generations, Warsaw has stood where liberty has been challenged and liberty has prevailed."

Mr Biden said that in history, the "appetites and ambitions of the few" have sought "to dominate the lives and liberty of the many".

He said his message to Ukraine was: "We stand with you. Period."

After detailing the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, he said: "Let there be no doubt that this was has been a strategic failure for Russia already.

"I know that's no solace to the people, but he Putin, thought Ukrainians would roll over and not fight. Not much of a student of history...

"Instead, Russian forces have met their match with brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance. Rather than driving Nato apart, the West is now more stronger and united than it has ever been."

05:37 PM

Mr Biden: 'Russia was bent on violence from the start'

"The Kremlin wants to portray Nato enlargement as an imperial project aimed at destabilising Russia. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a defensive alliance and has never sought the demise of Russia.

"Time and again, we offered real diplomacy and concrete proposals to strengthen European security and build confidence on all sides. Russia met all proposals with lies and ultimatums. Russia was bent on violence from the start. There is simply no justification or provocation for Russia's choice of war.

"It threatens to return to decades of war that ravaged Europe before the international rule-based order was put in place. We cannot go back to that. Swift and punishing cost is the only thing that will get Russia to change it's course."

05:33 PM

US President: 'Russia has strangled democracy'

There are 1,000 people attending a speech by Joe Biden in Warsaw, including Polish officials, dignitaries and vetted Ukrainian refugees.

Mr Biden told the crowds: "The battle for democracy could and did not conclude with the end of the Cold War.

"Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived across the world. Contempt for the rule of law, democratic freedom, truth itself. Today, Russia has strangled democracy and sough to do elsewhere, not only in its homeland.

"Putin has the gall to say he's 'de-Nazifying Ukraine'. It's a lie. It's cynical and he knows that. It's obscene. President Zelensky was democratically elected. His family is Jewish. Putin has the audacity to believe that might will make right."

05:15 PM

Kyiv mayor: 'Please keep with Ukraine'

Vitali Klitschko has told thousands of protesters in central London, including politicians and celebrities, to "keep together" with Ukraine.

A huge sea of protesters, draped in blue and yellow colours, started near Hyde Park, before snaking through the roads towards Trafalgar Square.

They chanted "stand with Ukraine" and "stop the war", with roads being closed off and traffic stopped.

Protesters in London - Aaron Chown /PA

Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, speaking from a military bunker, told the crowd on a big screen near Nelson's Column: "We defend right now the same principles.

"Please keep together with our country, keep together with Ukraine."

The crowd, many from Ukraine, also marched beneath Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace message on an electronic billboard in Piccadilly.

05:05 PM

Pregnant women rescued from maternity hospital were among Mariupol theatre victims

Pregnant women who escaped a bombed hospital were sheltering in a Mariupol theatre when it was destroyed by Russians, it has emerged.

Ten days ago, a theatre believed to have been sheltering at least 1,000 women and children was destroyed in the southern port city.

About 300 people are now thought to have died in the bombing, according to Mariupol City Council, making it the deadliest single attack of the war to date.

It has now emerged that some of those taking shelter in the theatre were pregnant women who had just been rescued from Mariupols maternity hospital, which was also hit by Russian air strikes on March 10.

Read the full story here.

04:51 PM

Mayor of London: 'We must do more to help refugees'

The UK should be doing "much more" to aid Ukrainian refugees, Sadiq Khan has said, as he joined a march in support of the country.

A large crowd, including the Mayor of London, gathered near Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon for a march and vigil to send a unified message of support to the people of Ukraine.

Speaking ahead of the demonstration, Mr Khan said he was there to condemn Russia's "barbaric aggression".

Demonstrators wave Ukrainian flags in London - Justin Tallis/AFP

"It is important throughout the next few days, weeks to make it far, far easier, and much more easier for those who are fleeing Ukraine to come here," he said.

"You compare our Government's actions versus the actions of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, it's embarrassing.

"We've got be doing much more."

04:45 PM

Nato could use military if Russian chemical attack, says former security minister

A Conservative former security minister suggested Nato could take some form of military action against Russia if Moscow uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Baroness Neville-Jones, a former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? said she hopes the defence alliance's words of deterrence succeed in preventing Vladimir Putin launching such an attack.

"Let's hope that succeeds because what you then have to do, and obviously ministers are not going to say, but they are indicating that the response would be proportionate, and proportionate means it would be severe," she said.

"I don't think it's possible then to go on then with economic sanctions, it does have to be some kind of military response, there are a variety of responses you could take and it doesn't have to be necessarily in Ukraine - you've got a very large land mass called Russia."

03:59 PM

Fearless Ukrainians fight Russian troops to take back control of Chernobyl workers town

Brave Ukrainians faced down Russian gunfire and explosives in a show of defiance after invading troops seized control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant live.

Hundreds of fearless Ukrainian citizens gathered in front of Slavutychs municipal hospital on Saturday after Russian forces took over the facility and arrested Yuri Fomichev, the local mayor.

Video footage from the scene appeared to show the resistance movement ignoring Russian soldiers firing warning shots into the air and launching stun grenades into the crowd, just hours after invaders arrived in the town, 102 miles north of Kyiv.

Russian occupiers have invaded Slavutych and occupied the municipal hospital, the military administration of the Kyiv region, which includes the town, wrote on Telegram.

According to the latest information, the towns mayor, Yuri Fomichev, has been captured.

03:56 PM

In pictures: Missile strikes city near Polish border, during Biden visit to Warsaw

Smoke rises in the air in Lviv, western Ukraine, after a reported Russian attack - Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Residents in Lviv have been told to stay indoors - Sodel Vladyslav/Reuters

Smoke rises after an airstrike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Lviv, Ukraine - Sodel Vladyslav/Reuters

03:48 PM

Russian advance preventing evacuations from Chernigiv

The mayor of a war-scarred town in northern Ukraine said on Saturday that the slow advance of Russian troops means that large-scale evacuations from the town are no longer possible.

Chernigiv has been a centre of fighting between Russian troops and Ukraine's army since Moscow sent troops into its pro-democratic neighbour just over one month ago.

Earlier this week, city officials said Russian troops had deliberately targeted a key bridge linking the northern town with the capital Kyiv, restricting opportunities to leave.

"City officials can no longer arrange humanitarian corridors or evacuate the wounded," Chernigiv mayor Vladislav Atroshenko told reporters, adding that a pedestrian crossing leaving the city was under "constant" attack from Russian troops.

"We are deciding on how to get the seriously injured out by any means. We can't operate on them locally," he said, saying some 44 people, both military and civilians were in need of medical attention.

He said that more than 200 civilians had been killed in the city since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, and that 120,000 remain in the city of an estimated pre-invasion population of nearly around 280,000.

Ukrainian prosecutors earlier this month said 10 people were killed by Russian forces earlier while waiting in a line to collect bread in the northern city.

03:03 PM

Georgia's breakaway region sends troops to Ukraine

Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has sent troops to Ukraine to "help protect Russia", its leader said on Saturday, as Moscow's military campaign in the neighbouring country entered its 31st day.

"Our guys are going to fulfil their military duty with a proudly raised banner," the leader of South Ossetia, Anatoly Bibilov, said on Telegram.

He said the troops were "on fire."

"They understand perfectly that they are going to defend Russia, they are going to defend Ossetia too," Bibilov said.

"Because if fascism is not crushed at the distant frontiers, tomorrow it will again manifest itself here."

He did not say how many troops had been deployed but posted a video showing several buses and trucks on the move.

03:03 PM

War in Ukraine: latest pictures

US president Joe Biden hugs a volunteer from World Central Kitchen, who prepares free food for Ukrainian refugees, during his visit at the PGE National Stadium, in Warsaw, Poland - Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Demonstrators wave Ukrainian national flags during a 'London stands with Ukraine' protest march and vigil, in central London - JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Biden joins a meeting in Warsaw, Poland, between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine - Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

02:51 PM

Turkey defuses mine after Russia warns of strays from Ukraine ports

Turkey's military deactivated a mine on Saturday that had drifted in from the Black Sea, setting off a loud explosion north of Istanbul, days after Russia warned several of them had washed away from Ukrainian ports.

Defence Minister Halusi Akar described the object, first discovered by fishermen in the upper Bosphorus strait, as an old type of mine and said he was in touch with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities about it.

A witness heard a loud bang off the coastal village of Rumelifeneri, where naval vessels and military planes and helicopters were active. Turkey shares Black Sea borders with Russia and Ukraine.

"The mine, determined to be an old type, was neutralised by our team...and naval forces continue their vigilant work," Akar said in a televised statement.

Earlier, the coast guard had warned vessels to stay away from the round object bobbing on the waves, and a dive team initially moved in to investigate. Russia has claimed mines have broken from cables near Ukrainian ports and are drifting out to sea.

02:20 PM

Why Biden's Poland visit is steeped in symbolism

Joe Biden on Saturday revisited the site of a historic speech he made as a US senator after the fall of the Soviet Union, when he warned European partners not to be complacent, our US Correspondent Josie Ensor reports.

"Now it is time for the people of Western Europe to invest in the security of their continent for the next century," said President Biden, then a senator for Delaware, during a trip to Warsaw, Poland, some 25 years ago.

He was back this weekend, now as president, at a time when European security is facing its most serious test since the Second World War.

Mr Biden sought to reassure Poland that the US would defend against any attacks by Russia as the war in neighbouring Ukraine entered its second month. Russian president Vladimir Putin has shaken the Nato alliance after 30 years of relative peace and prosperity on the European continent.

The moment was steeped in symbolism, for it was Mr Biden, then the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was among the loudest voices in championing Natos expansion in Eastern Europe in the late 1990s.

"This, in fact, is the beginning of another 50 years of peace," he declared in 1998 as the Senate voted in favour of the inclusion of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Mr Biden said adding the former Cold War enemies to the Western military alliance amounted to "righting an historical injustice forced upon them by Joseph Stalin."

01:57 PM

Watch: Residents of Chernobyl worker town protest after Russian forces seize it

01:35 PM

Biden says Nato Article 5 is 'sacred commitment' for US

The US has a "sacred commitment" to the Nato military alliance's collective defence, US President Joe Biden told his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Saturday during a visit to Warsaw.

"You can count on that... For your freedom and ours," he told Duda, who said that Poles were feeling a "great sense of threat" as a result of the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

Poland is taking a "significant" responsibility in the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, Mr Biden said during a visit to Warsaw on Saturday, adding that the world should help lessen the burden.

He said he views Nato's Article 5 guarantee of mutual defence between member-states as a "sacred" commitment.

01:34 PM

Kyiv mayor cancels Sunday curfew at short notice

The mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Saturday cancelled a curfew he had announced just hours earlier for the next day without providing further explanation.

"New information from the military command: the Kyiv curfew will not enter into force tomorrow," mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on Telegram.

The usual overnight curfew from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) to 07:00 am (0500 GMT) would hold but people would "be able to freely move around Kyiv on Sunday during the day", he added.

On Saturday morning, Klitschko had said a fresh curfew would be imposed on the capital from Saturday evening until Monday morning.

He had said it would "start from 8:00 pm Saturday and last until 7:00 am on Monday", with residents only allowed out "to seek shelter if sirens go off". Public transport, shops, pharmacies and petrol pumps were to be closed.

Curfew has been imposed several times in Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.The previous curfew lasted 35 hours between March 21 and 23.

01:04 PM

Watch: Putin says Russia has been cancelled like JK Rowling as Harry Potter author hits back

01:04 PM

Ukraine says 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for front line areas

Agreement has been reached on the establishment of ten humanitarian corridors on Saturday to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots in Ukrainian towns and cities, Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Speaking on national television, she said civilians trying to leave the besieged southern port of Mariupol would have to leave in private cars as Russian forces were not letting buses through their checkpoints around the southern port city.

Reuters could not independently verify this information. Ukraine and Russia have traded blame when humanitarian corridors have failed to work in recent weeks.

12:53 PM

French forces could be deployed to evacuate 100,000 civilians from Mariupol

French forces could be dispatched to Ukraine as Emmanuel Macron plans an evacuation mission to save up to 100,000 Ukrainians from the besieged port city of Mariupol.

The French President is expected to talk with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to convince the Kremlin to allow the evacuation to take place.

Mr Macron on Friday announced he would be coordinating efforts with Greece and Turkey, in what could be the first operation that puts Western boots on the ground in Ukraine since the start of the conflict.

We are going to launch a humanitarian operation in conjunction with Turkey and Greece to evacuate all those who wish to leave Mariupol, Mr Macron told reporters, after a two-day meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels.

12:29 PM

Holocaust memorial damaged by Russian forces

Russian forces have damaged a Holocaust memorial near the city of Kharkiv after firing at it, according to Ukraine's ministry of defense on Saturday.

Around 15,000 Jews were shot or forced into mass graves at Drobitsky Yar, a ravine outside the eastern city.

Ukraine's ministry of defense posted a photo of the memorial's damaged structure, writing: "Russian invaders fired on and damaged Holocaust Memorial in Drobitsky Yar on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The Nazis have returned. Exactly 80 years later."

Melinda Simmons, the British ambassador to Ukraine, said: "Drobitzky Yar on the outskirts of Kharkiv, where 11,000 Jews were shot by Nazis in a ravine in 1942. Shelled by Russians in 2022."

russian invaders fired on and damaged Holocaust Memorial in Drobitsky Yar on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The Nazis have returned. Exactly 80 years later.#RussianWarCrimesinUA @naftalibennett pic.twitter.com/eJS8ttepEg  Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 26, 2022

12:10 PM

Russian soldier runs over his own commander

If ever there was a sign that the war in Ukraine was not going as well as Vladimir Putin had hoped, it must have been the sight of a Russian soldier running over one of his own commanders with a tank.

The footage of Col Yury Medvedev being carried away in agony on a stretcher, his legs wrapped in a blanket, may be low quality, but its meaning is stark.

The Russian forces appear to have lost control of at least some of their own troops, as the conflict turns from the lightning invasion they were promised into a prolonged war of attrition.

A Western official said the brigade commander had been "killed by his own troops, we believe as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade".

11:56 AM

How one soldiers careless capture sums up Russias invasion debacle

For Private Volodymyr of the Russian army, the call of duty was not as strong as the call of nature. Serving with an attack force on the outskirts of Kyiv, he sneaked into some woods in no man's land to take a quick lavatorial break.

But while it might have been preferable to the cramped cubicle of a Russian armoured vehicle, his al fresco ablutions meant he dropped his guard along with his trousers. He was spotted by a passing Ukrainian defence patrol and taken prisoner, giving a new meaning to the phrase "Missing in Action".

"He'd wandered about 500 yards from his position and had just unbuckled his trousers to take a sh," laughed Pavlo Maksym, a sergeant with a Ukrainian civil defence militia in the village of Stoyanka, on Kyivs western flank.

"We crept up on him, pointed our guns at him and told him to keep quiet. It was a gamble because if he'd made a noise he could have given us away to the Russian positions, but he didn't - he was just a young kid who didn't know what he was doing."

11:21 AM

Inside the Wagner Group: Death is our business  and business is good

One month ago, a Russian military Antonov transport plane took off from the Central African Republic, bound for eastern Ukraine.

It was carrying around 100 mercenaries from the notorious Wagner Group, on their way to join some 200 already there. Almost all of these men had served in elite military units or in the security services.

Some had been in the Spetznaz, the special forces, others in military intelligence, the GRU, or the foreign intelligence service, the SVR, or in the FSO, which guards the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.

Smaller groups of men arrived from other places where the Wagner Group has a presence. This gathering was a sign that Putin had made the decision to start a war in Ukraine  and of how he would fight it.

11:04 AM

War in Ukraine: latest pictures

Refugees from Mariupol wait for the departure of a train to Lviv from the train station of Zaporizhia, Ukraine

A woman looks at a fragment of a cluster rocket in Kharkiv

10:45 AM

Russian hints at scaling back 'may not be the truth'

A Government minister warned that Moscow's claims should be treated sceptically after hints at a possible scaling back of the conflict.

Policing minister Kit Maltouse told BBC Breakfast: "I'm not qualified to say, but what I do know is there's an awful lot of misinformation and disinformation flying around in this awful conflict.

"And we need to take care that what first appears may not in fact be the truth. Let's hope there may well be a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible."

He said refugees have arrived in the UK through the Homes For Ukrainians scheme, but said the number will not be published until "next week".

He said 20,100 visas have been granted through the extended family route, with another 35,000 "in the process".

10:37 AM

Shelled city in north Ukraine fears becoming 'next Mariupol'

Like many residents of Ukraine's besieged city of Chernihiv, linguistics scholar Ihar Kazmerchak spends his nights in a bomb shelter and starts his day lining up for the little potable water authorities have left to hand out.

Surrounded by Russian forces and under constant bombardment, the northern city known for its eclectic monasteries has no electricity, heating or running water. The lists at pharmacies of the medicines no longer available grow longer by the day.

"In basements at night, everyone is talking about one thing: Chernihiv becoming next Mariupol," Kazmerchak, 38, said, referring to the southern port city 525 miles away that has suffered some of the worst horrors of the war.

The fear is not misplaced. Russian bombs destroyed Chernihiv's main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv on Wednesday; on Friday, artillery shells rendered the remaining pedestrian bridge impassable, cutting off the last possible route for people to get out or for food and medical supplies to get in.

An unexploded ordnance on the floor of an apartment in the northern city of Chernihiv - Ukrainian State Emergency Service

10:15 AM

New Kyiv curfew looms

A fresh curfew will be imposed on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from Saturday evening until Monday morning, mayor Vitali Klitschko announced.

"The military command decided to reinforce the curfew. It will start from 8:00 pm Saturday and last until 7:00 am on Monday," he said on Telegram.

He said residents could only "go out to seek shelter if sirens go off" and added that "public transport, shops, pharmacies and petrol pumps will be closed."

Curfew has been imposed several times in Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.

The previous curfew lasted 35 hours between March 21 and 23.

10:11 AM

'Ukraine could take back Kherson city today'

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed his troops as having delivered "powerful blows" to the invading forces as he urged Moscow to negotiate an end to the month-long war.

Mr Zelensky claimed in his night-time address that more than 16,000 Russian troops had been killed in the conflict.

An adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of defence, Markian Lubkivskyi, predicted troops could on Saturday take back Kherson, the first major city that the Kremlin's forces seized.

Mr Lubkivskyi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We cannot believe the statements from Moscow because there's still a lot of untruth and lies from that side. That's why we understand the goal of Putin still is the whole of Ukraine."

Referring to the port city of Kherson, in the south east, Mr Lubkivskyi said: "I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces.

"We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities."

09:58 AM

Putin pulling back from urban warfare

The UKs Ministry of Defence said Russian forces are increasingly reliant on indiscriminate air and artillery bombardments, as they are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations.

Russia continues to besiege a number of major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol, the MoD added.

Here's the latest intelligence briefing.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 26 March 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/Gg53qkcevl



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/TLL9SLsPpY  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 26, 2022

09:45 AM

New: Russian troops 'seize Chernobyl worker town'

Russian forces have taken control of the town of Slavutych, where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region Oleksandr Pavlyuk said on Saturday.

In an online statement, Pavlyuk said Russian troops had occupied the hospital in Slavutych and kidnapped the mayor. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

On Friday, Ukraine said its troops had repulsed a first attack by Russian troops closing in on the town.

The UN's nuclear watchdog also said it was "concerned" by shelling of the area, with staff unable to meet usual shift patterns at the plant, which is still maintained and was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

09:31 AM

Kremlin defence minister seen speaking after long public silence

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu was seen speaking publicly for the first time in more than two weeks on Saturday, chairing an army meeting and discussing weapons supplies.

In the video, uploaded on social media by his ministry, Shoigu said he had discussed issues related to the military budget and defence orders with the finance ministry.

"We continue ahead-of-schedule delivery of weaponry and equipment by means of credits. The priorities are long-range high-precision weapons, aircraft equipment and maintenance of engagement readiness of strategic nuclear forces," said Shoigu.

The meeting was attended by a number of top Russian army officials including the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, who also had not been seen in public recently.

Shoigu appeared on screen in a video clip of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Security Council on Thursday, but was not shown speaking. Prior to that, he had not been seen in public since March 11.

09:03 AM

UK gives encircled Ukrainian cities 25 truckloads of food

Britain is set to provide 2 million in vital food supplies for Ukrainian cities encircled by Russian forces, the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said.

Around 25 truckloads of dried food, tinned goods and water will be transported by road and rail following a request by the Ukrainian government.

Warehouses in Poland and Slovakia are being readied to supply the supplies from early next week, with the window of opportunity to supply civilians trapped in besieged cities such as Mariupol and Chernihiv rapidly closing.

It is estimated over 12 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance across Ukraine, with the actual figure likely to be much higher.

Ms Truss said: "We stand firmly with our Ukrainian friends."

Ukrainian service members inspect destroyed Russian military vehicles, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the town of Trostianets, in the Sumy region - Ukrainian Ground Forces/Handout

08:51 AM

Russia fuelling nuclear arms race, says Zelensky

Russia's "bragging" about its nuclear weapons is fuelling a dangerous arms race, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky told the Doha Forum on Saturday.

"They are bragging that they can destroy with nuclear weapons not only a certain country but the entire planet," Mr Zelensky said in a video message to the forum of political and business leaders.

08:35 AM

Russia signals less ambitious goals in Ukraine war

Russia has signalled it may dial back its war aims to focus on eastern Ukraine after failing to break the nation's resistance a month on, including up to 300 feared killed in the bombing of a theatre.

The possible shift came ahead of a planned meeting of US president Joe Biden with Ukrainian refugees in Poland and talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw before he gives a speech on the "brutal war", the White House said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin had ordered the February invasion to destroy Ukraine's military and topple pro-Western president Volodymyr Zelensky, bringing the country under Russia's sway.

But Sergei Rudskoi, a senior general, suggested a considerably reduced "main goal" of controlling Donbas, an eastern region already partly held by Russian proxies.

His surprise statement came as a Western official reported that a seventh Russian general, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, had died in Ukraine and that a colonel had been "deliberately" killed by his demoralised men.

Moscow's troops are facing a counteroffensive in Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city under Russian control.

08:23 AM

Zelensky calls on energy producers to hike output

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on energy producing countries on Saturday to increase output so that Russia cannot use its oil and gas wealth to "blackmail" other nations.

Addressing the Doha Forum international conference via video link, Mr Zelensky said countries such as Qatar could make a contribution to the stabilisation of Europe.

"They can do much to restore justice. The future of Europe depends on your effort. I ask you to increase the output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no country can use energy as a weapon and blackmail the world," he said in translated comments.

The month-long invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Europe's top gas supplier, has sharpened concerns of disruption to energy supplies and increased scrutiny of European Union countries' reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Mr Zelensky also said no country is insured against shocks from disruptions to food supply, with Ukraine one of the world's largest grain producers. "Russian troops are covering fields in Ukraine for miles, they are exploding agrarian equipment," he said.

06:45 AM

Biden to call on 'free world' to stand against Putin in Poland speech

US President Joe Biden will argue in a speech in Poland on Saturday that the free world opposes Russias invasion of Ukraine and that there is unity among major economies on the need to stop Vladimir Putin, the White House said.

After three days of emergency meetings with allies of the G7, European Council and NATO, and a visit with U.S. troops in Poland, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Mr Biden, who took office last year after a violently contested election, vowed to restore democracy at home and unite democracies abroad to confront autocrats including the Russian president and Chinas leader Xi Jinping.

Putins Feb 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a special operation, has tested that promise and threatened to inaugurate a new Cold War three decades after the Soviet Union unravelled.

06:09 AM

Six more countries 'should be denazified'

A Moscow City Duma deputy has suggested that six more countries - Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - should be 'denazified', regional media organisation Nexta is reporting.

06:04 AM

Russia conducts military drills on isles disputed with Japan

Russia was conducting drills on islands claimed by Tokyo, Japanese media said on Saturday, days after Moscow halted peace talks with Japan because of its sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Eastern Military District said it was conducting military drills on the Kuril islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment, Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday.

It did not say where on the island chain, connecting Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the drills were taking place. Japanese media said they were on territory the Soviet Union seized at the end of World War Two that is claimed by Tokyo.

Japan's Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office could not be reached outside business hours to comment on the exercises.

04:20 AM

Pictured: Flames and smoke rise from a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv on Friday

Flames and smoke rise from a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) - AP/Felipe Dana

03:33 AM

Russia claims it has completed main goals are false, says US think tank

Russia has falsely claimed it has worn down the Ukrainian army, allowing it to focus on its key objective of capturing Donetsk and Luhansk, said a US Think Tank.

Sergei Rudskoi, first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said on Friday in an assessment of the war effort so far that Russian forces have completed the main tasks of the first stage of the operation.

The US Institute For The Study of War said the claims were inaccurate and likely aimed at winning public support at home.

Rudskois comments were likely aimed mainly at a domestic Russian audience and do not accurately or completely capture current Russian war aims and planned operations.

Russias justification for the invasion of Ukraine from the outset was the fictitious threat Moscow claimed Ukrainian forces posed to the people in Russian-occupied Donbas. The Kremlin has reiterated this justification for the war frequently as part of efforts to explain the invasion to its people and build or sustain public support for Putin and the war

03:12 AM

The UK has sanctioned 65 individuals and entities over the war in Ukraine -- Latest from the UK Ministry of Defence

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 March 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/tD70NEEBd8



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/OcvQHs0qIb  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 25, 2022

02:47 AM

' Kherson remains under total Russian control', reports CNN

The city of Kherson remains under total Russian control, four residents of the city have told CNN.

The claims contrast with earlier media reports citing the Pentagon as saying Ukrainian forces had retaken control of parts of the city.

"Today [I] saw them with their guns at the market, possibly searching vegetables for buying," one resident said to CNN on Friday evening. "They lose only couple of villages, not towns."

CNN said the assessment that Ukrainian forces had started to reclaim the city was based on information from two US defence officials claiming images and media reports showed the Ukrainian flag draped from city hall.

02:38 AM

Ukraine to build temporary housing for displaced citizens

Ukraine will build temporary housing for its displaced citizens, The Kyiv Independent reports.

Once we achieve peace, we will begin immediate large-scale reconstruction of our country. But now people need a temporary home, the newspaper quotes President Volodymyr Zelensky as saying.

Ukraine to build temporary housing for internally displaced people.



President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a recent address that the government was tasked with constructing temporary housing for Ukrainians evacuated from the hot spots of Russias war.  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 25, 2022

02:34 AM

Today's top stories
A Russian defence minister who seemingly disappeared from the public eye two weeks ago has resurfaced.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had not been seen since appearing on Russian state television on 11 March with the Kremlins last reference to him coming on 18 March, where he and Vladimir Putin were said to have joined a security council meeting.

Questions had been raised surrounding his whereabouts with varying reports suggesting the 66-year-old was suffering health issues, and that he had fallen out with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Previous reports suggested he might even lead a coup against the Russian leader in a revolt over the Ukraine war.

However, he has since reappeared to chair an army meeting in which they discussed Russias weapon supply, in a video posted by the defence ministry.

Sergei Shoigu is a close ally of Vladimir Putin (Reuters)

The footage shows him talking through the militarys budget with the finance ministry, as well as procurements of artillery.

"We continue ahead-of-schedule delivery of weaponry and equipment by means of credit, he can be heard saying.

The priorities are long-range high-precision weapons, aircraft equipment and maintenance of engagement readiness of strategic nuclear forces.

Also at the meeting was a number of high-ranking Russian military officials including the chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who has also recently been absent from the public eye.

Mr Shoigu, a close ally to Putin who is overseeing his invasion of Ukraine, has not been seen with the president since a meeting with Mr Gerasimov on 27 February, just days after Russian troops entered.

With rumours of a rift between the pair, Kremlin refuted the claims on Thursday saying the defence minister had a lot on his plate right and now is really not the time for media activity.

It insisted Mr Shoigu has been present in a security council meeting with Mr Putin, with a video later released purporting to prove it.

The minister was briefly visible on a split screen of Russian officials displayed in front of the president although doubts quickly cast over its veracity.

There has also been hearsay he was suffering from ill health, with an unnamed official telling independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo he had heart problems.
People embrace after being reunited as a police officer stands by following a shooting at Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont on March 25, 2020. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

After dropping off her husband at OHare International Airport, Jennifer Dwyer and her 14-year-old son, Aidan, decided to go shopping in Rosemont fashion outlet mall to wait out the afternoon traffic back home to Naperville on Friday night.

They were about to leave the Columbia store around 7 p.m., and then we heard gunshots, Dwyer said.

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Like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, like at least five or six. Sounded pretty close.

Dwyer froze, until one manager rushed over and started yelling, ordering them to go to a back storage room, where they stayed for more than an hour.

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What she heard was a masked gunman as he opened fire targeting 20-year-old Skokie resident Joel Valdes, police said. In the process, the assailant also hit at least one other person: a 15-year-old girl.

Valdes was found on the ground on the first-floor south hallway, a short distance from the food court at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall shortly after officers swarmed the scene and the shooter and others fled in a 2008 Honda. Valdes was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The girl, who was shot in the right wrist and grazed in the leg, was found in a washroom near Valdes. Her condition had stabilized at a hospital.

As of Saturday evening, police had not announced charges for a person of interest who was pulled over in a 2008 Honda and arrested about 9:30 p.m. Friday on the inbound Eisenhower Expressway on Chicagos West Side.

Police officers stand outside of Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont following a shooting at the mall on March 25, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Imagining the worst, Dwyer looked around for a safer room that would lock after learning the storage room didnt lock. She found a nearby bathroom and made a mental note to pull her son in there if a shooter managed to get into the store, she said.

While they were in the room packed with about 10 others, Dwyer continued to prepare.

I started looking around to see if, OK, if somebody does come through those doors, what can I throw? Dwyer said.

Luis Elijio, his infant daughter and other relatives were browsing inside the Diplomatic store on the lower level of the mall when a woman outside of the store suddenly opened the doors of Diplomatic and screamed: Theyre shooting! Elijio said.

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And right after that I heard what sounded like an automatic weapon, Elijio said. His first thought was his 5-month-old daughter  he wanted to make sure she was safe, he said.

They all ran to the back of the store with the rest of the shoppers at Diplomatic while an employee quickly locked the front doors as people ran out of the mall. Another manager escorted Diplomatic shoppers out of the mall through a back door.

Later, as the two families reflected on their ordeal while safe in a nearby hotel lobby, Dwyer and Elijio were both grateful.

Elijio remembered the chilling sight of parents separating from their children as they ran out of the mall, and police escorting children looking for their parents. He was thankful his family was able to stay together during their escape.

Im just nervous, Elijio said. Its something I think youll never forget ... you hear about it all the time but never so close to home.

As for Dwyer, she recalled being in the storage room for about one hour, until a SWAT team went in and told them to walk out with their hands to their sides.

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Its scary. Some of the people in the room we were with were pretty upset.

Rosemont police urged anyone with further details to contact their tip line, 224-585-2865. The public can also reach out via our anonymous tip center by texting TIP RPSD along with your tip to the number 888-777.
Cary McMullen

A few weeks ago, while out of town, my wife and I attended a Sunday morning service at a local church. The pastor announced that the archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church requested that churches around the world recite Psalm 31 that morning as a prayer on behalf of the Ukrainian people. So we read aloud the psalm.

It begins: In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; / do not let me ever be put to shame; / in your righteousness deliver me. / Incline your ear to me; / rescue me speedily. / Be a rock of refuge for me, / a strong fortress to save me.

The tragedy, and travesty, of Russias invasion of Ukraine is compounded by the complicity of the Russian Orthodox Church in Vladimir Putins criminal enterprise. For regrettable historical reasons, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has not only refused to condemn the invasion, he has lent his endorsement to it.

The various churches of the Eastern Orthodox tradition are generally independent of one another, based in the language of the nations where they exist, and loosely unified by allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul. The Russian Orthodox Church has always been aloof from this arrangement, maintaining its own sphere of influence that has included Ukraine.

When the czars ruled Russia, the hierarchy of the church was little more than a spiritual prop for the monarchy, giving its blessing to whatever the czar decreed. Then came the communist revolution, and the church truly suffered persecution and suppression. In general the hierarchy simply tried to keep its head down and survive. Its well known that the KGB regularly infiltrated the priesthood in order to look for signs of subversion and ultimately to control the church.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the persecution lifted and Russians were free once more to embrace their religious tradition. But Putin saw the church as a tool for building Russian identity and to restore it to its former role of blessing the leadership of the state. He invited Kirill to ceremonies, saw to it the church had plenty of money for building great cathedrals and drew the Patriarch into the top echelon of Russian society. Kirill and his bishops went along with this nationalist agenda. He was quoted as calling Putin a miracle of God, not surprising since he is rumored to have been one of those KGB agents who infiltrated the church.

Story continues

Now Putin is using Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church to bolster his view that Ukraine and other near-Russian countries are part of Holy Russia, a czarist-era concept of empire that has little basis in modern reality. As Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service reported this week, This religious ramp-up to war was the culmination of a decade-long effort to wrap Russias geopolitical ambitions in faith.  (T)he partnership of Putin and Kirill laid the ideological and theological groundwork for the current invasion.

After the invasion, Kirill issued a general statement calling for peace and a limit to civilian casualties. Whether the Kremlin leaned on Kirill to be a little more on board is unknown, but since then Kirills rhetoric has become more vitriolic. He referred to Ukraines resistance as evil forces and in a sermon described Russias invasion in terms of a contest between Russian values and immoral Western values.

The invasion is not only costing Russia militarily and economically but also is costing the Russian Orthodox Church whatever respect it may have had. Already Russian Orthodox priests and bishops in Ukraine as well as diaspora locations such as Europe and North America have denounced Kirill for his stance and removed his name from weekly commemorative prayers. The Russian church, like its political leadership, is facing isolation.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is being devastated by Putins army, leaving its people to recite Psalm 31, which concludes:

I have become like a broken vessel. / For I hear the whispering of many  terror all around!  as they scheme together against me, / as they plot to take my life. / Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me / when I was beset as a city under siege. / Be strong, and let your heart take courage, / all you who wait for the Lord.

Cary McMullen is a retired journalist and the former religion editor of The Ledger.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Russian Orthodox Leader is Complicit in the Crime of Ukraine
The star-studded event kicked off Oscar weekend in style

Oscars weekend kicked off with a star-studded affair on Friday night when some of Hollywoods brightest stars gathered for the 12th annual Governors Awards.

The event was hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, who gave Honorary Oscars to Liv Ullman, Samuel L. Jackson and writer/director Elaine May. They also honored Danny Glover with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

The Dolby Theater was filled with flower-adorned tables where attendees enjoyed cocktails and a three-course meal while casually mingling and snapping photos.

Samuel L. Jackson, Liv Ullmann and Danny Glover pose with their awards during the 2022 Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 25, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Several stars were spotted throughout the night, including Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo, Rita Wilson, Mara Brock Akil, Delroy Lindo, Nate Parker, and Cookie and Magic Johnson, among others.

Denzel Washington, whose nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Tragedy Macbeth, paid a heartfelt tribute to Jackson, who was called up to the stage after a montage of some of his most memorable workfilled with his signature expletivesamused the crowd.

Washington pointed out a long list of organizations Jackson has supported over the years. Let me tell you something: We go back so far, he said. I dont know what yall been doing, but thats what hes been doing.

During his acceptance speech, Jackson alluded to the stereotypical roles he has had to play as a Black actor in Tinseltown. Ill tell you, this is going to be cherished, he said. Its been a real pleasure making indelible impressions on audiences as Gang Member No. 2, Bum, Hold-Up Man and the unforgettable Black Guy, just to name a few.

Originally scheduled for January, the Governors Awards was postponed this year due to COVID-19 concernsmaking this year unique for its close proximity to the Academy Awards, going down on Sunday.

Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson speak onstage during the 2022 Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood

Alfre Woodard also took the stage to pay tribute to her friend, Danny Glover. He levels his light wherever a fellow traveler pools in darkness, she said. Danny Glover always does the right thing first, without testing the prevailing winds of public opinion.

Story continues

When Glover took the stage to accept the Humanitarian Award, he spoke of his ancestors; specifically his grandparents, who didnt allow their daughters and son to pick cotton in September and sent them to school in September, he said.

Because of these heroic, amazing people in Louisville, Georgia, [my mother was] the first person to graduate from college in her family and in her community. She inspired me, my mother, because no one worked harder. No one dreamed harder and fought for justice.

Check back with theGrio for more Oscars coverage all weekend long, and tune in on Sunday to see what producer Will Packer has cooked up for Hollywoods biggest night.

TheGrio is now on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover honored at Governors Awards appeared first on TheGrio.
(Reuters) -The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen began a military operation on Saturday to stop attacks on its oil facilities and "protect global energy sources," Saudi state media reported.

The coalition said it was carrying out air strikes in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa and Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

It said it aims to "protect global energy sources and ensure supply chains" and that the operation would continue until it achieves its goals. The operation was in its early stages and Iran-aligned Houthis should bear the consequences of their "hostile behaviour", the coalition said.

Saudi media earlier quoted the coalition as saying it would "directly deal with sources of threat", asking civilians to stay away from any oil site or facility in Hodeidah.

Yemen's Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday. The Saudi-led coalition said oil giant Aramco's petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah was hit, causing a fire in two storage tanks but no casualties.

The coalition later said it also had intercepted and destroyed two drones over Yemeni skies that had been launched toward the kingdom from oil facilities in Hodeidah.

The coalition said it would spare civilian sites and avoid collateral damage at oil facilities.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said the coalition's warplanes launched raids on the city of Hodeidah and that flights are still going on, while residents told Reuters that raids were near the port of Hodeidah.

Al Masirah TV also said the coalition attacked Salif port, the electricity corporation, and oil facilities in Hodeidah.

Residents in Sanaa told Reuters the administrative building of Safer oil company in south of the city was bombed.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Omar Fahmy; Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Editing by Sandra Maler, Sam Holmes and William Mallard)
benedek / iStock.com

If you qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, you can use your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card at participating Subway restaurants. However, Subway only accepts EBT payments in states that participate in the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP).

See: SNAP Benefits Available in Your State in 2022

Find: Do Unused SNAP Benefits Roll Over Each Month?

Currently, Subway only accepts EBT at select locations in California, Arizona and Rhode Island, Frugal Reality stated. The RMP is a state option that allows certain SNAP recipients to buy prepared meals at restaurants using their SNAP benefits. RMP-eligible individuals must be either:

60 years of age or older

Disabled

Homeless

A spouse of a SNAP client who is eligible for the RMP

If you dont live in the above states, you may still be in luck. Some Subway locations may accept EBT for cold food items. Frugal Reality noted that this is typically the decision of the manager and its rare to find a Subway that takes EBT in states outside the RMP.

Subway only accepts EBT for in-store purchases. If you want to make an order through Subway online or the Subway app, youll need to use a different form of payment, like a debit or credit card.

According to Frugal Reality, these SNAP-eligible items can be purchased with an EBT at Subway:

Bread and cereals

Red meat

Dessert items

Dairy products

Fruits and vegetables

Cold sandwiches and salads

Soft drinks and energy drinks

Pork products

Chicken meat and other poultry products

Snack crackers and chips

If youre eligible for the RMP and live in California, Arizona or Rhode Island and want to purchase hot, prepared food at Subway, contact the store to check whether or not they accept EBT cards. Even if you live outside of these states, contact your local Subway to see if they accept EBT for cold food items.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: SNAP Guidance: Does Subway Accept EBT Food Stamps?
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson answers questions during the second day her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.





Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate this Sunday's talk show circuit along with the high-profile confirmation hearing of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson that unfolded this week.

Fighting in Ukraine has now entered its second month, but neither side appears to have an upper hand. Russia has brutally shelled Ukraine's cities, while this week Ukrainian forces launched counteroffensive attacks, including from the capital of Kyiv.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova, who will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union," last week called the invasion a "brutal attack" and said reparations for the assault on her people would be needed when the war ends.

'We've lost people, many of our cities are destroyed and still are being destroyed. We've lost 60 universities completely, I mean, they're erased," she said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Ukrainian officials have welcomed the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia by nations across the world but have also asked for more assistance, including fighter jets and a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Some American politicians are growing to consider providing more air power to Ukraine.

Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, last week said he wanted to provide the MiG-29 fighter jets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking for, arguing "symbolically, it would mean a lot to Zelensky."

McCaul will appear on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday the security alliance was expanding its military presence in NATO countries near Ukraine, and providing equipment to Ukraine to protect against chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith is set to appear on CNN's "State of the Union" and "Fox News Sunday."

Story continues

Jackson's confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate to potentially become the first Black female justice on the court also captured much of the news cycle this week.

The nominee was repeatedly grilled by GOP senators for what Republicans said was her lenient sentencing in child pornography cases.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told The Hill this week he was unsure how he will vote on Jackson's confirmation, but he had concerns about packing the court, or increasing the number of justices.

"I'm concerned, as you can imagine, about the court packing issue," said the senator, who will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Jackson has broad support on the left, however, including from moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who signaled he would vote for the nominee.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who will also appear on "Meet the Press," defended Jackson during the confirmation hearings in an emotional speech. Booker said the GOP questioning of Jackson was "almost comical if it was not so dangerous."

"You have sat with grit and grace and have shown us just an extraordinary demeanor," Booker told her, adding later: "You have earned this spot, you are worthy. You are a great American."

The full guest list is below:

ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova; Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.)

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.); Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Markarova; Booker; Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va. )and Jim Risch (R-Idaho); Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas); U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith; Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen.

"Fox News Sunday" - Smith; Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.); Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)

Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" - Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.); Sen Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R)
President Biden speaks during a news conference after a NATO summit





Thousands of people in Poland protested for the U.S. to close the Ukrainian sky by lying on the streets Friday.

More than 4,000 people protested in Warsaw, which has seen the most Ukrainian refugees since the war began, according to the Ukrainian Volunteer Journalists Initiative.

The rally, called "Stop promising, start acting!", is expected to be repeated in other cities around the world and continue to grow as more people die in Ukraine.

The protest came as President Biden and other top U.S. officials met with Ukrainian officials in Poland on Saturday.

Biden on Saturday will give a speech in Poland, with the White House calling it a "major address."

The request of the Polish protesters is similar to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who asked the U.S. for a no-fly zone when speaking to Congress.

The U.S. and NATO have been hesitant to do so as such a move could get the countries directly involved in the war.

The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine to fight Russia, but has denied requests for a no fly zone and a transfer of fighter jets.

Biden said he is disappointed he is not able to go into Ukraine while he is in Europe, but says the decision was made for security reasons.

Poland has taken in more than half of the more than 3.5 million Ukrainians who have fled Ukraine during the war.
Businesswoman Kelly Loeffler speaks after she was introduced by Gov. Brian Kemp at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on December 4, 2019. AP Photo/Elijah Nouvelage

Trump's mood "soured" when Kemp said he had already picked Loeffler for the Senate, per a new book.

According to AJC reporter Greg Bluestein, Trump met with Kemp and Loeffler in a private DC meeting.

Kemp's decision to tap Loeffler for the Senate didn't clear the field of Republican candidates.

In November 2019, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia flew on a private plane with businesswoman Kelly Loeffler and presidential confidant Nick Ayers to meet with then-President Donald Trump about the Senate vacancy that would soon be created by then-GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson's retirement.

Kemp was tasked with selecting a replacement, and he quickly zeroed in on Loeffler for several reasons, largely due to her rural roots, conservatism, and the governor's belief that she could attract female voters to the GOP in the fast-growing Atlanta suburbs.

Before the group left to meet with Trump in Washington, the governor settled on Loeffler for the appointment, bypassing the conservative favorite, Rep. Doug Collins.

Related video: How Georgia's Senate races became the most expensive ever

When the then-president met with Kemp and Loeffler and discovered that the governor had already made up his mind, his demeanor became icy, according to a new book by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution political reporter Greg Bluestein.

Trump came into the meeting thinking he was going to be a part of the conversation about the appointment, and Kemp's decision to keep the selection process outside of the former president's orbit didn't win the governor any favors, as Bluestein detailed in "Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power."

Trump pointed out that Loeffler could be a "star" one day, but pivoted back to Kemp's spotty level of communication.

"I haven't heard a lot from you  is your mind made up?" he asked Kemp during the discussion.

The governor was honest with Trump and said that Loeffler was his pick to join the Senate.

Story continues

"In an instant, the mood soured," Bluestein wrote as he described Trump's reaction. "Kemp made a tactical error by not giving Trump reason to believe he had input."

Trump then reportedly needled Kemp about why he decided to fly to Maryland in the first place.

"If you already made the decision ... then why are you even here?" Trump said, according to the book.

Bluestein wrote that the rest of the discussion was described by individuals with knowledge of the talk as a "full-throated confrontation" and a "super-aggressive job interview."

Trump pressed Kemp about why he didn't pick Collins  who had gained prominence as one of the then-president's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill  and then asked the governor how the party would retain the seat in the upcoming election.

However, Trump wasn't thrilled with many of Kemp's responses, according to the book.

"Kemp did his best to answer, but it didn't placate the president," Bluestein wrote. "As the meeting closed, Trump said tersely: 'Good luck. Good luck, Governor.'"

Insider reached out to representatives of Trump for comment.

In December 2019, Kemp formally announced Loeffler's appointment to the Senate and sought to reassure conservatives by pointing to her strong support of gun rights and a border wall at the US-Mexico border.

However, divisions at the Georgia State Capitol remained apparent. Many Republicans  including state House Speaker David Ralston  were allies of Collins and wanted to see him compete for the seat.

And Collins himself teased a Senate run that very day while Loeffler was still giving her introductory speech in Atlanta, according to Bluestein.

"From the outset, it was obvious that Loeffler was determined not to give Collins even a smidgeon of an opening to run to her right," the book said. "Neither her public embrace of Trump nor her promise to dig deep into her bank account scared off the congressman."

He added: "In the days since Trump's disastrous meeting with Kemp became public, the pro-Collins crowd had only tried harder to sully the appointee's image before she had time to shape the public's opinion."

Loeffler joined the Senate in January 2020 and Collins launched his Senate bid that same month.

Both candidates went on to compete in a multiparty special election in November 2020; the top-two vote-getters were Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock and Loeffler, who edged out Collins.

Warnock went on to defeat Loeffler in a January 2021 Senate runoff election, winning 51%-49%.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Yoruk Isik and Azra Ceylan

RUMELIFENERI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey's military deactivated a mine on Saturday that had drifted in from the Black Sea, setting off a loud explosion north of Istanbul, days after Russia warned several of them had washed away from Ukrainian ports.

Defence Minister Hulusi Akar described the object, first discovered by fishermen in the upper Bosphorus strait, as an old type of mine and said he was in touch with both Russian and Ukrainian authorities about it.

A Reuters witness heard a loud bang off the coastal village of Rumelifeneri, where naval vessels and military planes and helicopters were active. A minehunter ship was also headed to the area from Istanbul, according to a second Reuters witness.

"The mine, determined to be an old type, was neutralized by our team...and naval forces continue their vigilant work," Akar said in a televised statement.

Earlier, the coast guard had warned vessels to stay away from the round object bobbing on the waves, and a dive team initially moved in to investigate.

Turkey shares Black Sea borders with Russia and Ukraine, which Moscow invaded last month.

Russia's main intelligence agency said on Monday that several mines had drifted out to sea after breaking off from cables near Ukrainian ports, a claim dismissed by Kyiv as disinformation and an attempt to close off parts of the sea.

The Black Sea is a major shipping artery for grain, oil and oil products. It is connected to the Marmara and then Mediterranean seas via the Bosphorus, which runs through the heart of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city with 16 million residents.

Fishermen first spotted the object near a docking area and reported it to the coast guard, which sent radio warnings to vessels in the area, the Directorate General of Coastal Safety told Reuters.

(This story refiles to correct spelling of Hulusi)

(Additional reporting by Umit Ozdal and Jonathan Spicer; Writing by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Christina Fincher)
On March 15, 2022, Ambassador Qin Gang published an opinion piece entitledWhere We Stand in Ukraineon The Washington Post. The full text is as follows:

Many Americans are understandably trying to understand where China stands as the crisis in Ukraine unfolds, so I want to take this opportunity to explain fully and dispel any misunderstandings and rumors.

There have been claims that China had prior knowledge of Russia's military action and demanded Russia delay it until the Winter Olympics concluded. Recent rumors further claimed that Russia was seeking military assistance from China. Let me say this responsibly: Assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation. All these claims serve only the purpose of shifting blame to and slinging mud at China. There were more than 6,000 Chinese citizens in Ukraine. China is the biggest trading partner of both Russia and Ukraine, and the largest importer of crude oil and natural gas in the world. Conflict between Russia and Ukraine does no good for China. Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it.

China is committed to an independent foreign policy of peace. As a staunch champion of justice, China decides its position on the basis of the merits of the issue. On Ukraine, China's position is objective and impartial: The purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter must be fully observed; the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine, must be respected; the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously; and all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported.

Given this, threats against Chinese entities and businesses, as uttered by some U.S. officials, are unacceptable. Neither war nor sanctions can deliver peace. Wielding the baton of sanctions at Chinese companies while seeking China's support and cooperation simply won't work.

Some people are linking Taiwan and Ukraine to play up the risks of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. This is a mistake. These are totally different things. Ukraine is a sovereign state, while Taiwan is an inseparable part of China's territory. The Taiwan question is a Chinese internal affair. It does not make sense for people to emphasize the principle of sovereignty on Ukraine while hurting China's sovereignty and territorial integrity on Taiwan. The future of Taiwan lies in peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and the reunification of China. We are committed to peaceful reunification, but we also retain all options to curbTaiwan independence. We hope the United States earnestly abides by the one-China principle and does not supportTaiwan independenceseparatism in any form. To ensure long-term peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, China and the United States must work together to containTaiwan independence.

In Ukraine, China has made huge efforts to push for peace talks and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis. In a phone call with President Vladimir Putin on the second day of the conflict, President Xi Jinping expressed China's desire to see Russia and Ukraine hold peace talks as early as possible and received a positive response. When virtually meeting with leaders of France and Germany, Xi emphasized the need to jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Yang Jiechi, the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, just met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Rome, and State Councilor Wang Yi has also maintained close communication with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other foreign ministers, exchanging views on the Ukraine crisis. China has also outlined a six-point initiative that calls for making sure that humanitarian operations abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality; gives full attention to the displaced persons in and from Ukraine; ensures the protection of civilians; provides for safe and smooth humanitarian aid activities; provides for the safety of foreign nationals in Ukraine; and supports the United Nations' coordinating role in channeling humanitarian aid, as well as the work of the U.N. crisis coordinator for Ukraine. The first tranche of emergency humanitarian supplies provided by the Red Cross Society of China to its Ukrainian counterpart has been shipped from Beijing.

As a Chinese proverb goes, it takes more than one cold day to freeze three feet of ice. The long-term peace and stability of Europe relies on the principle of indivisible security. There must be a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture. The priority now is to achieve a cease-fire to protect civilians from war. But as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a responsible major country, China will continue to coordinate real efforts to achieve lasting peace. We stand ready to do whatever we can and work with other parties. Our ultimate purpose is the end of war and support regional and global stability.
Two Fort Worth residents have been arrested in Houston connected to an aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, according to Fort Worth police.

Jose Alfred Salaices, 18, and Ashley Denise Garcia, 20, kidnapped on March 6 a 16-year-old from her work at a quick-service restaurant, according to police. Police said Salaices knew the victim and texted her to come out from her work and meet him in his car.

Police said Salaices told the victim, whose name has not been released, to get in the car and close her eyes because he had a surprise for her. Police said he then drove off, ignoring her pleas to stop because she needed to go to work.

At one point, Salaices did stop, police said. He pulled a gun, put the victim in handcuffs and a woman came up from hiding in the back seat of the car. The woman, who police identified as Garcia, began beating the victim with her fists and stole her phone, Air Pods, wallet and ID.

The victim was then released from her handcuffs and the car and given back her cell. Salaices and Garcia then left in a white car, according to police.

Investigators found out the two were in the Houston area and coordinated with Houston police, according to a news release from Fort Worth police. Detectives in Houston arrested the two. They have both been charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping.




The Ukraine defense ministry reported that another Russian general has been killed in the war.

"Yakov Rezantsev is the second Russian lieutenant general to die in the war against Ukraine," the ministry tweeted Friday. "This is becoming a typical track-record of Russian generals. #DeadRussianGenerals."

Lt. Gen Yakov Rezantsev is said to have been killed during a Ukrainian strike on the Chornobaivka airbase near Kherson, Ukraine, BBC reported.

The airbase has been used as a command post for Russia as their advance on Ukraine has been stalled by Ukrainian resistance.

A Western official said that Rezantsev, who commanded Russia's 49th combined army, is the seventh general who has died during the fighting.

Morale has been low among Russian forces, prompting generals to get more directly involved in the battles, according to the BBC.

The news comes after Russian Col. Yuri Medvedev was run over by his own men with a tank this week. The 37th Motor Rifle Brigade reportedly turned on him after many men died during an attack.

Medvedev's legs were injured and he was taken to a hospital where a Western official said he died, according to the British outlet.

The official said he died "as a consequence of the scale of the losses taken by his own brigade."

NATO estimates around 40,000 Russians have been killed since the beginning of the invasion.

The Ukrainian military has been relatively successful in fending off major Russian military gains.

Ukrainian forces have held the capital city of Kyiv, and U.S. officials reported on Friday that the former Soviet state's military had partially taken back the city of Kherson, which was first captured by the Kremlin at the beginning of the war.

Updated 9:12 a.m.
DOHA (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on energy producing countries on Saturday to increase output so that Russia cannot use its oil and gas wealth to "blackmail" other nations.

Addressing the Doha Forum international conference via video link, Zelenskiy said countries such as Qatar could make a contribution to the stabilisation of Europe.

"They can do much to restore justice. The future of Europe depends on your effort. I ask you to increase the output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no country can use energy as a weapon and blackmail the world," he said in translated comments.

The month-long invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Europe's top gas supplier, has sharpened concerns of disruption to energy supplies and increased scrutiny of European Union countries' reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Zelenskiy also said no country is insured against shocks from disruptions to food supply happening because of Russia's invasion of his country. Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain producers.

"The world's markets have not yet overcome from the repercussions of the pandemic, from the price shocks of food. No one is insured against these shocks and you cannot be insured if there is a physical scarcity of food," he said.

"Russian troops are covering fields in Ukraine for miles, they are exploding agrarian equipment."

(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous and Andrew Mills; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli and Michael Georgy; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Aleksandra Borodina (left) and her partner Vlad Builvol. Aleksandra Borodina

A Ukrainian woman, who fled Kyiv the day after the first bombing, found refuge in Germany.

Aleksandra Borodina continues to work for a tech company so she can support her husband in Lviv.

She wants to return to Ukraine as soon as the war is over and help rebuild the country.

"The war has begun," were the words Aleksandra Borodina woke up to on February 24.

From the comfort of her sister's home, where she found refuge in Dusseldorf, Germany, the Ukrainian tech worker told Insider about the journey she embarked on  and how she is trying to financially support her partner, who is in Lviv, Ukraine.

Not much made sense to Borodina that morning, when the first bombing occurred and she was still half asleep. Her partner, however, explained to her what was happening in a calm voice while stroking her hair. A few minutes later, the first air raid sirens sounded: "I realized that this was a life-changing event that divided life into 'before' and 'after,'" she said.

She added: "The event that everyone was actively discussing, thinking through scenarios, but to be honest, almost no one believed it, was actually happening. It seemed just impossible for the modern world."

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent military troops to invade Ukraine in late February, a move that has been hugely criticized by Western countries, including the US, which accuses Russia of war crimes for its "indiscriminate attacks" on civilians.

In Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, Russia was reported to have targeted hospitals, schools, and theaters where hundreds of children were sheltering.

Borodina, 34, is from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. She spent most of the first day of the war at home. Fleeing was not viable then, "it just looked like a panicked and senseless option at the time," she said. "Looking back, however, I would have done the same as others and left on the first day. We would have had time to cross the border on the first day and Vlad would be with me."

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Borodina's partner, Vlad Builvol is the CEO of a natural wine store. Ukrainian men have been banned from leaving the country and urged to join the army.

Borodina spent the night in a bombing shelter, following the first bombing on February 24. Aleksandra Borodina

'But I am safe  '

Borodina is aware of the psychological impact that hearing sirens every day may have on her partner. She added: "I can't imagine what happens to people who have continuously lived under bombing every day  for over a month now."

She continues to work for Kyiv-based tech company, Roosh, as she wants to financially support Builvol, who has lost his job. She said that her company is doing everything to save jobs and pay wages in full. "We continue to work and at the end of the war, we will rebuild our country," she said.

As soon as the war is over, Borodina wants to return to Ukraine and specifically to her "dear Kyiv."

She added: "It is my home, which I love with all my heart. I really want to help Ukraine to get back on its feet. To implement this plan, it is important for me to continue working and temporarily settle down here."

She has submitted documents to German authorities about her rights, legal status, and health insurance. "Everything changes every day," she said, but added that she couldn't help but feel grateful for the support she has received.

"Germany is now very supportive of Ukrainian refugees. We understand how lucky we are," she said. "Yet, we miss our home and husbands very much," she said.

Before she fled, Borodina was worried about the reception that would greet her if she managed to escape. At that time, the queues at the borders were kilometers long. She said: "The situation with Syria in the past has shown that Europe is not really looking forward to refugees. But we were pleasantly surprised by all the support that was waiting for us. I can't speak for all countries but Germany provides a lot of help."

She added: "I am in a foreign country, and without much understanding of the future, but I am safe."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A sign the color of the Ukrainian flag with a peace symbol





Ukrainians in a city north of Kyiv took to the streets to protest as Russians began to take over the area.

Videos and pictures captured by CNN showed a crowd of around several hundred people headed to the main square in the city of Slavutych on Saturday.

Mayor Yuri Fomichev called on residents to show up to the square with Ukrainian symbols and speak out against Russia's invasion.

Protesters brought a flag to the main square and chanted "Slavutych is Ukraine" and "Glory to Ukraine," according to CNN.

Fomichev posted on Facebook Friday that "Our defenders defended bravely and selflessly! But we do not have equal strength! Unfortunately, we have our dead."

After the city was taken over, Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv regional administration, said the mayor was kidnapped by the Russian forces.

CNN reported amid that the demonstrations, gunfire could be heard and the square was hit by three stun grenades.

The news comes a day after U.S. officials reported that Russian forces are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first Ukrainian city captured by Kremlin troops at the start of the war.

"We've seen reports of resistance there in areas that were previously reported to be in Russian control," a senior Defense official told reporters on Friday. "We can't corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the point is it doesn't appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before ... we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again."

The Ukrainian military has fought hard to defend its country, fending off Russian forces from the capital city of Kyiv and keeping the Kremlin from making large military gains.
Beijing is seeking to rally support among developing nations for its position on Russia's war on Ukraine, a move seen as a response to pressure from the West.

It comes after US President Joe Biden "made it clear" to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a call last week that there would be consequences if Beijing provided material support to Moscow.

In talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the past week, top diplomats from Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Zambia have all voiced support for China's stand on Ukraine and opposed sanctions against Russia, according to the readouts from Beijing.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

While China has called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, it has refused to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine, and there are concerns Beijing could help Moscow evade the sanctions and provide it with military support. Beijing has also resisted pressure to use its leverage with close ally Moscow to help end the war.

Meeting Wang in southeast China on Sunday, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra called Beijing's approach to the crisis "a correct and broad path".

Algeria and China were among 35 nations that abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution on March 2 to condemn Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. Another 141 countries voted in favour of the resolution. Both China and Algeria were also among 38 nations that abstained on Thursday as the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly - 140 votes - in favour of a resolution that blamed Russia for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and called for an immediate ceasefire.

A joint statement released after Sunday's talks said China and Algeria opposed the use of unilateral sanctions and supported "indivisible security" - a term frequently used by Moscow to oppose Nato enlargement.

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Those points were repeated in Islamabad on Monday, when Wang met his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi. They also raised concern over the "spillover effect of unilateral sanctions". Islamabad also abstained from voting on the General Assembly resolutions.

Tanzania abstained from the earlier vote, and in virtual talks on Sunday, Wang and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Liberata Mulamula called for "stronger solidarity" among developing nations on the "turbulent international situation".

Beijing has also been reaching out to countries that voted to condemn Moscow in the earlier resolution, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Zambia.

Meeting Wang in Islamabad on Tuesday, Egypt's top diplomat Sameh Shoukry opposed efforts to "pressure China" over Ukraine, according to the Chinese side.

Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo praised China for playing a "leading role" in mediation when he met Wang in Anhui province on Saturday.

And in talks in Islamabad on Wednesday, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud agreed with Wang that all nations should "withstand external pressure" and make their own judgment on the Ukraine crisis.

China's foreign ministry on Monday described Beijing's position on Ukraine as similar to that of other developing countries, saying it was in the "majority". Spokesman Wang Wenbin said these countries shared China's concern about being forced to pick a side and that they wanted neither war nor sanctions.

Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Centre, said it appeared that Beijing realised after last week's Xi-Biden talks that "the US will not give China an easy way out" on Ukraine.

"So it is even more important for China to rally support for its position from other countries," Sun said. "Its position is clear - it will not oppose Russia, and it will support Ukraine."

Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, agreed.

"Washington and its allies are pressuring China to pick a side, and China is not alone in not wanting to make that decision," he said. "China is pushing back against that pressure by strengthening support among countries that don't want to be forced to pick a side."

Beijing has also taken aim at Nato as "the ultimate source of the war" since Biden's warning to Xi on March 18, according to Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

A day after the talks, Le Yucheng, China's foreign vice-minister, spoke of "hard lessons" from the crisis, accusing Washington and Nato of seeking "absolute security" and "weaponising small countries".

"The emphasis from China now is also about it not fearing pressure, and the communication with developing countries is part of that," Shi said.

China was among 35 nations that abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution on March 2 to condemn Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=China was among 35 nations that abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution on March 2 to condemn Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE>

But he noted that many of those nations did not support Beijing's position.

"A total of 141 countries voted in favour of condemning Russia in the UN, including countries that are very friendly to China like Cambodia," Shi said, adding that most developing countries had supported the resolution.

Sun from the Stimson Centre also doubted Beijing could convince most developing nations.

"China still claims to be a developing country - a narrative that a lot of countries no longer buy," she said. "In the case of the Ukraine crisis, more developing countries voted against Russia than for it. I don't think it is a good example to showcase China's siding with developing countries."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Smoke rise after shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

War journalist Lynsey Addario said the Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians are some of the "worst" she's ever seen.

The veteran photojournalist has been covering conflict zones and humanitarian crises for more than two decades.

The New York Times previously published Addario's photograph showing a Ukrainian family killed by Russian mortar strike.

A veteran war journalist said the Russian military attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine are some of the "worst, most blatant" examples she has ever seen in her career.

In an interview with PBS's "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover," Pulitzer-Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario talks about being on the ground covering the Russian assault on Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion on the country a month ago.

"It's just blatant attacks against civilians and the population  this is one of the worst, most blatant examples I have seen of that," Addario said during the interview on Thursday.

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) March 24, 2022

Addario, who began her career capturing life under the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2000, has been covering war zones and humanitarian crises for more than two decades in the Middle East and Africa.

Earlier this month, The New York Times published one of Addario's photographs on the front page of its print edition, depicting horrifying scene of a family lying dead killed by Russian mortar strike in Irpin, a city about 30 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

The veteran photojournalist, who said she was only 20 to 30 feet away from the where the mortar struck in Irpin, previously described the incident as a "war crime."

"I took a few photographs because I remember saying to myself, 'This is so horrible,'" Addario told Hoover of the incident. "But I have to photograph because I know what I just witnessed. I just witnessed civilians being targeted."

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) March 25, 2022

Read the original article on Business Insider
Chinese telecom giant Huawei has established an academy in Bangladesh to equip young learners with industry-fit skills and develop an information and communications technology (ICT) talent ecosystem.

The academy was established in collaboration with one of the country's leading educational institutions Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The journey of the "Huawei BUET ICT Academy" with around 250 students started on Wednesday following an inauguration ceremony at its campus in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Bangladeshi state minister for ICT, was present at the ceremony as the chief guest while Pan Junfeng, chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd, and Satya Prasad Majumder, vice-chancellor of BUET, among others, attended the event.

In his speech, Palak said, "We've seen what the features of Huawei BUET ICT Academy are and how it will be beneficial to the students and teachers."

Majumder said they are delighted to collaborate with Huawei for establishing this ICT academy.

He said this academy will contribute significantly to the existing curriculum of BUET as well as help the aspiring learners to develop themselves by acquiring hands-on experience and get insights into the industry.

Pan said Huawei is also happy to extend this project to Bangladesh. Driven by the idea "We're in Bangladesh, for Bangladesh," Huawei ICT academy will strive for excellence through collaboration of young learners with academics and industry experts.

The academy has been established as a non-profit education program where the learners will be provided with training and learning solutions to meet the needs of the ICT sector, according to Huawei.

Another major intention of this academy is to create a talent ecosystem for the ICT sector, the company said, adding the participants will be given a chance to communicate with more than 3,000 instructors from around the world.

According to a Huawei statement, there will be 83 certification programs on 19 different subjects as per the current plan.

The course and certification will be coordinated by Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy, it said.

Huawei said it has more than 1,500 such ICT academies in over 90 countries around the world.
File image

A 51-year-old man arrested in Austin in connection with the fatal shooting of an employee at a gentlemen's club south of Lubbock is now at the Lubbock County jail.

Kennon Shaw was booked Wednesday into the Lubbock County Detention Center on a count of murder, according to jail records. His bond is set at $500,000.

Authorities ID man wanted in deadly south Lubbock club shooting

He was initially arrested by U.S. Marshals March 16 in the 200 block of Pedernales Street in Austin, sheriff's officials announced at the time.

His charge stems from a Lubbock County Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit investigation of a deadly shooting at the Angelwitch Cabaret in the 600 block of Country Road 7150.

Lubbock County Sheriff's deputies responding to a 1:50 a.m. shots fired call at the club found 28-year-old Joseph Burk suffering a gunshot wound. He was taken to University Medical Center where he died, according to an arrest warrant.

Burk was an employee of the club, which had a security camera system that captured the shooting, the warrant states.

Video footage from the cameras reportedly show a man wearing blue cap, blue shirt and blue jeans arguing with Burk before the shooting, according to the warrant, which did not reveal the cause of the argument.

The gunman also fires at the club's manager but misses, walks out of the club and drives away in a sliver or light gold Lincoln Town Car that has a paper buyer's tag.

Investigators identified Shaw as the gunman after comparing an old mug shot to the video, the warrant states.

Investigators traveled to Shaw's home in the 1500 block of East Cornell Street in Lubbock where they found the Town Car, which is the vehicle he was known to drive.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Suspect in deadly cabaret shooting back in Lubbock
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken flies on Saturday to Israel, where he will attend an Israeli-Arab summit during a visit also likely to be dominated by discussions about the Iran nuclear talks and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken will meet Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said. Bennett has been trying to mediate an end to the month-old Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's office said he would convene Blinken and counterparts from United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt for an "historic meeting" on Sunday and Monday.

The summit will take place in a luxury hotel in the southern Israeli desert farm collective of Sde Boker, where the country's founding father and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, retired and is buried.

Blinken is set to visit the West Bank, Morocco and Algeria in a trip that will also focus on Iran and regional security matters.

He will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the State Department said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Ros Russell)
Mar. 25WATERFORD  Residents shared their thoughts Tuesday night during a virtual informational meeting on the town's draft affordable housing plan.

Required by the state as part of Public Act 17-170, the plan has to explain how the municipality intends to increase its number of affordable housing developments and update that plan every five years. Municipalities have until June to adopt a plan but not before receiving input from the community.

Glenn Chalder, the town's hired consultant from Planimetrics, has helped create the state-required plan and presented key points from the plan to the public Tuesday.

As defined by the state, the term "affordable housing" means housing affordable to households earning 80% or less of the area median income and spending no more than 30% of their income on housing. Chalder showed a chart from the plan that states how the 80% of the AMI in Waterford translates to $51,000 or less for a one-person household up to $79,000 for a household of five or more people.

He also showed a chart of how the AMI translates to gross rents ranging from a maximum of $1,285 for one person in a studio to $1,980 for a five-person household in a four-bedroom unit; and sale prices of homes ranging from a maximum of $147,000 for one person to $196,000 for a five-person household.

Chalder said the income numbers change every year based on information provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and will likely be recalculated in the coming weeks.

Discussing some of the plan's findings, Chalder said, overall, more than 2,100 households in town are spending more than 30% of their income on housing: 33% who are renters, 28% owners with a mortgage and 22% owners without a mortgage. He added that almost 1 in 5 renter households in town are spending more than 50% of their income on housing.

As it stands, there are 485 state-recognized affordable units in Waterford, which is 5.6% of the town's housing stock with no housing authority units or deed-restricted housing.

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"If less than 10% of a municipality's housing stock meets the state definition of affordability then the municipality is subject to the affordable housing appeals procedure," Chalder explained, referring to a procedure set by the state in 1989, often referred to as general statute Section 8-30g, in which courts may override local zoning denials of affordable housing proposals.

Chalder listed multiple strategies from the draft plan that would help increase affordable housing developments, one of which is to establish an affordable housing committee. Chalder said in the past the town had the Housing Partnership, which is now inactive and could be reinvigorated.

Another option would be to reinvigorate the housing authority, which is also inactive and has the ability to obtain state and/or federal funding for housing-related programs and developments. The town could also implement inclusionary zoning regulations to require provisions, such as all proposed developments be deed-restricted or 10% affordable and offer incentives to developers for it.

Chalder said if new residential development occurs without providing affordable units, the town falls further behind in relation to the state's 10% threshold.

Updating the town's multi-family housing regulations to increase the number and variety of multi-family units is another option, Chalder said. He said the town could consider middle housing, a range of multi-family housing types that are compatible in scale with single-family, or enable the reuse of existing buildings.

After presenting the various strategies, Chalder showed the conceptual schedule for the draft plan's adoption, which was later approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission at its regular meeting. Following Tuesday's meeting, Chalder would gather public comments and work to refine the plan with the commission. They have scheduled another public meeting for March 29 to continue hearing from the public. Early April, the planning department will post the newly proposed plan and hold a public hearing on May 10 to meet the June 1 deadline.

Nick Gauthier, a member of the Representative Town Meeting running for the 38th state representative district seat, was the first to speak during discussion. Gauthier said he has read the plan and all its details are valuable but he did not see specific regulations the town should change to meet its goals. He added that the numbers defined by the state as affordable are still not affordable to most people and asked whether the town could have its own definitions of affordabillity.

Chalder said the state defines the maximum affordability and with supply chain issues, it is much harder to create affordable units. However, he said lower affordability with the Housing Authority and assisted/subsidized housing is certainly an option.

Gauthier said if the town were to restart its housing authority, it would be important to include who is on it, what it is tasked with and how it should operate.

Resident Margeret Holmberg commented on whether the consulting company looked up the racial makeup of those in Waterford who are cost-burdened. She also asked whether inclusionary zoning included guidelines needed to have a mixed zoning level rather than isolate affordable developments in one part of the town.

Chalder said it did not, but it did look at census data, which differs from the state and surrounding urban areas. He said interest was in the economics of housing and challenges of affordability that cuts across all racial and ethnic lines, genders, etc. As for the zoning, Planning Director Abby Piersall said it was valuable feedback to consider.

Another resident suggested the town get creative in working with a nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity or ones that work with housing for veterans.

To watch the full recording of the public informational meeting, it is posted on the Town of Waterford Youtube channel.

j.vazquez@theday.com
Yara Wilde, a former student at Mission Viejo High School, said she spent years trying to warn officials about the drama teacher's husband and his inappropriate behavior with female students. (Kristina Barker / For The Times)

The complaints about the drama teacher's husband and his behavior with female students at Mission Viejo High School spanned more than two decades.

In early 2001, a woman told school officials that Jim Harris had sexually assaulted her when she was a student. Her father had already complained about Harris five years earlier.

Another former student reported that Harris groped her, massaged her back beneath her shirt and kept photos of her and the other former student in swimsuits.

Only when the two women contacted the school again, in 2005, did Harris lose his job as a substitute teacher, and later, his substitute teaching permit.

But he continued to interact with Mission Viejo students, working closely with his wife, Kathy Cannarozzi-Harris, on the school's vaunted theater productions, even after parents complained in 2016 that he was photographing girls in a dressing room.

A generation of these complaints culminated Wednesday in a lawsuit by the two former students who first reported his behavior in 2001.

In interviews with The Times, they described the lawsuit as a last-ditch attempt to force the Saddleback Valley Unified School District to take their concerns seriously and bar Harris from contact with teenagers.

The lawsuit accuses Harris of grooming them  building their trust and welcoming them into his home  before touching them inappropriately in the mid-1990s.

Mission Viejo High School. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that school and district officials "actively turned a blind eye to multiple reports of misconduct," failed to report Harris to authorities and, in one case, blamed "the student instead of the offending teachers."

Despite the pattern of complaints, Harris continued to have access to teenagers through his position as a district substitute teacher and through his wife, a well-known figure in Orange County theater circles, the lawsuit said.

Cannarozzi-Harris witnessed some of the inappropriate behavior but did not intervene or contact authorities, the lawsuit said.

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"I felt so powerless," said Yara Wilde, 42, one of the former students who filed the lawsuit. "There was the initial trauma, but then every single time I came forward, it was awful and disempowering."

The second former student is not named in the complaint. The Times generally does not identify people who have reported being victims of sexual assault.

Since the summer and fall of 2021, Saddleback Valley Unified School District has been investigating "current allegations" involving the couple's behavior, said spokeswoman Wendie Hauschild. She said Cannarozzi-Harris has not been on the Mission Viejo campus during the probe but did not say whether she is on leave or whether she is still the district's visual and performing arts coordinator.

Hauschild said they received some "allegations against Mr. Harris that were previously investigated and addressed by the district in the past." She declined to provide further information, citing "the confidentiality of personnel matters."

In an interview with The Times, Harris denied ever sexually assaulting or inappropriately touching students.

He said he has participated in children's theater at the Laguna Playhouse and traveled to schools for drama, "and there was never, ever an issue with anything, with anybody, except for this young lady," Harris said, referring to Wilde.

"She seemed to have a very vivid imagination," Harris said. "And because of that, it's now affecting our lives, and it's really a shame. It's really unfortunate because we did nothing wrong."

Cannarozzi-Harris confirmed she was still employed with the district but said she would prefer to have a lawyer make a statement on her behalf.

The lawsuit was filed under a California law that opened a three-year window for victims of childhood abuse to sue when the statute of limitations has already expired.

Wilde and the other plaintiff are seeking unspecified damages against Harris, Cannarozzi-Harris and the school district.

"Every step that we've taken along the way, we hoped, 'It's finally taken care of, and we don't have to deal with it anymore,'" said the second plaintiff, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the allegations. ... We tried to put a stop to it, and no one has wanted to listen to us  or theyve just chosen to put the program above the experiences of the students."

The complaints about the drama teacher's husband at Mission Viejo High School spanned more than two decades. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Wilde enrolled at Mission Viejo in 1994 and fell in love with drama, participating in every play and musical she could. She spent lunches in the drama room, where Harris was often working on sets, the lawsuit said.

She and the other student began going to the movies and the beach with Harris and Cannarozzi-Harris and spending time at their house.

Mission Viejo's award-winning drama program is a draw for students interested in the arts. Parents have been known to request a transfer so their children can perform there. Harris was a fixture at rehearsals and shows.

Harris gave Wilde back rubs in school, sometimes touching her stomach and her breasts under her shirt, according to the lawsuit. When Cannarozzi-Harris saw the touching, the lawsuit said, she would look at Wilde and Harris "in disgust" or "would shake her head and leave the room, allowing Jim to continue the assault."

Wilde moved into the Harris' home for three weeks during the spring of her sophomore year, where the abuse escalated, the lawsuit said.

Harris spent hours on the bed in the guest bedroom with Wilde, massaging her, asking about her sex life and talking about his own, the complaint said. Cannarozzi-Harris was "fully aware of what was taking place, as she would often call for Jim to return to the marital bedroom," the lawsuit said.

One night when they were watching a movie, Cannarozzi-Harris had fallen asleep, and Wilde was dozing off, when Harris began massaging her, the lawsuit said. She kept her eyes closed but shifted, trying to push his hand away from her waistband.

"He pushed his hand into her pants and under her underwear," the lawsuit said, and "digitally penetrated Yara as she was frozen in fear."

Wilde's parents had struggled to understand why their daughter wasn't applying herself in school and was defying their rules. Then, they discovered several handwritten letters from Harris.

Wilde, who grew up in Orange County, said she later left California in an effort to put distance between herself and Harris and Cannarozzi-Harris. (Kristina Barker / For The Times)

In a six-page letter written in May 1996, Harris told Wilde that he would "have to settle for just being your friend." In another, he said they were "meant to be together." Copies of both letters were reviewed by The Times.

Wilde said her parents weren't aware of the extent of the alleged abuse. Her father wrote to the school, questioning why Harris was allowed to interact with students and describing the relationship as "dangerous, abnormal and, to say the least, unprofessional."

In response, the school drafted a contract barring Wilde from having contact with Harris, or with Cannarozzi-Harris outside of school. Any violation would result in Wilde being removed from the drama program, according to a copy of the contract, which was never signed.

Harris then turned his attentions to the second student, the lawsuit said. Harris began to isolate her in the drama room and give her massages, working his hands "under her clothes, around her waist, and up to her bra line."

On a drama trip to London in 1998, Harris sat next to her on a bus, the lawsuit said. He began to caress her leg, the lawsuit said, and after she tried to push his hand away, he forcibly groped her thigh where it met her genital area.

In 2001, the lawsuit said, the second plaintiff found a folder on Harris' home computer with pornographic images as well as photos of both girls in swimsuits taken when they were 16.

After the second plaintiff contacted the school, the principal at the time, Marilyn McDowell, said in writing that Harris had been "overly physical" and "used poor judgment" in taking and keeping the swimsuit photos.

"But here," she says of the Pacific Northwest, "It's so lush and life-supporting. I feel like my soul is supported. Life wants to be here. Here I can just relax and be me." (Kristina Barker / For The Times)

But, she wrote, Harris "adamantly" denied "any type of sexual intentions or behavior toward you and is devastated that you have now decided that he did not treat you appropriately."

She said Harris would continue teaching and working for the drama program, "with the stipulation that student relationships are friendly but not physical."

Wilde said she filed a report in 2002 with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. A deputy told her that Harris would not face criminal charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

She tried again in 2005, appealing to the school district's head of personnel, according to the lawsuit. The 2001 complaint was reopened, and Harris was later fired from his substitute teaching position, the lawsuit said.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing revoked Harris' substitute teaching permit in 2007.

But Harris continued to be around students. At one point, he showed two students a "pornographic image of two young girls who looked to be minors, posing naked with their legs spread apart," the lawsuit said.

Mission Viejo's 2013 yearbook showed Harris posing with three female students. The following year, he chaperoned a drama program trip to New York City.

Since the summer and fall of 2021, Saddleback Valley Unified School District, which includes Mission Viejo High School, has been investigating "current allegations" involving the couple's behavior. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

In 2016, a group of parents and a student filed a complaint with the school district against Cannarozzi-Harris and another drama teacher, alleging that they harassed and berated students and that Cannarozzi-Harris frequently left students unattended.

In response to a previous complaint from a parent, then-Principal Ray Gatfield said that Cannarozzi-Harris was not a "rookie" or "someone who does not know how to teach," according to an email included in the parents' complaint. He wrote: "You are talking about someone who has an award winning program and currently is coordinating the arts program for the entire district."

The parents also alleged that Cannarozzi-Harris allowed her husband to "participate in inappropriate behaviors," taking photos in the dressing room while girls were changing and at parties while students were in bathing suits.

Wilde said Harris' alleged abuse prompted her to venture into victim advocacy. She has been working with the Alexandra Gucci Children's Foundation and the Keep Kids Safe Movement to help prevent sexual violence against children and teens.

"I'm hoping that this will actually be validation that will help me heal," Wilde said of the lawsuit. "Yes, people were listening. Yes, this is real. Yes, this happened. And no, it's not OK. And they are going to have to have some consequences."

"You're in a dark room and then the light slowly comes on," she says about seeking justice and healing. (Kristina Barker / For The Times)

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
STORY: At the summit in Accra, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave Mali's military transitional government 12 to 16 months to arrange elections and offered Guinea's ruling junta a month to propose a timeline for democratic transition.

They also demanded Burkina Faso's interim leaders immediately release President Roch Kabore from house arrest and reduce the proposed 36 months for a transition to democracy. Otherwise, the country would face economic sanctions similar to those already slapped on Guinea and Mali.

West Africa has been rocked by two coups in Mali, one in Guinea and one in Burkina Faso since August 2020, offsetting its reputation as a model of democratic progress in Africa.

The 15-nation ECOWAS has been trying to bring power back into civilian hands and earlier imposed sanctions on Guinea and on Mali for dragging their feet on restoring constitutional order.
Mar. 26Police are searching for a suspect who reportedly stabbed a woman in a Frederick residence Friday morning.

After receiving a 9-1-1 call around 8:45 a.m., the Frederick Police Department responded to the 1100 block of Providence Court in Hillcrest where they found a woman who had been stabbed in the upper body, FPD stated in a news release.

The woman was taken to an area trauma center for potentially life-threatening injuries, according to FPD spokesman Allen Etzler.

Police did not locate the perpetrator at the scene of the incident. Patrol Division officers and detectives from the Major Crimes Unit are attempting to identify a suspect, the release reads.

FPD stated in the release that it believes the stabbing was an isolated incident and that there is no threat to public safety.

The investigation is open and ongoing. To leave information anonymously about the incident, call FPD's tip line at 301-600-TIPS(8477), email fpdcrimetip@frederickmdpolice.org, or text 240-674-TIPS(8477).
STORY: The Taliban on Wednesday (March 23) backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to girls, saying that they would remain closed until a plan was drawn up for them to reopen.

The U-turn shocked many, leaving students in tears and sparking small protests by girls in Kabul. It also drew condemnation from humanitarian agencies and foreign governments.

Unfortunately because of the Taliban all our schools were closed, we girls are allowed to study same as boys, Islam has given us this right, but the Taliban has taken this right from us, said Fatema, a student who took part in the protest.
You know who benefits the most from liberal media bias? Conservatives.

I spent much of the last 25 years writing about liberal media bias. Heck, I grew up on the stuff. My father, a longtime editor, used to joke that he worked behind enemy lines. Hed often tutor me about the likes of Walter Duranty, the New York Times Moscow correspondent who whitewashed Stalins crimes and won a Pulitzer in the process, or Herbert Matthews, the reporter whose Cuba coverage inspired the famous cartoon of Fidel Castro saying, I got my job through the New York Times.

Dan Rather, a CBS News institution with some well-documented biases of his own, used to say liberal media bias was a myth. Suffice it to say, I think he was wrong, and continues to be wrong.

But something has changed. The modern conservative movement begins in the mid-20th century, and for most of that time the media referred to three TV networks, two newspapers and a few newsmagazines  all located within walking distance of each other in Manhattan. Rounding out the list were the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and a handful of similarly liberal big city newspapers. During this era, the media had incredible power to set the agenda. Disagree if you wish, just know that for conservatives this was an article of faith.

Irritation at this center-left conventional wisdom, which dominated not just the media, but academia, created the pearl of modern conservatism. When he launched National Review, William F. Buckley proclaimed that his journal (where I worked for 20 years) would stand athwart History, yelling stop. The talk radio revolution pioneered by Rush Limbaugh and the rise of Fox News can only be understood as a rebellion against the hegemony  real or perceived  of the liberal media.

The story of how that hegemony was shattered by cable news and the internet is by now familiar. But whats interesting is that even as the reigning journalistic gatekeepers were dethroned, conservative rage against the media intensified. In 2008, Sarah Palin, John McCains running mate, became a right-wing darling in large part because the mainstream media hated her. In 2012, Newt Gingrichs presidential campaigns early successes stemmed almost entirely from his relentless focus on attacking the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media.

Whatever you make of his broadsides, its worth noting they were delivered well after Fox had become a ratings behemoth and a slew of right-wing news and opinion outlets had been launched.

Its almost impossible to exaggerate how much of Donald Trumps candidacy and presidency were entwined with the rights animosity for what Gingrich had called the elite media. Trumps war on fake news  his contribution to right-wing rhetoric  was so total he felt perfectly free to dub the press the enemy of the people, praise a politician who physically attacked a journalist and rail against the 1st Amendment.

Ignore the substance of the criticisms. As an objective matter, this obsession with the elite medias alleged monopoly has intensified in tandem with the unraveling of that monopoly. Republican politicians dont need the elite media to get their messages out anymore. Indeed, often the best thing that can happen to a Republican politician is to earn the scorn of such outlets.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida understands this better than most. Hes made media hostility central to his brand. If the corporate press nationally isnt attacking me, he says, then Im probably not doing my job. (Oddly, his definition of corporate press doesnt include Fox News, where he appears so often he should probably have his mail delivered to the green room.)

If Republican voters havent gotten the news that the monolithic media isnt nearly the monolith it once was, neither has the media itself. When 60 Minutes did a shoddy piece on DeSantis, it was tantamount to an in-kind donation to the governor.

Much of the press is caught in a kind of Baptists and bootleggers loop, in which opposing forces become symbiotically co-dependent. Thanks in part to the blurring of reporting with partisan punditry, particularly on cable news and social media, not to mention the larger trends of tribal polarization, attacks from the left often benefit their right-wing targets (and vice versa). Weirder still, favorable coverage is often no favor. Right-wing denunciations of defund the police  a fringe position among elected Democrats  did far less damage to Democrats than the coverage the idea got from sympathetic media.

There are no easy answers to the problem, but one thing that would help is more skeptical tough love for politicians and political causes from the outlets most inclined to help them. Because the help isnt helping.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch. Goldbergs column is provided by Tribune Content Agency.
LOS ANGELES  Taylor Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, has died during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50.

There were few immediate details on how Hawkins died, although the band said in a statement Friday his death was a tragic and untimely loss.

Colombias Prosecutors Office released a statement Saturday saying toxicological tests on urine from Hawkins body preliminarily found 10 psychoactive substances and medicines, including marijuana, opioids, tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines. It did not provide a cause of death and investigations are continuing.

Foo Fighters had been scheduled to play at a festival in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday night. Hawkins final concert was Sunday at another festival in San Isidro, Argentina.

His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever, said a message on the bands official Twitter account that also was emailed to reporters. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family.

The Bogota municipal government issued a statement Saturday that the citys emergency center had received a report of a patient with chest pain and sent an ambulance, though a private ambulance already had arrived at the hotel in northern Bogota.

Health workers tried to revive him, but were unable to do so.

Hawkins was Alanis Morissettes touring drummer when he joined Foo Fighters in 1997. He played on the bands biggest albums including One by One and In Your Honor, and on hit singles including My Hero and Best of You.

 The Associated Press

 The Associated Press
DES MOINES  The state is making more than a half-million dollars available to prepare K-12 teachers to teach computer science.

Computer science is a basic skill set necessary for student success and an added advantage for recruitment in high-demand careers in the rapidly changing, technology-driven workplace, Gov. Kim Reynolds said. These awards equip more educators with the tools and resources needed to prepare K-12 students in computer science.

Through computer science, students build critical thinking, problem-solving and reasoning skills that are transferable across academic disciplines and fields, added Ann Lebo, director of the Iowa Department of Education.

Reynolds and the department have announced $506,084 in annual awards to prepare K-12 teachers in 136 school districts and non-public schools to teach computer science.

The Computer Science Professional Development Incentive Fund awards are part of a commitment to expand computer science instruction in K-12 schools. In 2017, SF 274 established the fund to pay for teacher professional development, including training to teach specific computer science courses and earning in-depth university endorsements to teach computer science. In 2020, Reynolds proposed and the Legislature passed HF 2629 requiring K-12 schools to offer computer science education to all students, starting with high schools in 2022-23.

BRONSINK: Recollections of a fallen colleague started the day in the Iowa Senate on Wednesday.

Josh Bronsink, who worked on Senate Republicans staff, died March 11 of COVID-19, according to his obituary. Brosnick, who is survived by his wife and two children, died less than a week after his 48th birthday.

Senators on Wednesday morning honored Bronsink with a Senate resolution, which was read by Republican Sens. Jeff Edler of State Center and Mark Costello of Imogene.

Then two Democrats, Sens. Amanda Ragan of Mason City and Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City, spoke in remembrance of Bronsink.

Bolkcom said Bronsink will be remembered for his knowledge and work for the state, and for his sense of humor.

Josh was one of the smartest, kindest, most caring people in this building, Bolkcom said. This made him the perfect person to manage all things related to human resources. He became an expert on all things about taking care of Iowans in need. We could count on Josh for good advice. 

Josh, Bolkcom added, we miss you. We love you. Rest in peace.

ANTI-SEMITISM DEFINITION: Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law one bill that defines anti-Semitism in state law, and another that prohibits the states pension fund from owning stock in a company that boycotts Israel.

House File 2220 places in state law the definition of anti-Semitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. That bill was unanimously approved by the Senate, 48-0, and passed the House, 66-31.

House File 2373 is designed to target the parent company of Ben & Jerrys, which last July announced its ice cream would no longer be sold in disputed territories in Israel. That bill passed the Senate, 40-5, and the House, 61-35.

Today we express Iowas enduring support for the state of Israel and our categorical rejection of anti-Semitism, Reynolds said in a news release. Together, these bills send an important message: Iowa continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the state of Israel, one of Americas most important and reliable allies, while fighting all forms of religious and ethnic discrimination.

Reynolds also signed the following bills: SF 2119, an act relating to cosmetology and the practice of threading; SF2266, an act relating to the compensation limits for school corporation board members; HF2466, an act concerning signature requirements for county supervisor candidate nominations; and SF2325, an act relating to workforce housing tax incentive program.

COLLEGE SAVINGS PLAN: For the ninth time in 16 years, the College Savings Iowa 529 plan has reduced its fees for participants.

By reducing fees, were making it possible for families to keep more money in their accounts, Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald said. Every little bit saved can go a long way to help Iowans afford the educational adventure of a lifetime.

Effective April 1, the annual asset-based fee on the plans investment options will decrease 5.5 percent, which brings the price down from 0.19 percent to 0.18 percent or $1.80 per $1,000 invested annually.

Since Fitzgerald started the plan, College Savings Iowa has grown to over $6.3 billion in assets, with over $3.8 billion having been used for education expenses.

Iowa taxpayers who are College Savings Iowa participants can deduct the first $3,522 they contribute per beneficiary account from their state taxable income in 2022, subject to federal tax regulations.

For more information, visit https://www.collegesavingsiowa.com/.

TITLING FEES: A bill to increase the cost of registering vehicle titles and obtaining a certificate of title was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee over Democratic objections. HF 870 would allow Iowans to register their vehicles titles at any county treasurers office.

Fees, which in some cases havent increased since 1989, would provide $22 million to county budgets, relieving pressure for property tax increases, said Rep. Jane Bloomingdale, R-Northwood.

However, Rep. Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque, pointed out the fees are based on vehicle prices, which have increased significantly in the past year or two.

The timing is not right for nickeling and diming Iowans with $5 and $10 increases for the privileges of paying so much more to register their vehicles, he said.

The bill, approved 14-8, would raise the fees for a new registration, new title, replacement title and salvage title, manufacturer buyback and security interest. The fees now range from $1 to $11, with most being $7.50.

LEGALIZED MARIJUANA: Senate Democrats took their crack at proposing legalized recreational marijuana in Iowa during debate over a bill on criminal penalties for possession of heroin.

Since the minority Democrats are unable to set the legislative agenda, they chose the heroin bill for their amendment that would regulate marijuana similar to the way alcohol is regulated in the state. Majority Republicans shot down the proposed amendment with a procedural move, ruling it was not relevant to the original bill.

Bolkcom was among the Democrats who spoke in favor of the proposal. He called the prohibition of marijuana a costly failure.

It has broken up too many families, upended too many livelihoods, thrown too many children into poverty, Bolkcom said of the enforcement of marijuana laws. He also noted data that shows marijuana laws disproportionately impact Black Iowans, who are seven times more likely to be arrested for possession marijuana, the worst disparity in the nation, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates, according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The bill, HF 2462, passed the Senate by a 44-5 vote.

TAX CODE CHANGES: The Senate passed legislation that would address myriad items in the state tax code, including exempting some products from the state sales tax, expanding the items and services used in food manufacturing that are exempt from the sales tax, exempting up to $20,000 in National Guard pay from the state income tax, expanding a capital gains individual income tax exemption for certain stock sales, and reducing the bank franchise tax rate.

SF 2372 passed on a 43-6 vote.

Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, called the legislation a continuation of rebuilding Iowas tax code for a better tax code for the 21st century.
China is set to boost its value-added tax (VAT) credit refunds in the country's latest tax and fee reduction efforts to ease the burden on businesses and shore up the vitality of market entities.

The country's total VAT credit refunds will reach approximately 1.5 trillion yuan (about 235 billion U.S. dollars) this year, with priority to be given to micro and small firms and the manufacturing industry, Vice Minister of Finance Xu Hongcai told a press conference earlier this week.

"The large-scale tax refunds are the most important part of this year's new package of tax-and-fee policies," said Xu, citing the country's record tax cut and rebate target of 2.5 trillion yuan.

"[Tax refunds] are a direct boost to the cash flow of enterprises, and will benefit them more quickly than tax cuts," said Premier Li Keqiang while presiding over an executive meeting of the State Council on Monday.

Newly added VAT credits will be refunded in full on a monthly basis starting from April 1, while outstanding VAT refunds to micro and small businesses will be completed in one lump sum by the end of June, said a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Taxation Administration.

"These moves will help steady the operation of small and micro firms and promote enterprises in key industries to expand investment and improve production techniques, thus accelerating the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector," said Liu Yi, a professor at Peking University.

The rebate of outstanding VAT credits is a particular highlight, which will fully inject vitality into enterprises, Liu added.

To reconcile the implementation of the preferential tax policies and pressure on local governments, China has rolled out a slew of measures to increase and front-load transfer payments.

In 2022, central government transfer payments to local governments will increase by 18 percent from last year to reach nearly 9.8 trillion yuan, said Xu.

The first batch of transfer payments to support excess tax paid rebates to micro and small businesses, worth 400 billion yuan, had been released on Monday, according to the MOF.

The VAT a firm must pay is its output tax minus the input tax. When the taxpayer's output tax is insufficient to cover its input tax, the difference between the two is called excess tax paid.

A firm can use the excess to offset taxes in the next taxable period, or apply for refunds in the current period.

In recent years, China has been improving the refund system of excess VAT paid to ease the burden on corporate cash flow. In 2016, the country implemented a comprehensive reform in replacing the business tax, a mainstay of local tax revenues, with VAT, and stepped up the reform in 2019 with an improved refund sharing mechanism.

From 2019 to 2021, tax authorities handled a total of 1.23 trillion yuan in excess tax refunds, which played a positive role in shoring up the real economy including the manufacturing industry.

"Excess tax refunds can directly offer cash flow support for enterprises, spur the upgrading of their equipment and expand investment in technology," said Li Xuhong, a senior researcher with the Beijing National Accounting Institute.

The large scale of excess VAT refunding and the improved procedures of tax collection, payment and refunding this year will help refine the country's VAT system, Li said.
DES MOINES  Schools would be required to post their classroom materials and library books online for parents to see  but not twice annually as previously proposed  under school transparency legislation moving in the Iowa House.

Majority Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have pledged to address school transparency after hearing from parents who have expressed concerns about library books and classroom materials they deem to be obscene.

Statehouse Republicans are taking different approaches to the legislation. On Wednesday, House Republicans continued their work advancing their bill, House File 2499.

Our intent here is not to give arbitrary work to teachers, said Rep. Garrett Gobble, R-Ankeny, who teaches in the Ankeny school district and who worked on the new amendment to the original House bill.

We want to make it meaningful and show parents how to engage. But we cant engage for the parents. These resources would be there for the parents to access, but theyd still have to make the decision to access.

Rep. Phil Thompson, R-Jefferson who ran the bill in Wednesdays budget subcommittee hearing, said he has not yet discussed the House proposal with Senate Republicans. He said he has focused on working with his House Republican colleagues and representatives from Gov. Kim Reynolds office.

Reynolds legislative liaison spoke during Wednesdays subcommittee hearing on the House bill.

Thompson said even with the recent changes, the bill will accomplish House Republicans original intent.

We can accomplish the intent of the bill, which is more transparency for parents, Thompson said. This bill is workable for teachers and still accomplishes that.

Advocates for public schools and school boards expressed reservations with the proposal, including the amount of training and time it will take to prepare teachers to upload their curriculum to a new website. But those advocates also said they appreciated the recent changes, which they feel move the bill in a positive direction from the perspective of educators.

The bill also adds some social studies and civics requirements, including a requirement that a student score at least 70% on a civics test in order to graduate.

Senate Republicans are weighing their own school transparency proposals, including one that would allow parents to sue educators who distribute materials that any parent deems to be obscene.

In order to send a proposal to Reynolds for her signature, the House and Senate will have to agree on one bill.
DES MOINES  In a sign Iowa lawmakers may wrap up the 2022 session early, the health and human services budget has received subcommittee approval and is expected in full committee next week.

Thats a month earlier than last year. It could be the earliest its ever moved, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joel Fry, R-Osceola, said Thursday.

That doesnt mean it will be smooth sailing for the bill, one of the largest budget pieces lawmakers deal with each year. The $6- billion-plus budget, which calls for $2.1 billion from the state general fund, was approved on a party-line vote.

The states share of the budget is $53.6 million more than current spending, a 2.6% increase, according to Legislative Services Agency. Its also $39.5 million more than Gov. Kim Reynolds recommended.

It contains incredible opportunities for Iowans, Fry said in his introduction. His priorities are focused on rates as they relate to mental health and intellectual disabilities, and workforce shortage issues.

Unknowns in the budget include a forthcoming report from the federal Department of Justice investigation of alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and failure to provide appropriate settings at the Woodward and Glenwood resource centers.

Fry doesnt expect to see the report before lawmakers adjourn. The resource centers are scheduled for increases of about $1.5 million and $1.2 million, respectively.

He also included language in the budget related to the proposed merger of the Departments of Human Services and Public Health. The Public Health budget was reduced $800,000 to $55.3 million. The DHS budget was increased to $2 billion, which accounted for the full $53.6 million increase in the health and humans services.

Rep. John Forbes, D-Urbandale, had concerns about the realignment. Hes aware several states have combined tho departments, but he wants to make sure its done in a way that doesnt diminish the effectiveness of Public Health.

We want to make sure we have a strong public health department here  especially since were still in (the) pandemic or endemic and we dont know whats coming down the road in the next few months, he said.

Forbes and Fry also shared a concern about having adequate Medicaid funding when the federal government rescinds the COVID-19 public health emergency. They expect some Iowans receiving benefits will be dis-enrolled.
AURORA  I am a member of Nebraska law enforcement and will be voting for Charles W. Herbster for governor in the May 10 primary. I will be doing so because I know Herbster, as governor, will have my back and will provide me the resources that my colleagues and I will need to make and keep N
Morocco, by hosting in Rabat Friday the 1st Ministerial Meeting of the Champion Countries for the implementation of the Marrakech Global Compact on Migration, has confirmed its leadership in this area in Africa, thanks to the vision of King Mohammed VI, and called on the African Union to appoint a Special Envoy on Migration.

The conference, held by videoconference, was attended by some 17 ministers and representatives of world organizations, who discussed ways of implementing the Marrakech Pact, adopted in December 2018.

The conference highlighted by the adoption of a Declaration that praised the role of King Mohammed VI as the African leader on migration and reiterated the full support to the Global Compact on Migration (Marrakech Pact).

We highly commend His Majesty King Mohammed VIs role as African Leader on the issue of Migration and His strong commitment through the African Agenda on Migration, a roadmap with a clear vision for the continent and the creation of the African Migration Observatory, hosted in Rabat, the participants said in the Declaration.

We have gathered to reiterate our full support to the GCM, and commitment to keep working together towards a successful and robust implementation of the Global Compact, they stressed, saying they were convinced that international cooperation and the sharing of best practices in the field of international migration in all its dimensions should be the norm, rather than the exception.

Adopted at the Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakech on December 2018, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) represents a major contribution of multilateralism and a collective commitment to improving cooperation to address the challenges and harness the opportunities of international migration and human mobility, through a comprehensive cooperative framework anchored in its vision and guiding principles.

Amid emerging transitions and in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vision of the GCM must be promoted in order to facilitate and recognize the benefits of safe, orderly and regular migration for everyone, they insisted.

They recalled that the Champions initiative is an open group of States of origin, transit, destination and return committed to the effective implementation of the GCM, in the pursuit of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and called on other States to join this collective initiative to broaden the platform of Champions representing the full range of migration realities reflected in the GCM.

They also commended the continuous support of the United Nations Network on Migration in the form of guidance and practical tools to accelerate GCM implementation, and its efforts to facilitate collective learning, promote the cross-fertilization of ideas, disseminate information, and the exchange of good practices.

The Rabat Declaration welcomed the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the GCM that shows how governments can put in place laws, policies and practices consistent with the commitments and guiding principles of the Global Compact and how they can lead by example, and fulfil the promise of the Global Compact, in accordance with its vision and guiding principles.

The participants acknowledged with appreciation the organization of multiple successful GCM regional reviews and welcomed their recommendations and outcomes, as we look ahead towards the first International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), which will take place in New York, next May 17  20 May, with an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing on 16 May.

In his address before the conference, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita demonstrated, with supporting evidence, that Morocco is a genuine champion of migration and reiterated the wish to see the post of Special Envoy of the African Union for Migration materialize; replicate the experience of the Observatory in other continents; or even, consider the creation in the academic and university institutions of the champion countries, of a network of research centers on migration which would work with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Bourita insisted on the need to promote inclusive societies, encourage regular migration, reduce the vulnerabilities of migrants, while promoting exchanges, cooperation and partnerships, as well as greater interaction between the Pact of Marrakech and the 2030 Agenda.

The Moroccan official deplored that the pandemic has increased the precariousness of migrants, discrimination against them and their vulnerability to trafficking and dangerous smuggling by human trafficking networks and other merchants of human misery.

The Minister also expressed refusal to sacrifice the development-migration nexus on the altar of all-security, insisting above all on the firm determination never to instrumentalize, militarize or subcontract migration. Morocco rejects the exploitation of migration through shocks, he said.
The Moroccan ambassador to the Holy See, Rajae Naji Mekkaoui, was decorated by the Supreme Pontiff, with the high honorary distinction of Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX.

During the presentation of the solemn distinction, Msgr. Edgar Pena Parra, substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, conveyed the most cordial wishes and feelings of consideration and esteem of Pope Francis to the King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful.

He also welcomed the excellent relations of friendship and mutual esteem binding the Kingdom of Morocco and the Holy See.

This distinction reflects the special and privileged consideration that the Kingdom of Morocco enjoys with the Pope and the Vatican circles.
A succession of legislative budget filibusters Thursday and Friday had no impact on western Nebraska projects slated for help from state surpluses or COVID-19 aid.

Another filibuster Friday, however, temporarily blocked a plan to cut the states top income-tax rate and add an income tax credit for community college property taxes.

Lawmakers Friday also pulled from committee a bill to restore Nebraskas general ban on abortion should the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade decision be overturned.

The first three of the four 2022 budget measures (Legislative Bills 1011, 1012 and 1013) gradually won second-round approval Thursday after four hours of debate apiece.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop led filibusters on LBs 1011 and 1013, decrying efforts to add to Nebraskas prison capacity without addressing sentencing reform problems.

Henderson Sen. Curt Friesen, saying he was unhappy with senators overall spending plans, stretched out debate on LB 1012.

But no lawmakers targeted the three bills inclusion of $30 million to refuel the Rural Workforce Housing Fund; $50 million to help build industrial rail parks; an $80 million plan including a new marina at Lake McConaughy; and $53.5 million to plan for revival of the Perkins County Canal.

Gothenburg Sen. Matt Williams and former North Platte Sen. Mike Groene respectively originated the housing and rail-park proposals before they were folded into the Appropriations Committees budget plan.

The Legislatures special STAR WARS committee proposed the Lake Mac marina and other statewide water-related projects, including a new 3,600-acre lake between Omaha and Lincoln.

Gov. Pete Ricketts separately called for invoking the 1923 South Platte River Compact and completing the Perkins canal, begun but abandoned in 1894 in Colorados Sedgwick County. It would run through southern Keith County if built.

The Perkins canals enabling bill (LB 1015) awaits second-round action. So does the final budget bill (LB 1014), which includes $20 million for North Plattes Sustainable Beef LLC meatpacking plant and $23.5 million for Gering-Fort Laramie Canal tunnel repairs among uses of Nebraskas $1.04 billion share of American Rescue Plan funds.

Senators started but adjourned before finishing second-round debate late Thursday on LB 1023, which would enable the STAR WARS committees projects.

Fridays misfire on a compromise income tax cut and property tax credit plan also apparently doomed a bill (LB 825) to speed up the phaseout of state income taxes on Social Security income.

The compromises backers, who gave up on its original vehicle (LB 939) Tuesday, tried Friday to attach it to the Social Security phaseout bill by Omaha Sen. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brett Lindstrom.

But opponents stretched Fridays debate to the limit, and Lindstroms bill  which had won 42-0 first-round approval Jan. 25  fell one vote short of breaking the filibuster despite a 32-0 vote to end debate.

Bills that cant win 33 votes for cloture usually are shelved for the year. Backers of the income tax-property tax credit plan, however, are expected to try to add it next week to still another bill (LB 919).

Their plan would reduce the states top income tax rate one percentage point, from 6.84% to 5.84%, and provide property owners a partial income tax credit on community college property taxes similar to the current credit for K-12 school taxes.

Lawmakers, who worked through lunch on Lindstroms bill, then sparred heatedly over Thurston Sen. Joni Albrechts abortion bill (LB 933) before voting 28-13 to pull it from a deadlocked Judiciary Committee.

That sets up first-round floor debate in the coming days on LB 933, which would become operative if Roe is overturned or Congress or a federal constitutional amendment lets Nebraska prohibit abortion.

LB 933s language rules out criminal penalties for a woman receiving an abortion. Physicians performing one could be imprisoned unless it was necessary in reasonable medical judgment to save the mothers life or avoid serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ and the physician made every reasonable effort to preserve the lives of mother and child.

Williams and Sens. Mike Jacobson of North Platte, Dan Hughes of Venango and Steve Erdman of Bayard voted yes on moving LB 933 to the floor.

Sen. John Stinner of Gering declined to vote on the pull motion. Gordon Sen. Tom Brewer was excused for a medical appointment.

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Biden during his speech on Saturday night at Warsaws Royal Castle. Photo: Omar Marques/Getty Images

During a major speech in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, President Joe Biden said that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power, appearing to endorse regime change in Russia, though the White House quickly tried to walk back the apparent ad lib.

In a nearly 30-minute address, Biden rebuked Russias unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, repeatedly attacked the Russian president, and ridiculed the Kremlins stated rationale for the war. He said the U.S. stood with Ukraine, reaffirmed the need to defend democratic values around the world, and called the international response to Russias aggression and the forces of autocracy the test of all time.

The battle for democracy did not conclude with the end of the Cold War, Biden said, emphasizing that it will not be won in days or months, either. That was just one of the ways the president tried to frame the current crisis as a continuation of Soviet-style oppression. He began and ended his remarks by quoting from Pope John Paul IIs first speech (Be not afraid); warned Putin not to test NATOs will to defend itself (Dont even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory); and attempted to reason with ordinary Russians (Let me say this, if youre able to listen: You, the Russian people, are not our enemy).

"This is not who you are. This is not the future you deserve for your families and your children. I'm telling you the truth." @POTUS delivers a message to the Russian people urging them to not support President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine: https://t.co/pIOojLaXUk pic.twitter.com/olfvhQM3Xv  CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2022

Then in the finale of the speech, Biden called for Putin to be removed from power  as highlighted below in bold:

A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a peoples love for liberty. Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. We will have a different future, a brighter future, rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light. Of decency and dignity and freedom and possibilities. For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power. God bless you all. And may God defend our freedom, and may God protect our troops.

Though it seemed pretty clear what Biden meant by the remark  which instantly became a major international news story  the White House quickly attempted to dilute it. The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change, a White House official claimed in a statement.

The White House apparently appears to be trying to take this comment back, saying Biden meant Putin cannot exercise power over neighbours in the region and that he was not referring to Putins status in Russia. Thats not how this came across. https://t.co/w0V5mOvBBq  Emma Burrows (@EJ_Burrows) March 26, 2022

According to the Washington Post, the comment was likely made by mistake, particularly since the Biden administration has, up to this point, deliberately avoided even implying it hoped there would be regime change in Russia:

Bidens line was not planned and came as a surprise to U.S. officials, according to a person familiar with the speech who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation  White House officials were adamant the remark was not a sign of a policy change, but they did concede it was just the latest example of Bidens penchant for stumbling off message.

On the other hand, as the Post notes, Biden has been never been shy about personally condemning Putin, and that has only escalated in recent weeks  including calling the Russian president a murderous dictator:

It also is in line with Biden at times articulating policy before his aides are ready. Last week, he called Putin a war criminal, which White House aides quickly said was simply him speaking from the heart. But within a few days, U.S. policy changed as Blinken also called Putin a war criminal and released a formal assessment on war crimes committed by Russia.

At The Atlantic, Tom Nichols called Bidens comment a potentially consequential unforced error:

What Biden was doing, of course, was being Joe Biden. He was speaking for all of us, from the heart. One of the more endearing things about the president  at least for those of us who admire him  is that he has almost no inner monologue and regularly engages in the kind of gaffe where a politician says something that is impolitic but true.

This was not the time for such a moment, and even those who think Biden has exhibited sterling leadership during this crisis should admit that the presidents remarks were an unforced error  Bidens comment was poorly timed, too, because Russias high command seems to be preparing for a face-saving retrenchment in Ukraine.

Its not clear what impact the remark will have in Russia. On Saturday, a Kremlin spokesperson simply rejected the comment: Thats not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians. Near the time of Bidens speech in Warsaw, Russia conducted missile strikes in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, close to the countrys western border with Poland. Its unlikely the attacks timing was a coincidence.

163/ Smoke billowing from a fire in the western city of Lviv, which has been spared from heavy strikes. There were earlier videos purporting to show cruise missiles heading toward Lviv. Mayor is "waiting for information from the military administration." https://t.co/zdON1aIufU  Evan Hill (@evanhill) March 26, 2022

During a press conference in Israel on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried once again to clarify the official U.S. stance. I think the president, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else, he said. As youve heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter. In this case, as in any case, its up to the people of the country in question. Its up to the Russian people.

Before his big speech on Saturday, Biden visited with some of the millions of Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Poland. He told reporters that he was impressed with the depth and strength of the human spirit expressed by the refugees he met.

WATCH: @POTUS Biden meets Ukrainian refugees outside PGE Stadium in Warsaw. pic.twitter.com/Wv4Y5NkL9B  Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) March 26, 2022

Biden also called Putin a butcher.

This post has been updated to include additional reporting and commentary.

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China unveiled a new, shortened negative list for market access on Friday, opening more industries to Chinese and foreign investment, according to the country's top economic regulator.

Experts said the move is a continuation of the country's ongoing efforts to expand market access and introduce greater opening-up.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce jointly released the updated negative list for 2022, which indicates areas where investment is prohibited or restricted; all other areas are presumed to be open. It now comprises 117 items, down from 123 in the 2020 version, according to the NDRC.

"Continuously shortening the negative list highlights the government's ongoing efforts to relax market access, which will help give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources and build a new system for a higher-level, open economy," said Cui Weijie, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Cui said that he believes the government will continue to shorten the negative list and expand market access and that the government should make a big push to transform government functions and improve the business climate.

Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, had similar thoughts and said China has been working hard to expand market access and opening-up during the past few years. "It's sending a clear signal that China is committed to optimizing the business environment and encouraging foreign investment participation in China's development."

Zhou said that by continuously expanding its opening-up process, the country will promote its high-quality development and offer new business opportunities for global stakeholders, thus giving impetus to the global economy.

The negative list system will allow the government to better coordinate policies, he said, and to further deepen reforms and opening-up and help stabilize the market expectations.

The NDRC and Ministry of Commerce, while requiring more steps to improve the market access system that is in line with the negative list, called for strengthening the anti-monopoly push and preventing disorderly capital expansion.

"It is necessary to take measures to prevent risks while continuously expanding market access," Cui, from the CAITEC, said. "Taking stronger actions against monopoly will help prevent disorderly expansion of capital, its unchecked growth and speculation in the market. That will also help maintain the market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and relevant market entities."

Jeffery Liu, vice-president of Corning Inc, attributed China's economic success over the last four decades to its strategic approach that focuses on openness, collaboration, sharing, innovation and sustainability.

"A stable macroeconomic environment and unwavering commitment to further reform and opening-up are crucial for us to make long-term investment decisions," he said.
That zoom conference loop is bizarre. Are they secretly getting the passengers off the bus?

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Russian forces damage Holocaust memorial outside Kharkiv.



The Ministry of Defense said that the Russian troops hit the memorial in Drobytsky Yar, a ravine where, according to different estimates, from 16,000-20,000 people, mostly Jews, were massacred by Nazi troops in 1941.  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 26, 2022





but its ukraine thatre nazis, okay but its ukraine thatre nazis, okay

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Oh man, I bet Ukraine is feeling super de-nazified right now.

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Is that where all the Nazis were hiding?



This  nation of Russia.

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thank you for these continued updates, op.



vox recently uploaded an explainer on the holodomor:



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No wonder the goal posts moved over to the Donbas region. What in the fuck.

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everything is going according to plan!

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Ugh horrendous. Putin is putting so many people in bad situations

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This is so bleak. This combined with the rumors that a group of soldiers turned on their commander and killed/tried to kill him because they lost so many of the people in their group. Ugh. Putin is truly going to burn in hell.



Edited at 2022-03-26 05:29 pm (UTC)

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Geez. It's going so well, this Phase I.

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Putin is so bizarre I can't honestly believe anybody would still defend his position. Constantly claiming the West is waging war and being aggressive towards Russia when dude, you're the one invading a country! How on earth are economic sanctions "war tactics" but actual missiles and tanks shooting civilians are just a special operation? how is anybody buying this narrative?



we've started to get Ukrainian children at our schools (refugees) and it's heartbreaking, these poor kids.

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"How is anyone buying this narrative?"



well according to some checkmarked jackasses i just saw on twitter, Russia was manipulated into invading Ukraine by the US as part of a plot to force regime change in Russia.



Poor Putin. Just a victim forced to invade a sovereign country

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It took two weeks, but Russia has finally released a slightly more convincing proof-of-life video of Sergei Shoigu after the defense minister vanished without explanation pic.twitter.com/tt3db5PoyW  max seddon (@maxseddon) March 26, 2022



The Shoigu videos are so weird. Read the replies to this one. I don't want to go to deep into tinfoil hattery but if this is a proof-of-life video (which, it really might not be--it could be old video taken out of context for other reasonss), why does it feature a general that was recently KIA?

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This is the two seconds in question. Look at the hand positions relative to the water bottle or notes etc. Hardly no movement in over a minute. My guess is its a stitch in. pic.twitter.com/wEjKEkXp0L  LangerDan (@realLangerDan) March 26, 2022



suspicious also this:suspicious

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This is too much.

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Graphic design is my passion 

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We need a clown reaction. WE REALLY DO.



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Humble Bundle for Ukraine raised nearly $26 million Canadian (approx. $20.74 million USD.)



https://www.humblebundle.com/stand-with-ukraine-bundle



Thank you to anyone who participated or considered it - I didn't do this particular bundle but I did the itch.io one and will post if I see any others.





Edited at 2022-03-26 05:52 pm (UTC) Update:Humble Bundle for Ukraine raised nearly $26 million Canadian (approx. $20.74 million USD.)Thank you to anyone who participated or considered it - I didn't do this particular bundle but I did the itch.io one and will post if I see any others.

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That's legitimately incredible!! They really went above and beyond with this bundle, imo.

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They really did! I was just too tired to figure everything ie/keys out so I just let it go this time. It's my loss!



Thank you for your continued support and I hope you have fun gaming!  And yw re your other kind comment. 

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P.S. Thank you, again, for sharing it!

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Youd think having Putin effectively defending you would be the wait, am I the bad guy?! moment for Jo Rowling but that would require some level of self awareness.

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I don't envy the (USA's) secret service agents working during this trip.

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Thank you OP for these roundup posts. So much information overload sometimes

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So, Biden was dumb for implying at the end of his speech that regime change should happen in Russia. Like, we all think that, but a leader of a country shouldn't be saying something like that so explicitly.

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TBF Biden is well known for speaking "off the cuff" like that, and then the White House needing to backtrack it until the grown-ups (Blanken) go and make a more nuanced statement. They're going to point that throughout his speech, he was addressing 'the Russian people' to try and cover his ass. Dumb...yeah. But I also think strangely targeted. That's just me though.

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lmao classic Biden tbh



saying what he feels without thought for the fallout is how he publicly supported legalizing same sex marriage before Obama did and definitely without the administration approving his remarks

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Someone on MSNBC (or CNN) said he doesn't necessarily mean that people need to rise up and take over, that P*tin could/should step down.

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Sure, but we all know Putin isn't going to take it that way. And like I ultimately agree with his statement, but world leaders can't say things like this in the same way that everday people can.

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Yeah. I'm glad he's not the former guy right now but he could do with less of THAT

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I don't know enough about Biden and his ways to guess if his remark was intentional or if he just slipped up, but I feel like a lot of leaders (speaking mainly about European politicians here) have been a lot more candid and direct about Putin in the past few weeks. I think the general consensus is that Putin can't be controlled or contained through normal diplomatic means, so they rather be direct and open (directed towards a European/ western audience mostly I guess) to remain in control of the narrative. US candidness about Russias intentions to attack Ukraine (before the attack) was really effective in combating Kremls bullshit, so I guess they're sticking to that strategy.

Kreml will throw a hissy fit of course, but let's hope they have their hands full with this disaster and it won't escalate to more than more whining.

Mostly I worry about the "this is all a Nato scheme to gain world dominance"-trolls getting more fired up, because I am DONE with those people, and I'm trying to keep my blood pressure down.

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 President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr gave what was probably the defining speech of his political career, speaking on how this Russian incursion into Ukraine is the point where the democratic world needs to stand up to autocracy once and for all. He also went off his written remarks to cry out



 Oscar winning actor Sean Penn declares that if Volodymry Zelenskyy is not allowed to speak at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, or was not even approached to speak at the ceremony, Penn will smelt his award publicly. (



...um...I think Volodymry is a LITTLE FUCKING BUSY MR. PENN:







.@ZelenskyyUa speaking to us live at @DohaForum, saying justice has failed not just Ukrainians, but Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis and Somalis. pic.twitter.com/GgVjrhO9V2  Razan Saffour (@RazanSpeaks) March 26, 2022





Have @terrelljstarr in a beautiful vyshyvsnka. I want one:



In the first week of the war, I wore a vyshyvsnka during my tv interviews as a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Behind me is a portrait of a Black Ukrainian woman painted by Ukrainian artist (IG: @annabr_art). Reach out to her if youre interested in her work. pic.twitter.com/bx8SxWimP9  Terrell Jermaine Starr (@terrelljstarr) March 26, 2022



Salva Ukraini. Heroiam slava.  It's the weekend on the East Coast of the US, so my lazy ass slept in. I love you all anyway. President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr gave what was probably the defining speech of his political career, speaking on how this Russian incursion into Ukraine is the point where the democratic world needs to stand up to autocracy once and for all. He also went off his written remarks to cry out 'For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power' . Expect massive backtracking from the White House to clarify that Biden is NOT declaring that there should be regime change in Russia (there totally should be regime change in Russia. I said what I said) Oscar winning actor Sean Penn declares that if Volodymry Zelenskyy is not allowed to speak at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, or was not even approached to speak at the ceremony, Penn will smelt his award publicly. ( source ...um...I think Volodymry is a LITTLE FUCKING BUSY MR. PENN: Daily Address March 25th aka his 3rd speech on the 25th of March.Have @terrelljstarr in a beautiful vyshyvsnka. I want one:Salva Ukraini. Heroiam slava. 

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Screaming @ Sean penn please stop everyone!! Im actually starting to physically cringe



Wow I cant believe that Zelenskyy brought up other countries in war. Good for him for doing so even if he doesnt necessarily have to~ (I hope you all know what I mean by this!)

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Oh I know exactly what you mean, and I appreciated it too.



Sean Penn needs to shut up. Zelenskyy is not a prop for your goddamned "documentary", sir!

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thank you! sean penn remains the worst

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I definitely think there should be regime change in Russia, but Biden really should have just stuck to the written speech. Although, if Putin or other people in power in Russia are making a big stink about it, they should remember that they have been trying to assassinate Zelensky.



I am glad that Zelensky is making connections between what's happening in Ukraine with what has happened to Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, and Somalis because they're all being screwed over by imperialism and colonialism.

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I think maybe Sean Penn is ... really fucking dense?

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For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power



Jmo and I'm just a political nerd, but Idt it was a gaffe. I think he said what he said because he wanted to say it and it needed to be said. Yes he has had slip ups, some goofy and some more consequential, but hut he didn't say "regime change".



Anyway, the walk backs haven't even really been a walk back lol. The WH statement was like a war version of "depends on what the definition of is, is" (iykyk)



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gonna hold Sean Penn to his word

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If Zelenskyy is not ALLOWED to speak at the Oscars??

I'm pretty sure the ball is in Zelenskyys court. The Oscar producers will rearrange whatever schedule they have planned at a minutes notice if HE decides he wants to make room in HIS schedule adress a bunch of rich assholes. Zelenskyy might be a desperate man, but the Oscars are even more desperate for relevancy...



Edit to ad: I do NOT mean that Zelenskyy is desperate for relevancy! Just that the poor man is obviously in an impossible situation and I could see him grasping for straws, even if that means giving a speech at the Oscars. I hope he doesn't have to, but it's not my place to say what the best course of action for him is.



Edited at 2022-03-27 06:09 am (UTC)

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Penn will smelt his award publicly

The struggle between his self-importance and the frivolous career that sustains that self-importance.

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it scares me how this has fallen off news radars like it's every other story it just gives Putin more chances of getting away with it

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Yeah doing these posts take longer because I have to really search for a well rounded compilation. March Madness took over. The hearings with Judge Brown. Its like the media thinks their audience cant multi task in different topics.

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ty again and always for continuing to do these posts! i fear the media may be right, and putins only real chance of winning is to wait ukraine out to a point where the world says meh

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"supply E.U. countries with liquefied natural gas... "



Thanks, Boris and Brexiters! :-(

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pro-tip: light your blue passport on fire to provide heating should the gas/electricity bill go up too high

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As we eagerly await Oscar Smelt 2022, have a little bit of news:



Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, spoke to the Atlantic Council about



 Yermak's boss also spoke about Russia paying to repair and replace all they've destroyed. He also had a shout-out to ladychips



 The entire Ukrainian figure skating team competed at the Figure Skating World Championship in Montpelier, France this weekend. They all competed in training gear, as almost none of them were able to retrieve costumes from home or get them made in time:



An emotional performance of Ukrainian figure skaters Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin at the world championship in France. They are from Kharkiv, Nazarov spent weeks there under Russian bombs. They had less than a month to prepare this dance and no time to make costumes pic.twitter.com/qP2efP7BXq  Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) March 27, 2022







Still no evidence of Neo-Nazis.....but we do have a Neo pic.twitter.com/jMzrwxvlE9  Maria Romanenko (@rommari) March 27, 2022





Slava Ukraini. Heroiam slava.  ...look I was up in the AM, it counts!As we eagerly await Oscar Smelt 2022, have a little bit of news:Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the Ukrainian President, spoke to the Atlantic Council about Russian war reparations  Yermak's boss also spoke about Russia paying to repair and replace all they've destroyed. He also had a shout-out to' favorite Ukrainians: the tractor troops , farmers and villagers who have been bringing the Ukrainian Army stolen and abandoned Russian tanks and other equipment. Rumor has it though that Farmer Igor has been allowed to keep his new Russian 'tractor'. He got fields to plow, ya'll. The entire Ukrainian figure skating team competed at the Figure Skating World Championship in Montpelier, France this weekend. They all competed in training gear, as almost none of them were able to retrieve costumes from home or get them made in time:Slava Ukraini. Heroiam slava. 

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that keanu pic is warming my heart!



after all this is over i am genuinely hoping these farmers get to meet zelenskyy

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I hope the Tractor Troops get a memorial, awards and special plaques for their tractors. They already have the hearts of the world 

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No, I would not eat that. I will eat garbage pizza. I will eat a fish stick. I will never eat them together.

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Oh I would and dump pickles and pineapples all over it.

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fwiw, I'm a big fan of eat what you like and no part of me is about food shaming.



You bring up a thing - pineapple on pizza - why are people so opinionated about that? You don't like it? Don't eat it. Also, mayo. cool, it grosses you out? I will put it on everything just out of spite, also it's delicious.

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would you eat this ontd?



Sadly, Ive eaten worse. 



But never anchovies! 

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Its one thing if youre some jabroni who gets stoned and decides to put fish sticks on your pizza but a company manufacturing it and selling it? No. I cant.

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Right? The very act of frankensteining this yourself at 3 am fills you with a sense of both pride and shame so delicious it can never be replaced by convenience.

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lol sure, why not.

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pandemic, war, inflation, fish stick pizzas. haven't we been through enough?

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rebuked

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One of the signs of the upcoming apocalypse.

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I'm allergic so no I would never but this also looks so lazy? it's not even integrated into the pizza, just on top of it

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The clever Americans would make it with a fish stick crust. Now, is that what you want?

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I gasped at the accuracy

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I mean, still allergic to fish so it doesn't factor for me but a fish stick crust at least sounds more interesting than simply plopping it on top of the regular pizza

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Lmao im pretty sure I saw this at edeka. I thought it was a April fools thing that was put out too early.



Then again Germans love cheap tuna and salmon on their pizza so this isnt such a stretch.

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Jesus Christ wtf is wrong with Germans??

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For starters.

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Most places in Europe offer tuna as an option on their pizza! I think even dominos

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Is that an actual German thing? Please know I'm going to go down a wormhole now to research that.



My only personal experience was that I visited Munich once, and like the awful American I am, couldn't figure out how I felt drunk after one beer at the Hofbrauhaus. Such a tourist.



I cringe at that memory.



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I think it started out as an April fool's joke but due to popular demand they made it a real pizza

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I.. I like cheap tuna or salmon on my pizza actually :v I'm not even german :v wut I didn't knew it was a controversy XD

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This is bad. And if the fish sticks were arranged in a different um... pattern, it would be a disaster for Dr. Oetker.

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Everyday we stray further from god's light.

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In all honesty, have we ever been anywhere near it? Or in its general direction, even?

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This just looks like their regular spinach pizza. With fish sticks on top.

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Is this a fishstick pizza or just a fishsticks on top a pizza



Seem like two different things to me

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i mean, i don't think i ever saw a fish stick on a pizza, but italy has seafood pizza, tuna pizza...

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Tonno e cipolla e una delle mie preferite  non sapevo fosse una scelta cosi controversa 

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mah, qua la gente si schifa per cose che in italia sono comuni sulla pizza (olive, funghi, carciofi) ma poi si offende a morte se dici qualcosa contro l'ananas, il pollo arrosto, polpette... per non parlare di come conciano la salsa per la pizza...

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la pizza rossa con insalata e gamberetti e' una cosa spettacolare con la birra fredda nelle calde serate estive. And that's the hill I'll die on



Edited at 2022-03-26 10:54 pm (UTC)

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China has seafood pizza too!

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seafood pizza is delicious

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I think quite a few countries outside of North America have seafood on pizza as a normal option. I know in Japan they did, always with mayo on top... I feel like potato is a weirder topping. Maybe not weirder than a fish stick though, lol.

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Unless Beijing renounces its declaration made during the Winter Olympics that its relationship with Russia has no limits, we should not assume otherwise.

Though Beijing has yet to extend a political or economic lifeline to Moscow, it has fallen short of criticizing Russias actions.

Since the first shots were fired in the early hours of February 24, China has walked an awkward line of supporting Moscows invasion of Ukraine while attempting to distance itself from the destruction Russia's military has inflicted.

On February 4, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Beijing on the sidelines of the Olympics and the two signaled new depths to their partnership, saying ties between their countries had no limits as they unveiled a massive strategic document.

But after one month of war in Ukraine, the partnership has been thoroughly put to the test.

Sweeping Western sanctions have crippled Russias economy and left the Kremlin under unprecedented pressure internationally.

Beijing has avoided extending a political or economic lifeline to Moscow, but China has also provided diplomatic cover for its partner and its state-run media have pushed Russias narrative of the invasion to audiences at home and abroad.

This has left the West increasingly focused on Chinas ambiguous role amid the crisis, which is set to grow as U.S. President Joe Biden kicks off a four-day trip to Europe on March 24.

Through summits and meetings with NATO, the Group of Seven (G7), and the European Council, Biden is set to keep up the pressure on Russia over its invasion and forge a common front with Europe toward China before a planned European Union summit with Xi on April 1.

Washington has warned Beijing against providing material support to Russia and European leaders hope they can press China to act constructively to help bring an end to the bloody war.

But how deeply has the Ukraine war changed China and Russias growing partnership?

To find out more, RFE/RL asked six leading experts about what one month of war has taught us about the nature of the Beijing-Moscow relationship and where it might be heading.

The Xi-Putin Relationship Is Too Big to Fail

Steve Tsang, director of SOAS University London's China Institute

China and Xi were taken by surprise by Russias invasion of Ukraine, not that it happened, but that it was executed so poorly.

A true believer in the superiority of their authoritarian systems, Xi undoubtedly thought that Russia would launch surgical strikes or use coercive pressure for Putin to get his way in Kyiv without damaging Chinas substantial relations with Ukraine. Russian failures so far have harmed Chinas interests and diminished Chinese respect for Putin and Russia.

Even when the Russian invasion turned into a mess, China could have taken advantage of it by taking on a peacemaking role.

If Xi could persuade Putin to end the conflict, he would have gained international acclaim and made China look great again. Even if he should fail, Beijing would still have earned international gratitude for trying. But China did not even try, despite its talk of neutrality and a wish for the conflict to end quickly. Chinese professional diplomats can see the value of this option, but they cant get this past Xi.

The reality is that Chinas policy is dictated by Xi and he supports Putin. Allowing a fellow Leninist strongman to fail could encourage challenges to his own authority in China. Xi also shares Putins commitment to making the world safe for authoritarianism and challenging U.S. global leadership. It means we cant expect China to play a constructive role in Ukraine, as Xis focus is not what is best for the world or China, but rather what is best for him as the strongman of China.

Look To China's Actions, Not Its Words

Ryan Hass, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and forme director for China on the U.S. National Security Council

Beijings initial assumptions about the potential benefits China may derive from Russias invasion of Ukraine are becoming less tenable by the day.

At the outset, many strategic thinkers in Beijing reportedly believed Russias invasion would divert American focus to Europe. They assumed the toll of war would diminish American power and potentially strain transatlantic unity. They also expected that Russia would become more isolated and dependent on China, giving Beijing leverage to extract concessions from Moscow, much as was the case following Russias invasion of Crimea in 2014.

Instead, one month into the conflict, transatlantic unity is arguably as strong as it has been at any point since the 1991 Gulf War. The speed and scale of Western sanctions on Russia exceeded Beijings expectations and Russia appears on a trajectory of becoming a rapidly depreciating strategic asset in the international system.

As the worlds leading importer of oil and a leading purchaser of food and commodities, China is also being disproportionately harmed economically by volatility in global markets for such goods.

Chinese officials with whom I have spoken are willing to acknowledge privately that Russias invasion of Ukraine has harmed Chinas interests. Even so, do not expect China to publicly condemn Russias behavior.

Instead, Chinese officials almost surely can be counted on to lend public support to Russia. While words are important, actions matter more. The key measure of Chinas role in the conflict will be what China does -- and does not do -- to demonstrate its support for Russia.

China Has No Plans To Ditch Russia

Melissa Chan, Berlin-based contributor to The Global Reporting Center and former China correspondent

Weve seen so many analysts dissect every comment from Chinese diplomats and every tweet from state media for a sign of a shift in Chinas position, believing that the terrible images of war crimes in Ukraine would surely drive Beijing to distance itself from Russia.

One month into the conflict, however, the fact is that China will still not call what is happening an invasion.

Troublingly, we see a convergence of doublespeak to outright conspiracy theories being touted by both Chinese and Russian diplomats and state media engines -- domestically and abroad -- and through proxies on social media. Beijing and Moscow now share the same messaging in a way that disinformation specialists have previously not observed.

Chinese diplomats have used some language that appears to distance the country from the Russian offensive, and Beijing has denied that it will provide arms to Moscow. We have seen Chinese scholars weigh in with diverse opinions, but the relationship between the two countries is not determined by these voices -- it is largely determined by two secretive and isolated men: Putin and Xi.

We really dont know much about either mans thinking. Attention has been given to Putins COVID bunker mentality, but we should remember that Xi has lived and operated similarly for the last two years. Unless Beijing renounces its declaration made during the Winter Olympics that its relationship with Russia has no limits, we should not assume otherwise.

The View From Ukraine

Yurii Poita, head of the Asia-Pacific Section at the Kyiv-based Center for Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Studies

While Beijing will continue to diplomatically and informationally support Moscow in the future, the last month has shown that China-Russia cooperation has quite clear boundaries which the Chinese leadership is not yet ready to cross. This mainly concerns avoiding military and military-technical aid to Russia as well as significant assistance in overcoming sanctions.

In Ukraine, Beijings so-called pro-Russian neutrality does not cause much enthusiasm. In the expert community, it is believed that China, with its tacit consent for Moscows war, also bears its share of responsibility for the Russian invasion and even that Chinas lack of condemnation of the Kremlins actions indicates an indirect support for Russias war crimes.

In practice, as long as China does not provide military or other direct assistance to Russia, this will be more or less acceptable for Kyiv. Officially, the Ukrainian government will maintain friendly relations with Beijing as much as possible.

However, if China wants to be a truly global and responsible player, it must take a position consistent with international law. Otherwise, one way or another, its position in Ukraine, Central and Eastern Europe, and the EU will be significantly undermined.

In Ukraine, the discourse in Chinas state-run media is also perceived negatively, as it mostly repeats pro-Russian narratives and disinformation and also excludes Ukraine's participation in the war, instead framing it as Russia's confrontation with NATO, the United States, and the EU.

China should understand that Ukraine is a sovereign state. It is not a Russian gray area or a puppet of the West. Ukraine has its own national interests, and this should be taken seriously by Beijing.

A Bet That Isn't Paying Off

Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, fellow at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan and former adviser to the European Parliament

A month into the war, Putins gamble has turned into a strategic dilemma for Xi.

For now, there is no easy exit for Beijing, there are only difficult questions to address. What role will Xi choose to play and how can he reconcile his interests to uphold sovereignty, territorial integrity, and his geopolitical agenda for global leadership while maintaining cooperation with the EU?

Moscow and Beijing have thrived for years on the EUs lack of political will to act to protect its interests, undermining the bloc and discrediting democracy without having to face any consequences -- until Putins invasion of Ukraine.

This aggression has led to a level of coordination and joint action in Brussels that will have far-reaching consequences not just for the EU, but also for Chinas ties with Russia and for Chinas role in the world.

The path Xi takes regarding Putins war will put Chinas global image and credibility on the line, forcing Xi to reexamine the value that Chinas strategic partnership with Russia holds for Beijing.

Should Beijing choose to help Moscow circumvent international sanctions, there will be a high price to pay once secondary sanctions on China start kicking in. Xi risks finding himself entangled in an international security situation that leaves Beijing more closely scrutinized than ever before.

Undermining European and global security might finally have real consequences for Beijing and Moscow.

The Ukraine War Will Have Global Ripple Effects

Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute

While the durability of the China-Russia relationship is not in itself surprising, the sharpness and degree with which Beijing seems willing to back Moscow as the situation on the ground drags on and the West pushes with ever-stronger sanctions highlights how tightly bound both countries are at the moment.

Few of the details that have emerged have been very surprising: Chinese firms are still not willing to place themselves in the crosshairs of American sanctions, while the reports of possible desired arms sales from China to Russia have yet to be confirmed.

This crisis is also showing how the Moscow-Beijing dynamic will echo in ways that will confuse the democracies versus autocracies narrative that the West likes to advance.

What has perhaps been less noticed is the way in which India and Pakistan have been interacting and seem to support Moscow. In many ways, this gives China cover for its support for Moscow, while also opening up an interesting dynamic in South Asia that could complicate attempts by the West to use India as a keynote Asian ally in their confrontation with China.

In terms of whether the views of each other have changed: I would suspect the Chinese might now be slightly less in awe of their Russian military counterparts but, at the same time, they remain the most battle-hardened army around that China is able to do exercises with. This suggests an interesting possible future dynamic in the military-to-military relationship.

By RFE/RL.org

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Rather than the cheapest, easiest and greenest sources, therell probably be more of a premium on the safest and surest.

In Q2 2020, at the dramatic start of the pandemic, global trade was down 18.5%, compared to the same period the previous year.

The global pandemic and Russias invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed have sparked a new debate on the future of globalization as we know it.

There is an eternal debate among various experts as to when globalization actually started; whether it was with the Silk Road, the Vikings, Columbus's voyage, or even before then, with the earliest human migratory routes.

Now, its no longer relevant when it started. Instead, the new question is whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will end it.

Russias war on Ukraine and the Western sanctions that necessarily followed, could have a lasting impact on globalization, a process that regardless of when the first seeds were planted, really became entrenched a few decades ago.

Globalization was under attack on some level prior to Putins invasion of Ukraine. Most significantly, the global pandemic let us all see very clearly the vulnerabilities, especially with supply chains and our dependence on their global nature.

Now, everyone is desperately calling for independence, whether it is of energy or other resources.

In Q2 2020, at the dramatic start of the pandemic, global trade was down 18.5%, compared to the same period the previous year.

Since then, the global economy has started to recover, only to be hit again by a war on the European continenta war that could shake the balance of power.

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, thinks we are now seeing the beginning of the end of globalization.

In a letter to shareholders, Fink wrote that Russia's "decoupling from the global economy" following its assault on Ukraine has caused governments and companies to examine their reliance on other nations.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades," Fink wrote.

For its part, BlackRock, which oversees more than $10 trillion, has already suspended the purchase of any Russian securities in its active or index portfolios.

Oaktree Capital Management founder Howard Marks shares Finks opinion, even if his take is less dramatic. He is warning investors that countries are going to start a major push to return to localized sourcing.

Rather than the cheapest, easiest and greenest sources, therell probably be more of a premium on the safest and surest, Marks said.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard seems something similar. The direct macroeconomic effects on the US economy from Russia's invasion are not that large, Bullard says, but Russia's war will mean less globalization, more fragmentation around the world.

Aside from oil and gas, Russia is one of the world's largest suppliers of metals. Currently, governments and large corporations that imposed sanctions on Russia are now scrambling to obtain alternative supplies. Supplies in turn are tightening, resulting in dramatic upward price swings and costs that are passed on to consumers.

The pandemic, along with geopolitical tensions with China and a US-China trade battle, had already driven many businesses to explore bringing their operations and relevant input materials closer to home, including some attempts to reverse the outsourcing of manufacturing.

Inter-dependence, however, is so great and so entrenched, that it will take just as long to undo globalization as it took to build it in the first placeunless its simply forced apart by war.

Semiconductors, which are undergoing a supply squeeze amid soaring demand, are a case in point. For two years the American auto industry has been suffering from this shortage and dependence on Asia hasnt been sufficiently addressed, with efforts just now getting underway to secure domestic supply.

Now, Intel, the largest chipmaker in the United States, has announced (only recently) that it will spend $20 billion to build two semiconductor factories at home, but they wont begin production until 2025.

Several automakers and battery manufacturers are also planning to make dozens of new electric vehicle battery factories in the United States within the next five years.

Similar announcements have been made recently in the solar and biotech industries.

Three decades ago, the US produced about 37% of the world's semiconductors, compared to 12 percent nowadays. Profit got in the way of strategic planning here. Cheap costs were chosen over independence, and that is the sacrifice of globalization.

By Michael Kern via Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
China's state-run oil refiner, Sinopec, has paused discussions with Russia about a petrochemical investment and a deal to market Russian gas in China, Reuters sources suggested on Friday.

Reuters sources have suggested that the reason for the pause in talks is due to China's wariness over its own companies butting up against Western-levied Russian sanctions.

While the petrochemical deal wasn't named, Reuters sources said it was in the site selection process and was supposed to be similar in size to the $10 billion Amur gas chemical complex in Siberia. Amur is a joint venture between Sinopec and Russian Sibur.

The new investment in questionwhich was also a deal with Siburwas estimated at $500 million for a gas chemical plant.

Sinopec reportedly paused the talks when it realized that one of Sibur's minority shareholders and board members, Gennady Timchenko, had been sanctioned by the EU and Britain due to his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Timchenko was also on Novatek's board until Monday, when he resigned.

Russia is China's second-largest oil supplier and third-largest gas provider.

Sinopec did not comment on its plans.

The Amur project is also in jeopardy, as funding sources in Russia, including from Russia's state-run Sberbank, also find themselves limited due to sanctions.

Sibur has denied that a new project with Sinopec similar to Amur was in the works. It did say, however, that Sibur continues to work with Sinopec on the Amur project.

"Sinopec is actively participating in the issues of the project's construction management, including equipment supplies, work with suppliers and contractors. We are also jointly working on the issues of project financing," Sibur told Reuters.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently met with Sinopec, CNPC, and CNOOCits three energy giantsto review its ties to Russia. Reuters sources have suggested that those companies have been told to tread carefully in its dealings with Russia and to not make any rash moves in buying Russian assets.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
While the European Union looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian gas, flows via Ukraine remain high, at 109 million cu m daily amid lower wind energy output.

Interfax reports, citing data from the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine, that bookings for Thursday stood at 105.2 million cu m while todays booking are higher, at 105.8 million cu m. The numbers are in line with the long-term contract with Gazprom, which is for deliveries of 40 billion cu m of gas annually.

Wind generation, meanwhile, has been on the decline, according to the report. For the week to March 20, wind output made up 17 percent of Europes energy mix, and this week this has fallen further to 8.4 percent.

The EU remains active in seeking alternatives to Russian gas, meanwhile. Earlier today, Brussels struck a deal with Washington for higher deliveries of liquefied natural gas, with the U.S. committing to supply an additional 15 billion cu m this year.

In a fact sheet on the news, the White House said that The United States will work with international partners and strive to ensure additional LNG volumes for the EU market of at least 15 bcm in 2022, with expected increases going forward.

The European Union, at the same time, committed to stoke demand for natural gas.

The European Commission will work with EU Member States toward the goal of ensuring, until at least 2030, demand for approximately 50 bcm/year of additional U.S. LNG that is consistent with our shared net-zero goals, the fact sheet also said, noting that prices should reflect long-term market fundamentals.

Gas prices in Europe slipped on the news of the EU-U.S. LNG deal but remain far above normal, at over $1,160 per thousand cu m. The price of gas under the month-ahead contract for March with Gazprom is lower than that, at $930 per thousand cu m, Interfax noted.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Friday demanded stringent measures, including mass nucleic acid testing and thorough contact tracing, to contain the spread of COVID-19 in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while addressing a meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control in the city of Jilin.

Highlighting the complex, arduous and enduring nature of COVID-19 control work in Jilin, Sun said a raft of comprehensive measures should be taken in the next three to five days to ensure at-risk groups are identified and placed in isolation so as to curb the community spread of COVID-19.

Over the past few days, the vice premier inspected communities, hospitals, nursing homes, nucleic acid sampling sites and testing facilities.

Sun urged a more swift response to adapt to the transmission of Omicron variants.

Work is needed to guarantee the supply of daily necessities and meet the people's needs for medications and medical treatment, she said.

High-quality screening should be conducted on a daily basis, and all those who test positive should be sent immediately to designated or temporary hospitals, Sun said.
If Nebraska wants to reduce chronic prison overcrowding, well-behaved prisoners should have a shot at earlier parole as a 2011 law intended, says an expert who helped the Legislature craft policies to reduce overcrowding.

This provision  is beneficial if youre intending to reduce the (prison) population, said Len Engel, director of policy and campaigns for the Crime and Justice Institute.

The provision in question is a piece of Nebraska good time law passed in 2011  after a year behind bars, prisoners could earn three days off their sentence for each month of good behavior. Thats in addition to the day-for-day credit prisoners already earn that effectively cuts sentences in half.

The bill sponsor, then-State Sen. Brenda Council, and Bob Houston, director of corrections at the time, agree that the intent of the bill was to let prisoners earn time toward their parole eligibility date. But the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services argues that state law as written doesnt allow for that.

The current interpretation of the law, correct or not, quietly contributes to the states ongoing struggle with overcrowded prisons, keeping the thousands of parole-eligible prisoners sentenced since 2011 from earning up to 36 days per year toward their parole eligibility date.

The result: They end up having their time before the parole board delayed by days, weeks or months, potentially keeping them in prison longer than the laws authors intended.

How prison leaders calculate good time and parole eligibility is being challenged by Nebraska prisoner Robert Heist II. The case awaits a decision from the Nebraska Supreme Court.

It comes as the state continues to grapple with one of the most crowded prison systems in the country, reaching 152% of the systems design capacity in December.

Solving the overcrowding crisis has been a focus of the current legislative session. But state leaders are split in their approaches. Some favor sentencing reform and want to build a path that would get current prisoners out and into community supervision quicker; others want to build a new prison.

Nebraskas incarceration rate increased 17% since 2011, according to the report issued by the Crime and Justice Institute and a state working group in January. Thats in marked contrast to the national incarceration rate, which has steadily decreased in the same period.

The report included 21 policy options aimed at reducing crime and recidivism. Of the 21 proposals, members of the state working group agreed on 17 and disagreed on four. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Lathrop, includes all 21.

Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he supports pieces of Lathrops bill, largely to do with reducing recidivism. He agrees the state should establish more transitional housing options, improve access to mental health supports and reduce the number of jam outs  when prisoners are released with no supervision in the community.

But the policy options he opposes revolve around sentencing and parole: establishing geriatric parole for elderly prisoners, changing drug possession penalties and discouraging mandatory minimums and consecutive sentences.

In a press conference Monday, Ricketts called Lathrops proposed changes soft-on-crime bills that would undermine public safety.

He has urged the Legislature to fund a new prison to replace the aging State Penitentiary in Lincoln in part because it would provide space for the programming needed to prepare inmates for life after time served and reduce recidivism rates, Alex Reuss, Ricketts spokesman, said in an email.

Even with a new building, the prison system is projected to stay over capacity. Laura Ebke, an ex-state senator who chaired the Judiciary Committee, said when the state opened the prison in Tecumseh, in 2001, it was supposed to solve overcrowding for years. Instead, it filled quickly.

Im not sure that Nebraskans want to just keep building prisons, said Ebke, a senior fellow at the Platte Institute, a think tank advocating for reducing taxes and government spending. (The Platte Institute is a supporter of the Flatwater Free Press open government efforts).

Nebraskas prisons are at least slightly more overcrowded because of the current interpretation of the 2011 good time law, which has potentially affected thousands of prisoners who could have had at least a little time shaved off their sentences. But the most egregious cases are prisoners who end up being released before even becoming parole eligible.

When prison leaders credit three days toward a prisoners final release date but never move their parole eligibility date, those dates sometimes flip, creating a group of guaranteed jam outs.

Thats insane, said Joe Nigro, the Lancaster County public defender.

Parole is generally regarded as a better way to reacclimate prisoners to society. Parolees have required check-ins with their parole officer and must line up a job and a place to live. Working toward a parole eligibility date also is an incentive for good behavior, the very thing the additional good time days were meant to encourage.

Having those dates flipped is not what anybody with any common sense would support, Nigro said.

Aaron Hanson, legislative liaison for the Omaha Police Officers Association, called the states current good time laws clunky at best, and arguably sloppy and haphazard.

We need to focus more on achieving better long-term outcomes and less on simply finding new ways to release offenders earlier, said Hanson, who is running for Douglas County sheriff. We want the ultimate goal to be a better outcome, not simply ending supervision or a sentence as early as we can to save money.

What comes next for the disputed good time days will depend on the courts opinion, several experts said.

Should the court rule that the department is interpreting the law correctly, the Legislature should step in to ensure the written law reflects that laws intent, Engel said.

Sentences in Nebraska are largely defined by the time served on the minimum, he said. I think thats where its got to be applied to the parole date. That makes the most sense.

Lathrop agreed, but said its too late in the current legislative session to propose a new bill. Its also the 12-year senators final session. Lathrop announced in February that he wouldnt seek reelection.

That would be on the list of things to do I would hand to somebody on my way out, because Im done, Lathrop said. The next best chance to fix that language would be to drop a bill in the next session, and I wont be around for that.

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
A fire near Crescent, Iowa, burned at least 80 acres of land Friday before it was contained, according to the Crescent Volunteer Fire Department.
It was Josh Carses big day. He awoke before sunrise on March 19, 2021, and donned his khaki prison uniform, ready to learn if he could leave the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln. His fate, like that of more than a thousand prisoners each year, awaited the judgment of the Nebraska Board of Parole.

Carse liked his chances. At his February parole hearing, he said, board chairperson Rosalyn Cotton had told him that he should get out next time if he stayed free of misconduct.

Carse had kept on his best behavior for those 28 days. He had already spent 15 months in prison on drug charges. He couldnt wait to get home and see his daughter.

As Carse and others sat awaiting their hearings, another prisoner asked a crucial question.

How many Parole Board members are here today? Three, a guard replied.

Is Ms. Cotton there? Carse asked. Nope, the guard said.

Damn, he thought.

Carse needed three yes votes from the five-person board to get out, but that was going to be tougher with only three members present. He dutifully answered questions from those who were there, but he suspected his fate before hearing the boards motion: deferral. He would stay in prison.

Carse and other Nebraska prisoners have learned the hard way that the number of Parole Board members who show up for work can influence whether they are paroled or stuck in prison for another month or two, or longer.

The Flatwater Free Press is partnering with The World-Herald in examining Nebraska prison overcrowding and other corrections issues.

According to data the Parole Board provided Flatwater in response to a public records request, the full board appeared together at less than half of all hearing days held between May 21, 2018, and Dec. 8, 2021.

The Parole Board voted on 6,521 individual cases during that time period. Only 2,441 cases  roughly 37%  were voted on by all five members.

Board members occasionally recuse themselves because they have some connection to the parole candidate. They sometimes step out of a hearing and miss several votes. But the lions share of their missed votes come on days when they arent present for any hearings.

Parole Board members, who are appointed by the governor, were paid $84,712 last year, according to the Flatwater Free Press state salary database. As the boards chairperson, Cotton made $92,787. All five positions are full time, and state statute bars them from other employment.

These absences from hearings are occurring as the state continues to struggle with chronically overcrowded prisons.

And whether the full board appears at a hearing does matter in the outcome, according to interviews with former prisoners like Carse and a data analysis done by the Flatwater Free Press and checked by three outside experts.

The board motioned to grant parole in 62.6% of hearings attended by the full board. The rate fell to 56.2% when four or fewer members showed up.

That difference could have kept nearly 200 parole-eligible prisoners behind bars longer, costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past three years, the analysis shows.

If youre a Parole Board member, you should be at the hearings, period, said Mario Paparozzi, one of the countrys leading parole researchers and the former chairman of the New Jersey Board of Parole. The primary thing that you do is to hear cases ... assess risk and figure out who can be successfully reintegrated back into the community.

The Nebraska Board of Parole, often ignored as state leaders debate corrections issues, holds ample sway over the amount of time many actually spend behind bars. Nebraskas criminal sentences normally come with a range between a minimum and maximum stay. Judges set that window for prisoners to present their cases to the board, which decides whether they should rehabilitate under supervision outside of prison  the process known as parole. Nearly 15,000 Nebraska prisoners have gone before the Parole Board in the past decade.

The Parole Boards rules stipulate that board members can take personal time off when such absence does not unduly interfere with the boards ability to perform its statutory duties.

In a statement emailed to the Flatwater Free Press, Cotton said the Parole Board works diligently to ensure a quorum  at least three members  is present at every hearing. She said its board policy that members schedule their leave during the first two weeks of a month to avoid conflicts with hearings, which generally happen later in the month.

She denied that having fewer than five members present impacts a prisoners chance to get parole. She declined to detail the reasons for her own missed hearings and those of other board members.

Contrary to the implication of your line of questioning, the absence or attendance of any individual board member does not generally dictate a motion nor does it influence the outcome of a particular hearing, she wrote in her emailed statement. Each individual case is considered on its own merits and circumstances by Parole Board members.

Alex Reuss, spokesperson for Gov. Pete Ricketts, didnt respond to a phone message and two emails seeking comment.

After receiving Cottons statement, the Flatwater Free Press sent three emails to all board members seeking comment on their individual absences and how they affect the parole rate. Only board member Bob Twiss responded.

I see no true findings, Twiss wrote. Each case is individual and I see no real deadlocks out of the thousands of cases we heard.

Parolee John Gibbs may disagree.

Gibbs appeared before the Parole Board on Nov. 19, 2021. Three board members voted on cases during hearings held that day.

But only two board members heard Gibbs case.

Were gonna have to defer you to next month because you have to have three board members for a parole hearing.  Well see you then. We cant do it today cause we only have two board members, Parole Board member Mark Langan, filling in for chairperson Cotton, told Gibbs in an audio recording of the hearing.

Do you have any questions? Langan asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Gibbs said, No.  Oh, yeah, I do. So  I know Ive been doing good.

The 55-year-old, who had been imprisoned for 23 years for second-degree murder in Platte County, told the two board members that he had received a positive psychiatric evaluation, rented a place where he could live once released and was staying out of trouble.

Its a bummer that theres not enough people today for my final hearing  cause I would like to have a chance to see what you guys are thinking about if there was a problem, not like not having enough people, but then what youre thinking, Gibbs said. You know what I mean?

All were gonna do is defer it to next month and well discuss it then, Langan said.

OK, Gibbs replied.

Corrections records show that he was granted parole and released Dec. 15.

Gibbs is one of only three prisoners who had their case heard by a board of just two members during the timeframe of the data available. He couldnt be reached for comment.

Experts and formerly incarcerated people said it matters who is at a hearing.

Dominique Morgan, executive director of Black and Pink, a prison reform and prisoner advocacy organization, remembered Parole Board members missing her hearings or showing up late. She served sentences for various crimes between the early 2000s and mid-2010s.

Sometimes the board would not even feel comfortable voting on you, because they wanted a specific board number there, she said. So they would say, Well, were gonna table you until next month.

She said she attended hearings for more than 100 Black and Pink clients between 2018 and 2020. I did not ever recall a full board right there, she said.

The missed votes and subsequent delays can disrupt a prisoners plans, she said, including efforts to line up a job and housing. When board members are derelict in their duties, Morgan said, it has a huge impact on parole candidates.

Keile Charles says she has seen that impact. When she testified in December 2021 at her brother Joel Jones hearing, she said, the board almost denied his case  a decision that slows or ends the chance of parole altogether  even though two members missed the meeting.

The three board members who were there ultimately decided to defer her brothers case for six months, Charles said. Similarly, her boyfriend Danton Cox and friend Zebulyn Leinhos both were deferred by a partial board.

These Parole Board members should be present  every single one of them, every single time, for the entire duration, she said. I dont think that they should be able to make the decision  (on) the inmates and the outcome for their life  until theyve actually heard and reviewed everything as a whole with the inmates.

Paparozzi said it takes only one absent member to disrupt the balance in a parole board, where members can range in approach from lenient to strict. When the balance isnt there, it can be skewed in terms of increasing rates of parole or decreasing rates of parole, both of which are problematic from a public safety point of view, Paparozzi said.

Sen. Steve Lathrop, chair of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee, said he has received a letter from a prisoner complaining about some board members not showing up to hearings.

As some members of the Nebraska Legislature continue to push for changes aimed at reducing overcrowding, Lathrop said parole delays resulting from members missing hearings are concerning.

I think its incumbent on the governor to appoint people that are present, Lathrop said.

He said its problematic that a single board member essentially has veto power on a decision when the board is missing two members at a hearing.

Carse suspects thats what happened at his March hearing. Twiss  who votes no on parole motions 17% of the time, the highest rate on the board  was one of the three board members present that day.

On Carses parole record, the reason for deferral in March 2021 is listed as Need for a full board, according to the data.

Carse said he felt discouraged after learning that hed spend at least another month in prison. As part of his work release program, he had been working for motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki and secured another welding job in Fremont. He had completed substance abuse programming for his drug charges, and had transitional housing lined up.

April rolled around. Carse bought a new outfit for his new hearing: a blue shirt, a tie and dress pants. Nothing else he did changed, he believes.

Except this time, four members showed up. They unanimously voted to grant him parole.

He said he walked out of prison 20 minutes later.

The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraskas first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
Former railway minister Sheng Guangzu has been accused of serious disciplinary violations and is cooperating with a probe by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, the disciplinary watchdogs said on Friday.

Sheng, 72, native of Jiangsu province, served as railway minister from February 2011 to March 2013.

The ministry was dismantled into administrative and commercial arms in 2013. The Ministry of Transport has absorbed its administrative powers and the new China Railway Corp-now known as China State Railway Group-has taken charge of its commercial side.

Sheng was also the first head of China Railway Corp from March 2013 to October 2016 before becoming deputy head of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress in November 2016.

Sheng began his career in the railway sector and served as head of several railway bureaus in eastern China, including Nanjing in Jiangsu province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Jinan in Shandong province.

Sheng's predecessor, former railway minister Liu Zhijun, who held the post from 2003 to 2011, was sentenced to a suspended death penalty in 2013 for bribery and abuse of power.
Poultry events across the state have been canceled after a fourth confirmed case of the highly contagious bird flu was identified in Nebraska.

The fourth case was identified in a backyard flock in Holt County. The flock, a mix of chicken and waterfowl, was small with 50 or fewer birds.

So far, nearly 1 million birds in Nebraska have been affected by the outbreak. Two flocks in Butler County with populations of 570,000 and 400,000 were infected. Another outbreak was found in a small backyard flock in Merrick County.

The virus is highly contagious and can cause severe health issues and sudden death in domesticated birds. It can spread rapidly from flock to flock through contact with infected poultry and by wild birds.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture also announced on Saturday that birds of any type will not be allowed at events such as fairs, swap meets, exotic sales or live auctions. The order is in effect until May 1, when the order will be reevaluated.

The decision to cancel poultry events was not taken lightly but is a necessary step to assure we are doing everything possible to protect our poultry producers, both small and large, said Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Steve Wellman.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of people contracting bird flu from an affected flock is low. No human cases of avian influenza viruses have been detected in the United States.

Poultry owners are encouraged to look for symptoms of illness in their flocks and immediately report any findings to the Nebraska or U.S. Departments of Agriculture.

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U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry announced his resignation from Congress on Saturday, two days after being convicted of three felonies and one day after top leaders called for his resignation.

In a statement released Saturday, Fortenberry said he can no longer effectively serve due to the difficulties of his current circumstances. He will resign from Congress on March 31.

A federal jury in Los Angeles deliberated less than two hours Thursday evening before finding the nine-term congressman guilty of lying to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 campaign donation from a Nigerian billionaire.

Fortenberry was convicted on one count of concealing conduit campaign contributions and two counts of lying to federal agents.

Fortenberry, 61, is the highest-ranking elected official in Nebraska history to be convicted of a felony. He already was facing a challenge in the May Republican primary from State Sen. Mike Flood.

Among those calling for Fortenberry to resign Friday were Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A special election will be held no later than 90 days after Fortenberrys seat becomes vacant.

Felons are eligible to run for and serve in Congress, but the vast majority choose to resign under threat of expulsion. Congressional rules also bar members from voting on legislation after a felony conviction unless their constituents reelect them, the Associated Press reported.

In a statement sent Saturday, Flood thanked Fortenberry for his years of service to the district, state and nation. The statement went on, saying that by working together, the seat can be kept in Republican hands.

We will continue the fight for our families, our economy, and our conservative values in Congress, Flood said.

State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, who is running for Fortenberrys seat as a Democrat, said Fortenberrys resignation opens the door for a new approach to serving the congressional district.

I am ready and able to meet that challenge and lead with integrity, she said in a statement.

Fortenberrys statement was sent to supporters along with a copy of the letter he sent to his colleagues in the House of Representatives.

Thank you for entrusting me with the great responsibility of governing our nation, he said in the emailed statement. ... It is my sincerest hope that I have made a contribution to the betterment of America, and the wellbeing of our great state of Nebraska.

To his colleagues, Fortenberry wrote that he considers many of them to be friends.

May God bless you as you labor for the good of our country, help those in need, and strive for what is right and just, he said.

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In 1958, artist Yves Klein famously opened an exhibition called "The Void," which saw him place a large cabinet in an otherwise empty room. Thousands of paying visitors turned up at a Paris gallery to catch a glimpse of nothing at all.

Following the show's success, the French artist then took the idea one step further -- by giving collectors the chance to purchase a series of non-existent and entirely conceptual spaces in exchange for a weight of pure gold.

A handful of buyers took him up on the offer. And now, almost 60 years after Klein's death, one of the receipts he wrote to prove ownership of his invisible artworks is up for sale, with auction house Sotheby's estimating that it could fetch up to 500,000 euros ($551,000).

Measuring less than 8 inches wide, the receipt grants ownership of one of Klein's imaginary spaces, which he dubbed a "Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility." Designed to resemble a banker's check, it is signed by the artist and dated to December 7, 1959.

The receipt was originally given to antiques dealer Jacques Kugel, and is among one of the few thought to have survived, Sotheby's said in a press release. This is not simply because Klein struggled to sell many of the imaginary works, but because he offered his customers a choice: to keep their receipt or burn them in a ritual.

Should they have chosen the latter, they would be considered the conceptual artwork's "definitive owner." As part of Klein's performance art, he would then burn the receipt in the presence of witnesses before dumping half the gold he was paid into the Seine River.

Kugel opted to keep his, and it has since been displayed at major art institutions across Europe, including London's Hayward Gallery and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The item is being put on sale by art advisor and former gallery owner Loic Malle, who is putting over 100 items from his private collection up for auction.

Likening Klein's idea to NFTs, Sotheby's said it will accept cryptocurrency payment for the item.

"Some have likened the transfer of a zone of sensitivity and the invention of receipts as an ancestor of the NFT, which itself allows the exchange of immaterial works," reads the auction catalog. "If we add that Klein kept a register of the successive owners of the 'zones,' it is easy to find here another revolutionary concept -- the 'blockchain'."

Sotheby's also confirmed, in a press release, that the successful bidder will "will not become the custodian of this historic receipt, but also of Klein's invisible work of art as well."

Klein, who died in 1962, was a key figure in the nouveau realisme (new realism) movement, which used art to subvert viewers' perceptions of reality. In 1957, he opened an exhibition in Milan consisting of 11 blue canvases, identical in shape, shade and size. His best-known work, however, is the 1960 photograph "Leap into the Void," which appeared to show the artist jumping from a high wall, though it was in fact a composite of two separate images.

___
BLOOMINGTON  The United Way of McLean County has received a $38,000 donation from Ameren Illinois.

The donation is part of nearly $1.3 million in funds given by Ameren Illinois to 24 United Way agencies throughout its service territory, according to a news release.

Ameren Illinois has been a longtime partner and contributor to the United Way, which supports hundreds of causes to help communities across Illinois, including providing immediate basic needs and youth programs.

While the company contributed nearly $1 million, employees from Ameren Illinois employees pledged nearly $300,000 to support the company's 2021 United Way employee campaign.

Contact Olivia Jacobs at (309)-820-3352. Reach out with questions.

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NORMAL  Results are expected Monday of a strike authorization vote by Illinois State University building service workers, grounds maintenance laborers and campus dining employees.

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 1110, which represents more than 300 workers, collected the votes on Friday, the latest development in contract negotiations that began in April 2021.

If the authorization vote passes, the union's bargaining committee must give the university and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board 10 days notice before a work stoppage can begin, should they decide to strike, said Renee Nestler, AFSCME Council staff representative.

Eric Jome, director of media relations for ISU, did not answer specific questions posed by The Pantagraph on Friday but referred to a university statement outlining negotiation history and frequently asked questions about the bargaining process.

Wages are a major sticking point. The university said it has offered "significant" annual increases for all of Local 1110's employees, particularly those in lower pay grades. The university had issued a wage proposal March 2 that was countered by the union during a bargaining session Thursday; the university then replied with a revised wage proposal, and in a statement said it looks forward to the union's response.

Bargaining sessions are set to continue on Wednesday and Friday. If an agreement is not made by then, a federal mediator will step in with both parties consent, the university said.

Among the union workers who voted Friday was Tia Reece, a food service sanitation laborer who said her job is more than just sweeping floors and clearing dishes for students.

We want them to be happy, we want them to have full bellies, we want them to do well at school, Reece said, adding that she loves her job and wants to ensure students have an environment in which they can succeed.

But, she said, theyre also horribly understaffed. That sometimes means working overtime, or getting called in on one  or both  of their two days off. And that really stresses workers like Reece, because we want things to be just so for the students, she said.

To Reece, solving these issues starts with upping their pay. She said potential new hires wont consider applying if they arent getting paid enough to support themselves and their families. I think it goes from wages to being respected and valued for the work that we do on campus, said Reece, who has worked on the campus for over 10 years.

She said theyve lost employees to Rivian and to other better-paying employers. Another colleague left after starting their own business.

In its statement, the university said it was hopeful an agreement will be reached without a strike. Reece shares that view.

We do not want to have to take this strike vote, she said. We definitely don't want to have to go out on strike. We want to be able to live and do well for our families.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison

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BLOOMINGTON  Army veteran Shilo Harris, who suffered severe injuries in Iraq when his Humvee was struck by an improvised explosive device, got a warm welcome from area veterans on Friday.

Harris was greeted by a group at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington. His arrival came ahead of his appearance Saturday as the featured speaker at this year's Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day program in Decatur.

"Seeing this warm welcome  people in uniform, waving flags, saluting me  Im humbled; Im honored," Harris said. "I cant say enough."

The event will be from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Decatur Civic Center. It is free and open to the public.

Harris is the author of "Steel Will," a book about his experiences after the incident on Feb. 19, 2007, that left three members of his crew dead. Harris suffered severe burns to over 35% of his body and was in a coma for 48 days.

Among those who greeted Harris at the airport was Paul Whitmer, a local veteran who said he had served three tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. "So we bounced around the same holes," he said to Harris.

"Probably ate a lot of the same dirt, too," Harris quipped.

Asked about the difference in civilian support for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan as compared to the hostility that some faced after the Vietnam War, both Harris and Whitmer cited the influence of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Our nation was attacked in one of the worst attacks in history," Harris said. "Even if you were divided about how you feel about war, everybody said something has to happen."

Whitmer said he had never seen more flags on more buildings and homes than after 9/11.

"I think people knew Vietnam veterans hadnt been treated as well as they should have been," he added, "and so they devoted all their energy into making sure that the Afghan and Iraq veterans didnt suffer the same fate."

In addition to Harris' remarks, the Decatur event will include music from the era (1962-1975), food, a cash bar and representatives of veterans service groups.

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M.  Officials are assessing the area of Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico where an Illinois woman was killed when struck by a falling rock while climbing a ladder to reach a canyon alcove.

Monument officials said Brenda Holzer, 54, of Yorkville was fatally injured Wednesday while climbing the second of four ladders to reach the Alcove House.

Bandelier spokesperson Joanie Budzileni told the Santa Fe New Mexican there was no evidence the falling rock was caused by another person and that the Alcove House hadn't experienced a similar incident in recent history.

Officials were "assessing and investigating the entire Alcove House area," which was closed after the incident, Budzileni said in an email.

Longtime climber Peter Olson of Santa Fe said wintertime snow melting in the cracks of rock formations can expand and dislodge rocks over time. A snowstorm blanketed the area earlier this week.

Olson said people who develop rock climbing routes try to remove dangerous rocks that might fall.

"But places like Bandelier are not really a rock climbing area," Olson added. "It's a historic area with ladders and who knows what type of mitigation they did above it."

The monument is 22.5 miles west of Santa Fe.

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What defines America?

Is it just land, or culture, or power, or wealth?

No, Id say the fundamental tenet of America is the belief in democracy. Patriotism, then, doesnt just mean respecting a flag, it means defending our democracy even when that requires sacrificing our personal ambitions.

So in 1960, it was for the good of the country that Richard Nixon conceded to JFK despite election shenanigans. Its why Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush in 2000, despite hanging chads and butterfly ballots. Democracy requires acceptance of loss.

In his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan called the orderly transfer of authority a miracle that America has accepted as commonplace -- which shows how unique we really are.

Authoritarianism, on the other hand, never acknowledges defeat, dismissing any alternative evidence as fraud.

In our world today, authoritarian regimes China and Russia seemingly want to assert their worldview superiority by subverting our democracy, viewing America as their opponent.

One surefire way to defeat an opponent is described in 1st Samuel of the Bible. Israel goes into battle against the Philistines, but finds them in total confusion, striking each other with their swords (14:20). What better way to defeat enemies than to have them destroy themselves?

Recently I saw an advertisement for a public event by the McLean County Republicans, so I bought a ticket to see what their Election Protection Seminar was all about.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, the seminar got underway. There was an underlying theme: preventing fraud. Speakers justified allegations of voter fraud by (direct quotes):

"Questions are being raised..."

"I have a feeling..."

"Many stories have been written"

"My sister saw on TV"

The fraud they cited was:

"Shady dealings."

"Dark ties."

"Probably something funny going on."

They projected a color-coded map of Illinois counties. I stifled a laugh, because likely fraud counties were obviously Democratic areas, and unlikely fraud were clearly Republican. When Republicans say fraud, it means they lost. Nothing else matters.

The map also had a possible fraud category, which included both McLean and Tazewell counties. But McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael and Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman, both Republicans, were in attendance and took exception. Michael said, When you say theres a possibility of election fraud in McLean County, I take it personally.

The clerks firmly explained why there was no fraud, but the attendees in the room rudely argued with them. It was the willfully ignorant shouting pathetic nonsense at the professional experts. Michael retorted, Learn some facts before you slander an election.

The Clerks went into meticulous detail about how they ensure secure elections, such as how the election machines are not even connected to the internet. But no amount of facts, evidence, or reasoning would satiate the obdurate gallery. One of the original speakers stated that Trump lost because of fraud. At one point, Michael asked rhetorically, Why do you vote if youre not going to believe in anything?

Claims of fraud do damage our democracy and even lead to literal American-vs.-American violence. Like the Philistines, these supposedly patriotic Americans were not only striking at the heart of American democracy, they were attacking fellow Republicans!

Their delusional cries got more desperate. Manipulated machines. Hackers from Russia. From China.

So Id like to say to Republicans:

Russia and China dont need to hack into our elections to destroy our democracy when they have you unwittingly doing it for them from the inside.

I know politics raises emotions, but you pledged allegiance to the United States of America. I implore you to show true patriotism and acknowledge the legitimacy of American democracy.

Phil Grizzard, of Normal, is campus minister, Judson Baptist Fellowship/AGAPE, and founder and principal tutor, Ph.G. Math Tutoring.

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The new Central Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Alexander Kwami Amenyo, has resolved to clamp down criminal activities in the region to maintain its peaceful atmosphere.



He has assured that his administration would be tough on miscreants, criminals and undesirable characters to safeguard the security of the region, particularly in the face of potential extremist attacks on the country.



Citing the recent disarray in Bawku, he said it was dangerous to compromise on security given the countrys porous borders, which was providing easy access to infiltrators.



We all know about the Bawku crisis. These are things that Jihadists will take advantage of and so if we are down south here and we find people committing crime and we continue to compromise and fail to deal with them drastically, it will not augur well for our country, he said.



DCOP Mr Amenyo, who succeeds DCOP Kwadwo Antwi Tabi, said this at his maiden official meeting with the media as part of stakeholder engagements to outline his vision for the region.



As part of the strategy, he said the police would enhance its community patrols to increase visibility and reinstate defunct checkpoints to ward off criminals.



The Regional Commander said the police would work closely with citizens and the media to maintain peace and order, adding: We will rely on informants because we can't do it alone.



To that end, DCOP Mr Amenyo urged communities to form watchdog committees, assuring them of adequate professional training for such bodies.



He said consistent and comprehensive education would be provided to the public through the electronic media and community engagements on how to prevent crime in the spirit of shared responsibility.



He bemoaned the high rate of road crashes in the region and the country as a whole, attributing it basically to human error, while declaring war on the canker.



On police professionalism, DCOP Amenyo said his outfit was working hard to cleanse the dented image of the police as part of efforts to give the Service a world class status.



He said the Police Administration was very determined in its re-orientation programmes and offering refresher courses for personnel to update their skills to enable them to act professionally within globally accepted standards.



We have resolved to ensure that our men on the ground will be very professional and will be apt in performance without infringing on the rights of innocent persons.



DCOP Amenyo appealed to journalists to be objective in their reportage to avert setting the public on a collision with the police.



He called for a strong collaboration between the media and the police administration adding; What is important is for all responsible media houses to adhere to the ethical standards of the profession and present the news to the public in a decent way.



Sometimes people exaggerate things for the police to look very bad. So, we will plead with you to always crosscheck your information, he added.

Source: GNA









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Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe on Friday held talks via video link with Turkmenistan's Minister of Defense Begench Gundogdyev.

China is ready to work with Turkmenistan to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, continue to strengthen strategic communication, and deepen practical cooperation between the two militaries in all fields, Wei said.

Turkmenistan will continue to firmly pursue the policy of friendly cooperation with China, and strengthen cooperation in trade and defense with China, Gundogdiyev noted.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Friday urged the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) to leverage available technology to increase access to medical education in the country.



He said the technology offered better ways through which medical students and all other students across the nation could be educated, and it was time to keep up with a technological change to prepare healthcare workers to deliver the digital future.



"Virtual reality in addition to other digital transformation products provides the space for the innovative ideas we need to adopt in the training of our medical students.



"It is time to deliberate on how best we can use technology to reach out to students across the country so that we do not have to bring all of them to Accra or the few medical schools we have in the country to impart knowledge to them, he said when speaking at the 60th-anniversary lecture of the UGMS at Legon, near Accra.



The lecture was on the theme: Building on 60 years of Quality Medical Education: The Role of Technology.



The President noted that virtual reality was increasingly becoming popular in the training of medical professionals because it allowed for medical professional skills education, assessment, standardization and knowledge sharing for better health care infrastructure.



"The adoption of these technologies will require a fundamental rethink of how we deliver medical educationWe need to take a second look at the curriculum of medical education in view of the digital revolution."



I thus encourage the Ministries of Education and Health to work together to leverage on technology to increase access to the many students who hitherto, have been denied the opportunity to follow their passion of studying medicine because of insufficient facilities and faculty."



President Akufo-Addo also appealed to doctors to accept posting to the districts and regions to address the doctor-dentist population ratio challenge and to ensure universal health care for Ghanaians.



He described as unsatisfactory the current situation where the country did not have the right number of doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals with the right mix of skills and expertise in the regions, districts and deprived communities.



Thus, doctors in Ghana should follow the example of their forebears such as Doctors Charles Odamtten Easmon and Evans Anfom, among others who accepted postings to all parts of the country to offer their services to the deprived.



They did so because they believed that the hypocritic oath they took imposed a duty on them to offer their services, especially, to the neediestIt was their work that helped build our national health system for which we are all benefitting.



"I am therefore appealing to you as passionately as I can, to accept postings to accredited regional and districts hospitals where your services are needed most," he said.



Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, the Coordinator of the National COVID-19 Taskforce, who delivered the anniversary lecture emphasised that medical training is needed to keep up with technology.



He said while it was hard to predict the future, technology, however, would have a significant impact on improving efficiency and precision in healthcare, and urged the UGMS to reboot and revitalize medical training by adopting technology that would enhance the training of doctors.

Source: GNA









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Dr Rauf Alhassan, a lecturer at the University of Environment and Sustainable Developments (UESD) Department of Water Resources and Sustainable Development, has stressed the importance of water to humanity's long-term survival.



According to him, climate change, rapid population growth, urbanization, and exploitation of water for competing economic activities such as agriculture, mining, and construction were threatening the continuous availability and accessibility of water on earth.



"Water scarcity is a global issue; as a result, water must be used responsibly," he said.



Dr Alhassan told the Ghana News Agency that groundwater, fed springs, rivers, lakes, and wetlands, as well as seeped into oceans were primarily recharged by rain and snowfall infiltrating the ground.



He said groundwater resources in Ghana were made up of three geological formations: the basement complex (metamorphic rocks and crystalline igneous), the consolidated sedimentary formations, and the Cenozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks.



Groundwater was an important water resource in Ghana, contributing significantly to the country's growing water demand.



Ghana's rural water supply was primarily derived from groundwater and over 10,000 boreholes were located throughout the country, supplying water to both rural and urban households.



As a result, Dr Alhassan said groundwater had a huge potential to contribute to the country's water demand.



Except for isolated cases of pollution and areas with high levels of iron, fluoride, and other minerals, Ghana's groundwater quality is generally good, he added.



"Salinity in certain groundwater occurrences is also found especially in some coastal aquifers. Nonetheless, this cannot be taken for granted, more efforts need to be made to protect groundwater from overexploitation and pollution," he said.



"Groundwater can be extracted to the surface by pumps and wells, and without groundwater, life would be impossible. Groundwater provides a significant portion of the water used for drinking, sanitation, food production, and industrial processes, according to Dr Alhassan, groundwater is also critical to the proper functioning of ecosystems like wetlands and rivers.



Exploring, protecting, and using groundwater sustainably would be critical to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population, according to the Lecturer.



Dr Alhassan noted that Ghana's groundwater regulations should be strictly enforced, saying, "through these efforts, we would be charting the path toward groundwater resource sustainability."



He recommended that Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) - an integrated approach that promoted coordination among all stakeholders in the water sector - be fully implemented for sustainable, equitable, and efficient water resource use.

Source: GNA









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A security official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority NAMA has been killed after suspected terrorists attacked the Kaduna International Airport located in Igabi Local Government Area the Kaduna State on Saturday, March 26.



The terrorists who were over 200 in number were said to have taken over the airport, preventing the takeoff of an aircraft. The attack, it was gathered forced the authority to temporarily shut down activities while the military battled the suspected terrorists.



An aircraft scheduled to take off for Lagos at 12:30pm was unable to fly as a result of the presence of the terrorists at the runway of the airport.



The state government nor the state police command is yet to comment on this development.









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Founder of Atta Mills Institute, Samuel Sitsofe Koku Anyidoho has sent well-wishes to the youth of Gonjaland as they hold a congress at Daboya in the Savannah Region.



The congress under the theme "Improving Standards of Education In Gonjaland For Sustainable Development" commenced on Thursday, March 24 this year and will end on Sunday, March 27.



The congress is an annual convocation of Gonjas from every part of the country and the world.



As the Gonjas observe their congress, Mr. Koku Anyidoho, who is also a former Deputy General Secretary, in a tweet, paid respect to the Overlord of the Gonjaland and his people.



He tweeted;





I wish the Overlord and People of Gonjaland all the best. My regards to ALL the MPs of the Savanna Region. May God guide my brothers and sisters of Gonjaland. pic.twitter.com/Kpp7cyO9z9  Samuel Koku Anyidoho (@KokuAnyidoho) March 25, 2022



Mahama Snubs Gonjaland Youth Congress



Meanwhile, as Mr. Koku Anyidoho wishes the Gonjaland populace the best in this year's congress, former President John Mahama is said to have showed gross disrespect to them.



According to a publication by the Informer newspaper, the former President, who was supposed to grace the occasion, has snubbed them making a trip to the United States.



The publication revealed that Mr. John Mahama jetted off from the country without prior notice to the Overlord of Gonjaland nor the organizers of the congress.



His conduct is reported to have gravely offended the people.



"After having been officially invited as a son of Gonjaland to join his kith and kin to be part of the Annual Gathering of Gonjas from all over the world, John Mahama has rather chosen to jet off to the United States and cool off - a show of gross disrespect to his own people.



"John Mahama is reported to have jetted off to the United States on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, without personally calling either the Overlord of Gonjaland or the Organizers of the Congress to inform them of his absence from the country", the publication read.



It added; "What is making matters worse, is the fact that, last year [2021], the selfsame John Mahama, did a similar thing by snubbing the Gonjaland Youth Congress - using the same modus operandi of leaving the country at the time the Congress was taking place. Indeed, what made tongues wag last year, was the fact that the Congress was held in his own hometown, Bole-Bamboi - yet he chose to stay away."

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Chairman Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of NPP has expressed his indignation and dissatisfaction to a volunteer group who have erected billboards at vantage points with his pictures in the metropolis to recontest his position.



He has asked persons ready to campaign for him to seek his permission before making any move that will go against the partys rules.



According to his aide, the outspoken NPP chairman will soon take action on the move which he is not happy with.



He might ask his guys to demolish all the billboards soon, Duncan Bombay told Peacefmonline.com













Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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A defamation suit filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong against US-based Ghanaian journalist, Kevin Taylor and his media company, Loud silence has been dismissed by a United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.



Kennedy Agyapong sought $9.5million in damages awarded against Taylor.



A fifteen-paged court document filed at the District Court said the MPs suit was influenced by a series of false and defamatory statements in a series of videos and an email correspondence published by Defendants (Kevin Taylor and Loud Silence Media) via Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms about Plaintiff.



It said the defendant, Kevin Taylor, and his organization had on several occasions referred to the plaintiff as a murderer, drug dealer, and drug addict, thief, and green card fraudster.



The legislator sought seven reliefs from the Virginia court, including an injunction prohibiting Kevin Taylor and his organization from posting on any media outlet any further defamatory remarks and an apology from the latter.



However, the court presided over by Honourable Liam OGrady in his ruling stated that Mr. Agyapong has no basis for demanding $9.5 million in damages.



He said Mr. Agyapong failed to truly prove that the comments made by Mr. Taylor were defamatory, hence he has dismissed the case.



The court has given Mr. Agyapong a 60-day window to appeal the judgment if he wishes.



It is undisputed that Agyapong is a public figure and Taylors statements were made regarding matters of public concern. The Amended Complaint does not plead any factual material that demonstrates Taylors disputed statements were published with actual malice.



Therefore, Agyapong has not adequately plead an actionable claim. Further, the Amended Complaint does not plausibly state a claim under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act. For these reasons, the Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (Dkt. 13) is GRANTED and the above captioned civil action is DISMISSED. The Plaintiff has 60 days to file a Second Amended Complaint if that filing would meet the requirements discussed in this Order, the Court ruled.

Source: Vincent Kubi/Daily Guide









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President Akufo-Addo yesterday gave his surest of bets to complete the 111 hospitals started by the government before his term of office ends.



The project will provide 111 standard 100-bed district hospitals with accommodation for doctors and nurses in districts without district hospitals.



It will also see to the construction of six new regional hospitals for each of the six new regions including the rehabilitation of the Effie Nkwanta Hospital in the Western region, one new Regional hospital for the Western region and three Psychiatric hospitals for each of the three zones of the country; north, middle and coastal at an estimated cost of $1.765billion.



Work on the project which is at the prepatory stages however stalled due to the effect of the corona virus infection which affected government finances.



Speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) in Accra a while ago, President Akufo-Addo indicated that a great deal of the preparatory work for the execution of this ambitious project has been completed.



He therefore gave his word it is my determination that the entire project will be completed before I leave office on 7th January 2025.



The President believes such a development will help make Ghana a centre of medical excellence and a preferred destination for medical tourism in West Africa.



Over the last 5years since he took office, he said his government has pursued policies in sector of national life to improve quality and placed the nation on the path of sustained development, progress and prosperity.



That, he said was part of reasons the Ministry of Health recently launched Universal Health Coverage (UHC) roadmap.



The vision of the UHC roadmap is to guarantee good health for all people living in the country.



With this definition of UHC, the President said every Ghanaian will have access to quality healthcare services without money being a barrier, with the National Health Insurance Scheme helping to realise this.



He said ensuring access to services is not be limited geographical accessibility but also to timely access to healthcare services especially in the context of emergency care



He, therefore, noted that government commitment to improving our healthcare delivery system is evident in the Agenda 111 initiative

Source: Daily Guide









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Rydberg parity QAOA protocol. Arbitrarily connected optimization problems can be parity encoded in a regular geometry of neutral atoms trapped in, e.g., optical tweezers. After initializing the Rydberg quantum processor in an equal superposition state, generating variational wave functions by applying QAOA unitaries only requires local control of laser fields generating quasilocal four-qubit (square boxes) and single-qubit gates (disks). Credit: Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.120503

The development of quantum computers is being pursued worldwide, and there are various concepts of how computing using the properties of the quantum world can be implemented. Many of these have already advanced experimentally into areas that can no longer be emulated on classical computers. But the technologies have not yet reached the point where they can be used to solve larger computational problems. Therefore, researchers are currently looking for applications that can be implemented on existing platforms. "We are looking for tasks that we can compute on existing hardware," says Rick van Bijnen of the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Innsbruck. A team around Van Bijnen and the Lechner research group is now proposing a method to solve optimization problems using neutral atoms.

Software solution

To develop scientifically and industrially relevant applications for existing quantum hardware in the near future, researchers are looking for special algorithms that structurally match the strengths of a quantum platform. "This co-design of algorithms and experimental platforms allows these systems to work without error correction, which is still difficult to achieve today," explains Wolfgang Lechner from the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck. The physicists envision their optimization algorithm to be implemented on neutral atoms trapped and arranged in optical tweezers. They can be programmed via the interaction of highly excited Rydberg states. To avoid the limitations of previous approaches, the physicists do not implement the algorithm directly, but use the so-called parity architecture, a scalable and problem-independent hardware design for combinatorial optimization problems, which Wolfgang Lechner developed together with Philipp Hauke and Peter Zoller in Innsbruck.

In this way, the optimization algorithm requires only problem-dependent single-qubit operations and problem-independent four-qubit operations. Finding a direct and simple implementation for these four-qubit operations was the biggest challenge for the Innsbruck researchers. For this purpose, they have designed a special quantum gate. "We implemented the algorithm directly in the language of the experiment," explains first author Clemens Dlaska. "Thus, the algorithm can be realized on current quantum hardware by simply optimizing the duration of laser pulses in a feedback loop."

Arbitrarily scalable

With the proposed concept, the performance of existing quantum hardware in solving relevant optimization problems can be investigated for problem-sizes currently impossible to simulate on classical supercomputers. The fact that both the hardware platform and the software solution can be extended to a large extent without modifications is an important advantage of the new method.

The Innsbruck team has now presented its new concept in Physical Review Letters.

Explore further Upgrading the quantum computer

More information: Clemens Dlaska et al, Quantum Optimization via Four-Body Rydberg Gates, Physical Review Letters (2022). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Clemens Dlaska et al, Quantum Optimization via Four-Body Rydberg Gates,(2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.120503
Russia-West scientific collaboration that bloomed in the aftermath of the Cold War has been quickly scrapped.

For neuroscience researcher Boris, "everything fell apart" a month ago, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent decades-long scientific cooperation with the West crashing back to Earth.

In response to sanctions and moral outrage at Moscow's war, scientific institutes around the world swiftly cut off ties with Russia, including the European Space Agency, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and leading US university MIT.

International scientific collaboration that had long symbolised the world coming together in the aftermath of the Cold Warparticularly in spacesuddenly had to be scrapped, sending many projects back to the drawing board.

When the European Space Agency's director general Josef Aschbacher announced the end of cooperation with Russia, he called it an "agonising decision".

The decision spelled a long postponement for the ExoMars mission, which had planned to use a Russian rocket to put a European rover on Mars later this year to drill for signs of life.

Aschbacher said a launch was no longer possible until at least 2026and that the ESA could now look to NASA for help.

It was as a huge blow for the thousands of scientists in Europe and Russia who had been working on the project for yearsand came after ExoMars had already been postponed for two years by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Europe's Rosalind Franklin will no longer take a ride on a Russian rocket this year to search for life on Mars.

'Cut off from the world'

For Boris, an American of Russian origin living in France who did want to give his surname, 10 years of work was lost overnight when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

He said he had founded a research centre in Russia to create "a unique cross-border model in the field of neuroscience", in which Russian students could travel to different laboratories across Europe.

He told AFP the project has not been officially cancelled, but "everything is blocked," in part because PhD students in Russia can no longer pay for their work due to financial sanctions.

Other students have fled Russia after being threatened with being arrested for protesting against the war.

"We talk to each other every day via Skype or Zoom... but we are lost, the war is beyond us," said Boris, whose parents left the USSR in the 1980s as Russia waged war on Afghanistan.

"For students who have not experienced the Soviet era, it is unimaginable to live in a country cut off from the world. They were truly European in their minds."

Nearly 8,000 Russian scientists and academics signed an open letter earlier this month condemning the war after the International Congress of Mathematicians scheduled to be held in Saint Petersburg in July was called off.

"The many years spent strengthening Russia's reputation as a leading centre of mathematics have been completely scuppered," the letter said, calling Russia "the military aggressor and, accordingly, a rogue state".

The influential Russian Academy of Sciences has "called for a cessation of hostilities and urged foreign researchers to avoid a breakdown in scientific relations"

'Complete boycott' demand

The influential Russian Academy of Sciences has "called for a cessation of hostilities and addressed foreign researchers to avoid a breakdown in scientific relations," said Carole Sigman, a researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Researchwhich has also suspended collaboration with Russia.

She said there had been an influx of requests for visas from Russian scientists to come to Franceas well as scientists from Ukraine and Belarus.

Several professors from renowned US universities including Harvard and Cambridge have called on "science and technology communities to avoid shunning all Russian scientists for the actions of the Russian government".

While condemning Russia's "brutal, unprovoked war", the professors said in an open letter published in the Science journal on Thursday that shutting down all interactions with Russian scientists "would be a serious setback to a variety of Western and global interests and values".

But for many Ukrainian scientists plunged into war, the world cutting off research collaboration with Russia is essential.

Maksym Strikha, a physicist from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, told Nature earlier this month that "there should be a complete boycott of the Russian academic community. No cooperation".

Explore further No European Mars mission this year, due to war in Ukraine

 2022 AFP
A children's book on anti-racism leapt to the top of Amazon's bestseller list this week after it was slammed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

"Antiracist Baby," written by award-winning author and Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi, held the No. 1 spot on Amazon's list of bestselling children's books as of Friday afternoon.

The 32-page picture book introduces young readers "to the concept and power of antiracism " and discusses kid-friendly steps families can take toward "building a more equitable world," according to an online synopsis. Sales skyrocketed hours after Cruz criticized the book at the Tuesday hearing, claiming it teaches kids "that babies are racist."

In his line of questioning, the senator asked Jackson her thoughts on critical race theory, which he said was being taught to students at Georgetown Day School in Washington where Brown is a trustee, Forbes reported.

He called portions of Kendi's book "quite remarkable" while pointing to specific pages and excerpts printed on large pieces of poster board.

"Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?" Cruz asked.

"I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or though they are not valued, or though they are less than," Jackson replied after a brief pause. "That they're victims, that they're oppressors. I don't believe in any of that."

Cruz's questions drew anger and mockery online after what many saw as the senator's efforts to smear "Antiracist Baby" backfired.

Jackson is poised to become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court if confirmed. The four-day hearing, during which she endured hours of hard questioning, officially came to an end Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on her confirmation on Monday, though the vote could push to April 4, according to NPR. Then the full Senate would vote.

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 Flash

Three intensive summits in two days -- U.S. President Joe Biden squeezed his schedule for Thursday and Friday when he rushed to Brussels to shake hands, pose for pictures and tried to coax a display of unity with European partners, but he nonetheless failed to talk them into more sanctions against Russia.

Following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit and G7 gathering, the summit of the European Council came last on Thursday and continued on Friday, during which the Ukraine crisis was the major focus.

Despite a seemingly unanimous tone against Russia across such transatlantic partnerships, geopolitical concerns and different interests are at play, making it difficult to balance the demands of various parties.

NO NEW SANCTIONS COMING

The European Council summit on Thursday failed to agree on additional sanctions against Russia, despite Biden's presence -- a reflection of different positions among members of the European Union (EU) as they become increasingly wary of consequences of such actions given existing challenges they face due to the Ukraine crisis.

While Biden was busy "showcasing unity" at Thursday's summit, the White House announced new sanctions against the Russian State Duma and a number of what it called "oligarchs" as well as several financial institutions and their leaders.

By contrast, EU leaders, after an exchange of views with the U.S. president on transatlantic cooperation in the context of the Ukraine crisis, concluded that the bloc would not impose more sanctions against Russia.

"The European Union has so far adopted significant sanctions that are having a massive impact on Russia and Belarus, and remains ready to close loopholes and target actual and possible circumvention as well as to move quickly with further coordinated robust sanctions," the bloc said in a press release.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the EU summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he did not expect EU leaders to agree on additional sanctions on Thursday, while stressing that the Netherlands would support such extra sanctions.

Acknowledging the massive fallout of existing EU sanctions on Russia, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cautioned that the EU may also bear the brunt of these sanctions.

"We should be very careful to ensure that any measures we implement do not end up being more painful for European citizens than for Russia," he said ahead of the EU summit.

Greece's stance is echoed by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who told the press that any possible new sanctions should hit Russia harder than the EU.

"The basic rule is that sanctions must have a much greater impact on the Russian side than on the European side. We don't wage war on ourselves," De Croo noted.

Mitsotakis also pointed out the focus should instead be shifted on the implementation. "We should now focus on making sure that there are no 'leaks' in terms of the implementation of sanctions, that all the countries that are part of this alliance are participating in the sanctions," Mitsotakis said.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel also ruled out new sanctions until Russia "crosses another line." "If we want to have new sanctions, we need to have them as a reaction to something," he said.

UNREALISTIC PATH

Although the United States and the EU announced a task force on Friday to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels, several European countries, including Germany, remain reluctant to announce drastic measures against Russia's energy for fear of aggravating supply disturbances.

Various politicians and experts have said the expectation that Europe could cut itself off Russian energy entirely looks too sanguine.

Rutte said that time is needed to diversify European energy imports before a Russian energy import ban could happen.

"It takes weeks or months before you can switch countries like Germany or certain Eastern European countries from Russian oil to different oil supplies. In the case of gas, it takes even longer. Coal could go faster," Rutte said.

Statistics show that currently, over 40 percent of the EU's natural gas and 25 percent of its oil consumption come from Russia -- a reality that makes the EU's following the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports unrealistic, despite mounting pressure from Washington.

"But Biden will have to be wary of making promises his administration can't keep," said U.S. news portal Politico on Monday in an article. "The sheer scale of Europe's gas needs in a market that is already running tight on supply will create a huge hurdle, as will the U.S. government's relatively small influence on short-term issues in the energy markets."

The EU has no realistic path to replace all of the Russian natural gas it needs even if the U.S. boosts exports or other states divert shipments, former Texas industry regulator Ryan Sitton told Sputnik.

"There's no way to just completely remove Russian gas from the European market -- it makes up far too large of a portion of the amount of gas that they use," Sitton said.

"Western countries could decide to direct their gas to Europe and that will supplant some of the Russian gas but, practically speaking, there's not a realistic way to replace all of it," said Sitton.
FORT EDWARD  A Hoosick Falls man has been indicted on charges accusing him of driving drunk and nearly colliding with a state police vehicle.

Police said DJ J. Finefrock, 37, allegedly backed onto Shaftsbury Hollow Road in White Creek at about 8 p.m. on Jan. 20, directly into the path of a police car traveling east. The trooper was able to avoid the collision, police said.

After speaking with Finefrock, the trooper smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and observed signs he was under the influence.

Finefrock was unable to complete roadside sobriety tests and was arrested. He provided a breath sample at the Greenwich state police station, which showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20%  more than twice the legal limit for intoxication.

Finefrock was arraigned Friday in Washington County Court after being indicted on two felony counts of first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated, also a misdemeanor.

He is also facing two felony counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument after police said the Vermont inspection on his vehicle had been altered.

Michael Goot is night and weekend editor of The Post-Star. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com.

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FORT EDWARD  Fort Edwards village police chief and a police sergeant are scheduled to appear in Albany City Court on Monday in connection to allegations that they falsified training records.

As first reported by the Times Union, Chief Justin C. Derway, 42, and Sgt. Dean E. Watkins, 50, are co-defendants in criminal complaints and are charged each with 11 counts of offering a false instrument for filing, with an intent to defraud.

They were placed on administrative leave by the Village Board in January.

The criminal complaints allege that both Derway and Watkins falsified the number of hours they supervised 11 recruits, beginning in October of 2018, according to the Times Union.

Specifically, they observed that Watkins and Derway worked an astronomical number of hours as an FTO (field training officer), the complaint states, according to the Times Union.

The Post-Star was unable to obtain a copy of the criminal complaint Friday.

According to the complaint, Watkins had allegedly worked several shifts exceeding 24 hours as an FTO, while Derway signed off as having worked as an FTO for 51 out of 67 calendar days for a total of 510 hours, and was routinely assigned multiple trainees during the same shift.

Watkins was allegedly in charge of seven recruits, while Derway had four, the Times Union story stated.

The criminal complaints were prompted after the police department submitted the training records to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. This is the latest incident in a bigger investigation by the state Attorney Generals Office, which is looking into smaller police departments that have been accused of falsifying records, according to the Times Union report.

The attorney representing Derway, Kevin A. Luibrand, issued this statement to The Post-Star on Friday: We will contest the charges on both the law and the facts. Chief Derway is an exceptional department leader and does not deserve this treatment by the Attorney General.

Thomas A. Capezza, attorney for Watkins, was not available to comment Friday.

Watkins is also currently under investigation for allegedly using excessive force involving a Taser gun. The office of Attorney James Knox filed a lawsuit against Watkins and other officers on behalf of his client, Robert Murat-Hinton, who was arrested on July 8 in connection with a bar fight. According to video footage, Watkins shot Murat-Hinton twice with a Taser gun after he had been handcuffed.

Drew Wardle is a reporter for The Post-Star. You can contact him at 518-681-7343 or email him at dwardle@poststar.com.

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LAKE GEORGE  The 10 McGillis Public House and other local restaurants like the Beach Club and the Lagoon have had jars collecting donations for Ukrainian refugees on their countertops all month long, but 10 McGillis has one final big fundraising initiative planned.

The restaurant is selling raffle tickets for $25 a piece for a drawing to be livestreamed on the businesss Facebook page on Thursday, March 31.

Bartender Jacqueline Nash brought the idea of helping the refugees with a fundraiser to restaurant owner Jason Travis, due to connections shes made with J-1 students she still keeps in touch with.

At the beginning of March, 10 McGillis joined the efforts of world-renowned chef Jose Andres and his nonprofit organization, World Central Kitchen, in the #chefsforukraine initiative in which donations support efforts to feed refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Since then, Nash said the support has been overwhelming and the business has reached $3,500 in donations toward a $5,000 goal.

All proceeds from the raffle tickets will go directly to refugee efforts. The restaurant also have a Venmo account, to donate online, available through its social media accounts.

Prizes for the raffle have been donated by many local businesses including a two-night stay at the Fort William Henry Hotel and a three-night stay in a luxury cabin at Lake George Escape Campground for the first-prize winner. Gift cards are also available to win and have been donated by The Lagoon, Gaslight, Pizza Jerks, Lake George Tattoo and others.

Tickets will be available until 4 p.m. Thursday for the 5 p.m. live drawing.

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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The movie that The Post-Star praised as one of the best pictures of the year went on to win three Oscars in the first Academy Awards competition in 1929.

This picture has been creating a sensation and playing to capacity crowds all over the country, and is considered one of the best pictures of the year, The Post-Star reported on May 8, 1928, of the movie 7th Heaven, opening for a three-day run at the Empire Theatre on South Street in Glens Falls.

Theatergoers who wanted to compliment the films leading lady directly could write to actress Janet Gaynor in care of Fox Studios in Hollywood, The Post-Star reported on May 12, 1928.

Lux Toilet Soap, in case you were wondering, was the actresss favorite soap, if a June 13, 1929, Post-Star advertisement can be believed.

Theres a caressing quality to Lux Toilet Soap that I have never found except in costly French soaps, Gaynor was quoted in the advertisement. My skin feels soft and smooth.

Praise for the film was not just mere marketing.

7th Heaven won three Academy Awards in 1929, the first year of the awards: Frank Burzage for Best Director; Gaynor for Best Actress; and Benjamin Glazer for Best Writing, Adaptation.

7th Heaven also was shown in January 1928 at The Rialto Theatre in Glens Falls, in February 1928 at The Strand Theater in Hudson Falls and in April 1928 at The Bradley Theater in Fort Edward.

Here are six more Oscar-winning movies that were shown in Glens Falls in the first decade of the Academy Awards. Quotations are from Post-Star news reports.

1930: Outstanding Picture  The Broadway Melody, screened May 2, 1920, at The Rialto Theatre on Warren Street. Musical comedy and vaudeville dancers, recruited from stage shows in New York and the Pacific coast, have their innings in the first all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy of the screen.

1931: Best Cinematography  With Byrd at the South Pole, screened July 30, 1930, at The Strand Theatre in Hudson Falls. The humorous, human-interest incidents of the daring exploits are recorded in full details. The breath-taking plane flights over the Pole, made by Admiral Byrd and three companions, is a living experience in pictures.

1932: Best Picture  Grand Hotel, opened Sept. 24, 1932, at Paramount Theatre on Ridge Street. Following sensational runs in New York City and other principal cities of the United States and Canada, the long-awaited and much discussed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer all-star production, Grand Hotel, will open today at the Paramount Theatre at popular prices.  Grand Hotel brings to the screen the most astounding galaxy of stars and players ever seen in a motion picture.

1933: Best Actor  Fredric March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, screened Jan. 20-21, 1933, at The Rialto Theatre on Warren Street. Seven distinct characterizations are enacted by Frederic March during his portrayal of the dual-personality role in Paramounts Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which continues to show today and tomorrow at The Rialto Theatre.

1934: Best Cinematography and Best Sound Recording  A Farewell to Arms, closed June 5, 1933, at The Rialto Theatre on Warren Street and opened June 5, 1933, at The Paramount Theatre on Ridge Street. The film is a faithful reproduction of the Hemingway novel.

1935: Best Actor, Clark Gable; Best Actress, Claudette Colbert; Outstanding Production; Best Director, Frank Capra; Best Writing, Robert Riskin  It Happened One Night, opened April 24, 1934, at The Rialto Theatre on Warren Street; May 20, 1934, at The Empire Theatre on South Street; and July 22, 1934, at The State Theatre on Warren Street. Considerable excitement was prevalent at the office of Harry Black, manager of The Rialto Theatre, yesterday after the matinee, which was of such proportions that it was decided to hold over the years most enjoyable comedy, It Happened One Night.

Maury Thompson was a Post-Star reporter for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary filmmaker specializing in the history of politics, labor organizing and media in the region.

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GLENS FALLS  Aledin Kamel was serving up kielbasa and other Ukrainian delights at the Winter Meltdown Spicy Food Festival on Saturday at The Shirt Factory.

However, Kamel, owner of the My Dacha Slavonian & European Cafe in Troy, was also thinking about his 31-year-old daughter Alina, 15-year-old son Aleks and 6-year-old granddaughter Irena, who have fled from Ukraine with one suitcase to Poland and are trying to get to the United States.

The Russian invasion has turned everything upside down, according to Kamel.

Its very bad. Its crazy, he said.

The family had recently applied for a visa and was denied, according to friend Mary Krasnopolski, of Watervliet, who has been trying to help the family.

Krasnopolski is the daughter of Polish immigrants, so she feels a special kinship with the family.

The paperwork is really overwhelming for them  for both of them. The language barrier doesnt help it. I help out where I can. Were hopeful, he said.

Kamel and his wife Nataliya have had the business for seven years between Albany and now Troy and have been coming to sell their food at events at The Shirt Factory for about four.

Shirt Factory owner Eric Unkauf has also been trying to assist. He said he sent some paperwork to the office of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, to hopefully expedite the process after the visa was denied on Thursday.

Hopefully, well get some answers and well get it sorted out, Unkauf said.

Alina was a pharmacist but lost her job after the invasion. Alina, Aleks and Irena are currently staying at a home in Poland and it is a six-hour bus ride to the embassy.

A GoFund Me page has been set up to pay for travel expenses and has raised over $10,000 so far, according to Krasnopolski.

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Just like you, I am awfully tired of this thing. Im tired of still wearing masks, weary of my compulsion to watch over my community, impatient with the under-siege feeling I cant avoid since I pay so much attention to the pandemics progress, and afraid of the edginess, the anger it has bred in us all.

Yet the virus isnt done, and I still have some strength to help. So, tired though you may be of the virus, maybe of me, too, listen as I tell you what you shouldnt be ignoring.

In Warren County

Our numbers have been dropping. Hallelujah. Currently, the seven-day test positivity rate (the number of positive tests divided by the total number of reported tests) is in the 2.5-3% range, with only 10 to 20 new cases being reported per day. Compare that to the peak of the omicron wave in February, when there were over 300 new cases some days. What a relief.

A cautionary note, though: Our numbers are very crude, based only on tests that are reported. There probably are many more cases out there that are untested, therefore unreported. We know that infections with the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be very mild, just a sore throat, may even be entirely asymptomatic in someone who is fully vaccinated. Yet even mild cases are still able to spread the germ. We mustnt forget that the virus still stalks us.

Not everyone has a mild case, either. Today, the first day of spring, four patients are sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19. Here is something confusing: Three of those four hospitalized patients have been vaccinated; and three of four of us in Warren County have been vaccinated. Arent our vaccines working? Some among us will say no, they arent, and these identical percentages prove it.

Hold on, not so fast. It is true that omicron can cleverly break through a vaccinated persons immune defense to cause a mild infection, but we have piles of data showing that vaccines do protect most of us very well against serious disease and death. It is also true that the weaker a persons immune system is  due to advanced age or cancer or something  the less likely vaccination will protect them. On top of that, the immunity provided by the vaccines wanes as months go by from the last dose, another reason for breakthrough cases. Those now hospitalized with the virus have situations like that: they are older and/or have an underlying illness, and maybe also had their last vaccine six or more months ago. The vaccines are terrific, but not perfect.

Yes, I feel good that our numbers are down. Yet I know that despite my booster in November, I can still become infected, albeit probably with only a mild illness. I know too that even with a mild one I could develop long-COVID. Which would make me more forgetful than I am. Frightening thought.

Elsewhere in the world

You will recall that omicron was originally found in November 2021. Then it swept around the world amazingly quickly, shouldering aside the previous delta variant. Happily, it hasnt been as lethal as delta, or we might have been seeing millions more deaths. Although it is now weakening considerably in the U.S., it remains vigorous elsewhere, hammering Hong Kong badly and now accelerating in the United Kingdom.

About Hong Kong and the U.K. Their waves are caused by a new omicron mutation, called BA.2. The original omicron, labeled BA.1, is much more transmissible than the older delta strain. Which is why it swept the world so quickly. Early data suggests that BA.2 is more contagious than BA.1! Which is part of why it is making new waves. Happily, it is not more nasty.

Some important things about BA.2 and particularly the U.K.s wave. First, to repeat, the variant is more contagious. Second, like BA.1, it can cause transmissible infections in folks with few or no symptoms who wont know to put on a mask to protect other folks. And like BA.1, BA.2 has the capacity to cause breakthrough infections in the vaccinated. Third, mask-wearing in the U.K. has all but disappeared, like here. Fourth, as also noted, data shows that the protection offered by our vaccines diminishes as months go by from the last dose. Fifth, the U.S. has historically tended to experience the same pattern of COVID-19 infections about three weeks after the U.K. And sixth, we are already seeing BA.2 here. Indeed as many as 50% of COVID-19 cases in the Northeast are now BA.2.

Sadly, then, there is a strong probability that we are just on the verge of another wave of COVID-19. I know: unwelcome news. You are asking yourself: why do I read Leachs essays?

There is another piece of worrying news. A new variant has been discovered. It hasnt been formally named yet, but early research shows it to be what is called a recombinant virus. Recombinants are so-named because they have genes from two different strains of virus that somehow have fused together. This one is cleverly nicknamed deltacron because it has genes from both delta and omicron.

How worrisome is deltacron? It probably wont catch fire. First discovered in France in December, only a very few cases have been found to date, 2 or 3 in the U.S.. Preliminary clinical research shows it is neither highly transmissible nor particularly nasty. Whew.

But it is worrisome in that it shows how clever a virus can be, using a tool to evolve and to propagate its kind.

A tool? In an infected individual, millions of viral particles are rapidly produced in host cells. With all that reproduction, spontaneous mutations occur frequently. Most of them dont have any selective advantage over the parent strain and therefore just fizzle out. But, occasionally, a mutation works better. That is what happened with delta: it was more successfully infectious than the original alfa variant and soon displaced its parent. After that, along came BA.1, which was more successfully transmissible than delta. So it displaced its parent. And then BA.2. Do you see what I mean? Mutation is an evolutionary tool because it can bring a species a new advantage.

A different genetic behavior, a different tool, resulted in deltacron. It came about because somebody was infected with both delta and omicron variants at the same time. Nucleic acids started to be cranked out from both in the persons doubly infected cells, and a fusion of genes from each variant occurred. Clever.

Heres the critical summary. The more coronavirus infections are out there in the world, the more mutations and recombinations there will be. Most will be duds. One or two may become explosive with higher transmissibility and maybe greater lethality too. Supposing a variant pops up with BA.2s transmissibility and deltas lethality. Sort of the apocalypse thing. I wish I was kidding.

So: What to do?

Yup, we are all damn tired of this pandemic. But again, it is still active among us right here, and it is probable there are more waves to come. The wise among us will do what has been so clearly shown to be protective. Be vaccinated (more than 20% of us in Warren County are not yet fully vaccinated). Be boosted (maybe 50% of those fully vaccinated have not had boosters). Be re-boosted if that is soon advised (which is likely, at least for those of us over 65 years old and/or immune-compromised). Use a mask when in a crowd (if you can muster the strength and courage  I am).

Beyond that, lets hope our brilliant researchers come up with a pan-coronavirus vaccine, one which will be long-lasting and will protect us against whatever new mutations and recombinations may come along. And importantly, lets make sure our senators and representatives vote to continue funding research into vaccines and other tools  whatever it takes to deal with what I am afraid will be a lingering pandemic. Please, write them a letter.

Finally, lets be aware that as long as we are not well-enough vaccinated  and by we I mean us in the U.S. and all our worldly neighbors  COVID-19 will keep coming back at us. That means vaccines must be available for all  rich and poor, regardless of country, race, religion, politics, and regardless of the cost. Ensuring vaccines for all is the moral thing to do. It is also the selfish thing. And the cheapest thing.

Because it is how we will conquer this damn virus that has been so badly sapping our economies as well as our strength. We did that with smallpox; we can do it with SARS-CoV-2.

I have to take a nap. Please be wise and well.

Richard Leach, M.D., is a retired internist, infectious disease consultant and travel and tropical medicine specialist. He practiced in Glens Falls for 35 years, also serving as Glens Falls Hospitals infection control officer and hospital epidemiologist.
It was May 2019, and Elisha Trulli, now 28, of Sea Isle City, was deep in college classes  just seven away from finishing her major. Her dreams for her future included completing her degree, starting a career in accounting and one day having a family and a house.

Then she found out she was pregnant.

Trullis story is familiar to many women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies, scared and unsure where to turn for help.

Crisis pregnancy centers offer women facing unplanned pregnancies education, support and alternatives to abortion, said Luz Vasquez, executive director of Hope Pregnancy, a nonprofit with centers in Ocean City and North Cape May.

In New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed into law a bill codifying abortion as a civil right in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, crisis pregnancy centers like Hope Pregnancy and Crisis Pregnancy in Egg Harbor City are more vital than ever, say the women running the centers.

We disagree with Gov. Murphy that abortion on demand is a right, Vasquez said. Simply put, once a woman becomes pregnant, it is no longer just her rights to consider, but that of the pre-born child as well.

Pregnancy care centers are a critical component in the debate against abortion. It is our lifesaving answer to unplanned pregnancies, Vasquez said.

Christine Thornley, executive director of Crisis Pregnancy, said centers like hers provide a vital service.

The number one reason why people look to abortion is because they feel like theyre alone and nobodys there to help them, but we are, Thornley said.

The centers Vasquez and Thornley represent are faith-based nonprofits operating under a social service model. They provide women, whether expecting or already mothers, with free items such as pregnancy tests, diapers, clothing and baby accessories while seeking to meet their spiritual and emotional needs as well. Spanish-speaking volunteers are also on hand.

They do not offer referrals for abortion. Instead they provide referrals to social service agencies and nonprofits for help in areas such as housing, addiction recovery, adoption, food insecurity, and free or low-cost health care.

The centers also offer post-abortive support, which, Thornley said, abortion clinics dont offer.

Book challenged at Lower Township school LOWER TOWNSHIP  A group of parents and residents want a book removed from the library of th

The biggest thing that we try to do, and teach our volunteers to do, is to listen, Thornley said. That is the best way were going to get to know them and their situation and what their needs are.

It was through Thornleys Crisis Pregnancy Services that Trulli said she found the help she needed.

Trulli recalled being kind of in a panic. Upon first seeing the positive pregnancy test strip, a fleeting thought about abortion entered her mind, but she immediately pushed it away, thinking, Oh no, no, this is a true gift right here, people dont get this experience all the time, and I need to do whatever I can to protect it, to take care of it, whatever it takes.

She reached out to the state for resources and received a packet in the mail, which included information on Thornleys center in Egg Harbor City. She called the center and made an appointment. She was nervous about her visit, until the volunteers brought up their faith.

They told me, God is here with you. Hes here to bless you. Were here to bless you because we want to give you some gifts that others have given us, and now we want to bless others that are in need, Trulli said.

We make it clear to them that this is a faith-based organization, but its not a requirement for us to serve you, Vasquez said.

Anti-abortion protesters optimistic at March for Life in DC WASHINGTON  The annual March for Life anti-abortion rally in the nations capital sounded m

Vasquezs Hope Pregnancy Centers operate under the larger umbrella of Options for Women, an organization based in Cherry Hill. Vasquez is new to the position, having just started in July.

I love it. Its something that was ideal, a perfect fit, she said. Ive been advocating for life for a while, so to have the opportunity to do that at this level, more direct  its been a blessing.

Hope recently added a free ultrasound option, operated by a certified ultrasound technician for women who would like to see their babies.

Both centers take donations of baby items and maternity clothes from the public and local churches. A thrift store adjacent to the North Cape May property helps raise funds for the centers.

Both executive directors feel they have no room to judge a clients situation. They can relate.

Thornley was a single mom who said she felt pressured toward abortion when pregnant with her son, now 21. She was told by her doctor that he would have a debilitating defect and be born with a piece of his brain missing that would keep him from being able to walk or talk.

It was when a new OBGYN came in to an appointment that she felt peace in her decision to keep the baby. She said the woman took her hand and told her, If there is something wrong with him, that doesnt mean that his life isnt valuable.

And thats something that always stuck with me, she said. And the miracle of it all is that my son was born healthy, nothing is wrong with him, adding she calls a small divot remaining on his head his miracle spot.

Vasquez said the majority of women coming in for help have children and are concerned about how they can provide for yet another. She can relate  she already had two children when she terminated two pregnancies, a decision she said she regrets.

Trulli, whose daughter is now 2, went on to get her degree in accounting and works in the field. She said she would recommend Thornleys center to anyone who was in her shoes.

They (crisis pregnancy centers) are for you, not just physically, but for your mental health too, which is I think just as important, Trulli said.

Thornley wants women to know that, like Trulli, having a baby doesnt need to end your dreams.

I think the narrative in this world is No, you cant have a child and a career and an education, she said. Theres a no around every corner when it comes to that.  Were coming alongside these women and showing them how they can have it all.

Contact Jacklyn McQuarrie: 609-272-7415 jmcquarrie@pressofac.com

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HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  More than 155 students from 12 high schools gathered Friday morning at Atlantic Cape Community College for a Teen Summit organized by the Coalition for a Safe Community and co-sponsored by AtlantiCare Healthy Schools.

After arriving at 8 a.m. and having breakfast, students assembled in the theater for opening remarks from coalition student co-Chairs Elyse Ryan and Kayla Muhammad, Atlantic Cape President Barbara Gaba, Pleasantville Mayor Judy Ward and George M. Crouch, special agent-in-charge of the FBI Newark Division.

Attending were students from Mainland Regional, Absegami, Atlantic County Institute of Technology, Hammonton, Oakcrest, Atlantic City, Egg Harbor Township, Buena Regional, Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Wildwood, Ideal Institute of Technology and Pleasantville.

The theme of the event was coping and was broken down into four concepts: diversity and inclusion, life after COVID-19, self-awareness and violence.

Much of the discussion centered on the importance of developing coping mechanisms, especially after the pandemic.

Weve had a lot to deal with. Students whove had to cope with abrupt and prolonged changes in how you do your learning, virtual learning, which hosts its own challenges. Youve had to struggle with maintaining relationships with friends and classmates, Gaba said.

Students broke out into four groups and spent 45 minutes in each breakout room with a presenter on one of the four topics, interacting with peers from other high schools.

The coalitions Youth Committee, composed of up to four chair members from each high school, have been meeting virtually twice a month since October to plan the event. The students of the Youth Committee chose the topics themselves, and who they wanted as the presenters.

They decide the topic, the guests. ... This is the most practical way of leadership, said Ren Parikh, founder of Ideal Institute of Technology and a member of the coalitions board.

Darrell Edmonds, deputy director of admissions at the University of Delaware, was the presenter for the session on life after COVID. The students discussed their shared experiences of being a high schooler in a pandemic and feeling like they were missing out on everything, but also bonded over mutual growth.

The biggest character trait that would encapsulate that time is self-motivation, said Peter Parlagreco, a senior at ACIT.

Down the hall in the self-awareness session, Mainland physical education teacher Jaclyn Roesch led the group in meditation, showing the students how to take care of themselves mentally.

Morey's Piers increasing wages for seasonal workers in 2022 WILDWOOD  One of the Jersey Shores most popular amusement park companies is upping seasona

ACIT student Laura Bermudez-Ortiz said the meditation was relaxing and much needed, as being a junior in high school can be stressful. She felt comforted knowing adults know and care about the issues they face as high schoolers during these times.

Theyre actually doing something about it, she said.

Nathan Evans Jr., founder of Building Muscle LLC, and Christian Ragland, director of talent acquisition and diversity, equity and inclusion at AtlantiCare, presented the diversity and inclusion session. Students opened up about personal experiences during times they felt lonely and excluded. A majority of the students realized theyve all had trouble making friends or felt left out at one point, and left the session feeling more connected with one another.

You realize youre not alone, said Deklyn Passernini, a junior at ACIT.

Crouch led the violence session and discussed bullying with the students. They talked about different ways they could prevent the bullying they see every day in high school and were shown informative videos.

Ryan, a senior at Hammonton High School, was grateful to be at the event in person, after months of planning on Zoom.

It was nice to be able to work with this group of individuals and students throughout Atlantic County and being able to really see this come to life, and meet them in person, and knowing that this is a pivotal point in our lives and being able to truly make change with everyone else, she said.

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NORTHFIELD  Prom is one of the most memorable days in a teenage girls life, which is why hundreds of young ladies flocked to pick the dress of their dreams from Project Prom ACs free prom dress giveaway this weekend at Kensington Furniture.

Schoolgirls, along with their female family members and friends, created a line from the double doors of the Tilton Road furniture store to the other side of the building before 10 a.m. Saturday for first picks from more than 1,700 donated dresses.

Sponsored by Kensington Furniture and Mattress, the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City, SoJo 104.9, and Rene Kane and Co., the sixth annual Project Prom AC giveaway featured all types of formal gowns ranging from long to short, embellished to laced and sequined to simple. The event also had free jewelry to go with the dresses, raffles and cookies.

Iris Ruiz, of Pleasantville, was first in line at Kensington Saturday morning with her daughter Jazleena Ruiz, 15, and niece Dianaliz Colon, 17, to pick a dress for their first prom ever.

Im not sure whos more excited, me or the girls. Prom is my thing. I love it, Iris Ruiz said with a laugh as she waited for the doors to open.

Jazleena Ruiz said she was excited to find a dress for her first prom at Pleasantville High School, which this year is themed a night in a queens castle.

This definitely helps us because it takes a weight off of our shoulders. Its stressful for me because Im a senior, said Jazleena, whos ready to show herself off.

Rene Kane, founder of Project Prom AC, started the organization after volunteering at a prom dress giveaway in the back of a flower shop eight years ago.

Kane said the sense of fulfillment she felt from making families happy, noticing young girls need for prom dresses and witnessing peoples generosity in donating prom dresses, gave Kane the idea for Project Prom AC.

Its rewarding, making dreams come true, said Kane. No girl should not go be able to go to their prom because they couldnt buy a dress.

Kendal Ireland, 16, went with her family to the giveaway to pick a dress for her first cruise formal at Pilgrim Academy in Galloway Township.

Ireland said she didnt know what to expect but admitted she had already imagined what the dress of her dreams would be: a navy blue number that drapes and flows out.

Her grandmother Kathy Learner said this wasnt the familys first time at the Project Prom AC giveaway.

This is our third time at the event, said Learner, who has had a line of granddaughters come pick out dresses the past three years.

Its nice for us. The girls get together and help them pick something out, said Learner, who also noted it saved the family money as well.

This is Project Prom ACs sixth year of donating dresses after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Theres more need than there ever has been, and more excitement, said Kane, which she attributed to a post pandemic rush.

As the pandemic canceled many social gatherings, she speculated this years event would bring in at least 500 to 600 people due to social gatherings like proms being allowed again.

Masks to be optional in Egg Harbor Township schools after March 7 Masks will soon be optional for students, staff and visitors at Egg Harbor Township schools,

Accompanied by her mother, Amanda Kipila, 16, and her friend Summer Longo, 17, came to the dress giveaway after Kipilas grandmother sent her a Facebook post with a flyer of the event.

The two girls go to Southern Regional High School in Stafford Township.

Longo said she didnt know what to expect after she went to her first prom last year but said it was more magical than she expected, which is why she decided to join Kipila on Saturday in hopes of finding two prom dresses, since Longo will attend two proms this year.

This is my first time going to prom and at this event, said Kipila, who was hoping to walk out with whatever dress fits best for their schools journey through the U.S.-themed prom.

This helps me find a dress and not spend a lot of money, said Kipila, who will be using her extra cash for hair, makeup and post-prom activities.

The Project Prom AC giveaway continues Sunday at Kensington Furniture, 200 Tilton Road in Northfield. The last day to get a free dress will be Monday. For more information, visit projectpromac.com or facebook.com/projectpromac.

Contact Selena Vazquez: 609-272-7225 svazquez@pressofac.com

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HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  The Sustainable Township of Hamilton Green Team sponsored two events Saturday.

Team members were at the public works facility on Atlantic Avenue to collect items such as rigid plastics, single-use plastic bags, crayons, batteries and electronics. A shredding vehicle also was available for residents to have documents shredded and disposed of.

Meanwhile, more than 50 volunteers met at the Hamilton Preserve on Harbor Avenue to gather trash left in the area.

Unfortunately, it has become a frequent dumping site, Green Team member Denise Appleget said.

The preserve, owned by the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust, is home to numerous ponds that host fish such as bass, pickerel and bluegill. It also serves as a habitat for treefrogs and Knieskerns beaked-rush, a federally threatened and state endangered plant. It also contains the headwaters for Gravelly Run, a tributary of the Great Egg Harbor River.

Not only were there scores of full trash bags, the volunteers found more than 30 tires, as well as a couch, dresser and ceiling fan, items that could normally be placed curbside weekly for collection.

We found one trash bag that had been there for so long that roots were growing through it, said Township Committeeman Carl Pitale. I dont understand why the person who left it there would not just throw it in a trash can.

By the time the four-hour project was complete, a large trash bin provided by the Atlantic County Utilities Authority was filled to the brim, while numerous bags of recyclables sat next to it. Still, many piles of gathered refuse sat on the trails in the preserve, waiting for a return visit from a township public works backhoe and another trash bin.

Carmelo Rodriguez lives in Somers Point but volunteered his services for the morning.

I grew up in Egg Harbor Township and spent a lot of time here while growing up, Rodriguez said. We made a huge impact today.

Said LuAnne McCardell, the townships Clean Communities Coordinator: I am so proud and grateful to all the volunteers that participated in todays projects. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy my job.

While some of us worked to dispose of items properly, others cleaned up after those who chose to dispose of items improperly while doing damage to an otherwise pristine area.

The Green Team, established by the Township Committee and registered with the Sustainable Jersey Municipal Certification Program, supports a model of government that benefits the residents now and into the future with green community initiatives that are easily replicated and affordable. Benefits include grant funding, support for community events, state-level recognition, and overall community wellness and resiliency. To learn more or to become a volunteer, visit townshipofhamilton.com/boards/green-team.
Xi talks with South Korean president-elect over phone

Xinhua) 09:03, March 26, 2022

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday afternoon held a phone conversation with South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.

Xi once again extended congratulations to Yoon on his election as South Korean president.

He pointed out that China and South Korea are permanent close neighbors that cannot move away, and are also inseparable partners, adding that China always attaches importance to its relations with South Korea.

With the joint efforts from both sides, bilateral relations have developed rapidly in an all-round way, and the two countries have become strategic partners, Xi said.

Facts have proved that the development of China-South Korea relations conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people, and promotes regional peace and development, he added.

Noting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, Xi said the two sides should take it as an opportunity to uphold mutual respect, strengthen political mutual trust, enhance people-to-people friendship and push for steady and long-term development of China-South Korea relations.

Xi stressed that at present, the international community is facing multiple challenges, saying that China and South Korea bear a responsibility in maintaining regional peace and promoting world prosperity.

The Chinese side is ready to work with South Korea in strengthening international and regional cooperation, and making active efforts to ensure the stability and smoothness of the global industrial and supply chains, he said.

He also called for safeguarding the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, and promoting the construction of a more fair and rational global governance system.

For his part, Yoon congratulated China on the successful convening of the "two sessions" and on the country's major development achievements made under the leadership of President Xi.

South Korea and China enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges, Yoon said, noting that over the 30 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, the two countries have made great achievements in bilateral cooperation in various fields, bringing tangible benefits to people of the two countries.

Strengthening cooperation between the two countries is conducive to the realization of their respective development, benefits their people, and will also contribute to regional peace and stability in the Northeast Asia, he continued.

South Korea is ready to keep close high-level exchanges with China to enhance mutual trust, promote people-to-people friendship and push bilateral relations to a higher level, Yoon said.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday afternoon held a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and Britain, Xi said that the bilateral relationship in the past half century has witnessed continuous growth on the whole despite some ups and downs.

The trade volume between the two countries has increased from 300 million U.S. dollars to 100 billion dollars, and the two-way investment stock has risen from almost zero to 50 billion dollars, Xi said.

Last year, bilateral trade reached a new high, and China's investment in Britain more than tripled, Xi said, adding that British-funded enterprises have actively participated in China's reform and opening up, and London has become the world's largest offshore RMB trading hub.

The two countries have coordinated and cooperated in such fields as global development and climate change, and have made positive contributions to tackling humanity's common challenges, Xi said.

Noting that China and Britain have different domestic conditions and development paths, Xi said the two sides should take a strategic and long-term perspective, respect each other, keep an open and inclusive mindset, promote dialogue and communication, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation.

Xi said that China is willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with Britain in a frank, open and inclusive manner, and hopes that the British side would view China and China-Britain relations in an objective and impartial light, and work with China in promoting a continuous development of bilateral ties.

For his part, Johnson said that Britain-China relations are of great importance. Trade between Britain and China has been growing rapidly, and Chinese students in Britain outnumber those in any other European countries, of which, he said, Britain is very proud.

Britain and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, share common interests on many issues and can work with each other on many things, he said.

He also said that Britain is willing to have candid dialogues with China, strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation, expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and deepen communication and coordination on such global issues and regional hotspots as climate change and bio-diversity.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.

Xi expounded China's principles and position, stressing that the international community should truly promote peace talks, create conditions for the political settlement of the Ukraine issue and push for Ukraine's return to peace at an early date.

The Chinese side is ready to continue to play a constructive role in this regard, he added.
As COVID-19 cases were reported to be on the rise in nine states, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized Thursday in a visit to Princeton University that the pandemic is not yet over.

Were not at a steady state of disease that I can be happy with, Rochelle Walensky said. We still have 900 deaths a day in this country. I still think we have a lot of work to do to make sure that were in a place that is safe for this country and for the American people.

Just over 65% of Americans are fully immunized, and more vaccination is needed, she said, without specifying a target. She also wants more people who received their initial series of shots to get booster doses, as the newer omicron variant has had a harder time infecting those whove been boosted.

We needed more protection from omicron, more immunity from omicron than we have from prior variants, she said. We really are working now to encourage people who really did step forward and get that primary series to have them now step forward and get that boost.

The CDC director also warned that the federal governments stalemate over additional funding for COVID-19 resources, including tests, treatments and vaccination, is having serious consequences. Her greatest concern, Walensky said, is that health officials have the tools to prevent or treat COVID cases, but dont have the resources to be able to deliver to the American people.

A $22.5 billion COVID package needed to pay for the COVID response going forward has not yet been approved by Congress. Already, the lack of funding has ended free tests for people without insurance and, Walensky said, caused a 35% reduction this week in states supplies of monoclonal antibodies, particularly important as a treatment for people with compromised immune systems. The funding gap will eventually limit the countrys ability to distribute another booster round of vaccine doses to all Americans, if those are approved.

We are making decisions now that will impact the American people, Walensky said.

Walensky acknowledged in a session with reporters at Princeton Universitys Lewis Thomas Laboratory Thursday that health agencies are at a turning point in the vaccination effort: whether to prevent COVID infections or accept that people will catch COVID, but aim to treat those cases early enough that they are less likely to cause serious illness and death. The latest COVID treatments are effective, but are costly and must be administered within days after symptoms start.

She envisions a vaccination policy that can make the latter realistic by providing enough vaccine to keep any breakthrough cases under control. It would require many booster shots to entirely prevent even mild illness, something most experts say isnt practical.

We want to ameliorate the severity of the disease, she said. I dont know that well be able to boost after boost after boost in order to eliminate any disease.

The goals of the nations COVID policy will be tested in April, she said, when health officials debate recommendations over a possible fourth round of shots this fall. Pfizer has petitioned for approval for an additional shot for seniors and people with underlying health conditions. Moderna is seeking approval for an additional shot for all Americans who want it.

Third shot, absolutely a good idea, Walensky said. Fourth shot, were still deliberating, and likely [will announce] something in the fall.

State school bus mask mandate to end March 7 On March 7, New Jersey school districts will be free to adopt their own mask policies, with 

Walensky, appointed CDC director in December 2020, was in New Jersey for a speaking engagement, dinner with students and a meeting Friday with the states Health Department. Visits with state health officials were on hold due to pandemic concerns, but the dropping case rates nationwide have made it easier for her to travel.

In some places, though, case counts are climbing again, including some well-vaccinated East Coast states like New York and Massachusetts, according to New York Times data. COVID restrictions like masking and vaccination requirements are ending nationwide, but heath officials are also watching the spread of an omicron subvariant, BA.2, currently causing case surges in Europe.

Were watching it carefully, Walensky said. Were already starting to see an uptick in cases.

The variant was first identified in the United States in December and has been circulating since early January, Walensky said. In Pennsylvania, BA.2 now accounts for about a third of all COVID cases. In New Jersey and New York, the subvariant is responsible for about half of all infections. BA.2 is slightly more transmissible than the original omicron, Walensky said, but doesnt appear to cause more serious illness.

Even though omicron, also called BA.1, was milder than the other delta variant that preceded it, it still infected so many people that it caused significant hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among unvaccinated people. The vast number of Americans infected with omicron, about 24 million, may have acquired natural immunity that, though less predictable than what the vaccines produce, may keep the subvariant from causing a surge like what Europe is seeing.

If youve had BA.1, Walensky said, youre less likely to catch BA.2.
Parents are expressing concern after their son suffered a seizure and was sent to the hospital after being choked by another student in a Davenport classroom.

A Davenport Community School District spokesman said educators responded appropriately and broke up the altercation within a matter of seconds but that the district was reviewing staffs response.

Spokesman Mike Vondran said the fight occurred at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in a classroom at Jefferson Elementary School.

The childs mother, who asked not to be identified, said the fight occurred after her son and another student exchanged words. She said her son was choked during the fight, fell and hit his head, triggering a seizure.

Vondran said school staff immediately called medical personnel and the child was sent to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

The Davenport Police Department said Thursday that it was investigating a report of an assault Wednesday afternoon at Jefferson but could not provide further details.

Vondran said both a teacher and paraeducator were in the classroom at the time of the fight, which was broken up and lasted only seconds before it was stopped.

Before the fight, the paraeducator had already spoken to the children about their "bickering" several times, the childs mother said. The paraeducator had just done so again and was returning to the front of the classroom when the physical fight began, the mother said.

She said the paraeducator tried to intervene and struggled with the other student who initially did not release her child. When the paraeducator succeeded, the mother said her child fell to the floor.

The mother said the teacher who was in the room did not assist the paraeducator in breaking up the fight.

She said that when she was first notified of the incident, she was only told her child had fallen from his chair, hit his head and had a seizure.

She called her husband and he arrived at the school first and learned their child had been choked, the pair said.

Vondran said Davenport school district would conduct an internal review of what happened, which could result in disciplinary action for the student who choked the child.

How Jefferson staff responded will be part of that review, Vondran said.

The childs mother said her son was OK but not yet fully recovered from the encounter. She said she was advised by hospital to monitor her son for a possible concussion.

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Davenport police on Friday arrested a man for allegedly sexually abusing two children under the age of 12.

The alleged abuse occurred in what police termed prior years.

Alex James Ayers, 29, of Davenport is facing two counts of second-degree sexual abuse.

Each of the charges is a Class B felony that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Detective Sean Johnson, on Nov. 14, 2021, Davenport police received a report of sexual abuse that had occurred in prior years to two children.

There is no longer a statute of limitations for sex crimes against children.

On May 12, 2021, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law SF 562, a bill that removed the statute of limitations of sexual abuse in the first, second or third degree. Under Iowa law, an indictment may be brought any time after the commission of the offense.

Before that, the statute of limitations for sex offenses against minors was 15 years after the alleged victim turns 18 years of age, or 3 years after the offender is identified through DNA evidence, whichever is later.

Ayers was being held Saturday night in the Scott County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond.

During a first appearance Saturday in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Stephen Wing scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 5.

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A Scott County jury on Wednesday found a Davenport man guilty of second-degree robbery after evidence showed that he followed a Bettendorf woman home from the Rhythm City Casino and robbed her.

Kalandis Rashird McNeil Sr., 34, initially was charged with first-degree robbery in the case. He was on parole from the Iowa Department of Corrections at the time he was charged.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Bettendorf Police Officer Matt Broders, at 1:40 a.m. Nov. 24, McNeil saw the victim cash out a voucher for money at the Rhythm City Casino, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport.

McNeil was seen on surveillance video following the woman out of the casino to her vehicle. McNeil got into a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox, owned by Erica Kauer. McNeil then followed the victim for more than 3 miles until she got to her home.

The woman parked along the curb and got out of her vehicle. McNeil then drove down the street toward the victim and stopped next to her vehicle.

Armed with a pistol, McNeil got out of the Equinox and pointed the gun at the victims head and told her, Give me that. He took a shopping bag that contained a jacket valued at about $60 but contained none of the money the woman received from the casino.

After telling the woman to look away, McNeil fled the scene.

At 10:50 p.m. Nov. 24, Bettendorf officers saw the Equinox in Bettendorf and followed it until it was stopped in Moline by Moline police with aid from East Moline police.

McNeil was in the front passenger seat, while Kauer was driving the Equinox.

Scott County prosecutors filed a charge of second-degree robbery, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

As McNeil is on parole until 2027 as a habitual offender, prosecutors are seeking an enhanced sentence.

According to Scott County District Court records, prosecutors will offer evidence of McNeils criminal history that includes convictions in Scott County, as well as a 2006 conviction in Shelby County, in central Illinois, for aggravated robbery.

Police: Parolee followed woman from casino and robbed her at gunpoint A Davenport man on parole until 2027 as a habitual offender has been charged for robbing a w

District Judge Thomas Reidel scheduled sentencing for June 1.

McNeil is being held without bond in the Scott County Jail pending sentencing.

As McNeil was on parole the time he committed the crime, a hearing will be held to revoke his parole and determine sentencing.

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Three area nonprofits will purchase Davenport's remaining city-owned public housing stock, after both City Council and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved the sale this week.

Davenport sold its low-income high-rise apartment building, the Heritage, to an out-of-state nonprofit in 2020. Selling the 42 units across 21 properties scattered throughout Davenport marks the last step in the city's process of removing the management of rental housing stock from its duties.

"We're (the city) an assistance type of organization or a regulatory type of organization, we're really not in the business of owning and managing rental properties," Bruce Berger, city community planning and economic development director, said.

Berger said each household renting from the city would receive a housing voucher to find other housing if they choose. Money from the sale will also be used to provide relocation assistance for tenants who cannot afford a security deposit at a new apartment.

Tenants living in all but four of the 42 households being sold will be able to stay in their units should they choose, Berger said, as both Vera French and Ecumenical Housing Development Group accept the Section 8 housing choice vouchers.

The city plans to donate four single-family homes to Habitat for Humanity to sell to qualifying homeowners.

Existing tenants in those houses would have the opportunity to acquire and become homeowners through Habitat's program. If unsuccessful or not desired, tenants would be given a voucher to find replacement housing, Berger said.

"It'll still be affordable housing. It'll be affordable homeownership in this neighborhood," Berger said.

Ecumenical Housing Development Group based in Bettendorf intends to buy 24 units across 14 properties for $240,000.

Vera French Housing in Davenport plans to purchase 14 units across three properties for $200,000.

Sam Moyer, director of Ecumenical Housing Development Group, said the purchase would add to the organization's 162 housing units in the Quad-Cities.

"They're currently low-income, affordable housing. We would like to maintain that," Moyer said. "That's what we do. We've been doing it for about 30 years."

Berger expected the city would transfer ownership before the end of the year, likely by the fall, allowing time for tenants to move should they choose.

Judith Lee, Davenport's 8th Ward alderwoman, said council members and city officials have been discussing the transition for more than two years, and she was "very pleased" with the agreement to give the properties to affordable housing nonprofits in the area. Lee visited with the families that lived in the public housing units in her ward, roughly half the city-owned units, she said.

"They liked it there, they didn't want to have to move," Lee said. "..They'd built communities where they lived...It was very important that those scattered housing sites not be sold for profit and continue to be affordable housing for communities."

At-Large Alderman Kyle Gripp said members of the Davenport City Council asked city staff throughout the process of selling its public housing units to make sure the units remained affordable and well-maintained.

"Really, I think the way that you get decent affordable housing is you have good strong nonprofit organizations like are listed right here to be partners and continue to make sure that they are decent housing," Gripp said.

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CHICAGO - Chicago residents heading out of town for spring break might be in for busy airports, as pent-up demand drives more travel.

Airlines have scheduled 41% more space on flights out of Chicagos airports during March and April this year than in 2021. They are still scheduling fewer seats than before the pandemic, but are edging closer to 2019 levels, according to information from aviation data company Cirium.

United Airlines said it expected the number of passengers flying to approach 2019 levels during the spring break season, with more than 18 million people expected to fly with the carrier. OHare International Airport was expected to be among the airlines busiest airports, United executives said in a statement.

And nationwide, bookings for flights, tours, car rentals and hotels for warm-weather places this spring were higher than in 2019, according to AAA.

People taking tropical and beach vacations this time of year isnt new, Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a statement. Its the number of bookings were seeing, with increases in the triple digits over last year and even beating pre-pandemic volumes. The moral of the story is that people, more than ever, want to get away and enjoy a little taste of paradise.

But those travelers are likely paying more. Flight data from travel search company Kayak shows fares for spring break travel from Chicago are up 36% from 2019.

More fare increases might be in store, as one measure airlines could take to contend with fluctuating oil prices. At an investor conference this month, Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein said the company thought Delta customers would be willing to pay to absorb the cost of fuel.

I think were seeing safe, feeling safe and turning fear into confidence. Confidence in the traveling public, confidence in reopening offices, confidence in taking masks off and that is all leading to a surge in demand, he said. And that surge couldnt come at a better time with fuel prices running up.

Southwest Airlines, for its part, raised fares across the system Feb. 1, Chief Financial Officer Tammy Romo said at the investor conference. The carrier has a fuel hedging program intended to provide a cushion against price spikes.

For drivers in the Chicago metro area, the average price of gas on a recent weekday was was $4.61 a gallon, down from a high of $4.67 earlier this month but still more than $0.80 above the average price a month before, according to AAA.

Still, AAA didnt anticipate rising fuel prices would limit spring break traveling for those flying or driving, especially after two years of limited travel. More likely for drivers would be shorter road trips and spending less on hotels, shopping or dining to account for higher gas prices, spokeswoman Molly Hart said in an email.

For those flying out of OHare, construction will be another factor to contend with. As part of an ongoing revamp of the airport, an expansion is underway in Terminal 5, and roadwork could affect passengers trying to reach terminals 1, 2 and 3.

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This May after school lets out, 26 total travelers including 15 Chadron High School students are headed Rome, Athens and the Greek Islands on a 12-day trip as part of the Wanderlust program.

Jill Paopao noted the overseas trips are done every two years, though last years was cancelled due to COVID-19 and the sponsoring company, EF Educational Tours, deciding it would not be a good year to travel.

Because of the postponement, some of the student travelers this year have already graduated. Another two are going to be seniors next year, and the rest will graduate this May. Making up the rest of the group are teachers and parents.

Paopao said it would be little iffy on whether they tour the Greek islands on a cruise, as the cruise line isnt open for booking until the end of April. If they are able to get a ship, theyll visit Mykonos, Samos, Patmos, Rhodes and Crete. Otherwise, they will spend four days on Crete.

Paopao and fellow teacher Michael Sandstrom make the decision on where the group will go each trip. She noted shes been doing the program long enough that she knows what places are popular and draw peoples interest. Trips have always been to Europe, but they havent ruled out the possibility of doing a Latin American or Australian experience.

The European countries have been popular, Paopao said. As for the current turmoil in Europe, Paopao said EF has stated there are currently no red flags, but if the group feels uncomfortable or theres notice from the government they can always re-route.

As of now, the itinerary is to fly into Rome and visit the Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Basilica, the Coliseum, the Roman forum and the Trevi Fountain. Theyll then go to Pompeii for a day before flying to Athens and Delphi before hitting the Greek islands.

Theres also a day meant for a trip to Kusadasi, Turkey, if possible, though it is sometimes closed to American tourists. The stop there, Paopao said, is the Ephesus archaeological site.

Though on a tight schedule, the travelers will have a bit of free time as well. Paopao noted the itinerary keeps them moving from sunrise until sunset.

The next Wanderlust trip is planned for next summer  the previous postponement caused trips on back-to-back years  and will include Ireland, England and Wales. Paopao said there are already more than 40 signed up for the 2023 trip, and she and Sandstrom will start looking next year into the 2025 trip.

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A suspect was shot and killed by two Rapid City police officers Saturday afternoon, after officers responded to a call for a home burglary in progress.

According to a joint statement from the Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff's Office, officers were dispatched at approximately 1:35 p.m. Saturday to a home in the 700 block of James Warren Drive in Rapid City. The statement said the homeowner called after he arrived home and suspected someone was in his house.

Several RCPD officers responded and began to search the residence.

The statement said officers entered a closed door inside the home and encountered the suspect, who was pointing a long gun at the officers in close proximity. Two police officers discharged their duty weapons at the suspect.

Medical units were called and the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured, the statement said. The suspect's name has not been released.

The police shooting investigation has been handed over to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.

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PIERRE | Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed a bipartisan bill Friday that would have given legislators more control over spending federal aid.

Noem wrote in her veto message to lawmakers that giving them more oversight over the spending would create a complicated process that would be hard to understand and track. She also noted that the bill never got a public hearing and legislative control of the money could undo spending that's already been allocated in the state budget.

Noem had warned earlier that the bill would slow down delivery of money to people who need it and called the proposal bad government in a Youtube video.

The bill still passed the House and Senate earlier this month with more than two-thirds support in each chamber. Supporters said more oversight is needed as the Biden administration pumps billions of dollars for pandemic relief and infrastructure development.

If the two-thirds support in each chamber holds lawmakers would have enough votes to override the veto.

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 Flash

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar agreed on Friday that restoring peace and tranquillity in the China-India border area conforms to the common interests of both countries.



They also stressed, in talks held in New Delhi, the need to realize regular management of the border dispute on the basis of complete military disengagement in the border area and take effective measures to prevent misunderstanding and miscalculation between the two sides.

Wang arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday for a work visit following recent years' setbacks in China-India relations due to their border dispute. The military standoff along their border area in eastern Ladakh in June 2020 has profoundly disturbed their political and economic ties. Military commanders from the two countries have held 15 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute, most recently on March 11.

During the talks, they agreed that China and India, which have the same or similar positions on major international and regional issues, should understand and support each other to provide more positive energy to the volatile world.

While exchanging views on the Ukraine crisis, Afghan issue, COVID-19 response and other multilateral issues, they agreed that multilateralism should be upheld and that the United Nations Charter and international law should be honored. They called for peacefully resolving disputes through dialogue and expressed serious concerns about the impact unilateral sanctions have on the world economy and on the security of supply chains.

They also agreed to intensify economic and trade cooperation and facilitate people-to-people exchanges.

Wang said during the talks that China and India should not allow the border dispute to define their relationship or to affect the overall development of bilateral ties.

Jaishankar said that India attaches great importance to relations with China and that its strategic judgment about China's significance remains unchanged. He added that India stands ready to boost communication with China and enhance mutual trust in order to resolve difficulties in the bilateral ties and to sustain pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

The Indian foreign minister also called for achieving complete military disengagement in the countries' border areas.
The Naja Shrine Circus returned to Rapid City on Friday with the first of five performances this weekend at The Monument's Summit Arena.
Rogers Pass in Montana was named by the Great Northern Railway for one of its surveyors, A.B. Rogers, who located the pass in 1887.

Yale graduate Rogers served with the U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars, reaching the rank of major during the 1862 Dakota Sioux uprising. Rogers has a unique distinction  two passes have been named after him, one in Montana and another one in British Columbia, Canada. The Montana Pass is adjacent to Helena National Forest.

MacDonald Pass

In 1867, a road near Helena was originally built as part of a toll road authorized by Territorial Governor Green Smith. In August of 1888, local sawmill owner Elijah Dunphy bought the rights to the toll road and hired a Canadian emigrant, Alexander "Red" MacDonald, to manage the road.

A year later, after Montana had achieved statehood, Lewis and Clark and Deer Lodge Counties rescinded the toll road license for the MacDonald route and turned it into a public road. The MacDonald Pass took its name from the road.

Lolo Pass

In September 1805, Lewis & Clark headed over the Lolo Trail on what the pair thought was going to be a five-day journey. Instead, it turned into a strenuous week and a half trek over snow-covered hills and ridges.

Led by Shoshone guide "Old Toby," whom Clark had met at a small Shoshone village on the Lemhi River, they began their journey on September 12th. By the 16th, they had encountered severe snowstorms that greatly slowed progress. In addition, there was a dearth of game on the ridge tops.

This forced the expedition to eat some of its ponies and dip into emergency rations. Originally named Lou Lou Pass, the name was eventually collapsed to Lolo Pass. It is located about 30 miles southwest of Lolo.

Marias Pass

Again in 1805, Lewis and Clark explored the area, but due to bad weather never actually discovered this pass. Maria's Pass eventually got its name from Captain Merriweather Lewis, who named a nearby river Maria's, in honor of one of his cousins. Traversed by Native Americans for countless years, in 1853 the pass was discovered by civil engineer John Stevens, who mapped out the pass for a railroad. At some point, its name lost the apostrophe. Lying at the southern border of Glacier National Park, it is the lowest point for crossing the Continental Divide.

Lost Trail Pass

1805 was a busy year for Lewis & Clark and passes. The pair decided to take a pass over the mountains into what would late become Idaho instead of risking a stretch of the Salmon River dubbed "The River of No Return." Disappointed they could not travel by river, they soon discovered their alternative wasn't much better, as it turned out to be a steep and dangerous pathway.

The pair's guide somehow lost the trail on the Idaho side. As they retreated back into Montana, horses frequently lost footing on the steep mountain trail. This is how the pass came to be identified as Lost Trail. It is located approximately 30 miles south of Darby.

What remains unresolved is did the Shoshone guide actually take "a wrong road" over the mountains or was Toby following a lesser-known Indian trail? According to Clark "several roads led from these hot springs in different directions, my Guide took a wrong road and led us out of our route 3 miles."

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After meeting with Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday, Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, said he will support her confirmation. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican, is expected to meet with Jackson next week.

Tester issued a press release Friday indicating his support for Jackson. The senator said he questioned Jackson about several issues, including her support for the Second Amendment, tribal sovereignty, corporate agriculture consolidation and the influence of anonymous donors in politics.

Jackson is currently a federal appellate judge on the District of Columbia Circuit. President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring this year.

During our meeting, I pushed Judge Jackson on her views regarding Montanans' Second Amendment rights, antitrust enforcement as it relates to consolidation in the agriculture industry, and whether corporations should be considered people under the law. She demonstrated a deep commitment to the rule of law, defending Montanans constitutional rights, and a dedication to deciding cases based on the facts, not on any personal opinion or ideology. Following our meeting and after reviewing the testimony from her hearing, it is clear that Judge Jackson is a deeply qualified jurist who will serve honorably and impartially on the Supreme Court, and I look forward to voting for her confirmation.

Daines said earlier in the week that that he would be meeting with Jackson the week of March 28.

I think no matter who nominates a Supreme Court justice, whether it's a Republican or Democrat, the Supreme Court justice must understand the importance of not doing the job of the legislative branch, the Article I branch, or the Article III branch, Daines told reporters. So, I want someone who will not legislate from the bench and will uphold the Constitution. We all swear an oath to do that. And I do plan to meet with her next week. So, we're finalizing details now.

In February, responding to news of Jacksons nomination, Daines said he was disappointed, calling Jackson a pick to appeal the far-left base.

This will be the first time Daines has voted on the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee by a Democratic President. He voted to confirm all three nominees of Donald Trump.

Tester voted against all three of Trumps nominees, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The senator met with Gorsuch before the vote. He requested meetings with Kavanaugh and Barrett, but nothing resulted from the requests. Tester previously voted for Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who were nominated by Barack Obama.

Several Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have indicated they wont vote to confirm Jackson. McConnell said Jackson wouldnt disclose her opinion of adding more members to the Supreme Court. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson said the decision was up to Congress, not the court. Jackson has written two opinions as an appellate judge, which McConnell said wasnt nearly enough.

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Virginias Safety and Health Codes Board repealed the permanent COVID-19 standards effective March 23 that, along with the previous temporary ones, impacted Virginia workplaces since July 2020.

On his first day in office, Gov. Glenn Youngkin recognized the undue burden the standards placed on business and issued an executive order instructing the board to immediately evaluate the continued necessity of the regulatory standard.

The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry announced that the standard is being replaced by a much more flexible five-page guidance for employers. The guidance explains that the decline in COVID infections and the increase in vaccinations and natural immunity can lead Virginia to a path to normalcy.

The guidance is designed to help employers provide appropriate information for workers to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace and to help establish a workplace framework for future organizational and individual expectations and responsibilities.

While the guidance encourages and touts the benefits of vaccinations, including boosters, it sets no mandates.

For those with natural immunity, the guidance explains, Immunity is conferred either after contracting an infection from the COVID-19 virus or from a COVID-19 vaccine. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Department of Labor and Industry recognize that natural immunity, after recovery from COVID-19 infection, likely provides significant protection against COVID-19 for some time. COVID-19 immunity does not mean that a person will not contract the COVID-19 virus in the future  rather, a person with immunity may not get seriously symptomatic or hospitalized with COVID-19.

The guidance encourages support and respect for those who choose to wear a mask in the workplace and those who choose not to. The exception is for any workplace that is governed by federally mandated workplaces where masks are required such as airlines and health care settings.

The guidance warns that employees and customers should have a choice on mask wearing without negative consequences. It warns, The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Department of Labor and Industry will not allow or condone illegal discrimination based on wearing or not wearing masks, and people should not be fired or terminated for not wearing a mask, except as noted above, or unless required by federal law.

Employers must still comply with general duty clause of the OSH Act and the Virginia Code. To encourage compliance with creating a safe and healthy work environment, the guidance recommends that employers:

facilitate employees getting vaccinated and boosted;

encourage any workers with COVID symptoms to stay home from work and seek advice on testing and treatment from their physician;

require all workers infected with COVID virus to stay home;

provide workers with face coverings or surgical masks, as appropriate;

encourage good sanitary work habits such as frequent hand washing;

educate workers on your COVID policies and procedures using accessible formats and in languages they understand;

operate and maintain ventilation systems in accordance to manufacturers specifications to achieve optimal performance; and

record and report COVID infections and deaths, which is mandatory under VOSH regulations part 1904.

Employers are still expected to follow other applicable mandatory VOSH standards.

Employers in Virginia should be lauded for their successful efforts to keep employees and customers safe during the pandemic. They can now feel comfortable relaxing mitigation measures and bringing normalcy to the workplace unless things change with a new variant, and employers should remain vigilant to stay abreast of updated guidance from state and federal officials.

As it stands today, there are no mask or vaccine mandates on Virginia workplaces other than those limited ones that are federally mandated.
A federal program covering the costs of COVID-19 tests, treatment and vaccines for the country's 28 million people without insurance has run out of funding because Congress did not act in time.

If providers are unable to absorb the new costs on their own, this could strain a critical safety net for the nearly 650,000 uninsured Virginians under the age of 65 and leave them with less access to care and a greater possibility of disease spread, said Virginia Department of Health officials in a statement.

"VDH is considering how we may need to adjust our program planning to ensure access to testing, vaccines and treatment for Virginians, regardless of insurance status," said Logan Anderson, a VDH spokesperson. "It is possible that we may not be able to sustain testing or treatment capacity or be appropriately prepared for future surges if funding does not come through this federal package."

The Uninsured Program, run through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, reimbursed providers for supplying these services to uninsured people throughout the pandemic. The federal agency was forced to stop accepting testing and treatment claims on Tuesday and will halt vaccine claims on April 5 at midnight.

The VDH's current testing and vaccination efforts are not impacted by the congressional standoff.

As of Friday, four of VDH's federal grants totaling almost $376 million are dedicated to COVID testing, according to the agency. An additional $387 million divided among 10 additional federal grants are geared toward vaccinations. Half of those are set to expire by July.

But Anderson said there's a chance the loss of the Uninsured Program will indirectly affect the agency if more patients begin to seek services at community clinics and local health departments. People might also head to hospital emergency rooms, which could place undue pressure on Virginia's health care system.

And although some hospitals offer charity care programs to reduce the cost of a medical bill if an uninsured person seeks COVID treatment, not all do and eligibility can vary. Some require having Social Security, which could shut out undocumented immigrants.

v v v

Statewide, health providers have filed more than $303 million in reimbursement claims through the Uninsured Program, per federal data last updated on March 3. About 60%, or almost $182 million, was for testing.

A bulk of the claims for treatment were filed by hospitals, which are still recovering from the increased costs of the past two years, said Julian Walker, the vice president of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.

In 2020, state hospitals faced a $1.8 billion revenue loss in part because of the postponement of scheduled surgical procedures while also investing in testing supplies, ventilators and personal protective equipment for their staff.

They are also bracing for potential funding cuts to Medicare that would reduce how much money is reimbursed to providers for services, Walker added.

"Inaction in Washington that results in a discontinuation of pandemic-related support could have harmful implications for patients and health care providers who have already endured so much," Walker said. "It is important to remember the fact that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are declining in Virginia does not mean that the added expenses of responding to the pandemic have receded."

Cases have substantially dropped since Virginia experienced its greatest surge of cases in January, when the average number of daily infections peaked at nearly 19,000.

Thats about 25 times the average the state reported on Friday: 767.

Hospitalizations are at an all-time low, and deaths have declined from an average of 139 per day in early February to 20 on Friday.

The percentage of people testing positive is at 3.7%, which is below the 5% threshold estimated to indicate enough testing is being conducted to detect most infections, Anderson said.

But as cases, hospitalizations and testing have dropped, so have the number of people being vaccinated. The lower demand prompted Richmond and Henrico County's health districts to close the community vaccination site at the Arthur Ashe Center on Friday and shift toward smaller clinics.

Per the VDH, the average doses administered per day statewide has dipped below 4,000. The last time that happened was the first week of vaccinations in Virginia in December 2020.

v v v

While nearly 73% of the state's population is fully vaccinated, that percentage varies across localities. In some cities and counties, barely half of the residents have received both doses of Pfizer and Moderna or the single shot of Johnson & Johnson.

Of the more than 6.2 million who are fully vaccinated, the majority - 54% - do not have a booster shot, which provides additional protection against hospitalization and death.

In Richmond, CrossOver Healthcare Ministry and Daily Planet Health Services - community clinics with patient populations that are predominantly uninsured, medically underserved or experiencing housing instability - were among those that filed the most claims for administering vaccines.

The safety net providers have also served as a community testing site for uninsured people, and - with the Uninsured Program funding - they were able to maintain the staffing levels needed to plan, order supplies and educate their patients.

It created more access for the uninsured to seek care at places they otherwise wouldn't - such as CVS or Walgreens - and eased the burden on resources and staff, said Dr. Patricia Cook, chief medical officer at Daily Planet.

CVS in Virginia had the most claims paid for vaccines statewide at nearly $16 million. A spokesperson told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the pharmacy chain is working with federal and state officials to ensure that people will continue having access regardless of insurance status.

The funding limbo, if not fixed, will leave CrossOver's largely immigrant patient population at risk of increased spread, said CEO Julie Bilodeau. This group has consistently faced high COVID rates in part because of being essential workers.

The top 10 occupations uninsured workers reported being in were nearly 6 million people in essential industries such as construction, housekeeping, restaurants and retail, according to 2018 data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which publishes analyses on health care issues.

Without more money to support further vaccination, testing and treatment efforts, it's unclear what the dwindling of funds could mean long term for the people who will most need them.

And the growing reliance on at-home tests doesn't exactly equal growing access.

In data collected from Aug. 23, 2021, to March 12, 2022, of more than 400,000 U.S. adults, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found respondents who were seeking an at-home COVID test were more likely to have a college degree or higher, make more than $150,000 a year, be fully vaccinated and boosted, and not be an essential worker.

But as uncertainty looms and resources are stretched, Bilodeau had a promise for CrossOver's patients: They did not once close their doors during the pandemic, and they're not starting now.

Get more information

Vaccines are free, safe and effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death. To find a nearby vaccine, Virginians can visit vaccinate.virginia.gov, call (877) 829-4682 or call 7-1-1 if they're a teletypewriter user.
When the Catholic Diocese of Richmond closed St. Josephs Catholic Church in 1969, the teenage Charles Williams was done with Catholicism.

The diocese had opened St. Josephs in 1885 to serve the areas Black Catholics. But the still-solvent church in Jackson Ward would be shuttered to promote integration.

He went off to Howard University and stayed away, extremely angry at the church, his wife, Marie Williams, recalled Thursday. He thought it was the most racist act he had ever encountered to close a Black parish and expect Black people to go to a white church.

He was mad at God and he was mad at the church.

But in March 1994, his father was murdered. And a few weeks later, my brother invited Williams, his buddy, to attend the first communion of his son at St. Pauls Catholic Church, a North Side congregation where many former St. Josephs members had landed.

It was a homecoming he never saw coming.

Years later, Williams would describe the occasion in his spiritual autobiography:

When I entered St. Pauls that Sunday, it was the first time I had attended Mass in 25 years. That day, God had his way with me. The Holy Spirit opened me up like a bucket and poured all those memories of St. Josephs back into me. I left church that Sunday promising the Lord that I was back and would never stray again.

And thus began the Dominion retirees journey from active congregant to living and working at Richmond Hill, an ecumenical retreat center. In 2013, he would be ordained as a deacon, ministering to the incarcerated and working on behalf of racial and social justice. Five years later, he would be named director of the dioceses Office of Black Catholics.

There, he collaborated with the Rev. John T. Tucker III, a fellow deacon, on a statue reflecting the challenges of Black Catholics cast adrift from their home church only to land at an unwelcoming space. That statue, of St. Joseph and the child Jesus, was dedicated at St. Pauls on March 19.

Sadly, Williams was not there to bask in the occasion. He died on Jan. 27 after a battle with cancer. He was 70.

Punctuating the moment with additional sadness was the Feb. 25 death of Herman William Bates Sr., 93, a former St. Josephs member and longtime St. Pauls usher whose warm greeting at my nephews first communion opened Williams heart and helped restore his faith.

The statue honors the former St. Josephs parishioners for their dedication to their faith and their perseverance and courage in the face of racial inequity.

For sure, the integration of the diocese was not seamless during the racially tumultuous era of the late 1960s and early 70s.

My family had left St. Josephs several years before its closing. But even as a child, the path forward felt rocky. After a brief stint at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, we arrived at St. Pauls, where racial tensions and an atmosphere of unwelcome were palpable, not least of all during the limp handshakes  or ignored extended hand  during the sign of peace ritual of Mass.

When the St. Josephs folks came over to Saint Paul, some of the then-parishioners of Saint Paul didnt like that and they left, Tucker said Thursday. But of those who stayed, I like to say Saint Paul is a community where people of both races have made the decision that, Im going to be Catholic and Im going to worship here.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. famously called 11 a.m. on Sunday one of the most segregated hours in America. But St. Pauls, after a shaky start as an integrated congregation, now belies that indictment. The church is now 35% African American. Tucker and Williams embodied this greater unity as friends who would regularly meet for lunch on Mondays at Dots Back Inn.

The deacons were in the midst of planning to co-teach a class on faith and race when they came up with the statue idea. Under the auspices of the office for Black Catholics, they secured a grant from the Daniel Rudd Fund of the National Black Catholic Congress, partially funding the statue by Dixon Studio of Staunton.

The class started four weeks ago, with Tucker and Cheryl Curbeam of St. Elizabeths Catholic Church co-teaching a course exploring how their Catholic faith can work toward racial reconciliation.

Like the Confederate statues coming down symbolized something, this statue going up symbolized something, Marie Williams said.

The new statue, and her husbands journey, show that past isnt necessarily prologue, if we have the faith, perseverance and spirit to create change.
When she looks at the news and sees the grim faces of Ukrainian refugees forced to flee their war-torn homeland, Gwen Rolan sees herself.

Forty-seven years ago next month, she was in the same boat. Literally.

As Saigon fell in 1975, Rolan, then 12 years old, and her family  her parents and seven siblings  fled their home in Vietnam, first on a bus, then a small boat and finally a larger boat, crowded with other refugees, that took them into the South China Sea. As they sailed away, they could see explosions and hear gunfire in the distance.

On their second day at sea, as they wondered if they would even survive  our lives were hanging in the balance, she says  a faint image appeared on the horizon. It proved to be not a mirage but the greatest of good fortunes: a U.S. cargo ship that eventually came alongside and offered to pick them up. It was the first step of what proved to be their American dream.

It brings back a lot of memories, not good memories, said Rolan, 59, who lives in Mechanicsville, of the Ukrainian exodus. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I feel really horrible for the people who are going through that right now. As Ive been through that, I dont want anybody to have to go through what I went through.

From the perspective of now, you could say Rolan lives a full, rich life  and she would agree  but getting to this point wasnt easy. It has been a journey of pain, loss and terror, as well as joy, blessing and gratitude.

Rolan is thankful for the new life she and her family were given.

She loves her job as IT help desk supervisor for Keiter CPA in Glen Allen. She has four children and 12 grandchildren. Her parents are still around  in their 90s, they live in New Orleans  as is the woman she calls her second mom, a retired small-town newspaper publisher and columnist in Nebraska, who helped the family in the early days of their American adventure.

Shes my inspiration, Rolan says of Gwen Lindberg.

Of Rolans family, Lindberg, now 88, says by phone from West Point, Neb., The short answer is, they changed my life.

***

I learned about Rolans story from Mike DellaRipa, who works with her at Keiter and earlier introduced me to another friend of his whom I wrote about: Denise Duesing, whose childhood in France during World War II led to a lifetime of helping others. At 87, she still works as a school crossing guard.

DellaRipa started quizzing Rolan about her experiences  her name at birth was Thu-Huyen T. Nguyen; she uses the Americanized Gwen because it sounds a little like Huyen and its easier for Americans to pronounce  and wound up collaborating with her to write an abbreviated version of her life story that Keiter posted on its website. I followed up with Rolan and an interview of my own.

She talked about growing up outside Saigon, how living in the city of Bao Loc largely insulated them from the fighting, but how they lost relatives in the war. She said the departure of U.S. forces and the impending fall of Saigon motivated her parents to pack up their eight children and leave immediately, taking only what they could carry on their backs, first renting a bus and then the boats, which led to their rescue by the cargo ship.

They spent several months at a U.S. military base on Guam before being sent to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa., a military post temporarily transformed into a refugee resettlement center, where they stayed a few more months. The familys next stop: West Point, Neb.

One of the townspeople who greeted them at the airport in Omaha was Gwen Lindberg, who had attended the community meeting where the town agreed to bring a Vietnamese family to West Point  then and now a town of a little more than 3,000. Lindberg didnt want to be in charge of the committee, she had said, but she did volunteer to make calls to find a family.

So, I called Fort Indiantown Gap and said we wanted a small family that spoke English, Lindberg recalled almost five decades later with a laugh. All they had were large families who didnt speak English.

Lindberg agreed to be the sponsor of the Nguyen family, which had become 11 by the time they reached Nebraska as a boy traveling alone from Vietnam had become a part of the family. As time went on, she became much more.

The house provided for the family was just a block from the office of the weekly West Point News that Lindberg and her husband, Dick, published. She stopped by on their first full day in West Point and found the Nguyens in the kitchen, perplexed by the contents of the pantry.

I do not know the menu, Lindberg recalled Lien, the oldest son, saying.

We opened a can of Campbells soup and made tuna salad sandwiches and that was their first home-cooked meal, said Lindberg, noting the family had been dining in a cafeteria-type set-up at the Pennsylvania camp so cooking in America was an entirely new experience. They were also unaccustomed to canned goods and other typical prepared foods in America, which felt very foreign to them.

The family eventually settled in, and the learning began to go both ways. Just a wonderful thing, Lindberg said.

We taught them how to drive, and they taught me how to cook [Vietnamese dishes], she said. And, more importantly, They taught me how to be real giving with other people that we dont look like.

Not everything went smoothly. The Nguyens were the first Asians in West Point. Kids being kids, the Nguyen children were teased sometimes, Rolan recalls, and that was hard. There were occasional tears, but they persevered. Eventually, they were accepted and, she says, We learned how to live.

They always had a great advocate in Lindberg, who said in our phone call, My folks always told me, Nobody is better than you, and youre not better than anybody else. That was my dads edict.

Hosting the Nguyens gave Lindberg the opportunity to practice what her parents preached.

In addition to education, Rolans own parents emphasized the importance of hard work to their children. Her father  who had owned an automotive body shop in Vietnam  took a job as a janitor at a nursing home in Nebraska. For her part, Gwen delivered the Lindbergs newspaper. It was her first job, earning, as she recalls, about 5 cents per paper.

She would sling a sack full of papers on her back and walk her route, tossing papers onto porches, through all kinds of weather, including snow.

It was cold as you know what, she said with a laugh.

The unrelenting Nebraska winters were part of the reason the Nguyens left after about two years for New Orleans to live with her grandparents.

Gwen Lindberg went along to help them move to the city, and she made trips there almost every year. She stayed in close contact and was invited to family events such as weddings. Some of the Nguyens occasionally returned to West Point with fresh shrimp to sell to their land-locked friends, which turned into a wholesale business that eventually led to one of Lindbergs sons opening three seafood restaurants.

Its just like were family, Lindberg said.

She wrote a number of newspaper columns about the family and has made dozens of speeches about the experience at church and civic groups. Lindberg has been to Vietnam twice and learned a little Vietnamese along the way.

***

Gwen Rolan came to Richmond in the mid-1980s with her then-husband. The marriage didnt work out, and Rolan found herself working three jobs to support her four children. She eventually returned to school and earned a degree in information technology, which led to jobs at two other companies (including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where we did not know each other) before she was hired at Keiter.

Rolan also became an American citizen along the way. She arrived in the U.S. with almost nothing, but she still feels as if she was born with a silver spoon.

The journey was so hard, she says, but we are so grateful for the freedom.

And as a result of what shes been through?

I dont take life for granted, she said. Every morning I get up, Im going to make a full day of it, live to the fullest. I live every day like its my last day.
One pound makes more than 16 ounces of difference when it comes to a new user fee for owners of fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed Friday that it will pay refunds to 2,769 vehicle owners because of an error in a formula for determining the highway user fee for owners of fuel-efficient vehicles that average at least 25 miles per gallon.

The refunds will range from $5 to $40, depending on how many years the vehicles  an estimated 3,435 light trucks  were registered with the state. Vehicles can be registered for up to three years, but most are registered for one.

The fee, which the General Assembly created in 2020 as part of an omnibus transportation funding package, was designed to require owners of electric or fuel-efficient vehicles to compensate for paying less gasoline and diesel fuel taxes to help maintain and improve Virginia roadways.

Electric car owners pay a flat fee of $109 a year to reflect how much motor fuels taxes they hadnt paid in a year, but the formula is more complicated for fuel-efficient vehicles, based primarily on their mileage per gallon.

And thats where one pound made a big difference for light trucks that weigh exactly 6,000 pounds.

If the DMV cant determine a vehicles mileage, based on its identification number, it can use the average provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for cars or for trucks weighing between 6,000 and 10,000 pounds.

We have reviewed the [state] code with our legal team and determined the language between should be inclusive of the endpoints, 6,000 and 10,000, said DMV spokesperson Jessica Cowardin.

As a result, the DMV had used the EPA mileage estimates for cars instead of trucks, which increase the fee, based on the taxes that would have been paid compared with a vehicle with mileage of 23.7 miles per gallon.

The mistake came as a surprise to the chairmen of the House and Senate Transportation committees, but Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, commended the agency for acknowledging the mistake and fixing it.

That sounds more like a blip than a significant thing, Marsden said.

Marsden sponsored legislation this year that is awaiting action by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to let the DMV reduce another fee, charged for drivers who want electronic credentials for their drivers licenses and vehicle registration.

Currently, the fee is $10, but he said the legislation, if enacted, would give the agency discretion to charge less for the new service, depending on the cost.

This is consistent with responsible management of the agencys fee structure, Marsden said of both fee changes.

Youngkin pushes tax cuts in TV ad; sets April 4 special session Gov. Glenn Youngkin is putting pressure on the Virginia legislature with a new TV ad  that 
BRAMBLETON  Del. Suhas Subramanyam stands at a street corner in this teeming suburban community at the cusp of three of the most politically underrepresented House of Delegates districts in Virginia, based on the constitutional standard of one person, one vote.

The two-term Democrat represents what was the 87th House District before the Virginia Supreme Court approved new legislative maps in late December to correct imbalances between population and political representation that reach their most extreme here in eastern Loudoun County.

Stretching from the Potomac River through one of the fastest-growing counties in the U.S. to a semi-rural corner of Prince William County, the old district contained more than 130,000 residents in 2020, almost 44,000 over the ideal for equal political representation under the U.S. and Virginia constitutions. No other House district had more people.

Its almost the size of a Senate district in and of itself. ... It certainly shouldnt be just one delegate district, Subramanyam said.

But Subramanyam could continue to represent the old district  which no longer exists under the court-approved map  for almost two more years, unless a federal judge in Richmond allows a lawsuit to proceed to force House elections in November under new district lines.

Never happened before in the history of Virginia, said Paul Goldman, an activist and former state Democratic Party chairman who filed the legal challenge nine months ago but has faced political resistance and legal opposition to requiring House elections this year.

We have a legislature elected to districts that no longer exist, Goldman said.

Bob Holsworth, a veteran political analyst in Richmond, said, I think Goldman is absolutely on target with the substance of his argument.

Under the Supreme Court ruling in December, Holsworth said, The lines start now.

Attorney General Jason Miyares disagrees. The new attorney general, a Republican, opposes Goldman in U.S. District Court, arguing that he hasnt suffered a harm giving him standing to sue. Miyares says Virginia is in no way violating the Constitution by not ordering House elections this year.

Attorney General Miyares is confident in his legal position that the 2021 elections complied with the Constitution, spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said Friday. We will continue to vigorously defend this lawsuit and look forward to presenting our argument to the Court.

The drawing of new maps was delayed a year because of tardy population results from the U.S. census during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state did not receive the data until late August, long after party primaries for legislative races and shortly before early voting began in the general elections last fall. A new bipartisan redistricting commission resulted in gridlock, leaving the job of drawing new legislative and U.S. House boundaries to the state Supreme Court.

As a result, members of the House and the Senate will not face voters again until 2023 unless the court orders elections to be held in November. Senators serve four-year terms, so those elected in 2019 are expected to remain in office until the beginning of 2024. If Goldman were to prevail, delegates, serving two-year terms, could face elections in three consecutive years, as they did after a court challenge 40 years ago.

Goldman, who lives in a relatively static House district in Richmond and its adjoining suburbs, first must prove that he has suffered a harm that entitles him to sue.

***

In eastern Loudoun, the stakes are clear.

Brambleton, which has grown from cornfields to a community of more than 21,000 people in 20 years, also is divided among two other overpopulated House districts  the 10th, represented by Del. Wendy Gooditis, D-Clarke, who lives 43 miles away on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the 32nd, represented by Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun, who lives near the Potomac east of Leesburg.

Their districts were the second and fourth most underrepresented in Virginia based on their population, respectively, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. They come together here at the intersection of Ryan and Belmont Ridge roads.

Under the new maps, Brambleton will be represented by one delegate  Subramanyam, if hes re-elected in the new 26th District either this year or in 2023.

Im ready for 22, Im ready for 23, he said in an interview in a coffee shop that sits in his community but in Gooditis district. Whatever happens, we all are ready.

For Loudoun Democrats, the next election is an opportunity to pick up seats in two new Democratic-leaning districts east of Leesburg  the 27th and 29th  in addition to the 26th and the new 28th, where Reid lives. Another open district, the 21st, lies just south in Prince William, which included parts of three of the 10 most politically underrepresented House districts in the state under the old map.

Moreover, two Republican incumbents  Del. David LaRock of Loudoun and Del. Michael Webert of Fauquier County  live in the same House District, the 30th, under the new map.

But Republicans also have opportunities for gains, including in the Richmond area, where Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, represents a district in fast-growing Powhatan County that holds about 12,000 more residents than the ideal of 86,314, according to the VPAP.

Under the new map, he would represent the new, strongly Republican 72nd District, which would include parts of Powhatan, Chesterfield, Nottoway and Amelia counties. The new 73rd District, an open seat, would lie next to it, solely within Chesterfield.

Similarly, Del. John McGuire, R-Goochland, would continue to live in the newly drawn 56th District (although hes running for a new Senate seat instead), but the adjoining new 59th District would be an open seat that covers parts of Hanover, Louisa and Henrico counties.

Ware, in his 25th year and 13th term in the House, does not like the remedy that Goldman proposes, which would require House elections in three successive years from 2021 through 2023. He said that would require delegates to spend a significant part of three years not representing, but campaigning.

Waiting 12 months is not going to cripple effective representation, Ware said.

The stakes may be higher for minority communities that traditionally have been underrepresented, which is why the Virginia NAACP became the first major organization to call for House elections this year, followed by the League of Women Voters of Virginia and several NAACP chapters. The Loudoun chapter attempted to intervene this month in support of Goldmans lawsuit.

The Rev. Michelle Thomas, president of the Loudoun NAACP, said in a statement that use of the old maps in the 2021 election suppressed the votes, diluted the voices and diminished the representation of more than 600 chapter members.

The most populated district (House District 87) is comprised predominantly of people of color, Thomas wrote earlier this month in the chapters request to intervene.

Subramanyam reflects the district he represents. The son of Indian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. at Washington Dulles International Airport  in the middle of the old district  more than 32% of his constituents are of Asian descent, almost 9% are Black and about 15% are Hispanic, while about 40% are white.

The demographic composition of the new 26th District is even more weighted toward people of color  42.5% Asian, 9.3% multiracial and 8.7% Black, compared with 36.5% white. Latinos comprise 7.8% of the new district.

Subramanyam reflects his constituents in other ways. Hes a highly educated professional  a lawyer who came to the Washington area to work as a technology policy adviser for then-President Barack Obama. He now works as an attorney for a startup technology company in a region teeming with them.

He moved from Arlington County to Sterling and then to Brambleton for the schools and quality of life offered in eastern Loudoun for his wife and two children, both younger than 2 years old.

Im like a lot of other people in that Ive been here about five years, he said.

Subramanyams arrival coincides with a population surge in Brambleton, which grew from 9,845 in 2010 to 21,358 in 2020, almost 117%.

(Overall, Loudouns population grew 34.8% from 2010 to 2020, to nearly 421,000 residents.)

He loves constituent service, although its challenging in such a large, highly populated district with priorities that vary widely from communities along the Potomac, such as Cascades, to Bull Run Mountain near Haymarket in Prince William.

I represent everyone, he said. In a district this big, youre not going to get elected if you dont.

But Subramanyam said the new district map is good for Loudoun.

I think it will be great for Loudoun to have more seats, he said. Such a big population center, it deserves more representation.
LYNCHBURG  Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of The 1619 Project, spoke Thursday at University of Lynchburg, discussing topics such as racial and socioeconomic inequalities, how racism impacted the development of American society and institutions, and why defending democracy is more important now than ever.

About 1,000 people reserved a place in ULs Turner Gymnasium to hear Hannah-Jones speak for the schools 31st annual Rosel Schewel Lecture in Education and Human Diversity: Truth, History, and The 1619 Project.

The 1619 Project is a collaborative work led by Hannah-Jones with writers from The New York Times Magazine. It re-examines United States history through the lens of slavery and racism, offering the perspective and experiences of the nations non-white population. Available for purchase as a book, the project consists of a collection of essays, poems, and short stories originally published in 2019, the 400-year anniversary of the first slave ship to arrive at the then-British colony of Virginia, predating the arrival of the Mayflower.

The project has garnered widespread praise and resistance alike, sparking dialogue and debates since it was published.

The 1619 Project seeks to highlight the contributions of Black Americans  particularly their contributions to democracy, which was a special focus for Hannah-Jones  and broaden and reframe the understanding of U.S. history by offering a fuller picture from the perspective of a population that, despite its significant impacts on the nation and value as human beings, has continually been oppressed, persecuted and stifled.

Taking the stage to a standing ovation, Hannah-Jones shared with attendees how The 1619 Project and the material it covers relates to present-day society and shaped the institutions of power that govern the nation, giving rise to social problems that reach beyond the confines of color and race to issues such as socioeconomic disparities. Structuring a society around oppression, she said, has further-reaching consequences that hurt everyone in the long run. Fighting to defend democracy and make the founding ideals of America a reality for everyone requires grappling with racial injustice and collectively working to learn from mistakes of the past.

When George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by police in 2020, a surge in racial justice activism and awareness occurred, Hannah-Jones said.

As many sought to understand why a society could allow something like this to happen, The 1619 Project became a lexicon that helped explain what was identified as a structural problem in the nation, she said. A time of racial reckoning followed over the next year or so.

Pollings around the time showed higher numbers of people acknowledging racism was a major problem in society, and also showed record numbers of people involved with racial justice activism on a multi-generational, multi-racial scale, Hannah-Jones said.

We had not seen polling like that before, she said.By learning about the history of slavery and racism, highlighting ways society and government were formed around this institution, Hannah-Jones said, this helped propel awareness of the project and of a dark part of U.S. history to the forefront. With that attention came opposition as well as praise, triggering something of a domino effect.

On the heels of The 1619 Projects rise in popularity came conversations about critical race theory, or CRT, which Hannah-Jones said was mainly found in specialized courses of study in higher education.

Anti-CRT legislation  or, as Hannah-Jones called it, anti-history legislation  was quick to follow, ultimately seeking to ban educators in K-12 schools from supplementing their curriculums with this information about historic racial inequalities and inequity.

The 1619 Project could not, and should not, replace other history curriculums, Hannah-Jones said, responding to claims that CRT and The 1619 Project are divisive and seek to rewrite history. The information presented is made to be a supplement if educators wish to use it, giving more attention to this perspective instead of treating slavery and racism as an asterisk.

Its one thing if you dont like the project, you dont have to like the project. If you dont think it should be taught, educators certainly are free to not teach it.

But to have the state saying it is illegal, theres a prohibition on teaching it, thats not something you do in a free society, Hannah-Jones said.

To that end, Hannah-Jones warned of a greater need than ever to protect democracy.

More legislation mainly targeting marginalized groups, including voter suppression laws such as those passed in Georgia, movements to ban certain books from school libraries, a bill known as the dont say gay bill in Florida that would further marginalize the LGBTQ+ community, and continued anti-history legislation threaten to erode democracy and human rights in the entire nation, she said.

Right now, we are banning books, we are pulling books from library shelves. We are banning what can be taught in the classroom, and I dont see the popular uprising against this that one would expect from a free society. That is troublesome, because what we know is that healthy societies do not ban books, Hannah-Jones said.

Local pushes by some school boards and community members to ban and censor certain books from school libraries have been ongoing in recent months. Most challenged books are authored by people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community or other marginalized groups.

Locally, the Bedford County School Board last November received requests to pull a total of 11 books from any school libraries the titles were found in. After reviewing the challenged books, Bedford County administrators said in the March school board meeting the review committees found no reason to pull any of the books in question, and reiterated the schools existing policy of how a concerned parent can request their individual child not to access a certain book. Administrators said in a presentation that parents can decide what their own children may or may not read, but cannot decide this for all children.

Hannah-Jones examined why history is targeted in these sorts of movements.

We target history, because how we teach history is how we think about ourselves as a country, she said. Historys not just what happened on what day in history. Historys about our collective memory. How do we think about our society? How do we understand who we are? And weve been taught a history that doesnt expose abuse of power.

Black people, Hannah-Jones said, fought especially hard for democracy.

Until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, people of color faced such obstacles trying to vote that in some regions, they rarely could participate in the process.

Hannah-Jones, 45, said she is a first-generation woman of color to legally have full civil and human rights in the history of the country.

We were a democracy that was predicated on exclusion. We functioned based on the exclusion of large percentages of our population, she said.

Sprawling impacts of injustice from formative chapters of U.S. history are felt still in issues such as lack of access to affordable health care and inadequate paid maternity leave, Hannah-Jones said.

Hannah-Jones shared statistics that showed the United States ranking lower than other comparable Western world democracies on every indicator of well-being.

It enslaves all of us, not just Black people. Black people suffer the most, but we all suffer, she said.Hannah-Jones challenged the audience to fight for democracy, push against legislation that erodes democracy, and work to make the founding ideals of America a reality for everyone.

We have power, Hannah-Jones said. There is collective power in this community, if we say that we refuse to be the country of our past, and we are going to work together to become the country of our highest ideals.

Following Thursday nights lecture, the tradition of which is meant to educate citizens and focus discussion on a topic that is important to all Americans, Emma Savage-Davis, dean of the College of Education, Leadership Studies, and Counseling at Lynchburg, said she hoped people would be inspired to work toward a more inclusive society, no matter a persons background or race, and build a collectively better world where everyone has representation and an opportunity for success. That responsibility rests on everyone.

I have taught in various different states, and not one child Ive ever interacted with did not want that dream, that success. Not one parent did not want that for their children, Savage-Davis said. But they have to see themselves in order to see that dream as a possibility, and when they dont see themselves, or see themselves being marginalized, then how can that dream be attainable for them? Im hoping that we look at that, and believe that everybody has that equal opportunity to that dream, and have equal access to that dream.
A bill passed this winter by the Virginia General Assembly focuses on building out infrastructure in the states business parks, hopefully increasing interest in Southwest Virginias developable land, said a first-term state House member from the New River Valley.

Del. Jason Ballard, R-Giles, said his House Bill 405 allows electric utility providers to build out power lines to the states business parks, perhaps jump-starting investors interests at the site of future businesses.

My bill is pretty straightforward it passed the House, passed the Senate with overwhelming support, Ballard said. Im hoping that we can leverage that somewhere within our district, or worst case in the New River Valley, to get some businesses into these business parks.

Several sites and business parks in the New River Valley are listed as ready for development, according to a webpage maintained by the regions economic development organization, Onward NRV.

We want almost a move-in ready type facility, Ballard said. Hopefully itll allow some business parks in the area to leverage that.

One location in Pulaski County, the 1,500-acre New River Valley Commerce Park, lists two businesses that inhabit the area, while nine other lots are listed as available for development, according to the locations website.

Setting aside business parks for industries to invest is a standard practice statewide and across the nation to encourage economic development, said Kevin Byrd, executive director of New River Valley Regional Commission.

A term you hear a lot right now in development is site readiness, Byrd said. Its so important to have available land that has the utilities that are ready to go.

Its not just access to electricity that potential investors are looking for, Byrd said. Businesses also want to set up on graded plots with water, sewer, gas, broadband availability and good road access.

Even with all the amenities provided to a given location, finding businesses to fill corporate parks is not a simple scenario, he said.

Its not just, build it, they will come. There are a lot of partners involved It is a team sport, Byrd said. Theres just a whole lot of people who have to work to make these projects happen, and recruit companies to the area.

Ballard, having this month finished his first lawmaking session as an elected member of the Virginia General Assembly, said he looks forward to further helping residents of the New River Valley in the 2023 session, after state leaders confirm a government budget for the two years to come.

Right now thats my immediate concern, is getting a budget passed, so our localities can set their own budgets, Ballard said. Once we accomplish that, then when I get back in-district, Im going to make a very focused effort to get around and travel throughout the district.

Ballard said he wants to meet everyone, and otherwise get involved in the community to listen for issues concerning them, to help form his plan going into the next lawmaking session.

Ill start going around to businesses and to constituents, to see what issues theyre directly concerned about, Ballard said. Those are the types of bills that I will be advancing, ones that directly impact our community.

One issue he said he hears about regularly from voters is improving public education. He said he appreciates hearing from constituents on all sorts of topics.

Im in Richmond not to further my own agenda, Ballard said. Im there to be a voice for folks back home.

During his first lawmaking session, Ballard said he learned the importance of working with both Republicans and Democrats to be successful in state government.

What I found is you have to build those relationships. You cant go down there and be a one-man band, you just cant, Ballard said. I always try to engage with all sides of the issue, and then make the best decision I possibly can. Thats how things get done.

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As a kid in the 1930s, John Til Hazel would play in a creek that trickled through his home county, Arlington, to the Potomac River, on the opposite bank of which stood the seat of the federal government whose growth and largess would help transform then-sleepy, still-rural Northern Virginia into a suburban dynamo.

With undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard, Hazel returned to Northern Virginia in the 1950s, recognizing that its proximity to Washington, D.C., was a virtual guarantee for amassing a fortune in land and construction. And he would  after giving up his land-use law practice to do as clients were: buying and developing real estate.

By the 1970s, John Tilghman Hazel Jr.  prosperous and politically influential  teamed with others in the regions business class to win a state university for Northern Virginia. Fifty years ago next month, George Mason University  initially an arm of the University of Virginia  became a free-standing four-year institution.

It is now the states largest public university, with nearly 40,000 students. George Masons law school in Arlington is housed in a building named for Hazel, who died March 15 at age 91 at his farm in Fauquier County, a leafy, hilly quilt of farms and small towns increasingly beset by the development forces Hazel et. al unleashed decades earlier  occasionally to the ire of those weary of its consequences: traffic, density, high prices.

Near the law school is an enormous hole in which a 360,000 square-foot building is going up. It will be home to the GMU School of Computing. That project, financed with public and private dollars, complements a much sought-after get for the state: Info-tech giant Amazons East Coast headquarters in Northern Virginia, announced in 2018.

The School of Computing will straddle, in part, an enclosed, subterranean concrete culvert through which runs the creek that had been Hazels playground as a little boy. It is perhaps a reminder of how Northern Virginia shaped Hazel and how he shaped the region  by flowing continuously through, and seeping deeply into, the many facets of Northern Virginia life, most notably, its economy, schools and vexing transportation problems.

Hazel, with his signature crew cut, bulldog mien and plain-spokenness, was among the last of a generation of Northern Virginia power brokers whose vocabulary did not include the word no. Their ranks read like a big-league lineup: Hazels partner, Milt Peterson; Earle Williams, Dan Clemente, Gerald Halpin, Mike Erkiletian, Bill Thomas, Dan Bannister, Dwight Schar, Joe Cecchi, John Toups, George Johnson, Stan Harrison, and Sid Dewberry.

White, male and disproportionately Republican, they became very rich  as developers, federal contractors, architects, lawyers and home -, office- and road builders  and pressed, unapologetically, for education, transportation and cultural improvements, arguing they were essential to a strong economy, which, in turn, would draw the best and brightest to the Washington suburbs.

The Washington Post estimated that, at one point, one in 10 residents of Fairfax County lived in Hazel-built houses. Hazel did the lawyering for what became Tysons Corner, a now clogged edge city. He also built office parks. Even his occasional failures could be lucrative.

He and Peterson spent $11 million on land in Prince William County for a vast mixed-use project opposed by historic preservationist for encroaching on a Manassas Civil War battlefield. The federal government intervened, absorbing the tract as park land and paying Hazel and Peterson $81 million. Most of that cash was spent stabilizing their company ahead of the recession of the early 1990s.

Northern Virginias growth  spreading from the counties of Arlington and Fairfax to Loudoun and Prince William, and beyond  had remarkable consequences. Fairfax and Prince William would become, respectively, the largest and second-largest localities in Virginia and are home to about 15% of the states population. Both are majority non-white.

Loudoun  like Virginia as a whole, 42% non-white  is the wealthiest county in the nation, with a median household income approaching $143,000 and a cost of living that exceeds the U.S. average by more than 12%, according to federal data. Three other Virginia counties are in the top 10 for wealth: Fairfax, Prince William and the next frontier for Washington-induced suburbanization  Stafford.

A flood of non-natives and accelerating diversity would also reinvent Northern Virginia, which not long ago favored commonsense Republicanism, as a bulwark of progressive Democratic politics.

This change is reflected in the regions new leadership class. It includes a few proteges of the old guard but as well women, Black, Hispanic and Asian professionals and the leaders of businesses that, unlike many in Northern Virginia, may not be as closely associated with federal beneficence: hospital groups, cyber-security firms and investment companies.

There is no doubt that when Hazel and his confreres were feeling their oats in the 1970s, they were viewed as high-handed and uncompromising. Hazel battled with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors over restrictions on growth in nearly a dozen lawsuits that went all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court  and all of which he won.

Occasional bursts of perceived contempt by NoVa for RoVa  the Rest of Virginia  could complicate relations with the conservative grandees of the General Assembly. The late George Johnson, a Hazel ally and long-serving president of George Mason, may have been joking when he said that Virginia, if measured by SAT scores, was the equivalent of Mississippi or Arkansas when peeling away high-performing Northern Virginia.

Hazel understood that for Northern Virginia to prevail in Richmond, Northern Virginia had to be simpatico with other areas of the state.

His Republican pedigree, notwithstanding, Hazel was front and center in pushing for Democratic Gov. Jerry Baliles road-financing initiative in 1986, which went unmatched for 30 years. Hazel would travel to remote, impoverished Southwest Virginia to counsel the region on ways to wean itself from coal. Hazel enlisted corporate leaders in Roanoke, Norfolk and Richmond to plump for the shared agenda of higher education and big business.

That rubbed a Republican governor, George Allen, the wrong way in the early 1990s.

Steamed that Hazel, through shoe-leather advocacy of legislators, had convinced Republicans and Democrats to defy Allens proposed cuts in college and university budgets, the administration suggested the developer had violating state ethics laws by not registering as a lobbyist. There apparently were faint threats of legal action, should Hazel refuse to register.

Hazel ignored the Allen administration, but not before lining up a lawyer or two  just in case. Allens staff seemingly struck again, using fresh appointments to the George Mason governing board to narrowly block the election of Hazels lobbyist-conservationist son, Jimmy, as rector, or chairman. Three decades later, Jimmy Hazel  as his father was  is GMUs rector.

Property isnt the only Hazel family business. Politics is, too.

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter, @RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis 7:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Friday on Radio IQ, 89.7 FM in Richmond and 89.1 FM in Roanoke, and in Norfolk on WHRV, 89.5 FM.
Magdaleno Leno Rose-Avila, a long-time human rights activist, worked with UFW, immigrant rights, and with the NAACP in Georgia on voter registration in the 2020 General Election and in 2021 on the special senatorial election.
" " NASA space scientist and mathematician Katherine Johnson poses for a portrait at her desk with an adding machine and a 'Celestial Training device' at NASA Langley Research Center, Virginia in 1962. NASA/Getty Images

In 2019, Karen Uhlenbeck became the first female recipient of the Abel Prize, the highest prize in mathematics (there is no Nobel category for math). The award was in recognition of Uhlenbeck's pioneering work in geometric partial differential equations and gauge theory, known as the mathematical language of theoretical physics.

Uhlenbeck's groundbreaking insights have applications in particle physics, string theory and general relativity. But she's not the only famous female mathematician out there. Let's meet some others, in order of chronology.

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1. Emmy Noether (1882-1935): Her Theorem Changed the Scientific World

Mathematician and cosmologist Ruth Gregory once said, "It is hard to overstate the importance of Noether's work in modern physics." Indeed, while it's tough for us laypeople to wrap our heads around it, "Noether's theorem" is one of the great scientific insights of the past century and laid the groundwork for abstract algebra and theoretical physics.

Born in Germany in the late 19th century to a mathematician father, Emmy Noether wasn't allowed to officially enroll in university, which was male-only. So she audited classes, passed all her exams and earned her undergraduate degree. She later earned a Ph.D. at another university that finally accepted women but wasn't allowed to hold a teaching position.

In 1915, a year after Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, the young Noether, then an unpaid lecturer at the University of Gottingen was summoned by a group of the world's leading mathematicians to help solve a problem with Einstein's revolutionary take on gravity. Unfazed, she proved why general relativity doesn't go against the established law of conservation of energy.

Three years later, she published her own groundbreaking theorem establishing the mathematical relationship between laws of conservation and something called symmetry. Noether's theorem  which isn't a theory, but a mathematical proof  proved that every law of conservation (energy, momentum, angular momentum, etc.) was bound to an associated symmetry in nature. Before this, scientists had not realized these were related.

With Noether's mathematical tool, physicists developed the Standard Model, which describes the interactions of weak, strong and electromagnetic forces. And Noether's theorem is now helping to explain the behavior of black holes and the existence of dark matter.

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2. Katherine Johnson (1918-2020): NASA's 'Human Computer'

Immortalized by actress Taraji P. Henson in the 2016 movie "Hidden Figures," Katherine Johnson was a trailblazer in more ways than one. As a black woman growing up in segregated West Virginia, she broke through entrenched racial barriers in both education and employment to become a key figure in the success of America's early space program, including John Glenn's 1962 orbital mission.

Recognized for her mathematical brilliance at an early age, Johnson sped through school and graduated early at the historically black West Virginia State College. After teaching at black public schools for a few years, she was asked to be one of three students to integrate the graduate programs at West Virginia University in 1939. She accepted the challenge, but ended up leaving the program when she and her husband decided to start a family.

Johnson stayed home, like most women of her generation, to raise her three young daughters for the next decade, eventually returning to teaching in local schools. But her life changed forever when a relative told her about an all-black computing department at what was known in 1952 as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Johnson and her family moved to Virginia to be close to the Langley research facility, where she quickly impressed her bosses with her fast and accurate calculations.

" " NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (C) and Ezra Edelman (R) and Caroline Waterlow (L), winners of Best Documentary Feature for "O.J.: Made in America" pose in the press room during the 2017 Academy Awards in Hollywood, California. The movie "Hidden Figures," partly based on Johnson's life, was being honored at the ceremony. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Johnson, known as one of NASA's "human computers," ran key computations for calculating trajectory analysis and the orbital paths of near-earth satellites. Her shining moment came during last-minute preparations for Glenn's Friendship 7 mission, the first to send an American astronaut into orbit. Anxious about leaving his fate in the hands of primitive computers, Glenn ordered his flight engineers to "get the girl" to run the calculations by hand. "If she says they're good," Johnson remembered Glenn saying, "then I'm ready to go."

In 2015, Barack Obama awarded 97-year-old Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom and NASA celebrated her 100th birthday in 2018. Johnson died in 2020.

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3. Cathleen Morawetz (1923-2017): Ingenious Problem-Solver

Some brilliant mathematicians prefer to dive deep into abstract ideas and theoretical principles, but not Cathleen Morawetz, a Canadian mathematician who applied her skills to solving some of the most complex real-world problems in physics.

Like Noether, Morawetz's father was an accomplished mathematician and physicist. And in a striking parallel, Morawetz was mentored as a doctoral student at New York University (NYU) by Richard Courant, one of Noether's mentors back in Gottingen. After earning her Ph.D., Morawetz spent the rest of her research and teaching career at NYU, where she eventually became the first female director of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Morawetz is best-known for her mathematical techniques related to wave propagation known as the "Morawetz inequality" and the "Morawetz estimate." In 1956, she was the first to prove that no aircraft airfoil design could completely eliminate shock waves at supersonic speed. This allowed engineers to design wings that would minimize the shocks rather than attempting to eliminate them. She would go on to conduct mathematical research in nonlinear wave scattering by obstacles. Her work is central to the fields of hyberbolic and mixed-type partial differential equations, advanced math used by engineers to model real-world interactions with different types of waveforms.

Morawetz was not only a certified genius, but also a dedicated mentor for female mathematicians at NYU. Among her many awards and recognitions was the National Medal of Science in 1998, the first female mathematician to receive it.

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4. Karen Uhlenbeck (1942- ): First Woman to Win the 'Nobel' of Math

" " Karen Uhlenbeck was the first woman to win the Able Prize, the "Nobel Prize" of mathematics. Andrea Kane/Institute for Advanced Study

As a child, Karen Uhlenbeck loved reading, which led her to become interested in science. She studied at NYU's Courant Institute and got her Ph.D. from Brandeis in 1968. When she went job-hunting, she remembers, "The places interested in my husband  MIT, Stanford, and Princeton  were not interested in hiring me." Though the universities phrased it as due to "nepotism rules," she believed it was because she was a woman.

She eventually received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1983 and was appointed a professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, where she remained for three decades. Her research focused on geometric partial differential equations and gauge theory and helped to advance string theory and particle physics. Her work at the intersection of math and physics caused her to receive the Abel Prize for mathematics in 2019, the first time it had gone to a woman.

In addition to being lauded as one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century, Uhlenbeck is a passionate advocate for increasing the number of women in mathematics, launching several programs to encourage women, as well as children, to become more involved in math.

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5. Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017): Math Star Extinguished Too Soon

In 2014, at 37 years old, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman and the first Iranian to win the Fields Medal, a top mathematics prize awarded every four years to outstanding scholars under 40. Tragically, Mirzakhani passed away in 2017 after a long battle with breast cancer.

Born and raised in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, Mirzakhani graduated from Sharif University and earned her Ph.D. at Harvard, where she studied the geometry of hyperbolic surfaces like theoretical donut-shaped objects and other equally inscrutable topics.

When asked to describe her research in "accessible terms," Mirzakhani told The Guardian, "Most problems I work on are related to geometric structures on surfaces and their deformations. In particular, I am interested in understanding hyperbolic surfaces. Sometimes properties of a fixed hyperbolic surface can be better understood by studying the moduli space that parameterises all hyperbolic structures on a given topological surface."

Got all that?

Known for her patient and methodical approach to solving complex theoretical problems, Mirzakhani was blazing exciting new trails when her journey was cut short. Hopefully her barrier-busting win of the Fields Medal inspires the next generation of young female mathematicians.

"I don't think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don't give mathematics a real chance," Mirzakhani said in the same interview. "I did poorly in math for a couple of years in middle school; I was just not interested in thinking about it. I can see that without being excited mathematics can look pointless and cold. The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers."

Learn more about women in mathematics in "Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics" by Talithia Williams. HowStuffWorks picks related titles based on books we think you'll like. Should you choose to buy one, we'll receive a portion of the sale.

Now That's Interesting The first female mathematician may have been Hypatia, who died around 415 C.E. She worked with her father on translating and creating commentaries of classical math concepts as well as producing her own on geometry and number theory. A pagan, Hypatia was popular with most Christians and pagans, who attended the classes she taught at her home. But she was murdered by an angry mob of Christians who were incensed at her lectures on Neoplatonism.

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Originally Published: Mar 28, 2019
Ellie Goulding has been announced as an ambassador for wildlife charity WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) ahead of its its 15th annual Earth Hour event on Saturday (26.03.22), which urges the public to switch off their lights for 60 minutes.
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Changi Airport in Singapore

By Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Travel in Asia-Pacific is trailing the rest of the world and should expect a bumpy recovery, a Booking.com executive said on Monday, as countries in the region have been slower to open borders than other destinations.

With North Asian countries still largely restricting entry and Southeast Asian countries reopening cautiously, the region's tourism recovery will not be quick, Laura Houldsworth, the online travel agency's managing director for Asia-Pacific said in an interview.

The region should also expect a hit from fewer arrivals from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine triggered a spike in flight cancellations last month. Beach destinations in Thailand, Indonesia, India and the Maldives are usually popular among Russian tourists.

"Any of these situations will have people rethink their travel plans," she said, noting that the conflict would have an impact on travel demand among Eastern Europeans in general.

Booking.com, a subsidiary of U.S. company Booking Holdings Inc, last week suspended its operations in Russia, joining a host of other Western firms aiming to isolate Moscow.

The Amsterdam-based company has stopped all bookings to Russia, Houldsworth said, while outbound travel is expected to "depress significantly".

However, a recent flurry of reopenings in the region was cause for optimism, said Houldsworth, pointing to Australia, Cambodia and the Philippines, which have dropped quarantine requirements for vaccinated tourists. Vietnam will soon follow suit.

The Indonesian island of Bali on Monday welcomed its first foreign tourists under similarly relaxed travel restrictions. Meanwhile, Thailand resumed its quarantine waiver in February, but local hotel operators have called for further easing, saying the entry process is still too onerous.

Destinations with less cumbersome entry rules will have an advantage, and countries that still have entry restrictions in place like South Korea, Japan and China will be watching the impact of recent re-opening programmes closely, Houldsworth said.

"The message is: simpler the better for travellers," she said.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
STORY: The Duke of Cambridge made the comments on the third leg of a Caribbean tour that has been marked by protests over the British Empire's legacy and signs of waning influence of the monarchical system.

Speaking at a reception hosted by the Governor General of The Bahamas in Nassau, William said that "relationships evolve. Friendship endures.

He and the Duchess of Cambridge attended the reception after taking part in the Bahamas Platinum Jubilee Sailing Regatta at Montagu Bay.

The royal couple faced a protest by Belize villagers and a rally in Jamaica for slavery reparations, as well as unusually direct comments by Jamaica's prime minister about the country wanting to be "independent."
Former President Donald Trump and his three eldest children have agreed to sit for depositions concerning a class-action civil case accusing the Trumps of fraud for pushing investors on a money-losing marketing company that sold desktop video phones.

Trumps lawyers have said in the past that his hype of the operation was puffery that no reasonable investor would have relied on. He has also claimed that the lawsuit is politically motivated.

Trump agreed to a deposition date of June 16 after negotiations with lawyers for four investors who claim he duped them into paying thousands of dollars to become independent sellers with ACN Opportunity LLC, according to a filing Friday in Manhattan federal court, Bloomberg reported. Trump failed in 2018 to get the case dismissed.

Trump touted ACNs video phones on his reality show The Celebrity Apprentice. He also pitched the operation as an easy way to make money in promotional videos. Trump was reportedly paid almost $9 million by ACN from 2005 to 2015.

ACN recruits paid hundreds of dollars to join and then hundreds more to attend seminars and national conventions in order to sell the product.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump will have to answer questions under oath in their depositions in May. A date for Ivanka Trumps deposition hasnt been scheduled, according to the filing.

Its hardly the first time Trump  and his adult children  have been accused of fraud. Trump paid $25 million in 2017 to settle a class-action suit over Trump University, which wasnt a university.

In 2019, Trump paid a court-ordered $2 million in damages for dipping into the Trump Foundation charity to use donations for himself or his business. The foundation was shut down and his three oldest children were required to undergo mandatory training to ensure this type of illegal activity never takes place again, said a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Tenants who lived in rent-regulated Trump-owned apartments filed an amended class-action complaint this month accusing the former president and a number of relatives of fraud and racketeering, alleging a scheme to hike tenants rents by charging inflated prices for major appliances.

Story continues

Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were also accused of deliberately kiting the value of condos at Trump Soho to potential buyers. A criminal investigation into that was dropped in 2011 when the Trumps agreed to refund 90% of deposits, The Guardian reported.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
   3%   20%6%    Twitter 426.3  339.610.69% 4676.93GWh 47.6%  400  8.761.1%          23   Silicon Hill II  2.33 HOLBORN2.8 3     
Dear Monty: I am a new agent. A relative asked me to co-list their home with an agent they knew. We both work at the same brokerage. I was to receive a portion of the listing commission with the split between us skewed toward the experienced agent. The experienced agent was to train me, be my mentor and share in future commissions on business I generated. Next, my relative accepted an offer for the property that is now in escrow. When I asked to see the contract, my mentor ignored me. The commission sharing escrow form did not include me. My relative signed that document, not realizing my name had to be on it. My "mentor" also increased a pre-agreed commission amount. My relative told me she felt pressured, but she needed the sale and agreed. My mentor said they would add me to the commission document before closing escrow. But when I questioned it, I was put off. I fear I am being taken advantage of because I am new and will end up with a pittance if anything. It was a big sale, and I still feel discouraged. I don't know if I want to make this my profession if my mentor takes advantage of me. What can I do to protect myself?

Monty's Answer: Being in real estate sales is not easy for most practitioners, even when they have been in it for years. It is a highly competitive, internally focused career where few can entirely master the job description. My experience has been that the few good agents are not easy to find, but they are out there. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average agent has only 10 transactions a year. When I hear your story, I suspect your mentor is not among the few. "Watch their feet, not their lips" is an excellent exercise to practice forever.

Consider going directly to the owner of the brokerage. I doubt that the owner is aware of what is happening here. Do not go to anyone else. Then, share your story with them. Share why you picked their company. I would not mention that you feel like leaving the industry. Focus on fairness, integrity and honesty. Ask the owner to intervene. They are the ones that can lay out the solution with the title company. There is a high likelihood of getting relief by taking this approach. If you get the same response your mentor gave you, you are likely at the wrong company.

If your plea goes unanswered, you will have to wait until escrow closes to learn if your suspicions were well-founded. It could turn out that your mentor is a poor communicator. If it does not turn out well, there may be another avenue to consider. Your state has a place to complain. For example, the California Department of Real Estate disciplines real estate brokers and agents when they do not follow the law. Find your state's department and check them out.

You will learn a lot here. Wait before you decide to quit. It took time and money to get this far. You sound like a person the industry needs. Check out Dear Monty's suggestion to find a good broker. https://dearmonty.com/5-pick-broker-tips-agents/.

Richard Montgomery is the author of "House Money: An Insider's Secrets to Saving Thousands When You Buy or Sell a Home." He advocates industry reform and offers readers unbiased real estate advice. Follow him on Twitter at @dearmonty, or at DearMonty.com

COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM

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At the start of 2019, Bill and Melinda Gates released a list of facts that had surprised them the previous year. Number four on their list: Data can be sexist.

There are huge gaps in the global data about women and girls, they explained.

My interest was piqued  not only as a demographer, but as a woman and mother of girls.

I research women in global Christianity and am frequently asked what percentage of the religion is female. The short answer is 52%. But the long answer is more complicated  women make up a much more substantial part of Christianity than that number makes it seem.

The goal of my research is to put the spotlight on Christian womens contributions to church and society and fill in gaps in our data. Headlines about religion may be focused on the words and actions of Western male leaders, but the reality of the worldwide church is quite different. More and more Christians live outside Europe and North America, especially in Africa  and women are central to that story.

Measuring faith

What researchers dont have is comprehensive data on womens activities in churches, their influence, their leadership or their service. Nor are there comprehensive analyses of Christians attitudes around the world about womens and mens roles in churches.

Women, according to an old saying in the Black church, are the backbone of the church, notes religion and gender scholar Ann Braude. The double meaning of this saying is that while the churches would collapse without women, their place is in the background, behind male leaders.

But theres not much actual data, and without good data, its harder to make good decisions.

At the center of the story

My current research is illustrating that women are the majority of the church nearly everywhere in the world, and that its future is poised to be shaped by African women, in particular.

Christianity continues its demographic shift to the global south. In 1900, 18% of the worlds Christians lived in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania, according to my research. Today that figure is 67%, and by 2050, it is projected to be 77%. Africa is home to 27% of the worlds Christians, the largest share in the world, and by 2050, that figure will likely be 39%. For comparison, the United States and Canada were home to just 11% of all Christians in the world in 2020 and will likely drop to 8% by 2050. Furthermore, the median age of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa is just 19.

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]

One of the most common refrains about the church in Africa is that it is majority female. The church in Africa has a feminine face and owes much of its tremendous growth to the agency of women, writes Kenyan theologian Philomena Mwaura.

Or as a Nigerian Anglican bishop recently told me, If anyone tells you a church in Nigeria is majority male, hes lying.

Its clear that women have been a crucial part of Christianitys seismic shift south. For example, consider Catholic sisters, who outnumber priests and religious brothers in Africa  and on every continent, in fact. Mothers Union, an Anglican nonprofit that aims to support marriages and families, has 30 branches in Africa, including at least 60,000 members in Nigeria alone. In Congo, women have advocated for peacebuilding, including through groups like the National Federation of Protestant Women. Next door, in the Republic of the Congo, Catholic sisters were at the forefront of providing shelter, education and aid in postwar recovery efforts.

Yet here, too, more precise data about African womens contributions and religious identities is lacking. And beyond quantitative data, African womens narratives have often been ignored, to the detriment of public understanding. As African theologians Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Rachel Angogo Kanyoro have stated, African women theologians have come to realize that as long as men and foreign researchers remain the authorities on culture, rituals, and religion, African women will continue to be spoken of as if they were dead.

Far from dead, African women live at the center of the story  and will continue to do so as healers, evangelists, mothers and the heartbeat of their churches.

___

The ATS is a funding partner of The Conversation U.S.

Gina Zurlo receives funding from the Louisville Institute.

___

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WALTHILL, Neb. -- Strangers will pull into Walthill, stop at the Post Office and ask for directions to the historic hospital.

If Nancy Gillis is around, she'll take them up the hill on the edge of town and show them where Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte built a hospital in 1912 after raising the $9,000 needed for construction.

The story of La Flesche Picotte, a member of the Omaha Indian Tribe and the nation's first Native American doctor, and her work on the Omaha Indian Reservation is one that, for many visitors, was unknown until recently.

"So many people say, 'I never knew about this. Why weren't we taught about this? Why didn't we know?'" Gillis said of Dr. Susan, as she was affectionately known.

The story of her accomplishments is becoming more widely known. Journalist and professor Joe Starita's book about her, "A Warrior of the People", in 2016 introduced many to her. In 2018, efforts began to restore her former hospital, a project that continues to raise awareness of her fascinating life story.

Earlier this month, the restoration project was honored with the Champion of History Award by History Nebraska, which operates the Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln and historic sites throughout the state.

The recognition is nice, said Gary Bowen, a member of the Susan La Flesche Picotte Center board of directors, but more importantly, it shines light on her story.

"I think it will help the awareness of Dr. Susan and her contributions, help raise awareness of the building and the project," said Bowen, a retired architect in Omaha. "It shows people are starting to recognize the significance of Dr. La Flesche Picotte in the state and nation's history."

It's the La Flesche Picotte Center's mission to make more people aware of her significance.

Born near Macy in 1865, La Flesche Picotte attended schools in New Jersey and Virginia before enrolling at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia with funding from the Women's National Indian Association and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She graduated at the top of her class in 1889, becoming the first Native American -- male or female -- to earn a medical degree. She interned in Philadelphia before returning to the Omaha Indian Reservation, where she was the primary medical provider until her death from cancer in 1915.

Her legacy remains in the three-story hospital, designed by architect William L. Steele, who also designed the Woodbury County Courthouse in Sioux City. The hospital was the nation's first built with private funds and featured all the amenities of a big-city hospital at the time, just on a smaller scale. It served as a hospital until 1950, and since then it's been a nursing home, thrift store, private residence and office building.

Named a National Historic Landmark in 1993, the building fell into disrepair, and by 2018, a hole in the roof had led to water damage inside. That's when Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, formed an advisory committee to steer restoration of the historic building.

After securing a federal planning grant, the committee developed a plan to restore the hospital as a community and heritage center, making it once again a vital element of the Walthill community and the Omaha Tribe.

"It took off from there," said Gillis, the board's secretary.

The board met its funding goal, raising a little more than $3 million. The roof was repaired a couple years ago, and restoration of the building's exterior was completed last year. Workers currently are removing asbestos and lead paint from the interior before beginning restoration work.

Plans for the center include an area where Native American artists can work, teach and exhibit, a telemedicine office and behavioral health and after-school programs. Other tenants could include an Omaha Tribe satellite office.

Gillis said the board hopes for a fall 2023 opening.

Fundraising continues for a reserve fund to pay for future upkeep. Dr. Susan's original lilac bushes remain in front, and more landscaping and parking is planned for the property, which extends into a wooded, hilly lot in which board members envision an amphitheater and other cultural displays.

Once finished, the center will tell the story of La Flesche Picotte, educating visitors and inspiring younger generations of tribal members, helping them retain their cultural identity.

"It's an amazing story," Gillis said, "and kids need to know that's their heritage."

A story finally being heard by a larger audience.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Bronson, Iowa, man who used homemade chloroform to abduct his ex-girlfriend has pleaded guilty and agreed to be sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison.

Zack Smith, 21, will be sentenced to 121 months in prison, according to terms of a plea agreement discussed during a Friday hearing in which he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to one count of kidnapping.

A judge must approve the agreement at sentencing, which will be scheduled after a presentence investigation report is completed. A charge of interstate violation of a protection order will be dismissed. Smith also agreed to give up his right to appeal his conviction and sentence. He remains in custody.

Smith hid for three hours in the South Sioux City woman's vehicle on June 3. When she got in and after she had dropped a friend off at school, Smith threatened her with an Airsoft pistol and forced her into his vehicle, where he blindfolded her, bound her with zip ties and duct tape, and rendered her unconscious with homemade chloroform.

The victim told investigators that she awakened alone in a shed at Smith's home in rural Bronson and was able remove rope and duct tape from her ankles and escape. She was found at a rural Woodbury County intersection by a family member who was looking for her.

Investigators later found Smith in possession of a backpack containing condoms, lubrication, ropes, ties and duct tape. Smith told investigators he had used items in the backpack during the abduction and had been planning the kidnapping for more than two weeks. He said he planned to keep the woman for a week, but did not know what he would do with her after that.

Smith was initially charged in Woodbury County District Court, but those charges were dismissed after he was indicted in federal court.

A judge issued a no contact order against Smith on May 12 after he was arrested and charged in Woodbury County with two misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment for an incident in which he lured his ex-girlfriend to an apartment. When she arrived with a friend, Smith locked the door and would not let them leave.

Smith pleaded guilty to the charges in October and agreed to a 75-day jail sentence.

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SIOUX CITY -- The slate is now set and across Woodbury County government, two offices are guaranteed to have contested races this year. One is for a successor to Republican District 2 Supervisor Justin Wright. The other will determine whether Democratic county Attorney P.J. Jennings will retain his seat.

Three candidates filed petitions for District 2 by the state's 5 p.m. deadline Friday to be placed on the ballot for the June primaries -- two Democrats and one Republican. One of the Democratic challengers, Maria Rundquist, is a community organizer while the other, Jeremy Dumkrieger, is the Democratic party chairman for the county. CrossPointe Church lead pastor Dan Bittinger is seeking the Republican nomination.

Wright, who won a special election in July 2020, opted not to seek a full four-year term this year.

Two assistant county attorneys -- Jacklyn Fox and James Loomis -- will compete for the Republican nomination and the right to face their boss, Jennings, in the November general election.

Elsewhere, competition isn't quite so stiff.

Republican county Supervisor Matthew Ung of Sioux City is currently running unopposed for re-election in District 4.

Republican Treasurer Tina Bertrand, who was appointed in April 2021 to serve the remainder of former Treasurer Mike Claytons term after he retired, is unopposed in her bid for a full term this year.

State law allows local parties at special nominating conventions to name candidates to fill vacant spots on the ballot for the November election.

Below is a breakdown of those races as well as info about other elections in Siouxland.

Woodbury County Supervisor, District 2, Democratic primary

Maria Rundquist is a retired business owner and author.

Rundquist has run for various political offices such as Sioux City mayor in 2019, Sioux City Council in 2017 and 2013 and the Iowa Senate in 2014. She is married with four children and eight grandchildren.

"I am ready to make the difficult choices as your supervisor," she said. "I feel a personal responsibility to our current young people and to our future generations."

She is running on the platform of protecting the community's health against the COVID-19 pandemic; protecting the COVID-19 recovery funds; protecting the infrastructure funds; preventing liquid pipelines in the county; keeping taxes low and developing a program for the houseless.

Her challenger, Jeremy Dumkrieger, is chair of the Woodbury County Democratic Party and an art teacher at the Lawton Bronson Community School.

Dumkrieger was born in Onawa, Iowa and raised in Soldier, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's degree from Morningside University, is married and has two children.

He has served as the Woodbury Democratic Party Chair since 2016 and in 2018 he received the Bob Creech Award for Outstanding County Chairman from the Iowa Democratic Party.

He said his focuses are: ensuring families in Woodbury will have quality services, put the screws to the new Law Enforcement Center, changing the Woodbury County supervisor election process and keeping the compensation board independent.

"We have the opportunity to press pause and restart," Dumkrieger said. "When elected Supervisor, I will hold weekly press conferences/video updates to be 100 percent transparent on the happenings of this board."

Woodbury County Supervisor, District 2, Republican primary

Local pastor Dan Bittinger is the lone Republican running for the District 2 Board of Supervisors position.

He's the lead pastor at CrossPointe Church and has lived in Sioux City for the past eight years with his wife and three children. He is originally from Wadsworth, Ohio and attended Southeast University in Lakeland, Florida for degrees in communication and pastoral ministry.

He said he is running because he likes to serve others.

"As a good citizen you can serve and help your local county or government or neighbors," he said.

Bittinger said he wants to focus on keeping taxes low, encouraging business growth and ensuring Woodbury County is a good place to live, work and raise a family.

"I will ensure Woodbury County stays within its constitutional bounds and authority," he said.

Woodbury County Supervisor, District 4, Republican primary

Matthew Ung is running for re-election to the District 4 Board of Supervisors position as the lone candidate from any party.

Ung has served in the position for eight years and is currently the youngest board member.

Ung holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Creighton University along with a Master of Theology degree and has over 12 years of experience in healthcare administration. He is married with two children.

"I don't just make promises, I keep them," Ung said, citing lower property taxes, improvements to gravel roads and securing 24/7 paramedic coverage for the rural residents.

Woodbury County Treasurer, Republican primary

Current Woodbury County Treasurer Tina Bertrand is seeking election to a full term as Woodbury County Treasurer.

Bertrand was selected by a Board of Supervisors interview process in April 2021 to serve the remainder of former Treasurer Mike Claytons term after his retirement.

Bertrand was born and raised in Northborough, Massachusetts and earned a bachelors degree in business administration and finance from Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. She is married with two children.

She was also a founding partner and chief financial officer of a local construction company, RJ Tide Construction.

This is the first time Bertrand has held an elected position. She worked on the 2010 election and 2014 re-election campaign of her brother-in-law, state Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City. Tina Bertrand is married to Rick's brother, Russ.

She said her goal is to provide the community with a "strong conservative candidate that can offer a feminine perspective to our county leadership."

Woodbury County Attorney, Democratic primary

P.J. Jennings is seeking a fifth term as Woodbury County attorney.

A Democrat, who lives in Sergeant Bluff, Jennings first won office in 2006, then was successful in winning re-election bids in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

Jennings leads a team of attorneys who prosecute criminal cases and provide legal expertise to county departments.

When he filed in 2018, to win a fourth term, Jennings told the Journal: "I hope to continue the partnership that my office has developed with area law enforcement over the years in order to provide as safe a community as we can."

Woodbury County Attorney, Republican primary

Jacklyn Fox is running for Woodbury County Attorney.

Fox is currently an assistant Woodbury County attorney and is running for the Republican nomination.

Fox, 36, of Sioux City, said she wants to see a county attorney's office that's more transparent with the community about decisions to settle certain cases via plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. She said crime victims, especially those of violent crime, deserve to see justice.

"Sometimes we're amending (charges) rather than fighting for the rights of victims," Fox said. "I want to fight for victims' rights."

Fox is from Urbandale, Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa with bachelor's degrees in social work and communications studies before attending law school at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, where she graduated in 2011. She was hired as an assistant Woodbury County Attorney in 2012, a job Fox said enabled her to pursue her interest in criminal justice and help care for her grandparents, longtime Sioux City residents Mel and Marilyn Fox, before their deaths.

She is married to Woodbury County native Todd Peterson, and they have three children.

Fox's challenger on the Republican side of the bracket will be fellow county attorney James Loomis.

In announcing his candidacy for the office, assistant Woodbury County Attorney Loomis, a Republican, said the county attorney must communicate more often and effectively with law enforcement to gain officers' trust and cooperation.

"The county attorney needs to be more engaged, and right now that's not happening," said Loomis, who has been with the county attorney's office since his graduation from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2003.

Loomis said that during his 19 years in the office, he's prosecuted homicides, shootings, armed robberies and other violent crimes, gaining the experience needed to take over the county's top law enforcement position.

Elsewhere in Siouxland

Just to the north, in Plymouth County, voters likely won't have a lot of tough decisions to make when they go to to the polls on June 7.

Through Friday afternoon, no county-level race in Plymouth was contested. The three supervisors who have seats up, District 1's John Meis, District 3's Don Kass and District 4's Craig A. Anderson, all are running unopposed. As is County Recorder Jolynn Goodchild, County Treasurer Shelly Sitzmann and County Attorney Darin J. Raymond.

To the south, in Monona County, there's a similar lack of competition.

District 2 Supervisor Tom Brouillette and District 3 Supervisor Vincent Phillips are both running unopposed. As are County Attorney Ian McConeghey, County Treasurer Abby Riesberg and County Attorney Kelly K. Seward.

Cherokee County will see one competitive race, at least in the primary, for District 3 Supervisor. Republican incumbent Wane Miller is being challenged by David L. Skou. No Democrat is running.

In heavily Republican Sioux County, there are no contested races.

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"Thank you for entrusting me with the great responsibility of governing our nation," he said in the emailed statement. "... It is my sincerest hope that I have made a contribution to the betterment of America, and the wellbeing of our great state of Nebraska."
Nebraskas prison staffing problems have been well documented.

Chronic shortages of guards and other employees. Mandatory overtime that requires some prison guards to stay four more hours after their regular 12-hour shifts, contributing to record overtime costs and employee fatigue and burnout. Rapid turnover.

Articles in the Omaha World-Herald and the nonprofit Flatwater Free Press have described the impact on employees as well as prisoners, who can be locked down for days at a time when Nebraska prisons are among the most crowded in the country.

So its good news that Gov. Pete Ricketts and his administration have been making progress lately in recruiting and retaining corrections staff. Not surprisingly, Nebraskas promising strategy involves paying workers more.

Hefty pay increases for state corrections workers have already reduced staff vacancies by half and should soon cut into forced overtime for prison guards and required weekend lockdowns for many prisoners, World-Herald staff writer Henry J. Cordes reported earlier this month.

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes said the raises of up to 40%, which were announced in November, have helped the state attract more than 1,000 new applicants and make 267 new hires.

Some 50 of the new hires are staffers who previously left and are now returning to the agency, and 118 are coming from out of state.

We are very pleased with that agreement and the impact it has had on our staffing, Ricketts said.

Under the pay package negotiated with the state union of correctional workers, starting wages for corrections corporals and prison caseworkers are rising from $20 an hour to $28 an hour. That equates to a bump from an annual salary of about $42,000 to $58,000.

Money doesnt solve every problem, but it seems obvious that higher pay makes an admittedly tough job more attractive. And potential corrections workers certainly have other options in a state with a low unemployment rate.

The higher salaries will cost the state and its taxpayers more money, although at least part of that will be offset if overtime pay goes down. But its a necessary expense.

And if the pay raises ultimately help resolve Nebraskas prison staffing problems, the result will be improved working conditions that are fairer to the corrections staffers who perform those important jobs  especially those who have remained on the job despite being forced to work grueling hours.

As Ricketts said: The women and men who serve the state of Nebraska in the Department of Corrections really are heroes.

The Ricketts administration deserves credit for taking a pragmatic approach in trying to fix the staffing problems.

Nebraskans, after all, are practical problem-solvers. At our best, we take a clear-eyed view of issues and dont let politics and petty differences keep us from doing whats right. Were able to assess a difficult challenge, come up with possible solutions, reach compromises and take steps to implement them.

Lets hope that the governor and state senators in the current legislative session can find practical and effective agreement on solving other corrections issues, from severe overcrowding in Nebraska prisons to the societal issues that contribute to such incarceration.

Now that would truly be heroic.

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Amanda Bynes is "doing very well" and excited about moving in with her fiance, following the termination of her conservatorship.

The 35-year-old actress had been under a conservatorship for the past nine years but is looking forward to moving on with her life and living with her fiance Paul Michael now that she is free.

Her lawyer David Esquibias told PEOPLE: "She's doing very well and looking forward to moving into her new property with Paul. They're actively searching for furniture and she's excited about all of it.

"She's ecstatic to receive her parents' full love and support behind her decision to terminate the conservatorship."

It was previously revealed that Amanda's parents "can't wait to see the next chapter of her life".

The 'She's the Man' actress' parents have also been fully supportive of her efforts to have her conservatorship overturned.

A source previously said: "Amanda Bynes' parents are very happy for her. They can't wait to see the next chapter of her life. They are excited at how well she is doing.

"They are ready to move forward and for the conservatorship to end as well."

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Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
Hayden Panettiere has been involved in a fight with her boyfriend outside a bar.

The 32-year-old actress - has been in an on-off relationship with Brian Hickerson since 2018 appeared to get into a physical altercation involving her boyfriend and a group of others outside an L.A bar in video footage obtained by TMZ.

However, a representative for the 'Nashville' actress later stressed that she is "okay" and the incident came out when a individual began to provoke Brian.

The rep told PEOPLE: "While in the restaurant of the Sunset Marquis, Brian Hickerson, who happened to be with Hayden, made a comment to an individual about leaving the waitress a poor tip. That same individual along with the group he was with began badgering and shoving Brian at which point security pushed everyone outside."

The representative went on to explain that the altercation escalated when Brian was "attacked" and the former 'Heroes' actress "did her best" to ameliorate the situation.

The statement continued: "Brian was attacked by the group as was Hayden who in her best effort tried to diffuse the situation. Hayden was refused the opportunity to provide a statement to the police as she was escorted back inside. She is okay. "

Back in July 2021, PEOPLE reported that Brian was spending time in jail and had been sentenced to 45 days in prison the previous April after pleading guilty to two felony counts of injuring Hayden and was also sentenced to four years of formal probation, 52 domestic violence classes, $500 in restitution and a five-year protective order for the crimes.

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Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
Taylor Hawkins has died.

The Foo Fighters drummer has passed away at the age of 50, the band announced on Twitter on Saturday (03.26.22).

The message said: "The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins.

"His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.

"Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time."

Local news outlets in Bogota, Colombia, reported that Hawkins was found dead in a hotel room in the city where the band was due to play the Festival Estereo Picnic.

He had reportedly been complaining of chest pains earlier.

A number of musicians took to social media to pay tribute to the late drummer with Nickelback writing on Twitter: "In utter disbelief at the news of Taylor Hawkins. Our deepest condolences to his family, his bandmates, his team, his friends and everyone that was ever touched by the music he created with @foofighters @Alanis and so many others. This is so incredibly sad."

Gene Simmons added: "Shocked and saddened to hear @taylorhawkins has passed away today.! Our prayers and condolences go out to the Hawkins family, @foofighters friends and fans. Sad."

Rage Against the Machines Tom Morello wrote: "God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power," and Slash wrote on Instagram: "Devastated by the loss of our friend #TaylorHawkins I've no words to express all the feelings I have about his passing. But my heart goes out to his family. his band friends. RIP Taylor."

Hawkins was previously the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette, before joining Foo Fighters in 1997.

Speaking previously about their friendship, frontman Dave Grohl wrote in his 2021 autobiography, 'The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music': "During his stint as Alanis Morissettes drummer, long before he became a Foo Fighter, we would bump into each other backstage at festivals all over the world, and our chemistry was so obvious that even Alanis herself once asked him, What are you going to do when Dave asks you to be his drummer?' Part Beavis and Butthead, part Dumb and Dumber, we were a hyperactive blur of Parliament Lights and air drumming wherever we went."

Hawkins is survived by his wife Alison, and their three children.

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Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
President Joe Biden appeared to call for regime change in Russia, saying during a speech in Poland on Saturday that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power after his invasion of Ukraine. For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Bidens said at the end of a speech he delivered outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The words marked a sharp escalation in the rhetoric against Putin. Although the U.S. president had already called the Russian leader a war criminal, he had never outright said he shouldnt be in charge of running the country. Bidens remarks came hours after he called Putin a butcher shortly after meeting with Ukrainian refugees.

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The Kremlin forcefully pushed back against Bidens remarks, saying it wasnt up to the U.S. president to decide who should lead Russia. This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation. The White House immediately tried to tone down the remarks, insisting Biden wasnt actually calling for regime change in Russia. The presidents point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region, a White House official said. He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change.

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Biden began his speech, which came on the final leg of his four-day trip to Europe, by characterizing Ukraine as a front line in a war between autocracy and democracy. The West is now stronger, more united than it has ever been, Biden said. And no one should think the fight will end anytime soon. Biden called on the worlds democracies to get ready for a long, drawn-out conflict with Putins government. We need to be clear-eyed: This battle will not be won in days and months, Biden said. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead. Biden also warned Putin to not even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory, adding that the United States has a sacred obligation to defend each and every inch of NATO territory.
Taylor Hawkins, the longtime drummer for Foo Fighters, died in Colombia while the band was on a South American tour. He was 50. The band announced his death on Friday on social media but few details were released and it remained unclear when and where he died. The Foo Fighters family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins, the bands official account said in a statement posted on Twitter. His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever.

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Foo Fighters had been scheduled to play at a festival in Bogota, Colombia on Friday night. The festival released a statement confirming the band had pulled out of the three-day festival due to Hawkins death and had canceled the rest of its South American tour. After Colombia, Foo Fighters had been scheduled to head to another festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil before continuing on to a tour in the United States. He had recently played in Argentina and Chile.

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Police cars and an ambulance gathered outside the hotel in Bogota where Hawkins was believed to have been staying. Lots of fans also went there to pay their respects. Police in Colombia confirmed Hawkins death but also released few details, only saying the cause of death was under investigation.

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Local newspaper El Tiempo says a preliminary police report claims that people close to Hawkins say the death could be associated with the consumption of narcotic substances. The newspaper also says Hawkins asked for help after feeling chest pains and hotel staff immediately called emergency services. Once the ambulance arrived, Hawkins had already died. Hawkins, who suffered an overdose in 2001 that left him in a coma for two weeks, had openly talked about his drug use. I used to do a lot of fucking drugs, he said in an interview last year.

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Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997 after playing with Alanis Morissette and went on to become the bands most recognizable member after frontman Dave Grohl. In a 2021 memoir, Grohl said Hawkins was his best friend and a man for whom I would take a bullet. Tributes to Hawkins immediately poured in on social media.

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God bless Taylor peace and love to all his family and the band peace and love.  pic.twitter.com/wn2izxn4Vd  #RingoStarr (@ringostarrmusic) March 26, 2022

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God bless you Taylor Hawkins. I loved your spirit and your unstoppable rock power. Rest In Peace my friend. pic.twitter.com/AkiRLF2L3e  Tom Morello (@tmorello) March 26, 2022

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. @TaylorHawkins was truly a great person and an amazing musician. My heart, my love and my condolences go out to his wife, his children, his family, his band and his fans. See you on the other side - Ozzy  Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) March 26, 2022

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We are shocked and saddened to hear this news , cant quite comprehend it ,,,

A man of true energy and spirit ,,

Our deep felt condolences go out to his family , friends , Dave and band mates ,

Sad sad news ,

Liam and Maxim

The Prodigy#taylorhawkins pic.twitter.com/0TbVh5DQgc  The Prodigy (@the_prodigy) March 26, 2022

Devastated by the loss of our friend #TaylorHawkins I've no words to express all the feelings I have about his passing. But my heart goes out to his family. & his band & friends. RIP Taylor  https://t.co/pkQLK5rLVF  Slash (@Slash) March 26, 2022

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Police officers in Denver violated the rights of protesters during the huge 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd, a federal jury said Friday. As a result, 12 protesters were awarded a total of $14 million in damages after a three-week trial that lawyers involved in the case characterized as the first trial in a lawsuit that challenged police tactics during the 2020 protests that broke out across the country after the killing of Floyd.

Lawyers in the trial argued that police officers violated the constitutional rights of the 12 protesters who sued by striking them with a variety of non-lethal weapons and chemical munitions even though they were all peacefully expressing their views. The attorneys argued that the aggressive response to the protesters, and the injuries they suffered as a result, were a direct consequence of how the city failed to properly train and supervise police officers. Zach Packard, who ended up in intensive care after he was hit in the head by a Kevlar-bag filled with lead that was fired from a shotgun, received $3 million, which was the largest damage amount.

During the trial, attorneys called on the jurors to send a message not just to police in Denver, but across the country, that the rights of protesters should be taken seriously. You have the ability to send a message to the Denver Police Department and to departments across the country, Tim Macdonald, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told the jury in his closing argument.

Denver acknowledged after the verdict that some mistakes were made and said it had already instituted changes to the police department after what it described as unprecedented protests in 2020.
Earlier this month, the Florida state legislature passed a ban on certain classroom instruction about LGBTQ life. Critics have dubbed it a Dont Say Gay bill, part of a class of anti-LGBTQ censorship legislation gaining steam across the country.

The bill would allow parents to sue a school district if they believe a teacher has taught children in third grade or younger about sexual orientation or gender identity, or taught older students about such topics in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate. It would also force schools to notify parents if they begin providing support to queer or trans students who come out. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law.

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Leaders of LGBTQ advocacy groups maintain that the bill is vague and broad enough to create a chilling effect among teachers and school administrators, such that none will want to risk potentially ruinous lawsuits by even mentioning the existence of gay or trans people in classrooms.

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But conservatives say Democrats and LGBTQ activists are making a big deal out of nothing. Republican officials and right-wing commentators deny that the bill is anti-gay and insist that it will neither discriminate against queer and trans students nor prohibit normal, age-appropriate discussion of LGBTQ culture and history. In a tweet this morning, Tim Carney, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, criticized the media for peddling a false story that the Florida bill prohibits discussion of sexual orientation.

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In fact, the very first page of the bills text states as its purpose: prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.

Carney has since deleted the tweet. But hes in good company among conservatives falling all over themselves to declare that the bill will not do exactly what it was written to do. Fox News called claims that the bill will prevent teachers from discussing gay people a media disinformation narrative. The bills sponsor, State Rep. Joe Harding, proclaimed that the media is lying by saying that we were banning the word, that we were banning people. The National Review has published several pieces accusing media outlets of intentionally misleading Floridians and deliberately distorting the bills mandate. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal ran an essay arguing that the reaction to Floridas law on parents and schools is overwrought because the bill does not explicitly contain the phrase dont say gay.

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Even Gov. Ron DeSantis and his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, are trying to downplay the effects of this nonetheless apparently very important bill. There is nothing in this bill preventing anyone from saying gay Pushaw told Fox News.

When an AP reporter tweeted the Dont Say Gay nickname for the bill, Pushaw pushed back. Does it mention the word gay or LGBT people at all? she tweeted. And when a reporter asked DeSantis about his support for the Dont Say Gay bill, he accused the journalist of pushing false narratives.

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None of these people or institutions are confused about what the Florida legislation will do. Pushaw knows that it was not written to keep students from learning about straight people, traditional marriage, and heterosexual culture. DeSantis knows that it will prevent schools from providing counseling and support to trans kids who arent ready to come out to their parents. By taking a narrow, literal interpretation of the nickname critics have given this type of censorship legislation, theyre deliberately ignoring the actual content of the bill.

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If you listen a little closer, its clear that everyone agrees on the bills intended effects. Republicans arent trying to outlaw schools acknowledgment of gay people. They are trying to protect young children from ideological indoctrination and require school districts to be transparent with parents. one National Review writer reassures us.

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Another writes that the bill does not ban teachers from referring to their gay family members or to their own spouses. It just restricts schools from addressing these weighty and sometimes explicit topics with young children as part of their classroom curricula.

The Wall Street Journals editorial board points out that sexual orientation and gender identity are not currently being taught, as such, in kindergarten through third grade in Florida. If thats the case, then why is everybody so riled up? the board asks. (Indeed, one might ask, then why is anyone trying to pass a bill banning it?) And yet, the board concludes, Parents have a right to ensure that the curriculum is age appropriate, and that it is focused on learning instead of promoting someones cultural agenda.

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Ideological indoctrination. Weighty and sometimes explicit topics. Cultural agenda. These are the euphemisms conservatives have apparently settled on to describe any acknowledgement in schools that LGBTQ people exist and are as deserving of respect and rights as anyone else.

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Of course, if teaching those things constitutes ideological indoctrination, so does not teaching them. Educators who, fearing a lawsuit that takes a conservative view of what age-appropriate means, never mention the existence of trans people or important milestones in LGBTQ history are indoctrinating students by those omissions to believe that those identities are shameful, and that queer people deserve to live in the shadowsthat our lives should only be discussed in furtive euphemisms.

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In their attempts to deny that the legislation will have its precise intended effect, Republicans have insisted that it will merely protect children from lewd material and abuse. Critics of the bill are in favor of injecting sexual instruction to 5-, 6- and 7-year-old kids, DeSantis said. Pushaw has said the bill merely prohibits kids from being exposed to sexually inappropriate content; she accuses any opponent of being a groomer or at least you dont denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children. Dennis Baxley, who sponsored the bill in the state senate, has said that being queer or trans is a trend that teachers are encouraging through social engineering and sexual-type discussions.

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Smearing LGBTQ people and allies as pedophiles (groomers) who become educators as part of an agenda to recruit young children into a particular sexual lifestyle is a demagogic tactic as old as homophobia itself. If Republicans had actually wanted to ban sexually explicit material from the classroom, the bill would prohibit that, instead of instruction on sexual orientation or gender identitywhich, as conservatives well know, encompasses not just sex but love, self-image, legal issues, relationships, community, culture, and history.

And if Republicans were only worried about very young childrenthe ones they consistently invoke in their dismissals of critics concernsthey would not have included language that prohibits any student, including older teenagers, from being taught about the forbidden topics in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate. This part of the legislation is intentionally vague, so as to create a chilling effect among teachers who know it will be nearly impossible to prove to an angry, lawsuit-wielding, DeSantis-voting parent that acknowledging the existence of trans people is age-appropriate for a high-schooler.

Republicans can shout all they want that the bill doesnt really ban teachers from mentioning gay people. It doesnt change the facts of the legislation. When parents can sue schools over any LGBTQ-related content they find objectionable, what exactly the bill bans is up to them.
On Thursday, the Washington Post and CBS News broke the news that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had frantically texted with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the weeks following the 2020 election and leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection to discuss an array of conspiracy theories alleging that the presidential election had been stolen by Democrats.

The implications of the report are astounding for a number of reasons. First, it means that the wife of a sitting Supreme Court justice was deeply enmeshed in Donald Trumps attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Second, it means that this justices wife could come under scrutiny by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Third, it means that in January when Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenting vote in an 81 decision by the court to allow the release of National Archives documents surrounding the events of Jan. 6 to the select committee, he was protecting documents that might implicate his wifea clear conflict of interest that should have demanded recusal. Its uncertain how all of this will play out, though Democrats do not seem to have the votes to impeach and remove Thomas, who was released from the hospital on Friday after spending several days there with an infection, and will thus likely not attempt that route.

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Theres much more that has yet to be made public: The Post reported that the exchanges pause after Nov. 24, 2020, with an unexplained gap in correspondence. What we do know now, though, is just the full extent that Clarence Thomas wife has embraced the most radical and demented conspiracy theories of QAnon and Alex Jones.

Specifically, the Post describes a deleted YouTube video forwarded to Meadows by Thomas. Its worth diving deeper into that clip to further understand just how far into QAnon territory Thomas has gone, and how the conspiracy theory about watermarks that captured her attention after the election still animates many conservatives.

Heres how the theory is introduced in the Post report:

The first of the 29 messages between Ginni Thomas and Meadows was sent on Nov. 5, two days after the election. She sent him a link to a YouTube video labeled TRUMP STING w CIA Director Steve Pieczenik, The Biggest Election Story in History, QFS-BLOCKCHAIN. Pieczenik, a former State Department official, is a far-right commentator who has falsely claimed that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a false-flag operation to push a gun-control agenda. The video Thomas shared with Meadows is no longer available on YouTube. But Thomas wrote to Meadows, I hope this is true; never heard anything like this before, or even a hint of it. Possible??? Watermarked ballots in over 12 states have been part of a huge Trump & military white hat sting operation in 12 key battleground states, she wrote.

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Thomas further said she believed that the Bidens might ultimately be locked up in Guantanamo Bay, quoting a passage about military tribunals for sedition that had circulated on right-wing websites.

The deleted video appears to be this Nov. 5 interview with Pieczenik with Infowars host Owen Shroyer.

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In it, Pieczenika former Carter administration official who has spent recent years writing spy novelsdescribes a theory that has become foundational to those who claim the election was stolen.

As Pieczenik said to Shroyer:

This is really a sting operation, contrary to what everybody else said. Trump knew this was happening. Eric knew this was happening and warned the public. I knew this was happening, however I could not say anything about it. What happened was we marked, watermarked every ballot with whats called the QFS block chain encryption code. In other words we know pretty well where every ballot is, where it went, and who has it, so this is not a stolen election.  All of this is part of the sting operation were running. And let me tell you that 48 hours ago, not only did we put markers on those ballots, but I can say now with the permission of people in the intelligence community and elsewhere that we have sent out thousands and thousands of national guard to 12 different states.  This is our counter-coup against the Bidens.  [Arrests are] coming not just down the road, theyre being implemented.  People will be arrested as of tonight, tomorrow, and it will go on for quite a while and this was a total sting operation.  We use [the watermark] in any way that we need to use it in terms of counting, knowing which ones were fake, which ones were not, its a very sophisticated code.

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For anyone not steeped in this world, this is all a bit challenging to even comprehend. The debunking website Snopes, though, wrote a comprehensive explanation of this conspiracy theory a week after it emerged. As Snopes explains, QFS is short for quantum financial system, a supposedly secret financial system that conspiracy theorists believe was passed into law in the 1990s and will wipe out debts. A quantum blockchain system is like the quantum financial system an imaginary notion, Snopes notes. According to this nonsensical theory, the technology was supposedly embedded by the federal government on ballots to differentiate real ballots from false ones that were allegedly dumped into the system by Biden and his backers. As Reuters journalist Brad Heath reported, this specific conspiracy theory was supported by at least one of the affiants in an early Trump election lawsuit in Michigan. As that witness wrote on Facebook:

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On Sunday, November 8, 2020, a recount of ballots nationwide was being done by elite units of the National Guards [sic]. To prevent fraud, official ballots had been printed with an invisible, unbreakable code watermark and registered on a Quantum Blockchain System. As of writing, in five states, 14 million ballots had been put through a laser scanner  78% of which failed because there was no watermark to verify the ballot. Of those ballots that failed, 100% had checked for Biden.

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When Ginni Thomas referred to the white hat sting operation in 12 key battleground states in a text to the White House chief of staff, she was referring to a theory that the Trump administration secretly watermarked millions of ballots in order to catch the Democrats in the act of stealing the election. Conspiracy theorists also understood a connection between the watermarking theory and a 2018 QAnon thread which cryptically warned adherents to watch the water. And QAnonthe cultlike belief in a Democratic cabal of child predatorsreceived a boost this week from a series of Republican attacks about child porn sentencing during Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation hearings.

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At this point, you might be thinking that more than a year after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, these theories might no longer hold as much sway in the world Thomas inhabits. However, less than a year ago, the Cyber Ninjas ostensible audit of the election results in Arizona used ultraviolet lights to hunt for secret watermarks that had allegedly been inserted by Trump. And just this week, Alabamas Republican attorney general refused to say that Biden had been legally elected. Meanwhile, Shroyerthe Infowars host of the program on which the theory originatedis fighting charges related to his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 by claiming that if he deserved arrest then Jesus Christ or the Dalai Lama would have been arrested for trying to be a peacemaker.

Ginni Thomas was also at the Trump rally that sparked the mob attack on Jan. 6. Meanwhile, her husband continues to sit on the nations highest court and participates in cases that might directly implicate his wife. The distance from the furthest reaches of far-right fairy tales to the highest seats of power has almost never been shorter.
In the past few weeks, if youve hung out in a certain space of the internet, youve been privy to a conversation about what it means to be a journalist now. As the Washington Posts Taylor Lorenz said in an interview a few weeks ago: Young journalists need to not just report and write, but have brands. Whether you know it or not, whether you cultivate it or not (people on this side of the conversation convincingly argued), you are a brand, defined by the work you put out, the people you associate with, and the things you do or do not post on Twitter.

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I buy the journalists need to have brands argument pretty completely. The field has, for the decade I have been in it, involved networking, amassing followers, and packaging ones stories for ones personal accounts on social media. When I write a good story, I send it to connected friends so they can share it too. I worry about the narrative formed by my oeuvre of reporting, and my dumb fun blog posts, and wonder how to reconcile on paper the jokey pieces with the researched arguments. I worry, a little, about how I look, and how my looks affect how people evaluate my competency, as working women have forever. Before we got headshots at work, I paid $50 for a blowout. Now I have a nice image, to go with my work. It was a very good investment.

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Its this last piece that I want to put a finger on, here: how women journalists are supposed to look, and why it matters, and why I am increasingly anxious about it. We are in an unstable field; the shrinking of BuzzFeed News, one of the shops doing the best, slowest, most intensive work, is the latest evidence of that. We are always, in this profession, a little worried about being laid off. A layoff might mean dipping into savings. It might mean finding a job in a different field. It might mean going freelance. It quite possibly means starting a newsletter: coming up with a name, picking a cute layout, deciding on an editorial direction, writing all the posts yourself, courting subscribers. Your face has to be somewhere. It helps with engagement if your face is somewhere. (Some internet-y outlets actually put your picture at the top of your stories). I watch some of those free agents, women whose work I admire, appear in my Instagram feed, telling the camera about their work. Personable. Friendly. Styled. Photogenicby nature, or through effort, usually both. Sometimes, depending on the particular coverage area in which they are forging a new existence, they are hawking products too, to supplement their income.

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Do you remember who did this first? Julia Allison, a dating columnist who was a self-styled Carrie Bradshaw 2.0, appeared on the cover of Wired magazine in July 2008, the photo shot such that her image was 50 percent legs, 25 percent tousled hair. She was, in a sense, a proto-influencer, but she was also a writer. Sex and the City watchers have long wondered how the original, fictional Carrie made enough money to afford her Upper East Side apartment. But Allison claimed a kind of solution to the financial math of living a fancy life while writing weekly columns that paid in the tens of dollars. She would hawk her image on the side, serving as a model, of sorts, in posts on her Tumblr account. The whole goal for becoming a marquee name, if you will, getting my reputation out there, was for job security, Allison told Wireds theneditor in chief, Chris Anderson, in a video interview. He acknowledges that she has created a huge asset in the reputation economy but asks what kind of products she could personally endorse. She gently explains what it means to leverage a following: If I say, I use my Canon camera   you better believe people are going to go out and buy that camera. (Allison, in this video, has curled hair, a headband, and obvious makeupa breathing avatar. Anderson is bald.)

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Today, influencing is widely recognized as a way to make cash. Spon con that leverages ones literal image supports not just those who primarily work on Instagram, but actual journalists too. Ive seen the model of multiple income streams develop amongst freelance wellness reporters, some of whom take on a mix of print assignments or podcasting gigs and brand deals. (These folks would have a hard time landing a pitch with me at Slate, though I suspect our fees do not really compare to those you get from green juice powder companies.) Its also an oddeven unethicalapproach emerging in fashion writing, where fancy full-size product samples and luxury junkets have long been a perk of the gig, as Tarpley Hitt explained in a piece on Gawker this week. In recent years, as beauty and style writers grew online followings to rival those of mid-level influencers, these brand relationships took on a new dimension in the form of paid partnerships, or sponsored content, writes Hitt. A company might hire a writer or editor to post about their products on Instagram or appear in an advertising campaign. She rattles off high-profile instances of writers, not just fashion writers, appearing in ads. (Malcolm Gladwell starred in a car commercial!) The meat of Hitts piece is about a fashion writer who was fired for appearing in a Target ad. The line for when its OK to take these gigs at the Cut seems notably murky, but what struck me most about the piece was a quote Hitt pulled from the writers Instagram describing the incident. The commercial, he explained, helped me financially, as my editorial salary was insufficient to live in a high-cost city like New York. I was part fascinated by, part horrified at, part envious of the concept of surviving on an editorial salary by leveraging ones statusand, necessarily, physical appearanceto command such side payments.

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In a turbulent media landscape, looking good, and selling that look, along with some pieces of ones story, might be the most direct way to underwrite creative work. The truth is any brand needs a spokesmodeleven if the brand is you. In the way that the influencer uses her image to sell her swag, the writer leverages her life to sell her work, to editors and audiences, wrote Allegra Hobbs in 2019, in a piece that originally appeared in the media newsletter Study Hall, sharply identifying the rise of the journalist as an influencer. No, cultivating a persona isnt new, Hobbs notes. But the image management that once seemed incidental, or at least parallel, to the literary profession seems now one of its most necessary, integral functions.

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Hobbs mentions aspects of writers brands that arent looks, like being vulnerable and witty online, and willing to sell off pieces of ones life in personal essays or Grub Street interviews. She touches briefly on the physical presentation piece of being a writer-influencer, noting that it is both an opportunity and a trap that tends to ensnare women: We are socialized to be highly attuned to making ourselves palatable for an audience, to be pleasing to the eye and the ear. She cites Emily Goulds 2008 New York Times Magazine cover story, which appeared just before Allisons Wired cover. The piece was a deeply personal and self-referential essay by Gould, advertised with images of the writer lying in bed.

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I want to make an observation that is a little more pointed, and kind of rude: Allison, Gould, and the writers featured in Hobbs article are all women, and they all look great. This is on purpose. They are highly styled, well lit, and hew to the conventions of attractiveness. I am sorry for typing the following sentence, but: I thought of this fact when processing a tweet I saw this morning. Has anyone ever figured out why its only beautiful women and ugly men that become writers? asked Sam Adler-Bell, a writer himself and the co-host of the Know Your Enemy podcast. Its a wild generalization, so broad that it is necessarily wrong, and rooted in a deeply conventional idea about what it means to be beautiful. Part of the answer to this question is just that women who are not beautiful (or, maybe more accurately, those who are not putting on a performance of beauty) tend to be invisible to men.

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But also, being beautiful can help you build a platform; with a platform, enhanced job stability. It grants you a bigger brand. Picture the influencer-writers, the ones who are the writers in Adler-Bells tweet. They look like they could be booked on TV. Like theyd fit in an Instagram ad. Like talent. This is what I worry about: as we all assess the wreckage of our field for salvageable parts, as we each figure out how to have a future, to make a living, they look like they might have something beyond just written words to help shape their careers.
The largest BSCs, lay-offs, digitisation and the new home office legislation are highlights of the latest Business Focus.

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In February 2022, The Slovak Spectator published its Business Focus on the business service sector. Here is your overview of stories from this focus issue:

Recognition lags behind the economic power of the sector

Working for a business service centre is no different than any other office job in Slovakia.

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You are just doing it in a different language, for a different market, but you are doing the same thing like for any Slovak company, said Martin Bednar, vice-chair of the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF), an industry association running under the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Slovakia.

Recognition lags behind the economic power of the BSC sector Read more

BSCs harness Slovakias skills, innovation and creativity

When companies started establishing their business service centres in Slovakia in the 2000s, the countrys lures for the sector were its geographical position in Europe's centre and its low costs for a skilled labour force. Now, the industry that has silently grown into one of the biggest in Slovakias economy no longer relies on the economic model of cheap labour. Its representatives say that there is a lot of potential in the country for the arrival of new centres as well as the expansion of existing ones, particularly by taking on more demanding roles.

Business service centres are an indicator of the countrys potential, Peter Rusinak, coordinator of the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF) industry association running under the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), told The Slovak Spectator. They are a great step from the manufacturing economy on the way to Industry 4.0.

BSCs harness Slovakias engineering skills, innovation and creativity Read more

Slovakias potential for BSCs still not fully tapped

The Czech Republic is only twice as large as Slovakia when it comes to population, but the sector of shared service and business service centres is three times larger. This indicates that the potential of Slovakia has not been fully used. Increased engagement not only by the government, but also municipalities and self-governing regions will certainly help advance Slovakias competitiveness and attractiveness in this industry, says Rusinak.

Slovakias potential for business centres still not fully tapped Read more

Life-long education is the answer to the lack of skilled labour force

The evolution of business service centres (BSCs) into centres with higher added value services completely changes the skills and qualities companies are searching for on the Slovak market.

In some areas, Slovakia is still able to deliver on their requirements; the local workforce is willing to learn on the job and take on new roles to fulfil the needs of centres. In other areas, the workforce shortage is a problem that the leaders of the sector deal with on a daily basis. Each have their own mix of solutions, mostly composed of cooperation with universities, life-long learning programmes, and hiring people from abroad. These efforts are conducted by the companies individually, but as well as coordinated programmes within their industrial association, the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF).

Life-longeducation is the answer to the lack of a skilled labour force Read more

Qualified foreign workers safeguard jobs in Slovakia in the long run

Business service centres in Slovakia are gradually transforming from unfulfilling, transactional roles to activities requiring special skills and expertise. The story of Henkels business service centre in Bratislava follows this trend. In 15 years, it has developed into a centre that provides advantageous activities for the whole corporation.

The Slovak Spectator spoke with Christian Schulz, President of Henkel Slovensko and Head of Global Business Solutions+ Bratislava, about the impacts of the pandemic and the changing workforce needs of the centre he leads.

Qualified foreign workers safeguard jobs in Slovakia in the long run Read more

Focus at home, team up at work

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 may not return to the way things were.

The pandemic has made it easier for BSC employees to work remotely, and we do not envision a complete reversal 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.
How well do you know the story of Bratislava sculptures?

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The festival season is not near, but in case you would want to discover Slovak music, you can watch the countrys only music awards show, Radio_Head Awards, this weekend.

You may discover an artist or a song you will end up listening to all weekend long. Here are the nominees and categories.

On another note, the globe marked World Water Day on March 22. It is focused on groundwater in 2022, which is why we are going to start off this weeks Spectacular Slovakia Roundup with a water-related story and this painting.

"Large Landscape with a River. Bathing" (1875-85) by Ladislav Mednyanszky is owned by the Slovak National Gallery. (Source: webumenia.sk)

TRAVEL

Birds will come to Medzibodrozie

Earlier in the week, ornithologists from SOS/Bird Life Slovakia returned to Medzibodrozie, a protected bird area in eastern Slovakia, after a year to start irrigating wetlands again.

Ornithologists plan to flood 10 hectares of wetlands. Without this activity, many bird species would otherwise vanish from the area.

Colonies of different birds have formed in Medzibodrozie over the years, including the black-crowned night heron and the great bittern. Last year, the pygmy cormorant nested there for the first time, Matej Repel from SOS/Bird Life Slovakia told the TASR newswire. The cattle egret also chose the locality to nest there for the first time in Slovakia, he added.

The tradition of flooding five isolated wetlands between the towns of Somotor and Strazne began in 2013. We pump water from the Somotor Canal and the southern Radsky Canal, the ornithologist said. It will take two weeks to flood the wetlands, which is the time when first heron species should start arriving.

Medzibodrozie, eastern Slovakia, has been a protected bird area since 2008. (Source: Milos Balla)

The Medzibodrozie area, which spreads out in between the Trebisov and Michalovce districts, was declared a protected area in 2008.

Travel in short:

A new cycling bridge over the River Morava will open on May 7.

Slovak Karst, a national park in eastern Slovakia, celebrates 20 years since its establishment.

How did Bojnice Castle become a fairy-tale place?

Listen to the Spectator College podcast. The latest episode is devoted to ecotourism and the Vlcie Hory project in eastern Slovakia.

A Polish tree has been named the European Tree of 2022. Slovakias tree came fifth.

ART

Warhols Marilyn to sell at auction

Andy Warhols iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, could become the most expensive 20th century artwork to be ever sold at auction.

It is estimated to sell for up to $200 million in May.

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Andy Warhols Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop and the promise of the American Dream encapsulating optimism, fragility, celebrity and iconography all at once, said Alex Rotter from Christies, an auction house. Warhols Marilyn is categorically one of the greatest paintings of all time, he added.

"Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" was painted by Andy Warhol in 1964. (Source: Christie's)

Warhol, whose parents came to the USA from what is today eastern Slovakia, began to work on silkscreens of Monroe after her death in August 1962. He first created reproductions of her visage multiple times in bright colors. Two years later, he developed a more refined and time-intensive screen-printing technique and created a limited number of portraits of the Hollywood legend.

This technique was so difficult in fact, that he never returned to it again and yet the image remains burnt in the visual lexicon of art history, Christies said.

Christies obtained the painting from the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, which will benefit from the sale. The foundation helps improve the lives of children around the world.

OTHER CULTURE NEWS

Festival: The hip hop legend Grand Master will perform at Pohoda 2022.

Church: A renovated church in Zborov, near the Polish border, will become a cultural hub.

Museum: A museum that celebrates the 1517 Reformation opened in Bratislava.

EVENTS IN BRATISLAVA

170 years ago

Would you like to possess a historical portrait of yourself?

Visitors to the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava will get acquainted with the beginnings of photography on Sunday, March 27.

The "Ignac Schachtl and the Sechtls  From the Collodium Process to Digital (1865  2021)" exhibition is run by the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava until late May. (Source: Slovak National Museum)

Tomas Schiller (Aeternus Pictures) will take them to the year of 1851 when the wet collodion process, early photographic technique, was invented by Englishman Frederick Scott Archer.

The event, which starts at 15:00 at Cafe Muzeum, will be held as part of the Ignac Schachtl and the Sechtls  From the Collodium Process to Digital (1865  2021) exhibition.

The Sechtl family has been in the photography trade for over 150 years. In the past, their studio was one of the most famous in Czechoslovakia

video //www.youtube.com/embed/MiAhPIUno1o

The display runs until May 22. However, it will not be open on March 25, 26 and 29, as the national museum informs on its website.

What else is on in Bratislava:

A charity opera concert will be held on March 25 in Bratislava to raise funds for Clovek v Ohrozeni, which helps people affected by the war in Ukraine.

Radio_Head Awards will take place on March 25 and 26. Watch it online.

Konvergencie, the international chamber music festival, takes places in Bratislava until March 27.

WEEKEND READ

What if everything in life has a purpose?

When 17-year-old Marina Carnogurska, having finished as a top student at one of the best schools in Bratislava in 1957, was told that she was not allowed to go to university, she burst into tears.

Her dream had been to study Bengali, but her father Pavols opposition to the communist regime in power meant she was denied the chance to further her education.

Marina Carnogurska sitting next to the pile of her published works. (Source: Jana Gombosova)

The ban on going to university was far from the only painful twist in her life, but looking back as she speaks to The Slovak Spectator at her home in Bratislava, she describes everything that has happened to her as being a single stream of energy guiding her to become a successful sinologist, a translator of Chinese philosophy and fiction, a writer of scientific works, and bringing about a meeting with her second husband.

Everything in my life has had a purpose, the prominent Slovak sinologist, 81, says.

One more read: Wandering Sculptures of Bratislava.

That is it. Join me next Friday again. Have a restful weekend! - Peter

Do you have any tips? You can reach Peter at peter.dlhopolec@spectator.sk
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Economic growth has little meaning unless it can give people a better life. China takes aim at a 5.5-percent growth target for 2022, vowing to create more than 11 million urban jobs and place development and people's livelihoods front and center.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, "To meet people's desire for a happy life is our mission."

The people-centered approach, embodied in Xi's economic thought widely known as "Xiconomics," is charting course for China's high-quality growth and common development of all nations through win-win cooperation.

MEETING PEOPLE'S NEEDS

"What we now face is the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life," Xi said at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017.

From meeting people's growing material and cultural needs to delivering a better life to all Chinese people, as Xi has stressed that "Putting people first is our fundamental philosophy of governance."

"The thought, which creatively combines the aspiration of human beings for a better life with the practice of people-oriented development, is of global influence," said Australian economist Guo Shengxiang.

To meet the people's desire for a happy life is a challenge for governments worldwide, particularly at a time when the international community is struggling to reduce the development gap, and prevent environmental degradation.

In this regard, the Chinese president stressed efforts to unswervingly pursue high-quality development and improve the people's well-being.

By drawing a blueprint for China's development, Xi is leading the country along the path for high-quality growth and towards building a modern economic system and promoting common development.

Guided by his economic thought, China's economy is contributing to building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that boasts lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity with better products, better services and a bigger market.

Xi's economic philosophy is full of oriental wisdom and is conducive to the development of the world, noted Honson To, chairman of KPMG China and Asia Pacific.

"It is an advanced thought that suits China's national conditions and the development trend of the world," he said.

BOOSTING COMMON DEVELOPMENT

From China's growth to the common development of countries worldwide, Xi's economic thought addresses the needs and difficulties of global development through cooperation frameworks such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Development Initiative.

"We need to have the vision to dissect these problems; more importantly, we need to have the courage to take actions to address them," Xi said at the 2017 World Economic Forum.

In carrying out foreign economic and trade cooperation, China has taken into full consideration the needs and development interests of its partners.

"China's train is the most beautiful ... We will have the same train soon in our country," said Khamphet Keomixay, a Lao pupil who participated in a sub-forum on people-to-people exchanges during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in 2019.

Keomixay's dream came true when the China-Laos Railway was put into operation in 2021. The railway, which connects Kunming, the capital city of southwestern China's Yunnan Province, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, ushered in a bright prospect for the development of both countries and the Southeast Asia.

From the China-Laos Railway to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, from the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park to the Port of Piraeus, China and its partners have jointly built infrastructure projects which have brought substantial benefits to local people.

By the end of February 2022, over 140 countries as well as more than 30 international organizations have signed BRI cooperation documents with China.

The BRI cooperation is "not only aimed at promoting economic integration but also solving social problems in the countries taking part in this initiative, particularly issues like raising the level and quality of people's lives," said Alexander Petrov, a professor of St. Petersburg State University.

PURSUING MULTILATERALISM

The problems facing the world are intricate and complex. The way out of them, as is advocated by China, is through upholding multilateralism and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Xi has, on various occasions, reiterated his call for carrying forward multilateralism and pursuing win-win cooperation.

"We need to practice true multilateralism, stick to dialogue rather than confrontation, inclusiveness rather than exclusion, and integration rather than decoupling," Xi said at the 28th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in 2021.

Jose Ignacio Martinez Cortes, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said "China does not just talk about multilateralism, but has taken real actions."

From supplying more than 2.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations to proposing the Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative, China has honored true multilateralism in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Natee Taweesrifuengfung, president of the Thailand-based Siam Think Tank, said that in the current international situation, China has held high the banner of multilateralism, actively promoted win-win cooperation, vigorously boosted world economic recovery, and has shouldered its responsibility as a major country.

As an ancient Chinese statesman observed, "Designs for justice prevail, and acts for people's benefit succeed." The aspiration for a happy life is a common pursuit of humanity that nothing can hold back. Under the guidance of Xi's economic thought, China is working hand in hand with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for mankind and make the world even more prosperous and beautiful. Enditem

(Xinhua correspondents Huang He and Shi Hao in Moscow, Wang Jiawei in Beijing, Zhu Yubo and Wu Hao in Mexico City, Sang Tong in Shanghai, Wang Yaguang in Bangkok, Xie Hao in Dar Es Salaam, Kang Yi in Brussels and Zhang Jianhua in Vientiane also contributed to the story.)
PHNOM PENH, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Saturday appreciated China for having assisted the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and global health crisis, Cambodia values China's commitment through the establishment of the Lancang-Mekong Public Health Community and its leading role in providing medicines, medical supplies and millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a timely manner to the Mekong countries," he said in a message celebrating the annual LMC Week 2022.

He said China's contribution, in particular to Cambodia, has led to the success of the nation's vaccination campaign where the country could secure a vaccination coverage rate of over 92 percent and reopen its country to the rest of the world.

"These accomplishments, among others, are a strong testimonial to the efficacy and relevance of the LMC framework," he said.

The six LMC countries include China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

As 2022 marks the sixth anniversary of the LMC, Sokhonn, who is also Cambodian deputy prime minister, said the LMC region has become a "growth pole" in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region, thanks to its geostrategic significance, economic weight, and enormous market potentials.

"Our close collaboration and solidarity over the past six years have enabled the LMC to sustain our development momentum, reinforce our economic complementarity and strengthen our people and cultural links, which are all the fundamental elements to build a more open, inclusive and sustainable community of shared future of peace and prosperity," he said.

Sokhonn said the LMC countries have just concluded successfully the Plan of Action (2018-2022) and are prime to work on the next phase of cooperation with focus on a people oriented development agenda.

"To secure our new sources of growth amidst the rapidly evolving global and regional economic conditions, we look to the realization of the Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor to further boost and deepen our regional integration efforts," he said.

"We are mindful that our developmental needs will place a strain on our natural resources and so we will combine our joint efforts to cooperate on the sustainable management of our water resources and on the management of our flood, drought and other extreme weather events," he added.

Sokhonn said through the LMC Special Fund, Cambodia has benefited from 67 projects amounting to more than 20 million U.S. dollars that support a broad range of cooperation activities in the field of rural development, poverty alleviation, water resources, agriculture, air connectivity, education, cultural heritage preservation, as well as women empowerment, among many others.

"As Cambodia holds the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) chairmanship this year, the LMC mechanism will certainly contribute its strong development component to ensure that ASEAN will continue to thrive in the true spirit of a community of shared future," he said. 
Shes Nun Bettor N kicked off a three-win night for the Richard Moreau stable at Woodbine Mohawk Park with a front-stepping score in Friday's feature, a high-end fillies and mares conditioned pace.

Leaving from post seven, driver Doug McNair pointed Shes Nun Bettor N to the top while 2-1 favourite Kickupyaheels N (Louis-Philippe Roy) fired just to her inside and settled for a pocket ride before jumping it off heading into the stretch. Shes Nun Bettor N, who had set fraction of :27.1, :56.2 and 1:24.1, rebuffed the first-over attack from Born A Dragon (Travis Cullen) and prevailed in 1:52.4 by three-quarter of a length as she held off Awesome Hill (Sylvain Filion), who ran out of real estate when rallying from the back. Mystic Virgin (Jonathan Drury) edged out Born A Dragon in a photo for show.

Shes Nun Bettor N, who missed by a head in her last start, paid $9.90 to win as the 7-2 third choice. The victory was her second in seven seasonal starts for owner Brad Grant.

The six-year-old daughter of Bettors Delight now boasts a dozen wins on her lifetime record with earnings just shy of the $200,000 mark.

Moreau's other Friday night winners were pacing gelding Quan Blue Chip ($11.60), driven by James MacDonald and claimed for $27,000, and pacing mare Easyrunner Hanover ($44.80), who was making her second start for the nine-time Trainer of the Year with McNair in the sulky.

With 58 wins so far this year, Moreau sits second in Canada, just two behind Carmen Auciello.

In other Friday night racing action, driver Phil Hudon reached a money milestone on a winning note. His victory aboard Chiefs Dream Girl ($4) in the $13,000 fifth race sent his lifetime earnings over the $60 million mark.

The even-money favourite swept from fourth to first after the opening quarter and took off to win the fillies and mares conditioned pace in 1:53.4 with Patricia Mae (McNair) chasing 3-1/4 length back in second and Goodnight Irene (J Harris) finishing nine lengths behind in third.

Hudon drove the four-year-old Sunshine Beach mare to her sixth career win for trainer Jack Moiseyev and owners High Stakes Inc., and Lsc Stables. The Burlington, Ont. reinsman has won 4,659 races lifetime.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park


Officials have addressed a report that raised eyebrows regarding the future of harness racing at Northside Downs in Nova Scotia.

A CBC report indicated that a community-led group was looking to purchase the exhibition grounds in North Sydney, N.S. but that proposal and bid was rejected by the Cape Breton Federation of Agriculture (CBFA). The property will instead be put up for sale with a realtor.

Part of that property is the Northside Downs racetrack.

"Harness Racing Cape Breton currently leases the racetrack portion of the Cape Breton Exhibition property in North Sydney from the Cape Breton-Richmond Federation of Agriculture," Harness Racing Cape Breton Chairperson Joel LeBlanc told Trot Insider. "We have a long-term lease in place and it is business as usual for us at this time.

"The CBFA has decided to sell the property, which has a number of other equine uses; show horses, barrel racing, etc.. We are optimistic that the property will be acquired for continued long-term horse use well into the future," LeBlanc continued. "The property has been has been a cornerstone for the agricultural community in Cape Breton for decades and there seems to be significant community support for this to continue."

CBC reached out to the CBFA for comment, but the request for an interview was denied until the Board completed its internal discussions.

Northside Downs is scheduled to start its 2022 season of harness racing on Saturday, May 14.
This week's Rewind takes on the familiar title of 'Picture Parade' and Robert Smith has searched the archives for a group of pictures, all with a central theme.

Some are as old as 50 years and all of them were taken to capture an award presentation of some description. These are not the customary trackside photos taken in the winner's circle, but rather at an awards banquet or similar type of gathering. Whether you're a "guesser" or a "looker", I hope you find them interesting. Good Luck with your choices.

Way back some 33 years ago in 1989, the O'Brien Awards were conceived and in 1990 the first group of recipients felt the thrill of holding one of these prestigious awards based on the 1989 season. Thankfully many of those folks are still with us; a goodly number are still actively involved, striving to add yet another trophy. The photos displayed today were all taken before the O'Brien awards era at various locations across Canada.





#1 - The first two photos were taken at the same event back in 1989. Can you identify these three folks?



#2 - Can you name these two lovely ladies? On the right is the presenter.



#3 - Tom Harrington on the left, local Agricultural Society president, makes a presentation at the annual banquet held at this town. Can you name the recipient who was a horseman?



#4 - Lou Effrat, writer for The New York Times on the far right, presents an award to a well-known horseman. Can you identify him?



#5 - Can you correctly identify all or part of the gentlemen in this photo? Who is that bearded fellow holding the framed photograph? (Photo courtesy of the Standardbred magazine)



#6 - The man on the right is the presenter. Can you name them both? (Photo courtesy of the Standardbred magazine)



#7 - Here we have the race secretary in the middle and the award recipients on each end. Name as many as you can. (Photo courtesy of the Standardbred magazine)



#8 - The above gentleman is shown receiving a rather prestigious award in this 1970's photograph. Who can tell us who he is?



#9 - Can you identify the folks in this picture receiving a trophy for their horse who was HOY? The trainer is in the centre and the owner on the right. (Photo courtesy of the Standardbred magazine)



#10 - Who is the man in the middle of the front trio receiving an award? If you spot anyone else recognizable let us know. (National Library and archives of Quebec)



Bonus Photo - Can you identify these three fine looking fellows? A smiling trio.

Quote For The Week: "If you have no enemies, you are apt to be in the same predicament in regard to friends." From Elbert Hubbard, American writer and philosopher.
A celebration of life has been planned for former Standardbred owner John William Megens, of Stouffville, Ont., who passed away on December 19, 2021 at the age of 86.

John was a loving husband, father, opa, brother, cousin, uncle, cattleman, horseman and friend to many. He lived every day to his fullest, had a passion for agriculture and a heart of gold.

A celebration of life will take place on Sunday, May 1 from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. at the Goodwood Community Centre, 268 Highway 47, Goodwood, Ont.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of John Megens.
MontpelierPresident James Madisons home in Orange County, Virginiais embroiled in controversy over what authority it allows descendants of the enslaved people who built and powered his familys plantation.

On Friday afternoon, The Montpelier Foundation board rescinded its earlier commitment and stripped 50-50 power sharing from the Montpelier Descendants Committee representing African Americans who trace their roots to the plantations community.

Five descendants of enslaved people serve on the board, three chosen by the committee and two by the foundation. The bylaws change bars the committee from naming future members. That gives the foundation more control over the boards composition.

Critics of the boards decision have mounted a petition drive, which garnered 3,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.

A majority of the historic sites staff protested the boards move, saying the foundation failed to make any headway implementing its promise of equality with the descendants group more than nine months after making that pledge.

Matt Reeves, the foundations director of archaeology and landscape restoration, is among those professionals. He has been on Montpeliers staff for 22 years.

Its a supreme irony that The Montpelier Foundation board, which professes to promote a pro-Madison philosophy, is completely missing Madisons political philosophy of critical thinking and seeing how two opposing factions can balance each other and create a stronger, more diverse wholesuch as could be attained at Montpelier, Reeves said Saturday afternoon.

The impasse has halted work on important projects, already funded, that need collaboration with the descendants, the staff said in a statement.

Foundation leaders have systematically prevented staff interacting and collaborating with the Montpelier Descendants Committee, and threatened staff members with termination for doing so, they said.

Dr. Elizabeth Chew, Montpeliers vice president and chief curator, said that after more than 20 years of partnership with descendants, staff have been threatened with fiiring since 2020. Thats when foundation Chairman Gene Hickok and Montpelier President Roy F. Young II assumed leadership posts.

Montpelier leadership has lied to staff about progress toward sharing governance with MDC, Chew said.

Our fight is about so much more than a historic plantation in rural Virginia, said Dr. Iris Ford, an MDC board member who is an associate professor emerita of anthropology at St. Marys College of Maryland. Over 200 years after the ratification of the Constitution, African Americans are still fighting for the protection and liberties that it claims to guarantee. What we are doing at Montpelier is fighting for the very soul of our nation.

Hickok told The Washington Post the board isnt reneging on fully representing descendants, a concept called structural parity. Rather, the board wants to pick descendant members from a bigger pool than the committee, he said.

This is an effort to reset the process, Hickok told the newspaper. It certainly doesnt have the board backing away from parity. We are very committed to parity. The challenge has been organizationally getting there.

The conflict, which has long been brewing, has outraged Montpelier curators, historians and archaeologists. They say the descendants committee is their crucial partner in interpreting the complicated past of the Father of the Constitution, his family and the 300-some enslaved people who toiled there over 140 years.

Dr. Bettye Kearse, one of the few descendents on The Montpelier Foundations board, said the committee is committed to the rich and important history told at Montpelier, to the beauty and power of the Montpelier estate and grounds, and to the longevity and strength of The Montpelier Foundation.

MDC members have spent decades of their lives researching Montpeliers history and archaeology and developing innovative and award-winning historical interpretation projects, said Kearse, a pediatrician who wrote The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a Presidents Black Family. Montpelier is not the board, but the board must be receptive to substantive change for Montpelier to survive and thrive.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns the Madison plantations 2,400 acres, warned Hickok on Thursday that the boards change to its bylaws would undermine decades of important work that led to the formation of the Committee in the first place, and in turn would set back Montpeliers efforts to continue the necessary work of uplifting descendants voices, and repairing the relationship between the broader African American community and Montpelier, the former site of generations of enslavement.

Before the vote, a majority of the foundations roughly 40 full-time employees wrote aresolution urging the board not to OK the change.

On Thursday evening, National Trust Chief Executive Paul Edmondson wrote Hickok and urged him in the strongest possible terms not to press ahead with changing the bylaws.

Edmondson was blunt, noting that Montepelier descendants chose the committee as their formal voice. The foundations commitment to give them equal seats on the board acknowledged the right of the descendant community to define itself, rather than to be defined by the foundation, he wrote Hickok. The newly proposed revisions to the bylaws would do the opposite.

The trust provided grant money and other support to The Montpelier Foundation and the Montpelier Descendants Committee to encourage their reaching an agreement on power sharing, recognizing it is a deeply challenging process, Edmondson wrote.

Several Montpelier staffers and board members told the Post they believe the foundations leaders are unwilling to share control over how the site depicts the fourth U.S. president and his legacy.

Other presidential homes in Virginianotably Monticello, Mount Vernon and James Monroes Highlandshave wrestled in recent years with the issue of slavery and how they depict their owners entanglement with it.

The MDCs attorney, Greg Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners in Richmond, said of Montpelier that the whole point of including descendant voices is to broaden the perspective of leadership, not to reinforce a historically narrow approach to telling history.

In February, the committee proposed a compromise allowing the foundation to reject MDC board nominees for ethical and legal reasons, but not because Black descendants didnt fit the profile of the current board, he said.

Werkheiser said Saturday that, working with the committee, he submitted to the foundation board a list of 40 hugely impressive prospects that any board in America would be lucky to have, and they refused to look at it.

The public tends to think of the battle for civil rights as taking place through speeches, marches, and courtrooms, he said. But the modern struggle for fairness also occurs in quiet board rooms of places like Montpelier, and only comes to light when people like the descendants and staff say, Enough is enough.

Montpeliers earlier work to more closely collaborate with enslaved peoples descendants garnered wide publicity and respect from other historic sites and professionals.

In 2018, a conference at Montpelier on teaching about slavery produced The Rubric. The document, titled Engaging Descendant Communities, set standards for guiding institutions toward more completely representing Black people.

But the committees relationship with foundation leaders began to break down after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, when leaders couldnt agree on a joint statement about his death with the MDC, staff said. The foundation issued a statement lamenting Floyds death, but the descendants committee felt it should more strongly condemn systemic racial inequities, and submitted stronger language.

Late Saturday, Montpelier CEO Young said, in reaction to the Posts story, that some staff members have expressed concern that last weeks staff statement mischaracterizes them and their work.

He said one staff member said, I am concerned about a number of aspects of this statement, the way its been presented, and that it does not speak for many employees of Montpelier. The statement seems to ignore the efforts of the Interpretive staff working to present to Visitors the tragedies of individual and generations of enslaved people at Montpelier, as well as the amazing impact that James Madison has on democratic principles.

Orange County resident James French, the elected chair of the descendants committee, said Saturday, There might be boards somewhere where an equal partnership consists of choosing others leaders for them, shamelessly trying to pit community members against one another in an attempt to divide and conquer, and preventing members with different views than yours from speakingsince difficult conversations are, after all, inconvenient.

But what is certain is that such a board would be unqualified to engage honestly with Madisonian concepts, the U.S. Constitution or the completeness of the history of slavery, added French, who is a member of The Montpelier Foundations board. Montpelier deserves better.

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Jenny McMichael eagerly approached the airplane that had just landed and waited for the door to open so she could meet her new prince.

Hi, youre so handsome, she said, as she embraced the male named Archer. He rested his head on her shoulder for a few seconds, then lifted his face and smothered hers with wet kisses.

McMichael snuggled against his muzzle. You smell like a puppy, she said gleefully.

Those watching were thrilled with the way the new couple clicked.

Its love at first sight, said Kaitlyn Cawley, part of a crew filming the moment.

McMichael, an autism specialist with Spotsylvania County schools, went to Stafford Regional Airport on Tuesday to pick up Archer, an 8-week-old black Labrador retriever thats part of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind program. For the next 14 to 16 months, McMichael will raise Archer, a role shes taken on seven times before with the organization that provides trained guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired.

But this week was the first time the dog came by air. Guiding Eyes began a new partnership this year with Pilots to the Rescue, a New York-based volunteer group that typically transports at-risk animals to improve their chances of being adopted, said Michael Schneider.

He piloted the plane that brought Archer to Stafford and his nameplate and business card notes that hes Top Dog, not Top Gun.

This is a nice thing, to be able to have a puppy express, Schneider said.

It saves volunteers, and puppies, from having to drive from Guiding Eyes headquarters, about 45 miles north of New York City, to points in the 14 states the organization covers, from Maine to North Carolina and west to Colorado.

Throughout that expanse, people like McMichael of Spotsylvania County make it possible for about 170 guide dogs to be placed every year, part of more than 8,000 teams paired since the organization began in 1954, according to its website, guidingeyes.org.

We literally could not do what we do without our puppy raisers, said Kerry Lemerise, the groups puppy program manager. They are absolutely critical to what we do.

She was in Richmond eight years ago when McMichael got her first puppy and remembered the excitement. Both McMichael and Guiding Eyes officials were eager to discover ways the puppies could help the special needs children in McMichaels classes.

It is a great opportunity for dogs to go into work and start impacting people before they even get into guide work, which is great, Lemerise said.

In her 12th year of teaching those with autism, McMichael, 35, works as an autism specialist and supervises eight classes at Gateway Academy, housed at the old John J. Wright School.

When she first looked into being a puppy raiser, she asked her supervisors at school for permission to bring her ward with her every day. She showed them data about the ways the interaction could help both children and canines.

The kids love the dogs. A lot of them earn time to spend with the dog or the dog is a strategy if they are upset or frustrated, McMichael said. Its super helpful in my classroom.

To anyone who asks McMichael about her role with Guiding Eyes, she explains that her job as puppy raiser is to teach basic obedience and expose the dog to as many social situations as possible. That includes teaching the dogs to be house-trained and be good guests, in other peoples homes or in public, to walk on a leash and respond to basic commands, Lemerise said.

Puppy raisers also make sure dogs dont eat food dropped on the floor. A blind person may accidentally drop a pill and you dont want the dog to think its a treat and eat it, McMichael said. They can only eat out of our hands or their bowl, she said.

McMichael admits shes a little picky about teaching styles and researched service-dog organizations before she attended regional classes in Richmond held by Guiding Eyes.

Im a behavior analyst and a lot of the principles (used with dogs and children) are similar, like the same science of behavior change and reinforcement, she said. I just felt right with Guiding Eyes, like this is where Im meant to be.

The majority of dogs used by Guiding Eyes are Labsanother 8% are German shepherdsbut not every dog will have what it takes to serve the blind and visually impaired, Lemerise said.

Two of McMichaels dogs were released because they had medical conditions. She adopted one, a yellow Lab named Halsey who has a slight heart-related problem that probably never would have been detected if Guiding Eyes didnt put the dogs through extensive medical screenings.

Halsey is 4 and is a great big sister to the puppies who become part of McMichaels home. Two of the dogs she raised, Snickers and Yoshi, had such excellent personalities, the organization used them as breeders. Another, Clementine, was paired with a young child for use as a companion dog.

All of my dogs have been great with kids because theyre at school all day. They have to be, McMichael said.

Her first puppy, Squire, retired last year after seven years of service. McMichael gets updates on all the dogs she raises and she had kept in touch with Squires owner, a man in Chicago named Matt.

He asked if she wanted Squire back. She already had Halsey and couldnt take him, but her mother did, and the dogs and owners see each other regularly.

After McMichael puts her puppies through their training and gets them ready for collegetheir specialized training as guide dogsshe has to go through the sorrow of parting.

Oh, its the hardest thing Ive ever done. Its the worst, she said. The first time I had to give a dog back, I was like, I can never do this again.

Then she went to the graduation ceremony, when Squire completed his training and was ready to start his life with Matt. She saw their bond and the ways Squire could help him.

That made me so happy, she said. I was like, this is what youre meant to do.
A political consulting firm tells clients it will help them navigate the new Republican-controlled executive branch of Virginias government. LINK Public Affairs might have an edge over its competitionone of its senior strategists is also a top aide to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and has been working in the governors suite.

The Youngkin aideMatt Moranwields significant power on behalf of the governor, telling lawmakers which bills the governor might sign or veto and negotiating with them on top policy issues like marijuana legalization, school choice and public funding for a new Washington Commanders stadium. Hes not on the state payroll but is employed byand on paid leave fromtwo political consulting firms that seek to influence elected officials.

The situation is unheard of in Virginia, according to a veteran observer of state politics. And a law professor and expert on government ethics said that even if theres no evidence of legal wrongdoing, the situation raises ethical questions.

Bob Holsworth, a former VCU dean and longtime observer of Virginias government, said the lack of transparency about the situation is unsettling.

I know of no situation where a deputy chief of staff role has been outsourced, and without any public acknowledgment, he said. If a person doing government work is not paid by the state it should be very clear what the arrangement is, and how that person is accessing governmental resources, and what that persons role is within the government, and what that persons role is outside the government.

Richard Cullen, counselor to Youngkin, said he reviewed Morans arrangement beforehand and found it legal and ethical.

Moran declined to be interviewed for this story, and instead directed questions to another Youngkin administration official.

As senior adviser in the Governors office, I serve in a volunteer capacity and do so without compensation. I am on leave from all companies and as a result do not have clients with business before the Governor or state government, Moran said in a statement, through a spokeswoman.

I formalized this arrangement with counsels office and I am fully committed to my service to the Governor and the people of Virginia. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to serve the Governor and work on behalf of the Commonwealth.

The companies Moran works for are Creative Direct, a political consulting firm, and LINK Public Affairs, a new offshoot of Creative Direct. The two firms consultants do not register as lobbyists.

Moran previously worked as a high-ranking aide to then-House Speakers Bill Howell, R-Stafford, and Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and as a lobbyist with the firm Gentry Locke. He also worked on the campaigns of Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears last year as a consultant.

He filed a statement of economic interest with the state in January because of his role in the governors office, which discloses his employment at Creative Direct and LINK Public Affairs, and two other LLCs through which hes been paid for previous campaign work. The paperwork listed his position as deputy chief of staff.

In then-Gov. Bob McDonnells administration, Bob Sledd served as unpaid economic adviser to the governor. But that situation was different, Holsworth said, because there was a public, transparent process about what Sledds role would be and that he would not be paid.

Former Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne is staying on in the Youngkin administration for a time as an unpaid special adviser to new Finance Secretary Steve Cummings while working as senior vice president and chief of staff at Sentara Healthcare.

Cullen said in a statement: After reviewing the law, the ethics rules and precedents of other administrations, I made a determination about the proper way to work as a volunteer in the Governors office. My legal analysis was the same for both Mr. Moran and Mr. Layne.

Its important for administrations, regardless of the party in power, to have the ability to attract talent and expertise as is the case here. Both Mr. Layne and Mr. Moran have added value in their respective duties without cost to the taxpayer and we have been transparent about their roles.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch learned through the Freedom of Information Act that Moran was not paid by the state when he was not listed on a roster of new Youngkin appointees, even though a Jan. 21 news release from the governor listed him as deputy chief of staff and director of policy and legislative affairs.

The governors office later corrected the news release to list his title as special adviser.

A sign on Morans office in the Patrick Henry Building, where the governors offices are, bore his name and the title deputy chief of staff, according to a Feb. 17 photo obtained by The Times-Dispatch.

In a statement through Youngkin spokeswoman Becca Glover, Moran said his leave from employers outside the administration began when Youngkin was inaugurated Jan. 15.

I filed a complete financial disclosure and comply with all applicable state laws and executive branch policies, including the conflict of interest act, Moran said.

The governors office would not say whether the arrangement included Moran abstaining from political work outside of the administrations affairs. On Feb. 14, the halfway point of the General Assembly session, Moran reached out to The Times-Dispatch pitching a story about an official planning to announce a run in Virginias 7th congressional district, Stafford County Supervisor Crystal Vanuch.

Since Moran makes his living, in part, by influencing government, a key question is, is he in a position not just to affect his own financial interests, but the financial interests of his clients while hes in that government position? said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who works in the area of government ethics.

All of government ethics basically boils down to attempting to ensure that government officials act in the public interest rather than on behalf of a private interest  whether its their own interest, their brother-in-laws interest, their private clients interest. Its all about trying to sort of separate government officials from identifiable private interests that could taint, that could affect, their work thats supposed to be on behalf of the public.

Holsworth said: If there is a sign on an individuals door that says he is the deputy chief of staff, the only reasonable inference is that that individual works for Virginia state government.

Influence in the Capitol





Moran was the governors point person for lawmakers during the regular General Assembly session that adjourned March 12. Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, said Moran notified him that if a bill Ware filed to end campaign donations from public utilities reached Youngkins desk, Youngkin would sign it.

In the final days of the regular session, Moran showed up with Cullen, the governors counselor, outside the House and Senate chambers to negotiate with lawmakers on major unresolved issues.

Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, said that for many delegates, the only contact they had with someone from the governors office during the session was with Moran.

But Morans authority made at least one lawmaker uncomfortable.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, met with Youngkin on Feb. 22 in the governors ceremonial office in the Capitol. The senator said Moran was the only other person in the room.

Ebbin said while he and Youngkin discussed their disagreement on how each party had blocked certain political appointees, the meeting was cordial.

But afterward, Ebbin said, a House GOP committee chairman told his office that an Ebbin bill would be held up in committee at the request of the governors office.

In an exchange in a Capitol hallway, Ebbin asked Moran why. Ebbin said in an interview that Moran appeared to take responsibility for the holdup.

Moran responded: You threatened the governor, according to Ebbin.

Ebbin said he was dumbfounded. He quoted Moran as then saying: Dont worry, were not going to kill your bills, but you threatened the governor. Your bills are going by for the day.

As discussions continued, Moran referenced the number of bills sponsored by Ebbin that appeared headed for legislative passage, saying: And the governor is not particularly wedded to any of them, Ebbin said.

Ebbin said Moran told him Youngkin could sign them all, or  he implied that he could veto them all. He didnt use the word veto. And I was a little bit shaken up but I wasnt going to retract my position.
Two local band directors were highlighted among eight across the state of Nebraska for the Jack R. Snider Young Band Directors Award at the 2022 Nebraska State Bandmasters Association (NSBA) Convention March 4. Whats even better  the two directors are husband and wife.

Austin Sailors, band director at Mitchell Public Schools, and Stacey Sailors, band director at Minatare Public Schools, were both awarded the honor in their final year of eligibility.

It was nice that  we both got the award in the same year, and this was the last year we were both eligible for it, because its for band directors in their third to seventh year of teaching, Austin said. This is our seventh year in our schools.

The Sailorses were nominated by former Gering band director Randy Raines. The couple got to know Raines over the summer through the Gering City Band, for which they played saxophone and Raines directed. Aside from directing their respective bands, they find other ways to share their musical talents with the community.

Together, we both perform with the WNCC jazz band, the Fire in the Pan Swingers, Stacey said. Right now, hes playing alto (sax) and Im playing bari (baritone) sax with that community ensemble there at the community college.

Austin added, looking at Stacey, You were a member of the Austin Sailors Quintet when we performed a couple times last summer. You played piano with that group. And, Ive been playing with Avid Discord, if youve seen them around town. Im playing with them pretty often lately.

Of course, they also see each other at local high school band events like district music contests, honor bands and Old West Band Fest.

Its kind of fun some of the days where we get to go to work together and see each other when were at those competitions, Stacey said.

They also help each other  and each others students  whenever they can.

Its nice to have each other, too, just at home to talk about work and bounce ideas off of each other, Stacey said. ...We do help each other a lot. He comes work with my group and sometimes Ill go play with his.

Austin said, I go and work with her students quite a bit, so not only do I know my students, but I know her students.

Being from larger school districts  Austin from Bellevue and Stacey from Hastings  thats one of the biggest things they like about teaching at smaller schools: they get to know and have more of a relationship with their students.

For me being from Bellevue, I came from a bigger band program and theres definitely a lot of good things about that, but I feel like I have a more maybe personal, or close, relationship with my students than maybe I did with my band director in high school, Austin said. Because when theres 200 kids in the band, or whatever, compared to 40, thats a big difference, (so) I get to know the students a lot better.

Also in a bigger school district, usually theres a band director at the elementary school then the middle school and the high school  but I do it all  sixth grade, seventh grade, all the bands, so its kind of cool to be able to see their progress in that way.

Stacey said, Im teaching K-12 everything at Minatare, so I get to see them and grow them and progress them all the way from kindergarten and see their growth and its fun.

Their passion for their students and music education has shown just what makes them deserving of the Jack R. Snider Young Band Directors Award. For them it was not only an honor individually, but it was special to win it as a couple.

We were excited about that, to have that experience together, Stacey said.

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TAIPEI, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan reported 103 new COVID-19 cases, including 21 locally transmitted infections and 82 imported ones, said the island's disease monitoring agency Saturday.

Of the new locally transmitted infections, 12 occurred in New Taipei, five in Keelung, and four in Kaohsiung, the agency said.

To date, Taiwan has reported 22,566 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 15,571 were local infections. 
For over two decades, social sciences instructor Royce Ammon has graced the campus of Western Nebraska Community College. His presence has seemingly always been appreciated by students. He, his bowties and his love of learning are well-known around campus.

In my humble judgment, not to be confused with anyone elses, were someone to aspire to be a teacher, the first and the ultimate and absolute prerequisite is that one must first fall in love with learning, Ammon said. I have been blessed to be able to fall in love with learning somewhere in the process and recognizing the profound transformation that learning can produce in ones life, and I am absolutely passionate and driven to share that with as many people as I possibly can.

Ammon has always had a love of learning, but he wasnt always a teacher. Prior to being an educator, he served as a business owner, in which he wrote, produced and developed training programs, and a professional pilot, in which he was a flight instructor. However, what connected all three careers was his love for education, and thats what eventually brought him into the education realm.

What the common thread through all of those was teaching, he said. And so I kind of had  I guess you would say  a confluence of events in the early to mid-1980s that really led me to return to my love of education.  I came to an understanding that I really did want to teach and I really wanted to teach in a college, and that has certainly been borne out over the last three plus decades.

Now, Ammon, who teaches courses like American government, American history, world history and international relations, hopes to share the passion he has for learning with his students, whom he refers to as his colleagues in learning.

The thing that captivated me was I really wanted to try to make some sense out of this world in which we live, he said. You cant catch something from someone unless they have the real contagion, and its been my driving passion that somehow I might be able to be contagious in terms of a love of learning.

For plenty of his students, his passion has been contagious. Ammon has received many letters, emails and general positive feedback from students about the impact he has had on their education.

One current student in her second year at WNCC, Liz Berge, said that Ammon has helped her broaden her thinking and develop a similar passion to his.

Mr. Ammon showed me how to think outside of my own perspective and (helped with) opening my mind, broadening it to other ideas and applying it not only just (to) school life, but all approaches to life and really helped me understand how the world works, better  and so I have been a fan of Mr. Ammon for a long time, she said.

Currently, Ammon has been teaching his students remotely due to the pandemic and being immunocompromised. However, while the pandemic has limited his ability to be physically present on campus for the last couple years, Ammon still found a way to make a meaningful impact on his current students, thanks to his already forward-thinking on the future of education.

I developed a method of delivery thats called polysynchronous courses, where every course that I delivered, prior to COVID-19, originated in a classroom on the physical campus in Scottsbluff for WNCC, was broadcast through our ITV (interactive TV system) to our other campuses in Sidney and Alliance, he said. At the very same time, it was broadcast in a live stream onto the worldwide web, fully interactive audio and video, with the PowerPoint on the screen so that the students on the web are seeing precisely the same thing as are the students in the classroom, so that the students on the web are enjoying precisely the same level of interactivity as are the students in the classroom. And, everything that was going on in the live stream at the very same instant was being recorded, and that recording was uploaded and available for students whose schedules did not permit them to join us in the live stream.  Since the fall of 2016, every course that I have taught has been conducted in this polysynchronous format.

That whole concept of the University of Everywhere through online learning, but online learning that strives to do absolutely everything possible to replicate in the virtual world, the interactivity, the interconnectedness, the personal rapport, that you would have in a physical classroom  that type of online learning is the future of higher education.

While the way education looks might be changing, what will never change, at least for Ammon, is his passion for learning. Whether students are learning from him or he from them, education is where his heart will always lie.

I learn every bit as much from them as they may learn from me, Ammon said. Learning, by the way, is the key that unlocks understanding. Absent learning, there is no one understanding. That is something about which I am passionate, and I plan to continue, all of the things being permissible, doing that for as long as Im physically able to do so.

Berge said, I think everyone should take at least one class with Mr. Ammon, and hes got a lot of choices and options for classes too. I think just having a teacher like that, hes just a really special one. And WNCC is lucky to have him.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)  A 14-year-old boy fell to his death late at night from a free-fall amusement park ride that is taller than the Statue of Liberty along a busy street in the heart of Orlando's tourist district.

Sheriff's officials and emergency crews responded to a call late Thursday at Icon Park, which is located in the city's tourist district along International Drive. The boy fell from the Orlando Free Fall ride, which opened late last year.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died, sheriff's officials said. No additional details about the teen or the incident were immediately released.

A video aired by NBC's "Today" show Friday morning appears to show passengers on the ride discussing issues with a seat restraint Thursday night. The ride then began its trek up the tower before someone is later seen falling from the ride.

"We are absolutely saddened and devastated by what happened, and our hearts go out this young man's family," John Stine, sales director with the Slingshot Group which owns the ride, told The Associated Press on Friday morning.

The Free Fall ride and an adjacent ride, the Sling Shot, have been closed indefinitely, Stine said. His company operates the two rides at Icon Park.

"We are cooperating with all other investigations at this time to get to the bottom of what happened," Stine said.

Stine said there had been no issues reported previously with the Free Fall ride, which opened over the holidays.

The Florida Department of Agriculture, which oversees amusement ride inspections with the exception of the state's largest theme parks, has launched an investigation and inspectors were at the site Friday, spokesperson Caroline Stoneciper said in an email.

The ride stands 430-feet (131-meters) tall, and is billed as the world's tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the park's website.

The ride holds 30 passengers as it rises in the air, rotates around the tower and then tilts to face the ground before free falling at more than 75 mph (120 kph), the website said.

The ride has an over-the shoulder restraint harness, with two hand grips at the chest level, that goes over the rider automatically.

---

An earlier version of this story from the Orlando Sentinel

A 14-year-old boy died late Thursday after falling from the Orlando Free Fall ride at Icon Park, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies responded at 11:12 p.m. to 8433 International Drive.

The boy was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children where he was pronounced dead, OCSO said.

Deputies have released no other information but an investigation is underway, said John Stine, sales director with the Slingshot Group, which owns the Orlando Free Fall.

We are devastated that this happened, and our hearts go out the family, Stine said. We are cooperating with all other investigations at this time to get to the bottom of what happened.

The ride is closed indefinitely until the investigation has concluded, Stine said.

The Orlando Free Fall tower, which opened in December, rises 430 feet as the worlds tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the attraction.

Thirty riders sit in the ride as it rises to the top, rotates around the tower, then tilts at 30 degrees to face the ground before a brief moment of free falling, Ritchie Armstrong, CEO of Slingshot Group, told the Orlando Sentinel in January, shortly after opening the attraction.

It falls down free, detached from the tower, reaching speeds of up to 75 miles per hour before this beautiful magnetic braking system gives them a nice, smooth, slow stop, straight back down to the ground, Armstrong said.

The Slingshot Group also owns the Orlando SlingShot, which stands at 300 feet and propels two riders in a basket above its support poles for a height of 450 feet at about 100 mph, Armstrong said.

2022 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jerusalem, March 26 (IANS) Israel has announced that it will host meetings with four visiting Foreign Ministers on March 27 and 28.



The US Secretary of State, and Foreign Ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Bahrain will arrive in Israel for a series of "historic" diplomatic meetings at the invitation of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to a statement released by the Ministry.



Israel signed an agreement with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco to normalise ties in 2020. The agreement came as part of the so-called Abraham Accords, in which Sudan also agreed to normalise ties with Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.
A Bristol Virginia Sheriff's deputy and Saltville resident is facing a driving while intoxicated charge after he was stopped in Washington County for driving in an unsafe manner early Saturday morning, a sheriff's office release said.

According to the release, the Washington County Sheriff's Office received a call for help around 2 a.m. from the Bristol Tennessee Police Department after an officer saw a vehicle traveling northbound Interstate 81 driving erratically. A traffic stop was initiated at exit 10, the release said, where the officer suspected the man was driving under the influence.

When Washington County deputies arrived, the driver, identified as 25-year-old Nathaniel Channing Call, was given a field sobriety test, which indicated he was under the influence, the release said.

Call, who the release said is on administrative leave from the Bristol Virginia Sheriff's Office for a prior DUI, refused a breath test.

He was taken into custody on charges of driving while intoxicated and refusing a breath test.

A secured bond has been set at $3,000.
RIDGEFIELD  People in Woodland, La Center and Ridgefield can vote this August on whether to OK a levy to pay for more equipment and staff at their local fire department to combat rising response times.

The five Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday night at their meeting in Ridgefield to add an Emergency Medical Services, or EMS, levy to ballots. The measure will be on the Aug. 2 primary ballots, said Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Chief John Nohr.

Levy

Levy revenue would purchase two department ambulances to use as backups when the departments contracted private ambulance company is delayed, Nohr said.

The levy revenue also would pay for around 23 more hired staff members, and increase the departments minimum personnel from two to three people on each rig so a paramedic can be included on each emergency call. A paramedic, which has more medical training than an EMT, is included on about half the departments emergency calls today, reports the department.

The six-year levy would cost $250 a year for the owner of a $500,000 home, at 0.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, said Nohr. Collection would begin in 2023.

The problem

Earlier this month, Nohr said department crews are taking longer to reach people in need due to increased emergency calls, brought on by population growth, as well as delays from the departments contracted private ambulance company, American Medical Response, or AMR.

Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue responded to roughly 18% more emergency calls in 2021 compared to the year before, and 57% more since 2016, according to a March 3 department report. The department says, overall, the time to respond to high-priority emergencies has increased 11% since 2019.

However, AMRs response time has grown much more during the same time period. The department reports a 109% increase of instances when ambulances took longer than 20 minutes to arrive to emergencies since 2019.

An AMR spokesperson said the company meets the required response times in its contract with the city of Vancouver, which Nohr said includes the department. Nohr said the roughly 7-year-old contract has outdated response time requirements because it was written when the area was less populated.

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